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November 21st, 2008

Death in the afternoon, and other oddments

One of our roosters has been killed. We found part of him in the side yard today, and we think the rest is inside a fox.

So now it’s just one rooster and the little hen, a brave band of two, perching in their tree. Do they grieve for their brother/husband?

In other news, apparently Hillary will be Opossum’s Secretary of State. She’s certainly qualified and it’s a position almost worthy of her gifts, but I fear the worst. The last Secretary of State who was given credit for anything or treated as a hero was Henry Kissinger (which is not to say he deserved it). Ever since then the Secretary of State has been the designated fall guy for each administration’s missteps. Given that Hillary is already loathed by the men who run the government and the media, it’s hard to imagine her emerging unscathed.

What’s really interesting, though, is that Obama is willing to entrust such a position to a woman who, according to the Obama campaign, openly lusted for his assassination. A woman who is also, according to Obama, a corrupt plotter, a secretive and sinister agent of evil, and of course a racist. Perhaps Obama’s vision of the State Department owes something to Cardinal Richelieu.

In happier news, Sexist Blowhard Twit Extraordinaire Larry Summers will not be returning to the Treasury Department. Hallefrickinglujah. According to Chris Matthews, the incessant nagging of “some feminist group” had a little something to do with that.

Posted by Violet in Various and Sundry

This entry was posted on Friday, November 21st, 2008 at 8:40 pm EST and is filed under Various and Sundry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the comments RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

34 Responses to “Death in the afternoon, and other oddments”

  1. Sis says:

    The BBC said this:

    The BBC’s Kim Ghattas, in Washington, says if Mr Obama did not want those stories out there - because he was not thinking of Mrs Clinton for the job - someone from his team would have already been scotching the reports.

    ##

    So if Obama hadn’t wanted those c*nt t-shirt wearers out there, someone from his team would have shut it down?

    November 21st, 2008 at 8:53 pm EST
  2. quixote says:

    Hillary as SecofState? God, no! Say it ain’t so! Why in hell does she keep donating her competence to that 143-day asshat?

    WHY?

    November 21st, 2008 at 9:41 pm EST
  3. Ali says:

    Hah! “Incessant nagging” pays off. I am thrilled!

    November 21st, 2008 at 10:38 pm EST
  4. Lori says:

    Yeah, the New York Times says that people around Clinton have nothing to say about the position - this is all coming from Obama’s camp.

    Obama needs her. He has no personal credibility because he has no accomplishments to his name. Obots may not care, but the world diplomatic community does, and the riots he provoked in Pakistan disturb everyone that can think. What Clinton has going for her in this negotiation (and if she should take the job) is that everyone knows the leaks are coming from the Obama camp, so if she rejects him, it sends a very dark signal to the world about Obama’s intentions, and deals him his first public failure. That would be a very big deal that would set him back quite a bit at the start.

    Anglachel is right - staggeringly, it’s all about Clinton. She commands as much attention as he does.

    It’s a risky strategy that Obama pursued. i think he was counting on her unwillingness to publicly humiliate a Democratic president-elect. Other than that, I have no idea why he would leak his pursuit of her. I don’t think he was confident he could get her any other way.

    November 21st, 2008 at 10:46 pm EST
  5. octogalore says:

    Larry ain’t out yet:

    per: http://www.reuters.com/article.....0B20081121

    “U.S. President-elect Barack Obama may consider Lawrence Summers as a successor to Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, whose term expires in January 2010, a Democratic source told Reuters on Friday.

    The New York Times reported that Summers, a former treasury secretary, is likely to be named as an economic adviser to Obama with the expectation that he will eventually be tapped for the Federal Reserve Board.

    Citing two sources familiar with the Obama transition, the newspaper also said Summers could perhaps succeed Bernanke.”

    November 21st, 2008 at 11:40 pm EST
  6. Iridescence says:

    I’m cautiously optimistic. She certainly has the ability to do well in this position and be an advocate for global womens’ rights which would be good and I like her positions on international policy. I’m also enjoying the irony of this after Obama denigrated her foreign policy credinetials during the primaries so much.

    Of course the big question is whether Obama will give her latitude and autonomy and not backstab her. I certainly don’t trust Obama but hope she can negotiate some protections for herself from him.

    Good news about that creep Summers getting passed over although the guy they’re saying is the favorite now is one of the the chief architects of the bailout so it’s only a marginal improvement in my opinion.

    November 22nd, 2008 at 4:16 am EST
  7. TheOtherDelphyne says:

    Well, I’m sorry about the rooster.

    November 22nd, 2008 at 7:23 am EST
  8. Greenconsciousness says:

    I too wish the birds had some night time protection but …. how did the fox climb the tree I wonder? Still a better death than all the factory farmed birds — they are slaughtering turkeys now. Sara Palin did an interview right in front of a slaughter -good! Let the bird eaters see where their turkey comes from. They will mock her while ripping the wings and legs off the body of their thanksgiving dinner.

    Speaking of slaughter, Summers’ is in BO’s cabinet or some job with BO - just heard it -only half listening — If Hillary wears a headscarf for talks with the misogynists when she travels to the middle east, I will be done with her.

    November 22nd, 2008 at 7:47 am EST
  9. Branjor says:

    Me too. RIP poor rooster.

    November 22nd, 2008 at 9:21 am EST
  10. Anna Belle says:

    Me three. I read this last night and thought, “Oh no!” But then my family distracted me and I forgot to come back and express my condolences. My condolences to you, your mom, and the other two in the tree.

    November 22nd, 2008 at 9:40 am EST
  11. Val says:

    Ack - we, too, have been suffering from poultry predations… We are now down to three brave, agile, & flighty lil’ hens, and three fat n’ sassy ducks.

    November 22nd, 2008 at 10:22 am EST
  12. myiq2xu says:

    If you tell MSNBC about your rooster, they’ll blame Sarah Palin.

    November 22nd, 2008 at 10:56 am EST
  13. yttik says:

    LOL, you got that right, myiq2xu. I’m about ready to do a tofurkey drop on msnbc.

    November 22nd, 2008 at 11:03 am EST
  14. Lisa says:

    yes, Sarah Palin shot it but Hillary is the one that came up with the assasination plan.

    Sorry that happened Violet.

    November 22nd, 2008 at 11:06 am EST
  15. Anna Belle says:

    Don’t forget, Lisa, that that Evil Duo is angling for the other two as we speak. They’re so nakedly ambition in their fowl hunting! Blood thirsty b****s!

    November 22nd, 2008 at 11:31 am EST
  16. TheOtherDelphyne says:

    yttik, please make sure that the tofurkey is frozen solid just like the brains of those folks at msnbc.

    November 22nd, 2008 at 11:31 am EST
  17. Princess says:

    Sad to hear of the death of your rooster. I am sure his presence will be missed.

    I am just stunned that Hilary would want to work with the POS. I am disgusted.
    I am not happy about any of this

    November 22nd, 2008 at 1:43 pm EST
  18. Greenconsciousness says:

    I love you all –nice to know there are other tofuturkey eaters out there!! Wishing you a blessed thanksgiving. Maybe we should post our delicious vegi tofu recipies?

    November 22nd, 2008 at 3:00 pm EST
  19. madamab says:

    I think we should all give Hillary some credit here. There is no one who is so good at surviving in a hostile environment as Our Girl. 17 years of hostile press, and she is more beloved than ever. Had she been the nominee, 16% of McCain’s supporters would have voted for her - that’s around 9 million people. That doesn’t even count the PUMAs who stayed home or voted third-party who would also have come out for Hillary.

    The bottom line is, we need her working for us, and it seems like the Senate isn’t going to give her the respect and autonomy she needs and deserves. I don’t trust Obama one bit, but he knows he’s got to do a lot of good in four years or he won’t have a second term. Would it really be in his interests to sabotage her?

    I dunno. I’m just thinking that Hillary can handle it - all of it. And it sure would be nice to have a GOOD Secretary of State for the first time in 8 years.

    November 22nd, 2008 at 3:15 pm EST
  20. Lisa says:

    Madamab, I think Obama will knife her in the back the minute he gets a chance. But if there is anyone in the world that can survive it, it is Hillary. Anyway, he needs her, as he is clueless. I keep remembering the SNL skit where he is president and he calls her in the middle of the night to ask her advice. She might as well be getting credit for it! She will be fantastic as SOS. If she wants it, good for her. I will love seeing her on the news more as SOS then she ever was as a senator.

    November 22nd, 2008 at 3:58 pm EST
  21. Branjor says:

    Just read a post on another board of mine. Someone’s little dog was taken away and killed by a pack of coyotes :(( . She lives in the Southwest. Anyway, in the West coyotes, bobcats, even vultures and owls will swoop up small pets, chickens and turkeys and other small animals as food is getting scarce for them in the mountains and wilderness and they are getting braver in coming towards people’s homes.

    November 22nd, 2008 at 5:33 pm EST
  22. Cyn says:

    Too bad about the rooster, Violet. My daughter had 13 Rhode Island Reds at the beginning of the year and is down to 3 hens and a rooster. And I miss those fresh brown eggs.

    November 22nd, 2008 at 5:46 pm EST
  23. Violet says:

    I too wish the birds had some night time protection but …. how did the fox climb the tree I wonder?

    I’m sure the fox (or whoever it was) took the rooster on the ground. The chickens’ pattern is to perch in their tree from nightfall to daybreak, and then to spend all the daylight hours pecking around on the ground for bugs, seeds, whatever.

    November 22nd, 2008 at 6:53 pm EST
  24. Cyn says:

    A hungry animal will find its prey. It’s what happens in nature. My daughter’s chickens were in the coop, as were my gramma’s chickens when a fox found his way in.

    You’ve reminded me of a story from long ago. My husband’s brother and his wife raised chickens. One day, my sister-in-law and I noticed the chickens pecking on one particular hen with a large growth on her neck. We were worried about the little hen, so we put her in a cardboard box with a blanket and carted her off to the vet.

    Upon arrival, we sat in the waiting room filled with dogs and cats and their well dressed owners, all chatting with each other and consoling their pets. Shortly after we arrived, people grew quiet and started eyeing our cardboard box. As the chicken was moving and making scratching noises, the box was garnering much attention and was bouncing around the floor. As the chicken in the box grew more active (she wasn’t used to being restricted), the dogs and cats started paying a lot of attention to it. I remember praying the damn box wouldn’t pop open.

    My sister-in-law and I were both very young, pregnant with our first children, totally embarrassed and tried not to make eye contact with anyone. Hell, we couldn’t even look at each other. After what seemed like an eternity, the vet, who was also probably curious as to what we had in that box, called us in. He examined the hen, determined she had a goiter and told us to keep keep her away from the other chickens until it healed.

    When we finally got out of that office, we were so totally hysterical that we collapsed in laughter. It took a good 10 minutes before my sister-in-law could even manage to start the car. God only knows what those people thought we had in the box. It was one of the best laughs I’ve ever had.

    November 22nd, 2008 at 7:59 pm EST
  25. Shane says:

    RIP for the rooster. As for this:

    What’s really interesting, though, is that Obama is willing to entrust such a position to a woman who, according to the Obama campaign, openly lusted for his assassination. A woman who is also, according to Obama, a corrupt plotter, a secretive and sinister agent of evil, and of course a racist. Perhaps Obama’s vision of the State Department owes something to Cardinal Richelieu.

    I think it just again highlights that the Obama campaign were really the ones who would ’say or do anything to win’ all along, while convincing so many people the situation was the opposite, even now. (For a lot of people its just ‘common knowledge’ that Hillary ran a ‘rough’ campaign. If you ask them, or at least the ones I’ve asked, they can’t even say how, but its the perception they’ve been given by the discourse.) And of course, its yet another example of Obama flipping on a dime and nobody bothering to point it out, relying on amnesia and the belief that because he’s doing it its somehow right. These massive contradictions and hypocrisies are only left standing because people who are in a position to point them out actively refuse to, because that wouldn’t be fair to Obama, or some nonsense like that. Just like it was unfair to Dubya to question his decisions, and look how well that worked out.

    November 22nd, 2008 at 9:20 pm EST
  26. octogalore says:

    A bit tangential, but regarding Summers. I saw a New Republic piece by a female professor that really angered me and was inspired to get a little sarcastic.

    November 23rd, 2008 at 1:01 am EST
  27. Keri says:

    Obama and the fauxgressives who backed him were always claiming Hillary did something terrible while the truth was it was Obama that had done or was doing that very thing. It was stunning, and the media just spouted out that lie again and again, just like they did for Bush.

    November 23rd, 2008 at 1:52 am EST
  28. Greenconsciousness says:

    Re: Larry Summers–There are Larry Summers defenders on Allegre’s Corner. (see Sexist Pig) When I first started reading I felt rage but they convinced me to take a second look. Go read the comments especially Texans for Hillary.

    http://alegrescorner.soapblox.net/

    November 23rd, 2008 at 8:26 am EST
  29. octogalore says:

    GC — I don’t find the Summers apologists convincing in the slightest. Yes, Summers has been a good advocate for Israel. Yes, he took a brave stance on allowing ROTC on campus after 9/11. Does this make him NOT a misogynist? Does the fact that the Clintons hired him before his misogyny became well known mean he’s not one? Does the fact that he hired 1/10 as many women as men during his term for tenured positions, and said he felt their lower IQ at the high end was a reason they weren’t more, mean he is one? I’d say no, no, and fuck yes.

    November 23rd, 2008 at 4:27 pm EST
  30. Greenconsciousness says:

    Thanks Octo, I needed that!

    November 23rd, 2008 at 7:58 pm EST
  31. Greenconsciousness says:

    and I just read Octo’s post on Summers - truely awesome - a thing of beauty

    http://octogalore.blogspot.com.....mmers.html

    November 23rd, 2008 at 8:04 pm EST
  32. djmm says:

    I am so sorry for the death of your rooster. There is a reason people hunted foxes.

    Lord Dunsany’s Curse of the Wise Woman has a great fox hunt scene in it so it might give you some vicarious satisfaction. And it is fiction (of a sort) focused on a very early effort to save an Irish bog. Incredible book.

    I would prefer Senator Clinton as Senate Majority Leader. I worry about the SOS position. But I am sure it would be a difficult position to turn down.

    djmm

    November 23rd, 2008 at 10:03 pm EST
  33. votermom says:

    Perhaps Obama’s vision of the State Department owes something to Cardinal Richelieu.

    LOLOL.
    Thanks, I needed that laugh.

    The SoS position is risky for Hillary but if she wants it I will support her decision.

    Lori, it never occurred to me that BO might have done thi spublic pursuit out of desperation … interesting idea.

    November 24th, 2008 at 8:03 am EST
  34. qaz says:

    Larry Summers: Another example of the constant chipping away at a women’s intelligence during her lifetime.

    December 1st, 2008 at 8:28 am EST

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