Thankgiving plumbing repair...

So last night we had gotten ourselves all packed to head out to my sister's house in West Virginia for Thanksgiving. We also do Christmas with my family this week, so there's a lot to get done. This morning, mrsdrmagoo was going to head out to the gym for a little while, and I was going to load the car, and then the three of us were going to be on our way...

Of course not.

When I got downstairs this morning, mrsdrmagoo asked me to look at the ceiling. Which was wet. And then dripping. All over the place.

Now, normally we handle household repairs (even relatively major ones) ourselves, but this is not normally.

The first few calls to plumbers revealed that many of them were busy today. Finally, one called back...

And now the living room ceiling's being torn apart. And of course the leak is in a very difficult to access spot (although now he's found the leak, which is a good start).

The little guy's off at day care, since being around the plaster dust isn't good for him.

Whee!

Update: Well, it looks like they'll have to put a clamp on it for today, but that's not code, so they'll have to come back next week and pull out the old pipes and put in new ones. And then we can rebuild the living room ceiling...

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!

Well, I'm off to Paris Fort Wayne and then a few days of skiing in St. Moritz Springfield for the big weekend.

Just a couple of quick thoughts from the morning paper.

One of my least favorite right wing airheads, Chatty Kathy Parker, wrote a decent but painfully obvious column about how we are a really dumb country. She finishes, though, with this little zinger

Who will govern a free nation if no one understands the mechanics and instruments of that freedom? Maybe one day, a demagogue.

Hmm, Chatty, just idly speculating about the future? I think not. Unfortunately, her demagogue reference is to our articulate, inspiring and intelligent future president.

Kathy, if you REALLY want to know what happens in that situation, look behind you. Look at the last eight years, of incompetence, imperial aggression, corruption and a betrayal of all that should be American. THAT is what you get.

And Lula, this is an Illinois-centric question,but an issue here involves our imprisoned ex-governor (we have a long history of felon governors here, and the current occupant may soon join that list). He was the epitome of the two-bit crook, but the tragedy is that he was doing his two-bit crookery as Secretary of State, giving away drivers' licenses for bribes to unqualifieds and ineligibles. Now he is old and infirm and the question of commutation comes up. I'm somewhat torn. He is a miserable old bastard, yet what is the public good of continued imprisonment?

Thoughts?

Sarah Palin pardons turkey, sort of.....

This happened last week in Wasilla. There really is something wrong with this woman.

>

Is she really that dense? Or is it just an act?

War is hell

The editorial page of the Wall Street Journal even back in the Dow Jones days was "The Shady Acres Rest Home for Whackjob Conservatives" (insert "Paul Gigot" here), but no one took them seriously. You bought the paper for the business news, as the "Chinese Wall" between editorial and news made the real wall in China look miniscule by comparison. Now that it's been Fox-ified, you don't even want the Journal for business coverage, and editorial has gone so far out that they make Gigot, etc. look measured and thoughtful. Case in point? What is the cause of our economic crisis? Speculation, de-regulation, deficit spending, etc. No. Ladies and gentlemen, we suffer today because our nation is at war on three fronts, in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and against...Christmas.

Notwithstanding the cardboard Santas who seem to have arrived in stores this year near Halloween, the holiday season starts in seven days with Thanksgiving. And so it will come to pass once again that many people will spend four weeks biting on tongues lest they say "Merry Christmas" and perchance, give offense. Christmas, the holiday that dare not speak its name. This year we celebrate the desacralized "holidays" amid what is for many unprecedented economic ruin--fortunes halved, jobs lost, homes foreclosed. People wonder, What happened? One man's theory: A nation whose people can't say "Merry Christmas" is a nation capable of ruining its own economy.

Yes, boys and girls, we are in this mess because we have not decked the halls nor heard angels on high. No fa la la la la, no Fannie Mae. Because we didn't see mommy kissing Santa Claus, Lehman Brothers collapsed, and we can no longer join in any reindeer games or in the international credit markets. Amazing. (link)

What the Citigroup bailout is paying for

So, we're giving Citigroup $20 billion with the promise of more behind it. Citigroup has also made a recent $400 million investment in...the naming rights for the new Mets stadium. So now I'm giving the Mets money.

Excuse me while I throw up.

h/t Daily Kos

Effigy Makers Seek Federal Bailout

First it was the banks, then the auto industry, and now effigy makers are lining up for federal aid.



Like other industries seeking help, the effigy makers have been criticized for poor planning, as the "Bush bubble" in the industry was due to end next January. One industry spokesman, speaking anonymously, thought the Republicans could steal one more election and the industry would be "burning" brightly into the next decade at least with McCain and Palin images.

Congress appeared skeptical, and pressed industry representatives for a business plan. "Well, we do have this giant inflammable Cubs logo for sale to White Sox fans, and a giant flaming Ryan Seacrest, but hell, everyone sees a giant flaming Ryan Seacrest every week on TV. Beyond that, we've got nothing."

Alan Colmes to Depart Show with Hannity

Alan Colmes is reportedly set to leave the Fox News freakshow known as "Hannity & Colmes." We'll miss Alan, pictured below:

Don't read this if you just ate

The musical stylings of Jeffrey Scott Shapiro in the paper formerly known as the Wall Street Journal:

Earlier this year, 12,000 people in San Francisco signed a petition in support
of a proposition on a local ballot to rename an Oceanside sewage plant after
George W. Bush. The proposition is only one example of the classless
disrespect many Americans have shown the president...

This is the price Mr. Bush is paying for trying to work with both Democrats
and Republicans. During his 2004 victory speech, the president reached out to
voters who supported his opponent, John Kerry, and said, "Today, I want to
speak to every person who voted for my opponent. To make this nation stronger
and better, I will need your support, and I will work to earn it. I will do
all I can do to deserve your trust...."

Those bipartisan efforts have been met with crushing resistance from both
political parties.

The treatment President Bush has received from this country is nothing less
than a disgrace. The attacks launched against him have been cruel and
slanderous, proving to the world what little character and resolve we have.
The president is not to blame for all these problems. He never lost faith in
America or her people, and has tried his hardest to continue leading our
nation during a very difficult time.

Our failure to stand by the one person who continued to stand by us has not
gone unnoticed by our enemies. It has shown to the world how disloyal we can
be when our president needed loyalty--a shameful display of arrogance and
weakness that will haunt this nation long after Mr. Bush has left the White
House.

I think that one stands on its own. There really is no need for me to point out the painfully obvious.

No insurance? That's a Killer

In the October issue of Archives of Surgery, a study done by a John Hopkins trauma surgeon found that overall, uninsured patients were 50% more likely to die from their injuries than insured patients.

I find that to be an alarming statistic. So, now if you don't have insurance you #1) have to pay more if you go to the ER (because you don't get the I HAVE INSURANCE DISCOUNT) and #2) if you're a minority or don't have insurance at all, you possibly were pushed to the back of the emergency treatment line, or worse you received biased treatment that affected your overall health. So now you're not only dead, you have a hefty bill too.

I thought emergency care was the great equalizer in our health care system. According to this study, apparently not.

We need health care reform, and soon. I hope having Senator Tom Daschle as our new Secretary of Health and Human Services (I'm keeping my fingers crossed) is a step in the right direction towards health care accessibility for all in the coming years.