Openly Open Thread

Posted by Steven D | Aug 8, 2006 | 31 |

So you can openly discuss whatever you wish to be open about. While we wait for election results, natch.

About The Author

Steven D

Father of 2 children. Faithful Husband. Loves my country, but not the GOP.

31 Comments

alohaleezy on August 8, 2006 at 5:41 pm

Two more days and I will be smokefree for 12 weeks. YAHOO!
- Steven D on August 8, 2006 at 5:42 pm
  
  That is good news. Much congrats!
  - alohaleezy on August 8, 2006 at 5:43 pm
    
    Thanks Steven! It feels really good!
- Cali Scribe on August 8, 2006 at 5:47 pm
  
  Great news!
  
  Now you can dance… 😉
- blueneck on August 8, 2006 at 5:51 pm
  
  Congrats! Now, watch out for those stressful events. And “Oh, it’s been sooo long, surely I can just have one little old cigarette” moments….. And the “I won’t buy a whole pack, I’ll just bum one. Those moments tend to happen around your old smoking buddies, right?
  
  Wishing you the best and continued success…
  - alohaleezy on August 8, 2006 at 6:27 pm
    
    Right on Cali Scribe! I will never forget that night!
    
    Thanks Blueneck. Oh don’t I know all those triggers that want me to smoke. As a recovering alkie/addict I know them all by heart. I have a diary started on this but needs a little more time and effort before putting it out there. I was so fortunate this time(as I attempted to quit many times over the past forty years)that there was no struggle, no cravings, no wanting to kill someone. I was done and affirmed myself a Non-smoker the fourth day! Thanks for all the good wishes.
- Kamakhya on August 8, 2006 at 6:27 pm
  
  Way to go Aloha!!!!
- librarylil on August 8, 2006 at 7:04 pm
  
  Excellent, alohaleezy! You’re an inspiration.
- Damnit Janet on August 8, 2006 at 9:10 pm
  
  That is FANTASTIC!!!
  - alohaleezy on August 8, 2006 at 9:49 pm
    
    ((((Janet and LIL))))))My son told me he had given up on me ever quitting. He is blown away. It happened over his birthday and he said it was the best gift he ever got! I have really wanted this for so long and finally just let go. I can breathe again…lol! Hope you all have a great evening. I am going to the couch now. Night!
Steven D on August 8, 2006 at 5:49 pm

Speaking of Election results, here are some links:

Link One (Conn. Legislation and Elections Administration)

and

Link Two (StatementOfVote.ct.gov )
- Steven D on August 8, 2006 at 5:50 pm
  
  And Link Three (Election Results)
  
  Should start sometime after 8:30 pm (EDT) tonight.
Real History Lisa on August 8, 2006 at 6:08 pm

Interesting story re the strange shape of the moon today in the NY Times. I think it’s AMAZING that we can blow up the planet many times over with our nuclear weapons, but we can’t even explain how the moon formed:

Space probes of the 1960’s and 1970’s found a second deformity of the Moon: it is slightly elongated along the Moon-Earth axis. That is, if the Moon were sliced in half along its equator, the cross-section would not be a circle, but more like a football, with one of the narrow ends pointing toward Earth.

But no one could come up with a completely convincing explanation for the Moon’s current shape. That is not its only mystery. Another is why its near side, which always faces Earth, is so different in material and appearance from the far side. The Moon’s origin still holds some uncertainties, although many scientists believe that it formed out of the debris when a Mars-size object struck Earth 4.5 billion years ago.

“Quite a lot of the darned thing is still quite mysterious,” said Kimmo Innanen, a professor of astronomy at York University in Toronto.

I mean, how long have we lived with the moon? For the entire history of the human race, and we still don’t know for sure why it’s there, or why it’s backside is so different from its front?

How little we know. And there’s still so much more to learn.
DaveW on August 8, 2006 at 6:54 pm

Lieberman, that is. Damn — hate it when that happens. But the desperation. The grasping at straws. The sheer, shocking incompetence. I hope he goes quietly and keeps as many shreds of dignity as possible. I think the VP nomination destroyed him — made him think he’s way more than he is. Too bad — I still think he was once a pretty decent guy and pol.
dada on August 8, 2006 at 7:03 pm

Fitzmas in August, may not come to pass,
But hope’s running high to kick some incumbent ass.
The votes will be counted and then we will see,
What the powers in charge think of Democracy.

Who is this guy and why’s he smilin’?

and just for grins: The Grinch Revisited

The Whos down in Whoville liked this country a lot
But the Grinch in the White House most certainly did not.
He didn’t arrive there by the will of the Whos,
But stole the election that he really did lose.

Vowed to “rule from the middle,” then installed his regime.
(Did this really happen or is it just a bad dream?)
He didn’t listen to voters, just his friends he was pleasin’
Now, please don’t ask why, no one quite knows the reason.

It could be his heart wasn’t working just right.
It could be, perhaps, that he wasn’t too bright.
But I think that the most likely reason of all,
Is that both brain and heart were two sizes too small.

In times of great turmoil, this was bad news.
To have a government that ignores its Whos.
But the Whos shrugged their shoulders, went on with their work,
Their duties as citizens so casually did shirk.

They shopped at the mall and watched their T.V.
They drove their gas guzzling big S.U.V.
Oblivious to what was going on in D.C.
Ignoring the threats to democracy.

They read the same papers that ran the same leads,
Reporting what only served corporate needs.
(For the policies affecting the lives of all nations
Were made by the giant U.S. Corporations.)

Big business grew fatter, fed by its own greed,
And by people who shopped for the things they didn’t need.
But amidst all the apathy came signs of unrest,
The Whos came to see we were fouling our nest.

And the people who cared for the ideals of this nation
Began to discuss and exchange information.
The things they couldn’t read in the corporate-owned news
Of FTAA meetings and CIA coups.

Of drilling for oil and restricting rights.
They published some books, created Websites
Began to write letters and use their e-mail
(Though Homeland Security might Send them to jail!)

What began as a whisper soon grew to a roar,
These things going on they could no longer ignore.
They started to rise up and fight City Hall
Let their voices be heard, they rose to the call,

To vote, to petition, to gather, dissent,
To question the policies of the “President.”
As greed gained in power and power knew no shame
The Whos came together, sang “Not in our name!”

One by one from their sleep and their slumber they woke
The old and the young, all kinds of folk,
The black, brown and white, the gay, bi- and straight,
All united to sing, “Feed our hope, not our hate!

Stop stockpiling weapons and aiming for war!
Stop feeding the rich, start feeding the poor!
Stop storming the deserts to fuel SUV’s!
Stop telling us lies on the mainstream T.V.’s!

Stop treating our children as a market to sack!
Stop feeding them Barney, Barbie and Big Mac!
Stop trying to addict them to lifelong consuming,
In a time when severe global warming is looming!

Stop sanctions that are killing the kids in Iraq!
Start dealing with ours that are strung out on crack!”
A mighty sound started to rise and to grow,
“The old way of thinking simply must go!

Enough of God versus Allah, Muslim vs. Jew
With what lies ahead, it simply won’t do.
No American dream that cares only for wealth
Ignoring the need for community health.

The rivers and forests are demanding their pay,
If we’re to survive, we must walk a new way.
No more excessive and mindless consumption
Let’s sharpen our minds and garner our gumption,

For the ideas are simple, but the practice is hard,
And not to be won by a poem on a card.
It needs the ideas and the acts of each Who,
So let’s get together and plan what to do!”

And so they all gathered from all ’round the Earth
And from it all came a miraculous birth.
The hearts and the minds of the Whos they did grow,
Three sizes to fit what they felt and they know.

While the Grinches they shrank from their hate and their greed,
Bearing the weight of their every foul deed.
From that day onward the standard of wealth,
Was whatever fed the Whos’ spiritual health.

They gathered together to revel and feast,
And thanked all who worked to conquer their beast.
For although our story pits Grinches ‘gainst Whos,
The true battle lies in what we daily choose.

For inside each Grinch is a tiny small Who,
And inside each Who is a tiny Grinch too.
One thrives on love and one thrives on greed.
Who will win out? It depends who you feed!

Morty Breir, w/ thanks to Dr. Seuss

Enjoy
Real History Lisa on August 8, 2006 at 7:23 pm

There once was a Senator named Joe
The President’s line he would toe
When the party got tired
They voted him fired!
Now Lamont’s got a tough row to hoe!

(A little early wishful thinking…!)
Syniel on August 8, 2006 at 8:03 pm

I don’t have anything witty or incisive to add..but I do so want to say this….

Oh pweeeeze kick Joe’s arse Oh, please please please please!

Yes.. it was beneath me. But I had to get it off my chest.
- AP on August 8, 2006 at 9:03 pm
  
  Was not!
  
  :<)
  
  I feel the EXACT same way.
  - BrendaStewart on August 8, 2006 at 9:25 pm
    
    me too. add my name to that list.
Real History Lisa on August 8, 2006 at 8:29 pm

Link #3 in this thread provides Lamont ahead in Windham county 126 to 66!!
Real History Lisa on August 8, 2006 at 8:31 pm

<h1>Voters decide on Lieberman as 5 states hold primaries</h1&gt

07:17 PM CDT on Tuesday, August 8, 2006

Associated Press

Six years after Democrats backed him for vice president, Sen. Joe Lieberman struggled to overcome a tough challenge in Tuesday’s primary and escape payback from his own party for supporting the Iraq war.

In Georgia, Rep. Cynthia McKinney, the fiery congresswoman who scuffled with a U.S. Capitol police officer earlier this year, was trailing in very early returns in a runoff for the Democratic nomination.

Elsewhere, voters in Colorado, Missouri and Michigan also chose candidates for the fall elections.

The Connecticut Senate race dominated the political landscape in recent weeks, as political novice Ned Lamont demonstrated the power of anti-war sentiment among Democrats with his campaign. Lamont is the millionaire owner of a cable television company but his political career is limited to serving as a town selectman and member of the town tax board.

Still, he brought himself to the brink of defeating three-term incumbent Lieberman, the Democrats’ vice presidential candidate in 2000. It was a race watched closely by the liberal, Internet-savvy Democrats who lead the party’s emerging “netroots” movement, groups such as Moveon.org that played a big role in pushing Lamont’s candidacy.

I don’t believe it yet. Maybe this is like a “Dewey Wins”….

http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/nation/stories/080906dnnatprimaries.126e3ad.html
- Cali Scribe on August 8, 2006 at 9:06 pm
  
  to “Lieberman Trailing in Early Returns”.
  
  It’s a Texas station — chances are they’re used to elections rigged for the incumbent…
Real History Lisa on August 8, 2006 at 8:44 pm

Middlesex County:

215 Lieberman
300 Lamont

Windham County:

66 Lieberman
126 Lamont

Other counties still at zero, per this page.
Real History Lisa on August 8, 2006 at 8:48 pm

What are these piddly numbers? Number of precincts reporting or something?

Now New London shows 71 for Lieberman, 74 for Lamont.
conglomerNation on August 8, 2006 at 9:11 pm

NYTimes has good election results:

With 17% of precincts reporting,
Joe: 43.7%
Ned: 56.3%

🙂
- conglomerNation on August 8, 2006 at 9:14 pm
  
  Now with 25% reporting:
  
  Joseph I. Lieberman 33,375 44.9%
  Ned Lamont 40,934 55.1 %
- conglomerNation on August 8, 2006 at 9:26 pm
  
  Latest Results 9:13 PM ET Candidates
  Votes    % of Votes
  Joseph I. Lieberman    53,159    46.4%
  Ned Lamont    61,449    53.6%
  
  38% of Precincts Reporting
  - AP on August 8, 2006 at 9:31 pm
    
    Joseph I. Lieberman 56,891 46.9%
    Ned Lamont 64,383 53.1%
    
    44% of Precincts Reporting as of 9:21.
    - Steven D on August 8, 2006 at 9:45 pm
      
      Hartford Courant Link
      
      U.S. Senate – – Dem Primary
      404 of 748 Precincts Reporting – 54.01%
          Name    Party    Votes    Pct
      Lamont, Ned    Dem    74,396    51.98
      Lieberman,     Dem    68,718    48.02
BrendaStewart on August 8, 2006 at 9:26 pm

from what I gather, the msm freaks are not one bit happy over this race. they do seem a bit disturbed…;o)
BrendaStewart on August 8, 2006 at 9:55 pm

you just got to love bob he really is a hoot

Openly Open Thread

About The Author

Steven D

31 Comments

Recent Posts

Recent Comments