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November 26, 2008 04:41 PM UTC

Wednesday Open Thread

  • 60 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

“Thanksgiving Day, a function which originated in New England two or three centuries ago when those people recognized that they really had something to be thankful for–annually, not oftener–if they had succeeded in exterminating their neighbors, the Indians, during the previous twelve months instead of getting exterminated by their neighbors, the Indians.”

–Mark Twain

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60 thoughts on “Wednesday Open Thread”

  1. …but I’ll probably rent “Home for the Holidays” tonight and put it on why I’m cleaning house and makin’ grub.

    Favorite Line: “Well, we don’t have to like each other, Jo. We’re family.”

    Later in the day I’ll make a stop at Jeffco County Jail, and visit a homeless Iraq vet who’s locked up for DUI. Seems that under Colorado Law, if you’re homeless and living in your parked car, AND you get drunk and pass out in the back, you’re guilty of DUI.

      1. If we have a metric for what is DUI, why do we believe that having an open container is de facto bad?  Sure, some will drink in the car, but why is that person worse than the one who imbibes the same amount and then gets in the car and remains under the legal BAC?

        I think open containers are still fine in Texas and Loozer-anna.

        So Dan’s friend is drunk in the backseat of a car and he’s DUI?  What part of “D” do the courts not understand?  

        1. …and yes, it does suck for my kid in jail, but there’s very little wiggle room. We did line up a pro-bono lawyer to try and minimize the damage, but even she thinks it’s a lost cause.

          He has multiple DUI’s under the same circumstance, which makes him a habitual traffic offender. Which means he could lose his license, and his “home.”

          This is why we need Veteran’s court…he doesn’t drink because he’s an irresponsible jerk, he drinks because he has PTSD, and its the only way he can sleep. He needs to get treatment at the VA for his illness, not thrown in Jeffco jail and let a lazy Assistant DA pad his record.

          1. While the law is written poorly, you can try to get jury nulification.  You can make a credible argument that it is his home.  Use a motorhome analogy. extend it to mobil homes if they let you (not the same since a mobil home doesn’t have a drive train).

            Ask the question, where is he supposed to sleep? Outside?

            Picking a jury will be critical.

          2. It goes back to when the Viet vet I call my best friend moved into the house I was living in.  We later moved to another house.  Drugs, alcohol, “Nam dreams.”  Lots of self destruction on his part.

            Now, 25 years later he finally has spent time with the VA PTSD teams and is doing well.

            I spent about a year in the Denver VA hospital with those vets.  A humbling experience.

            I though those vets would fade into old age and history and as a nation we would be freed of most of their ghosts.  But GW made sure that we not only have a new generation, but I presumed, worse.  

  2. Florida’s ban on gay adoption, the only one in the country, was overturned yesterday.  The state will appeal it. (why?)

    I learned in the story that Arkansas joined Utah in prohibiting any single parent from adopting or fostering. This is knows as “The Cut Your Nose Off To Spite Your Face Law.”  Who needs loving parents anyway?

    Maybe Arkansas should have banned adoption between related couples.  That might have some serious consequences.  Arkansas foreplay: “Psst…Sis, you awake?”

    1. The mental contortions that antigay activists go through to justify their positions are incredible. There are more kids needing good homes than there are willing parents to adopt, but somehow it protects the family to deny gays and singles (thus diminishing the number of willing parents) the right to adopt. Because, you know, it’s better that kids languish in foster homes and grow up rootless then it is to be raised by someone who doesn’t conform to the social control of conservative churches.

  3. My wife and I got married in July, and she really wanted to get together all of our friends who don’t have anywhere else to go.

    So tonight we’re driving up to my in-laws’ house in Louisville (they’re down in Texas for the week) and cooking all evening, waking up early tomorrow, and cooking all day. She says if I watch football all day, instead of helping, I don’t get desert. We’ll see how long I last.

    Hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday.

  5. I’ll be in Greeley for lunch with a friend (prime rib–can’t do turkey after watching the Palin video) and then back up to Estes to babysit 16 dogs for the weekend.  

      1. I own a small pet care business–it’s set up like a house for socialized dogs only.  They stay here and play here and have a good time–the way it should be when a dog has to be away from its owners. I have a little dog living room/playroom with 9 of them romping around in there, 10 playing outside today, and 4 more in my office. (I have daycare today so it’s a full house.)

        Loud…but really, really fun. The puppies and small dogs are raising holy hell today. 🙂

            1. We got the first one from a couple in Estes Park who had a male and female that bred, then we got the second one from rescue.  They are great little dogs.  

              We nearly lost our little rescue dog this month, he got autoimmune hemolytic anemia and had some blood clots before the meds kicked in.  He’s much better now, but we were worrying and crying and all that.

            1. A night at our cabin with my middle girl, and then everyone else up yesterday for a turkey dinner in the mountains.

              Ever had a Ridgeback?  I’m interested in that breed, but only known one of them.

              1. has two of them. They are really stunning looking dogs. Not a good dog for kids as they are large and quite rough when they play.

                They train well but they do require a great deal of exercise early on and tons of socialization when they are puppies to make sure they stay sweet, particuarly since they are naturally a bit overprotective of their owners.

                Word of warning–they also tend to have a multitude of behavior problems because most owners aren’t prepared for the amount of exercise, training and particularly socialization that is involved with this breed. They are a bit stubborn and they require early and consistent training.

                And I cannot stress this enough–they must be socialized with as many humans and dogs as possible, starting any time after 8 weeks. 90% of a dogs permanent social skills, likes, dislikes, fears, et al are formed between 8 and 16 weeks. Naturally, they should be socizlied for life and particularly as much as possible in the first year, but that 8-16 week statistic always blows my mind.

                A good link for more info on them here:

                http://www.dogbreedinfo.com/rh…

      2. and he is kicking my ass.  He’s gone through 5 pair of shoes, our cable wire, two utility balls, 3 chewy toys, 5 paintbrushes, a few tennis balls and the trash more than a few times.  We are scheduled for obedience class, but it won’t be soon enough.

        However, he’s awesome and has landed at a good home, and I just can’t get mad at him.  I don’t know how either of you (Wanda and Middle) can handle numbers like 16 or 30 dogs, even over a period of time.

        Either way, he’s got some turkey coming his way tomorrow !  Happy Thanksgiving to both of you.

        1. I gave each of my 3 dogs some turkey with their dinner kibble. Wanted them to also have a vacation to remember. Not until day 2 did I notice that tryptophan seems to work on canines as well as humans. They napped most of evening. Might keep your lab from wrecking something valuable.

        2. is due to stress/nervousness or boredom, he probably still isn’t used to his new surroundings, so I would say the first reason is most likely.  How old is he and are you planning any formal training?

          1. and the vet says he is 2 years old.  I am guessing he is closer to two, because he is FULL of energy !

            We are planning formal training right after Thanksgiving.  I have already done the introductory class.  We intend to have him trained well.

            Happy Thanksgiving by the way.

        3. We adopted a shelter dog two weeks ago.  A complete mutt, about a year and a half old.  Body like a black lab (56 lbs), face like a terrier, and ears like Yoda (picture here).

          He was in and out of the shelter several times.  People kept bringing him back.

          He’s the best dog we’ve ever had.  He knows how to sit, stay, come, heel, shake, and he respects our other dog, a geriatric mutt who came to our house as a stray 15 years ago.  He’s great on a leash.  He loves to catch and return a frisbee.  He’ll amuse himself outdoors all day long all by himself–he tosses a tennis ball against the house and then chases it.  Doesn’t even need us to throw it, although that would be his preference.

          Shelter dogs are the best.  Obedience class will be worth the effort.  Your dog just wants a mission; he wants to love you, he just needs to learn how to do that without pissing you off.

          Good luck.  And remember–there are no dog mistakes, only people mistakes.

          1. I love dogs. Ours is a rescue dog that was turned into a shelter after a woman saw him being thrown from a car. He’s part chihuaha part basset hound (so they told us) so he’s got short ears, short bow legs and a long body. He also has a massive under bite so his right lower K9 sticks out which makes him look mean.

            Took about week for him to get comfortable with me and my gf and now about 3 hours for anyone new except kids (he really likes kids).

            1. One, a chow/Border collie (guess), is over 13 (I’ve had him 10 years I’m not sure how old he is) and he is finally starting to show his age (trouble with the steep stairs in my house) and I thought he was a great…until I got another shelter dog 4 years ago.

              She was a 2 time loser having been adopted twice and returned.  She was a pure bred rottweiler runt (she’s only about 55 pounds) and she had incredible energy and athleticism (she can clear a six foot fence on a run) and her previous owners couldn’t control her.

              I am a pretty strong disciplinarian and she snapped right in line (I believe in using the Cesar Milan method for both dogs and kids) and she has become the best dog I hve ever had.

              First comes the exercise, then comes the discipline, THEN comes the love.

              Most bad dogs become bad dogs because owners fail to give them exercise or discipline.

              1. Cesar Milan’s show was great. Of course, my girlfriend never applied anything that she learned in watching the show to our dog, but he is only 22 pounds so rambunctiosness is not a huge problem.

                Rottweilers get a bad rep. Growing up two of my neighbors had a total of 5 of them all super friendly, and yes all energy all the time, but great dogs.

          2. Did you find out why the others kept bringing him back? I rescued a dog, an older Great Pyrenees, about six months ago — she’d been returned to the shelter for barking and some nipping behavior, which we’ve been able to overcome (except for the occasional heart-attack-inducing explosion of barks when a car breaks a block away or something equally threatening).

            I can understand why someone wanting a perfectly well behaved dog might have returned the one I finally adopted, but yours sounds like it’s perfect out of the box.

            1. He was first brought into the shelter as a stray by Animal Control.  The first family who adopted him was home-schooling five kids and they deemed Skip “too disruptive.) (He really does like attention.)  The next family had another dog, larger than Skip, who was aggressive toward him.

              He fits in here just fine, though.

            2. I love that dog more than my own life. She was feral and terrified of people when i adopted her. Six months old and had never had a collar or leash on, never been in a house. She has turned out to be the most amazing dog I have ever had.

              And the bark–oh my Lord. Yeah, that’s something else, isn’t it? I finally found out from another Pyrenees owner that it’s part and parcel for the breed. Not much you can do about it so I just suck it up and remind myself that she is otherwise damn near perfect (except for her habit of getting into the garbage right in front of me, every now and again.)

          3. We have already bonded with him, and he’s a part of the family.  Congrats on your shelter dog too.  Mine is a little bit the same in that he was chipped once already.  His previous owner could have located him if they wanted, but they chose not to.  Their loss is our gain.  

        4. Try a Kong–a large. Stuff it with a bit of peanut butter or a slice of Natural Balance Sausage roll. It gives a food motivated dog an outlet for his mental stimulation and believe it or not, really wears them out.

          Also, daycare and dogparks are essential for dogs with high energy. Great place to socialize and bring his social skills up to speed while wearing him out. Dogs are so similiar to wolves in that they bond strongly and don’t like to be alone–and they bond with dogs even more than people. He may be very canine lonely. I teach a training class and quite a bit of the behavior you described is not training related but behavior related due to boredom and lack of a good output for energy.  

          1. I am going to take all of your advice to heart.  I will get a Kong today, and we have a great dogpark up on Davidson Mesa, which is only 5 minutes from our house.  This is really, really helpful.

            1. And if you have any questions or something comes up, you are more than welcome to ask me, anytime. If I can help, I’m happy to. I think he’s quite lucky to have you, frankly. I was so impressed to read that you are already signed up for training and prepared to do what it takes to have a good canine citizen. Kudos to you.

  6. Will gather with the extended family over a traditional feast.  Three family members are quite conservative, the rest pretty liberal.  One of the righties loves to stir things up and tries to bait the rest on nonsense like GWB’s virtues or the evils of all government, but most of us will just ignore him.  No need to argue–this month’s election results speak for themselves.  That’s something to be thankful for!

  8. I am not much into celebrating holidays as it is. And my family all live elsewhere. My kids will spend it with their grandmother in Alabama (better them than me). My dad is in California this year with my brother and his 14 aunts/uncles and 54 cousins and all of their spouses (They are my former step-mother’s family).

    I usually use Thanksgiving as a good day to go to the movies and have the theaters mostly to myself. Probably will see the new Bond flick tomorrow and treat myself to one of the restaurants downtown.

  9. This will be my second Thanksgiving I’ve done where I did not go to my parents house. My boyfriend and I are going out there on Sunday because of scheduling things. Since I’m going to have Turkey with them and with my friends on Saturday we’re going to have a ham with some side dishes, not a huge feast, but it should be nice.

    If someone does not have somewhere to go, let me know.

      2. That is the true spirit of Thanksgiving IMHO.  Makes me think of my mom.  Between all 4 of her children (us) there was always one or two people we knew who had nowhere to go, so they came home with us.  She always served them first to make them feel extra welcome.  

        1. My friends have a tradition. The Saturday after any Thanksgiving and Christmas we gather to have a second holiday. Many of us also get together for brunch every Sunday. I’ve been doing this for almost ten years now. Gosh, where does the time go?

        2. Owned a bar–the place was pretty rough and many of the men had no place to go for the holidays.

          They were always welcome at her home for the holidays.  We always had so many people there was no place to sit down.

          My sister has trown a similar thanksgiving for years–the difference is her guests aren’t the downmarket folks of Granny’s bar, my sister’s guests are itinerant intellectuals of DC.

    1. This is a presidency that has wobbled between those two poles – overweening arrogance and paralytic incompetence.

      What Klein doesn’t mention is that Bush has been loosening regulations left and right in the past few weeks. All kinds of fun stuff that makes it easier for business to plunder natural resources, and gives a big fat middle finger to the environment.

      Plus his first round of pardons was pretty tame, I’m sure he has some shockers up his sleeve.

    1. The reports coming out are that it was not hit & run but is an ongoing battle in the city. I am worried that the terrorists are using that time to kill more people and we could see thousands dead.

      Awful situation.

        1. what’s scary is that they’re using al-Qaeda tactics: coordinated attacks, police uniforms, police vehicles, assassinations of local officials.

          That makes me think that if it’s not al-Qaeda, then whoever it is might be getting their money/training from them.

        2. I doubt they’d be asking for British and US passports, and executing families at the Jewish Community Center.

          I’ll be surprised if this didn’t come from the ISI in some way.

          1. at Pakistan is going on in India over this.  The Pakistani Foreign Minister was visiting when the attacks started and had to cut short his stay.  This is going to ratchet up tensions between the two countries, which may have been the whole point of the attacks.

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