We have now made a few of these. Tasty. But the name we think is wrong. Should be "Corpse Creator #2" Have a few and you start singing ZZ Top's "Driving While Blind." So please, do not drive...

Nobody drives in NYC. We just sort of blessed that way.

Yes! I'm not the only one who thought that was interesting. I would love to work there, but I want to be in psychology even more.

yeah i caught that to. :)

Fun fact about Bacardi 151. It is nearly identical to the rocket fuel used for the German V2 rocket. In that case it was 75% ethyl alcohol to 25% water.

So true. Can't blow out your liver on this stuff.

Web MD says cannabis may help with autoimmune disease.

CNN says cannabis helps chronic pain.

Psychiatry online says cannabis helps with obsessive compulsive disorder.

Perhaps Donald Trump may benefit?

PeterMac, dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?

I think the new drinks are the Long Island Ice Tea Party swill and the oh so chic Kochtails. Both are repugnant and bitter but we are being forced to imbibe.

You are probably right in regards to alcohol being worse for you, but I think it is a very bad idea for TRMS to promote something illegal.

Hi Gang!

I wasn't trying to say she should promote weed, just not alcohol. And I don't mean to promote weed either. I just think it should be legal and alcohol should be illegal or both should be legal. I have never had a friend who smoked weed call me in the middle of the night to bail them out.

@Bagel - that had me roaring!

Hope you all are having a good weekend.

:-)

TRMS never promotes illegal activity.

Some shady characters out there would like to make watching TRMS or even discussing anything related to 'Maddow' in your emails illegal activity though! :D

EDIT: Speaking of promoting illegal activity, while TRMS never has, I've lost count with how many times Glenn Beck did. So glad he's leaving soon. Goodnight, sweet prince.

Hi Crystal!

Never watched him or listened to him except when he is being replayed in clips, usually on MSNBC complaining about him. What does he promote that is illegal or are you just joking?

Half joking to a degree. Depends on what you define as 'promoting illegal activity' or 'illegal' in general. It's not so much promotion of illegal activity as it is creepy stuff I've watched/heard him say on radio or television whenever I catch him being listened to at a friends house or whenever I skim through Fox News (which is rare since I don't like being a contributing factor to their ratings.. much less at home during the time Beck is on). The most obvious examples would be on radio, where he joked about killing Michael Moore and the Fareed Zakeria weirdness last winter. There was also an instance last summer where a man in California, Byron Williams, nearly killed police officers and stated he wanted to 'start a revolution' and kill members of the Tides Foundation and the ACLU was obsessive about Beck, although I doubt it would be fair to blame Beck for the actions of a insane person as it would be to lay blame on Sarah Palin about Tuscon (as for 'violent rhetoric' with pundits and politicians being the 'cause' for violence, that's another topic altogether that's been analyzed on TRMS a lot).

Other stuff, as you mentioned, is stuff you've probably seen on MSNBC. Although I understand the reasons some MSNBC hosts nitpick over something Beck said or did that would be seen as disturbing or offensive (which is usually the case when Maddow brings him up), it's annoying/boring and doesn't really contribute anything informational or useful except for the 'Beck is crazy! Look what he did!' thing that's brought up when it seems they're dry on subjects to talk about. As much as I believe those on MSNBC here have good intentions, they're pro-longing the shelf life of those like Beck or Limbaugh by giving them more attention then they deserve. Controversy fuels their longevity in the media, thus fueling misinformation being consumed by Americans who are already ill-informed as it is. It relieves me Maddow doesn't play into that often unless she feels something is wrong and not just for the sake of bringing it up because almost everyone on her network does. I'll be happy not to hear about him anymore on MSNBC once his television show is done. At least not us much as he's brought up now, since I think he'll still be on radio and the like.

On another topic, I'm sort of with you on the weed > alcohol thing, since I'm not a fan of alcohol in general and marijuana is benign in comparison. Although I'm not a fan of the idea on prohibition on either.

Alcohol in moderation is acceptable but I don't think it's funny to glorify alcoholism or joke about excessive drinking as comparable to excessive merriment. I really feel your pain there.

I agree there is a big cultural double standard between weed and alcohol/tobacco. But sometimes I am bitter with our pop culture presentation of marijuana as completely benign or harmless. THC really gets its hooks in you, and can be a difficult addiction to kick. I don't like presenting it as safe and friendly for kids to use, because it can set them up to get addicted and throw years of their life away.

I also worked at an AIDS hospice in Oregon when medical marijuana became legal, and it brought an amazing and beautiful transformation to the quality of life of our patients. Patients who had reached a faze we referred to as wasting sickness began to gain weight again, and I will never laugh at the munchies, they are wonderful. It also markedly reduced their pain and suffering, so this is not a post designed to diss marijuana. I do want to point out that it is a powerful drug worthy of respect and caution. It carries strong potential for use and abuse.

I do want to point out that it is a powerful drug worthy of respect and caution. It carries strong potential for use and abuse.

that it does crumple.

Hi Crystal!

I see what you mean. I don't listen to the radio much at all any longer and I have never listened to talk radio since I was in the USAF in the mid 80s when they always had Paul Harvey on in the shop. I don't even know if that qualifies as talk radio, but that is as close as I get. I actually didn't mind Beck when I saw him before but that was only a couple of times and it was on CNN, some time back. I don't like anti- types and as I have said many times, that is a genre in and of itself for both sides.

Have a nice day!

Hi Crumble and Carrie-Anne!

I am not for promoting weed. The point I make is that it is no more harmful or dangerous than alcohol and, I would argue, much less so. Much less dependency and much less harm from (and to) those who might become psychologically hooked on it (I don't believe you can become addicted to it). Alcohol demonstrably destroys lives every day in the country but we do almost nothing about it. I have never really understood that. And when I was a kid (I am in my 40s) it was not advertised or at least I can't recall it being advertised. Now it seems like it is everywhere in adverts.

Anyway, I have to get back to work. Have a great day and God bless you for working in an AIDS hospice, Crumble!!!

I hereby attest that Haagen-Dazs does also carry a strong potential for use and abuse. Here's to my switch to cocktails! Cheers!

i wasn't trying to promote either or, or even condemn it, peter. just agreeing with the broad ability of both substances. i think both have the potential to be addicting, depending on the person. but also have the ability to stabilize a person.

my mom is a hospice nurse, crumble. :)

God bless your Mom, Carrie-Anne!! I'm not sure about stabilizing effects of alcohol, but I could see that for weed. Coming from an Irish/English family I have only seen the destabilizing effects.

:-)

@Search4 - Yes, I know all about that. I also know the addiction to Five Guys burgers and fries. I go there so much they place my order before I have the chance to open my mouth = going too often.

I hope you both have a great day!!

I believe that drug use that doesn't hurt others should be a matter of personal liberty. This is a hard line to draw, as alcoholics often inflict tremendous psychological and emotional harm while steering within legal guidelines for consumption. But our laws exist to maintain civic order. We do not make everything that is "wrong" illegal.

Prohibition created Chicago gangsters. It created a black market demand that was sudden and sustained. Not only did it fail to limit consumption, but it denied the government a source of tax revenue, and moved the market into a violent and harmful underground scene.

Marijuana is demonstrably less harmful to civic order than alcohol, and demonstrably safer to use than tobacco, and yet it remains illegal. The effect is a thriving black market that denies our government taxes, and provides an extra incentive to run drugs over the border of Mexico. It does not effectively constrain consumption. A large class of citizens who would otherwise be law abiding citizens take their first illegal steps to keep smoking weed, and we are inuring our children to breaking the law needlessly.

It is time for marijuana prohibition to end. Legalize and Tax. Rachel Maddow elegantly frames a contradiction in Republican philosophy between small government and intrusive restrictions on our civil liberties. When Republicans talk about small government they mean small as in "petty".

Our nation's history seems to imply that marijuana was made illegal not a way to protect society from its drug effects, but to protect the profits of the cotton industry in the south. Hemp fiber is a substantially better cash crop, and special interests lobbied to make the drug illegal so that it couldn't be cultivated widely for fiber, as a way to insulate the cotton industry from competition.

Peter, God bless you too. This forum is at its best when people of many different views and backgrounds can exchange opinions and information in a supportive and respectful atmosphere, and you really epitomize that. I should qualify my statements on the addictiveness of marijuana with a caveat.

Among my friends I have observed markedly different responses to marijuana. One guy feels slightly tingly for half an hour and then nothing, and he never felt inclined to use it again even after trying it several times at the behest of others and out of curiosity. It is clear the drug didn't effect him strongly. (He ended up having a helluva time quitting cigarettes.)

Another friend took a few hits, stared at the wall for half an hour, and saw visual tracers you might associate with LSD. Ten years later, he tried to quit and came down with a laundry list of withdrawal symptoms. He lost his appetite and couldn't eat for days. He felt anxious, his blood pressure spiked alarmingly, and he complained of heart murmur kinda problems. Once the physical withdrawal settled down he felt intense emotional cravings for weeks and was pretty useless. Talking to him was like reading Naked Lunch.

Marijuana effects different people differently, but among those users who have consumed daily for several years, I have curiously inquired about efforts to quit. Appetite loss and nervous anxiety are common side effects, and the vast majority of them were simply still using. Just a caveat, Peter. It might not feel like an addiction if you are still using it.

Thank you very much for the kind words, Crumble!!

Your experience is interesting. I have known many people who smoked weed and my Ex smoked quite a bit but she had no problem when she quit. I have smoked a number of times but not too often. It makes me immensely hungry and immensely tired and chatty. I only know one person for him it was a problem but I always thought it was a symptom of other problems, not the problem itself.

I am with you that is should be legalized and taxed. Now that tobacco is falling out of favor and taxes from it are shrinking, maybe we will get there soon.

Have a great night!!

Thats what I was thinking, too! Very catholic of them. Love the staff camaraderie!

Did you hear what she said at the very end? "Sort of like a really, really, *really* secular sacrament." lol ya. Kinda really secular. #ReformedCatholicHumor

I, for one, was relieved that the cup was not passed around the room widdershins!

I agree I would love to work for Rachel and not because of the booz. What an incredible way to spend a day researching the political insanity that is our country. It would be heaven.

LMAO! Hi Catherine! Sorry for the delay but just saw the post. Believe it or not, I actually cannot handle it. Alcohol makes me violently ill. Has since I was a kid. I am now in my mid 40s and I have tasted alcohol all of about 4 times. I can't even take some common medicines because they make me more sick than if I didn't take them.

After all we've been through, and now the Kathy Nickolaus fiasco, a dozen or two will not be enough. Could someone please just back up a few tank trucks of Corpse Revivers to Wisconsin? Thank you. Actually, they would be a nice followup to the Zombie March protest held in Madison last week. :-)

And did you notice they used Death's Door gin from Door County, Wisconsin???

Wow, I wondered about the brand of gin. I'd never heard of it. Going to WI next month. Guess I'll have to look for it. Just don't want to leave my corpse in Walker land!

Unfortunately Door County went for Prosser.

That's heartbreaking. We want so much more for our kids, but once controlling boyfriends come into the picture, I'm not sure how any good comes of it. I'd stand by my daughter too, just like you did, and rock her though tears, into sleep. And I'd wonder, to myself, how she got there.

But I'm not the one who would have to make the decision to abort versus the other horrible decision to give over 50% of her child's life to a controlling older boyfriend, as her potential to graduate is minimized, ostracized, marginalized, leaving her dreams in hock to one stupid mistake. I'm not living my daughter's life. That will be up to my daughter, and I will console her, wipe away her tears, hug her, and love her forever. Whatever she chooses.

It's a shame your daughter at 15 was not sure enough of her relationship with you that she could not bring herself to talk with you then.

Lost me at "controlling older boyfriend." Where the hell were you while an older guy was "controlling" your child? Your choice not to parent, your consequences. Yeesh.

Interesting that you choose to respond to my parenting style instead of the absurdity of Planned Parenthood. You were a young teen at some point. Did you tell you parents everything? Did they go with you everytime you walked out the door. Is there nothing you kept from your parents. We all live in the 'real' world. Well most of us do. Regardless of how close you are to your children, peer pressure and 'I think I'm in love' can sweep away common sense in an instant. Had she come to me, it would have been HER choice without a boy and a stranger telling her what she 'ought' to do. The tears she cried were those of lack of choice.

Amazing, how can you blame a boyfriend and Planned Parentood, but you are completely absolved?

It doesn't follow.

I agree your daughter's situation is heartbreaking, and maybe there should be some age stipulations, but come on... Seriously. You can't expect society to blame everyone else but dare not open your front door and peek inside.

We live in not just a real world, but a modern one. We can't just let kids leave the house without preparing them for what's out there. I was a teen in 1990, and no, I did not tell my parents really anything and that's because they wouldn't listen and I knew it based on their track record.

Sorry. That's reality not an attack.

Sorry, I don't mean to pile on more, but I was walking around and thought about your situation again and got a good visual example:

Imagine this as four hopscotch squares as represented:

#1. Mom & Dad

#2. Kid

#3. Kid's friend/peer/influence

#4. Community resources

If you were standing at the start of the squares with no marbles or pebbles, you'd HAVE to go through three human beings before getting to the community resource. In the event that three humans fail to perform, the resource is there to do their duty.

By insinuation, do not propose to take away MY (a symbolic "my") public resource--of which abortion is low on their list of services--because the humans in your PRIVATE chain of reactions failed.

This is why you get judgments to your "parenting style". Your "style" results in your speaking out against a far-in-the-list #4 Entity (which belongs to ME, too) that did nothing to you or your kid that wasn't already set into motion by #1, #2, & #3.

Thank you. I'll get back to my day now...

The responses accusing amazingkeltic of bad parenting sadden me. I don't think life for a frightened pregnant teen necessarily corresponds to CatherinetheCate's tidy hopscotch illustration. I agree that all too often, a real range of choices is not presented to a girl in amazingkeltic's daughter's situation, and abortion is pushed on her as the only choice. Sorry. That's how I see it. And I'm not on a crusade to defund PP. I wouldn't mind if it lost public funding, but I think the way the Repubs are using that now in their "bargaining" is ridiculous.

In fact, I notice that amazingkeltic doesn't even come out and demand the defunding of PP. She just reports her strong criticism of the organization, and btw, does affirm that she would have allowed her daughter the choice if she'd been consulted at the time. Is all criticism of PP strictly forbidden?

Don't blame PP for the fact that your daughter CHOSE not to tell you about her dilemma, whatever role the 'controlling boyfriend' may have played. There are girls who are impregnated by abusive family members. Demanding that they get 'permission' from their families to have an abortion means they probably will be forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term, further reducing their chance of ever achieving a better future.

I have a friend who is alive today because of Planned Parenthood. She went in for a Pap test, and was found to have cervical cancer. Early detection and treatment meant that she was able to have two successful pregnancies.

It seems that the real issue here is your anger that your daughter did not consult you at the time. I'm wondering what tone your comforting took, because if all you did was displace blame onto Planned Parenthood, you didn't do much to teach her better coping skills.

You say that her tears were for her 'lack of choices'. She had choices. She chose not to share with you. That WAS her choice at the time. Don't blame Planned Parenthood for that. I had a 17-year-old daughter who had a controlling boyfriend, too. She did come to me.

Just because the troll "amazingkeltic" makes up stories we do not have to believe them.

@amazingkeltic: Situations like that don't make for happy endings either way.

But I have a question for you: Do you think your daughter having a baby at 15 with her controlling boyfriend would have been a better outcome? This is not me poking at a sad situation, but an honest question.

You say that she wasn't old enough to make the decision to abort the pregnancy, and that "she could not drive, vote, or get a job" because of her age. Do you think someone who you feel wasn't old enough to make those kinds of decisions was old enough to make the decision to have a child?

Some people will believe anything. Why, DJ Shiva has been known to believe as many as seven impossible things before breakfast.

good question DJ

... Don't drink the methanol.

It makes us all much more attractive too!

LOL! You did not say that! :)

You might be able to substitute ouzo for the absinthe, since it's only a couple drops. They're both very licorice-y. Then again, that might not be available, either.

I thought the flagon with the dragon had the brew that is true.

Thank you, Kelly, for reminding me of one of my favorite comic actors

BB - You're welcome. Love those hokey movies I grew up on........enjoy!

Very young Angela Lansbury, Mildred Natwick, Basil Rathbone, et al.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS75NtlH3gI

I was eight years old when I first saw The Court Jester. I laughed until my stomach hurt and I was blown away by Danny Kaye's performance. Thanks again for the walk down memory lane!

The recent Israeli strikes in Gaza were in response to a Hamas rocket attack on an Israeli schoolbus.

At least the IDF tries not to target women and chldren. Hamas aims for them.