Fitz?

Wow. Two in a row! Pretty soon I’ll have to have a belt made.

Pinochet. Gone.

Sweet music to my ears.

Habeas corpus. What’s next? Miranda?

Pinochet gone without imprisonment.

His heirs poised, ready to pounce once the CIA has enough time and money to work on LAtin America again.

Anyhow, The Rahm Emanuel writing you cite (Glenn and Howie) is maatched with an encomium by Aravosis.

I read this stuff WAY too much and still can’t figure out why some people say what they do…

While Bush is ignoring the recommendations Iraq is not taking a time out. They are on an ever-widening carousel of violence. Will Bush twiddle his thumbs until the whole ME catches fire? Will it get so bad that somebody will override him?

Geiger’s cartoons: BWAA-HAA-HAA-HAAA! (Oh, my sides hurt.)

Hmmm. Why is it that when I look at that picture of the Bubble Nebula I think of Dubya?

There will be many Chilean exhiles celebrating today. It would have been better if Pinochet had gone to trial. The CIA would have loved that.

“Will Bush twiddle his thumbs until the whole ME catches fire”

Probably. He can’t go forward- and he refuses to go back- so he’s stuck.

When people (or animals for that matter) get stuck- they often engage in “displacement behavior”. Since they can’t do anything about the one thing they want to do something about- they run around aimlessly barking, snarling, and chewing at the carpet…That’s our Bushie!

Hugh at 8 — because it looks like an empty gas-filled expanse of space?

witchywoman @ 7

Geiger’s cartoons: BWAA-HAA-HAA-HAAA! (Oh, my sides hurt.)

Look carefully at Jim Morin’s in that batch. Doesn’t he make Cheney look like Bush’s, umm… minder? :)

“Cheney the minder”

A gooper inspired myth designed to hide the more awful truth…Bush is actually in charge.

rwcole @
10

“Will Bush twiddle his thumbs until the whole ME catches fire”

Probably. He can’t go forward- and he refuses to go back- so he’s stuck.

When people (or animals for that matter) get stuck- they often engage in “displacement behavior”. Since they can’t do anything about the one thing they want to do something about- they run around aimlessly barking, snarling, and chewing at the carpet…That’s our Bushie!

epu’d, but yes the ‘DarkSpector Cluelessoul’

rwcole @ 13

“Cheney the minder”

A gooper inspired myth designed to hide the more awful truth…Bush is actually in charge.

Which, of course, is the triple cross. Cheney isn’t smart or sane, either….

yea digby!

Once it may have been a sufficient condition, to settle the Israeli-Palestinian question, to achieve peace in the region. Now, thanks to Bush a settlement of this issue is only a necessary condition for peace in the Middle East. But ‘necessary’ nonetheless.

Montag–

I got a new appreciation for Cheney in reading the latest Woodward book…

Cheney was spending most of his time dabbling feverishly in things that really didn’t make much difference- like proving that there really was a threat of WOMD…of course by then it didn’t matter much..

A guy who was actually the puppet master would have been otherwise occupied…

So yes- I agree- Cheney is a loser and I really wonder if he isn’t a bit off kilter.

“Vattever I haff done- I haff done fur mein Fuhrer!!!!”

(Riechmeister frankencluster Cheney)

Oops-

That should have been “Fuchencluster”- sorry for any misunderstandings.

Greetings everyone. I am a long time lurker who is just getting up the nerve to participate. Using my real name because, wtf, the DARPA gang must know where I live already. Anyway, since most of us seem to be pretty sure that W is not going to get us out of Iraq in the next two years and Congress will not be in a position to do more than fuss about this, is there anything to be done? Rwcole, how about a cheerful rejoinder?

sharon at 21 — welcome! Glad you decided to comment as well as read. :) You know, there’s no going back now… *g*

montag at 12 — I loved the cartoon that featured Cheney as the background person for Bush spouting inane Iraq platitudes. And Cheney’s sole point of interest is the change in his sneer. Priceless.

Thanks Christy; kiss the peanut for me.

Sharon at 24 — will do — happily. :)

Hi Sharon-

At closing time- you’d swear that none of the drunks will make it home- yet somehow- most of em do..

We’ll stagger our way out of Iraq in the next few years and wake up with two black eyes- two skinned knees- and a broken jaw- but we’ll be back in our own beds…we may never know exactly how we got there.

Is anyone else just holding their breath to see what books The General is going to dig up for recs today? mweee heeee

No round-up of cartoons is complete without the latest from the incomparable Mr. Tomorrow, I feel.

http://www.workingforchange.co…..emid=21711

btw, the party went well — thanks for all the menu thoughts from everyone yesterday. :)

Christy Hardin Smith @
23

montag at 12 — I loved the cartoon that featured Cheney as the background person for Bush spouting inane Iraq platitudes. And Cheney’s sole point of interest is the change in his sneer. Priceless.

… and W’s nose was red with drink.

ReddHedds partay like there’s no tomorrow (today!)

Teddy at 30 — you and the fiance have big plans for the day? Was thinking about our lovely lunch at that beautiful restaurant at the beach…and the lovely view of the roaring surf out those lovely large windows. So fun.

AZ Matt at 9 — it would have been an…erm…intersting bit of testimony over the coure of the trial, wouldn’t it?

Please forgive the absence of hummingbird updates from Chez Fiance, but their everyday visits have become quite banal. Except yesterday, when Fiance was deck-gardening, only to suddenly hear an unfamiliar BUZZ above his head — hummer not two feet directly above, asking plaintively: Are you done puttering in my dining room yet? We’re hungry here!

Hummingbirds are really cute- until you realize that in their micro world what they are really doing is beating the holy shit out of one another- and keeping one another away from food to the point of starvation..they’d actually make good humans.

Teddy at 34 — have they started fighting over the favored flowers, yet? It’s amazing how something so small and beautiful can pitch such a hissy fit when they start getting territorial. *g*

Christy (23) — I interpreted DeadEye’s position in that particular comic to be that of the ventriloquist.

I guess I’ve never heard whether DeadEye is right or left-handed…

Rayne at 37 — well, that could explain the changing grimace. *g*

…and don’t even ask me where Dead-Eye’s hand would be…

O.o

I’m not quite with Digby, at least on the subject of Sandra Day O’Connor. Prior to WWII, Stalin was the enemy, at least to many folks in this country. We actually invaded Russia to try to stop the Bolsheviks after the revolution. Hitler was just a guy trying to contain the Communist menace according to those folks. And no, I’m not confusing pre- and post-war ideology. We felt that way before WWII. But we negotiated with them then and they became our allies after Hitler invaded Russia and we both realized who the real problem was. I don’t know what O’Connor was thinking when she said what she did, but what she said wasn’t necessarily wrong.

Christy — hence the utter denial by Dubya; he’s digging his position, so to speak.

Eeeewww…

FYI to anyone who’s not aware of this, today is Human Rights Day. (Yeah, *every* day should be Human Rights Day, but occasionally we need a reminder.)

Cujo at 40 — I took the point as more of an oversimplification of the intricate problems — and how that oversimplification can lead to answers that aren’t really answers at all. But that’s just my read…

I want to thank Digby profusely for crystallizing the problem of “The Aristocrats”, our would-be ruling class.

And in his Friday post on “Secretaries of Deference”, he outlines THE method of dealing with this problem (courtesy of Lambert) – the problem being the enforced deference that conservatives expect the unwashed masses (democratic voters) to display:

“That’s why it’s important to mock, belittle, insult, degrade and make Republicans laughable at all times and in all conditions. These are all tools for eliminating deference from our political discourse.”

Absolutely crucial. At all times and in all ways.

Let every pearl be clutched in horror. Let every open mouth be covered by a gloved hand. Let the opera glasses fall where they may.

Hell, we might even start taxing them again.

Bravo for Yunnis! such a well deserved Nobel!

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12…..r=homepage

Dr. Yunus, 66, then took a direct jibe at the United States for its war on terror, telling about 1,000 dignitaries at Oslo’s City Hall that recent American military campaigns in Iraq and elsewhere had diverted global resources and attention from a more pressing project: halving worldwide poverty by 2015, as envisaged by the United Nations six years ago.

“Never in human history had such a bold goal been adopted by the entire world in one voice, one that specified time and size,” he said. “But then came Sept. 11 and the Iraq war, and suddenly the world became derailed from the pursuit of this dream.”

He said terrorism cannot be defeated militarily and the concept of peace requires broadening. “Peace should be understood in a human way, in a broad social, political and economic way,” Dr. Yunus said.

great coverage of Yunnis and microfinance …

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6166653.stm

As you typed your inquiry, Ms. Smith, we made today’s plans:

1. Walgreen’s to pickup anti-anxiety medicine for tomorrow morning’s MRI.
2. Under One Roof, where ReddHedd shopped with us, for a new tree-topper.
3. Black-pants-vendor to augment Fiance’s wardrobe. He begins final exams tomorrow at spa employer and is on-schedule for real clients by the end of the week. YAY!
4. Back home by 2pm PST — in time for some heterosexual shopping avec Mon General!

And since you’ve recovered from your partaying ways, what’s on your agenda, Christy?

PS Our beach trip, inspired by Jane Hamsher’s wonderful paean to Kobe and the girls’ arrival home, was last Sunday:

thanks for telling your story about poodles on the beach yesterday. you got me outta the house by noon today and on the n-judah to java hut at great highway. we got off the streetcar and wow was it warm! all bundled up, sweatshirts, flannel and puffy vest with hats — shed ‘em all as we admired the babies at the hut for their first coffees, literally infants two weeks old

walked to the surf with our danish and freeze lattes — didn’t need a hot drink, no sirree it was about 70 — warm breeze from the land side, very odd weather but lovely. horses and plovers and doggies and sandpipers and crows and gulls. and us. some other people too but not lots.

anyway, that’s my poem about my day, dedicated to you for making it possible. plus we stopped at emerald city on sloat to order our tree, delivered this wednesday. so all in all, it was an errand with a beach trip appetizer. dinner in the castro and caught the 24 home.

Siun at 46 — we were just talking last night at the party we had about how brilliant the concept of microfinancing was and it’s impact on immediate economics in areas of poverty has been for folks who have gotten the loans. And how amazed we were that no one had thought of it earlier. (Yes, I know, I hang with a group of nerdy folks…but truly, it is brilliant. Had no idea he’d won the Nobel this year — don’t know how I missed that — but it is so funny we were talking about this just yesterday.)

Isn’t it interesting that the left would like to tag the right as “aristocrats” and the right would like to label the left as “snobs”.

Both sides embracing an old american bit of mythology-

Interesting that Pinochet couped Allende in Chile on 9.11.73

Teddy at 47 — so jealous — loved that Under One Roof store. :) I’ll be working on articles for tomorrow, a speech that I have to give on Tuesday when I will be participating in a panel discussion at the Eisenhower Foundation (more on that tomorrow), doing a couple of loads of laundry and packing for my trip, and just generally playing with The Peanut.

Christy – very good topic for a party or any time!

There’s a lot going on in microfinance and social entrepreneurism … you’d like the following a lot:

http://www.howtochangetheworld.org/

In fact, I’ll have to get in touch with David – maybe we can do a book salon on microfinance, etc – David wrote a great book on Yunnis as well.

This is an area where lots of folks in my world are working … so many ways to make dramatic changes in very real ways in real people’s lives.

OMG! Face the Snark is up. Can’t. Stop. Laughing.

Siun at 52 — that would be an awesome book chat — the possibilities for expanding the idea are pretty much endless. And such amazing results on an individual and community level.

thanks for the link, christy! i’m especially proud of the “iraq study group = breakfast club” metaphor!

.

.

Siun — you there? I know someone with some real chops who may be willing to do the intro for an FDL Book Salon on Grameen and microfinance.

I’d be glad to run it by him if the goddesses are all in alignment on this.

Nice one Skippy

you still the roo , man, you the roo.