What a week, eh? I’m so tuckered, my attention’s all over the place. Got a Valentine’s treat coming up later, but first, some mucking-out . . .
On Monday (while certain invertebrate GOP Senators breathe sighs of relief — and with no thanks to a single House Republican or Gene Taylor), President Obama will activate a national economic-stimulus process remarkably close to the one he first proposed. But Thomas Levenson (h/t John Cole) made an important point yesterday:
If Mitch McConnell (or, say, Judd Gregg) were a Mensch…
…pigs would fly, I know, but if McConnell had any sense of decency he would do the following:
Vote for the stimulus package in the Senate.
Why? So that his colleague, Sherrod Brown, would not have to leave his mother’s wake (say that again, in all caps: HIS MOTHER’S WAKE) in Ohio, fly to DC, cast his vote, and then fly back to Ohio in time for his mother’s funeral (say that again, in all caps: HIS MOTHER’S FUNERAL) tomorrow.
I mean, there is no doubt that the bill will pass. There is no question that Brown’s vote will be the needed 60th to ensure passage. The only other option, the only other vote to provide the margin of those who voted at the last, procedural hurdle is Ted Kennedy, and he’s dealing with brain cancer (caps again: BRAIN CANCER), so it falls to Brown, trying to bury his mother, or some one Republican with a sense of decency sufficiently developed to switch his or her vote in Brown’s stead. …
However, all of them together lacking one-quarter of the sense or decency of Sen. Brown’s mom, Emily, her son had to make the trip.
Speaking of Judd Gregg . . . I’m not the only one suspecting that Thud Cochran and Ann Copland’s buddies Abramoff and Boulanger best explain his withdrawal as Commerce Secretary-nominee.
Would it surprise you to learn that the GOPers have just hatched a new candidate for Biggest Lie Yet on the Stimulus? Amazing how they keep topping themselves.
Is Ruth Bader Ginsburg the luckiest Supreme ever? Quite possibly.
Just don’t know what to make of those Bush DoJ f*ckups who prosecuted Ted Stevens, but the judge finally gave them their just deserts — contempt citations.
Want judges worse than Bobby DeLaughter? Try Pennsylvania (h/t weirdharold).
His hometown may yet love Bobby, but as the JPC tries to figure out whether it still does, Bob Norman & Co. (reports Paul Quinn, with video) are watching Scruggs III — AKA DeLaughter II? — take shape.
Developments also in the carwreck story in Jackson: now the cops deny chasing the Mercedes just before it crashed into the doctors’ truck.
Expect next week’s testimony in U.S. v. Melton to continue dreary — but not stinky.
For stinky we head to the Coast, where Anita Lee covers the Billey Joe Johnson story and the past it evokes.
Recall that our friend riddenword is plugged into the national animal-rescue community. And I’m afraid he’s had terrible news from near Holly Springs:
Here’s another damn tragedy to round out the week – a fire destroyed the home of a couple in Red Banks, MS, who have been leaders in Southern dog rescue. 40-50 dogs were killed and the husband badly injured as he ran inside again and again to try to get dogs out. Firemen had to physically restrain him to keep him from returning to the flames.
Crappy helicopter video and mediocre story here:
http://www.wreg.com/wreg-marshallcountyfire-story,0,7862287.story
Here’s what a fellow rescuer, now in CA, wrote about them:
Y’all,
Linda Money has worked tirelessly to rescue animals for years and years. I first knew her when she was struggling to get as many animals out of West Memphis Arkansas as she possibly could. Then she aided the work of Sunny Meadows with their efforts. She has headed up/organized the booths & participants for the St Jude event in recent years and often when you heard about an area wide rescue event, Linda’s name was listed as an organizer. She had close ties to the folks at Oxford and together they sought to make transport runs to the Southwestern US to find homes for MS canines. Her rescue facility was a dream for Linda. She bought land near Red Banks MS and when she spoke to me in the early planning stages, she was so very excited! She saw it as an opportunity to save so many animals from some of the worst situations! I cannot say enough about Linda and her endless efforts!
Y’all animal-lovers around the table (I know we have many), please help if you can. The info you’ll need is at the WREG link.
Gosh all hemlock, that Judge Buffington in Simpson County is a mess.
Via email:
I was just reading a piece I recommend: in The Atlantic, Richard Florida’s How the Crash Will Reshape America. Wooey.
Anyone know what’s going on today at the Federal Courthouse in Oxford? There were a bunch of suits standing outside and one very tall female.
they had a civil trial going yesterday and the day before in Judge Mills chambers. Could they have gone over one day to try to finish it?
Bacon & other amusements
http://thisiswhyyourefat.com/
(I personally acknowledge being zaftig not waifish)
Link not meant to offend. Is for foodies.
L A W D, DLM.
Lotus did you click on the archive? See the “Loosiana Gator Dog – A butterflied Wagyu beef frank stuffed with a melted 3-cheese blend, topped with a tequila-spiked three-bean alligator chili and finished off with sour cream, freshly chopped chives, and crushed Fritos.”
Yep, and I’m still trying to get undizzy, DLM.
The nice part about that site is there’s nothing I’d want to eat.
Now, the pig ear sliders that are the first-ever special for bar food at the City Grocery? Those are different. Mmmmmm. (I’m posting about them tomorrow).
Yes, but it’s like a train wreck, you just can’t look away. Kind of like one of those side shows at the fair with the medical oddities.
Pig ear sliders? DLM, what was that sound you made earlier? I need to borry it.
Thanks for your all your hard work and excellent posts on Scruggs II this week, NMC, may I suggest that tomorrow’s be called “On the Restorative Properties of Pig Head Products”?
RODNEY! What, did you need the whole week to catch up your sleep? How’s Jacob an’ them?
Everyone’s fine thanks Lotus, he’s a little beauty. As for sleep, I wish, but that was work, not him.
My favorite at thisiswhyyourefat.com is the Deep Fried Peanut Butter-Covered Brownie Wrapped In Cookie Dough.
On a more serious note, partisan mean-spiritedness, as illustrated by the Sherrod Brown story, is why the U.S. Senate has ceased to be a deliberative body capable of solving the problems facing the country. Is it any wonder the power of the Presidency keeps expanding? It’s just filling the vacuum.
Hullo Rodney! Glad to hear from you. FYI wearable fleece cloth blankets make new parents lives easier (but some kind soul probably bought y’all some already.
http://tinyurl.com/ajy266
I wouldn’t mind one of them myself, DLM. The weather has been atrocious here. I have driven a 1000 miles in the last week through a snow covered countryside, below zero all day, slipping and sliding from place to place for so long that I’m beginning to fancy Sarah Palin.
That’s entirely too much slippy-slidy, Rodney.
Quelle horreur! The Sara Palin part, of course, but the driving conditions as well. Britain’s winter this year has really been something else. What have your road maintenance crews been doing for Dad’s sake? [The blankies make tykes drop off to sleep almost immediately after the zipper is done up.]
soms 16, I swear, to identify as Republican these days, one must be a jerk. When that impacts the country’s wellbeing — as it has all these recent years, but never more starkly than now — well, it just leaves me wondering how that many people, especially that many national legislators, could be so void of character.
“Country first”? Not.
DLM, I hear the road crews in the UK are out spreading table salt (if they can get it).
When MDOT has enough warning, we get a spray of salt solution on the roads ‘n bridges in advance of the weather. Otherwise, and afterwards, the weather hits it’s salt, sand, and gravel.
The various authorities responsible have basically said “We can’t afford to maintain extra infrastructure for something that only happens every 20 years.”
Add that worrying honesty to chronic Brit catastrophe response catastrophes (BSE, Foot and Mouth,) and you do, indeed, get the sorry spectacle of table salt being sprinkled on the highway.
You also get a busy drop-in centre
turning away pensioners and all other regular users because the path and the cark park are too dangerous. The local council said they had been told by their lawyers not to attempt to make it safe, because if they did they would be liable for any subsequent falls.
Would it startle anyone to learn that Roland Burris may be investigated for perjury?
No, huh? Thought not.
Mississippians are quite lucky . . .If you run your car into a ditch, don’t panic. Four men in a four-wheel drive truck with a tow chain will be along shortly. Don’t try to help them, just stay out of their way. This is what they live for. And they aren’t from the government either. Read more bout our southern hospitality at http://tinyurl.com/an4kns