Thursday News and Open Thread

By Jeralyn, Section Blog Related
Posted on Thu Apr 05, 2012 at 01:23:40 PM EST
Tags: (all tags)

Share This: Digg!

Schapelle Corby news: This week Indonesia's Justice and Human Rights Ministry officially recommended Schapelle Corby be granted clemency due to the decline of her mental health and that her sentence be cut by 10 years. The Director of Prisons joined in the request. With the 19 month sentence cuts she's received over the years, she could be released in 2014. Today, Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard joined the recommendation.

The decision rests with Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who has opposed clemency in the past. A Supreme Court judge is said to have made the same recommendation. It may be months before Yudhoyono announces his decision.

[More...]

Whitney Houston's autopsy report has been released. Cause of death: Drowning. Mode of death: Accidental. Contributing factors to the cause of death: Heart disease (atherosclerosis) and cocaine use. You can read it here.

There was no alcohol in her system. There was a minor amount of cocaine residue found in her suite (hardly justifying the blaring headline at the Orlanado Sun-Sentinel "White Powder Everywhere." There was some on a "small" spoon, and "remnants" on a portable mirror and inside a bathroom drawer that held the mirror, and remnants on "two pieces a small plastic bag", that had been ripped open. The degree to which the mainstream media in this country exaggerates and sensationalizes the news is pathetic.

Whitney's right coronary artery had a 60% obstruction.

Part of her body had been scalded by the very hot water in the tub -- over 90 degrees and she was submerged over an hour. Her assistant says she was found face-down in the water. Maybe she was waiting for the tub water to cool down and had a cardiac event and fell in? The report doesn't address this.

But she did not die from an overdose of drugs, a combination of drugs or a combination of drugs and alcohol. The report does not conclude or leave open the possibility she died from a cocaine overdose or drug combination. Note that the first page of the report is dated Feb. 12, 2012 at 4:45 a.m., the day after Whitney's death. It was written before the autopsy or any drug testing was done. The statement on that page that "she possibly overdosed" on a combination of drugs and alcohol was speculation at that time, based on what was found in the room and not supported by the later toxicology and autopsy reports.

The autopsy was done on Feb. 12 at 11:25 a.m. There is no mention of an overdose of cocaine, just a reference to cocaine use. The toxicology report is dated March 7, 2012.

Things we didn't need to know: Her top teeth were a prosthetic, she had breast implants and her hair was a weave.

Charles Manson is up for parole consideration. He's 77.

This is an open thread, all topics welcome.

< 9/11 Defendants Military Commission Proceedings Scheduled | Viktor Bout Sentenced to 25 Years, Judge Rejects Life Sentence >

Legal

Nothing on this site should be construed as legal advice. TalkLeft does not give legal advice.

TalkLeft is not responsible for and often disagrees with material posted in the comments section. Read at your own risk.

TalkLeft's DMCA Infringement Notice Policy

Thursday News and Open Thread | 67 comments (67 topical)

Readers Must Login or Create an Account to Comment

Stop! Thieves! (5.00 / 3) (#2)
by kdog on Thu Apr 05, 2012 at 02:37:52 PM EST

A waitress in Minnesota, struggling mother of 5, thinks her prayers are answered when she gets a
$ 12,000 tip from a customer.

But then she makes the rookie error of contacting the authorities, who steal the 12 large from her and her family that so desperately can use it.

She was originally advised if no one claimed it in 60 days it was all hers, then she was told 90 days, now all they wanna give her is a measley grand "reward". All of a sudden some snout smelled weed, and its "drug money", even though there is no evidence of that outside of a smell no one but the police smelled.

Welcome to the world of legal thievery lady, good luck getting what is rightfully yours via lawsuit.

A new low for the asset forfeiture racket...c'mon Moorhead PD, do the right thing!

Once again (5.00 / 1) (#4)
by Militarytracy on Thu Apr 05, 2012 at 03:04:39 PM EST

How come you must constantly recertify dogs used to investigate fires but a drug dog proclaimed to be a drug dog needs no such thing and is always a drug sniffing miracle wonder? I guess generally speaking, people who burn things down for insurance purposes can afford better lawyers to argue for them than most drug dealers. I've seen so many trained dogs flunk a field tracking test it isn't even funny. Bring in a dog in heat to run around the place for five seconds, and everyone flunks...none of them can remember what it was that they were doing there.


With 11 grand in it for Moorhead PD... (5.00 / 2) (#5)
by kdog on Thu Apr 05, 2012 at 03:18:03 PM EST

I'm surprised they didn't say the K9 smelled weed, coke, heroin, pcp, and airplane glue. It's not like they gotta prove anything...it's asset forfeiture, not a criminal case...carte blanche baby, a license to steal.

Insult to injury, did ya see where the police spokesman said they were on the victim's side? Rob me if you must, but don't rob me and tell me ya love me...that's too much to bear. Bastards.


And cadaver dogs fail all the time too (5.00 / 1) (#6)
by Militarytracy on Thu Apr 05, 2012 at 03:51:34 PM EST

Someone is missing, they take a couple of cadaver dogs out to the area where the body is found weeks later, but dogs said nothing was out there. It is really frustrating, how in our current culture nobody challenges this dog business. It is a free pass for cops to say just about anything about anything. You can be pulled over and searched because some cop says his dog gave him some kind of a signal. It's crazy.

Sometimes Delilah signals that she needs to go outside to potty, but she really only wants to go outside to jump in the pool and then get all nasty and come back in the house all nasty. Delilah lies!


: I love dogs, and I am (5.00 / 1) (#9)
by Zorba on Thu Apr 05, 2012 at 04:41:04 PM EST

always impressed by what dogs can be trained to do. However, dogs generally really, really want to please their owners/handlers. (And sometimes, dogs are just being dogs.) How many of these dogs are picking up on cues from their handlers, and "alerting" because of such cues? How many are continually being retrained and re-certified? Have there been any kind of controlled, double-blind studies on the reliability of drug-sniffing, cadaver-sniffing, explosive-sniffing (or whatever) dogs? Until there are such studies (and careful analysis, and continual training) are in place, I would not use a dog's nose as definitive proof of anything in the legal realm.

It has certainly been shown that (5.00 / 2) (#8)
by Zorba on Thu Apr 05, 2012 at 04:30:55 PM EST

Results demonstrated that "92% of the bills were positive for cocaine with a mean amount of 28.75+/-139.07 micrograms per bill, a median of 1.37 μg per bill, and a range of 0.01-922.72 μg per bill. Heroin was detected in seven bills in amounts ranging from 0.03 to 168.5 μg per bill: 6-AM and morphine were detected in three bills; methamphetamine and amphetamine in three and one bills, respectively, and PCP was detected in two bills in amounts of 0.78 and 1.87 μg per bill. Codeine was not detected in any of the one-dollar bills analyzed". The study confirmed that although paper currency was most often contaminated with cocaine, other drugs of abuse may also be detected in bills.

Would it be surprising if, besides cocaine, meth, heroine, and PCP, marijuana was "detected" on paper currency? Lots of people have lost their perfectly legal cash because of some drug residue. You never know where your paper money has been, or what it has been exposed to, that may still cling to it.


Listening to Josh talk on the phone (5.00 / 3) (#27)
by Militarytracy on Thu Apr 05, 2012 at 06:59:54 PM EST

to one of his friends for the first time in weeks. He's talking about how boring going through all this has been. And I'm thinking about how narcotics have been shown to disrupt PTSD, he doesn't remember the trauma and the pain. If he ever did we'd never get him to finish this process that saved his life.

And yet, my country is going through a time when narcotics are considered so overall heinous that the DEA is restricting the manufacture of them for medical use. And when we leave Afghanistan all those soybean fields will return to poppies.

Josh is almost off the Narco. He doesn't like how narcotics make him feel outside of pain relief so he takes one a day now in the morning, after that it is Ibuprofen. When his doctors began giving him some Valium through his I.V. before taking him into the surgery room for his second surgery in 15 days he began to cry because he said he was about to stop remembering and he hated not remembering. His doctor stroked his hand and told him, "No son, you don't want to remember any of this". And today he is happy, yacking away happy with his friend on the phone and he doesn't remember the trauma of what he went through.

And the drug wars rage on.

Live long... (5.00 / 2) (#28)
by desertswine on Thu Apr 05, 2012 at 08:16:35 PM EST

and prosper. As an old Trekkie, I just thought that this was the coolest picture. And NN looks beautiful.

: Oh, she DOES look great! (5.00 / 1) (#33)
by gyrfalcon on Thu Apr 05, 2012 at 11:45:57 PM EST

Thanks for the pic!

: Oh she does look wonderful (none / 0) (#35)
by sj on Fri Apr 06, 2012 at 12:10:12 AM EST

I have to say, I did not care for Zoe Saldana as Uhuru in the Star Trek reboot. She's lovely, but lacks the innate grace that characterizes Nichelle Nichols. The other "sideways" casting was fine with me.

Charles Pierce on ABC's (5.00 / 2) (#37)
by ruffian on Fri Apr 06, 2012 at 08:29:09 AM EST

story on teen exorcists.

It has come to this.

Freakin hilarious (5.00 / 1) (#42)
by Militarytracy on Fri Apr 06, 2012 at 09:54:42 AM EST

The dad who instructs, the Bob Larson guy, says he has preformed over 10,000 exocisms over the past 30 years. Isn't that like a demon a day? When did he have time for family vacations? Being an exorcist must pay well, since he had to raise a family on it....or maybe there are quickie exorcisms, mini demon removal?


It reminds me of the tale end of my (5.00 / 1) (#44)
by Militarytracy on Fri Apr 06, 2012 at 10:18:04 AM EST

daughter's Christianity. When she stopped showing up they started showing up at her house of course. They told her they were sorry that she had experienced "church hurt" over discussing with her that if her brother wasn't saved he was going to hell, they wanted to make it right.

She went to a Bible study after that about a passage in the book of Mark concerning the arrest of Jesus. She read the whole book of Mark though before the study...silly silly girl. Anyhow they are going over "the scripture" and discussing it when my daughter pipes up that she wants to understand the significance of a naked man running down the street after Jesus' arrest. Because she brought that part of the scripture up she said the whole group shunned her, several women told her that they had never noticed that particular verse. She wants to know how they have not when they all profess to take the Bible completely to heart, line by soul saving line. I tried to do my motherly duty and square this for her. I told her the significance is to allow everyone to know there have always been streakers, since the dawn of civilizition, people streak.

So she stopped going to church again after that and a couple from the church came to their house again demanding church going compliance. My daughter explained to them that with the stress of her brother and her upcoming wedding she didn't need church stress and that was what was happening to her and her family. The husband then told her that the devil was in her house :) That really freaked her out.

The wife wanted to know if that was all that was going on, and it wasn't, there were more socks on the floor. She told the wife that she was disturbed by this business about gayness being a sin. She said that she believed that people were born with their sexual preferences and it was as natural as everything else. The wife disagreed, she said that we were all created in the image of God, so to be gay was to choose to deviate. WHO KNEW GOD WAS HETROSEXUAL? This is huge news to me, I never knew that when God got it on he got it on with.....who does God get it on with? Oy! But my daughter asked her if her brother was a sinner too, because he was born genetically different from all the rest of us in his immediate vicinity...and she angrily told both of them that her brother was created in God's image too. So the Christianity ends in my family again......

What in the hell is wrong with all these damned crazy Christians these day?


I'm sorry your daughter was exposed to (5.00 / 1) (#47)
by sj on Fri Apr 06, 2012 at 10:44:25 AM EST

church stress. Or church hurt. But thank you so much for sharing it with us!

And this!

I told her the significance is to allow everyone to know there have always been streakers, since the dawn of civilizition, people streak.

Can I say again how much I appreciate you?


Josh is reminding me that (5.00 / 2) (#61)
by Militarytracy on Fri Apr 06, 2012 at 12:07:57 PM EST

one of his classmates goes to a church where their minister is possessed by God, and then God speaks to them through the minister. Wooo Hoooo! Giant phucking egos at work there :)

I was baptized by the Holy Spirit when I was 12 and I can speak in tongues. Actually I preformed this self inflicted insanity upon myself so that a large group of adults would take their hands off of my body and stop praying for me to be baptized by the Holy Spirit. A kid will do most anything to escape being engulfed by around fifteen wacko adults all touching them until a miracle happens. After about five minute of that I was happy to preform the miracle, but it was degrading and I did cry. Which I was told were tears of joy, not tears of shame and self defeat.

So when my daughter first was discussing with me her desire to check out this Christianity thing and I was expressing some of my concerns I reminded her that I know a little bit about this stuff, and I can speak in tongues. Then I started doing it in the kitchen just so she would see that I had not lost my talents. She shook her head and told me that sometimes she really hates me.


: Ha! Always lister to your mother. :) (none / 0) (#63)
by Angel on Fri Apr 06, 2012 at 12:14:45 PM EST

: You are indeed (none / 0) (#64)
by sj on Fri Apr 06, 2012 at 12:19:39 PM EST

a woman of many talents.

Church hurt? More like church hate. (5.00 / 1) (#49)
by Angel on Fri Apr 06, 2012 at 11:05:19 AM EST

This (5.00 / 2) (#50)
by Ga6thDem on Fri Apr 06, 2012 at 11:05:59 AM EST

is where the fundamentalists get themselves is so much trouble. They can spout verses left and right so as to make themselves seem righteous but then when challenged with a verse that doesn't fit with what they are thinking they go nuts.

Too bad she didn't ask about the naked man at our church's bible studies. Our priest would have answered her question and then moved on. In fact, he would have welcomed the fact that someone actually wanted to know about that and the significance of it.

They think the bible is "inerrant" but if it's "inerrant" then we should be having slaves should we not?

These people are doing their best to ruin a religion. I tell them if they spent more time in a soup kitchen or working for a food pantry than they did worrying about "demons" or some other stuff, we'd all be the better for it.


great story MT! (5.00 / 2) (#53)
by ruffian on Fri Apr 06, 2012 at 11:17:05 AM EST

They really should just stick with the line the nuns had when I was in school - basically, don't try to make sense of it, just have faith. Stop trying to rationalize it through bible verses. You don't see many Catholics throwing Bible verses around.


: I like Lewis Black concerning the (5.00 / 1) (#55)
by Militarytracy on Fri Apr 06, 2012 at 11:24:42 AM EST

Old Testament, if Christians want to understand the Old Testament they should consult the people who they stole it from. And Jews will explain it to them in their very Jewy Jewy way :)

What's wrong? It's the questions, MT (5.00 / 1) (#56)
by Anne on Fri Apr 06, 2012 at 11:25:32 AM EST

Because "faith" for a lot of these people carries with it the givens of acceptance and belief, and if you are questioning, you are not accepting or, apparently, believing.

Never mind that the person with questions is trying to understand and reconcile the conflicts between this world and the world of Jesus - you aren't supposed to even see the conflicts, much less anything out loud about them.

In my opinion, if this church is sending out people who cannot brook any questions, and are just looking for a return to the fold of a repentant and compliant sheep, your daughter is in the wrong church.

She might want to look into the Unitarians - I think they are quite open to questions, and guiding people to their individual best understanding of what their own faith and its meaning in their lives. I went to a funeral service some years ago for a friend whose daughters were friends of my daughters, and it might have been the least judgmental church experience I've had - and I'm an Episcopalian!

I'm guessing there might not be too many Unitarian Universalist churches in your area, but who knows.

The truth is - for me, anyway - that church-going doesn't mean anything other than that a whole bunch of people get to see who is - and isn't - showing up; it doesn't make anyone a better "Christian" than anyone else - in some cases, as we know, it's a total head-fake to keep people from seeing what goes on behind closed doors.


: Unfortunately Anne (5.00 / 2) (#58)
by Militarytracy on Fri Apr 06, 2012 at 11:32:48 AM EST

There is no Unitarian Church here. I told her at the beginning of her spiritual search that it was a pity there wasn't a Unitarian Church here because we would all go with them. There just isn't enough guilt and shame and exclusion in a Unitarian Church for this town :)

Can we nominate some people for him to (5.00 / 2) (#52)
by ruffian on Fri Apr 06, 2012 at 11:14:31 AM EST

work on?


That was on Nightline? (none / 0) (#38)
by sj on Fri Apr 06, 2012 at 08:48:56 AM EST

ABC must be one of those under consideration for the reality show. I saw (part of) a segment yesterday on them on yesterday on Good Morning America.

Twisted.


I loved Pierce's line (5.00 / 1) (#51)
by ruffian on Fri Apr 06, 2012 at 11:13:41 AM EST

"The power of Bravo commands you"

If that does not just say it all...


Gimme a weekend... (none / 0) (#41)
by kdog on Fri Apr 06, 2012 at 09:41:47 AM EST

with those girls and I'll excorcise the crazy outta them. For the low low price of $666.00


::snort:: (5.00 / 1) (#43)
by sj on Fri Apr 06, 2012 at 10:13:49 AM EST

Promise? (5.00 / 2) (#45)
by Militarytracy on Fri Apr 06, 2012 at 10:20:21 AM EST

That's practically non-profit charging, we've got a lot of these kids kdog. Maybe we should start a charity to pay for the kdog treatment and recovery clinic.


Sounds like so much fun... (5.00 / 3) (#48)
by kdog on Fri Apr 06, 2012 at 10:45:07 AM EST

I'd do it for free...send me your brainwashed, your sheltered, your homeschooled...I'll turn 'em to the good side of the force they've confused with the dark side;)


I recognize you now! (5.00 / 3) (#54)
by ruffian on Fri Apr 06, 2012 at 11:20:12 AM EST

You're the one my mother warned me about!


: Turned into song (none / 0) (#67)
by CoralGables on Fri Apr 06, 2012 at 04:18:33 PM EST

in the caribbean rock and roll genre, titled "We are the people our parents warned us about"

I'm not so sure... (5.00 / 0) (#59)
by MileHi Hawkeye on Fri Apr 06, 2012 at 11:43:24 AM EST

that you've been able to work your magic on a certain someone around here yet.


Kdog, buddy (none / 0) (#60)
by Zorba on Fri Apr 06, 2012 at 12:05:20 PM EST

You say you want to turn them to the "good side" of the force. I expect that you might totally freak them out! Not that a good freak-out wouldn't do a lot of these people a whole lot of good. ;-)


More daily incongruency (5.00 / 1) (#46)
by Militarytracy on Fri Apr 06, 2012 at 10:37:06 AM EST

The Battalion Commander created a golf tournament. Don't be shocked, but with the ongoing war on terror and all that that entails nobody signed up to play in the golf tournament. A seething pouting email went out yesterday, and my husband came home to tell me that inspite of everything going on he MUST golf today.

He golfs left handed, though he is right handed, I don't know why...he's weird. But it did allow me to buy him some decent clubs at an incredible price about two years ago. And he does golf with his friend Mike when he is here for schooling, so once every year and a half he golfs in old beat up shorts. He had a hell of a time today trying to figure out what to wear poor guy. He went out the door in a polo and some 5.11 Tactical pants. If it gets hot out there he is going to burn alive.

Anyhow, the civilians can eat cake and the soldiers must golf.

"Seething pouty email" (5.00 / 1) (#62)
by Zorba on Fri Apr 06, 2012 at 12:11:56 PM EST

And now people like your husband must enter the tournament. Wonder how much this tourney is costing? Didn't the Battalion Commander read about the GSA over-spending on conferences scandal? Yes, I know this is the military, not the GSA, and I truly believe that the military needs and deserves good R&R opportunities to help deal with all the stresses they encounter. But "forcing" (or what amounts to forcing) people to play in a golf tournament that they don't want to participate in strikes me as neither restful nor recreational. Geez. The BC needs to get a clue.


I bought lefty golf clubs in a similar (5.00 / 1) (#65)
by ruffian on Fri Apr 06, 2012 at 01:12:30 PM EST

situation a couple of years ago. Love those working golf tournies. So much fun.

Hope your hubby at least enjoys a day outdoors. That is how I view a day of golf - the nicest manmade parks in FL are really the golf courses.


: So you golf with the creative side of (none / 0) (#66)
by Militarytracy on Fri Apr 06, 2012 at 01:17:58 PM EST

your brain too? Strange phenom, with a cost savings on clubs :)

While the water was probably hot (none / 0) (#1)
by me only on Thu Apr 05, 2012 at 02:25:16 PM EST

at one point, 90F is not hot water. For reference at hot tub is 101-105. Hot tap water is 120 - 140 F (depending on your water heater setting). My wife claims that the 120 F in our hose, is "freezing cold."

There was a "plethora of medication." Love the term plethora.

Dr. Drew said he suspected seizure (none / 0) (#3)
by Militarytracy on Thu Apr 05, 2012 at 02:59:14 PM EST

She had very empty bottles of prescription anti anxiety drugs, she was ahead of schedule if she was the only person taking her prescriptions, but she had very little of it in her system. He suspects she was swearing them off which stressed her body, and then she did a little coke and it may have caused a seizure. That is his theory as to why she was facedown in the water and had drown. He said that even though she had some heart blockage, it wasn't enough to cause a cardiac event that would bring about her death in this fashion. No way we will ever know though for certain exactly how she died.

Dr. Drew isn't what I'd consider an authority (none / 0) (#7)
by Farmboy on Thu Apr 05, 2012 at 04:08:34 PM EST

on much of anything. He has a tendency to open his mouth when he isn't in possession of all the facts, and his number one diagnosis is addiction.

Back in the 90s when I was a grad student his MTV road show came to ISU. A number of students volunteered to get help for their situations and the answer was always the same. Feeling depressed? Addictive personality. Missing home? Addictive personality. Wishing others would respect you? Addictive personality.

When he responded to a young girl's description of being raped with, "Addictive personality. Your behaviors caused this to happen," I was out of the room before they could throw me out.


That's sad (none / 0) (#25)
by Militarytracy on Thu Apr 05, 2012 at 06:14:28 PM EST

He does seem overly fond of addiction at times.


He and his producers have also (none / 0) (#30)
by gyrfalcon on Thu Apr 05, 2012 at 11:38:27 PM EST

become overly fond of right-wing nutjobs as guests. I almost fell out of my chair when I glanced over at the TV and say the hideous Pam Geller, of "Ground Zero Mosque" uproar fame, as a guest on the show discussing something or other.

Then about a week later, there she was again for some other subject-- treated with complete respect by "Dr. Drew." There have been other similar guests in the last few months, too.


: Sounds like Drew has an addiction (none / 0) (#36)
by observed on Fri Apr 06, 2012 at 04:55:13 AM EST

himself.

Honestly, this is a little silly. (none / 0) (#10)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Thu Apr 05, 2012 at 04:56:48 PM EST

I think it's pretty safe to say that if she hadn't abused drugs during her lifetime she'd probably not have drowned in that tub.

And breast implants and fake teeth? Of course they are. Is that a surprise to anyone who cared to look?

What I don't get is why, if this is (5.00 / 1) (#19)
by Anne on Thu Apr 05, 2012 at 05:37:27 PM EST

stuff we didn't need to know, we somehow needed to be told anyway.

I ended up reading the whole report, mostly because I don't like taking someone else's word for or accepting someone else's interpretation of, something I can read myself.

Even so, reading it seemed just so intrusive, and in some respects, I'm sorry I was lured into reading it by reading here what it was I didn't need to know.


: Thx for the heads-up, I'll pass on the report. (5.00 / 1) (#21)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Thu Apr 05, 2012 at 06:00:59 PM EST

What is a hair weave? (none / 0) (#11)
by fishcamp on Thu Apr 05, 2012 at 05:02:41 PM EST

Human or artificial hair (5.00 / 1) (#13)
by Zorba on Thu Apr 05, 2012 at 05:06:27 PM EST

that is added to your own hair to make it appear longer, fuller, etc. It can be added using a variety of techniques. (Link.)


It takes like five hours to do a sew in (5.00 / 1) (#24)
by Militarytracy on Thu Apr 05, 2012 at 06:12:36 PM EST

And it isn't painfree either. The other techniques sound less painful but still takes hours to do and its all freaky trying to wash your hair. My daughter loves it. I think its crazy.


Tell your daughter to be careful, (5.00 / 1) (#29)
by nycstray on Thu Apr 05, 2012 at 10:05:34 PM EST

weaves can make your hair fall out. Happened to my niece with the one she got for her wedding. Apparently, not uncommon.


: She knows (none / 0) (#39)
by Militarytracy on Fri Apr 06, 2012 at 09:03:12 AM EST

They are all still doing it already knowing this can happen.

My daughter just tried a sew in (5.00 / 0) (#23)
by Militarytracy on Thu Apr 05, 2012 at 06:09:41 PM EST

For her wedding. They make little corn row braids and then sew usually longer "wefts" of hair onto the braids. Very common among women with afros who want long straight hair but becoming common among all celebs now. As we age even women get thinner hair usually, so everyone is sewing in extra hair and now brides too. Glad I got to miss weighing whether or not to participate in this particular fashion torture.


She had fake hair. (none / 0) (#12)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Thu Apr 05, 2012 at 05:05:30 PM EST

Also should not be a surprise to anyone who cared to look.


And if you want a good job done, (5.00 / 1) (#15)
by Zorba on Thu Apr 05, 2012 at 05:07:48 PM EST

it ain't cheap. ;-)


But on the other hand, ... (5.00 / 2) (#17)
by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Apr 05, 2012 at 05:24:55 PM EST

... the self-deprecating Dolly Parton also once quipped about herself, "It takes a lot of money to look this cheap."


And oh, boy (none / 0) (#31)
by gyrfalcon on Thu Apr 05, 2012 at 11:42:02 PM EST

has she turned herself from a genuinely lovely woman into a horror of ossified plastic surgery. Losing your looks as you age sucks big-time, but them's the breaks and trying to carve yourself into looking 25 when you're 70 only makes you look ghastly-- and ridiculous.

Dolly did look quite gloriously cheap when she wasn't doing all that plastic surgery. Too bad she's sort ruined that image she once had.


: I met Dolly about five years ago and she is (none / 0) (#40)
by Angel on Fri Apr 06, 2012 at 09:25:10 AM EST

gorgeous in person. Really stunning, not at all ghastly or ridiculous. She could pass for someone in her late fifties or early sixties, not a big stretch for someone her age.

Ya, I just read your link. $$$ (none / 0) (#16)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Thu Apr 05, 2012 at 05:09:28 PM EST

I must respectfully disagree with ... (5.00 / 1) (#20)
by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Apr 05, 2012 at 06:00:16 PM EST

... your characterization of hair weaves as "fake hair."

THIS is fake hair.

I daresay most women would agree with me that men are the absolute worst when it comes to fatal collisions between our vanity and our hair.

Let's face it, some of us couldn't possibly look any more phony if our chrome-dome covers came pre-equipped with chinstraps.

And others should be particularly careful when traveling south of the border, lest they be mistaken for Mexico's national bird.

Just sayin' ... Aloha!


Respectfully, (5.00 / 2) (#22)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Thu Apr 05, 2012 at 06:03:19 PM EST

I'm too frightened to look at your links!


: Oh, come on! Man up, and ... (5.00 / 0) (#26)
by Donald from Hawaii on Thu Apr 05, 2012 at 06:20:46 PM EST

... be a man! We can't always take ourselves so seriously -- nor should we!
:-D

: No, no, no! (none / 0) (#32)
by gyrfalcon on Thu Apr 05, 2012 at 11:43:52 PM EST

That's a crested caracara, an absolutely wonderful, charismatic as heck raptor that's also present in south Texas. Do have a look. (One of my all-time favorite birds.)

: Be very afraid (none / 0) (#34)
by sj on Fri Apr 06, 2012 at 12:03:56 AM EST

But look at 'em anyway :)

And I do hope Corby gets out early. (none / 0) (#14)
by sarcastic unnamed one on Thu Apr 05, 2012 at 05:06:44 PM EST

t/y Zorba... (none / 0) (#18)
by fishcamp on Thu Apr 05, 2012 at 05:30:32 PM EST

I know creatures gotta eat, and all (none / 0) (#57)
by sj on Fri Apr 06, 2012 at 11:28:38 AM EST

But this photograph makes me feel sad, somehow. And I think it would be very cool to clone a mammoth.