Linda Z

Hahahahaha Groucho. I never thought of that, and I'm a Browns fan. Actually, the "dog pound" is what they call the section of cheap (ha! are any of them cheap nowadays?) seats behind the goal posts, where the really rabid fans sit in bleacher seats and bark at the oncoming oppoenents, wearing doggie ears and doggie face paint, and brandishing dog bones and biscuits. I've never sat there, but I just might if Vick comes to our home turf. Thanks for the idea. :)

Thanks, WW. That sheds a lot of light on the point Whoopi was trying to make.

Don't get me wrong. I don't think for a nanosecond that anyone's cultural background, whether it's in the deep South or on the streets of the Bronx or wherever, excuses this criminal, barbaric behavior one bit. And if Whoopi's point was to make an excuse for Vick, she's wrong. I just didn't read it that way. To me it was similar to saying something like, "In this or that macho culture, men grow up thinking it's okay to beat their wives." That doesn't excuse wife beating at all; it just describes the cesspool it bubbles out from. I think Whoopi's mistake was tying the dogfighting "culture" with the deep South, as if the deep South itself is the culture that harbors such activity. That's just silly. There's plenty of dogfighting in big cities up north--and east and west. The culture that promotes and profits from and enjoys dogfighting is the culture of criminal activity, greed, desperation, sadism, and the devaluing of life--whether human or animal--that festers in the poverty-stricken neighborhoods of cities, towns, and rural areas. Many, many people rise up and out of poverty and the cultural consequences of poverty. Those people would never, never, not in a million years lift a finger against a helpless animal. But unfortunately, some don't. Some get their sense of self-worth from being the toughest rat in the sewer instead of climbing up and out and trying to get the sewer out of where they live.

I wrote you a "hooray, hooray" post yesterday, Exsie, and it went poof and I was too annoyed to start over. So...hooray, hooray, yippee skippy!! I'm happy for you all. And an egg? an EGG? Holy cow. What a bonus to a happy ending!! I wonder if it's been fertilized.

Socks, that little clip could have just as easily been from a Star Trek episode. "Musicians on Mars" or something. Their correographed moves are too cute--and so bizarre!

I love dogs. The thought of anyone using them for dogfighting makes me sick. But I get what Whoopi is saying. I don't think she's saying it's okay because it's the culture he grew up in. I think she's simply stating a fact, that he grew up in a culture where this was okay. It's an explanation for how he could even consider his behavior, but it's not an excuse for it.

Here's a wise gem from Abigail:

I nominate (drum roll please)... Ozzie Ozborne! (he posts here under a fake name, doesn't he?)

dooj, I might be crazy, but I thought Larry said it was beautiful. But then again, I could just be confused. :unsure: Wouldn't be the first time.

I'm flabbergasted that anyone would try to put a positive spin on an old man putting a young woman's hand on his privates like that. Good Lord in heaven, what are you guys thinking??? He couldn't have just told someone he'd been healed of his impotence? That would have been creepy enough, but he had to demonstrate? Beautiful??? Words fail me.

Congrats, you two! May you have at least 7 X 7 more! And wow, you're right. It sure doesn't seem like it's been 7 years since you got married.

T-Bone said: "The invisible man coming out of the closet." Hahahaha well, judging by his wardrobe, I'd say it's a photo of the invisible cross-dressing man coming out of the closet.

Sounds like karma, doesn't it? :)

Interesting, Georgio. I see a flaw in your old friends' assessment of the situation, though. It seems to be based on the premise that twi decided that Rosie was just the ticket and put her in the position she now occupies. I don't think that's how it went down at all. I think Rosie decided to climb the way tree and had her eye on the "big chair" for a long time. She weaseled her way into a very tight relationship with DM and at the same time was undermining LCM behind the scenes. I saw it happening. I've often wondered if she even set him up. When his scandals came to light, she was in a really, really good position to take over. I had to laugh about their belief that she was chosen because twi needed healing. Ha! I've never seen Rosalie Rivenbark heal anyone or anything. Her superficial sweetness never fooled anyone who was around her long enough to peek under the fake smile. She was very "sweet" to her yes people. Anyone under her rule who had a mind of his or her own soon discovered that her fake smile was hiding something not so sweet.

Hi Simon. I think you're all mixed up, my friend. It must be all that dry heat you've had this summer! Lima is in Allen County, and the Rock was in Lima in '75. I'm really really sure the '77 Rock was in Sidney, at the Shelby County fairgrounds.

I remember it well. My son went to the little store across from the fairgrounds and came running back with the news of Elvis's demise. Wow, 30 years ago. Hard to fathom that it's been that long.

Good point, Dan. And have you ever read any Victorian children's books geared at teaching character and morals. Some of them are more grim than Grimm. Apparently these were an effort to put the fear of the Lord into the little ones. They're dark, filled with deaths of parents and siblings--downright terrifying.

I have to say "amen, amen, amen!" to everything you've said here, especially the last sentence. It's all about priorities, and politicians clearly don't have theirs straight. We need some Mr. Smiths to go to Washington in the 21st century!! Locally, my city's government spent tons of money on new high-end faux-trolley buses for the city-center routes (replacing our perfectly good but not nearly so cute "loop" buses). Meanwhile, the streets they roll over are so full of potholes there isn't enough swerving one can do to miss them all. The trolleys are charming, and I understand the desire to upgrade the city's "image," but first things first would be wiser. And that's just one example.

Dawn, if I were to eat a dozen donuts, it wouldn't be great for me, but it wouldn't affect you in the least. However, if I smoke up the joint around a nonsmoker, I'm jeopardizing his health, not just mine. Big difference, isn't there? Some nonsmokers are judgmental, I grant you, but for me this isn't about judging. All I feel for smokers, having been one for the majority of my life, is pity. It sucks to get hooked.

I hope it wakes up the powers-that-be, Bumpy. Every now and then an old underground gas line blows up a house. The Ohio Dept. of Transportation finally blew up an old bridge that crossed the valley where our zoo is located, because big chunks of it had been falling off and injuring people walking through the zoo, but it was still being driven on not long before they took it down. I can't drive to work without driving over one of those old bridges. If I were Catholic, I'd be hanging on tight to my St. Christopher medal every time. :D (He is the bridge saint, isn't he, or did he get de-sainted?) I heard on the news that Ohio has the 2nd highest number of bridges in the U.S.A: 42,000!! In the words of the immortal Peter Boyle, holy crap!

I've smoked for longer than some of you have lived. Over the past 5 years I've quit for several months at a time, even a year once. I was a smoker when the smoking ban came up on the ballot in Ohio, and I voted for it. Why? Because the dangers of second-hand smoke aren't a myth, as much as we die-hard smokers would like to believe that. The most selfish thing I ever did as a parent was smoke around my child. I would have laid down my life for him (still would), and I worked hard to support him and raise him. He was pretty much the center of my world throughout his growing-up years. Yet as much as I loved him, I let my addiction to nicotine put his health in jeopardy. He had asthma and he frequently had respiratory problems and severe ear infections. May God forgive me for putting my addiction ahead of my child. We can rationalize all we want. That's what addicts do. We can whine and pi$$ and moan about getting our rights taken away. It's a smoke screen (yeah, I meant to do that). It covers up the fact that (a) we know smoking is bad for our health yet we think somehow we'll dodge the bullet and (b) we're pretty darn sure smoking is bad for the health of those we subject to it and we know damn well it irritates a lot of nonsmokers. Addicts have a hard time getting honest about their addiction. I had a woman approach me a couple weeks ago about signing a petition to get a bill put on the ballot to rescind the smoking ban in public places in Ohio. I was smoking (outside) at the time, so she thought I'd jump at the chance. I said, "No thanks." She asked why. I said I don't mind going outside to have a cigarette. It's better than sitting someplace where dozens of people are chain-smoking all at once." She looked at me like I was Hilary Clinton walking into the Republican National Convention and stomped away in a huff. Tough. So today I'm on day 2 of what I hope will be my final attempt to quit again. Finally, our office building is enforcing the law. In my last two attempts, I got sucked into starting again because we have a smoking room here and I'd get stressed out and go have "just one." Ha! Just one. Back to the original point of this thread: I'm glad!!! I can't tell you how much it bugged me to see people smoking in movies when I was, at least temporarily, free from tobacco. It made me want to smoke so badly it darn near drove me nuts. So take heart, smokers. You have the great outdoors to smoke in, and your car, and your own homes. Me, I can only hope that this is it, that this is the time when I quit forever--and that I can stop lining the pockets of those rich old goobers who sell the darn things and spend my money on something less toxic and a whole lot more fun!!

He was married to Elaine Shroyer, but they divorced a long time ago, like around 1980 or thereabouts. Elaine was (and I'm sure still is) a wonderful, sweet, loving woman. She became my roomie for a while at Rome City when she and KF split up.

I don't post my full last name, but I've never hid my real identity.

Garth, I think I know what dmiller's point was, but I'll leave it for him to explain. Here's mine: Why can't you show a little respect for other people and their right to have an opinion different from yours? Simple enough?

Exsie, it was scary, indeed. And yeah, I'm lucky my sister lives only about 15 minutes away. I'm always glad, but I was especially glad last night!!!