daffodilsWinter is over.  We have all decreed that it is over.  Think pansies, daffodils, and cowslips.  Anything but winter.  What are good flowers to plant now that won’t die if there is an overnight freeze?

How soon can you set out rosemary bushes and cypress from winter gifts?  Will they die if they go out now?

How about those cherry trees?  Will they bloom before Memorial Day?  (Just kidding)

91 Thoughts to “Open Thread…………………………..Sunday, March 23”

  1. Wolverine

    Happy Spring……I think.

    1. Don’t count your chickens before they hatch.

  2. Its supposed to snow on Tuesday.

    1. Only about an inch or so though, Cargo. Are you supposed to get it also?

  3. @Cargosquid
    yep…..we’re alllllllll gonnnnnnnaaaaa diiiiiiiiiiiiieeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!

  4. Wolverine

    It’s gotta stop. Somebody took my snow shovel.

    1. Stealing a guy’s snow shovel this winter should involve hard time.

  5. @Wolverine
    Mine too. Long story. Basically, trusted the wrong person.

    1. You trusted the wrong person with your shovel???????

  6. Lyssa

    Hobby Lobby/Conestoga Wagons case goes to the Supreme Court today.

  7. punchak

    “Winter is over”
    Oh, yea! Have you looked out your window today? 🙁

  8. @Moon-howler
    Yep. He asked to borrow it. I let him. It never came back. Was a guy who saw my wife struggling on the steps, soon after a bad fall….helped her down….and then thought to shovel the steps clear…not realizing that ice is slippery…snow is not. Offered to shovel for a few bucks…but I said no….but did let him borrow the shovel so he could make a few bucks.

    Meh…cheap 15 dollar shovel…charity is important. What he did is between him and God.

  9. Starryflights

    These guys have some gall. Westbrook asks the public not to picket Fred’s funeral.

    http://m.tickld.com/x/westboro-baptist-church-asks-for-people-not-to-picket-

  10. Wolverine

    It was a miracle! It snowed all day. My shovel is gone. But the snow didn’t stick on the walks or in the parking lot. A miracle, I tell you, a veritable miracle!

    1. It definitely was a no fuss no muss kind of snow. It was fun.

  11. Rick Bentley

    Being a cynic who expects the worst of people, I take my shovel indoors …

  12. @Rick Bentley
    Normally, I do too.

    But…this time I said to myself, “What the hell…why not? Charity is a virtue. And Lent is near.”

  13. Oh dear God, Obama sort of nod-bowed at the Pope. What is this world coming to?

    Impeach him!!!

  14. @Moon-howler
    Well…Yeah…..

    Not for the Pope thing, though…..

  15. Everyone needs to know how to blockquote. It is very easy to do.

    left arrow symbol blockquote right arrow symbol

    to make it stop

    left arrow symbol, forward slash blockquote right arrow symbol. Leave no spaces

    Pretend that the ( ) are left and right arrow symbols or greater than or less than symbols.

    (blockquote) blah blah blah (/blockquote)

    I can’t actually to it to show you or it will just do it.

  16. Lafayette

    @Moon-howler
    You’ve got mail!

    1. Where is this mail? I can’t find it on my house account?

  17. Mom

    @Lafayette
    So do you, just don’t tell Moon because its the type of thing that will drive her insane and make her froth at the mouth.

  18. Lafayette

    @Mom
    LMAO!! Got it and roger that!

  19. Ray Beverage

    @Moon-howler

    Hey, if he was Roman Catholic, he would have had to genuflect! At least that is what the Sisters of Mercy drilled in my head years ago….LOL!

  20. Californian Democrat state senator, huge anti-2nd amendment statist, arrested for running Russian machine guns to Philippine MILF guerrillas. New York Times runs it on page 21. Most of the mainstream media….silent. When its mentioned, its a short blurb.

    Now, imagine if his party was Republican……how much press would there be?

  21. More on that Democrat Senator gun runner: He also wanted to sell rocket launchers to the MILF.

    Just think if he had been implicated in closing a lane on a bridge!

  22. Emma

    @Cargosquid Reasonable, since the whole idea of a “good guy with a gun” has been officially debunked. But the bad guy with a gun is A-OK.

    1. By problem is how to tell the good guys from the bad guys with guns. I am not sure there is an answer, btw.

  23. Cato the Elder

    Cargosquid :
    More on that Democrat Senator gun runner: He also wanted to sell rocket launchers to the MILF.
    Just think if he had been implicated in closing a lane on a bridge!

    I’d really like to meet a MILF with a rocket launcher….

  24. Rick Bentley

    I have another Netflix recommendation. The documentary “Stories We Tell”, directed by the actress Sarah Polley (who I thought of as the cute chick from “Go”, but not think of as an extremely skilled movie maker).

    Without getting into spoilers, it’s about reconstructing her parents’ lives, and it’s got twists and turns, and it’s very skillfully made into a very interesting movie. It was the best documentary that I saw last year, and I saw at least 30 of ’em. An A+ movie.

  25. Rick Bentley

    My bad; sorry. That movie’s not on Netflix. I noticed today that it’s On Demand. My bad. Wish I could delete posts.

    A great one on Netflix that I guarantee anyone in the world will enjoy is “Bill Cunningham New York”, about a famed photographer and the unusual life he’s led.

  26. @Moon-howler
    The bad guys are a) the ones shooting at YOU. b) hypocritical anti-rights Democrat politicians that sought bribes and is part of a gun running scheme smuggling rocket launchers to Philippino Communist rebels., with an associate named Shrimp Boy Chow.

    And yet….MSNBC is silent….as is CNN. Where’s Maddow?
    “When there are gonzo political corruption stories, you cover them” — Rachel @Maddow, 21st February, 2014.

    I guess “gonzo” means “Republican”

    I guess traffic jams in New Jersey is SOO much more important.

    1. We haven’t covered anything about Christie. Why? Can you say, I don’t give a sh!t? That’s New Jersey’s problem.

      Cargo, sometimes the shooting hasn’t started yet or you can’t see who is doing the shooting. That’s the part of good guys/bad guys that bothers me. On the other hand, not sure what you do about it. That’s the reason I like cops and swat teams doing the good guy part. It’s easy to distinguish.

      I know nothing about shrimp boys.

  27. Emma

    @Cargosquid or c)WaPo columnists who rail against gun rights, but when a group of unarmed black teenagers decide to take a nighttime swim in his Georgetown (yes, the Georgetown in DC, with their strict gun control) pool, he shoots them with an unregistered .22. His defense? He said he felt he had the right to use any means necessary to protect himself and his family? Oh, really?

    That was over 20 years ago, but it sticks in my mind as an example of the hypocrisy of some in the gun-control crowd who flout the law that they think should apply to everyone else but themselves.

    1. All sorts of people who think that the law or rules are for everyone but them.

    1. Very interesting article, Rick. You and I often disagree about overall issues involving immigration, I expect we come closer than you think about neighborhood issues that just happen to involve immigrants. It sounds like Fairfax County needs to put some teeth in its enforcement.

      By the same token, the County has to ensure that some D-bag isn’t reporting people for having a bag of mulch in their driveway. That happened to me. Yes, property code enforcement can be used as retribution.

      What is your opinion about all this, Rick, and what advice could you give them?

      Are we far enough away that we can have a thread on this topic without all frothing at the mouth?

  28. Rick Bentley

    I’m probably frothing at the mouth less, since my neighborhood is in decent shape. But I still feel that we either prevent overcrowding, or we let our neighborhoods turn into Spanish ghettos. Point blank.

    My advice for Fairfax is to enforce their laws. Same advice I have for our State and Federal governments. And my advice to citizens is to insist that our governments enforce existing laws. Don’t let them tell you that they can’t – that some “comprehensive overhaul” is needed before they can do their jobs and protect your interests.

    1. I think you limit your concern when you say “Spanish ghettos.” Fairfax County has all sorts of other ethnicities that are creating issues in neighborhoods. Been to Centreville lately?

  29. Rick Bentley

    Fairfax has a fairly lenient standard IMO – anyone related by blood or marriage, plus up to three more people, can occupy a house.

  30. Rick Bentley

    As far as something that is large-scale enough to affect a wide swath of neighborhoods, it’s Spanish.

    I see why you call attention to the term “Spanish” – it seems extraneous to you. But I’m going to keep using it. Because the phenomenon of a large number of people coming into a town and promulgating their own cultural norms and language is different from a smaller group doing it.

    I can see where it would make some people warmer and fuzzier to talk about this in an abstracted way. But there’s value in defining precisely what the problem is. It has to do with scale.

    1. Actually I am not speaking in the abstract. Centreville is certainly not Spanish. Lots of Koreans and lots of middle eastern people. Ever been to the shopping center where Glory Days is? I think there might be 2 shops that aren’t owned by immigrants.

      My only point is that other immigrants live collectively (for lack of a better word) and also tend to stick to their own culture.

  31. Rick Bentley

    Which is okay within reason. When they start to form their own culture all around your house, and change your own standard of living, in violation of the law, expect sparks.

    1. I think we are all within our rights to expect newcomers (regardless of origin) to comply with existing neighborhood standards. Those who do not need to be brought into line. For those who think that government has no business being involved with property rights, I would like to hear what they have to say on this issue.

      I say they have every right to set standards for the good of everyone. It can’t be the wild west.

  32. Peterson

    Yellen must have gotten a stern talking to… she is now saying:

    “This extraordinary commitment is still needed and will be for some time, and I believe that view is widely shared by my fellow policymakers at the Fed,”

    http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-31/yellen-says-extraordinary-support-needed-for-some-time-.html

    Quite a stark difference from what she said a short time ago. She has now proven herself to be no more that a puppet. Just when I finally gain respect for someone in this administration for being honest something like this happens.

    1. It sounds like you just look for that proverbial pigeon to come along for the daily dump on you. Why not give the lady a chance?

  33. Rick Bentley

    Ran across this on Drudge; looks like some hard feelings are going on in Long Island over illegal renters : http://www.infowars.com/cops-to-inspect-homes-without-notice-for-illegal-tenants/

  34. @Peterson
    Did you really expect her to do anything different? The administration HAS to pump money to keep up appearances of a thriving stock market and lack of recession. They want to keep that market up artificially, so when the GOP takes office…it crashes.

    1. Are you kidding me? Tell me you are kidding me. Cargo, that is pure paranoia. When is the GOP taking office? How long can Obama prop it up? Aren’t you glad the stock market is healthy?

  35. Pat.Herve

    @Rick Bentley
    Watch out for the infowars web site – full of virus and malware.

  36. @Moon-howler
    Paranoia? The ONLY thing keeping the market afloat is the $85 billion per month.

    You know that Obama is NOT going to let the market crash by cutting that spending.

    Thus….it will when the GOP takes over Congress and perhaps the Presidency.

    The stock market is not healthy. If the market is healthy, then a man with two broken legs using crutches is healthy. Sure…its up. Its standing on over a trillion of free money.

    1. QE is not keeping the stock market afloat. It might influence the stock market but it isn’t keeping it afloat. Right now, the stock market is pretty darn healthy, alsthough not as healthy as last year. Tomorrow it might not be.

      QE is affecting interest rates, CDs etc. Those offer no returns so people are investing in the stock market to grow their money. That’s working out well for a whole lot of people, especially last year. It will work well until it doesn’t. The stock market adjusts itself and goes through cycles.

      The doom and gloom is misplaced.

    2. QE is not keeping the stock market afloat. It might influence the stock market but it isn’t keeping it afloat. Right now, the stock market is pretty darn healthy, alsthough not as healthy as last year. Tomorrow it might not be.

      QE is affecting interest rates, CDs etc. Those offer no returns so people are investing in the stock market to grow their money. That’s working out well for a whole lot of people, especially last year. It will work well until it doesn’t. The stock market adjusts itself and goes through cycles.

      The doom and gloom is misplaced and misapplied.

      My problem has always been timing.

  37. Rick Bentley

    Really Pat? I guess Ad-Aware blocked it for me.

  38. Starryflights

    OPINION
    Immigration Reform Is a Moral Imperative
    Laws to deal with those already here should respect each person’s God-given dignity.

    By RALPH REED And RUSSELL MOORE
    March 30, 2014 6:48 p.m. ET

    Republicans in the House of Representatives—sensing the political winds at their backs heading into the midterm election and distrustful of President Obama’s willingness to enforce the law—have opted to do nothing about immigration. Their strategy is shortsighted.

    But we also must remember that every individual is created in the image of God and precious in His sight. This means laws for how immigrants will enter the U.S. in the future and how those already here are dealt with should acknowledge each person’s God-given dignity. That means a system that allows new Americans to find safe and legal work to support their immediate families.

    It makes sense to prioritize entry for those who have education and job skills, and the spouses and minor children of legal immigrants already here also deserve to be let in. However, chain migration—the current failed system that treats every blood relative the same for purposes of entry to the U.S.—needs to be replaced with a more humane and rational system that strengthens marriage and family.

    Someone who obeys the law should not be forced to wait years, and in some cases decades, to be joined by his or her spouse or child. Strong marriages and families help produce better citizens.

    Christian leaders, the business community and law-enforcement officials have been calling for months for a conservative approach to immigration reform. “Congress must work together to pass effective immigration reform that adheres to conservative principles: the rule of law, security and safety, family unity, and human dignity,” urges Sheriff Mark Curran Jr. of Lake County, Ill. “We need to ask ourselves what our founding fathers would do, because we know what Jesus would do.”

    http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304185104579437203436109732?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj.com%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304185104579437203436109732.html

    Immigration reform is the Christian thing to do. Well stated, Mr Reed!

  39. punchak

    WHY do I have to go to the BBC news to find out that Chile
    has been hit by a BIG earthquake?

    1. I t notice of all the big earthquakes from the US Geological Survey. They even have an embedded map. there have been qyuite a few large earthquakes in the area in the past week or so.

      https://sslearthquake.usgs.gov/ens/%5D.

  40. @punchak
    I found out from Drudge.

    @Starryflights
    “That means a system that allows new Americans to find safe and legal work to support their immediate families.”

    I’d be happy if the government was working on programs that allows CURRENT Americans to find safe and legal work to support their families. I mean….President Obama has stated that he’s been focused “like a laser” on that problem since 2009.

  41. Cato the Elder

    Moon-howler :
    QE is not keeping the stock market afloat. It might influence the stock market but it isn’t keeping it afloat. Right now, the stock market is pretty darn healthy, alsthough not as healthy as last year. Tomorrow it might not be.
    QE is affecting interest rates, CDs etc. Those offer no returns so people are investing in the stock market to grow their money. That’s working out well for a whole lot of people, especially last year. It will work well until it doesn’t. The stock market adjusts itself and goes through cycles.
    The doom and gloom is misplaced and misapplied.
    My problem has always been timing.

    THIS is precisely the right attitude. Stay at the party as long as you can, but make sure to leave before the check arrives. (and it’s going to be a big one when the Fed pulls out..)

    1. Its knowing when the check is going to arrive that is problematic for me.

    1. It’s true. However, I will cut them a break. How many of us know that much about our ETFs and mutual funds?

  42. Peterson

    Moon-howler :
    QE is not keeping the stock market afloat. It might influence the stock market but it isn’t keeping it afloat.

    Then why do they continue to pump $85 BILLION a month into the market? Think about it… during an average month there are 20 business days. The Fed is pumping $4.25 BILLION a day into the market. You don’t think it would it would have a significant impact if they just stopped?

    1. THEY aren’t pumping $85 Billion into the stock market. QE pumps money into the bond market with the goal being to increase the supply of money.

      One way it affects the stock market is that interest rates are so low that people invest in the stock market to grow their money.

  43. @Moon-howler
    You know who else is investing in those bonds using free money? The companies. They are getting interest free loans. They use that to buy bonds.

    1. I don’t know what you are talking about. What free money? I am not sure why anyone would want to buy bonds. What are the advantages in buying a bond?

  44. The QE purchase of mortgage backed securities is removing that albatross from whomever was owning them.
    Also
    http://reason.com/archives/2012/09/13/occupy-the-fed
    http://www.marquetteassociates.com/Research/Chart-of-the-Week-Posts/Chart-of-the-Week/ArticleID/126/Quantitative-Easing-and-the-U-S-Stock-Market

    They aren’t buying stocks, but, as I said, QE is pumping up the stock market. THAT is its purpose. And now the market is addicted to Fed $. If it “tapers” the market drops like a rock.

    1. Cargo, that isn’t the purpose of QE. The purpose of QE is to pump up the economy. You know, more companies, more jobs, more employes, etc etc. The stock market is not the economy.

      It really isn’t to pump up the stock market. Now, does the stock market profit from the fact that this is not the time to buy bonds or other like assets….yes. People put their money in stocks and mutual funds because that’s where they will get a return.

  45. @Moon-howler
    Then its doing a very poor job. The only thing that it is doing, as per the links from people who know what it is, say that it is pumping up the stock market.

    The rising stock market is being used as a symbol of a “healthy” economy.

    Yet another smoke and mirrors from this administration.

    When the QE stops, we will have another recession and it will be bigger. And inflation will rise.

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