Health care bill

I wish you were doing a holiday subbing gig. I'D LOVE TO HEAR 3HRS/5DAYS of Seder wisdom on this healthcare debacle.

I wish you were doing a holiday subbing gig. I'D LOVE TO HEAR 3HRS/5DAYS of Seder wisdom on this healthcare debacle.

I wish you were doing a holiday subbing gig. I'D LOVE TO HEAR 3HRS/5DAYS of Seder wisdom on this healthcare debacle.

I wish you were doing a holiday subbing gig. I'D LOVE TO HEAR 3HRS/5DAYS of Seder wisdom on this healthcare debacle.

i love sammy too, but not like this!

I'm using my son's laptop and I'm not used to it. Our computer has been down for a while and I only get to read this blog when he's home.

expect shorter and shorter entries, he said

ah

shorter compared to what i wonder?

open thread... go at it

...you'd know what he meant. ;-)

It's like trying to tie your shoes with mittens on. Wait! You live in NOLA, let me rephrase that cuz you may not know what mittens are.

How 'bout it's like trying to tie your shoes with oven mittens on?

You get real good at cutting to the chase typing on teeny tiny little keyboards on cellphones.

to do a long show on BRR.

I would use blackmail but I got nuthin'. The dude is squeaky clean.

When I saw that comment I first remembered the - 3 in one Condiment gun then got all excited. Till I saw the Palin blow up contraption.

I have sheep sweeter than that.

Stoopid juice or just hot air, I'm pretty sure.

Can you imagine Rush committing the ultimate act of love with Palin

Pluck out my eyes, please!

Hope all's well by the New Year....

This reads like a movie script, but it is happening...

http://www.madcowprod.com/09212009.htm

if you responded to my thank you for connecting me with Kellia Ramaes, I didn't see it but thank you again for helping me make that connection.

She's really a great writer/broadcaster/interviewer. Gives me hope that the answer to our media vacuum will be filled with the likes of her and others. I'm using her Self-Sufficiency Fetish audio in this week's program.

If you find more like her, please let me know. We will squash the M$M with folks like her.

What I'm really trying to say is "Fuck Tweety" but I'm trying to be polite in mixed company. ;-)

No charges against SC governor Mark Sanford, despite questions about misuse of State funds in pursuit of his extracurricular/extramarital interests. Just a little reprimand.

Meanwhile, Governor Siegelman continues to struggle against Rove-induced charges and convictions.

Sheesh.

The sandman just belted me across the cheekbone.

http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2009/dec/17/laredos-last-bookstore-clos...

[excerpt]

Laredo’s last bookstore closing doors
Nearly half of county’s residents lack literacy skills
Paul J. Weber Associated Press

LAREDO, Texas – The final chapter has been written for the lone bookstore on the streets of Laredo.

With a population of nearly a quarter-million people, this city could soon be the largest in the nation without a single bookseller. The nearest store will be 150 miles away in San Antonio.

The B. Dalton store was never a community destination with comfy couches and an espresso bar, but its closing will create a literary void in a city with a high illiteracy rate. Industry analysts and book associations could not name a larger American city without a single bookseller.

“Corporate America considers Laredo kind of the backwater,” said the city’s most prolific author, Jerry Thompson, a professor at Texas A&M University International who has written more than 20 books.

The Laredo store is among 49 remaining B. Daltons nationwide that Barnes & Noble will close by next year. The company believes a bookstore is viable in Laredo and has identified a location for a large-format Barnes & Noble, but the space will not be available for at least 18 months, said David Deason, Barnes & Noble vice president of development.

Some worry that the closing could send a message that books and reading are not priorities in Laredo, a hot, steamy city of 230,000 that is choked by smog from trucks lining up at the border.

Nearly half of the population of Webb County, which includes Laredo, lacks basic literacy skills, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

But some bookstore supporters are undaunted.

Maria Soliz, Laredo Public Library director, is leading the charge to get a bookstore back. The city’s library system was already planning to open two more branches over the next two years to meet demand. That’s in addition to the two-story main library that serves about 400,000 visitors annually.

“It’s not reflective of the city that they’re closing,” Soliz said. “I know this city can support a bookstore.”

[end excerpt]

US agency co-operating with Palestinian counterparts who ... torture Hamas supporters in West Bank

Ian Cobain in Ramallah
Thursday 17 December 2009 18.16 GMT

Palestinian security agents who have been detaining and allegedly torturing supporters of the Islamist organisation Hamas in the West Bank have been working closely with the CIA, the Guardian has learned.

Less than a year after Barack Obama signed an executive order that prohibited torture and provided for the lawful interrogation of detainees in US custody, evidence is emerging the CIA is co-operating with security agents whose continuing use of torture has been widely documented by human rights groups.

The relationship between the CIA and the two Palestinian agencies involved – Preventive Security Organisation (PSO) and General Intelligence Service (GI) – is said by some western diplomats and other officials in the region to be so close that the American agency appears to be supervising the Palestinians' work.

One senior western official said: "The [Central Intelligence] Agency consider them as their property, those two Palestinian services." A diplomatic source added that US influence over the agencies was so great they could be considered "an advanced arm of the war on terror".
...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/dec/17/cia-palestinian-security-age...

Microwavelength technology disrupt bee navigation and they get lost and die?

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/nature/are-mobile-phones-wiping...

[excerpt]

Scientists claim radiation from handsets are to blame for mysterious 'colony collapse' of bees

By Geoffrey Lean and Harriet Shawcross

Sunday, 15 April 2007

It seems like the plot of a particularly far-fetched horror film. But some scientists suggest that our love of the mobile phone could cause massive food shortages, as the world's harvests fail.

They are putting forward the theory that radiation given off by mobile phones and other hi-tech gadgets is a possible answer to one of the more bizarre mysteries ever to happen in the natural world - the abrupt disappearance of the bees that pollinate crops. Late last week, some bee-keepers claimed that the phenomenon - which started in the US, then spread to continental Europe - was beginning to hit Britain as well.

The theory is that radiation from mobile phones interferes with bees' navigation systems, preventing the famously homeloving species from finding their way back to their hives. Improbable as it may seem, there is now evidence to back this up.

Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) occurs when a hive's inhabitants suddenly disappear, leaving only queens, eggs and a few immature workers, like so many apian Mary Celestes. The vanished bees are never found, but thought to die singly far from home. The parasites, wildlife and other bees that normally raid the honey and pollen left behind when a colony dies, refuse to go anywhere near the abandoned hives.

The alarm was first sounded last autumn, but has now hit half of all American states. The West Coast is thought to have lost 60 per cent of its commercial bee population, with 70 per cent missing on the East Coast.

CCD has since spread to Germany, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece. And last week John Chapple, one of London's biggest bee-keepers, announced that 23 of his 40 hives have been abruptly abandoned.

Other apiarists have recorded losses in Scotland, Wales and north-west England, but the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs insisted: "There is absolutely no evidence of CCD in the UK."

The implications of the spread are alarming. Most of the world's crops depend on pollination by bees. Albert Einstein once said that if the bees disappeared, "man would have only four years of life left".

No one knows why it is happening. Theories involving mites, pesticides, global warming and GM crops have been proposed, but all have drawbacks.

German research has long shown that bees' behaviour changes near power lines.

Now a limited study at Landau University has found that bees refuse to return to their hives when mobile phones are placed nearby. Dr Jochen Kuhn, who carried it out, said this could provide a "hint" to a possible cause.

Dr George Carlo, who headed a massive study by the US government and mobile phone industry of hazards from mobiles in the Nineties, said: "I am convinced the possibility is real."

[continued]

[continued]

The case against handsets

Evidence of dangers to people from mobile phones is increasing. But proof is still lacking, largely because many of the biggest perils, such as cancer, take decades to show up.

Most research on cancer has so far proved inconclusive. But an official Finnish study found that people who used the phones for more than 10 years were 40 per cent more likely to get a brain tumour on the same side as they held the handset.

Equally alarming, blue-chip Swedish research revealed that radiation from mobile phones killed off brain cells, suggesting that today's teenagers could go senile in the prime of their lives.

Studies in India and the US have raised the possibility that men who use mobile phones heavily have reduced sperm counts. And, more prosaically, doctors have identified the condition of "text thumb", a form of RSI from constant texting.

Professor Sir William Stewart, who has headed two official inquiries, warned that children under eight should not use mobiles and made a series of safety recommendations, largely ignored by ministers.

[end excerpt]

Florida takes a look at amazing anti-competition consolidation in the voting technology biz. Capitalist competition? I wish they were equally interested in the impacts this has on the pursuit of honest, un-tampered-with elections!

http://www.miamiherald.com/569/story/1385770.html

[excerpt]

Attorney General Bill McCollum confirmed Wednesday that his office was conducting the antitrust probe. He issued a statement after several voting rights groups sent him a letter calling for an inquiry.

Diebold Inc. of North Canton, Ohio, in September sold its Allen, Texas-based subsidiary Premier Election Solutions Inc. to Election Systems & Software Inc. of Omaha, Neb.

BY MARC CAPUTO
Herald/Times Tallahassee Bureau
TALLAHASSEE -- Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum is conducting an anti-trust investigation of a voting-machine company merger that would create a near-monopoly over the levers of democracy in Florida and much of the United States.

McCollum's office has issued at least six subpoenas covering every major voting-machine company as part of a civil investigation of Election Systems & Software's $5 million acquisition of Diebold Inc.'s elections division -- a merger that would give a private company too much power over the machines used to castvotes, voting-rights groups say.

``Our office engaged in this issue because anti-competitive behavior can seriously harm consumers,'' McCollum said in a written statement. ``Competitive behavior encourages the best products be available to consumers, including technology, particularly in a market as sensitive as the voting systems market.''

[end excerpt]

Sam, you have got to be kidding that you are struggling with this. It is a progressive slam-dunk YES.

Do you want to be part of a movement of half-ass, incompetent, childish self-styled liberals who RISKED DITCHING UNIVERSAL COVERAGE AS A PRINCIPLE AND INSTITUTION OF AMERICAN LIFE because the compromises on how the dollars and cents should be counted and distributed irritate you? The right wing of the party is willing to go along with what I have capitalized above; don’t you understand that?

Sam, I have much respect for you, but people who don’t see this as a trivially easy problem are losing my respect. Bernie Sanders, for instance, has reduced himself to a petty demagogue, making up lies (that the causes of our crisis are obvious) and targetting Strawmen (that these 'obvious' causes are solely greedy companies). The benefits of the plan -- which Alan Grayson describes as preventing needless deaths -- Sanders explicitly referred to as ‘this, that, and the other thing’. This is the kind of man who is struggling with his decision! For me it is no struggle; for Alan Grayson it is no struggle. NO ONE should be struggling at this point.

That's great news, maggiesboy! And I LOVE good news (for a change!)!

Wow, this is the web of life clinging to its threads. Only 500 Whooping Cranes left...

Video and VERY touching story below it:

http://blog.locustfork.net/

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

MMRules

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

MMRules

All the babies are out of the bathwater. Dump it.

Jeremy Scahill reports at truthout--

http://www.truthout.org/1218098

This article lists all the participating countries contributing soldiers -- through NATO, EAPC, Istanbul Cooperative Initiative, etcetera. It certainly gives the appearance of an "international" solution...

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=16422

'Fifty or more countries in a single war theater'

[excerpt]

The world's last three major wars - those in and against Yugoslavia, Afghanistan and Iraq - have been used as testing and training grounds for the expansion of global NATO.

The consolidation of an international rapid response (strike) force and occupation army under NATO control was further advanced this week with Obama's troop surge speech on the 1st and follow-up efforts by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen to recruit more allied troops at the recently concluded meeting of NATO (and allied) foreign ministers.

[end excerpt]

What's scientific about a data that leaves out key figures for consideration of a 'plan' for global 'survival'?

http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=16609

Pentagon's Role in Global Catastrophe: Add Climate Havoc to War Crimes

by Sara Flounders

...it is important to ask: How is it possible that the worst polluter of carbon dioxide and other toxic emissions on the planet is not a focus of any conference discussion or proposed restrictions?

By every measure, the Pentagon is the largest institutional user of petroleum products and energy in general. Yet the Pentagon has a blanket exemption in all international climate agreements.

The Pentagon wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; its secret operations in Pakistan; its equipment on more than 1,000 U.S. bases around the world; its 6,000 facilities in the U.S.; all NATO operations; its aircraft carriers, jet aircraft, weapons testing, training and sales will not be counted against U.S. greenhouse gas limits or included in any count.

...

According to environmental journalist Johanna Peace, military activities will continue to be exempt from an executive order signed by President Barack Obama that calls for federal agencies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. Peace states, "The military accounts for a full 80 percent of the federal government's energy demand." (solveclimate.com, Sept. 1)

The blanket exclusion of the Pentagon's global operations makes U.S. carbon dioxide emissions appear far less than they in fact are. Yet even without counting the Pentagon, the U.S. still has the world's largest carbon dioxide emissions.

More than Emissions

Besides emitting carbon dioxide, U.S. military operations release other highly toxic and radioactive materials into the air, water and soil.

U.S. weapons made with depleted uranium have spread tens of thousands of pounds of microparticles of radioactive and highly toxic waste throughout the Middle East, Central Asia and the Balkans.

The U.S. sells land mines and cluster bombs that are a major cause of delayed explosives, maiming and disabling especially peasant farmers and rural peoples in Africa, Asia and Latin America . For example, Israel dropped more than 1 million U.S.-provided cluster bombs on Lebanon during its 2006 invasion.

The U.S. war in Vietnam left large areas so contaminated with the Agent Orange herbicide that today, more than 35 years later, dioxin contamination is 300 to 400 times higher than "safe" levels. Severe birth defects and high rates of cancer resulting from environmental contamination are continuing into a third generation.

Environmental War at Home

Moreover, the Defense Department has routinely resisted orders from the Environmental Protection Agency to clean up contaminated U.S. bases. ( Washington Post, June 30, 2008) Pentagon military bases top the Superfund list of the most polluted places, as contaminants seep into drinking water aquifers and soil.

The Pentagon has also fought EPA efforts to set new pollution standards on two toxic chemicals widely found on military sites: perchlorate, found in propellant for rockets and missiles; and trichloroethylene, a degreaser for metal parts.

Trichloroethylene is the most widespread water contaminant in the country, seeping into aquifers across California , New York , Texas , Florida and elsewhere. More than 1,000 military sites in the U.S. are contaminated with the chemical. The poorest communities, especially communities of color, are the most severely impacted by this poisoning.

[end excerpt]

[My apologies if this was already posted earlier]

BAN microwave technology altogether.

BEES ARE MORE IMPORTANT.

**

The United States has spent over $23 billion on reconstruction and development contracts in Afghanistan since 2002, and auditors say about $1 billion of this is waste, a U.S. senator said on Thursday.

**

http://www.allhatnocattle.net/12-18-09_chuck_norris_jesus.htm

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

MMRules

Looking at the chart you posted, MMRules, and I sense that the U.S. War Dept. spending benefits not only the U.S. Oligarchy, but also the the Oligarchy of at least the U.K. and Germany and the Transnational Corporations. Average Americans sub$idize every plan and scheme of this greedy Global Ruling Class. Iraq's oil has been divied up, Afghanistan seized for a pipeline, and the slavers Halliburton et al made richer through U.S. aggression, and somebody must be making a table/chart of every spot where US trained/funded/hired personnel are doing something nasty on our dime.

What a coup it was to change the moniker War Dept. to Defense Dept., huh? Was that done after the General Smedley Butler revelations about the military serving the whims of Corporate Imperialists?

:):( I almost did not read the ending...but I did.

which highlights what a lying sack mcnutts is. recall that he attacked senator al franken for refusing to let leiberdouche have more than 10 minutes. rachel found a clip at the c-klan archives that show mccain did the exact same thing during a debate about the iraq war.

the strange thing is, the c-klan video archive is blacked out at exactly the moment that mccain objected. luckily the congressional record contains the transcript.

as 60th Decisive Vote.

No story. Just the red banner thingy under the heads.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3096434/

---
Or, if there is more, I can't see it cuz of flash issues.

Senate Democrats Reach Deal On Health Reform

First Posted: 12-19-09 09:11 AM | Updated: 12-19-09 09:35 AM

WHAT'S YOUR REACTION?

***UPDATE*** The AP reports (via NPR) that Senate Democrats have reached a deal on health care reform with the lone holdout member, Ben Nelson, agreeing to vote for the bill. Nelson intends to make his announcement later today.

--

RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR, Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats appear within reach of the 60 votes necessary to pass President Barack Obama's health care legislation after a long year of struggle and a final burst of deadline bargaining with holdout Sen. Ben Nelson of Nebraska.

Emerging from marathon talks with Majority Leader Harry Reid and White House officials late Friday night, Nelson said "real progress" had been made toward his call for greater restrictions on abortion within the legislation.

Majority Leader Harry Reid decided to go public a final package of changes in the long-debated legislation on Saturday "and is confident that it will prevail," his spokesman, Jim Manley, said in a late-night statement.

Reid made no comment to reporters, but Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., another participant in the talks, sounded pleased. "I've been in Harry Reid's office for 13 hours and I'm glad to get out of there," he said. "But I'm particularly glad with what has happened in that office."

With Nelson's vote, Obama's Senate allies would have the 60 needed to overcome a filibuster by Republicans.

more...
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/19/makeorbreak-for-fate-of-h_n_398...

...I will start denying I was ever a Democrat. If this bill goes through without major improvements they'll soon be nailing every Democrat in the country to a cross.

This mob in the WH now are making Clinton look like a piker. It's like they are on the same steroids the Bush gang were hyped up on.

If the WH is kissing up to the BlueDogs and TraitorCrats (LIEberman) I want no part or parcel of that pack.

Smack me on the ass and call me an Indie! This is not the party of my mother. I don't know who these fuckers are.

Federal Agency Denies Spousal Benefits Claim | News | Advocate.Com

The Office of Personnel Management has concluded that it does not have the legal authority to provide benefits to the spouse of Karen Golinski, a staff attorney who works at the U.S. court of appeals for the ninth circuit in San Francisco.

An OPM official briefed The Advocate on the decision, and the agency’s full statement is available at the end of this article. (Update: A statement from Lambda Legal follows OPM's statement).

Because she is a federal employee, Golinski’s benefits are overseen by the Office of Personnel Management, which effectively serves as the human resources department for about 1.9 million federal workers nationwide. Golinski’s insurer, Blue Cross and Blue Shield, declined to provide health benefits for her legal spouse, Amy Cunninghis, but ninth circuit chief judge Alex Kozinski said that violated the court's guarantee of equal employment opportunity and that same-sex spouses were entitled to benefits under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Plan.

OPM attorneys consulted with the Department of Justice on this case, and the key to the case, according to the OPM official, was that Kozinski was presiding over an administrative proceeding that’s an internal employee grievance procedure — he was not serving in his official capacity as a ninth circuit judge.

“It’s important to understand that Judge Kozinski was acting as an administrative official in this matter, reacting to the concerns of an employee of the judiciary,” reads OPM’s statement official statement. “He was not acting as a federal judge in a court case.”

Based on that distinction, DOJ concluded that Kozinski’s order was not legally binding. If it were legally binding, OPM would have been faced with either appealing the decision or complying with the order.

Since the procedure was not an official legal proceeding, the OPM official said the agency was bound by the Defense of Marriage Act, which precludes coverage of Golinski’s spouse.

“OPM must administer the FEHBP in a lawful manner, and the Department of Justice (DOJ) has advised OPM that providing those benefits would violate the so-called ‘Defense of Marriage Act,’” said the OPM statement.

more...

http://www.advocate.com/News/Daily_News/2009/12/18/Federal_Agency_Denies...

----

Yes, unfortunate name. :}

now

toniD's Ya Think?

Holdout Nelson agrees to back healthcare bill
The Nebraska senator's support gives Democrats the 60 votes they need to quash a series of Republican-led filibusters.

By Noam N. Levey and Janet Hook

Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

6:45 AM PST, December 19, 2009

WASHINGTON — With a critical vote looming this weekend, Senate Democrats finalized a deal this morning with the lone Democratic holdout, Nebraska Sen. Ben Nelson, who will back the party's healthcare bill after settling weeks of negotiating over abortion.

That gives Democrats the 60 votes they need to quash a series of Republican-led filibusters and pass a bill by Christmas.

Nelson, who was pushing for tougher restrictions on federal funding for abortion, reached the agreement with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's office after round-the-clock talks Friday with Reid and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), a leading supporter of abortion rights.

The deal paved the way for Reid to introduce a long list of proposed changes to the legislation this morning and then file a series of procedural motions that would allow the Senate to take a final vote on the bill on Christmas Eve.

That requires three procedural votes staggered between Monday morning and Wednesday afternoon, a tight timeline that Democrats must adhere to if they are to pass a healthcare bill by Christmas.

Republicans almost immediately resumed their delaying tactics, insisting that Reid's proposed changes be read aloud on the Senate floor. That is expected to consume much of the day. Republicans also prevented Nelson from giving a brief speech Saturday morning in which he wanted explain his decision to back the healthcare legislation.

He is expected to deliver remarks later in the morning after Democrats emerge from a closed-door caucus meeting.

http://www.latimes.com/news/la-naw-senate-healthcare20-2009dec20,0,57850...

toniD's Ya Think?

He's worse than Lieberman. And that's saying alot. May he pay for this with his own health!

toniD's Ya Think?

Obama Ordered U.S. Military Strike on Yemen Terrorists

Source: ABC News

On orders from President Barack Obama, the U.S. military launched cruise missiles early Thursday against two suspected al-Qaeda sites in Yemen, administration officials told ABC News in a report broadcast on ABC World News with Charles Gibson.

One of the targeted sites was a suspected al Qaeda training camp north of the capitol, Sanaa, and the second target was a location where officials said "an imminent attack against a U.S. asset was being planned."

The Yemen attacks by the U.S. military represent a major escalation of the Obama administration's campaign against al Qaeda.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/cruise-missiles-strike-yemen/story?id=9375...

toniD's Ya Think?

is becoming a war prez??

?

Submitted by maggiesboy on Sat, 12/19/2009 - 9:50am.

I have kept your seat warm and your wine of choice is fully stocked.====

is a pud

is just another Turd in the punchbowl..

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

MMRules

or swimming pool...

Weekly Address: Obama demands up or down vote Updated at 10:20 AM

Source: Daily Kos

Weekly Address: Obama demands up or down vote
by calchala
Fri Dec 18, 2009 at 09:12:56 PM PST

Apparently President Obama has decided that the bill has been watered down enough and is demanding that the Senate give the bill an up or down vote on everything that is in it.

This looks like a shot at Ben Nelson. Up or Down vote

Here's what the President says:

These protections are just one part of a landmark reform that will finally reduce the cost of health care. When it becomes law, families will save on their premiums. Small businesses and Americans who don’t get any insurance today through their employers will no longer be forced to pay punishingly high rates to get coverage. This legislation will also strengthen Medicare and extend the life of the program, while saving senior citizens hundreds of dollars a year in prescription costs. And reforms to target waste, inefficiency, and price-gouging by the insurance industry will help make this the largest deficit reduction plan in over a decade.

The insurance industry knows all this. That’s why they’re at it again, using their muscle in Washington to try to block a vote they know they will lose. They’re lobbying. They’re running ads. They’re spending millions of dollars to kill health insurance reform, just like they’ve done so many times before. They want to preserve a system that works better for the insurance industry than it does for the American people.

But now – for the first time – there is a clear majority in the Senate that’s willing to stand up to the insurance lobby and embrace lasting health insurance reforms that have eluded us for generations. The question is whether the minority that opposes these reforms will continue to use parliamentary maneuvers to try and stop the Senate from voting on them.

Whatever their position on health insurance reform, Senators ought to allow an up or down vote. Let’s bring this long and vigorous debate to an end. Let’s deliver on the promise of health insurance reforms that will make our people healthier, our economy stronger, and our future more secure. And as this difficult year comes to a close, let’s show the American people that we are equal to the task of meeting our great challenges.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/12/19/810490/-Weekly-Address:-Oba...

toniD's Ya Think?

http://us.cnn.com/2009/US/12/18/oklahoma.abortion/index.html

one Bill Murray,smcgee43.. :)

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

MMRules

Left/Right Populist Outrage Will Defeat Senate Health Care Bill
Jane Hamsher
♠Founder, FireDogLake.com
Posted: December 18, 2009 03:22 PM

Glenn Greenwald and Ed Kilgore both have very good pieces up today on the impoverished left/right dialectic that dominates the media coverage of politics, and its inadequacy when it comes to discussing the dynamics of the health care debate. The sight of pundits yucking it up about the "Democratic circular firing squad" have become as tedious and threadbare as those counseling "don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good." Both of these admonitions have at their heart the notion that "liberals" are being irrational, unreasonable and rigid in refusing to accept the Senate health care bill.

But in the very next breath, they will then promote statistics that say the tea parties are more popular than either the Democratic or the Republican party, and wonder if it's an opportune time for a third party candidate. (From the "right," of course, because who would take the "left" seriously.) At no time do the synapses firing in their brains make the connection that both the "lazy progressive bloggers" and the tea party activists are saying almost the exact same thing about the Senate bill.

Ben Smith printed a letter from a "liberal blog denizen" (who curiously didn't want to use their name) that I think represents the White House/media thinking pretty well:

The trick is to put a package together that some visible element of "the left" is out there opposing, but that actually has the support of everyone who matters on the left. SEIU isn't opposing the bill. NAACP isn't opposing the bill. Important thought-leaders like Paul Krugman aren't opposing the bill. Surf over to MoveOn.org and you'll see they're highlighting some "f*** you Joe Lieberman" stuff, but not seriously trying to push liberal Senators to vote "no" (indeed, during an earlier iteration of the argument they espoused the view that any filibustering Democrat deserve a primary challenge.). But members who want to feel like they're doing some meaningful triangulation get to point to Jane Hamsher on MSNBC denouncing the whole thing and feel like they're getting one over on the left.

This is probably the most useful role that the existence of a large and feisty activist blogosphere can play during a non-election time. Their existence and their passion shift the whole public conversation to the left. They make it possible for governing from the center to be *seen as governing from the center* rather than having a replay of the Clinton years when centrist governance came to define the left-most pole of the possible.

I read that letter and marveled that this is the thinking of the White House. And yet, I think it is. It's got the blueprint for holding the "veal pen" captive, and then triangulating against those (bloggers) whose financial structures make them much more responsive to populist sentiment -- and hence difficult to neuter. It's the only way that lashing out at Howard Dean and coddling Joe Lieberman -- something guaranteed to galvanize the netroots instantly -- makes any sense.

Because blogs/Dean have been needling the White House's health care shell game, they've turned their attention toward discrediting those messengers and trying to use it to their advantage. I understand the impulse -- when you go into a comment thread of a blog post, the person who disagrees with you is the one who is going to get the emotional rise out of you. But it's a huge mistake to overweight that, because you wind up doing what the White House is doing right now: standing with their backs to a tsunami rising over their heads, of which Howard Dean and the blogs are only a small symbol.

And the media, who are eagerly lapping up attacks on Dean and the crumbs being tossed out of the White House press office, only reinforce that blindness.

There is an enormous, rising tide of populism that crosses party lines in objection to the Senate bill. We opposed the bank bailouts, the AIG bonuses, the lack of transparency about the Federal Reserve, "bailout" Ben Bernanke, and the way the Democrats have used their power to sell the country's resources to secure their own personal advantage, just as the libertarians have. In fact, we've worked together with them to oppose these things. What we agree on: both parties are working against the interests of the public, the only difference is in the messaging.

Harry Reid and Dick Durbin put on a nice show for the credulous. As Durbin said when he was trying to build his email list, "The question is no longer if we will have some sort of public option in the final health care reform bill, but instead what form it will take." But the very same day, he was also warning about "60 votes" on MSNBC, and it was Durbin who whipped Lieberman's vote for PhRMA to kill Dorgan's drug reimportation bill (after Harry Reid kept it off the floor for 7 days until PhRMA could twist enough arms to defeat it).

The end is the same as it was when Medicare Part D passed. Remember how Democrats made a big show of passing negotiation for prescription drug prices when they knew George Bush would veto it? We saw how long that lasted. When it comes to true differences in the parties, only the set dressing on the road to capitulation seems to change.

With unemployment at 10%, the idea that you can pass a bill whose only merit is that "liberals hate it" just because the media will eat it up and print your talking points in the process is so cynical and short-sighted it's hard to comprehend anyone would pursue it. It reflects a total insensitivity to the rage that is brewing on the popular front, which is manifest in every single poll out there.

Yet time and again, we're told "Obama retains his popularity with liberals" and that "screeching liberal bloggers" aren't having an impact. Nobody seems to notice that the "screeching liberal bloggers" are reflecting the very same sentiments of the vast majority of the country, whether the very small segment of the population who self-identify as "extremely liberal" holds the President responsible or no.

Rahm Emanuel has convinced himself that Ron Brownstein is a "liberal" and dismisses all of this as "the progressive backlash against the progressive backlash." He's betting that any inadequacies will be forgotten come November 2010 if the Dems can claim a "w" by passing any crap bill and slapping "health care" on it. And that if Congress just spends the next year naming post offices, any objections that Americans might have to paying 8% of their incomes to private corporations who will use the IRS as their collection agency will just disappear.

It's scary to think that people this obscenely stupid are running the country. All the while, the painfully obvious left/right transpartisan consensus that is coalescing against DC insiders of both parties appears to be taking everyone by surprise.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jane-hamsher/leftright-populist-outrag_b_3...

cent said this on a Ya Think? segment. That we must work with the teabaggers on like minded issues. Not the Dick Armey, Michelle Bachmann teabaggers, but the other teabaggers.

toniD's Ya Think?

About 5 inches here. Nothing like the east coasters are getting.

toniD's Ya Think?

to u all (people that I have addresses for)
so please check your in boxes.

Tanks - love, me xoxox

Dorgan Accuses White House of Unethically Politicizing Safety Warnings From the FDA

Source: OpenLeft

We've been aggressively covering the crazy story of the Obama administration crushing drug importation legislation that President Obama campaigned on as a presidential candidate and supported as a U.S. Senator. Now, days after the administration colluded with the pharmaceutical industry to kill the measure, one Democratic senator is making an extremely serious accusation.

The Food and Drug Administration is supposed to be one of those science-based agencies somewhat removed from politics - specifically to protect the integrity of its declarations on health and safety issues. That's why this story from the Wall Street Journal is very problematic:

There are several sets of fingerprints in the Senate chamber where (drug importation) legislation died, including some from the White House, says Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-ND). "They did not support this," and worked with Democratic Senate leaders to kill it in order to move the larger bill forward, he said in an interview. The amendment failed in the Senate Tuesday evening...

Dorgan said he can't get answers from the administration about what's going on, though he called the White House and FDA prior to the vote.

Last week, he said he heard rumors that the FDA was going to send a letter objecting to drug importation on safety grounds, which he has said is a bogus reason. He said he called FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg, who said she knew nothing about such a letter.

He said his timeline shows that a letter, signed by Hamburg questioning the safety of drug imports, was sent 24 hours later to a few senators who opposed importation. That piece of paper became a rallying cry for other senators who voted down Dorgan's amendment.

"I think the letter was prompted, probably drafted somewhere else," like "the White House" Dorgan said.

The White House has not responded to repeated calls and emails. The FDA did not immediately comment.

http://www.openleft.com/diary/16550/did-the-white-house-political-staff-...

toniD's Ya Think?

we only got about 2 inches
New York is getting slammed I think
or got slammed - which ever

http://www.readthehook.com/webcam.aspx

http://www.virginia.edu/rcam/carrs.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rNKEUOFLlc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y9CS01Xlzdk&feature=channel

---
OK, Ok. We get a little overexcited.

The kind that sticks to the ground but not to the streets. Doesn't look good if you are a snow junky. Warming up before poor ol' Frosty had a chance.

Republicans More Unhappy With Their Leaders
A new Public Policy Polling survey finds that there are still more Republicans unhappy with their party in Congress than Democrats: 35% of GOP voters expressed disapproval of their leaders in Washington while 27% of Democrats did.

The big difference: By a 77% to 12% margin, GOP voters mad at their party still plan to vote for it next year. The Democrats displeased with theirs only plan to support it by a 54% to 38% margin.

http://publicpolicypolling.blogspot.com/2009/12/more-on-politics-of-heal...

Book explores evangelical monopoly in sports world
By JAY LINDSAY, Associated Press Writer Jay Lindsay, Associated Press Writer Sat Dec 19, 12:28 am ET

BOSTON – A toss left, a quick break past the defense, and it was obvious Philadelphia Eagles running back Herb Lusk was headed to the end zone. The real surprise came when he arrived 70 yards later.

Lusk dropped to a knee in the NFL's first public end zone prayer.

High-profile expressions of faith by athletes have become routine in pro sports since Lusk's October 1977 run. A new book by religion writer Tom Krattenmaker explores how it happened, and asks whether it's a good thing.

"Some love it, some really resent it. The comedians have a field day with it," said Krattenmaker, author of "Onward Christian Athletes."

From the numerous Lusk copycats, to prayer circles at the 50-yard line, to jubilant players praising God in postgame interviews, an often conservative voice of the Christian faith is now commonplace in American professional sports. That reflects decades of influence by evangelical Christian groups in locker rooms and a belief among some Christian athletes that their visibility is a gift they should use to proclaim their faith.

Krattenmaker says the problem is that they're reaching a sporting public with increasingly pluralistic religious convictions, or no religion at all.

"There are many secular fans who really feel annoyed by that kind of religious expression," he said in an interview. "Even people who are religious themselves often resent this situation where athletes talk about God in this big moment of victory, sometimes seeming to imply God gave them the victory."

But Tennessee Titans All-Pro center Kevin Mawae said his Christianity is part of who he is, and he can't separate it from his life as an athlete or anywhere else.

"The fact that some people are jaded toward religion or faith shouldn't stop a player from expressing his faith in public," Mawae said.

There's no intent to alienate people, only to share Biblical truth, said Vince Nauss, president of Baseball Chapel, which provides chaplains to every major league baseball team.

"If there's an exclusivity, it's because Jesus put it out there," Nauss said. "So I don't think there's anything to apologize for, or to dance around in a politically correct environment."

The influence of Christianity in locker rooms can be traced to people such as baseball pioneer Branch Rickey, the executive who brought Jackie Robinson to the Brooklyn Dodgers. In 1954, Rickey agreed to help college football coach Don McClanen found the influential Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Baseball Chapel was established for players like ex-New York Yankee Bobby Richardson, who was mobbed at local churches on Sundays, Nauss said. By 1975, it had established programs for every major league team.

Another prominent group, the international sports ministry Athletes in Action, places about half of the NFL's chaplains.

Krattenmaker said evangelical ministries have a near monopoly in pro clubhouses because they seized the chance, then won the teams' trust by not exploiting their access. Other faith groups simply haven't done the work, he said.

"The conservative Christians got their upper hand in the sports world the old fashioned way," Krattenmaker said. "They earned it."

Krattenmaker isn't asking pro athletes to stop talking about religion, just to be more sensitive in their tone and timing. He also sees a credibility-bruising selectivity in the theologically and politically conservative messages evangelicals in sports trumpet.

In his book, for instance, he highlights retired Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy's public stance against same-sex marriage. But Jesus's teaching that "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God" doesn't get much attention among hyper-wealthy athletes, he said.

Joe Price, author of "Rounding the Bases: Baseball and Religion in America," said evangelicals are driven by a unique "missionary urgency" to fulfill Christ's call to spread the Christian message to all nations. But he said spontaneous witnessing on TV broadcasts was akin to "early Christian preaching on a street corner," and can be easily resented or ignored.

Retired NBA guard and 1993 Heisman Trophy winner Charlie Ward, an outspoken Christian, said when athletes publicly talk about Christianity, it's often just a reflection of the joy of the faith.

"When people are excited about something, they want to share good news with people," Ward said.

John White, who helped found Athletes in Action's sports ethics center, advocates training to help Christian pro athletes be reflective about what they say and aware of how their audience might respond.

"I think there could be more measured communication, just some wisdom," said White, now a professor at Cedarville College. "It would probably challenge me if I saw them equally thanking God after a loss."

Mawae said he knows outspoken Christian athletes will be held more accountable for what they say and do.

"If you're going to go out there and pray in the end zone at the end of the game and give it all up or whatever, at the same time your actions off the field have to reflect who you are on the field," he said.

Both Mawae and Ward have seen their character publicly questioned. Mawae is often named one of the NFL's dirtiest players in player polls — something he has attributed to playing hard until "the echo of the whistle." In the 1997 NBA playoffs, Ward was suspended after being part of an ugly brawl with the Miami Heat. In 2001, he apologized after saying Jews were "stubborn" because they didn't accept Christ and had "blood on their hands."

Ward said he tried to show his Christianity through his struggles.

"I wanted people to see that I was real, but also to wanted (them) to see humility and how you handle certain situations and allowing your faith to kind of be shown through your hang ups," he said.

Ward said he knows that everyone doesn't want to hear about his faith. But he said Christians are also exposed to messages in the media they don't want to hear, and there's a quick solution.

"They can turn off the television," he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091219/ap_on_re/us_rel_onward_christian_ath...

toniD's Ya Think?

is coming up on "This Is Hell."

http://www.wnur.org/

(Bruce Levine; on NOW)

[we do need studies that do though]

Oh no, not again!
mightydrunken wrote:
Friday, 9 October 2009 at 03:52 pm (UTC)

... Lets see what Dr Kuhn has to say about his own study!

"DECT and GSM (for mobile phones) use a number of different frequencies and a number of different modulation- and pulse-processes," Kuhn says. "We still don't know whether these (signals) have even a potential effect on bees. And, if they do, we don't know which ones."

Why would he say that? Because the study was NOT about the mobile in your pocket but they were using a home wireless phone. So the Telegraph article has already got it completely wrong!

What was the purpose of the study then?
"Our intention wasn't to explain the massive bee deaths, which in any case started after our research started," says Kuhn. The pilot studies only looked at the fundamental question of whether high-frequency fields could influence bees' learning behaviour.

They simply got a wireless home phone base station, put it on the maximum setting and left it at the bottom of the hive. Now this is where it gets interesting because I tried to find the original paper and I found two links.

This pdf in English

I quote from the conclusion: "We have observed that the honey bees have touched the sending aerial from the beginning, they did not avoid it. We haven't also been able to recognize a changing behaviour of bees."

Oh, that was not what I was expecting, maybe I got the wrong study. Luckily a similar story to this saying how bad mobile phones were to bees pointed me to another web page:

I translated it from German to English to see that Dr Kuhn had to say.
What did the article say about the experiment? Well nothing because it is a theory he proposes that bees may be a good model on the non thermal effects of electromagnetic radiation. He then did the study as the PDF said and found well nothing!

~`ordinary's just not good enough today - olp`~
Jamesbenet

Have to clean off my car. It's still snowing, about 5 inches here so far. I am way west of smcgee. We got more snow here.

Have a great day!

Later

toniD's Ya Think?

BREAKING: Important Changes in Health Care Manager's Amendment

"Section 500B - New 10% tax on indoor tanning!"

MOorning Blogafellows! Made it to AZ. Weather was great the whole way! Two beautiful days of driving! :)

"this machine kills fascists"

no snow yet, still wating

Predator drone download by Iraqi insurgents wasn't 'hacking'

A Wall Street Journal story on the apparent ability of Iraqi insurgents to intercept video surveillance taken by the US military's $4 million predator drones has attracted intense interest. But the vulnerability of the transmissions has long been understood, and the intercepts weren't really "hacks."

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2009/1218/Predator-drone-down...

====
Don't know who to believe but here it is anyhow. Hopefully CSM is right here as that is less scary.

We'll have to see what Rachel says Monday.

love the m#$m

it depends on how widely you define hacking. i would tend to say this wasn't because they bought commercially available software and set up a satellite dish to get the video signal.

<sarcasm>

of course its horribly wrong for the insurgents not to play fair and interfere with our ability to bomb them back into the stone age.

still, you gotta wonder what might be going thru an insurgents mind when they are looking at a tv and saying, hey look we're on tv.

</sarcasm>

Submitted by nora on Fri, 12/18/2009 - 11:58pm.
Microwavelength technology disrupt bee navigation and they get lost and die?
...Now a limited study at Landau University has found that bees refuse to return to their hives when mobile phones are placed nearby. Dr Jochen Kuhn, who carried it out, said this could provide a "hint" to a possible cause...
-----
Submitted by nora on Sat, 12/19/2009 - 3:17am.
BAN microwave technology altogether.
BEES ARE MORE IMPORTANT.
------------------------------------
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/22/technology/22iht-wireless23.1.5388309....

April 22, 2007

...The headlines were catchy, the subject compelling and, in some cases, the newspapers well respected.

"Cellphones linked to honeybee deaths."...

...Good story for sure, except that the study in question had nothing to do with mobile phones and was actually investigating the influence of electromagnetic fields, especially those used by cordless phones that work on fixed-line networks, on the learning ability of bees. The small study, according to the researchers who carried it out too small for the results to be considered significant, found that the electromagnetic fields similar to those used by cordless phones may interrupt the innate ability of bees to find the way back to their hive...

..."We cannot explain the CCD-phenomenon itself and want to keep from speculation in this case," Jochen Kuhn, a professor in the physics department at the University of Koblenz-Landau in Germany who co-authored the bee study, wrote in an e-mail message. "Our studies cannot indicate that electromagnetic radiation is a cause of CCD."...
------------------------------------
http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/FAQ/FAQCCD.pdf

...What are examples of topics that the CCD working group is not currently investigating?...

...Radiation transmitted by cell towers: The distribution of both affected and non-affected CCD apiaries does not make this a likely cause. Also cell phone service is not available in some areas where affected commercial apiaries are located in the west. For this reason, it is currently not a top priority.
------------------------------------
http://edwardwillett.com/2009/09/honeybees-in-decline/
...Hypotheses as to what might be causing CCD have ranged all over the map, including one that cropped up immediately, got a lot of press, was generally considered debunked, and has now cropped up again: radiation from cell phone towers.

The new round of “cell phones are killing the bees” stories arose from a single short news item out of India claiming that a study by Dr. Sainudeen Pattazhy, an environmentalist and zoology teacher at Sree Narayana College in Kerala, had shown that electromagnetic radiation from mobile towers and cell phones had the potential to kill worker bees...

...The best response I found was from Kenneth R. Foster, a Professor of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania whose own research is focused on the biomedical applications and health effects of non-ionizing electromagnetic fields—the kind of fields produced by cell phone towers.

Professor Foster, not without some difficulty, tracked down Dr. Pattazhy and asked for information about the study, receiving finally via email “a two-page document that consisted almost entirely of editorializing with his views about the hazards of radiofrequency energy.” The only actual experiment mentioned consisted of placing mobile devices hear hives for a few days. Dr. Pattazhy did not respond to Professor Foster’s requests for information on “study design, methods of assessment, what controls he used in the study, hypotheses tested, statistical analysis of data, or other aspects of a valid study,” causing Foster to conclude, “there was NO STUDY.”
--------------------------------------
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.00064...

...Methods and Principal Findings: Of 61 quantified variables (including adult bee physiology, pathogen loads, and pesticide levels), no single measure emerged as a most-likely cause of CCD. Bees in CCD colonies had higher pathogen loads and were co-infected with a greater number of pathogens than control populations, suggesting either an increased exposure to pathogens or a reduced resistance of bees toward pathogens. Levels of the synthetic acaricide coumaphos (used by beekeepers to control the parasitic mite Varroa destructor) were higher in control colonies than CCD-affected colonies.

Conclusions/Significance: This is the first comprehensive survey of CCD-affected bee populations that suggests CCD involves an interaction between pathogens and other stress factors. We present evidence that this condition is contagious or the result of exposure to a common risk factor. Potentially important areas for future hypothesis-driven research, including the possible legacy effect of mite parasitism and the role of honey bee resistance to pesticides, are highlighted...
-----------------------------------
http://www.beeculture.com/content/ScienceJournalMay2009.pdf#page=6

Effect of GSM Cellular Phone Radiation On The Behavior Of Honey Bees

...Summary:...Relative to control animals, the results indicated that a 45 minute radiation exposure did not influence return to the target...As in the previous experiments, no effect of radiation exposure was found...
----------------------------------
Dear Reader,

If you have read this far, you have noted that the first citation includes a statement from Dr. Kuhn at Landau indicating that his study was too small to be significant, that the frequency of electromagnetic radiation is not the same as used in cell phone technology, and that "our studies cannot indicate electromagnetic radiation is the cause of CCD."

Dr. Kuhn and the study at Landau is precisely that cited by nora from which she draws conclusions not shared by the professor, Dr. Kuhn, who conducted the study.

It is worth noting that CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) is a relatively new term but a similar widespread decimation of bee colonies (wherein foragers do not return to the hive) was recorded in the 1960's. Other recorded incidents date back to the 1890's.

It is further worth noting that bees in a hive are genetically homogenous due to sharing a mother. The members of the colony overnight and winter in very close proximity to one another. Pathogens that evade or compromise the immune system of one forager are likely to do the same to most or all of the foragers in the colony.

Naturally occurring electromagnetic waves in a wide range of frequencies and varying strengths are bombarding everything on Earth all of the time. Life on this planet has evolved within the bombardment. In Dr. Kuhn's insignificant and inconclusive study, bees in the control hives died or disappeared at a rate approximating the morbidity and M.I.A. loss in the hives that had the base unit for a cordless phone embedded in them.

Since Dr. Kuhn was studying electromagnetic influences on the navigational ability of bees, one might guess that he used the base units of cordless phones because they are a cheap method of bombarding bees with a specific frequency.

We might also guess that knee-jerk, tin foil hat wearers morphed a cordless phone base unit into a cell phone (or a cell phone tower?). The same people would be responsible for reversing Dr. Kuhn's conclusion (no significant effect from the electromagetism) into the conclusion that cell phones (or cell phone towers?) are the cause of CCD.

Since man-made electromagnetism was less prevalent in the 1960's and nearly nonexistent in the 1890's, and since surveys of commercial apiaries show no correlation between cell phone towers and the incidence of CCD, and since all of the circumstantial evidence points to contagious pathogens, it appears unlikely that cell phone technology is the cause of CCD.

Finally, the following wikipedia link is a tutorial of CCD and includes an examination of electromagnetism as a cause of Colony Collapse Disorder.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_collapse_disorder#General

_ ringoffireradio.com _

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xufIvxOa6JA

___________________________________-
This Week on Ring of Fire!

fcousins posted on December 18, 2009 14:08

This week’s Ring of Fire,
hosted by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Mike Papantonio:
Saturdays at 3 o’clock Eastern,
rebroadcasts Sunday nights at 8 pm Eastern

This week on Ring of Fire, America’s favorite populist,
Jim Hightower will be here to tell us why Obama’s decision to
escalate the war in Afghanistan is leaving a bad taste in
the mouths of progressives.

We’ll also be talking with author Ian Mitroff about how
the government is trying to solve the wrong problems with
our healthcare system.

Comedian Matt Filipowicz will fill us in on all of the
crazy antics of the GOP that happened over the last week.

We’ll also be talking with Robert Weissman,
the president of Public Citizen, about how the
banking industry is filling up the campaign coffers of the
Congressmen who are trying to reign in their industry.

And investigative journalist Lizzy Ratner will be here to
tell us how the young generation of Americans are feeling the
effects of this recession much more severely than the rest of us.

.
.
.
_ _ _
BRR / YT

Going anywhere near Scottsdale??

Made it to AZ. Weather was great the whole way! Two beautiful days of driving! :)

toniD - we got 2 inches (if that)

It is pretty when it first falls.

This weeks Pap Attack
new
Submitted by Jmach1JP on Sat, 12/19/2009 - 2:37pm.

because of unaffordable health care than in traffic fatalities.

wow that's great

Only 39,800 traffic related deaths.

what an improvement

~`ordinary's just not good enough today - olp`~
Jamesbenet

Rep. Anthony Weiner: ‘Howard Dean Is Wrong,’ We Shouldn’t ‘Let The Perfect Be The Enemy Of The Good’

This morning, single-payer advocate and public option supporter Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) defended the merged Senate bill, arguing that it’s still worth passing. “It’s not that they got a bad bill on their hands, it’s a pretty good bill,” Weiner said. “I think that Howard Dean is wrong. And I don’t think we should let the perfect be the enemy of the good.”

Asked “what is it in this bill that’s going to lower costs and provide more choice” since Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) insisted on stripping the bill of the public option and the Medicare buy-in provision, Weiner argued that covering more Americans would minimize the cost shift from the uninsured:

WEINER: No, that’s easy. I mean frankly, when you have 30 million people who are uninsured today going into hospital emergency rooms getting very expensive costs, passing along the burden. We in New York City pay $6 billion what could be in extra taxes for the uninsured. Theoretically, those people are going to be covered now, so they’re going to get better health care than they’re getting today.
O’DONNELL: How if there is no public option?
WEINER: I understand there is no public option but there are 30 million people who are going to be getting health insurance who don’t have it today. Those people are going to be getting more efficient less expensive care, not passing onto you and me higher costs. That’s a good thing. That’s an unvarnished good thing.

Watch it:

http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/12/18/weiner-dean/

"Don't Let It Bring You Down" by Neil Young

~`ordinary's just not good enough today - olp`~
Jamesbenet

A heavily retouched Oil of Olay ad featuring 60 year-old Twiggy, considered one of the worlds first supermodels, has been banned in the UK. The ad was deemed misleading in that it made it look like you could achieve plastic surgery-quality results from a cream in a jar. UK ad regulatory agency the Advertising Standards Authority didn’t deem that it was damaging to women, though. The ad came out in July so this ban isn’t going to do much other than send the message to advertisers that it’s unacceptable.

con't

http://www.celebrityblend.com/photoshopped-oil-of-olay-ad-featuring-twig...

Christmas - - what a cool tune
thanks maggiesboy

yes - it's a tad bit deceiving (the ad)
good for the UK

1. The dastardly (often young, irresponsible) uninsured person resorting to the expensive services of the ER (as if they even are even ALLOWED to do so, in all cases--heard of dumping?) is fast becoming the "Welfare Queen In The Cadillac" of the 21st century.

2. Many many many people (among them I won't say who) that are considered very INTELLIGENT have not only failed to make this connection but also...

3. Question: How much easier is it to talk with 9.5 fingers up your ass than with ten? There are no controlled double-blind clinical trials so we can't say with any real certainty.

..sorry. I've got 1,000 excuses. Which one do you want to hear?

casting

In re: Lucy/Charlie Brown. Just thought it was an interesting idea. And not that much of a stretch. Not at all actually.

technically, it is considered "sniffing", since they were just pulling unencrypted datastreams off the air...

strictly from an IT Security perspective, "hacking" involves circumventing security features to gain unauthorized access to a device...

good f-word clip on your site mb

I need to update it.

d'oh!

Excuse #543: The dog ate my email.

The snooty but crazy Peggy Noonan blames country's pessimism on Adam Lambert. But here again is the hypocrisy of the conservative mind. After all, you could say closeted gay is synonymous to Republican.

-----------

In the Wall Street Journal, Peggy Noonan contemplates the “decline in American optimism,” as evidenced by polls saying that 55% of Americans believe the country to be on the “wrong track,” and 66% don’t think life will be better for their children than it has been for them. Now, Noonan is not one to go with those boring old reasonable causes for pessimism everyone is talking about, like the fact that lots of us are unemployed, and uninsured, and people are losing their houses, and we’re at war and have been for a really long time, and so on and so forth and oh God let’s not list all the reasons right here. Oh, no! These, to Noonan, are mere distractions! She goes directly to the real reason: perhaps it is all because we are so upset about that Adam Lambert kissing a boy on the teevee, hmmmmm?

con't

http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2009/12/18/red-blooded-americans-a...

not too bad here...'bout 18" of snow and 30 degrees...

Animal rights activists in the Spanish region of Catalonia have gathered enough signatures to force the regional parliament to debate a ban on bull-fighting.

Campaigning under the platform "Prou!", or "Enough!" in the Catalan language, activists on Friday collected the 180,000 signatures needed to call for an end to the sport in the northeastern region.

The petition demands a tightening of Catalonia's animal protection laws, which excludes bullfights from a ban on the killing or mistreatment of animals in public.

Legislators in the regional parliament in Barcelona have already agreed, by 67 votes to 59, to act on the petition next year.

It was the first step in a process that could see Catalonia become the first region in Spain, outside of the Canary Islands, to ban the spectacle.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2009/12/2009121817577600314.htm...

Colombia rebels 'to join forces'

Colombia's two biggest rebel movements have said they will join forces after years of being pushed onto the defensive by the US-backed policies of Alvaro Uribe, the Colombian president.

In a joint statement on Thursday the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN) said they would unite with "force and belligerence" against Uribe.

"We are on our way toward working for unity," said the statement signed by the FARC and ELN, both of whom have been blacklisted as terrorist groups by the US.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2009/12/2009121831013807646.h...

"Our only enemy is North American Imperialism and its oligarchic lackeys," read the statement published on the ANNCOL news agency website, often the first to carry Colombian rebel statements

Japan PM 'delays US base decision'

Futenma's relocation is a pre-requisite to shifting more troops to the US territory of Guam [Reuters]

Japan's prime minister has reportedly delayed until next year a decision on the controversial relocation of a US military base on the southern island of Okinawa.

The dispute over the future of the Futenma air base has strained ties between the two allies and trading partners, with the US hoping for a decision by the end of this year.

According to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper, Yukio Hatoyama, the Japanese prime minister, has deferred making the decision until May next year.
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia-pacific/2009/12/20091215411373380...

I hear ya sammy...

Let's see what comes out of conference...

Congress has been surprisingly creative during this process...

...but I am not getting my hopes up. I can not support the Senate bill the way it is....

Unless Congress can come up with some other feasible way to contain insurance industry price gouging, a mandate without a public option is a non-starter for me...

If you think we can ignore these linguistic crimes, think again

My favourite is 'any', as in 'any passengers who may have been inconvenienced'

......And so I move on to the phrase which is now becoming a cliché: anti-Semitism. It is not a cliché – it was certainly never intended to be – but those who use this phrase to assault any decent person who dares to criticise Israel are turning it into one. They are making anti-Semitism respectable – and shame upon them for it.

The latest idiot to assist the anti-Semites is Labour MP Denis MacShane who last month condemned Channel 4's Dispatches programme on Britain's Israel lobby with the words: "anti-Semitic politics is back". I should perhaps add that this is the same man who, as Minister for Europe, defended Blair's criminal intention to go to war in Iraq with the admonition to fellow European politicians that sometimes people were in need of "a guide". He had obviously forgotten that the German for "guide" is Führer...
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/fisk/robert-fiskrsquos...

..you can be damned sure a liberal was behind it.

Then again there's that pesky definition of "good".

BREAKING NEWS: Conservative Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) announced today he will be the 60th vote to allow the Senate health care bill to move forward...after fellow Democrats agreed to new restrictions on abortion.

This comes after Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) also agreed to be the 60th vote...after fellow Democrats agreed to remove a public health insurance option -- while mandating that millions of people buy insurance from private corporations.

We have a very serious question for our Ohio members as we plan our next activism steps: Do you think Sen. Sherrod Brown has fought strongly enough on behalf of the public option? And would you support pressuring him to be stronger?

Please share your thoughts on Sherrod Brown's leadership on this issue by clicking here.

Here's why this matters. The Senate and House will soon go to "conference committee" to iron out differences between their bills.

The House has a public option in their bill, but advocates for the Senate bill will have all the power in negotiations unless progressive senators like Sherrod Brown stand up now and publicly threaten to block a final bill unless it has a public option.

This is what Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson did. But unlike them, Sherrod Brown would be advocating on behalf of the overwhelming majority of people. This past week, we commissioned a Research 2000 poll with our friends at Democracy for America. Check out these numbers:

Voters want the public option: 59% to 31%.
Support for current Senate bill (mandates without a public option): 33% to 56%.
63% of voters say President Obama didn't fight Joe Lieberman hard enough. (Democrats: 87%)
81% of Democrats want Joe Lieberman stripped of his powerful committee chairmanship.
If Sherrod Brown and other progressive senators threatened to block a bad bill, President Obama would face a choice: Strong-arm Lieberman and Nelson to support the final bill, which has huge popular support OR strong-arm progressives into supporting a bill with 33% support. The smart choice is obvious. But it's up to progressive senators to force that choice.

Brown said recently, "There's no negotiations as far as I'm concerned. We've compromised the public option three times, maybe four, depending on how you define it. This bill is not going to continue to become more pro-insurance company."

That was said when the public option was still in the bill. Since then, it's become way more pro-insurance company. When push came to shove, where did Sherrod Brown go? He and other progressive senators allowed themselves to get rolled by Lieberman. But it's not too late to fight back.

Our next grassroots steps will likely entail pressuring progressive senators to say they will block any final bill without a public option. But before we add Sherrod Brown to the list of those who need pressure, we want the opinion of our Vermont members.

cent - ya all got slammed, shit we only got 2 inches
(if that)
has it stopped?? hope so :) b safe if your driving

BREAKING NEWS: Conservative Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) announced today he will be the 60th vote to allow the Senate health care bill to move forward...after fellow Democrats agreed to new restrictions on abortion.

This comes after Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) also agreed to be the 60th vote...after fellow Democrats agreed to remove a public health insurance option -- while mandating that millions of people buy insurance from private corporations.

It should be warmer tomorrow too...

The plows will be running all nite so the road should be pretty clear by tomorrow...I managed to get the truck up the drive and out on to the road this morning too, so we should be fine...

I was amazed at how few power outages there were during this storm too...overall Roanoke fared pretty well, considering....

You could tell one of them to get f'd.

Choices, choices, choices....

(Our snow is all but gone. I have to laugh at all my friends who moved to the Carolinas to avoid the snow. They've been pounded just about every year with bigger snows than we ever get here. Damn you climate change)

AHIP hasn't updated their webpage since 11/19. Guess that's when they figured it was in the bag?

...more

the power outage issue is key.

I'm listening to "Prairie Home Companion"
& LMAO -

You both have had an opportunity to back-up or refute the Cell Phones Cause CCD story that nora has been selling.

Your silence is deafening. It's understandable, though.

If you agree with tin foil Luddite crap from 2007 that was quickly debunked by the very professor who was cited, then you are idiots.

If you disagree with nora, then you are vicious, wife-beating woman haters, so there's that to consider.

Which is it: Idiots or woman haters?

you won't have to donate any $ to Obama in 2012, insurance companies have you covered.

I'm seriously jones'n for the funny.

what the fuck is wrong with you that you can't disagree without being a total fucking asshole all the time?

Is it congenital, or do you really feel so superior that it justifies you constantly berating people?

go fuck yourself....

BILL MOYERS: Welcome to the Journal.

Something's not right here. One year after the great collapse of our financial system, Wall Street is back on top while our politicians dither. As for health care reform, you're about to be forced to buy insurance from companies whose stock is soaring, and that's just dandy with the White House.

Truth is, our capitol's being looted, republicans are acting like the town rowdies, the sheriff is firing blanks, and powerful Democrats in Congress are in cahoots with the gang that's pulling the heist. This is not capitalism at work. It's capital. Raw money, mounds of it, buying politicians and policy as if they were futures on the hog market.

Here to talk about all this are two journalists who don't pull their punches. Robert Kuttner is an economist who helped create and now co-edits the progressive magazine THE AMERICAN PROSPECT, and the author of the book OBAMA'S CHALLENGE, among others.

Also with me is Matt Taibbi, who covers politics for ROLLING STONE magazine where he is a contributing editor. He's made a name for himself writing in a no-holds-barred, often profane, but always informative and stimulating style that gets under the skin of the powerful. His most recent article is "Obama's Big Sellout," about the President's team of economic advisers and their Wall Street connections. It's been burning up the blogosphere.

Video here:
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/12182009/watch.html

Why it was talking on my cellphone I have no idea.

Something like that, only funny.

a mushroom walks into a bar...

why the long face...

eats, shoots, and leaves...

Submitted by cent on Sat, 12/19/2009 - 7:51pm.
--------
You can run but you can't hide.

As promised, each piece of tin foil lunacy will be presented directly to you as they occur. You will have the opportunity to agree or to disagree or you can evade the subject just as you have done twice now.

This much is certain: My bullshit detector is a hell of a lot more accurate than yours.

National Organization for Women opposes Senate health bill
By Michael O'Brien - 12/19/09 01:55 PM ET

A leading women's group called on senators on Saturday to defeat its healthcare reform bill.

The leader of the National Organization for Women (NOW) excoriated the language in the health bill curtailing federal support for insurance plan covering abortions, which was inserted to win the 60th vote of Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.).

"The so-called health care reform bill now before the Senate, with the addition of Majority Leader Harry Reid's Manager's Amendment, amounts to a health insurance bill for half the population and a sweeping anti-abortion law for the rest of us," NOW President Terry O'Neill said in a statement.

"We call on all senators who consider themselves friends of women's rights to reject the Manager's Amendment, and if it remains, to defeat this cruelly over-compromised legislation," O'Neill added.

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/73083-national-organiza...

toniD's Ya Think?

You Got Nuthin'

Submitted by Crank Bait on Sat, 12/19/2009 - 8:15pm.

________________

Don't Worry, Bee Happy!

Yesterday's Stephanie Miller show had callers calling in and telling funny stories about how they had injured themselves. Pretty funny in light of the tragedy called HCR.
I feel like the kid on Christmas AM.;Imagining/dreaming of mountains of toys but finding myself surrounded by shredded paper, chintzy plastic, and a feeling of.....what? dashed dreams, resignation?
Edward Kennedy's widow wrote an opinion piece(NYT?) urging Dems to pass HCR. I'm beginning to think we must, then, work for and support progressives in 2010.

I'm in Tucson, AZ. It is warm here, 70's today. I have watched John McCain do nothing for AZ for the last 10 years. I'm glad he can't do that to the country as president. Plus, I've seen/heard several examples of his temper over the last few weeks. Never forget "Bomb, bomb,bomb Iran" If he were pres we would probably be doing that right now.

Army general in Iraq issues pregnancy ban
U.S. personnel in the north could face court-martial, jail for failing orders

The Army general of U.S. forces in Northern Iraq has banned pregnancy among military personnel in his command, NBC News reported on Friday.

Anyone who becomes pregnant or impregnates another servicemember, including married couples assigned to the same unit, could face a court-martial and jail time, according to an order issued by Maj. Gen. Anthony Cucolo.

The order, which went into effect on Nov. 4, was first reported by the military publication Stars and Stripes.

Military officials say the order was issued because Army policy requires the force to remove a pregnant soldier from a war zone within 14 days of learning of the pregnancy, creating a hole in a unit that makes it more difficult to complete its mission.

“It is a lawful order,” Thompson said Friday during a phone interview with Stars and Stripes.

Thompson, who has served 29 of the past 39 months in Iraq as an inspector general, told the publication that it’s the first time he can recall pregnancy being prohibited.

So far, there have been no known violations of Cucolo's order, NBC reported.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34483943/ns/us_news-military/

toniD's Ya Think?

Submitted by Sandy on Sat, 12/19/2009 - 8:29pm.

I'm in Tucson, AZ. It is warm here, 70's today. I have watched John McCain do nothing for AZ for the last 10 years. I'm glad he can't do that to the country as president. Plus, I've seen/heard several examples of his temper over the last few weeks. Never forget "Bomb, bomb,bomb Iran" If he were pres we would probably be doing that right now.

_________________

And don't forget: If John McCain were elevated to the presidency, the Senate Chamber would go missing its most cherished lawn gnome.

'splains your accuracy on Obama...how can someone who has been so wrong about so much over the last year still be so sure of himself...? You once posted a man should be held accountable for his incorrect evaluations and they should have an affect on how valid people consider his opinions...If that were the case you couldn't validate a parking ticket...the difference between us is you won't hear me calling you an imbecile for getting it wrong.

Nora...Crank, you left out one other possibility...I don't read everything nora posts...In fact, the reason I am always commenting on your comments is that I usually read yours...until recently....

see...you are wrong again...

keep digging crank...I am enjoying myself.

(sorry for the back edit dr, but thanks for pointing it out)

Top US General Bans Pregnancies For Soldiers Under His Command!

Submitted by toniD on Sat, 12/19/2009 - 8:31pm.

________________

"Leggo my Preggo!"

Everyone reads into his rhetoric what they wanted to hear. I never thought he was much different from Hillary. The difference, and the reason I sort of wanted HC, is that Hillary knows better than to trust Repugs. I've always thought the Dems are Charlie Brown and the R's are Lucy with the football. Why do we ever trust them? I don't.

Son wants his computer back. Hope I can read some funny stories on this thread Sun AM. The great thing about teenagers is that you can be sure they won't fight your computer access at 6 or 7 AM.

hahaha right...your bullshit is completely busted crank....

Submitted by cent on Sat, 12/19/2009 - 8:34pm.

________________

Can you really bust bullshit?

Isn't it already busted?

Nobody knows, I guess.

...

Stupak, working with GOP, trying to sink abortion compromise Updated at 3:34 PM

Source: Politico

An aide to Rep. Bart Stupak (D. Mich.) coordinated opposition to a Senate compromise on the place of abortion in health care legislation this morning with the Republican Senate leadership, the Conference Catholic Bishops, and other anti-abortion groups, according to a chain of frantic emails obtained this morning by POLITICO.

Stupak, in an interview with POLITICO, called the Senate’s bill’s abortion position unacceptable – but disavowed his staffer’s collaboration with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

I never talked to McConnell about the health care bill, said Stupak, adding that that I did not authorize the email and that it was sent without my knowledge.

Stupak said that he has discussed the Senate’s abortion position with Nelson and Casey, and his opposition in spite of intense pressure from the White House to accept it could augur a challenge to the compromise in the House when the two versions of the bill are reconciled.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1209/30811.html

toniD's Ya Think?

Do bee do bee dooooo

No joke. I just wanted to be the first to get do bee do bee doooo posted.

I win!

You still in very-cold-land? or back for now?

doo bee doo bee dooooooooo

Ha! I got it in again.

Quick, gimme a Hive Five!

Submitted by cent on Sat, 12/19/2009 - 8:34pm.
'splains your accuracy on Obama...
--------
You have me confused with someone else. I don't know what the fuck you are talking about, which makes two of us.

Submitted by Sandy on Sat, 12/19/2009 - 8:38pm.

... The difference, and the reason I sort of wanted HC, is that Hillary knows better than to trust Repugs. I've always thought the Dems are Charlie Brown and the R's are Lucy with the football. Why do we ever trust them? I don't.

----------

What an insult to Charlie Brown

Submitted by Alice on Sat, 12/19/2009 - 8:43pm.

_______________

">

If you repeatedly trust someone (or -thing)in good faith, and that entity repeatedly betrays that trust, how is it an "insult" to highlight that enabler dynamic?

Hi dr...
new
Submitted by Alice on Sat, 12/19/2009 - 8:45pm.

You still in very-cold-land? or back for now?

_____________

Not-so-very cold in Sitka. Actually, just got back into very cold Traverse City. (Evidently the "ghetto" that ghetto is defending, which makes me smile ever time I sees it.)

Climes is much more temperate, take it all around, in Sitka than in Michigan's northwoods.

Jeep blew up in the mountains w/me 'n a hunting buddy and alla my gear 'n two dogs (that fit like the last two pieces of a jig-saw puzzle). That was entertainin'.

How is you?

Is you and Crank kissed and made up or are you both holdin' grudges?

or not holding yourself to the same standards you hold others to....

you want to spend your days fact checking everything nora posts, be my guest...I am not going to spend mine digging up all the inacurate post you made in assessing Obama...

my only problem with you is the abusive and vile crap you spew at people sometimes...and your bullshit justifications for doing it...

...you did good on your reply to nora's bee posts...not one personal attack...congratulations...it must have been painful....

Because he never gives up on the goodness of people. Not smart but endearing. Lucy, on the other hand, reminds me of lots of bitches I've known. There's a type of person who likes to hurt others even when it doesn't help him/herself. OTOH, Where's Nader? Why is our third choice not speaking out? Maybe he is and is kept off MSM.

I know I'm getting more moderate as I get older, perhaps because I'm too cynical/tired to fight. I have decided for my own mental health to focus on small changes I can make to help others.

in the 60's and waited everyday for her to call my name. I have always wondered why there are no good songs with the name Sandy in them. Do you know any, Maggiesboy?

Bruce Springsteen's The Wild, The Innocent and The E Street Shuffle has a song "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)". It's the best Sandy song ever.

Ever heard it?

Will listen later in the dead of the Night....Thanks!

AND, I followed one of the links and found THIS tidbit! Google setting itself up to gouge libraries?--

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/12/18/google

[excerpt]

Eye on Google
December 18, 2009
Three major library associations sent a letter Thursday to the U.S. Justice Department asking it to keep a close eye on Google to make sure it does not exploit its position as the owner of the world’s largest digital book database to gouge libraries with exorbitant licensing fees.

The letter — signed by the directors of the American Library Association, the Association of Research Libraries and the Association of College and Research Libraries — noted that November’s amended settlement agreement between Google and the Author’s Guild failed to create a mechanism that would allow Google’s competitors comparable access to the millions of so-called “orphan works” the tech giant has scanned into its database. The U.S. government had recommended two months earlier that the parties create such a mechanism. Without it, the government warned, Google could have a “dangerous” monopoly on access to the scanned works.

The idea that any other company could compete with Google in such a way as to prevent price gouging is unrealistic, the library associations said in yesterday’s letter. The government could more easily protect the libraries against price gouging, they argued, by intervening directly should Google abuse its position.

“The most effective way to prevent the [Book Rights] Registry and Google from abusing the control they will have … would be for the court to regulate the parties’ conduct under the settlement,” they wrote.

As part of the most recent version of the settlement, Google pledged to license access to its scanned books in accordance with “market rates,” and to provide “broad access to the books by the public, including institutions of higher education.” The library associations called on the court to monitor how Google prices access to its massive vault of scanned books to make sure it keeps this promise.

Corey Williams, associate director of the Washington office of the American Library Association, said the association has “not necessarily defined a threshold” for what pricing would constitute “monopolistic behavior,” saying that it has nothing to base that on. She said that at this point the libraries just want to make sure there is an oversight mechanism in place to guard against exorbitant pricing, since none has been created by Google and the Author’s Guild.

The library associations also criticized the U.S. government for not instructing the parties to involve academic authors on the board of the Book Rights Registry. “Academic authors wrote the vast majority of the books Google will include in its database,” they wrote. “These academic authors probably would want the Registry to price the institutional subscription in a manner that maximizes public access rather than profits.”

Richard Hull, executive director of the Text and Academic Authors Association, said that while his group has never formally discussed the exclusion of academic authors from the registry, he agreed with the libraries’ complaint. “Academic authors who write journal pieces or monographs published by university presses are not in the business for royalties, they are in the business for promulgating ideas and sharing them widely,” Hull said. “So to the extent that the issue interest is subsumed to the profit motives of Google, and not to the intellectual sharing of ideas of academics, the interests of academics are not being well-represented.”

Google would not immediately comment on the content of the letter, but a spokesman reiterated Google's official statement on the settlement: “If approved by the Court, the settlement stands to unlock access to millions of books in the U.S. while giving authors and publishers new ways to distribute their work. Google is working closely with authors, publishers and libraries across the world to improve access to books.”

— Steve Kolowich

[end excerpt]

Twere a choice to be made when I's limpin' my white-smokin' clack-clack-clackin' differential offa the interstate.

Choice was: Buy a new (well, differnt) car, rent a vee-hickle ('n pay the five-hunnerd dollar drop-off charge) or fill 'er w/"what's-the-diff?" oil and chance it.

Naturally we chose option three. (And made 'bout as much progress 'crost the mountains as you might expect).

So I sells my heap (w/a perfectly heavenly engine but a drive-train from hell that made repairs prohibitive) to a establishment callt "Budget Auto Wreckin'". (Cuz if yer doin' any auto wreckin', you best be onna budget.)

Now I's down to two options. Went to a dealership 'n they gots a car that I don't really want w/in the range a what I wanna spend (which, onna car, ain't never a whole lot; never bought new in my life and hope to keep it thattaway), but figgers I: Mebbe I can get me a good enough deal to sell the dealership car when I gets to Michigan 'n then get what I wants/needs inna private-party sale laterz.

Dealer tries to sell me a (soon-to-be-discontinued) Durango, which I ain't innerested in, then he moves over to a used Scion, which might be wunnerful cars but I ain't never heard of 'em. Looks like a FED-EX box (or USPS, yer mileage may vary) on wheels. Tells him I'd be innerested inna Subaru or a Honda, but he ain't got any.

The Scion he wants to sell starts at 8.7K. No thanks. Go to walk away.

"Well, lessee." [wait a minnit] "Since yer in trouble, I'd like to do you a favor [what a guy!]: How'z'bout 6.7K?"

"Still too much," sez I. Start to walk away. Salesman interposes hisself betwixt me 'n the door 'n starts tellin' me stories mixt w/the vehicle's Kelley Blue Book value, blah, blah, blah.

I just 'bout gotta do a gymnast's vault to get past him when he sez he'll do 6K.

"Lemme axe you a question," sez I. "How long's that car been on the lot?" (Over a month, sez he, begrudin'lee.)

"So, n'other words, I'd be doin' you a favor by helpin' you satisfy the bank so's you can pay yer lot rent, right?" Sez I: "What can you does for cash?""

Glint of recognition from sales-dude 'bout dealerships-don't-actual-own-the-cars-they-sells. Turn-over, baby! Lifeblood a the sliimy biz.

"How about 5K," he sez.

"Tell you what," sez I. "If you wanna give me the car, I guess I'd take it."

"Scuze me?" he sez.

"Well, since you keeps comin' down in price so dramatical-like onna car you obviously can't move, I figgered I'd do you all a favor by taking it offa yer hands before yer reduced to payin' me to take it."

Or you mean the gear and your dogs died in an explosion? (I'm no Click or Clack...) Jeep's are pretty rugged...why did that happen?

With regard to me, I have a bit more that 24 hours to turn in my five pages of CSS/HTML pages for one of four finals I've been working on...

Was jamming and got knocked down on my bday and will be back to skating on the 3rd....was on crutches for a bit...

And Crank? At one point before school got too hectic I did research to speak to him about his assertions about ferals and rodents....but then I didn't have the time, the heart or the desire to post the results....

I have no beef with him personally...I just get ill thinking about people voting for democrats...and then making excuses for why they can't vote for people who will, or might, lose elections..even though those losers stand for what said voter seems to want...

And I think he hates that I blame every Iraqi, Afghani, etc civilian death on his dumb party...

How that for stirring the SSS Soup, eh? ;)

4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)

...

Google isn't a threat, imo...

Well, this is good news. I sure hope this technology does not harm bees, because there is no chance of putting this Genie back in Its Bottle, right?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/12/19/816837/-The-Public-Option-Distraction-(Or,-Why-This-Bill-Should-Pass)

This diary was on the KOS rec list and I think it helps with HCR hyperventilation.

MB- Yes, now I remember that Springsteen song and no Sandy could ask for a better lovesong. The only one I could think of is Mambo #5.

as to whether you hear what Nader has to say or not...

about brain tumors from cell phones, which my brother in law had a couple yrs ago, and about electromagnetic radiation...They spoke to Magda Havas prof. of environmental and resource studies from Trent Univ....cordless phones, wifi, household electricity, mic. ovens, plasma tv's...

...

? Cuz that would be pretty cool.

You mean you had to carry everything to the repair place?

Submitted by Alice on Sat, 12/19/2009 - 9:37pm.

Or you mean the gear and your dogs died in an explosion? (I'm no Click or Clack...) Jeep's are pretty rugged...why did that happen?

_____________________

Speakin' metaphorically, tho' as a teen I was passenger inna car that caught fire 'n me 'n Rose was drivin' inna Mitsubishi SUV that spontaneously combusted. In the first instance, we wuz drivin' a vehicle we knew was prepped to blow but in the second instance it was a highly unwelcome surprise. ('Lectrical.)

No, I's bein' hyperbolic. The differential went out rather undramatically if but inconveniently (an inconvenient truth!) and unexpectedly. No warnin'.

Wound up rentin' a cargo van (which was innerestin' makin' way thru the mountains w/rear-wheel drive, no weight and snow and ice). Not recommended, fwiw.

Just gotta Honda Odyssey w/67K miles offa guy here in Tragic City who was gonna go buy him a SUV cuz he thought the Honda minivan made him look like a wussy.

(Sometimes the insecurities of others can be of immense benefit to oneself.)

I gots room enough in the back to lay down a futon for sleepin' on the road and could even do me some sportin' in the hay-rick if I's to find the right stable-mate.

Provides you with healthcare. Although I suspect it was hard working Dems in the California legislature.

Good luck on your schooling. It is one of those hurdles that our country requires. And, like the political system, it's our way to get into "the club". I feel that way about Nader. He may be a better person, he did great things in the 60s' but he has been barred from the club. So, keep standing outside of the club Alice. I hope your rightousness keeps you warm.

future, thanks.

*

dr....Honda's last a long time...I knew a guy who made a regular van into a really nice traveling studio apt...shower and all...According to Seinfeld, you are going to need some robes and lotions now to be a 'van guy' ... :)

Submitted by Alice on Sat, 12/19/2009 - 10:04pm.

According to Seinfeld, you are going to need some robes and lotions now to be a 'van guy' ... :)

______________

Ahem, that would be Lilliputian-like mini-robes and mini-lotions.

just got mine back to running right.

all onna shoestring.

good thing i got hvy duty shoes

reading a superb lower alaska charlotte islands history book

"Warriors of the North Pacific" Charles Lillard

aboriginal history from the old missionaries pov.

excellent book, recomend it highly.

HAHAHA... :) silly.

has some cat bibs that gently interferes with the precise timing and coordination a cat needs for successful bird catching...You know..because cats can't just stuff birds into cramped cages and cut their beaks off while they pump them with drugs to make them lay poison eggs for us to eat..oh and then pluck them alive and cook em for dinner...much more civilized than cats behaviour...

Ho there, Jim.

What's Red got to sez about the missionary position on the NW Coast?

California's broke and you work for a public institution. I didn't do the link very well and I know you hate Kos, but I think you should read the HCR blog I tried to post. I think one saving grace of the legislation is it has is the caps on profit/loss ratios (profits).

It is easier to stick to your principles when you are young, healthy and have no children to worry about. And, I could be really snarky, as a dog owner who hates the laws that say my dog must be leashed/fenced in while your cats can roam, and say maybe you should make a personal choice to improve your coverage and spend less at the vet.

pretty dam intrestin if yer a Haida.

got the whole bazoo from kids to old farts.

was a complex society as sane or better than us

Submitted by Sunshine Jim on Sat, 12/19/2009 - 10:21pm.

pretty dam intrestin if yer a Haida.

got the whole bazoo from kids to old farts.

was a complex society as sane or better than us

____________

Played me some Haida-'n-seek w/a comely young Tlinget native this summer.

Done my old decrepit heart good to sport w/a youngster again.

(And such fine, raven-black hair.)

every thing medical and dental and vision related costs WAY more than it's worth....

Funny thing about the insurance that already sucks...the higher premium brand sucks more from my co workers experiences...

I didn't think that was snarky...If you don't want your dogs to be leashed then fight for that...be "righteous" yourself if you think it sucks...

I 'stick to my principles' because it's how I think of things now...I'm not sure why that's such a problem here...maybe a matter of numbers...? Which is silly because the majority of humans have made and agreed to stupid shit in the past and all throughout history..so small numbers of like minds shouldn't negate a person's principles...

And yeah...could I be any happier I don't have children? No.

Does that mean I'm saying everyone else shouldn't have children? No...but that's as you have imagined it to be for your own reasons...

Submitted by Alice on Sat, 12/19/2009 - 10:12pm.
...because cats can't just stuff birds into cramped cages and cut their beaks off...
---------
You have attributed to me a position which I do not hold so that you can easily refute it.

It's called a straw man argument. Have fun with it. I ain't in it.

Submitted by Crank Bait on Sat, 12/19/2009 - 10:37pm

______________

Well, Crank. I been gone a lot. Caught a few of the internecine battles, prolly missed most a them.

You're here for the moment. How 'bout you?

How is you?

the time? - eh., that would be you cent. Not Crank. Crank and I disagree often. He's not an asshole about it like you certainly are.

my only problem with you is the abusive and vile crap you spew at people sometimes...and your bullshit justifications for doing it... - Look in the mirror.

You can be a great blogger, and then there's Hyde. That's my input. Seek help for the sake of people who live with you. Love you either way.

Porn.

(Boat porn.)

If I's to sell my house, mebbe I could just afford it.

(Then there's the conversion to a troller; poles, gurdies, hydraulics. Arggh. Never ends. Fun to dream, tho'.)

Gotta buddy who's a-watchin' my boat up in Sitka. Sailed round the world a coupla times. Survived some big blows. Wants (for some crazy reason) to go fishin' w/me in the spring.

(Gotta feel for the guy. Let a buddy stay on his sailboat while he's gone, 'llowed it to burn to the point a needin' scuttlin'. In the process a "pullin' hisself up by his bootstraps". Good thing he's gymnastical.)

in love with Bgurl so i never sampled the wares when i was on site.

spent a lot of time with the wise old gals and some of the young artisters though.

sorta an intrestin culture nowadays. had to take everyone as they came and a day at a time.

in 3D.

Felt noxious from the effect flying between floating mountains and flying off dragons for 3 hrs. What a trip.

That's kinda like the "Pacific".

going native

Submitted by Sunshine Jim on Sat, 12/19/2009 - 11:13pm.

in love with Bgurl so i never sampled the wares when i was on site ...

_______________________

No need to sez more.

Glad you fixt yer rig.

Submitted by dr on Sat, 12/19/2009 - 10:43pm.
How is you?
------
Hunky dory on this end. Peachy keen.

The bees knees, if I dare.

I've lost my tolerance for anyone who pretends that the crazy person isn't peeing on the threshold. That should be obvious. I have no patience for the patented Nobody "tough guy" ruse, either.

It's rare that cerebral engagement happens on this blog nowadays. Remember when Fishgrease or muck4doo had something to say and were ready to defend it?

Come back soon. You can go to the mat with me and show the amateurs how it's done. Or you can read the conspiracy theory du jour from the outpatient contingent.

I'm expecting the contrail conspiracy to be making another pass any day now.

nice skookum rigs converted to a troller.

bout the same age too back when i was in Port Townsend.

but that ol girl is going on 30 yrs old. has a little hiblock jimmy tho.

300 thou is sure on the steep side eh?

Saw Avatar today dr

Submitted by Fernando on Sat, 12/19/2009 - 11:15pm.

in 3D.

Felt noxious from the effect flying between floating mountains and flying off dragons for 3 hrs. What a trip.

That's kinda like the "Pacific".

_______________

"Pacific": What a misnomer that is. Course, you'd know. Seems I 'member you worked on or w/the Coast Guard out in the Gulf a AK? (I got that right, or no?)

Here in Traverse City, in times used-ta-wuz, I's a member of the Tragic City Film Festival (tain't nomores b/c tain't never here in the summers nomores; bizy fishin' in AK).

Anyways, point bein', Michael Moore was doin' a benefit he arranged w/the director of "Avatar" (Cameron?): Michigan premiere, one-night-only, all bennies to northern Mich. needy. It were a sell-out.

I confess that I love that Michael Moore spends so much time up here and is so involved in the local scene. To our credit.

What's funny: Back round the run-up and just-after the Iraq invasion, Mike was considered a national embarrassment. Some local redneck asshole actually droppt a load of shit (manure) in Mike's driveway (10-feet high; go big!) to underscore his bedwetting discontent w/Mike's dissent.

Now, after ever'thing is turnt to shit, like Mike (and many others, a-course) predicted, the local (read Republican; we is a very Republican strong-hold w/a buncha artsy-fartsy-lovin' libruls up here in Tragic City) bidness owners are falling all over themselves to kiss Mike's ass.

As Jackie Gleason used-ta-sez: "Hooooow sweet it is!"

(Course it's just cheap schadenfreude, it don't make up for the manifold atrocities that's been committed, but it is a spectacle to watch our local dignitaries debase themselves.)

Michael Moore has, nearly, single-handedly revitalized the (fucking clueless) downtown district, partly w/the Film Festival, more broadly w/getting volunteers to help reopen a movie-house downtown that actually shows (imagine!) good fuckin' movies. Peoples is got a reason to go downtown again.

fwiw, I haz me a special place in my heart for both Michael Moore and for Al Gore.

I considers them both patriots.

(And I don't care a whit if he is fat. Either one.)

retrace mine and cranks argument...it wasn't me who started with the flame throwing...

as far as you and I, you still have yet to recant defending nike...I won't even start on fedex ground....

wifey and I have been together 25 years fern...how long did yours last....? (see what I mean about invitation?)

Submitted by Sunshine Jim on Sat, 12/19/2009 - 11:22pm.

300 thou is sure on the steep side eh?

_________________

Fuck, ya think? Sha-zam! (Course they don't call it "trollin'" fer nothin'.)

It'sa Sitka boat. I seen it plenty-a-times. In "New Thompsen Harbor" (it's funny; fishermen's bein' the traditionalists they is, no one calls it "Eliason Harbor", its true name; same principle adheres w/"North Pacific Seafoods" which'll allus be "Sitka Sound").

I know for a fact that you could get that Horst Wessel at the low, low bargain price-a 250K. Last year, when the buyer backed out, that were the dealio.

Been on the market awhile. Prolly accept (I'ma guessin') 220K, mebbe less.

Still overpriced, least to my way a-thinkin'.

(Wonder if they'd budge if I pullt the ol' used-car line onnem: "Well, if you give it to me, I guess I'd take it.")

Submitted by Crank Bait on Sat, 12/19/2009 - 11:18pm.

... I've lost my tolerance for anyone who pretends that the crazy person isn't peeing on the threshold. That should be obvious. I have no patience for the patented Nobody "tough guy" ruse, either.

It's rare that cerebral engagement happens on this blog nowadays. Remember when Fishgrease or muck4doo had something to say and were ready to defend it?

Come back soon. You can go to the mat with me and show the amateurs how it's done. Or you can read the conspiracy theory du jour from the outpatient contingent.

_________________

Well, you perhaps best of all peoples 'round heres know I ain't gotta leg to stand on in the one-laigged shit-kickin' contest a life. I been out there fallin' on my ass more times than I care to remembers. "Nobody knows" the troubles I's seen.

But.

Nothing changes. People forget. You get branded unfairly.

All's I can sez is, despite my aversion to cent's tough-guy ad hominem Norman Bates-baiting, I *have* noticed that you is been, not unfair, but uncharacteristically strident.

Do you agree or disagree?

that the engine room looks like he puked on everything frequently, and the spendy electronical shit is fairly old i'd say 200 thou is pushing it to the max.

i figger that ol gal was ridden hard and put away wet and has a condensation prob to boot(probby from sittin by herself too much)

my guess is she's gonna need some serious re and re fairly shortly.

wonder how many hours on the mechanex?

NO LISCENCE, no gear, no freezer hold, short on the riggin. in a real world maybe 80 thou as is?

Saw Avatar today dr
new
Submitted by Fernando on Sat, 12/19/2009 - 11:15pm.

in 3D.

Felt noxious from the effect flying between floating mountains and flying off dragons for 3 hrs. What a trip.

That's kinda like the "Pacific".
»

Howdy -dee -do -dee to u sir.
Hope all is well with u & Bgurl (& the pup's)

watching the documentary called "New York Doll" from 2005.

Arthur is my new hero.

crank has been justifying cutting into people here since, forever...

The 1st day I was here he called me "ignorant" for suggesting Obama move his rhetoric left during the primary...day one...he can be an abusive asshole...no one denies that...not even you.... Everyone has their triggers...Cranks is idiocy, mine is bullying...

I just chose not to play his game and argue on his terms...he makes just as many bullshit accusations and projections as everyone else...I am just not stupid enough to allow him to set the rules....

can't fault a man for fighting bullshit with bullshit....

Selections from The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

edited by John Joseph Adams

read online:

(it is downloadable)

http://www.webscription.net/10.1125/Baen/F1597801607/F1597801607.htm

The instructors make all sorts of excuses as to why there are typos or flat out mistakes in their readings or assignments or grading of our papers...but students cannot get away with that sort of thing...That's a reason that hierarchies suck imo...

This video sez the monies will go to accounts set up by private banks and by-pass public entities like local/state/federal governments. Banksters getting more access to our money because of a global climate emergency?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-tf9YMFCPQ&feature=related

we is jus fine all things considering.

i drop into patience mode when i feel surrounded by bullshit.

not going to say much until i can come up with some good stuff to comment on.

like what?

I'm trying to read a little more -
which is a good thing .....
anywho - I have been reading this book
"The Ice Master - The Doomed 1913 Voyage
of the Karluk" by Jennifer Niven, have u read
it Jim???

darling - long time no bloggie.
how ya doin??
I hope u r well :)

like some thinking that would make a difference,

anything interesting or fun

ya know, 'stuff'.

nope not yet, tho i can tell by the title it'll be a good read!

http://tangento.net/MP3/WoV-DoD/11-RingOfFire.mp3

yes i've read about the expedition in other books!

quite an amazing story eh?

so I just post what is important to me - & if
somebody else digg's it - that is cool, if not
well I don't have control over that. say la vee
I don't know how to spell it in French - sorry.

"not going to say much until i can come up with some good stuff to comment on."

who is singing it....

*
All's well here, smcgee43... :) and YOU...?

I received your email...it's a will do asap sitch. I'm off of work for two weeks as of 5pm today...and if I work tomorrow to fine tune my final final then as of midnight I will be so care free for two weeks that who knows how I will come out on the end of this thing..? It's going to be so fun!

i like it best here when we talk to each other like tonight.

best of luck to ya A.!

love that style

I love the fact that they would not even consider
eating the sled pup's for food. @ least that is
what they claimed in the book that I am reading.
That to me is ?????? I can't think of a good
word, can someone help me out here?

?

And now we're all ...other than we were...different...It's been an interesting process..from day one until now, eh?

have a great vacation. If u get time, let me know what u
think.?

considerin

Submitted by Sunshine Jim on Sun, 12/20/2009 - 12:03am.

that the engine room looks like he puked on everything frequently, and the spendy electronical shit is fairly old i'd say 200 thou is pushing it to the max.

i figger that ol gal was ridden hard and put away wet and has a condensation prob to boot(probby from sittin by herself too much)

my guess is she's gonna need some serious re and re fairly shortly.

wonder how many hours on the mechanex?

NO LISCENCE, no gear, no freezer hold, short on the riggin. in a real world maybe 80 thou as is?

_________________

Sorry for delay.

Been playin' two-handed pinochle w/my AK "mentor".

Not sure on hours. A 4-71 ain't exactly optimal, I'll admit. Rather have a John Deere, possibly (if a body can afford parts) a Volvo.

Will sez: Dude, if you think you can pull a boat like that offa somebody for 80K (whether it's "worth" it or not, inna theoretical sense), you been outta the game for too, too long.

Electronics ain't a sellin' point (easily -- and relatively inexpensively, all things considered -- replaced). It's a given -- or a bargaining-down point.

Don't see where you're goin' w/the puked on the engine remark, tho' I will sez there's many an engine what's been puked on that performs admirably well.

Also don't unnerstand the point 'bout the hold. If you reconsult, it sez 33K pounds. Which, I'd wager, is a fuck of a lot more'n either you or I is ever put inna hold.

...

The Bee sez, "I love flowers, flying, and making honey."

The Conspiracy Tracker sez, "I love asking questions."

The Crank sez, "I love my ways and being loved for them."

The Bee pays for everybody's drinks.

The Conspiracy Tracker leaves the tips.

The Crank celebrates with a beer fart, buying himself another drink, and calling them all insects and crazies.

I didn't see me in the tea cup??

oh no never mind... I see - i'm all the
way on the bottom... humm

compassion would be my guess enhanced by determination.

I watched another doc last night called "God Forgot About Us"..and these Lost Boys from Sudan and they missed the UN camp in Kenya because they came here to this "great country" and they missed being with their friends and communicating..they came here to work three jobs to send money to them there..it's weird how when you think people are so poor they are very rich actually.

-A Bee, a Conspiracy Tracker, and a Crank sit down at a bar
Submitted by nora on Sun, 12/20/2009 - 12:57am.-

I've ever read... ;)

ya.

and thank gawd too.

when i started trolling you could pay for a boat with 3 years earnings, which i did.

then we started working for banks and chained to lead interest payments. fuck that BS!

OK, a 140 k with a good refridged hold and that's my last offer.

12/19/09

...
But again, will progressives get a chance to say "Hey! Listen to us, we know how to wake up the base and win elections. We have good ideas on how to get health care reform accomplished, and how to repair the environment, and help the poor and end unnecessary wars and do a million other things that people will like just so long as we get a chance to actually demonstrate it for them. History has proven us right with civil rights and Social Security and so much other stuff, it will prove us right again on all of this."

Fat chance. Why? Nader and 2000.

The Republican party will court the most extreme fringes of the right-wing. The tea-baggers and militias and birthers and deathers and tenthers. They'll move themselves as far to the right as needed to placate their ultra-conservative base. They'll put up people like Sarah Palin as the face of their party, even as they realize she's considered toxic by anyone to the left of Glenn Beck.

Democrats, meanwhile, will never move to the left. The party leaders are comfortable in the center, courting moderates and independents. Because they know they don't have to do anything to win over liberals and progressives, other than making a speech or promise every now and then.

Why? Nader. No way a third-party, liberal candidate will get national (even negative) attention for the rest of my lifetime.

"You want Sarah Palin to be president? You want Michelle Bachmann as vice-president? Then vote for Obama in 2012. And vote for whatever moderate we put up in 2016. And 2020. And all the moderate or center-right Democrats we can find for 2010 and '14 and '18. And..."

So long as Republicans put up the most insane, reactionary, narcissists available at the head of their party, the Democrats can hold the progressives hostage. And the Democrats, if the past decade-plus is any indication, don't care to put forth any truly liberal candidates. Not so long as they believe 'liberal' is an insult or that it's more important to reach out to moderates than to energize the base.

That's Nader's legacy. That's what the electoral landscape will be like for the Teens. Republicans line up the crazies, Democrats try to succeed by scaring progressives.
...

http://lawfulgoodwonk.blogspot.com/2009/12/naders-legacy-2010-and-beyond...

celebrates with a beer fart!

snicker!

wtg!

yard at 4am this morning.....the last thing I thought was let me go make sure they tie that dog up.... I thought..welp I hope he didn't eat any cats...

that's what I've heard anyway... :)

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=121666771

A cover of Dark Side of the Moon...

it's the pickled egg and smokies diet that does it.

they can clear a taxi in a typhoon before you can get yer raingear on.

oh give me a break with the halo bit dr...

Submitted by cent on Sun, 12/20/2009 - 12:15am.

crank has been justifying cutting into people here since, forever...

The 1st day I was here he called me "ignorant" for suggesting Obama move his rhetoric left during the primary...day one...he can be an abusive asshole...no one denies that...not even you.... Everyone has their triggers...Cranks is idiocy, mine is bullying...

I just chose not to play his game and argue on his terms...he makes just as many bullshit accusations and projections as everyone else...I am just not stupid enough to allow him to set the rules....

can't fault a man for fighting bullshit with bullshit....

__________________

fwiw, I deny that.

No. I don't think Crank is an abusive asshole.

What I think, not that you axed me, not that you hesitated to speak for me, is this:

I think Crank is played out for patience. I think Crank is not suffering fools well. I think Crank is being branded as something he is not.

To me (and you can vigorously disagree; it's yer right!), the assertion that Crank beats up on the ladies is laughably ludicrous.

To me (see above disclaimer), the assertion that Crank is abusive is laughable.

Crank has been (imo) unnecessarily strident in calling bullshit. Why, I dunno. But, that said, I ain't the one to cast aspersions on that kinda behavior, b/c (to my discredit) is I been guilty of it my own self.

I ain't in the market of speakin' for Crank, but I do know this:

Communication is hard. It's especially hard inna solely text-based environment.

What goes a long ways, I is noticed, is giving someone (specially someone who is proved themselves in the past) the benefit of the doubt.

There's a self-righteous glory in feelin' right 'bout one's convictions. It's a whole lot harder to contemplate that maybe, just maybe, we been wrong.

Yer a smart guy, cent. I is noticed. But axe yerself this:

Have you ever wrapped yerself in the righteous robes of glory and assailed someone just b/c their point seemed prime? W/o caring to find out what's really at issue? Then escalated to the point where nobody wins?

Dude, whatever. You ain't even gotta respond. All's I know is Crank is been one of the most influential and entertaining posters on this humble little backwater blog for, like, forever, in blog time. And now, accordin' to some, he ain't.

OK. So it goes.

Accordin' to my estimation, he's still a valuable voice who I enjoy readin'. Flawed? Sure. Like you (or I) ain't?

I just think it's this side a slander to sez Crank is somehow abusive to women. Don't see it.

Just.

Don't.

See it.

Perhaps I am, too. Maybe that's the reason why, who knows?

-they can clear a taxi in a typhoon before you can get yer raingear on.-

thinks we are stupid and unrealistic...Mot women...I mean the ones he disagrees with..I think people are stupid who disagree with me usually too... who doesn't...but if they were in need you would help them just the same...is that a love/hate relationship? I don't know.

happened to us on a crummy ride to a logging show on mount octopus once.

five loggers standing outside the pulled over crummy in a rain so heavy the drops were bouncing six inches when they fell gagging, laughing and screaming at Ol Andrew and his killer farts.

Undated female nude study.
Location: US
Date taken: 1935
Photographer: Gjon Mili

...

Times have changed..I don't remember us ever discussing farts on the Blog before...

.

"compassion" I like it

Well going on up to bed - do a little reading
then up again to do pretty much the same old
shit.
Doing dinner later on @ a Japanese Restaurant,
my mom is going out to spend the holidays with
my sister & brother. So Christmas is early today
4 me.

Sleep tight everyone. Miss ya all when I'm not on-line
2. xoxox

*NOT women
new
Submitted by Alice on Sun, 12/20/2009 - 1:32am.

.

on when one began blogging here...Like if I started blogging now and someone said dada..I'd be all..."WHO IS THAT?"...*snark*

Have a nice holiday with your mom....I'll bet she loves you just as much as your sibling....What? Do they have kids or something? That's why she's going there maybe... (KIDDING) I have no idea...just mouthing around...enjoy your night and nice to see you here now. xoxo

pleasant dreemz!

you been outta the game for too, too long.

Submitted by Sunshine Jim on Sun, 12/20/2009 - 1:03am.

ya.

and thank gawd too.

when i started trolling you could pay for a boat with 3 years earnings, which i did.

then we started working for banks and chained to lead interest payments. fuck that BS!

OK, a 140 k with a good refridged hold and that's my last offer.

_________________

Sold!

(Now pay up!)

.

Why here I am being an Aunt..just one month ago..and he doesn't look like he wants to jump or anything, right?...(we'll pretend the bubbles have nothing to do with it...)

Submitted by Alice on Sun, 12/20/2009 - 1:34am.

I would guess that certain impressions are gotten depending on when one began blogging here...Like if I started blogging now and someone said dada..I'd be all..."WHO IS THAT?"...*snark*

_________________________

War Dog?

Who dat?

you had to be there )

i don't regret any of the time spent, i was and am richly rewarded by you all.

if that's delusional let me just say i prefer it.

....hmm...

delusion is cool...

clang clang clang!

my BS detector just went off!

no fucking way in hell you'd snivel so much if that was yer ride!

http://chpc.utah.edu/~stliston/stuff/M/magnetic_fields/69_love_songs_vol...

A music critic on NPR really touted the new Magnetic Fields album...I just like this one song...

http://onradar.net/muses/sounds/075.mp3

he was off the mark on interpreting my remarks to him, so he attacked with bullshit assertions about me...and no, they were not even remotely "prime"...just insulting...defending against them would have been idiocy.

patience wearing thin? yes, with both of us...obviously.

I almost let it slide, but changed my mind...I, and others, have criticized crank many many times over the last couple years for being unduly harsh on people... and his response is always the same "they deserve it". Sorry dr, but that aint good enough...everyone loses their temper now and again...those who declare it is just and are not called on it do it more often. I have lost my patience witnessing it...not "suffering fools well" ain't no justification...

The last straw came last week when he called Ms A an illiterate moron...I like crank. but he goes too far too often...and people let him skate...no more.

Are you saying you think dada was war dog, dr?

Submitted by Alice on Sun, 12/20/2009 - 1:45am.

__________________

Fuck no.

No. Don't b'lieves so. Lordy oh Lordy I hopes not.

If dada were Wado (entertainin' an evil hypothetical), I'd be sore-tempted to get me a plane ticket to Queens 'n beat the livin' shit outta George just to make right w/the time spent counterin' Wado's dumb ass.

great pic, you both look happy.

Crank is (was) WADO.

sheesh!

couldnt you tell?

Submitted by Sunshine Jim on Sun, 12/20/2009 - 1:50am.

clang clang clang!

my BS detector just went off!

no fucking way in hell you'd snivel so much if that was yer ride!

________________

Au contraire, mon frere!

If you derided my ride, why would I not jump to its defense!

And besides, sniveling is my force majeure.

.

It didn't suck...I said "Kid..this is your one chance..don't mess it up for both of us", before I let him sit on my lap... ;)

.

And the mind fuckening gets deeper and deeper....

have been so obvious...

Submitted by Sunshine Jim on Sun, 12/20/2009 - 1:59am.

Crank is (was) WADO.

sheesh!

couldnt you tell?

______________

Nope. Couldn't.

For one thing (tho' it would be laceratin'ly ironical), I can't never see Crank writing such ungrammatical, incoherent (pardon the loose usage) "sentences".

Stupidity repeats itself. Endlessly.

Satire does not.

http://www.theonion.com/content/node/99829/3?slideshow=0

(I love the 1700 one...)

http://public.resource.org/

http://public.resource.org/ntis.gov/

The Known Universe takes viewers from the Himalayas through our atmosphere and the inky black of space to the afterglow of the Big Bang. Every star, planet, and quasar seen in the film is possible because of the world's most complete four-dimensional map of the universe, the Digital Universe Atlas that is maintained and updated by astrophysicists at the American Museum of Natural History. The new film, created by the Museum, is part of an exhibition, Visions of the Cosmos: From the Milky Ocean to an Evolving Universe, at the Rubin Museum of Art in Manhattan through May 2010.

http://akamat.wordpress.com/2009/12/19/brave-new-conversations-amy-goodm...

From AKAMAT's blog...

good to see you all....nite nite.. xoxoox!

Huh. Note the last column "Rest of the world".

More info at There Is No Way Out Of This Box....

Meanwhile, catch yer favorite Senators on this week's
Brick TeeVee Solstice 2009 Special!
http://www.samsedershow.com/node/5552

Happy Solstice Sederville!!!
GIVE IT UP for the SETZER ORCHESTRA
and BOOGIE WOOGIE SANTA CLAUS!!

y'all always get snow :} but looky here
new
Submitted by gloryoski on Sat, 12/19/2009 - 11:31am.

*******

Your Cam is Cool.. :)

Mikey likey seeing the snow & the peeps..

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

MMRules

Good to see Alice & dr here,again..

Love boats too..
Like I could afford one.. :(

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

MMRules

Hee..Aren't Blog exercises fun ? ;)

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

MMRules

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/20/china-blamed-copenhage...

[excerpt]

China blamed as anger mounts over climate deal• Beijing accused over emissions cuts

Jonathan Watts and John Vidal in Copenhagen Robin McKie and Toby Helm The Observer, Sunday 20 December 2009

An outbreak of bitter recrimination has erupted among politicians and delegates following the drawing up of the Copenhagen accord for tackling climate change.

The deal, finally hammered out early yesterday, had been expected to commit countries to deep cuts in carbon emissions. In the end, it fell short of this goal after China fought hard against strong US pressure to submit to a regime of international monitoring.

The Chinese prime minister, Wen Jiabao, walked out of the conference at one point, and sent a lowly protocol officer to negotiate with Barack Obama. In the end, a draft agreement put forward by China – and backed by Brazil, India and African nations – commits the world to the broad ambition of preventing global temperatures from rising above 2C. Crucially, however, it does not force any nation to make specific cuts.

"For the Chinese, this was our sovereignty and our national interest," said Xie Zhenhua, head of China's delegation.

Last night, some delegates were openly critical of China for its intransigence. Asked by the Observer who was to blame for blocking the introduction of controlled emissions, the director general of the Swedish environment protection agency, Lars-Erik Liljelund, replied: "China. China doesn't like numbers." At the same time, others have criticised the Americans for pushing China too hard.

"President Obama's speech blaming China didn't help," says John Prescott, writing in today's Observer.

The accord was formally recognised after a dramatic all-night plenary session, during which the Danish chairman was forced to step aside, a Venezuelan delegate cut her hand, and Britain's climate and energy secretary, Ed Miliband, salvaged the deal just as it appeared on the verge of being rejected.

The tumultuous events concluded a fortnight of fraught and sometimes machiavellian negotiations that saw a resurgent China link forces with India, Brazil and African states to thwart efforts by rich nations to steamroller through a binding treaty that would suit their interests.

Although hailed by Obama, the deal has been condemned by activists and NGOs, while the European commission's president, José Manuel Barroso, admitted he was disappointed after EU attempts to introduce long-term targets for reducing global emissions by 50% by 2050 were blocked.

Last night Miliband was being credited with helping to rescue the summit from disaster. He had been preparing to go to bed at 4am, after the main accord had been agreed, only to be called by officials and warned that several countries were threatening to veto its signature.

[end excerpt]

The Telegraph takes Climategate seriously, but all the spin (making the developing countries the bad guys) makes me dizzy:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/copenhagen-climate-change-confe/6845929...

[excerpt]

Lumumba Stanislaus Di-Aping, the Sudanese negotiator, said the accord spelt "incineration" for Africa and compared it to the Nazis sending "6 million people into furnaces" in the Holocaust.

Andy Atkins, executive director of Friends of the Earth, said: "This toothless declaration that the US is spinning as a success is a sham – this agreement won't stop a two degree rise in temperature and, as it stands, condemns millions of the world's poorest people to hunger, suffering and loss of life as climate change accelerates.

"We need a profound change of approach from the world's wealthiest countries to secure a genuine, strong and fair agreement."

...

Last night, in his weekly podcast, the Prime Minister claimed the Copenhagen Accord was "a breakthrough never seen on this scale before".

However, he added: "This cannot be the end. In fact, it is only the beginning and we must go further still."

[end excerpt]

------

The leaked document that caused the uproar:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/dec/08/copenhagen-climate-sum...

[excerpt]

The text was intended by Denmark and rich countries to be a working framework, which would be adapted by countries over the next week. It is particularly inflammatory because it sidelines the UN negotiating process and suggests that rich countries are desperate for world leaders to have a text to work from when they arrive next week.

[end excerpt]

----

It looks like these videos were posted at youtube on Dec. 8 and 9, the day and day after the Guardian printed the leaked document; in this video report Alex Jones gave his view of the import of the leaked document, and he was correct that it would have impact that can be interpreted as a "classic bait-and-switch". Also, Jones calls the 2% tax rules a trap that would work like "a ROACH MOTEL" for every nation that signs on. Video--

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

He also points out that the EPA CO2 ruling is an attempt to disempower the House and Senate. Video--

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94KH-WMZuw0&feature=related

For u Alice
Submitted by smcgee43 on Sun, 12/20/2009 - 1:35am.
..
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But where are Alice's roller skates and derby number?!

at the knee of the bush regime (anybody remember bush's refusal to have anything to do with kyoto?)

not only do elections have consequences but electing idiots and morons does to (although that may not be fair to the electoral process since there are real doubts about the 2000 and 2004 elections).

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

MMRules

its easy to say he's in bed with oil and coal, but i wonder if the us vs. them and the way its been fueled by the right wing hate machine and the 24 7 faux news and limbaughs and becks and teabaggers hasn't poisoned the well so bad that he does it because he just can't stop.

..off to a rocky start but the java juice is starting to do it's magic.

as soon as i can get the laptop up and runnin

his boys beat up my boys last night

not that i care much, didn't even watch the game, but heard the screams and yells coming out of the houses in the neighborhood and this morning checked the paper to see the results.....

i just turned it on and it sounds like you are talking about the sunday morning lineup. is this the show or just warmup?

dan..

Sorry...didn't finish. This is the pre-show wakeup/warm up. I try to get the folks out west a little more time to regain consciousness since the sun hasn't quite got around to them yet. ;-)

Sam RT'd my tweet!

RT @maggiesboy: 1 good thing about the h/c bill, u won't have to donate any $ 2 Obama in '12, insurance co's have you covered.
13 hours ago reply

I'll never refresh my screen again.

she is, cent (sorry) i gotta give it to crank on that one

only redeeming quality is that it's a put-on faked persona, she fakes the illiterate moron persona for some reason which i don't understand

no-one on this blog can be so much of a klutz on the keyboard

had my own keyboard problems recently, but knowing how to switch the caps lock on and off, sorry, my 5 year old grandaughter can do it

why she would think that this spaced-out flakey wiccan druidish quality is appealing i just do not know

i find her hard to read, so i skim, and hey Ms_A, i like you and all the tea pouring, great, and truly it doesn't bother me much that i don't understand one word you say the few times i made the effort and tried to make sense of what you were expressing (though expressing may be an exaggeration here)

certainly don't wanna start another pillow fight so early in the morning but to beat on crank for the illiterate moron description is just not right; since when being honest on the blog is a bad thing?

It's overcast and 28°F here
in Grid Square EN51 (an Hour NW of Chicago)

I'm hoping for some sunshine later today.

MB: I agree: Jon Kyl is a jerk.

.
.
.
_ _ _
BRR

brl vod | wtf

so are you gonna tell us what he said?

I too was sad to see the Saints go down but the Cowboys really needed the W. Did you see the pathetic performance before last night. It was ugly.

cent - gee it's sad that you can't get over how I feel about Nike or Fed-Ex. There has to be some coping skill that could help. Crank adds more to bring another perspective here than many. I've learned much from him. You don't have to share his perspective either or get anything out of either of our comments. It's ok, really. I was married most of my life. It's not for me if my daughter isn't in a good environment. Tell us of your kids. Oh, that's right. Never mind.

in new orleans; i am shocked, forgot what sunshine looks like

we had way too much rain in December - parts of NOLA got flooded... looks like it's gonna be a nice day today

i actually happened to see parts of that one because i was at a party at a friend's house and a bunch of people were watching it and groaning; from the sounds coming out of the tv room i thought they had lost, everyone was so disgusted

on itunes or wmp live?

i have the browser window up and listening but like using itunes or another media player.

for those who are skypeless.

i know all you need is mic but i have trouble thinking and talking at the same time and the last thing you need is dead air.

but don't know if he was talking about live or the replays and i don't know how to find it on itunes

Jerry Jones is no hero of mine. But he would have torn that team to shreds and scattered the pieces to every corner of the galaxy had they lost.

They won because they knew what would have happened to them to come home with a loss. They literally came out fighting for their lives like 300 Spartans.

http://bluerootsradio.com/Site/Podcast/rss.xml

Need instructions? Winamp works too.

Just wanted to say I'm enjoying the sweet tunes & tone of your voice. I got into it a little with Alice last night about the future chances of progressives. She posted a good article but I still believe that Nader would be no more effective than Obama right now. After all, you have to get in "the club" to order a drink.

to listen to BRR. You don't have to use the player on thewebpage

Last night I saw the 3D trailer to the new Alice in Wonderland. Talk about spectacular effects! It really did seem like I was watching a dream. Watch for it if you go to the movies (which I rarely go myself).

mb, you got your hands full right now, but when you get a moment could you post the itunes direct. it isn't as simple as being one of the radio stations on that tab is it?

After all, you have to get in "the club" to order a drink.

If things don't change there are only two possible outcomes. 1) A Fascist state where corporations rule the people, 2) Revolution. I personally don't think option 1 would be long tolerated leading to the other option. I feel like we are in a temporary option 1 position.

Trotsky advised a permanent revolution. The War on Terror may be that manifestation.

I'll get a link or instructions in a bit..

like our dear sam used to do, he was a master at it, how he incorporated the ims into his shows

i think the frog water is pretty close to boiling.

its just hard to believe that it would be democrat that would take us over that line but that sure seems to be the case with the 1st year of the obama administration.

i have trouble seeing outcome number 2. i don't think the 2nd ammendment is any match for tanks and armies and 24 by 7 assault directed at us thru the media.

The Civil War. It was started when Senators started hitting one another in the people's house. We are right there in time yet again. Where Dick Cheney is analogous to John C. Calhoun.

sounds so good!

But guess what? Pretty young progressive women get raped in revolutions and old fat women like me just get killed and kicked out of the way. I'm trying to think small/local. Things like supporting Act Blue & getting progressive congress critters.

I wanted to ask you a personal ?. My hubby is struggling to get his blood sugar down so we are having a very low carb
holiday. Does you morning reading go up when you haven't had a snack in the evening? His does; weird huh?

some people think it is okay to treat others like shit. I don't. You want a world where everyone is slinging names at each other, fine, that is exactly what I am doing with crank...things people do irritate him...his responses in turn irritate me...so I guess we will be where we are until someone gets tired.....

fernando...lets keep each others personal lives (or "the people I live with") out of it, okay? your positions on labor practices are more an issue of me losing respect for you as a person than anything else...even that is reconcilable...but if we start on each others families, well, let's just don't.

in Vegas,MB..

"Hello to our friends and fans in domestic surveillance."

MMRules

http://www.samsedershow.com/node/5554

but i am with you cent, about nora she does her homework and whether you agree with her or not, there's no reason to go bonkers on her; she's right more often than not imo and i agree with you, if she gets too tiresome all you have to do is scroll

which is true about everyone else's posts by the way, especially the overly long

he had that "that's what i want and fuck you" attitude that comes with extreme wealthy upbringing

if he had the same fuck you attitude that bush has

would be like bush detaching from karl rove

it will only happen at the end of his fourth term if ever

look at eleanor roosvelt with franklin

everything good that came out of his administration was because of her

i like the word, snippy is my name

i don't think anyone on this blog can be snippier than mire, nah i don't mean on the blog, i try to control myself, i mean in real life

yes, lost jobs, and many friends because of this