
So, I was on the phone with Pachacutec earlier and he was telling me about a Spanish New Year's custom that goes a little something like this:
Oops. Mine are blue.
The actual countdown is primarily followed from the clock on top of the Casa de Correos building in Puerta del Sol square in Madrid. It is traditional to eat 12 grapes, one on each chime of the clock. This tradition has its origins in 1909, when grape growers in Alicante thought of it as a way to cut down on the large production surplus they had had that year. Nowadays, the tradition is followed by almost every Spaniard, and the 12 grapes have become synonymous with the New Year. After the clock has finished striking twelve, people greet each other and toast with sparkling wine such as cava or champagne, or alternatively with cider.
Now, the way that Pach described this to me is that for each grape you eat, you make a wish. So, tonight, rather than going with the usual grubby, Calvinist New Year's Resolution (in which we pledge futilely to deny ourselves some cherished pleasure or take on some new "character-building" misery like working out), I am going to make twelve New Year's wishes and share them with you. I like this idea, kind of devouring the twelve months of the new year, with the future bursting deliciously on the tongue rather than yawning wide before us with a fresh new set of worries and obligations.
And so, without further ado, here are my twelve wishes for 2007:
1. Troops home now. I think this goes without saying. At this point, whether we "win" or "lose" in Iraq is irrelevant. Whatever is going to happen there is going to happen. Hell, it's already happening. Let's lose as few of our fighting men and women in the process as possible.
2. Accountability. I hope that the unprecedented rise in executive powers during the Bush presidency is met in 2007 by an unprecedented course of punitive action against the executive branch and the reassertion of checks and balances in our government. The Bush Dynasty may never fully receive its just desserts for the horrors they have unleashed upon the world, but how about in 2007 we make an effort to get that process started, at least?
3. Help for the poor. I wish that the country would wake up to the urgent poverty problem that we have right here at home rather than doing a lot of self-righteous posturing about how badly other nations are treating their people.
4. Health for my family and friends. Probably for me the hardest thing about 2006 was the death of my friend Elissa. In 2007, I pray that all of my loved ones enjoy good health, a minimum of suffering, and a year full of joy, comfort, and pleasure.
5. Health for me. I pray that God will continue to bless me with a body that's happy and healthy like all the other years of my life thus far.
6. Friendships. I hope I make lots of interesting new friends this year and continue to enjoy the wonderful friends that I have.
7. Serenity. I know that it would be futile to pray that nothing bad happens in 2007, but I hope to be able to face the inevitable calamities with the untouchable, implacable calm of a glacial lake. It beats screaming and running around waving your arms in the air, I've found.
8. Continued confusion, disarray, and acrimony among the Right Wing. It's schadenfreudelicious!
9. The bottom falls out of Fox News. Would it be too much to ask that a series of devastating scandals and humiliating financial disasters plague this cornerstone of the Great Reich Wing Stink Machine until it collapses in on itself?
10. A Democratic Party that I can be proud of. Sigh. If you're going to dream…
11. Increased freedom, human rights, and personal dignity. For all people, everywhere, I pray for freedom, self-determination, and equality.
12. Massive on-camera flame-outs for Right Wing Public Figures. So that my job as an Internet Smart-Ass can continue to be as damned exciting and entertaining as it is.
And that's about it. New clothes and shoes, of course. (Of course!) And world peace. Whenever the fuck that'll happen. And sex. And a pony.
But yeah, and for you, a Happy New Year! Thanks for all your love and support in 2006!! Whoo-hoooo!!
Take care, and feel free to consider this thread a wishing well. What are you wishing for this new year? Tell us all about it. Go on, don't be shy! You're among friends.



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TRex!!!
Peas on earth.
And for the US to wake up to global warming before we are konked by a glacier.
Did I mention peas on earth?
Happy New Year from the other side of the world (well, it’s 3pm on the 1st here).
Just going to go see Happy Feet.
Pachacutec!
Go mommybrain!
TRex!
Fisk!
Happy New Year. Just spoke with Pach. He was all liquored up, “I love you, maaaaan. No, really…shut up. I love you, maaaan.”
He said to tell you all Happy New Year and sends his regards.
No, Pach, you can’t have my beer.
Happy New Year, downunder girl!
It must be nice to be in the middle of summer.
Happy New Year everybody.
I’ll echo all of TRex’s wishes, and add a wish for some positive action to heal our poor planet. If we don’t have clean water to drink, or crops to eat or air to breathe nothing else will matter.
New Year’s Wishes, people. I want to hear some wishes in here.
Okay, here’s my New Year’s Wish. I wish I could look like Elizabeth Taylor in her prime for just one year. I’d move mountains.
Whirled Peas !
Kirk Murphy, my favorite druid!
I once went to a river-saving conference in Berkley and wound up falling a little bit in love with an Earth Firster who wouldn’t tell me his real name. We danced all night and he spoke with extreme passion of his love for our earth. Hewanted to take me to his aerie in the woods but I was too afraid.
Wazzat you?
Happy New Year.
TRex!
We’re off to have dinner with friends but before we left I wanted to thank you for some great Late Nights.
I wish all of us a most excellent 2007.
Except I’ll keep my own voice, thank you. Elizabeth’s wasn’t that cool.
Frequent lurker, infrequent poster here.
Dear Trex, ditto on all your lovely wishes. May it be so!
Does pink underwear count?
Does vino count for grapes?
Oof! He wants wishes! I’m so used to not getting what I want under this administration that I don’t know how to do the wishes thing any longer!
Going to take about 30 minutes…let me see…
TRex @ 9
Chimpeachment, that’s my wish.
I wish for Chimpy and Slantmouth to be impeached and sent to the World Court to be tried for war crimes, and for Nancy to be preznit.
TRex !!
1. whirled peas
2. equity and equality
3. real AIDS cure progress
4. real AIDS prevention progress
5. everyone with the last name of O’Beirne shuts up
oh, and:
Troops
Home
NOW
Hmm, “peel me a grape” makes me think of this. :)
Riesz Fischer @ 17
Say ‘Amen’, somebody!
My friend Suzanne says that the lucky red underwear has to be given to you by someone else. Harrrumph. No one’s given me underwear in, like, twenty years.
My own wish?
I wish the American people would get it together and realize their own power. These people aren’t trying to manipulate us for nothing! They know it matters what we think. They know it matters if we all suddenly decide the Ptb are criminals. Get out yer torches! Get out yer pitchforks! Scare a neocon TODAY!!
Happy New Year, TRex!
My Wish for 2007:
That 2007 will be a great opportunity for us progressives to further develop our great ideas…
And start acting on them!
Truly, I wish for a Dem resurgence, a confluence of events that opens the collective mind again. It could happen…
2006 left much to be desired, but I did have some opportunities for inspiration.
I wish for everyone to be inspired.
Otherwise, your 12 grapes are good by me.
Thanks for some fun nights Mister TRex. And your friends. Thanks everyone.
Panda Hippo gnu deer to ewe two!
My simple wish is for justice, and more winners than losers tomorrow.
Sic ‘em Dawgs! Woof Woof Woof!
You have to admit, though, 2006 didn’t suck as bad as 2005. Give or take a hurricane.
TeddySanFran @
18
President Pelosi. If we have to give up our Congressional voice so that our representative can lead our nation back from the brink, San Franciscans deserve a big payoff. That’ll do fine.
Let Marcy’s book be a runaway best seller, boosted by media fascination with Scooter’s trial and his nemesis the Fabulous Fitz, who goes on Oprah to announce his new book-”If Cheney Did It, Here’s How It Could Have Happened”.
I wish there would be more openness and less stigma about mental illness in 2007.
Until then, visit the Depression Open House at egregiousBlog.
Wishing all a happy and PEACEful new year.
APB: All Pups Bulletin: I will be back in the DR visiting my daughter Jan 2-5 with erratic blogposting. Like you would know if I stopped being erratic :)
So hey from the Dominican Republic, and the next time your kids complain about school, tell them there are kids who desperately want to go to school but there isn’t room even if they are willing to stand all day.
TRex @ 26
Um, pretty much since 2000, a lot of sucky things have happened. I guess that will continue.
But I was going to try to be positive.
And DUH wishing more newborns saved in Russia. Record number of surgeries this year, 354, with very low mortality.
For those who missed it earlier Boris is still alive. I expect to see him next month when I go over. Trip #29. Yay frequent flyer miles.
I wish you would fix that drastic typo on number seven. The word in bold, even! *g*
I pulled my Tarot card for the New Year… Fortune!
And, this is my Fortune year, as well.
I promise to share.
2006 wasn’t great, but 2007 will be better.
I’m wearing red long johns, does that count?
It’s fucking freezing here. At least the power’s back on for a few hours.
Happy Gnu year to all.
Mommybrain @ 22
I sometimes dream that there will be a resurgence of liberalism like the 60s, where there will be popular songs about social and political issues, and people will disapprove of too much materialism.
I can remember when I thought most drugs would be legalized within a few years.
Happy New Year to all of you knowledgable and utterly engaging FDLers and to you, our favorite Internet Smart-Ass.. now I’m going to check the fridge for some grapes.
I wish all FDLers could make YKos in Chitown early August. I know this dominatrix up there with a hottub…
Oilfieldguy @ 36
siun?
Oilfieldguy @
32
Oops.
Heh.
(blushes…)
egregious, I wish you the courage and strength you need for the new year. You so inspire me with your everything. Namaste, baby.
Jacqrat @ 36
No dammit! She’s my date! Hands off!
And world peace.
We are TRYing. Not my fault if this administration is making enemies faster than we can approach with reconciliation.
Thereby followed a long string of unegregious-like curses.
I will keep putting one foot in front of the other. Hope other people will work to staunch the flow of enemy creation.
TRex, what is this underwear thing you speak of? My dirty fucking hippie dictionary does not have an entry for this.
The critical mass it would take for these idiotic morons to implode is unimaginable. Cognitive dissonance only feeds their projection. In a years that have seen oreily’s phone sex harassment, Haggard’s gay methsex exposure and countless hypocrisies exposed; the right wingnuts only became more flexible in their gymnastic justifications. I have no hope for that. We must continue to beat the living shit out of them with their own fists.
And I’ll keep putting some foot up in some right wing asses. That is my pledge.
Oilfieldguy @ 36
You really paint a picture, Oilfieldguy.
Suzanne @ 41
I always thought it was brown in back, yellow in the front.
Mommybrain @ 39
Thanks. I am in great need of encouragement so that I do not lose hope and just quit. It’s difficult, strange, and sometimes dangerous work. Am trying to leave a better world for my own little ones.
TRex @ 44
Deal.
Suzanne @ 42
Ask your father. I’m too busy shelling soybeans to talk to you right now.
Oilfieldguy @ 46
You might be good ofg, but that is not nice!!
T-: The critical mass it would take for these idiotic morons to implode is unimaginable. Cognitive dissonance only feeds their projection. In a years that have seen oreily’s phone sex harassment, Haggard’s gay methsex exposure and countless hypocrisies exposed; the right wingnuts only became more flexible in their gymnastic justifications.
Yeah, but– but– but Clinton had a blowjob!
Happy new year to everyone. I’m with Kobe who does, in fact, like his grapes peeled (well not so much peeled as opened, otherwise he doesn’t know what they are and he just drops them).
I’ll say it for you, he’s one spoiled little bastard. I hope for the continued joy of being the one to do it for him in the year 2007.
HNY to you,too, Jane, and thanks for all the fish.
Jane Hamsher @ 52
Jane, you are the first person I have ever known who was clinically diagnosable as being poodle-whipped. Happy New Year!
Jane, thank you for the gift of TRex.
Jane Hamsher @ 50
Best wishes to you, Jane and Christy and TRex and pach and all those that feed this blog.
You know I’ll never let you forget that, because I know of what you speak!
Suzanne @ 55
Valtrex can help you with that.
Suzanne @ 53
I think a big ole hat tip goes to our very own Valley Girl for the TRex find.
Hi Jane & MerryEgregiousYear to one and all at FDL. I am so lucky and blessed to have found this wonderful community — the theropod’s like the cherry on top of the sundae!
squashed sundae
I wish for a union to represent the techs at the hospital I used to work at. (I wish it for the nurses too but I’ll take what I can get.)
I wish for someone to give TRex a half hour a day to write in a notebook that will become his book in no time.
I wish for health, for all of us.
Suzanne @ 42
I got dirty fucking hippie pjs for Christmas and I’m going to wear them tonight.
I love them.
OFG – you do know how. You do it here for free. Our community should, and will support writers like you and Trex who are gifted at pulling out the salient issues and packaging them up for folks that cannot articulate our thoughts as well as you do, with humor.
You and Trex, my friends are a clear thinkers with admirable senses of humor. Rock on.
Mwahahaha!
Valley Trex= ValTrex.
Sundae Bloody Sundae.
Happy New Years to all from the Central Time Zone
12 good wishes
I have nothing to add other than the selfish wishes for my family.
Come to think of it, those 12 wishes have a lot to do with my daughter’s future.
God bless you all.
The doddering old man was seen into the examination room by his daughter.
The nurse said “I’ll need a stool and a urine sample”.
“Eh, speak up woman, I’m a bit hard of hearing.”
“She wants you to give her your underwear, Dad.”
hey m’brain, ‘ere!
Jane Hamsher @ 62
Hippie New Year!
I got dirty fucking hippie pjs for Christmas and I’m going to wear them tonight.
I have been looking all over for some. Is there a link, Jane?
TeddySanFran @ 68
Thanks, luv, I thought you’d never ask.
Sprout sends new year wishes too. He wishes to be 8 this year. Methinks he’ll get that one.
I wish that our dear TRex will find true love in 2007.
Epic even. :)
In the last minutes of 2006 (here on the Left Coast), a giftie for all the Fire Writers (especially TRex): Lesser-Known Editing and Proofreading Marks (especially useful for political blogs):
http://www.geist.com/comix/comix.php?id=18
And for the Worst.President.Ever. — a nightmare about what you have done to the world in 2006, featuring lyrics from Leonard Cohen:
Yeah we’re drinking and we’re dancing
but there’s nothing really happening
and the place is dead as Heaven on a Saturday night . . .
. . . and I lift my glass to the Awful Truth
which you can’t reveal to the Ears of Youth
except to say it isn’t worth a dime
And the whole damn place goes crazy twice
and it’s once for the devil and once for Christ
but the Boss don’t like these dizzy heights
we’re busted in the blinding lights,
busted in the blinding lights . . .
And I just don’t care what happens next
looks like freedom but it feels like death
it’s something in between, I guess
it’s CLOSING TIME!
Yo Teddy,
I’m pouring the single malts tonight. No cheap shit for you!
Halfway through the Mac 15. Want some? The Dewars SR 12 year old is also nice. Glenlivet 12 is on standby.
[hiccup]
You too OFG. I mean finding true love.
egregious @ 72
Not on your life. Blech. Boys have cooties.
TRex @ 76
Not talking about boys.
Talking about a MAN.
Let me know when you find one of those.
egregious @ 73
Why thank you.
CatelynK, leonard cohen is always an appropriate gift.
Upon further consideration, I’m not going to make a list of wishes. You see, I get what I wish for.
Unfortunately, they aren’t fulfilled when I want, but when the cosmos sees fit to deliver.
And one must be extremely careful with their wishes when they cannot guarantee the timing.
Wished I didn’t have a soul-sucking corporate drone job…got spun off to an even more demanding but less soul-sucking job.
Wished for more time to myself from the demanding job…company downsized and I drew the short straw.
Wished for more self-directed management…now own my own small company that is just getting by.
See what I mean?
Okay, how about this: I wish you all a measure of safety, health and peace when you need it in the new year ahead. ;-)
egregious @ 71
o my yes second that emotion, i’ll even help craft the personal advertisement to help snag him a new beau!
Kids, I’m stepping out for an hour or so. Y’all play nice til Mama gets home, y’hear?
My wish for all firepups and rabid lambs (and even the dirty fucking hippies)
May the New Year be one filled with love, abundant hugs, and a surplus of blessings.
I am a man.
I shave and everything.
I can take a pole and poke a hole deep into the womb of mother earth.
Nothing phallic about that.
I’d like to offer a toast to Donald Rumsfeld, Tom DeLay, Rick Santorum, Mark Foley, Dennis Hastert, Bill Frist, George Felix Allen, Katherine Harris, Richard Pombo, Ken Blackwell, and the sundry other wingnut bastards whose defeat or humiliation in 2006 showed us a light for the future. Gentlemen, I speak from the heart: go fuck yourselves!
And to George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Alberto Gonzales, Tony Snow, Condi Rice, Hillary Clinton, Joe Lieberman, John McCain, Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity, Ann Coulter, Michelle Malkin, Rush Limbaugh, and all the rest of you chickenhawks, war enablers, and all-around shitstains on the ass of humanity: 2007 is just another year we’ll be watching you, so don’t get cocky.
Slainte!
Jane – Please reconsider grapes for Kobe. And raisins. Either can cause renal failure. I lost my English Mastiff this way after feeding seedless green grapes as treats. Yeah, maybe it wasn’t because of the grapes, but…
Also be wary of chocolate, macadamia nuts, onions, rising bread dough, and any moldy food.
Happy Nude Year TRex, Lady Jane, Christy, Pach and all y’all out there!
I’m mixing in the studio, but soon off to get sloppy drinking grapes.
I’ll make LOTS of wishes.
Peace
scanty hippie henley nightie
But I’d love to see what Jane is wearing.
Oilfieldguy @ 84
hot
EvilDrPuma @ 85
========
Who’s Next?
========
Robin Hayes, Ellen Tauscher, Jean Schmidt, Dianne Feinstein, Rahm Emanuel, Marilyn Musgrave.
TeddySanFran @ 91
I didn’t mean it to be a comprehensive list. I had to get around to draining the pint.
Oilfieldguy @ 84
Hey, that’s my mother you’re talking about!
i am a dirty frickin hippie (despite some random accomplishments) and i never by no one got me some dirty frickin hippie pj’s. Why? What did i miss? Jane, who gave you them pj’s?
wishing all the best from the Woodstock hippie in Germany, who will continue to post naked until someone sends some dirty hippie pajamas to an ex-sanfrandiscan who now lives in the real Winterland.
Please excuse any misrepestanding, for it’s nearly six AM here after a New Year’s Tequilla Test… but if you examine that i made a post to wish all you wunderbar firedogs a fine slide into the new year, then you’ll forgive me for being jealous of hippie pajamas.
Mother Earth, I wish that we all love her a little more and a lot better from now on.
Peace out Pups. HNY. All that.
3…2…1
Happy New Year, all you ECoasters!
Going to celebrate with the Sprout, his first time staying awake.
What bg sed.
Oops, my clock is off. But you get my point.
A really sick poodle story–and unfortunately true!
My BFF in high school’s big sister had a small dirty and much neglected poodle. His sister always chewed gum and spat it on the ground, whereby the poodle would promptly gobble it up.
One day I noticed the poodle whining around the front yard and told my BFF that something was wrong with the poodle.
Upon closer examination, it was found that the chewing cum had clotted up the outer portion of the descending colon (read: asshole) by tangling up in his tailhair.
Some strategic snips with scissors brought overwhelming and immediate relief (although shit flew for quite sometime) and I had a new BFF.
Still an hour to go in the depths of the Midwest.
John Lennon singing Imagine piped in Times Square.
I wanna kiss mommybrain.
Happy New Year!!!!!!!!!!!
T- @ 99
Wow, Imagine…
Thanks, T – happy new year.
Ditto on TRex’s list. IN ADDITION:
I wish to meet a smart, progressive man who will love me and make mad, passionate love to me at least daily!
I wish all FDL’s a happy, prosperous, fun, wild, challenging, surprising, sexy, 2007!
…and egregious. She wins again!
Happy New Year!!!
They’re playing John Lennon’s “Imagine” as the ball comes down…
Very cool.
I usually don’t make wishes on New Year’s. It’s always seemed to be setting myself up for disappointment.
But, that said:
I hope that George Bush begins to publicly exhibit a psychic “picture of Dorian Gray” moment each time he appears in public in the coming year.
I want pictures of Dick Cheney buggering a freshly killed quail on the front page of The National Enquirer.
I’d like to see Cindy Sheehan get a Presidential Medal of Freedom.
I’d like to see just one active-duty general in Iraq say, for the record, “it’s a fucked-up mess and it’s time for us to leave.”
I’d like to see Paris Hilton give her entire fortune away to the poor and take over Mother Teresa’s old job in Calcutta.
I’d like to see Bill O’Reilly say something smartass to the wrong person and get his ass whupped on the air.
I’d like Joe Lieberman’s house to be invaded by the hostile spirits of dead soldiers and dead Iraqis. All of `em.
I’d like to see 50 million people march on Washington against the war.
I’d like to see all of Crawford, TX, finally pissed off at Bush, too.
I’d like to see the Saudi financiers of 9/11 exposed as close friends of Poopy Bush. And then have the video of Babs gnawing her pearls into dust at the news on YouTube.
I’d like to see the White House domestic staff on strike.
I’d like Scooter Libby to finger Karl Rove in open court.
I want to see Halliburton/KBR pay back every nickel they’ve stolen and fined three times the theft.
I want the restoration of habeas corpus.
I want to see the look on Tom Delay’s face when he walks into Huntsville and first sees his new cellmate.
And, of course, I want peace on earth.
plaindave @
87
Thanks for the tip. He doesn’t get many but if they are dangerous he will get none.
He likes peeled baby organic carrots too, and the vet says they are good for him.
Donita Sparks @
88
Donita!
We cannot wait to hear what you”re working on.
EvilDP, where are you in the depths of the mid-West? I’m in Nebraksa this week, and all my preconceived notions of what Nebraska is are shattered by Kearney. Art, music, a labyrinthe walk, Tai chi. No megachurches, more organic farms in Nebraska than any other state. Who knew?
I am *so* jayt @ 104
I’m *so* impressed. Who the heck gave someone with taste and dignity control of the music in NYC?
sweet. bimbobabe on cnn invoked 9/11 at 12:02. I won the “over” at 1 minute. Finally a winner!
Mommybrain @ 108
I’m in Iowa City; Kerouac claimed it was the only place worth stopping between New York and San Francisco, and who am I to argue?
montag @ 105
Dreamer.
T- @ 110
T -
You’re always a winner in our eyes here at the lake.
Hope it’s a good year for you.
Happy New year to the East Coast, the Maritime Provinces, Europe, Africa, Asia and most of the Pacific!
Jane,
left a comment for you two threads back–the book salon, about 190.
Hey–its January!
Does anyone know which channel the hearings are on? I realize its late and stuff, and the Halliburton hearings won’t be for a few days, but couldn’t there be some HUD investigation or something on CSPAN9?
That would make my new year’s eve.
Corry
Imagine
New years wish:
Bush: These handcuffs are too tight!
Officer: They’re new, they’ll stretch.
Thanks, ‘grege. Best wishes for you and yours in ‘07.
My thoughts are for those in the Middle East tonight whose booms and bangs tonight are not fireworks…and their future New Years Eves will bring back forever the horrors of war.
Peace out.
Patrick 4/4 @ 111
[laughing] Yeah, but that’s what wishes are all about. When you wish upon a star, dooby-dooby-doo….
Local kid that I met when he was a tyke in sixth grade just got back from his second tour in Iraq. He was not wounded, but he was.
Bush be damned.
btw, just to show y’all that i’m not completely tequilla’d, i wish for the new year that Howie’s trip to DC in a coupla weeks brings even more success than he’d dreamed.
Not to mention strength and success to you all, and much thanks for being a place to consort. Froehes neues Jahr!
Gute nacht, crazy horse.
Happy New Year, Fire-Pups and Rabid Lambs!
B-52’s on CNN? Fantastic. Anderson Cooper featuring Key West drag queen celebrations? It’s like a giant middle finger to the fundies. In a word, fabulous.
2007 may be all right yet.
Do rabid lambs eat black-eyed peas or favre beans with a nice chianti?
EvilDrPuma @
111
EDP I’m near Charles City, in Floyd County. I love IA City. I’ll probably be at the June art festival. Look for fused glass. Usually I’m the only one. Would love to meet you.
Happy New Year to all from this ornery cat. A little early, yet, here in the Gulf South, but my neighbors seem to have acquired VERY LARGE fireworks this year.
Susan in Iowa @ 126
Remind me when the time comes. I expect to be around then.
TeddySanFran @ 59
:)
speaking of grapes — peeled or not — an uncle of mine had a macaw and a couple of parrots that would first peel grapes (or blueberries) before eating them … it was a marvel to watch.
“This life’s a play from the start,
It’s hard to play thru a part,
When there’s an ache in your heart all day
I have my dreams ’til the dawn,
I wake to find they are gone,
But still the play “must go on” they say.
When I pretend I’m gay
I never feel that way,
I’m only painting the clouds with sunshine.
When I hold back a tear
To make a smile appear,
I’m only painting the clouds with sunshine
Painting the blues beautiful hues,
Col ored with gold and old rose;
Playing the clown,
Trying to drown
All of my woes;
Tho’ things may not look bright
They’ll all turn out alright
If I keep painting the clouds with sunshine.”
Oh, yeah. Forgot.
I want Donald Rumsfeld to be found, sometime in March, to be walking the streets of Birmingham, Alabama on a Sunday morning in women’s pink frilly underwear and giggling to himself.
Just so the crackers know he’s crazy, too.
Oilfieldguy @ 125
I think they eat anything they want, right? Sort of like an irate theropod.
Happy New Year, OFG.
Jay @ 44
He thinks I’m kidding. She has an act at a local dungeon, paying corporate clientelle and everything.
Sweet grrrl.
EvilDrPuma @
128
OFG, your dominatrix comment made me think of Condi and her boots and then lil Georgie and oh my gawd, where is the brain bleach.
Suzanne @ 135
Then, you really don’t want to see my predictions for 2007. :)
My wishes for ‘07
The closure of Guantanamo and freedom for those poor nobodies, footsoldiers at best, many of whom were not captured on the battlefield but sold by Afghan militias to the US. They have spent the last 5 years being tortured, denied natural light and suffered long periods of solitary confinement.
The reopening of Guantanamo and incarceration for those evil architects of the deaths of 3,000 US military, unknown numbers of private contractors, the wounding of thousands more and the rape of the Iraqi nation. OK Rummy, let’s see if waterboarding really is torture.
The grassroots activism of Blue America to spread, energising communities with a message that this is THEIR government and they can do something to influence it.
The end of hate politics
My husband to stop working so much so that we can actually do the house renovations we’ve been promising ourselves for the past 10 years.
I’d like to thank everybody here who light up my days and nights with intelligence, wit, insight and outrage, in the right proportions.
I wish all Firepups the very best for ‘07.
Happy New Year!
Oh, and by the way, it’s January! Yippee!
Happy New Year everyone! Hugs, health and prosperity to us all, and remember, rhetorical head shots for all the Rethug zombies still staggering around.
Damn, but the little municipality down the road had a BIG fireworks show at midnight, quite surprising bonus! Could watch it from our deck as we drank our “spewmante” together.
It’s my tweenager’s birthday today, drank a little celebratory toast to that, too…oops, correction, TEENAGER. Thirteen years ago I was in my 31st hour of labor, waiting for the surgeon who wouldn’t arrive for another 3 hours.
Another wish that didn’t fulfill on what I perceived as a timely basis. Heh. But I do have a lovely, intelligent, healthy daughter to show for it.
Hope all your wishes are as fulfilling but far more timely.
Look for fused glass
Susan in Iowa, is that the same technique as slumped glass? Have a friend in Pasadena who does the slumped thing.
approaching 07 here …
waving to Jane and Kobe! wishing you both a very good year to come!
and to all friends here – let’s keep going!
and did I hear I have dates for YKOS!? with a dominatrix? hmmmmm
and what’s the deal with Anderson Cooper and his drag queen thing which he’s done for several years – sorta a fascinating touch to the usual msm, eh?
OK, one wish for 2007: Saints win Super Bowl XLI … why not?! New Orleans is still a wreck, but I think there are few things that would make people happier here. (”XLI” … wasn’t that a Pete Shelley / Buzzcocks song?)
My wish for 2007 is for all the wonderful, erudite, passionate FDL commenters to keep on keeping on. Thanks for helping this midwestern boy, surrounded by wingnuts, keep his sanity.
Rayne @ 139
Yeah, me, too. And, I was told a couple of days ago that she finally wants to get married. This was a kid who so despaired of finding anyone a couple of years ago that she was resigning herself to crazy old-maid aunthood. :)
Oilfieldguy @ 114
got an answer yet, man?
Two separate comments, but the dominatrix has a hottub. *G*
Oh montaq, the time flies, doesn’t it?
If only the Bush years would speed by as quickly as baby teeth…
well OFG … how can you beat a dom with a hot tub?
TeddySanFran @
27
I second that emotion!
TeddySanFran @ 144
Sometimes no response is an answer–maybe offline.
Susan in Iowa @
126
Well, I’m just North of Iowa city in Swisher, not too far away. Iowa is Well represented here at the FDL New Year’s Eve party! Crack open some more champagne! Here, try on this lampshade for size. Go ahead….get up on the table an dance. No one is watching!!! Come on Honey! One more little drinky!!! cut loose a little. Happy New year to all you folks out in FDL land. Troops out of Iraq and Bush out of the White House in 2007!
Rayne @ 147
Or toilet training. :)
Siun @ 147
Usually the dom does the beating, or so I’ve heard.
Siun @ 149
With a soft leather water-insoluable whip?
Oilfieldguy @ 151
I wanna know if she answered your question from the other night, too!
Oilfieldguy @ 153
We need to ask an expert. Uh, Bill, Bill Bennett, could you step over here a moment and settle a dispute?
:)
…and she’s a reddhead. Like my mom, my sister, my brother and a well-known bloglady.
montag @
153
Both depend on the kids, believe me…stubborn boy-child delayed entry into school by a year because he simply wouldn’t cooperate with toilet training.
For some reason I picture Dubya being this obstinate. [sigh]
Iowa Democrat @ 152
It just goes to show…you can’t find a good party in Iowa!
Crazy Horse – Happy New Year over there in Deutschland! but tequila? really? LOL
OFG – I used to know Thom Hartman … he’s a pretty amazing guy. He ran a section of Compuserve back in the day and I was the social director for our weekly online chats (it was a technical forum on desktop publishing when such things were still a very new idea) and I did some writing for his company at the time. He’s the real deal – and would make a great guest I bet.
In addition to many fine wishes already posted.
I wish I had a mid sized organic farm that I could use (after a couple of years settling in) to supplement a gourmet soup salad and bread kitchen (with a desert chef) designed to feed any hungry soul who stopped by for free and delivered meals to elderly who are unable to cook or folks who don’t feel well.
I wish Russ Feingold would run for president so I could temporarily drop everything and work tirelessly for a mind that understands what the best of our Democracy is designed to achieve.
I wish teachers and nurses were valued as much as doctors. (schools and hospitals as much as bombers and corporate headquarters)
I wish great progressive writers new found bountiful revenue.
I wish Democrats all across the land would throw their Lieber-enabling politicos to the unemployment line.
I wish/hope I find a way to acquire the tools and techniques needed to chase down and document on video my state politicians (when in my neck of the woods) in action for donating to blogs for all to see.
I wish a worthy challenger would stand up and defeat Senator Mark Pryor.
I wish a healthy delivery of karma on the warmongers and media enablers in our land. May this karma play out in a public way.
I wish corporate militias were unconstitutional.
May puppy visions continue to spread into reality far beyond the waters edge.
(And just a couple of small personal wishes)
That was really a tongue-in-cheek proposal. I have to be careful or I will rapidly get a reputation of a boorish horndog cad.
I enjoy the ladies and Jane is tops, but to be clear, this is all just friendly banter.
But I did promise a dinner to Siun @YKos in Chitown at the restaurant of her choice. She accepted and thats a done deal. She is another fascinating woman.
One minute.
Oilfieldguy @ 163
Aren’t they, though? Damn glad to be here and honored to share the bandwidth, even though I waste most of mine. Happy New Year! Peace!
PS: don’t worry about the “boorish horndog cad” reputation. I have one and they still talk to me! Go figure.
Happy New Year! A big ol’ cybersmooch to all the ladies of FDL from OFG.
Happy New Year to Moline, East Moline, Davenport and Rock Island!
Siun, danke for the newyearwishes, and for you, as the Germans say, i wish you a good slide (unsaid: into the new year.)
i drank more tequilla tonite than i did in the entire 2006. and i would like to think i survived! And the german girl woke up to say she wishes all you FireDogLakers eines schoenes Neues Jahr, but get the fu*k to bed randy! Gute Nacht!
It’s 2007 in Iowa! In honor of the new year, let me dedicate a song to George W. Bush that I hope will be stuck in his head 365 days from now…
Gute Nacht! Crazy Horse!
and Happy New Year OFG and Jacquie and Jane and all the firepups!
Poor Omar is not happy with the neighborhood fireworks and is seeing if he can drown them out with his barks!
Y’know, one day, people around the world aren’t going to think Americans are all assholes.
They’re going to once again notice our innate generosity and our willingness to tackle difficult problems.
They’re going to see these years as an aberration, and they’re going to see a new generation of our people doing good things.
When the old white men in government who think it’s our right and destiny to rule the world are gone, when we stop treating CEOs as gods, when we stop (as we inevitably must) spending hundreds of billions on arms and concentrate on our survival, the rest of world won’t be suspicious of all of us.
It will take decades, but, it can happen.
I wish for my beloved adopted home state of Georgia to open its eyes to this wonderful scary modern world of ours and stop voting Republican. Happy New Year, TRex and to everyone at FDL!
I hear ya, montag, would prefer sooner (fingers and toes crossed) than later.
I want my life, health, son, and country back, damn it.
One can dream. :p
- Liss/DC, cranky as all get out tonight
I’m back!
Happy 2007!!
Whoooooooooo-hoooooooooo!!
::waves at T-Rex and passes around the fresh garlic popcorn and sparkling cider:: Happy day!
I heard my name. . .
Happy new year, everyone!
Happy New Year T-rex! and to your kitties and the heroic Ned, TFK!
Happy New Year Pach! and give your honey a kiss from FDL!
And Trex – great wishes and a great year! thanks!
Hooray!! It’s Pachacutec!!
Careful, folks, I do believe he’s drunk.
Will do, Siun. Thanks!
TRex @ 180
So this would be a good time to hit him up for a donation to the Persiflage Retirement Fund?
Just hope and pray he doesn’t decide that he can read the future in your entrails.
What a fabulist TRex is. I had two glasses of wine starting at 9:30 until 11 PM EST, then switched to water. I did not do a Will Ferrel on the phone. But I’ll admit, it does make for fun dish.
Two thousand and seven.
Huh.
Who’da thunk it?
Well, thank god we all made it through another year.
Pachacutec @ 184
Pach, lying about how much you’ve had to drink is one of the first signs that you have a problem.
Do you have three or more drinks a day?
Do you drink in secret?
Have you said and done things you regretted while on a “spree”?
Pach dear … we all know you were out drinking champagne with Celine … but since it’s a holiday, we’ll pretend to believe you!
And if I should not make it through to see 2008, celebrate my memory briefly with silliness and revelry, jazz style, and kiss someone you love and then forget all about me. :-]
“Things,” or “people?”
A happy new year, if you can.
My wish:
May you all get what you desire, and your enemies get what they deserve…
And may every day henceforth be the morning after the night before for Junior and his pals.
~Pax~
Pachacutec @ 188
See there? He’s getting all maudlin, now. The vomiting can’t be far behind. Pach, honey, do you need me to hold your hair?
Darkblack! Happy New Year!!!
OT: I’m hooked on this song. We saw the movie today.
darkblack!
I’ve done the porcelian worship before, and short hair always helps. However, I’m dry as a . . . sandpaper snatch. . . at the moment.
You all are so cute. ^_^
Help, help! The Younger is forcing me to watch Hannah Montana and drink sparkling cider. Well, I don’t mind the cider. Billy Ray Cyrus and his daughter Miley are a bit much to ask a girl though, aren’t they?
Darkblack, I want to thank you for your invaluable contributions to my first and most fabulous year in the character assassination business. You have been the finest of partners in crime.
(hic!)
Here’s to you, buddy!
Happy New Year!
Pachacutec @ 195
OK, now I’m going to be ill.
I’m debating watching “The Horse’s Mouth” at the turn of the year, while the dried black-eyed peas are soaking.
The ending of that movie says so much about the uncertainty–and spirit–of new beginnings. :)
db, THAT is exactly the look i wanna see on that man (and i use that term loosely). you are a maestro, db.
Patrick 4/4 @ 197
Too much Snarkly O’Cider, I see. :)
Jeebus, my partner is dancing nekkid on the stairs to the Bond movie music. I may have to go. . .
Kids, I hate to hit and run, but I’m off again to see if I can help a certain party usher in the New Year properly.
Back in a bit.
I wish I wouldn’t have to read any more stories like this one, about our idiot gubmint running roughshod over people’s rights in its never-ending pursuit of more and more data that it won’t have a clue what to do with.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new…..noop01.xml
Jeez louise, between pach’s 201 and trex’s 202, i’m feeling ….. deprived.
Suzanne: I bet I don’t get any. He just likes being a bond girl, thinks he’s part of an opening montage, in silhouette.
That said, I think I’ll go investigate, just the same.
Wish me luck, and if I’m not back, goodnight and happy new year to all!
montag @ 201
Or not enough. Some good blanc de noir and one mention of Kate O’60 Grit an I’m suddenly sober.
Pachacutec @ 206
See if he’ll do some of the animated stuff…
Suzanne @ 205
Yep. Glad to snuggle with the cats here (all five) – but 201 and 202 sound like heavy purring…..
Patrick 4/4 @ 206
Think about how many fuzzy reveries of her husband’s she’s brought crashing down like glass on Krystalnacht…. (Oh, jaysus, did I even think that?)
Happy New Year St George, Utah (and the Virgin River Gorge)!
Damn, I’m winded!!! I think I burned more calories in the last 5 minutes on the stairwell than I did, in toto, this past week on the elliptical machine.
I thought that part where I slid gracefully down the bannister, nekkid, was especially good.
Pachi will post the video in the near future.
sniff
Have you all been …Imbibing?
tsk tsk
;>)
And TRex getting all sentimental…It’s the end of uncivilized discourse, I tells ya!
:)
montag @ 210
(In my best Dean Martin boozy slur): Ev’rybody loves somebody sometime…
Patrick 4/4 @ 210
my youngest girl is in st geo. is there where you are p4/4?
I’m working on a small project of gathering data to estimate the total number of US deaths as a result of the Iraq invasion/occupation.
Any numbers, input, links or opinions would be appreciated.
darkblack @ 212
Aaaaaaggggghhhhh! Run!
Happy New Year everybody! My wish for the new year is that the Dem controlled Congress receives the public support it will need to do the right thing, investigate and impeach.
Suzanne @ 215
Nope, I’m in L.A., but I stopped off in St. George many years ago after driving the Virgin River Gorge at sunrise. I was driving straight through to pick up my then-girlfriend in Butte. 20 hrs to the Continental Divide.
Happy New Year in 55 minutes… I am going to be a party pooper and go to bed…. Helped my Dad install a laminate floor in their kitchen today… Tired…
Hope you have a safe and fun Holiday!
And that, ladies and germs, was my suddenly exhibitionist better half. Oy!
katymine @ 220
Happy New Year, katymine!
Pachacutec @ 220
so i guess that means no video?
goodness! between Trex and Pach& his bond girl and OFGs Domintrix, it’s been quite the night here!
rumi @ 216
Any such project needs to count back to 1990. This invasion in 2003 was merely the final act of a long war (undeclared) against the Iraqis. The UN estimates 500,000 died of hunger and disease from the embargo. You’re looking at over 1 million people easily.
g’nite all! Happy New Year to come to our West Coaster!
Happy New Year, Siun!
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @ 225
I think we should start with the present time and work backwards to that date. I’m concentrating on the total number of US assigned/controlled people such as troops (regardless of official US citizenship), contractors and assigned US civilians.
============
Had Enough 2006?
============
rumi @ 228
I think I misread your original comment, now I understand your idea. DoD has apparently been sitting on those numbers because there have been some other efforts to tally up all US citizens/contractors deaths. I don’t think they even keep track of contractor deaths at all regardless of citizenship.
TeddySanFran @ 229
My contempt for 2006 will cease in 35 minutes.
TeddySanFran @ 228
Yes, I’ve had enough of 2006, 2005, 2004, 2003, 2002, and 2001.
I’m ready for 2007. Champin’ at the bit.
rumi @
216
Randy Rummel’s Democide http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/
Iraq Casualties http://www.icasualties.org/oif/
While 2007 is being born, here are some amazing pictures of an island being born earlier this year.
Patrick 4/4 @
234
That was so cool!
Suzanne @
205
Grumble.
That situation was not at all what I was led to believe. Oh, well. My celibacy goes unthreatened into the new year….
Patrick 4/4 @ 234
Apparently, we’re going to need all the new islands we can get.
TRex @ 237
Yeah, and the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition is running out of places to go.
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @ 230
Even the troop deaths are murky. I’ve seen reports of the practice to not count the ones who are called ‘undocumented soldiers’, those without US citizenship. Other reports claim that deaths that occur once someone leaves Iraq aren’t counted in the 3,000 total. Other number manipulations are the classification of noncombat deaths even though they are a result of the combat environment.
TRex @ 236
There there, now now. I am sadly in the same boat. If I don’t find a nice woman soon I may make my celibacy official with a vow and pagan ritual.
OT, but extremely annoying: The WaPo continues to refer to Joe Lieberman as a Democrat or an Independent Democrat. He is neither. He is part of the Connecticut for Lieberman party. He changed parties after losing the Democratic primary. This is not a difficult concept. Al Gore has more of a claim to call himself “the President of the United States” or “the Independent President of the United States” than Joe Lieberman has to call himself a “Democrat” or an “Independent Democrat”. So please cut the crap and stop calling things “bipartisan” if Joe Lieberman is there. And don’t say things like, “Among Democrats, Lieberman stands alone.” No, he doesn’t. He does not stand among Democrats at all. We kicked him to the curb. We’ve gotten over the fact that he was elected as a Senator. Now the Post needs to get over the fact that he was NOT elected as a Democrat.
TRex @
54
T=Rex & Jane – You two are the funniest two characters in all the world. Happy New Year all!
I’ve probably missed just about everyone. Happy New Year to whoever’s left.
i’m still here… waiting on the left coast for it to be january
Happy New Year, Cujo! I’m up for a few more minutes. Drank rather too much caffeine tonight so I would be wide awake for Late Nite. I think I may have overshot my goal somewhat.
Cujo359 @ 243
Feliz Ano Nuevo to you sir!
Frank Probst @ 240
Joe is a card-carrying member of the Warmongering Party.
Fuck `im, and the WaPoo, too.
Right back at ya Cujo
Hotflash – thanks for the links.
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @ 246
Danke schoen. Anata wa.
TRex, I still want to get you a shot of Grumpy holding a mic. That would be sweet.
My first grape: I want to find some firedogs in Phoenix. I’m relocating from St Paul. Ouch. b h artm at (the) vi si dot com. Hope I’m not pushing the modvelope there.
TRex @ 245
I’d say. Hate it when I’ve had so much caffeine I can’t decide if I’m falling asleep or ready to run a mile.
Happy New Year, TRex, and thanks for all the great Late Night reading. Also HNY to all the firepups, thanks to you all too. Are you all fixing your Hopping John for tomorrow?
Sounds like at least a few people in my neighborhood have firecrackers. Back when I had cats they’d be really nervous about now. Kinda miss that.
Cujo359 @ 252
I’m eating now, so I will probably finally start slowing down in a minute.
Eureka Springs, AR @
162
Eurika – i would love to see a workshop on such skills at the next YearlyKos convention.
Cujo359 @ 254
My cats went diving into the basement at midnight and have yet to return. It didnt help the neighbor on the other side of the wall from me was on our shared front porch firing his shotgun whilst literally yelling “Yahooooo”. It’s another scene for my future screenplay.
10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1…Happy New Year!!!
happy happy 2007!
love and good wishes to all…
firepups, rabid lamds, and giant stoned poodles….
and goodnight!
Happy New Year and I have never in my life looked forward to January as much as I have this time.
Happy New Year Left Coasters!
Suzanne @ 260
second dat
Happy New Year West Coast firepups!
Neighborhood dogs barking, noisemakers, firecrackers – where are the coyotes?
Back in the 80s the gunfire used to make LA seem like Beirut. Kids today – no spirit.
Suzanne @ 260
It’s been at least a decade for me.
Fireworks starting in earnest now. Wonder what they’re anticipating?
MelodyMaker @ 262
Thirded. With much enthusiasm. Here’s hoping!
Let’s rename January. I’m calling it Pelosi. Happy Pelosi 1st everybody!
With the New Year, a moment of silence for all the Congress people feeling compelled to come back to work in January instead of jetting off on glamorous lobby-esque junkets.
Change is blowin’ in the wind.
Happy 2007, fellow firepups!
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @ 257
We live close to our city centre and the river, where there are often celebrations finished by fireworks. Not only that, there are lots of Chinese businesses in our area. Come Chinese New Year you could blow the door off a bank vault and people would just think it’s more firecrackers. Our cats were nervy at first but now they’re seasoned veterans. I think they’d weigh less than their current 16 and 20 pounds if they raced away everytime they heard fireworks.
CatelynK @ 268
Hey, they asked for the jobs.
Happy 2007.
Happy New Year, west coasters.
I’m off to bed.
Good night.
TRex @ 271
And to you Trex. Thanks for many good 2006 moments.
Frank Probst @
241
Don’t miss a chance to send a message to WaPo Executive Editor Len Downie about this mis-identification of RGJoe here.
Persiflage @ 269
WOW those are some big kitties! I knew someone a while back that had cats that big named Calvin and Hobbes.
Kathryn in MA @
256
We should ask S.R. Sidarth, who went on to pen an op-ed for the WaPo entitled “I Am Macaca,” to lead this.
Patrick 4/4 @
267
Woo-hoo!! Great idea. It’s 1 Pelosi 2007!!
TRex @ 271
Good night, sweet theropod, and sleep the sleep of the just and the right — um, well, left!
G’nite, pups, see you on Pelosi First Morning!!
Ohh, man. I’m going to S,N! They party. maybe. fine, I’m going to bed.
I’m out too, gnight all!
TeddySanFran @
277
I understand they’re celebrating with a parade this year. Good night!
Fini FiniTOOBZ! @ 274
My 16lb boycat, Sam, just jumped off my lap so I may recover feeling in my lower legs shortly. Fortunately Gemma, the 20lb girls doesn’t “do” laps. I would have come up with more creative names but Gemma was 2 and already named when we got her. And no, I don’t overfeed them, they’re ragdolls, big furry bundles of affection. My previous cats were Fido and Rover.
TeddySanFran @ 273
You might want to mention that much of his campaign funds came from Republicans this time, so he’s at least as much of an independent Republican as an independent Democrat.
Happy New Year to all. Night-night.
CT For Lieberman, A party of one. Nothing Independent or Democrat about it. He took in more money and votes from Republicans than anyone else.
He was not registered as, nominated by, financially supported in a major way or elected as an Independent or Democrat.
Good night all, and Happy 2007.
I’ve been thinking about the use of the word ’surge’ and it may be more appropriate than I first thought. What happens when a surge occurs at home or in the office. You lose power, blow a fuse or flip a breaker, possibly lose data and permanently lose appliances, food goes bad if your not around when it happens a huge stench surrounds you during cleanup. Worst case scenario a fire starts and all is destoyed.
Perhaps the administrations PR firm got this term right.
Eureka Springs, AR @ 284
If we ever have a discussion with a journalist from WaPo or one of the other big papers, we should ask him if there is a policy that lets people self-label and define their own terms for things. It sure seems like any time a politician comes up with a term to describe something, no matter how silly or inappropriate, these guys take it seriously. Like “surge” in place of “escalation”, for instance.
Eureka Springs, AR @ 286
“Overload”, “fault”, or “hasty modification to a faulty design” would be more appropriate terms.
On Lieberman I would think the party listed on the ballot would be the official definition of what party one is. CT For Lieberman.
Unless he officially switches party affiliation. I would imagine this would hit the news at least in CT and we would have heard from the local bloggers.
excellent
It’s late, and most of the fireworks have stopped. Guess it’s time to get some shuteye.
BTW, I just started a blog. You can get there by clicking on my Internet handle, or click here. Have a safe and fun 2007.
Eureka Springs, AR @ 289
This is such an unusual situation, I’m not sure what the ettiquette might be. Anyway, “independent” or “CT4L” works for me. “Democrat”, or any variation, doesn’t.
Goodnight.
Got a laugh out of slobber and spittle. *s* Will make a point of stopping by.
g’nite all
cujo, love this line:
Raving about this and that since 11:30 PM
will bookmark and visit again
Happy New Year, doggies!!!!
jeebus, we’re getting old or in the way or something: dinner party at some friends; by the time midnight rolled around we toasted New Years with frickin’ herb tea….sigh….
anyway, happy new year to all.
hey ET, happy new year. dayam, pun, that is getting old.
Crazy. Right before midnight, dozens of snowmobiles fanned out from the “Church Camp” on the north side of the lake, like they were making an assault on some imaginary Arctic Baghdad, Fireworks everywhere. Our poor dog had to stay insdide, ’cause he attacks fireworks, and they were everywhere. Still are.
I usually play “Auld Lang Syne” outside on my trombone about now, but can’t hold the dang thing up right now, so I put on Shostakovich’s “Festive Overture” in honor of the impending eclipse of the Bushista apparatchiks. I’ll play it again, real loud, in case they can’t hear.
Suzanne @ 296
Herbal tea, eh, pun? Healthy New Year Suzanne, punaise.
Juan Cole’s last post from 2006:
What the Number 3000 Hides
Iraqi guerrillas killed 6 more GIs and AP put the total dead in combat at 2998. The dreadful milestone of 3000 is upon us.
Like all statistics, this one is deceptive. It does not include US troops killed in Afghanistan, that oddly forgotten war where the US still has a division engaging in active combat. Nor is it nice to ignore NATO dead in Afghanistan, including French and Canadians (yes).
The number does not include the Coalition troops killed in Iraq. The sacrifices of the British, Italians, and others should be included.
And why ignore the seriously wounded? These brave warriors have brain damage, or spinal damage, or have lost limbs or been burned and disfigured. There are probably 8000 of them. Their sacrifice should be foregrounded. Life is not going to be easy for them, and they are not goiing to get that much help from Bush.
Indeed, why not count all the wounded? The number must be near 25000 by now.
Then there are all the I raq Vets with post traumatic stress disorder and a myriad of other combat related mental diseases. There is alcoholism, domestic violence, divorce.
The true number of Americans and US allies who are in some sense casualties of war is in the tens of thousands.
3000 is a horrible number. But it is not the only dreadful number. By concentrating on it, Washington politicians and the US press hide from us the true magnitude of the problems we face in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Good morning and jolly 2007, everyone. I’m trying to use a very quiet voice in case anyone has a bit of a headache… Today the NYT has Bob Herbert reminding us about New Orleans and Paul Krugman reminding us about the American healthcare system.
http://mgpaquin.blogspot.com/
When you feel up to it the coffee and tea are over there, and as a New Year’s treat I’ve got some Krispy Kreme donuts. Enjoy.
For 2007, I offer a truce with all terrorists. Even the elected ones.
Politically speaking, I cannot top 3, 8, 9, & 12!! And for 8, 9, 12, a juvenile “oh, please, oh please!”
Also wishing I won’t have to be assaulted with the Saddam hanging video at every turn in 2007, but I know that’s kinda unrealistic.
The Crazy Horse hasn’t yet decidered if his version or punaise’s version of Silvester (New Years) is better. I can’t quite picture myself in the Berkeley Hills sipping herbal tea, while my liver might be jealous.
But i feel fine waking this afternoon, at least the tequila was high quality. This thread was on fire last nite, but strangely i wake with the wish that we work even harder this year, to stop the madness and recalibrate this dangerous civilization.
The January 1 2007 global warming pronouncements from a liberated Dr. Hansen speaking to the british press, and other comments today, make this more imperative than making the dark little rat from Connecticut carry the burden of his lies.
my new year’s grape wish would be that the spaniards would stop eating their sheep