Coneflower Drama

So, the last of the coneflowers arrived today, seedlings with shallow roots, packed upside down and scattered all over the bottom of the box in a thin layer of dirt.  I was hoping to not have to plant them until we’d figured out a solution to the deer problem but when I saw the state they were in, what could I do?

I poked tiny holes and stuck them in.  I watered them and pleaded with the Butcher to pee around them, but not too close.  Close enough to dissuade deer but not so close as to shock or disturb them.

I don’t know.  I’m concerned.  They don’t have very big roots, so it’s going to take some luck to get the up and healthy.  And that’s if the deer don’t take off with them.

I wrote Burpee an angry letter.  And felt like an 85 year old woman with 18 cats.

But what can you do?

Isn’t This Weird?

John Aravosis is pissing and moaning because liberal groups don’t buy blog advertising, thus making it difficult for him to blog for a living.  Well, him and other, you know, important, big-name Democratic bloggers, who are bigger and more important than the rest of us.  They’re grass-roots, but not as grass-roots as the rest of us who blog but don’t earn a living from it.  They deserve to be paid.

And you know, fuck it, maybe they do.

But this isn’t about being paid.  This is about doing the wet-work of the Democrats for free for years and now trying to blackmail liberal organizations into paying you.  This might work, except, you’d think that he’s realize he’s not the only game in town–there’s a country full of people with computers and internet access writing for free.  Yeah, he has a readership, but if powerful folks start calling someone else with tips, there will go his readership.

Plus, you know it’s a blackmail tantrum because, even if you deserve to be paid, journalists aren’t paid by the people they write about (at least not in an ethical world).  They are paid by their readers and the people who want to reach those readers, the advertisers.  If you are paid by the people you write about, you are a PR person.  If you demand that the people you write about advertise with you or you won’t write about them anymore, then you’re a con artist.

But hey, what do I know?  Maybe that’s how it works at the big blogs.  I see myself as doing social commentary and steam-blowing off.  Maybe once you get to that level, you do see yourself as a vital PR person/con artist.

Still, I think it’s a little funny.  Conservatives are always pissing and moaning about how liberals think that the government owes them a living.  And I’m usually like, “What the hell are you talking about?” But in this case, I have to agree.

Heh.

The Butcher Sends Word from a Happier Place

The Orange Cat joined him in the hammock.

And Mrs. Wigglebottom wiggles her… well, her whole self.

Thanks, Butcher, I needed that.

On Whose Watch Did This Happen?!

I read over at Joe Powell’s this nonsense about how the investment advice given to small Tennessee communities by Morgan Keegan is going to wipe them out.  This is bad enough, but I invite you to ponder this:

In Lewisburg, after Mr. Overman pitched the swap idea for the sewer project, Kenneth E. Carr, a city official, attended the class. “The seminar was dull and boring,” said Mr. Carr, who still has a copy of the book, stamped with the state seal of Tennessee on every page. “I thought, ‘Well, this is approved by the state because they put their seal of approval on it.” [emphasis mine]

Hmm.  Who’s running this motherfucking state right now?  So, who is ultimately responsible for this?

But, yeah, let’s continue to fight about how the Democrats farted sunshine back before Chip Forrester ruined it all.

Did Chip Forrester give free reign to Morgan Keegan?  Or is this Jennifer Buck Wallace’s fault, somehow?

Or are we going to take a step back and admit that our problems run deeper than that?

Edited to add: Andy’ll make you sicker, if you like.

The Truth is Out There, Now

I wanted y’all to see what Representative Favors did yesterday, because it’s important.  She stood up in front of her fellow legislators and said, “I was there when the women came in … dead on arrival or hemorrhaging.”

Rep. JoAnne Favors, D-Chattanooga and a registered nurse, passionately objected to the resolution and told committee colleagues that “it disturbs me that we spend this much energy on something we can’t prevent. If we reverse Roe v. Wade tomorrow, it will not stop abortions; if we amend our Constitution, it will not stop abortions.”

And Representative Vince Dean said, “I respect her opinion.  I have my position. And my position is in line with the wishes of my constituency.”

I want you to think on that just a little, because it takes a second to get past the condescending bullshit of the first part of Dean’s comments, where he dismisses Favors’ eye-witness testimony as so much “opinion.”  But just think about what this means.

Conservative legislators in this state now know (as if they didn’t before) that outlawing abortion will not end it and that it will indeed lead to the deaths of Tennessee women.  They have heard it from a person who has seen the maimed and dead.

And, in the face of that, Dean says, basically, “That’s the wish of my constituency.”

According to Dean, if you have an abortion and it kills you, that’s a knowable and acceptable outcome to him and the people that vote for him.

One wonders, of course.  Really?  If a 15 year old girl’s step dad is raping her and she gets pregnant and self-aborts and dies, that’s okay?  She basically deserved it?  If a stay-at-home mom with three kids discovers she’s pregnant at the same time her husband loses his job, we’re all fine with her dying and leaving him with no job and three kids to raise on his own?

This is the pro-life position in this state?  “Well, if some women have to die so that there aren’t any legal abortions happening, that’s okay”?

That’s the pro-life position?  “Eh, so some women die.  That’s okay with my constituents.”

Hello?!  “Pro-life”=”some dead women”?!

Holy shit.

The Plant Update

The daisy is still in the window, waiting for a slightly warmer day to be transplanted.  But holy shit that thing is sucking up water like there’s no tomorrow.  The other set of coneflowers should arrive today.

And then that was supposed to be it.

But my co-worker tells me she has a line on some white sage, so I’ve asked her to pick me up some for my herb garden.  How could I resist?

Also, y’all may recall the mystery shrub on the side of my house, that had been cut way back to nothing?  It appears to be slowly coming back and it looks like it will have pink flowers.  I’ll take pictures and y’all can tell me what it is.