Stars misaligned

Sorry about the stars Samuel.

...anyway Crank, I think that was a fair shot. You could have easily replace PO with bank, Wal-Mart or grocery store and been just as funny.

5 people in line at my place is called a good day. ;-)

Columbus...

omg
Submitted by dan on Wed, 12/23/2009 - 9:00pm.
susan sarandon....

---
Didn't I mention I was...hungry? ;)

Nah, dude, you're a shoe-in. I'm sure that's all that was in the way...

When there is a new thread, could you announce it on the old thread please?

toniD's Ya Think?

Feds mull regulating
drugs in water
Federal regulators under President Barack Obama have sharply shifted course on long-standing policy toward pharmaceutical residues in the nation's drinking water, taking a critical first step toward regulating some of the contaminants while acknowledging they could threaten human health.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091222/ap_on_he_me/us_pharmawater_drinking

toniD's Ya Think?

MALLOY HOLIDAY SHOW!

Molly for the first time.

.
.
.
_ _ _
brr

| brl vod | WTF

I usually do, except when I'm feeling peevish.

Then you usually ignore it anyway. ;)

Apparently...:)

to be peevish tonight. Bad headache.

toniD's Ya Think?

Submitted by maggiesboy on Wed, 12/23/2009 - 8:59pm.
...anyway Crank, I think that was a fair shot.
--------
Yesterday the rural carrier brought a parcel too large for the mailbox to my house and tooted her horn. My house is 1000 feet from my mailbox. Before I could finish thanking her I had to jump clear to keep my toes from being run over.

I think the carrier has delivered a large parcel to my door (almost to my door) three times in many years. Ordinarily I find a tiny, printed, multiple choice notice in the mailbox with a checkmark next to "Package too large for box." I should be so lucky.

At the bottom is a printed line reading "You may pick up at Post Office after" followed by a blank space in which the carrier writes "you drive to town, chump! Ha ha!"

One time I had to use tools to remove a small cardboard package that was crammed into the mailbox. There was no room for my fingers.

I have known several rural carriers over the decades and heard their horror stories, so I don't doubt that an occasional evil pleasure brightens a stop-and-go day.

A BIG QUARTZ CRYSTAL

Or a clearing ritual using incense or joss stick

Or a Bach Remedy (Like cleansing with Crab Apple, or Pine for vexation, or Agrimony for anxiety, or Walnut for frustration, or Vervain for exhaustion, or Sweet Chestnut for hopelessness, or Rock Rose for panic, or Holly for feelings of revenge.)

Or an ionizing air cleaner (or is your ionizer too close to your equipment?)

Or, or

Check the wiring in your domicile (is it ancient?)

Or, or

A day off

Or, or

sheesh

You need something!

With healing intent, I send these and more in all their power to you. Blessings, Sam.

RE Thom Hartmann's discussion today with his guest, an Ayn Randism proponent

Thom challenged AynRandism as being RELIGIOUSLY DOGMATIC and its believers being PROSYLETIZERS! It was great!

But Thom gave up too soon. Thom seemed to back away when his guest said that religions require "FAITH". That's not necessarily true, is it?

Some religions/spiritual practices consider their teachings and techniques SCIENCE! Yoga, Christian Science, Science of Mind to name three of which I'm aware. Buddhism and Taoism also seem to be pretty sure that there is a cause and effect relationship between their practices and sought-after results.

So there are two things I'm pointing out here:

1. A religion can be based on long studied and observed techniques that result in a perceived scientific methodology,

or

2. A religion can be based on pure faith -- believing in mythical stuff and priestly philosophy and dogma.

Either way, Thom's guest can't claim AynRandism isn't a religion. The first could apply since the guest claimed Ayn Rand's philosophy is like a dependable science; and the second could apply when one considers that only AynRandians and neocons seem to "believe" there is a cause and "positive" effect resulting from Free Market practices!

If contemplating this puts one's braincell synapses in knots, it could be because, instinctively one realizes that we accept on FAITH alot of the purported validity and usefulness of Science! Think nuclear weaponry and nuclear power! Or use of chemotherapy for every cancer patient! Or genetically engineered animals and food!

Anyway, it was good segment on Hartmann's show.

I took some Tylenol, had a cup of coffee. Maybe I should just go lay down with the lights off.

toniD's Ya Think?

talk about his delicious dinner...

The tip would have to be figured on the total amount, after the delivery fee, right?

That works sometimes.

And then there's always...BETTER DRUGS.

Coffee?

:)

Caffeine
Tylenol == acetaminophen,

add asprin an you've got excedrin.

When I get the bad headaches I take 2 or 3 Excedrin and let the hot shower water run on the back of my neck. My theory is the hot water increases the blood flow to the head muscles.
==
started a batch of Limoncello Mire.

used 80 proof Irish BORU vodka and backyard lemons.

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

That was good
Thanks Cat Chew.
I found This:

xkcd.com/639/

also funny :)

Sounds awful. I hope rest will make the difference for you.

http://www.climatebabes.com/images/gsmanipulation.jpg

Yeah no doubt GOLDMAN (hint hint) is tryin' to fix the prices AGAIN. These small adjustments are MAJOR PLAYERS taking PROFITS but they'll be back. As long as the Fed is determined to print as much money as it takes gold will go WAY PAST $2000. Listen to APM's Marketplace:
Gold fever is global. Should we trust it?

Jeff Clark: $3,000, $4,000, $5,000 an ounce could be realistic for a gold price.
(Jeff Clark is a writer and editor for Casey Research, which focuses on investments in natural resources and a regular contributor to www.321gold.com )

Here's what's stunning.
From Ellen Brown @ WebOfDebt
EU/IMF REVOLT:
GREECE, ICELAND, LATVIA MAY LEAD THE WAY

In any case, as noted above, private banks themselves create the money they lend. The process by which banks create money is inherently inflationary, because they lend only the principal, not the interest necessary to pay their loans off. To come up with the interest, new loans must be taken out, continually inflating the money supply with new loan-money. And since the money is going to the creditors rather than into producing new goods and services, demand (money) increases without increasing supply, producing price inflation. If credit were extended for public infrastructure projects interest-free, inflation could actually be reduced, by reducing the need to continually take out new loans to find the elusive interest to service old loans.

This is a self-sustaining system that HAS NO END except SUCKING EVER MORE MONEY and SQUEEZING EVERY LAST PENNY out of the masses to the benefit of those elites who set up this crazy system to begin with. By design? OF COURSE! We're all ECONOMIC SLAVES to this system. Until we take ACTION like Argentina did and BREAK those bonds from the U.S.-dominated IMF we will NOT get out of this ALIVE. It is NOT A COINCIDENCE Barry surrounded himself with these Chicago Free Market Banksters! See Taibbi Obama's Big Sell-out.

BUY GOLD as soon as it drops below $1K/OZ. The next BIG swing is coming! And the faux Dow numbers are just that: overinflated by Giethner's THREE+ TRILLION DOLLAR CORPORATE SOCIALIST GIVEAWAY and the FED printing greenbacks 24-7-365 since MARCH 2006 when they stopped publishing the M3 Money Supply figure (about the time we got into gold @ $430/oz). Money Supply and the End of M3

Anybody remember the pallets of $USD sent into IRAQ that went MISSING? At The Age.com.au February 11, 2006 Billions of US dollars 'missing' in Iraq
Yer tax dollars at work.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS SEDERVILLE!

SOMEBODY EXPLAIN to me what happened to all the GOLD BULLION stored under the Twin Towers in 2001.

Horrible. Tragic.

The Slavers love poverty. The Slavers are in dominance again.

http://www.bostonherald.com/news/international/americas/view/20091223rep...

This AP story says experts think the numbers are underestimated.

I'm in the same boat today. Asprin kills my gut, so my only relief is the hot shower/ hot water bottle route. Hope you feel better soon!

Merry Christ Mass Eve Eve blog, thanks for being here lo these many years!!

All the trees are covered with ice. Many accidents and the airports are crippled. 260 flight canceled. Very slippery.

Maybe it's this weather that is causing my headache.

News is saying it's dangerous weather and to stay home. We may lose power because of frozen tree branches snapping off and taking down electric lines.

Tomorrow we are supposed to have rain storms, temps in the mid 40s. Really weird weather.

The Pink is mixed/ice:

toniD's Ya Think?

the HEALTHCARE BILL situation may serve to save the public option and other decent stuff afterall? Interesting. In some ways it sounded feasible!

Hartmann also played a tape: Obama PROMISING never to sign something that lacked the public option....

In an ice storm, you don't have to explain to people why you're not going anywhere. Why you're postponing that stress-inducing solstice entertainment.
You just run the very-warm water into the bathtub, immerse yourself supine up to the neck, let the water keep flowing (just enough to balance with the upper spill-drain), lean your head back, and -if you feel like it -breathe.
No one will think the worse of you for taking that moment.

amazing eh?

the year my girlfriend was kidnapped and murdered, that xmas i ended up in a strange harbor on my boat, no electricity cuz a storm had downed all the power lines, all the stores and restaurants closed, and what i had for xmas brekkers, lunch and dinner was a can of cold canned string beans.

around dark o' clock one of my running mates came over with his guitar and a joint and we managed a celebration.

when the shit hits the fan theres nothing as good as having a friend showing up to help out.

Submitted by nora on Wed, 12/23/2009 - 10:22pm.
...If contemplating this puts one's braincell synapses in knots, it could be because, instinctively one realizes that we accept on FAITH alot of the purported validity and usefulness of Science!...
---------
Faith and belief are synonyms in conversational English. When language more precise than conversational English is used, one word is often more accurate than the other.

Pursuant to their differences, faith has no verb form while belief has the active verb form believe. It is possible to possess either faith or belief as concepts in noun form but it is not possible to actively faith (I faith) while it is possible to actively believe (I believe) in verb form.

In conversational English, one might say "I have faith that the sun will rise tomorrow" or "I believe that the sun will rise tomorrow" interchangeably.

The latter is more accurate. The belief that the sun will rise tomorrow is based on past experience and observation. We believe that the sun rose every morning in the years prior to our births for three reasons: First, we extrapolate our own current experience and observation. Second, we believe that the recorded experiences and observations of the people who came before us are true. Third, any evidence to the contrary is weak at best.

In conversational English, one might say "I have faith that my lottery ticket is a winner" or "I believe that my lottery ticket is a winner" interchangeably.

The former is more accurate. There is no prior experience or observation to support the idea that the lottery ticket is a winner. The available evidence indicates that nearly all lottery tickets are losers.

I believe that the people who study quantum physics pass along true information to me. I base my belief on my prior experience with experts in many fields of expertise. I have never seen a human spleen but I believe that I have one located to the left of my stomach which I also have never seen.

While I could substitute "have faith" for "believe" and "faith" for "belief" in the previous paragraph in conversational English, the usage would be less precise.

It is particularly ill-advised to mix the synonymous senses of faith and belief with the distinctly different senses of faith and belief in a discussion centered around religion, science and/or philosophy. Conversational English is too imprecise to communicate the complexities of the knowable and the unknowable.

"Belief" is a folkloric term which (as I understand it) covers all the superstitions from communion to knocking wood.

But who knows? Keep your fingers crossed.

"There are known knowns. There are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things that we now know we don’t know. But there are also unknown unknowns. There are things we do not know we don’t know."

— Donald Rumsfeld, Press Conference on the situation in Afghanistan, February, 2002

another asshole without a clue, and we let them front for the greedheads for 8 fuckin years.

thass what i know.

Sam's in need of some Rob Brezny:
"SACRED ADVERTISEMENT
Thomas Paine was a zealous revolutionary. He wrote incendiary pamphlets that helped ignite and sustain America's struggle for independence from Great Britain in the 18th century.

Early in his life, however, he worked making women's girdles, which are among the most constrictive and oppressive garments in the history of the world. Was there a connection between his two gigs? Maybe his later struggle for liberation was an unconscious atonement for his youthful labors.

Instigate a Thomas Paine-like boomerang. Think of something you did in the past that constricted your spirit or squeezed other people's possibilities. Use that memory as a launching pad as you unleash a brilliant stroke in the name of abundance and expansiveness".

You master the intellectual and the physical revolts on you.

Submitted by ellwort on Thu, 12/24/2009 - 12:49am.
"Belief" is a folkloric term which (as I understand it) covers all the superstitions from communion to knocking wood.
But who knows? Keep your fingers crossed.
---------------------------------------
http://www.answers.com/topic/belief

belief: [Middle English bileve, alteration (influenced by bileven, to believe), of Old English gelēafa.]
-----
I'm pretty sure that gelēafa is the sound you make just before the gruel comes up.

Rummy on "knowns"
Submitted by Sunshine Jim on Thu, 12/24/2009 - 12:49am.
--------
Sheesh.

I give you one of the greatest philosophical conundrums of the ages, "What is knowable and what is unknowable?", which is derived from the greatest philosophical conundrum of the ages, "What is reality?", and you give me Donald Rumsfeld.

homemade-limoncello-when-life-gives-you-lemons.html

nice thread of comments
from Jul 23, 2006 at 11:23 AM
to 3 days ago

Limoncello is the traditional Italian lemon-flavored liqueur made using lemon zest. You can sometimes get homemade limoncello in Italian restaurants and some liqour stores will carry one or two commercially bottled imports, I have found most of what you find in the stores to be expensive and not that good. Nothing compares to homemade.

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

i'd like to have him sitting next to me right now.

oh baby!

is straight out of Carlos Castaneda.

The bush admin also used declarative statements to signal Intent. It didn't matter that these statements were shrouded in Bushisms.
"In the universe there is an immeasurable, indescribable force which shamans call intent, and absolutely everything that exists in the entire cosmos is attached to intent by a connecting link."

I don't see Obama using the declarative statement. I guess we still don't know if he's successfully playing 11-dimensional chess.
==

"Warriors do not win victories by beating their heads against walls, but by overtaking the walls. Warriors jump over walls; they don’t demolish them."
Carlos Castaneda
Source: Tales of Power

"The trick is in what one emphasizes. We either make ourselves miserable, or we make ourselves strong. The amount of work is the same."
~ Carlos Castaneda quotes from Journey to Ixtlan

"The spirit listens only when the speaker speaks in gestures. And gestures do not mean signs or body movements, but acts of true abandon, acts of largess, of humor. As a gesture to the spirit, warriors bring out the best of themselves and silently offer it to the abstract"
Carlos Castaneda
Source: The Power of Silence

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

Enjoy!

May the joy of the Season bring you peace and Hope for the New Year!

Sorry, it seems the graphic I posted disappeared. The link is there but it won't show up!And it is a beautiful, peaceful holiday scene.

toniD's Ya Think?

WYTHEVILLE, Va. — A daylong standoff at a small-town Virginia post office ended peacefully with three hostages being released and a suspect who came out of the building in a wheelchair in custody, police said late Wednesday.

Warren Taylor of Sullivan County, Tenn., is being questioned and authorities do not yet have a motive, state police Sgt. Michael Conroy said. The hostages and suspect left the building in Wytheville after authorities ordered the man to surrender.

The standoff began at about 2:30 p.m. when shots were fired at the one-story brick post office in the mountain town in western Virginia. No one was injured, and relatives of two of the hostages said they were able to talk to their loved ones by phone.

It ended about 8 1/2 hours later without the dozens of SWAT members armed with automatic weapons having to fire a shot.

"We're just grateful it ended peacefully," Conroy said. "This is just the best outcome we could hope for."

Police in the town in the heart of the Blue Ridge Mountains told the Wytheville Enterprise the suspect had what appeared to be a common plastic explosive strapped to his chest. Conroy said police had found weapons and that shots were fired, but no explosives had been uncovered.

He said they were still searching the building late Wednesday, as well as Taylor's truck.

The suspect made no demands other than to ask for a pizza, said Pete Rendina, spokesman for the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/23/virgina-post-office-hostage-sta...

toniD's Ya Think?

...this night... :):(

For the Senate Health Care Vote. All they need today is a simple majority.

Obama 'Absolutely' Will Help Merge Health Care Bills (VIDEO)

While many Americans are wrapping gifts, President Barack Obama is pledging to personally wrap up health-care reform.

The Senate expects to pass a health care bill on Christmas Eve, and Obama told PBS's Jim Lehrer that he would 'absolutely' take a hands-on role in merging it with the House version.

"We hope to have a whole bunch of folks over here in the West Wing, and I'll be rolling up my sleeves and spending some time before the full Congress even gets into session," he said.

This comes after the president has taken some criticism for being too passive and allowing too many aspects of health care reform to be compromised. He responded to those charges in an interview with the Washington Post:

Throughout the health-care debate, the president has declined to weigh in with specific preferences. The tactic has exasperated his supporters, but his advisers have deemed it key in keeping the bill moving through a balky Congress. Obama called the public option his preferred choice to ensure broad coverage and provide cost-cutting competition to the private insurers. But he has never demanded that it be part of a final bill.

"We don't feel that the core elements to help the American people have been compromised in any significant way," Obama said. "Do these pieces of legislation have exactly everything I want? Of course not. But they have the things that are necessary to reduce costs for businesses, families and the government."

Speaking about his decision to finally roll-up his sleeves, Obama told Lehrer:

Right now there are families who don't have health insurance and, as a consequence of somebody getting sick in their family, have been bankrupt. Right now there are small businesses who've been doing the right thing by their employees and just got a notice from their insurance companies that their premiums went up 25, 30, 40 percent; and that business owner's having to make a decision, do I start dropping coverage for my employees or do I have to lay off one employee to keep coverage for everybody else?

Video at link

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/23/obama-health-care-merge-senate-...

toniD's Ya Think?

Senators Dodd, Shelby Report Major Progress On Wall Street Reform, Deadlock May Be Avoided

WASHINGTON — The top Senate Democrat and Republican negotiating new Wall Street regulation said Wednesday they expect to resolve their differences before the end of January, an optimistic outlook for a bill that had seemed mired in partisan conflicts.

Sens. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., and Richard Shelby, R-Ala., issued a joint statement saying bipartisan negotiations have resulted in "meaningful progress." The Senate Banking Committee could consider a compromise bill as early as Jan. 26, people familiar with the discussions said.

The statement's tone contrasted with Shelby's dismissive reaction when Dodd released a draft of his bill last month. At the time, Shelby said the Senate had not done enough to study the causes of last year's financial crisis to adopt regulations to address them.

While both listed common goals for a regulatory overhaul, they offered no specific points of agreement. Still, if the Senate creates a bipartisan bill, it would be in sharp contrast to the House, which passed a regulatory measure with no Republican votes.

"These talks have been extremely productive, with members providing great insight and demonstrating a desire to get this done and get this done right," Dodd and Shelby said. Dodd is the Banking Committee chairman and Shelby is its ranking Republican.

A Dodd-Shelby compromise would differ significantly from the House version. That could require difficult negotiations to hammer out a bill that can pass both chambers.

The House legislation would create a system to look out for financial sector risks that could undermine the economy. It would make it easier for the government to dismantle failing companies, and even those that are healthy but threaten the financial system. It would create a Consumer Financial Protection Agency that would regulate lending and credit cards. And it would rein in financial instruments that have long operated outside government scrutiny.

Among the goals both senators said they had in common were ending a financial system where firms grow to the point they are considered too big to fail. They said they agreed to strengthen consumer protections and said the Federal Reserve should lose some of its regulatory authority and focus on monetary policy.

One of the major sticking points between Dodd and Shelby is the proposed Consumer Financial Protection Agency, a central feature of President Barack Obama's regulatory plan. Dodd supports the idea and Shelby opposes it.

But lobbyists, aides and senators say committee members are considering a proposal that would create an agency that writes consumer regulations but would leave enforcement to specific banking regulators. They said the proposal had yet to be embraced by Dodd and Shelby and could still be scrapped.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/23/dodd-shelby-wall-street-reform-...

toniD's Ya Think?

I sea the strategy and so glad we beat out "the rethugs", but nothing for the wolves.
:D:(

now for some coal in my stocking.

All Repubs voted no with one not voting.

toniD's Ya Think?

Sophomore Rep. Chris Carney (D-PA) has now released a statement, obtained by the Post, in which he says ...

"I am flattered by the overtures of Sen[ator] McCain and other Republican Party officials and consider their outreach a sure sign that I have worked in a truly bipartisan manner," said Carney in a statement. "I appreciate the Republican Party's outreach, but I have no plans to change parties."

A bit ambiguous. Certainly not burning any bridges. But also pretty straightforward in knocking down any notion he's about to pull a Griffith and jump to the GOP. Carney also seems happy to pocket the GOP's big thumbs up on what a good job he's doing for future use in his 2010 reelection campaign.

For what it's worth, here's my read on what happened here.

Read more »

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2009/12/carney_speaks.php#more...

toniD's Ya Think?

Senate Passes Landmark Health Care Bill
Brian Beutler | December 24, 2009, 7:16AM

This morning, after a year-long fight with Republicans, and a weeks-long debate, which ultimately pitted Democrat against Democrat, and liberal against liberal, the Senate passed a historic bill calling for major reforms of the U.S. health care system by a vote of 60-39.

Presiding over the Senate, in a rare appearance, was Vice President Joe Biden. As Senate chair, the Vice President can serve as the tie-breaking vote in the event of a 50-50 deadlock. But tonight's victory for Democrats was never in doubt.

Over the course of this week, Democrats have passed several test votes--set at a 60-member, supermajority threshold. The only question this morning was, would they keep all of their members united for the final vote.

In the end they did.

Now, Congressional Democrats face one more major challenge: merging two the House's and the Senate's two different reform package, so that each chamber can pass the same bill. That merging process kicked of behind the scenes weeks ago, but will begin in earnest in the days ahead, and could last several weeks. We'll keep you abreast of all developments.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) warned Democrats in a speech before the vote they would face a "truly outraged public" when they are on break.

"People who voted for this bill are going to get an earful when they finally get home for the first time since Thanksgiving," McConnell said.

"This fight is long from over," he said. "My colleagues and I will work to stop this bill from becoming law. That's the clear will of the American people."

Sen. Jim Bunning (R-KY) was the only absent senator.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/12/senate-passes-landmark-health...

toniD's Ya Think?

Fragile Health Care Agreement Fraying? Whispers, But Not Yet
Christina Bellantoni | December 23, 2009, 6:28PM

Some Democrats are popping champagne and already writing campaign talking points for how to champion a health care bill they believe President Obama will sign early next year, but today several progressives pulled on the fragile agreement's thread.

Obama is suggesting they can get right to work and said his White House will remain involved after the final passage of the Senate bill tomorrow, and leaders were hoping for a speedy agreement.

There's no hard evidence they'll be denied that victory and TPMDC sources have been saying all week they are tired of Democrats litigating the merits of health care in the press.

House leadership is confident their liberal members may complain loudly but will back the final compromise even if it doesn't change from the more conservative Senate version.

Some of the rumblings from progressives about holding out on the bill are both predictable and toothless, but today House Rules Chairman Louise Slaughter (D-NY) wrote in a CNN op-ed that she thinks the process should begin anew.

"It's time that we draw the line on this weak bill and ask the Senate to go back to the drawing board," wrote Slaughter (D-NY).

She is influential in the legislative food chain and has the ear of Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

But in a sign of the sensitivity of the negotiations, a Slaughter spokesman walked back her column and said she may still vote for the final bill even without her favored provisions.

Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) and Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA) in a statement today called for a "meaningful conference process" and insisted a public option "must" be included in a final bill.

They did not threaten to oppose the measure without the public option and the employer mandate and affordability provisions they want.

Rep. Joe Sestak wrote Pelosi a letter asking her to keep fighting and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) told Fox New Radio today there is no way the House will "rubber-stamp" the Senate bill.

SEIU's Andy Stern told TPMDC today that he can see the good things in the bill and stopped short of calling for another round.

It's unclear if it's just-for-show fighting or if some members really want to derail and start over. Sources TPMDC has been talking with over the last few days say leadership will eventually call progressives' bluff and get them to support the final measure. They also are starting to see some hopeful signs they will pick up votes from Blue Dogs who opposed the House plan.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/12/fragile-health-care-agreement...

toniD's Ya Think?

by: Chris Bowers
Open Left - Dec.17th.

I've seen a few post-mortems of the public option campaign kicking around the Internets. Invariably, as more are written, some will blame the people leading the campaign for not adopting different tactics which, the authors of the post-mortems will claim, could have led to victory.

Before this line of writing becomes too widespread, we all need to remember that the only reason we didn't win the public option campaign was because a few Senators lied to us. Unless someone can think of ways to have prevented them from lying, then these post-mortems will be useless.

Back on May 21st, there were only 28 Senators in support of a triggerless public option. Through your tireless participation in a whip count effort, by October 8th we raised that number to 51 when Jon Tester came out in support. By October 30th, when Evan Bayh said he wouldn't filibuster, we were up to 56 Democrats for cloture on health care reform with a public option.

From that point, the only four Senators we still needed all lied to us in one form or another. Both Mary Landrieu and Blanche Lincoln signed a document stating that they supported a public option, only to reverse their positions. Blanche Lincoln's website still comically claimed she supported a public option even as she was declaring her opposition to one on the Senate floor.

Still, Landrieu, Lincoln and Ben Nelson were all part of the group of ten Senators who forged a deal on the public option that included a Medicare buy-in. Further, immediately after that deal was reached, Harry Reid contacted Joe Lieberman to see if he liked the deal. Lieberman told Harry Reid that he was liking what he was seeing, and just wanted to wait for the CBO report. Further, Lieberman had supported an even stronger Medicare buy-in (for Americans aged 50-64) as recently as September 2009.

Con't..

http://openleft.com/diary/16552/we-had-a-deal-a-few-senators-just-lied-t...

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

MMRules

I hope your headaches gone &
your feeling better..

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

MMRules

So far headache is gone. I'm hoping it will stay away.

Going back to bed for awhile. I got up early just to watch the vote. To see what would happen.

Merry, Merry, MMR

Wishing a better New Year for everyone!

toniD's Ya Think?

Submitted by toniD on Thu, 12/24/2009 - 7:55am.

Merry, Merry, MMR

Wishing a better New Year for everyone!

*******

Back @ Ya.. :)

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

MMRules

Did I read right that he had no heart beat? That is the only thing baffling to me. In Freud's day when people, especially women had intolerable stress they got what is called "Hysterical Conversion Reaction". They would be struck blind or have other so called hysterical symptoms. What is interesting is that once the diagnosis was determined and became known by the masses, the reaction was greatly reduced in the population. It is still possible though.

I had a client who after the death of her husband, had what she calls her two day nap. She just fugued out and dissociated. She had no memory of the time and she acted very strangely and was not oriented to time and place. This woman has a pretty good case of PTSD from when she was a preteen and was molested repeatedly by a neighbor and when she was put in a "school" during the war at 5 when her parents were too busy to care for her.

If you have PTSD you are either an activator who is hypervigilant and easily triggerd or a numb er who goes a little dissociative when triggered. This woman never knows how she really feels but she now knows she is a numb er and can kind of giggle about it. She is in her 70's now and I kind of stand in for her in terms of interpreting emotion.

So that would be my best guess given the info that you provided. The guy needed a break from his intense emotions so perhaps he just checked out in a most profound way. Pretty creative solution if you ask me! Bless him and his family during this time of grief. Parent's just should never lose their kids. It "should" be the other way around.

Free Democracy

Not long ago and far away, Santa was getting ready for his annual trip...but there were problems everywhere.

Four of his elves were sick, and the trainee elves did not produce the toys as fast as the regular ones so Santa was beginning to feel the pressure of being behind schedule.

Then Mrs. Claus told Santa that her mom was coming to visit. This stressed Santa even more. When he went to harness the reindeer, he found that three of them were about to give birth and two had jumped the fence and were out, heaven knows where. More Stress. Then when he began to load the sleigh, one of the boards cracked and the toy bag fell to the ground and scattered the toys. So, frustrated, Santa went into the house for a cup of coffee and a shot of whiskey. When he went to the cupboard, he found the elves had hidden the liquor and there was nothing to drink. In his frustration, he dropped the coffee pot and it broke into hundreds of little pieces all over the he kitchen floor.

He went to get the broom and found that mice had eaten the straw it was made from.

Just then the doorbell rang and Santa cussed on his way to the door. He opened the door and there was a little angel with a great big Christmas tree. The angel said: "Where would you like to put this tree Santa?"

And that my friends, is how the little angel came to be on top of the Christmas tree.

Good Listening: Jackson Browne and David Lindley – Live at the Philadelphia Folk Festival

http://hypem.com/#/track/996002/Jackson+Browne-For+A+Dancer

**

Jackson Browne - For Everyman

http://hypem.com/#/track/996014/Jackson+Browne-For+Everyman

**

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

MMRules

And, Happy New Year.. :)

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

MMRules

Richard (RJ) Eskow: The Killers Among Us (And Other Weak Arguments For The Senate Health Bill)

Have you heard? Progressives who oppose the Senate health bill are the moral equivalent of mass murderers. That argument is actually being made - along with the charge, ironically enough, that they're being too emotional. Other pro-Senate-bill arguments are pretty thin, too, but let's start with this one:

We have met the "death panels" and they are us.

Ezra Klein seems to have started the "killers" trope in a response to Markos Moulitsas's opposition to the bill. Klein cited recent figures showing that 45,000 Americans die each year from lack of health insurance. The Senate bill, he argued, would save "more than a hundred thousand lives, to say nothing of the people who will be spared bankruptcy, chronic pain, unnecessary impairment, unnecessary caretaking, bereavement, loss of wages, painful surgeries, and so on."

Pretty persuasive ... and as it turns out, pretty easily countered, too.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rj-eskow/the-killers-among-us-and_b_402163...

merry xmas to all my fellows on the blog

glad that toni's headache went away and that jean benet will have a jolly limoncello enhenced holiday; home made gifts are the best - i still get a home made panettone every year from my very American ex-husband who started making it 30 years ago when we lived in western massachusetts and there was no italian grocery where i could get it; he now makes dozens of them every year for all his friends; he's become a master at it; his panettone is so much better than the store-bought industrially manufactured variety

http://italianfood.about.com/library/rec/blr0946.htm

May your hearts be filled with the spirit of generosity, unlike most of the callers I heard on C-Span this morning.

No, I'm not crazy about this bill, but I think something is better than nothing. I often start the day listening to America Left or C-Span in bed with my headphones. It keeps it quiet around here, if I can keep from ranting to myself.

Anybody bitching about O the other day and saying we should elect "true progressives" should spend at least a week listening to Washington Journal. I think is really shows you the "pulse of America".

I think I need to give my blood pressure a break and back off listening/reading politics for a while. If only most Americans were as generous, thoughtful & kind as I imagine/think most of the people on the Sederblog are.

Peace be with you....and also you

Actually, it's from a blog chock full o' writing like this...

"Another 40 people give there LIFE to CHRIST…GREAT SACRIFICE always pays off… with GOD…"

See how they are pointing at Heaven? Yeah. But that's not the first thing I thought of.

Denying the GOP.

:)

Happy holidays.

It's 40 degrees this morning and it's only going to get colder. It's raining, about to snow and we are under a wind advisory.

I must go to the store or there will be no Christmas dinner.

All I feel is dread.

I'm going to try my best to pretend to be a big boy and go but let no one buy the act. Deep down inside I'm a shivering mess.

And to all...

Just trying to subvert the paradigm man. :)

I think I am coming to the conclusion that I would rather walk to a store than shovel anymore today.

Or...

All the buses are running again today too. They run until 4.
I hate it when I have to work on xmas eve day so I usually try not to shop then, but this year I've got a rock-solid excuse.

Glad your haid is better toniD.

toniD's Ya Think?

toniD - u probably had your headache because of all
rain & dampness that has come our way. I hope that
the headache has subsided 4 u.

The snow "was" very pretty, now its just a sloppy
mess, it would've been nice with NO rain.

Ms_Anthrope - nothing has been done about the wolves
being hunted? That will come back to haunt the people
who participated in the killing & not putting the wolves
(back) on the endangered list. I like to call "KARMA"
& also they r fuckers, assholes, fuckers.

He's a trouper and must feel strongly about this HC Bill.

He's in ill health himself and in his 90s but showed up for all the necessary votes. Even at 1 in the morning.

He had an epiphany in his past and turned to the good side. He's proof it can happen!

toniD's Ya Think?

& it's only Dec. 24th. I have a ways to go.
my back doesn't think so though. Ouch!

and yes, Senator Byrd is a trouper. Too bad about the other 99.

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

MMRules

Perfect!!!

I was just considering which is my favorite version of Dickens' "A Christmas Carol"....Byrd's redemption is a real life version of Scrooge seeing the light....you are right, the light can and does reach into people's souls...we just have to keep on shining it...

btw... there will really only ever be one Scrooge in my book; Alastair Simm..."Scrooge" 1951....

that's my fave version, too...

sj - I think that known known stuff
Submitted by jbenet on Thu, 12/24/2009 - 2:58am.
is straight out of Carlos Castaneda.
--------------------
The lack of consensus as to whether Castaneda's books are entirely fiction, somewhat fiction or a recounting of characters and experiences as he knew them to be is as interesting as the books themselves.

All four entries under the following link make note of the ongoing controversy. An excerpt is included.

http://www.answers.com/topic/carlos-castaneda

...To this day the debate goes on -- was Castaneda a brilliant anthropologist and philosopher, or was he a world class charlatan? He kept his own life story a mystery, but it is generally accepted that he was born in Peru, immigrated to the United States in the early 1950s, attended college in Los Angeles and became a naturalized citizen in 1957...

The other night they showed a Scrooge version with the guy from "the next generation" Patrick something but Alistair is the best.

Sorry I'm having a senior moment, brain freeze, whatever, my brain isn't working.

toniD's Ya Think?

toniD's Ya Think?

Break up the CIA, says fmr. Reagan intel staffer

By Daniel Tencer
Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

Share on Facebook Stumble This!
Arguing that "covert action and analysis do not belong together in the same agency," a former CIA agent who prepared intelligence briefings for President Reagan in the 1980s says the CIA should be broken in two.

Ray McGovern, who gained attention in recent years after founding the activist group Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, wrote in an article published Wednesday that the two primary functions the CIA carries out -- gathering intelligence and executing covert operations abroad -- are at odds with each other, and keeping the two functions together harms the US's foreign policy interests.

In an article published at ConsortiumNews, McGovern argued that the CIA's dual missions conflict with one another, as the CIA has to objectively assess the effect of its own missions on foreign policy goals.

con't

http://rawstory.com/2009/12/break-cia-fmr-reagan-staffer/

that is 2 damn adorable -
"Frosty the Snowman's baby picture!"

to one of my favorite Christmas c.d.'s

"Wintersong"

my other favorite is George Winston "December"

Wrapping has to be the worst part. My packages always end up looking like I wrapped them in a dirty diaper with lumps in odd places.

CVS has these uber cheap R/C cars that I picked up for the neighbors 5 and 9 year old boys. I got me one too on the chance that a challenge presents itself in the alley.

I better hurry before they come threaten my life with the fudge their mom makes for Christmas again.

My favorite presents to wrap are the twelve packs of Sierra Nevada because nothing says Christmas like Pale Ale.

The 92-year-old Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.), a former majority leader himself, seemed more prepared when history knocked. "Mr. President," Byrd said, raising his right hand and pointing to the domed ceiling, "This is for my friend Ted Kennedy. Aye!"

toniD's Ya Think?

I am @ this time LOL of that picture.
I've never seen that one. Tanks

To Senator Byrd.
Thank You sir :)

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

MMRules

Sorry,if posted before..

What I want for Christmas ? Public Financed Elections..
I'm sure I'm not the only one..

**

By: Scarecrow Monday December 21, 2009

In Copenhagen last week, when Senator James Inhofe tried to sell reporters on his climate change denialism, the European press corp showed the American media how to take its job seriously: "You are ridiculous," one German reporter said to his face. Sometimes, that’s what reporting the truth requires.

And that’s exactly what the American media should be saying to the White House and the Senate Democratic leadership for the travesty of a health "reform" bill now slouching towards Christmas eve. Only a group of idiots would have concocted this incoherent mishmash and called it "reform."

To be sure, there are many provisions of the Senate bill that are worthwhile, worth passing — I’ll get to that — but these mostly ad hoc features are carrying, fronting for a deeply flawed, underlying structure of a bill that utterly fails to reform what’s wrong with America’s inhumane, corrupt health care system.

America’s private, for-profit health insurance and delivery systems have failed. Their so-called "markets" are not competitive, and that can’t be fixed with puny exchanges that may or may not be created by skeptical — or recalcitrant — states. The insurance and hospital sectors are highly concentrated, dominated by market power that allows providers and insurers to overcharge Americans by 50 to 100 percent more than other nations pay for equal or better care and universal coverage.

So you would think any genuine reform effort would use the power of the federal government to bust up or at least confront the oligopolies and use its leverage to counter the industry’s market power, rationing-by-price and price fixing. But the Senate bill protects the industries, shields them from competition and expressly precludes national public entities from demanding better prices on the public’s behalf.

With government collusion, the private actors created a system of inhumane rationing that denies insurance to nearly 50 million and hawks fraudulent coverage to tens of millions more. The failure of the insurance system leads directly to the most egregious rationing of actual health care of any industrialized nation. Only in America is a private system allowed to bankrupt and deny care to millions, causing tens of thousands to die every year.

The obvious alternative to this massive failure of the private, for-profit system would have been to move strongly in the direction of universal public systems, while imposing strong price, quality and access regulation to the remaining private sectors. Public alternatives and strong regulation are the models for every other advanced nation — there are no exceptions. These are only ways to break the backs of the private oligopolies that are strangling health care in America.

But instead of doing the obvious, the reforms that actually work, the corporate Democrats and their corporate-shielding President have done the opposite. Every travesty in the Senate bill springs from an effort to preserve and shield the private industries that are financially and literally killing us.

Instead of providing strong public alternatives, the bill will bail out the private system, and not merely by giving them hundreds of billions to subsidize their unregulated premiums and fees. No, we will force 30 million Americans who can least afford it to buy their overpriced, poorly regulated products, and pay only lip service to the economic hardship this imposes.

The mandate to bail out the insurance companies (and the hospitals/providers they feed) is worse than bailing out the investment banks. It’s as though we had forced 30 million modest income Americans to purchase toxic assets from the banksters and then imposed taxes on everyone else to complete the bailout.

If you look beyond this flawed foundation and consider only the WH/Harry Reid list of wonderful things the Senate bill does, you’ll notice that virtually all of them require the government to replace or intervene in the private system. The best features provide discrete escapes and selected access to a government/public alternative.

Con't..

http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/20052

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

MMRules

The Huffington Post | Full News FeedOptions

Christmas Around The World (PHOTOS) - 21 minutes ago
Small, Private Funeral For Brittany Murphy - 22 minutes ago
Happy Holidays, from HuffPost Bloggers - 57 minutes ago
Loren Singer Dead: "Parallax View" Author Dies At 86 - 1 hour ago
George Michael Dead: Sportscaster Dies At 70 - 1 hour ago

Submitted by mhappenow on Thu, 12/24/2009 - 8:07am.
Did I read right that he had no heart beat? That is the only thing baffling to me...
--------
You read right that I was told that his wife was unable to wake him and was unable to find a pulse.

That is sparse information. I was told that she called an ambulance so one might guess that her husband was warm to her touch and/or that she could detect respiration.

I have spent thousands of hours with the lady in a workplace and forty years ago her family lived next door to mine, so I have a pretty good handle on her personality. I would describe her as a maternal rock. I don't doubt that she knows how to check for pulse and respiration although it is certainly possible that she would call an ambulance even if her husband appeared to be dead.

However, my information is not directly from her. Experience has taught me that second- and third-hand information is unreliable and that laymen have a knack for misconstruing and altering medical details.

The key details, that the man recovered in 24 hours and that the hospital's scans and tests revealed no physical cause for his condition, require a lot of misconstruing and altering to get wrong...but it can happen.

Someday I'll work again with the wife and mother of the stricken man and deceased son. She has always been pretty open with me (and, I'm certain, with lots of other people) when the conversation leads her in that direction...even with subjects that must be painful for her.

I have spent very little time with her husband. In our encounters he has seemed shy and reserved. For what it's worth, his wife has frequently mentioned that he is fishing or playing golf with one of their kids or grandkids or is spending his day with a great-grandchild, moreso since his retirement several years ago. I don't recall any mention of him having a close friend outside of his family but that might be nothing more significant than my lack of information.

Taylor MarshPolitical analyst, commentator, with foreign policy focus

HuffPost..

December 23, 2009

Forward the video above to around 1:55. Candidate Obama was against mandates before Pres. Obama demanded them for us all. If Obama was a liberal he would have embraced mandates from the beginning, understanding that they go with the public option, which is the only way to offer choice to people while cutting costs. He didn't.

If Harry Reid was a liberal we'd have a better bill, because he wouldn't have played Let's Make a Deal host, with the biggest winner the insurance companies.

If Speaker Pelosi was a liberal she wouldn't have invited religious leaders into the room to craft language that takes rights away from women we won through the law decades ago.

Liberals wouldn't let something like this happen either:

Con't..

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/taylor-marsh/if-obama-was-a-liberal-we_b_4...

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

MMRules

(Well, not really Scrooge)
is Ebeneezer Blackadder (Rowan Atkinson)

Blackadder's Christmas Carol (Part 1 of 5)

the best to you and your familys from me and mine.

one of the most touching moments on the senate floor brought to us courtesy of c-span was of sen byrd breaking down at the news of ted kennedy's being taken sick and the news that he had brain cancer, sen byrd crying and saying come back soon, i miss you and i love you.... to see a man in such advanced age crying is always very moving and disturbing, can't escape the impression that he was probably feeling his own mortality

not too cold but very wet, rainstorm, thunder and windy, very dark sky... would be ok if i didn't have to go anywhere - it's cozy in the house - but certainly worried about my sister flying in today and not looking forward to my ride to the airport

Headaches can be a genuine pain in the ass. They make you irritable and spoil your day.

I can tell you how to get rid of one of these headaches. It always works. It should only be used if you want the headache to go away. Some people don't really want the headache to go away because it gives them a good excuse to be a nasty, whiny asshole.

But...if you want the headache to go away....do this.

Put one teaspoon full of Heinz Apple Cider Vinegar in eight ounces of water in a soup pan. Heat the mixture until it begins to give off vapors. Shut off heat. Put a towel around your head and make a tent over the pan of mildly steaming Heinz Apple Cider Vinegar. Breathe in the fumes for awhile, through your nostrils. Get a nice long whiff. Do not be afraid of the power of the vinegar. It is what they call, a miracle.

After a while...go lie down in a warm, quiet spot. Your headache will be gone in fifteen minutes...there abouts.

Merry Christmas from Block Island.

Submitted by Fernando on Thu, 12/24/2009 - 9:50am.
It's 40 degrees this morning and it's only going to get colder. It's raining, about to snow and we are under a wind advisory...
--------
It was 52 degrees here this morning, you miserable lower latitude chump.

(It's 43 degrees now and we're pretty much destined to share the same frigid boat.)

I can hear them scream as they fall on the rain that had fallen earlier. We'll get sheets of ice in a few hours.

But there's a brisket slow cooking in the oven and teh Barrett Jackson car auction is on the Speed TV.

So I've settled for a long winter's night.

with power speaks {especially for Ted.}!
re: toniD on Thu, 12/24/2009 - 12:58pm.
:):(

And a bit freightened because the wind is blowing, the trees are covered with ice, and I don't know how the sidewalks and roads are.

I need to stop at the store because I am out of a few things. I wanted to do this yesterday but it was worse yesterday.

I have a bag and a can of Ice Melt in the car but I have to get to the car!

This is turning into a humbug Xmas so far.

Have a great Xmas Eve all.

Later!

Happy, happy, Joy, joy!

toniD's Ya Think?

Submitted by Noodles Jefferson on Thu, 12/24/2009 - 2:18pm.

Put one teaspoon full of Heinz Apple Cider Vinegar in eight ounces of water in a soup pan. Heat the mixture until it begins to give off vapors. Shut off heat. Put a towel around your head and make a tent over the pan of mildly steaming Heinz Apple Cider Vinegar.
Breathe in the fumes for awhile, through your nostrils.

*******

I has to be better,in the long run,than the
crap I take for my headaches..

**

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

MMRules

Be careful out there..

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

MMRules

For my Friend, Ted
Submitted by toniD on Thu, 12/24/2009 - 12:58pm.

"Yeah! We want term limits...." Oh, wait. Byrd is one of the 4(?) "good ones." Naw... term limits can wait a while.

"You look so tired, unhappy
Bring down the government
They don't,
They don't speak for us"
-Radiohead.
www.sigzone.blogspot.com

I'm holed up in a guest room while I try to recover from an illness.
A few hours ago when I was channel surfing I wound up on C Span (pity me).
Anyway, a University of Maryland professor was delivering a speech about the government during which she referred to the legislature as "the two chambers of commerce" instead of "two chambers of Congress" three times. She immediately corrected herself each time, but it was a great slip.

"You look so tired, unhappy
Bring down the government
They don't,
They don't speak for us"
-Radiohead.
www.sigzone.blogspot.com

It's horrid out there and I'm not going anywhere.

Right outside the door is a pine tree filled with ice and bent over and almost touching the walk.

I got around that and when I reached my car I saw that there was 2 inches of ice covering it and the parking lot was like an ice skating rink.

I can't even get to the door. Not worth it!

toniD's Ya Think?

Sorry. Good that you knew when to quit.

I am watching old movies while finally trying to get around to shampooing my carpet (at which point I'll realize it's completely unsalvageable even for renters).

I am watching "The Awful Truth." And I have two observations. 1) Stephanie miller looks a bit like Irene Dunne. 2)The moon song she's singing is not the same one I put here around Thanksgiving time. It's pretty and in Italian but much faster. So I'm glad I cleared that up for everyone.

Did you hear what kind of a rerun those idiots were playing this morning? I'm glad the scales fell for me some time ago or my bathtub would not be for two (even if it were a jacuzzi.) (I'm talking about stephanie, and it was from late January.)

Has anyone ever watched "Black Xmas?" It's 70s, horror. It looks terrible but maybe good terrible. It has our good friend Margot Kidder and also Andrea Martin {?!)

toniD.
That sucks :(

Year US UK Other Total
2001 12 0 0 12
2002 49 3 17 69
2003 48 0 9 57
2004 52 1 7 60
2005 99 1 31 131
2006 98 39 54 191
2007 117 42 73 232
2008 155 51 89 295
2009 308 106 90 504
Total 938 243 370 1551

I'm trying to take a nap.

..that's better...thank you.

Senate Passes Health-Care Reform Bill; Feingold, Rockefeller Issue Appeals to Progressives

With no public option or Medicare buy-in, the Senate's health-care reform bill passes in the early hours of Christmas Eve.

Some day, I hope to pen a report on a congressional vote that does not begin with the words, "On a straight party-line vote..." Alas, today will not be the day (although, for a moment, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., appeared to have joined his Republican colleagues in voting against the bill).

At around 7:00 a.m., on a straight party-line vote, the Senate passed its version of health-care reform legislation, a feat many months in the making. So exhausted was Reid, who has been working virtually around the clock over the last seven days, that he initially voted "no" on his legislation when his name was called by the clerk, but he instantly righted -- or shall we say, lefted -- himself to vote "yes."

At his press conference after the vote, Reid quipped that his vote flub was an attempt at bipartisanship.

http://www.alternet.org/blogs/politics/144792/senate_passes_health-care_...

Thursday, December 24, 2009
Iran protests spread in heartland;
State of Emergency in Isfahan;
Regime Threatens Harsh Crackdown

Iran protests spread in heartland -- latimes.com

The LAT reports further on Wednesday's demonstrations in Isfahan and Najafabad, pointing out that these central regions are strongholds for the regime in general, making the challenge mounted there seem especially threatening. There were also further demonstrations at Tehran University and the eastern city of Mashad. There was also a local protest against an execution in the southern city of Sirjan.

The Iranian authorities are threatening an even more Draconian response if the protests continue, according to WaPo. The problem for the regime is that it not only has to repress dissidents but win the hearts and minds of the public, and increased brutality against dissidents, who are after all themselves ordinary Iranians, could backfire.

www.juancole.com

Submitted by toniD on Thu, 12/24/2009 - 3:08pm.
It's horrid out there and I'm not going anywhere...
---------
I don't care what anybody says, you're not nearly as dumb as you look.

I know it. Rosario Ferre knows it. And nobody else better forget it.

Ooops, sorry Big Daddy. :P

http://www.noradsanta.org/

toniD's Ya Think?

He'll be here soon so have a great evening all!

toniD's Ya Think?

Good tD. Wise choice.
=
My mom sent some banana nut bread - which arrived moldy - but the Love was intact.
=
All kinds of negative thoughts creep in - I'm choosing to leave those thoughts alone. The poignant beauty of this time rings true. The darkest time, but the fruits of the new year are already in place. I have observed, in past cycles, that the structures of the buds that produce springtime's fruits are in place. The last acts of the previous cycle are to complete the preparation of the next. I love the ritual and the beauty inherent in this time. This beauty is there all around us. That is our foundation.

"What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matters compared to what lives within us."
Henry David Thoreau
&
"I don't have to have faith, I have experience."
Joseph Campbell
~`ordinary's just not good enough today - olp`~
Jamesbenet

Be careful about reading health books. You may die of a misprint.
Mark Twain

We have the best government that money can buy.
Mark Twain

Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it is time to pause and reflect.
Mark Twain

==

[these quote sites all look to be tools of the motivational speaker industry and seem skewed to me]
~`ordinary's just not good enough today - olp`~
Jamesbenet

I send this link to you with love and Bailey's and egg nog and a wee sack of sensi.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfpD5Rauir4

Zoot

I am also laying on you....this....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yI4YlVqaPs

I ZAP you wid dis!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cubgWvBfs24

Zoot

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

MMRules

http://www.saveur.com/

----------
Norad tracks Santa without Cheney's interference ! that is a step away from the dark side
------------
Hope that Santa has a hard drive for the mayor of our little village.
======
The last year has been like a dress rehersal in Hartford. I can't wait for the opening on Broadway.

Best wishes and a sensational secular all inclusive moment of peace for every life form that breathes . -
-------
I have learned a lot here and I cant wait for next semester!

What ever your tradition or perspective is I hope you get what you need

Was that entirely necessary on fuckin' Xmas eve? ;)

The enemy of my ex-frenemy is still a...

Well you know....Can't have sexist double standards here.

That was really lovely. :)

I'm assuming they had proofreaders on staff for the merch, so I'm gonna be lazy this once. It's a holiday.

After all, it's not like I'd be turning a self-repressed Chiilean dyke with loads of talent into a man or anything either way.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/6786482.html

Feds: Va. standoff suspect was angry at government

...Oliver, a divorced father of two, was at the post office to mail Christmas gifts to his teenage sons and was filling out forms at a counter when he noticed a heavyset man out of the corner of his eye, using his wheelchair like a walker to brace himself.

He saw the man put an olive drab square ammunition can on the counter, then pull out a .40-caliber Glock pistol. Customers scattered, and the man fired a single shot at the postmaster as he ran out the door.

The man stuck one of his four guns in Oliver's face and told him to get on the floor, where he laid next to an older man while the gunman grabbed Margie Austin, a postal supervisor...

...Slowly, the gunman opened up, saying he had been in the Marines for 20 years and was proud of his military experience. On Thursday, military officials could not immediately locate any record that Taylor served.

In the last few years, the gunman told Oliver and the others, his life had headed south. He said his son had been killed in Afghanistan; the AP could not immediately find any record corroborating that.

The gunman said he had no money, and his 2007 red Dodge diesel pickup truck was about to be repossessed. Mostly, he railed against the government — high taxes, gun control, and President Barack Obama.

"He was really down on the government," Oliver said. "About the government taking over the right to bear arms ... he was angry at the government overtaxing us."...
-----------------------
Let's review:

Heavy set
In a wheelchair
No money
Long service in the Marines
Upset with high taxes
Upset with gun control
Upset with Barack Obama
Upset with government in general

Look at the bright side: Even if you are broke and confined to a wheelchair, there's always talk radio.

and if Ono was lurking and understood, he'd probably give himself a concussion doing triple takes at the genderfrick.

to a little party, . I am really thankful I stumbled into this place!

Isn't actually having served a DISqualification for right-wing talk?

---

Aha, I stand corrected. "no record of his having served." Gotcha. Possible ass-related 4f.

Merry Xmas.

I hope you're not driving.

NAH...not you! ;) :P

All that nonsense @6:06, 6:24 was a little joke to myself about the very typo double-standard you brought up the other night.

Although technically it was in a hand-written exam.

Submitted by taozen on Thu, 12/24/2009 - 6:27pm.

*******

and,just stumbled in here a couple of years ago by accident..Sey la vee.. ;-)

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

MMRules

http://hypem.com/#/track/996562/Albert+Brooks+Harry+Shearer+-+A+Daddy+s+...

Bbl.. :)

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

MMRules

"My name is Matt Foley and I am a motivational speaker."

Matt: "Now young man, what do you want to do with your life?"

Kid: "Umm, actually Matt, I kinda wanna be a writer."

Matt: "Well, loddie freakin da!"

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

We are a peculiar lot...but, somehow, it all seems to work out...

gbasin is the resident expert on that craft but I can tell you that rural carriers are not required to deliver to the door. You say your drive is 1000 ft. Just saying if that was normal for your area and your carrier had to deliver a parcel to even 10% of his/her deliveries it would make them run over.

Unlike city delivery, rural routes are measured to the literal foot. They are paid to maintain a definite line of travel and are not supposed to veer. It's a very complicated process but they tend to be more productive than your average city carrier who doesn't have the same setup.

If they did deliver to your door and you didn't ask them if they needed a drink of water or needed to take a leak that might explain the parcels hammered into your mailbox. ;-)

Thanks for the Albert Brooks, :)
It's a classic.
|

Merry Merry Joy Joy

.
.
.
_ _ _
BRR

1083 | brl vod | WTF

http://www.samsedershow.com/node/5563#comment-387337

Submitted by gloryoski on Thu, 12/24/2009 - 6:37pm.
Isn't actually having served a DISqualification for right-wing talk?
------
I suppose there is a Ted Kaczynski for every Timothy McVeigh but I tend to think that being schooled in the art of homicide gives some people a head start.

5 people in line at my place is called a good day. download invictus