Gmornin!

Top of the day!

Good morning Christy!

Can we ask Santa Claus to please bring us better journalists in 2008?

Wow, that is some line up. Or lack thereof.

No Donna. No Joe. It’s another Festivus Miracle !

might be worth watching MTP in order to see if Timmeh can bring the big spotlight to bear on Teh Crazy of Ron Paul.

Other than that – blerghh….

Left a comment for you in epu-land downstairs.

Glenn has a disturbing piece on Romney’s views of Presidential power this morning…

Good Morning Christy!

how was your danish, MM?

Everything a great danish should be. I’ve forgiven the local bakery for not making the sticky bun croissants because of it.

Watching Obama try to out-Christian Huckabee is going to be nausiating.
Think I’ll pass.
Is Tweety trying to channel integrity?
Or delivering a hit job on an old man?
mmmmm

But first – off to Canal St for early morning tacos and last minute gift bargains.

all this talk about croissants and now all I can think about is a ham and cheese croissant, lightly warmed in the toaster oven — with a nice pilsner.

mMmm
*homer drool

I’m getting virtually fat here this morning.

So I have the morning off—but not gonna wasted it on the talkers. Not worth the time.

House cleaning and working on the Christmas Eve homily. Open house the day after xmas so I’ve lots to do. And have to start looking for all of my collected christmas movies, an old tradition of mine. Mr. Rev prefers football. Can’t win em all.

Watching nuthatches all the time here and at the last place. Tiny upside down wonders!

Did you try asking them if they would, please, make sticky bun croissants?

Yes I have and they basically blew me off. They could care less, they have a gold mine, they know it.

Watching nuthatches all the time here and at the last place. Tiny upside down wonders!

We have a bunch of feeders that nuthatches love– they’re very funny when I’m out there taking pictures. They run in, grab seed as quickly as they can and then fly off. Sometimes the chickadees and the nuthatches yell things at one another that I translate as “Is she looking?” “Nope! Quick! Get in there and get some seed!” “Wait! She’s looking!” “Run!”

i watched ORWELL ROLLS IN HIS GRAVE last nite we are now in Bizzaro Camelot

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEB8b8B6ByY

thanks. And I found myself wondering the same thing as I read through the thread. “Plants”, Clarke staffers, or lurkers? I thought “CCNLJM” was especially questionable. Guess we’ll see if either of them turn up here in the future, huh?

Good morning, Christy. Family is here :) I won’t be watching those bozos this a.m.

In short there’s simply not, a more congenial spot…

I love that song!

Grinch of the year award

http://www.politicalaffairs.ne…..297/1/301/

Corpratist/Fascist mofos

when i was a wee one,i actually believed that Camelot was the good ole US of A…boy the pukes really destroyed that quickly,well LBJ did his part too

Lindy — So glad your family made it home for the holidays, safe and sound. Best to you and yours. Was thinking about you last night as I went to sleep. We have a New Orleans cook who ended up here when the whole “distribution of refugees” thing was ongoing in the immediate wake of Katrina. He opened his own restaurant cooking cajun cuisine, and it is wonderful — and going gangbusters. I so hope that a better future is ahead for y’all too, after everything you have been through the last few years.

Paula Deen’s restaurant/shop has been picketed here because she’s a paid shill for Smithfield.

technically wood ducks are my favorite bird, but I do love the little-upside down ones and the little yellow ones and the little blue ones and the little red ones and the little brown ones, oh well I love ‘em all!

photo credit to Greg Downing

might be worth watching MTP in order to see if Timmeh can bring the big spotlight to bear on Teh Crazy of Ron Paul.

I’m gonna be takin’ notes! I can never remember how many government depts. he wants to get rid of, so I’m gonna try to write ‘em down.

if you havent seen it this is Orwell Rolls…it is a Grinch Tale however

http://video.google.com/videop…..6550155628

Wood ducks are gorgeous birds.

good no need for me to fatten up on her stuff anymore
BOYCOTT THE CALORIES

Many thanks, Christy. I hope you and yours have a safe and good Christmas as well. I tried to send you a letter from my husband while you were on vacation and it bounced back, cause your in-box was full. Will try again at some point.

I love da birdies…all of them

Wood ducks are gorgeous birds.

He’s such a spiffy dresser, isn’t he!

these guys are plentiful here…cuties,no?

http://www.ducks.org/media/Ten…..ebird2.jpg

Thanks, Lindy — please do.

Good morning all.

We are surviving the blizzard conditions today.6 inches of snow and winds gusting from the NW making the 5 degree temp feel like minus 23.

I fed the birdies at 6 AM and have about 150 birds eating out of my five feeders.

Keep warm, I’m off to attack 3 four foot drifts with the grain shovel.

Wood ducks are gorgeous birds.

He’s such a spiffy dresser, isn’t he!

As spiffy as this duck

Is Tweety trying to channel integrity?
Or delivering a hit job on an old man?

Tweety has been treating the old man like a journalist. I give him credit for that; don’t see a lot of other shows reaching out to have Dan Rather on as a respected journalist.

these guys are plentiful here…cuties,no?

http://www.ducks.org/media/Ten…..ebird2.jpg

yes!
where’s our bluebird lady Adie?

don’t see a lot of other shows reaching out to have Dan Rather on as a respected journalist.

BTW, I think this was the second time I’ve seen him on Tweety’s show. I think he was on last week, too.

We just had a pair of cardinals splashing in the bird bath, and a little woodpecker chowing down on a seed cake, along with various mourning doves, blue jays and little finches doing their thing(s). I spend more time staring out the window at the birds than I do working some days!

Jim Clausen — Please stay warm! Sounds like a good day to be inside with a pot of hot coffee and some good movies.

As spiffy as this duck

in the same class anyway, but my! he’s handsome

THIS POSTER HAS BEEN BANNED BY THE MPAA

Joining sticky buns and croissants is quite an achievement, both culinary and culture. Tell you pastry maker that they are innovators, inventors, and you’ll get it back. See.

http://www.foodtimeline.org/fo…..stickybuns

“Dr. Ronald Wirtz [American Institute of Baking] has researched [sticky buns] in depth. He begins, believe it or not, with the ancient Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans, then moves forward in time through Medieval Europe to present-day America. Wirtz follows the spice trade, specifically that of cinnamon…Wirtz believes that our cinnamon roll or sticky bun owes “some of its origins to British cooking and baking, perhaps with a degree of influence from the Dutch and Germans.”

http://www.foodtimeline.org/fo…..croissants
“

…croissant in its present form does not have a long history…The earliest French reference to the croissant seems to be in Payen’s book “Des substances alimentaires,” published in 1853. He cites, among the “Pains dit de fantasie ou de luxe,” not only English ‘muffins’ but ‘les croissants’. The term appears again, ten years later, in the great Littre dictionary [1863] where it is defined as ‘a little crescent-shaped bread or cake’. Thirteen years later, Husson in “Les Consommations de Paris” [1875] includes ‘croissants for coffee’ in a list of ‘ordinary’ (as opposed to ‘fine’) pastry goods. Yet no trace of a recipe for croissants can be found earlier than that given by Favre in his Dictionnaire universel de cuisine [c. 1905], and his recipe bears no resemblance to the modern puff pastry concoction; it is rather an oriental pastry made of pounded almonds and sugar. Only in 1906, in Colombie’s Nouvelle Encyclopedie culinaire, did a true croissant, and its development into a national symbol of France, is a 20th-century history.—Oxford Companion to Food (p. 228)

Thanks for the links!

I love to read about the history of things. I was almost a history major. The thing is, since I’m an “outsider” to this little town, and my family hasn’t been here for generations, my money is good enough for taxes and purchases, and my time is welcome as a volunteer, however any suggestions or requests that I may have go right out the window since well, I’m from the outside and I’m not born and breed Pitman stock. Which by the way I’m very grateful about.

Na’gn’a’hpn! Never to be heard from again. *g*

Just what is it about Sixty Minutes to weep for?

Joel Osteen; Genetic Genealogy; Tom Brady, NE Patriots quarterback

?

The absence of anything seriously political, of course, but why are we not surprised? Or is it because Genetic Genealogy will explain the greatness of Tom Brady? Because Genetic Genealogy can’t explain the greatness of Tom Brady, 6th round draft pick become perhaps one of the greatest QBs in NFL history?

While the better place to ask the question is at EW’s Football Trash Talk, I could not resist the opportunity here at the Lake to remind us after that almost immediately after the talking heads come the Plexiglass helmeted heads and they are so much more amusing. Especially when the head head is Brady’s.

Promotial placement message from a BlueBayStater.

When the CIA and elements of the Pentagon do more – much more – than the Democrats to restrain the Bush gang from plunging the planet into an even wider spasm of war, it is time to recognize the absolute irrelevance of the Democratic Party – certainly, under present leadership.

http://www.blackagendareport.c…..8;Itemid=1
My sentiments exactly.

Pittman where, may I ask? I am a pretty good sleuth and if it would produce this Franco-German-British culinary marvel, I would be happy to seek out a historical connection between your family/roots/activities/and the history of Pittman.

bmaz filled in nicely as trash talk host this week, didn’t he?

See my 45 and Millneryman’s 46. I am trying to make the return of the CroisStickyBunAnt a netroots project.

BTW, in Paris where I lived for more than a decade, there are raisin croissants, which if cinnamon were added, somewhat resemble what I imagine the CroisStickyBunAnt to be.

I know they aren’t part of the Sunday morning line up, but here are a couple interesting pictures I took of Tucker Carlson and Joe Scarborough.

Yup.

Even got FreePatriot to believe that we agreed with him on something, that something being the overratedness of the Pats. Obviously Bmaz and the Lurking EW were giving him a pass, in the Christmas + better than the 14 games of the ‘72 Dolphins + playoff birth secured + home field advantage nailed down spirit. Or as the French say it, noblesse oblige.

*G*.

smokey mountains!

twolf — Mwahahahahaha. Excellent shots!

Ok bird watchers, let us in on the joke. Raptors, both, maybe a vulture or a particularly craven type and a ???

Answer me please and I promise to stop talking Football.

buzzardy vultures

Ron Paul is describing fascism this morning. Oh boy.

Man, I was up too late last night wrapping presents after The Peanut went to sleep. I’m beat. Thank goodness for coffee this morning…

KayInMaine — Ten extra points if he manages to work in a reference to Jonah Goldberg’s tome. *g*

Ron Paul is describing fascism this morning. Oh boy.
reply

That sounds recursive :)

Good morning Christy! *massaging your overworked wrapping fingers*

What? No mention of Schnecken? My mom was taught by an elderly Jewish lady to make these and no cinnamon bun comparies in the estimation of my family. The secret is to make the dough (which has eggs, butter, hot milk in it)and chill it overnight and then make the buns in the morning. Usual suspects for the filling.

Russert’s response was fantastic. He had that “excuse me? what are you talking about? This is America, Mr. Paul! Fascism does not exist here!” look on his face. It made my year. :-)

EW is back and is connecting the dots between Saudi Arabia and Iran via the Hajj. Worth a visit.

the Bloody Kristol: “Queen Hillary of the Nanny State”

. . . and on the seventh day, God created coffee and rested . . . and God saw that it was very good.

I believe that part in bold got left out somewhere.

Nina Easton actually noted that her husband’s an advisor for the Romney campaign, a disclosure!

Exactly. LOL

*looking in my hope chest to see if there’s a US flag and a bible* Nope! I’m fresh out. Phew. I knew I wasn’t to blame for this thing called fascism!

Three comments based on above, but first, a Merry Christmas to all.

Here are my comments:

Re: Dan Rather – I didn’t know that the guy from Dancing with the Stars (Mark?) is the owner/producer/something of Dan’s network. When I watched the show, I figured he was another arrogant Texas prick, but was surprised to hear he’s on our side. Good for him!

Re: New Orleans – My husband is from Louisiana and we made our first trip back (since Katrina) last weekend. We took a tour of N.O. to get a look at the damage. The message from our tour guide was that the best thing we could do for New Orleans was to encourage people to visit. Tourism gives them a tremendous economic boost. When you’re in the French Quarter, downtown, and in the Garden District you don’t realize there was a hurricane because everything is functioning well, so please support the people of New Orleans by spreading the word.

Re: Scarborough – Did anyone see the show on Friday? At the beginning, they showed McCain’s Christmas commercial. It appeared that Joe was laughing so hard he had to leave the set. Mika immediately went to news so he could recover his composure. Maybe I misinterpreted what happened, but that’s what it looked like to me.

Once again, a safe and happy holiday to all. Now back to work. My guests arrive in a few hours.

I find it interesting that John Harwood and Chuck Todd are likening Romney to “Leave It to Beaver” Eddie Haskell. Yeah, I think it’s fitting.

Hilarious Sunday morning reading: A Dick Cheney Christmas Carol.

Http://www.vicepresidents.com/node/472

This is really funny.

and Chris Wallace admits his Fox News All Stars are “often in error but never in doubt”

Russert knows what is Fascism. Pumpkinhead is fully aware of his role as a promoter of fascist principles. Media Consolidation is one of them. Crushing dissent is another – Russert aided in the exposure of Plame by shucking and jiving for Libby and Rove. Russert never revealed his role to his audience. Russert’s Press The Meat is the go to show for Fascist Dick and Friends. Just ask Dick who he likes best when he wants to disseminate propaganda. Russert is a Fascist Tool.

amen.

from steven d’s take on this:

What this “mutiny” says about our democracy is far more disturbing than we are being told by the national corporate news media. It means that the only real power base which can effectively assert opposition to the Bush administration is the CIA and the military. I feel fortunate that they did what they did, but fearful of what it means for future conflicts between our civilian leadership and the military and/or the intelligence community. Much as I feel we are indebted to them this time, what they did to stymie Bush sets a bad precedent for the future. We are a country predicated on the principle of civilian control over our armed forces. The military and intelligence agencies have now tasted their first victory over our civilian leaders. I doubt it will be their last, and next time their motives and agenda may be less pure.

p.s. so glad to see you.

of course, under sticky bun. See below. Your mom’s recipe sounds better, chilling is used in making feuillite dough, and it is scrumptious. My recipe for one filled made with a pound of butter and filled with roquefort would require special dispensatory note from one’s doctor.

“The cinnamon bun or “sticky bun” came to Philadelphia with 18th century English and German immigrants. They are made from a cinnamon and sugar flavored yeast dough, with raisins, nuts and carmelized topping. A coffee shop counter lined with sticky buns is still a common sight in the city.”
—The Larder Invaded: Reflections on Three Centuries of Philadelphia Food and Drink, Mary Anne Hines, Gordon Marshall & William Woys Weaver [Historical Society of Philadelphia:Philadelphia] 1987 (p. 51)Traditional recipes: [1909]
“Schnecken (Snails).
Yeast dough like No. 8.
For the filling. 1/8 lb. of butter, 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of currants, 1/2 cup of blanched, ground almonds.
Preparation: The preparation is the same as given under No. 8., Coffee Cake. Stir in 1 cup of flour more than given in NO. 8, roll out the dough to 1 inch thickness, strew it with sugar, cinnamon, currants, almonds, sprinkle with melted butter, roll it up carefully and cut slices off to make the snails. Place these into a buttered tin and set to rise about 1/2 hour. Then bake them ina medium hot oven, brush them while hot with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar.”
—The Art of German Cooking and Baking, Mrs. Lina Meier [Milwaukee:WI] 1909 (p. 336)”

No. 8 follows.
http://www.foodtimeline.org/fo…..stickybuns

Here’s what pisses me off: all parties on MTP have decided that the democratic race is between Obama and Clinton. Where it would have helped to show by how much Edwards wins against Rudy or Romney or any other Rethug, they failed to show those polls. I don’t believe they should discount Edwards like that.

Ron Paul is describing fascism this morning. Oh boy.

~reply

That sounds recursive :)

Well, only if you consider that he believes the State should have control over women’s reproductive capacities.

This so-called great “Constitutionalist” seems quite itchy to establish that conceptions have full citizenship rights. That way he can arrest all those evil Doctors who disagree with him and provide abortions…charging them with MURDER.

And YET he also wants to revise the Constitution to remove the statement that all those BORN within the United States are citizens…so that he can exclude those born to undocumented workers.

So here’s a little thought problem. If an undocumented woman gets an abortion from a doctor in the United States, would ReverendDoctor Paul (if he were, in fact, able to impose his Amendments) that mean that the Doctor didn’t commit a crime? After all, it was “just a Mexican” foetus, and lacked citizenship rights? Or would the foetus have citizenship rights UP UNTIL IT WAS BORN…only then being subject to deportation?

If an undocumented woman was pregnant…could she demand that her “citizen” foetus have a legal hearing? Wouldn’t deporting HER…mean deporting the citizen foetus?

RiP to Ron Paul…if one looks at his actual voting record and the Bills he tried to push one realizes that the guy is quite whacked…or greedy.

Take a look at how Paul makes his money (he’s heavily invested in mines and the marketing of precious metals)…then look at the Bills he authors related to gold, silver and other precious metals. Does Paul abstain from pushing such Bills, or abstain from voting on them? Yet he would benefit financially from the implementation of these as law.

please, tell me more.

*waving hello*

Dan Rather, for all he’s done lately, was a valuable tool in the run-up to Dubya’s first strike on Iraq. One would be hard pressed to name a more reliable and trusted cheerleader for the War. Something stinks about Dan Rather.

Bingo! That’s why his reaction to me was priceless. He was “wiping the crumbs from the table” after being accused of eating the donut this morning! See? He’s guilty as hell.

if there was any chance of those bill being implemented, i’d agree with you. but there’s just not.

so, what it looks like to me is someone who is pushing for legislation and investing their own money based on their world view (and not an effort to get rich from getting their legislation passed).

gore is another example of someone who advocates for legislative priorities and invests in those priorities (and while he’s not in government at the moment he has more influence and a higher probability of getting some of his issues addressed (i hope).

From Matt Bai in hihs article about Clintonsim in the NYT Mag

“Despite all the protestations, Clinton’s third-way politics and governing philosophy have as much of a hold on these Democratic candidates as the New Deal mind-set did on generations before,” says Jonathan Cowan, whose think tank, Third Way, has emerged as the next iteration of the D.L.C. “Clinton’s politics have basically become the DNA of Democrats seeking the White House, and it’s almost certain that they would all govern from that Clintonian center if they actually became president.” Even the party’s leaders in Congress, newly empowered by an uprising against Republican hegemony, continue to speak in the measured tones of Clintonian centrism.

Last week I was fancying up the flowerpots along the front walk and I found a bluebird. She looked perfect, but stone cold. Dad and I buried her in the garden (he said a few words). At first I worried about bad mojo, but now I’ve rationalized she was attracted to a nice cozy happy place.

To use a Sunday morn bird analogy: Russert is Sylvester with a big ol’ mouthful of Tweety.

Nothing to disagree with in that graph!
Twas amusing to watch Russert and Paul dancing around the fascism story…if it weren’t so bloody sad.

Lackluster Christmas sales…forecasts for home financing in 2008 just about zero out by year end…there’s a lot of gloom and doom, but in the spirit of Dickens, I’m looking forward with hope and optimism.

Flyin’ fast today, gifts are done but still must shop for the Christmas Eve dinner…our international tradition travels to Bhutan this year… in the meantime, to borrow from Tiny Tim because we know too well disability issues in our Sunshine household, God bless us every one.

Merry Christmas, Christy and Jane and all you firepups!

See Hackworth, above.

You should have taken it to be tested for bird flu.

Ron Paul – “eliminate the income tax”

Timmeh – “How much would that cost?

Paul – ” I dunno, a lot?”

Exactly! I love it when fascist pom-pommers have that look, “Huh? Fascism? Never heard of it. *spitting feathers out*”.

My year is complete now. I’m not a Ron Paul supporter, but it was so refreshing for him to be talking about fascism so matter of factly without skipping a beat in front of a man who was, and is, the biggest cheerleader and protector of those wrapped in the US flag and who have a bible stuck to their faces as our country burns!

What a great way to end the year. ;-)

Paul – “the government of Israel wants us to bomb Iran”

Timmeh – Cut off all aid to Israel?”

Paul – “Absolutely”.

C’mon Timmeh. You are pathetic. You know taxes are for the little people.

Selise,

EW at TNH with a dot connecting that could benefit from your sleuthing skills. Give her a hand, she is all by her lonely at the moment.

Reliable Sources is an oxymoron
Howie Annis Kurtz gooper trophy husband

Paul – “the government of Israel wants us to bomb Iran”

Timmeh – Cut off all aid to Israel?”

Paul – “Absolutely”.

Some say that our government wants Israel to bomb Iran for us to give us an excuse to go after Iran. I think this volleyball has been going back and forth for some time now. Wonder’s whose serve it is currently?

Also, didn’t Russert ask Paul what we should do if Iran bombs us? To which Paul replied, “They won’t. They don’t have an army, navy, air force or marines.”

Here’s a picture of a common bird in northern Maine:

http://www.mainebirdingtrail.com/GrayJay.jpg

It’s a gray jay and they are so cute and friendly. My family has an old hunting camp in northern Maine and these birds will literally hop down the branch of an evergreen tree and will take food from your fingers. They also have very long eyelashes.

They’re very charming birds.

Timmeh blowin’ Paul up re all of the earmarks ($4B) going to his district…

Paul – “Well, why leave all that money out there for the executive branch to spend? Let’s use it…”

The fear mongering on Iran is amazing. You’d think they were another Soviet Union.

Then again, about a year ago, my father’s Legion Magazaine had a hysterical piece about the “massive military buildup” in Venezuela and how much of a threat they were.

From the greatest generation to the lamest generation.

-G

Morning all.

Our health dept no longer accepts them or takes reports (unless its a flock!)
BTW, good questions to WC yesterday. Too bad about the lack of response.

Wow. That is a pretty lame response.

-G

CHS banned my Qs from the discussion as being “impolite.”

My recipe for one filled made with a pound of butter and filled with roquefort would require special dispensatory note from one’s doctor.

Sounds good enough to die for! *g* Just now cooking up a test recipe for “Cinnamon Spritz Cookies” with 3/4 lb. butter and first ever use of vanilla beans. For some reason expected the seeds to be individualized but instead they’re a sticky little mass of suckers. Oops, time to pull another batch out of the oven….

Russert looks like a man with health problems. He can’t push himself away from the dinner table and he doesn’t get sufficient exercise. All the money in the world won’t help him. I hope he enjoys the money while he can at the expense of all the people of the world he helps to obliterate with his deceit.

This is the third week in a row that Timmeh has been blowin’ up a Repub candidate.

Which for me begs the question – What is GE’s strategy?

Ron Paul – “eliminate the income tax”

Timmeh – “How much would that cost?

Paul – ” I dunno, a lot?”

To make matters worse, asked what he would replace those funds with, he suggested he’d have to look into it, but a 30% sales tax was mentioned. So Tim says, that would put a lot of burden on the poor and middle class. Paul says, “I know. That’s why I don’t want to do it.” But he left it open that he would in preference to an income tax.

GregB, the fascists are bored with Iraq & Afghanistan, so they have to start another war somewhere to illegally occupy another country, because without it, they lose their manliness. See?

“What is GE’s strategy?”

Is it possible they’re still trying to bring good things to life, you know, like wars and shit and need to keep the American Taliban (the Red Army) on top?

Could be. LOL

McCain, McCain, McCain.

-G

Paul – “Well, why leave all that money out there for the executive branch to spend? Let’s use it…”

OTOH, he says that he never voted for a bill with earmarks in it, so it cancels out the earmarks he put in personally! The guy is a trip. That’s why it scares me that I kinda understood what he meant when he was talking about taking advantage of and using the money from earmarks for his district. Said it’s like taking advantage of a tax deduction; if you’re legally entitled to it, you should take it just like everyone else, even if you object to it in principle. To not use it would be unfair to his district, and they’re only trying to take back their share of their own money.

Wrong. Your questions went through just fine. Your insults did not, neither did the insults of several other people who also had them removed. And, had you gone to the prior thread yesterday as I asked you to do to discuss it, you would have found that out.

Tough questions are not only appropriate but encouraged. But when we have a guest thread — no matter who the guest is — we do not allow insults. Period. From anyone — and they are always promptly removed. We’ve done this for as long as we have had guests on the blog — and we’ve removed comments from regulars like ET and Raven and a whole host of other folks, as well as the occasional over the line comment from front pagers.

GE’s strategy is to have a government that condones ripping off consumers at every level.

Kay, did you know that Caracas is closer to Washington DC than Baghdad?

(DO you remember that lame comparison about Nicaragua back in the 80’s?)

-G

Is it possible they’re still trying to bring good things to life, you know, like wars and shit…

I would have thought so, but he blew up Mitt “Double-Gitmo” Romney and Rudy “Let’s bomb Iran Yesterday” Ghouliani too.

hellifIknow… has he interviewed McCain yet?

It’s your site, you set the rules. I don’t understand why you thought my Qs were insults, but you did. Discussing this will not lead to my understanding your POV.

Mr. Potato(e)-head time in NH!

-G

Did anybody but me enjoy how everybody on Tweety’s show threw Coultergeist under the bus?

They said she has lost any hope of ever being given the benefit of the doubt again.

I got what I wanted for Christmas.

Jack Welch (of GE) has a fairly new book out. Like Welch’s other book, it is autobiographical. An (R) associate whom is reading it, told me that this Welch Book is wonderful – better than the first. This associate has a net worth of more than $50,000,000. He says that Welch is utterly brilliant. I guess Welch is a real prick’s prick.

Paul talking about “soft fascism”. I agree with him.

Good morning, and Merry Christmas Eve/Eve. I made cinnimon rolls this morning and the house smells wonderful. Today is cleaning day before everyone descends on Christmas morning — can’t have a dirty house for Santa you know (and he is watching, as the 6 yr old advises me).

Snowing lightly but cold. Nice morning to look outside, not to BE outside.

OT – someone gave me a calendar with sayings for each day. Today’s is: “Nearly all men can stand adversity, but it you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” Said by Abraham Lincoln. I guess being a republican meant something different back then.

Tomorrow’s is also good. “Dear friends, no matter how we find them, are as essential to our lives as breathing in and breathing out.” Lois Wyse

Have a good day, and a safe and wonderous holiday.

you are very kind and give me way more credit than i deserve. especially this morning when i am extra brain dead from lack of sleep. but always happy to provide moral support if i can.

Yeah, well the proof on that wil be whether any of them have her on their shows the next time she’s on an inflammatory tour of asinine proportions.

But when we have a guest thread — no matter who the guest is — we do not allow insults. Period. From anyone — and they are always promptly removed. We’ve done this for as long as we have had guests on the blog

That did not seem to be the operative policy when Valerie Plame was here and Matt Stoller and two others (I believe of his group) said some pretty mean things to her regarding money. In fact, Jane herself seemed to back that up.

Totally agree. I felt the same way.

Nice to hear from you GrandmaJ.

-G

Oh that’s right! *giving myself a V8 juice bonk to the forehead* ;-)

Ann in AZ at 124 — As I told selise yesterday, we have to do this on the fly, and I think the Plame thread went over the top and said so at the time. Tough questions on policy are legitimate, as are questions on particular actions/thoughts/statements/etc. Jane was running that thread and thought it was an appropriate line of questions.

But name-calling at a guest is clearly out of line. I could pull the portions of eCAHN’s comments that didn’t make it into public view and give you point by point on why the mods had questions, but that would not be fair to eCAHN — or to any of the other commenters whose bits and pieces I could also pull out for nitpicky scrutiny. If folks want to OCD this subject to death this morning, you’ll have to do it without me for a bit — am working on my last post of the day and in the middle of some research…so further questions will have to get answers a bit later as I have time to get to them.

Happy or Merry (fill in blank), to all firepups everywhere.
On my earthlink home page, Word of the Day: Persiflage
Is it C word eve down under yet? Persi?

can’t have a dirty house for Santa you know (and he is watching, as the 6 yr old advises me).

ok, it’s time to clear up that myth and tell the truth to the 6 yr old.

Santa is *not* watching. He has no secret network, nor does he know when you’re sleeping, or when you’ve been bad or good, etc. In fact, all ya gotta do in your letter to Santa is to *tell* him you’ve been good, and you’re home free.

All of that Big-Brother-Santa is the result of a terribly unfortunate personnel decision made years ago by Kringle & Kringle, Ltd. They were charmed by an apparently sincere and kind man, who they appointed as Head of Public Relations. Turns out he was a Republican, and immediately started churning out the “Fear Santa” message.

Of course, the Kringles fired the guy after only one season, but the damage was done. The company has for many years been disclaiming this message of fear, but as so often happens, the Urban Myth has proven to be too strong to dislodge.

Demand that your local radio stations stop playing “Santa Claus is Coming to Town”. It’s scaring the kids.

Christy has a shiny new thread upstairs!

707!!! Love this!

Buzz-killer! Here I thought Santa would put coal in the stockings of all those bad rethugs!

i think (not sure just trying to figure this out myself) that the difference is that hard, difficult questions and comments are ok. but insults are not… i understand that different people have different ideas about what is an insult and what is not.

and if you all won’t hate me for engaging in some regional stereotypes for a minute….

in my experience (moving to dallas) i was surprised, actually shocked, by the things that people took as personal insults. for example, not greeting strangers while waiting in line at the grocery store, not looking a stranger in eyes and smiling while passing them on the sidewalk.

in the northeast there is a very different idea about what is polite – and part of that is respecting people’s space and privacy, even when in public.

…. i came to think that insults, rudeness and politeness aren’t absolutes in and of themselves – they are cultural constructs. and so it makes sense that different people (especially from different cultures or even different parts of the country – hello? nyc and west virginia anyone?) will have a very different understanding of what is insulting and what is not.

imo, it’s kinda like learning a different language. not because one person’s “politeness language” is right or wrong – but because if want to be understood, it makes sense to understand the language each of us is using.

ymmv.

Your case in point: Just the other day, I was driving with my 13 year old son in the car and he was arguing with me that he wanted to spend his money now on a DVD (one that I had already wrapped for him and put under the tree) and after a few moments of telling him to save his money until after Xmas, I said, “Don’t argue with Santa!”. See? My son knows the truth. LOL

OCD this subject to death

well, at least better now than in the middle of book salon.

So WHAT IS your definition of “conflict of interest”.

Gore can invest and advocate all he wants…but he is not currently a legislator. He’s a citizen. When you are an elected official one should not be pushing legislation that directly affects the value of your investments.

Paul knows very precisely where his money is invested (it’s not like he has money in a mutual fund that is shielded from his eyes). He could disinvest himself from those funds and still advocate for them if he really believed in their value. Or he could create a non-profit fund where he could support gold mines and precious metal commodity trading. Do I really think that he would DO THAT? No!

Because he’s in it for the money. And he pushes legislation that would make him even more wealthy than he already is.

Mitt Flop.

-G

Tell more if you are still there, Looseheadprop, sparing us having to giving the site traffic not deserved.

Replying to Ann in AZ @ 17 in the next thread:

my measure of insulting is when something is said that makes me squirm or feel uncomfortable for the guest.

right… but different people feel uncomfortable about different things. that doesn’t mean one person is right or wrong about what is or is not rude. but this will all work better if we try to respect eachother’s perspectives and feelings – and not imply they don’t know what rude is. i’m sure they do, it just may be something different than what i think it is.

and to be a bit more blunt.. what i was trying to get at is that maybe part of the confusion is that saying “don’t be insulting” isn’t enough info if we’re operating off of different definitions of what insulting is.

Still discussing this, what a joke. Redd, you were right from the start.

Cinnamonape gave an example of an insulting question: “Did you ENJOY bombing the Serbs?” That is definitely disrespectful and insulting to General Wesley Clark.

The incident with Lotus was more a perfect example of the differences in perceptions that you’re talking about. To be honest, I think the two parties originally involved had the whole thing perfectly under control, it was barely a dust up, until Jane basically told Lotus, a faithful reader, a regular here, that if she didn’t like what was said, she should leave. Imagine that; the parties had already or were in the process of amicably resolving their differences and a moderator steps in and incites more problems. Then imagine a third party steps in to stir the pot, which incites Jane to once again tell Lotus to not let the door hit her in the ass on the way out. The whole incident leaves a bad taste in my mouth and I try not to think about it, but I wish I knew where Lotus is hanging out or hiding now.

Here’s the Sunday Talking Head line-up for today. Read it and weep:

Absolutely NOT! What a terrible thing to do on any morning, especially a beautiful one like this.

But Happy Solstice to you, nonetheless, and best wishes for the new year.

When the two things we are proverbally warned against discussing in public, politics and religion, are primary subjects, it is inevitable that some will feel insulted. I think this is doubly true when guests, who have not followed discussions or learned anything about the personalities associated with screen names, are the subject. We all have different personalities and upbringing. I’m pretty thin skinned and try not to insult people’s intelligence, or purpose. Yet the internet can be as nice as working with a group of longshoremen. Anyway, I think anyone moderating such an open meeting has a very difficult time, enforcing subjective unwritten rules. The rest of us ought to overlook any judgements that didn’t particularly strike our fancy. From what I’ve seen, they do an excellent job.

Well, the Martian-firedrill/republican-primary-contest continues, with the Concord, New Hampshire Monitor giving Willard an “anti-endorsement”. :o)

http://apnews.myway.com//artic…..97Q00.html

By and large, I guess I agree with you, or I wouldn’t still be here. These two incidents haven’t been enough to drive me away. After all, everybody has a bad day once in a while. I try to move on, and for the most part, I have succeeded. Don’t usually bring it up, unless the subject is brought up.

Gee, I said that last night and it got deleted!

Raven — Yes, you said it in the chat thread where it was…wait for it…off topic and repetitive of the issue we were trying to squelch on insults in the first place. There is a reason I asked folks to take discussion of it into the prior thread, eh? That is how we always handle that sort of thing, so the guest isn’t treated to an meta-blog-inter-discussion kerfuffle on an off-topic hullabaloo.

Jeebus, I can’t believe we are still talking about this…

I had no problem at all with it being deleted. I trust the judgement of the mods and sometimes I like to fire one across the bow just for the hell of it.

And furthermore, I don’t think I understood that it mattered where we posted it once the guest split. My double bad.

i don’t think that question was ever asked (unless it was pulled, and christy said that none of the questions were pulled).

hard enough issue to deal with, without misquoting people.

It sure was and I pasted it into the “previous thread” at the time.

This is BS, eCHAN was rude and confrontational from the start

eCAHNomics December 22nd, 2007 at 2:05 pm 5
Welcome General Clark.

Are you proud of bombing the Serbs, and if so, why?

WTF is that supposed to be, a reasoned question? I left the thread because of that crap and if eCAHN is gone all I can say is AMF!

Jeebus, I can’t believe we are still talking about this…

you ask me to stop and i will.

just feel a bit of a need to defend eCAHN –

1) she’s been misquoted (i think), and

2) what is insulting to someone from west virginia (actually, probably the rest of the country) may not be considered insulting to someone from nyc. the word just means different things to different people – and it’s not always realistic to expect that what we mean by it will be understood by someone else without more explanation.

fer crying out loud!

please compare your quote (you got it right) with the quote in 142.

sorry – my 155 was meant to be a reply to raven at 152.

“enjoy” is NOT the same as “proud”

like i said, hard enough subject without accusing someone of saying something they didn’t even say.

Gee, I said that last night and it got deleted!

You did?!! I didn’t catch the whole thread (I’m almost always way behind in my reading; I read very well, high comprehension, good retention, but painfully slow) but what I saw of your comments were very deferential and respectful! Even the General made note of that. Wow!

Never mind, I am just finishing reading some of the comments immediately following Raven’s #147, so I understand now.

Might I point out that Cinnamonape did not specify that anyone said that. It was, however, the exact quote that Cinnamonape put in his comment upstairs.

i meant that cinnamonape had misquoted ecahn, not that you had misquoted cinnamonape (i understand that you were just repeating what cinnamonape had written).

selise — For the record, here’s the exact quote:

Welcome General Clark.

Are you proud of bombing the Serbs, and if so, why?

eCAHN did not say ENJOY — that was a misquote. And that question, while deliberately provocative remained in the thread because it was based on a substantive issue. The question that got removed was one which was not directed at Gen. Clark but was, instead, directed at the readers in the thread, and was removed because it was not on topic or substantive, but rather asking for a subjective running commentary on the problems that eCAHN saw with Gen. Clark’s policies. (See here for snippet of said comment.) Substance yes — request for a dogpile while using insulting language, no.

I think that ought to have been clear once Jane asked early on in the thread for people to stay on topic of the book. What followed was a series of people either trying to pile on eCAHN to tell her to knock it off, or people having not seen the offending comment demanding to know what was said, and eCAHN then making a series of comments about being censored while refusing to go to the prior thread for clarification as I asked her to do numerous times. And now here we are, still talking about it because….why exactly?

I am off to clean my living room in advance of an invasion of holiday company and gift exchange. Merry whatever to everyone…but I am well and truly done with this subject at this point.

The MPAA has banned the poster I linked from being used to adverise Taxi to the Dark Side, a new documentary about our torture campaign in the Middle East. In effect this bans the film itself.

thanks for the response – was any reason/justification given (no matter how bogus)? do you have any more on the back story?

seems like a potentially important story – ‘course we already know mpaa is full of shit… but still… wow.

christy –

wasn’t complaining to you – appreciated the way you handled it and said so at the time.

i didn’t start the conversation in this thread, and i only jumped in when i thought you-all were talking past each other (and at that point there was already a new thread). my initial comment was meant to help, and i’m sorry if it didn’t. i knew you had od’ed on the subject, which was why i tried to keep it to this thread. that didn’t work out so well either.

it was the misquote (in the next thread) that irked me – and setting the record straight was the only reason i was still “talking about it.” but i did that and was done… until i saw your comment and thought perhaps your question shouldn’t go ignored.

Back from my mile swim, ya’ll got it sorted out?

lol.

did you have a good swim? that’s sounds lovely as i look out side my window and see a foot of snow. i am so not a winter person.

Ron Paul – “eliminate the income tax”

Timmeh – “How much would that cost?

Paul – ” I dunno, a lot?”

Normally that would be a campaign enders, but this year the Republicans are so dysfunctional that it makes Paul look like the smart one.