Zed in turkey?

Miserable line-up, will go for a walk.

Morning gang. How is everyone this morning?

Coffee!

Morning all. I’d still be in bed if the cat hadn’t decided it was time for me to get up.

Too warm in Florida. Be interesting to see Tim Russert “go after” Hillary. I don’t think any of the MSM likes her.

When did that garrulous buffoon Matthews get a show on Sunday? Why?

Good morning Christy!

Ah, I love that photo. It was taken right out side the John Edwards campaign office in Lebanon, NH. We spent the morning canvasing for Edwards and then got to watch him play basketball in the afternoon :)

EPu’ed from below:

In response to egregious @ 313

Egreg, move to where. Aren’t you in Ohio and if so we need you there.

and message for marion. Also response to query about the BTHTBR news at the DOJ. Which I can’t repeat as I really need to make that oatmeal and tea mentioned down below. Buzzing off. Check back later.

Julie’s fabulous pic work is the only thing that makes reading that line-up :-( bearable.

Well, hope the 18 years I spent growing up in Ohio will suffice. Currently in Michigan, visiting family members and having dinner with a friend last night. Packing will resume this afternoon when I return to Virginia, moving to California on Feb 5. Why, is there something else going on that day?

Good Morning Christy!

The cedar waxwing is a beautiful bird.

Frank Rich on Obama & HRC.

Lovely picture of a beautiful bird. Wonder which Michigan contender will win the Repub primary. Might be a fertile ground for a little crossover merry making. Maybe Ron Paul needs a state win? That should send the villagers to their fainting couches. Heaven knows Republicans have messed with our primaries before.

Egregious,
Thought Ohio after your post on the last state election and housecleaning of friends of convicted felon Bush pioneers Republicans that you were still there. Unless it was two other people. No, make that one other poster and the same friends of convicted felon Bush pioneers Republicans.

The story of the rare coin dealer caught with his fingers in the Ohio state till still makes me smile. IIRC, it was the first BushCo BTHTBR (Bad things happen to bad Republicans) with consequences. Do IRC?

Daily Kos has established Democrats for Romney and Josh has polls putting him first. Meanwhile Michigan evangelicals going Huckabee while the evangelical ‘leadership’ is having conniptions, cf NYT.

Did you see this on Kos the other day?

For those who don’t remember the 2005 scandal broken by the Toledo Blade,

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coingate_Scandal

18 years in prison for Mr (not Dr.) No(e). hee hee hee

Romney is probably the best bet for mischief. “Make him spend it all!” This would keep all the Republican contenders grubbing for money and continue shortchanging the senate and representative candidates. Heehee.

Good Morning!!

Another great photo by Julie. Here’s a YouTube to start the day.

The Night of the Living Republicans

On KO Friday, Jonathan Alter was blowing smoke about how Hillary was going to take “an entire hour” of questioning by political pitbull Pumpkinhead. Sheesh!!

It was Alter. I couldn’t remember who said that. He was making it out to be a huge deal, like if she could take an hour on the rack with Russert we might as well give her the nomination, as it would prove she could handle the Republican machine AND Al Qaeda, all at the same time, without breaking sweat.

BSRH, the Toledo Blade has done some ground breaking reporting. This is from an interview about the Pulitzer Prize winning story they did on Tiger Force:

The Toledo Blade, circulation about 146,000, won this year’s Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting, and other national awards as well, for a stunning, authoritative series on atrocities committed in 1967 in Vietnam by the Tiger Force, an elite American fighting unit.

that utube is hysterical!

Thanks MM!
Anything tasty from the bakery today?

Further evidence of the fatuous self-involvement of the punditocracy, in this piece by Chris Cillizza And Shailagh Murray in the WaaPoo;

“Forget Feb. 5, a.k.a. Super Tuesday, when more than 20 states vote in the presidential nomination fight. How about a week later, when the candidates, drained financially and organizationally, may have to duke it out in Maryland and Virginia — where, coincidentally, the vast majority of the political chattering class resides.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....s#cooliris

Barf.

Good Morning Elliot!

Glad you got a kick out of it. A friend of mine sent that along.Well the bakery has seen the error of it’s way, and had some croissant sticky buns yesterday. I bought enough to last the weekend. Oh and some brownie bites too.

BEIJING - Declaring war on the “white pollution” choking its cities, farms and waterways, China is banning free plastic shopping bags and calling for a return to the cloth bags of old — steps largely welcomed by merchants and shoppers on Wednesday.

The measure eliminates the flimsiest bags and forces stores to charge for others, making China the latest nation to target plastic bags in a bid to cut waste and conserve resources.

Shoppers: It’s BYO bag in China

Good morning. That really is a beautiful photo of a cedar waxwing. I used to see them when I was growing up in San Antonio. That’s a huge range, from Texas to New Hampshire.

Supposedly they were sometimes innebriated from eating the berries on the huisache tree. Probably a false rumor put out by English sparrows or something, but that was the story.

Good morning everyone.

Our soldiers are coming home and believing they’re still on the battlefield:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01.....jc15sRha4g

Scary.

Nice going Toledo Blade. I should have mentioned that a paper broke it.
General thought
Local papers do good things with legal challenges, e.g. the Boston Globe went to the courts to get the records that led to the revelation of priests’ sexual abuse. And I believe we owe a McClatchey paper the Duke house-selling deal that brought him down, IIRC. Anyone know of any other examples of local papers/local malfeasance/big consequences?

back at Ohio:

Did IRC that it was the first Repub scandal to have consequences, the criminal kind? The electoral ones came in 2006. B

Unfortunately, it happens after every conflict. Turning off that level of violent trauma and exposure is not easy for most people, long after the fact. I still have relatives who served in WWII and Korea who have nightmares. And for some, those nightmares translate into violent action. Mercifully, my family has escaped that through the years, but not every family is so lucky. The trick is to provide counseling and other services to folks with PTSD and other issues before they hit the breaking point…and we are not doing that nearly well enough at the moment. Not even close.

Republican crack-up continues….

Support the troops! Stick a magnet on your Hummer!

It’s a sad reality of war, isn’t it Christy? My gut wrenches over it. Growing up we had a few Vietnam war veterans in our life (friends of the family), one of which was a “flame thrower” (he would burn down villages) whose face still showed the burn/pock marks of being burned by his own flames after the wind blew it back. He ended up joining the volunteer fire department when he got home from Vietnam in the 70’s. Why? Because he wanted to SAVE PEOPLE FROM BURNING BUILDINGS, rather than burning down buildings with people in it. He still has the nightmares, but luckily, he’s not a danger to society. He’s a good man who was part of something horrible and has spent every day since then trying to redeem himself.

Catching on everywhere, apparently.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/envi.....news.waste

Loved the video MM. Especially the reganomics part.

Actually, the stories are true about waxwing’s being vulnerable to intoxication:

http://www.birds.cornell.edu/A.....xwing.html

Good morning. That really is a beautiful photo of a cedar waxwing. I used to see them when I was growing up in San Antonio. That’s a huge range, from Texas to New Hampshire.

Supposedly they were sometimes innebriated from eating the berries on the huisache tree. Probably a false rumor put out by English sparrows or something, but that was the story.

Just at the very end of fall, I walked up into the woods nearby with the dogg. The snow was only just falling. Approaching the woods, the path was festively confettied with the yellow-orange outerhusks of the bittersweet, and there was a sprinkling of the berries themselves, the few lost in the frolic.

Obviously the birds had quite the party. Didn’t see any of them, they musta been sleeping it off by then. Don’t know if it was a party of waxwings tho, we have flocks of robins that decided to stay here this year.

Two sandhill cranes have taken up residence on my patio. They wake me up in the morning. They are huge.

I don’t know much about birds, but the second I saw this picture, I knew it was a cedar waxwing. Why? Because it had a red berry in his mouth. Yep — when I was a kid, we had bird card games and bird books. (My mother was a bird lover.) In all those, the cedar waxwing always had a berry in its mouth. Always. LOL

The land and watershed preservation group I work with in NJ is debating taking this on as Get to Know Us campaign. What does it have to do with land and waershed preservation, absolutely nothing, which is a problem from a messaging standpoint.

The task was for the committe was to go without plastic bags for 2 weeks as a test to see what the challenges were, and to have a plan in place to address them when we rolled it out. It was interesting to see how ingrained the bags are in the lives of the people on our committee to say the least.

I’m not sure if we going to be champions for doing this locally because it has nothing to do with land and watershed preservation. It may be a component but certainly not the focus.

Mornin’ folks!

Well I gues I’m a glutton for punishment. Press the Meat just came on down here in San Antone and Punkinhaid leads off with quotes from some of the columnists and pundits on the “racial attacks” from Clinton campaign staffers against Obama.

HRC seems to be addressing it nicely (so far)

Two sandhill cranes have taken up residence on my patio.

Can I camp out on your patio?

:-)

Yea it’s whoot, I’m glad you enjoyed it. Say hello the cranes for me, I’m sure they will know who I am. :)

That’s interesting. I had always heard that they sometimes had irratic flight pattern, but didn’t know if they were actually looped. I always thought they had pretty markings.

Challenge: If you can take a photo that makes me think a grackel is anything more than an ugly obnoxious nuisance, you will have performed a miracle.

Mornin’ folks!

Well I gues I’m a glutton for punishment. Press the Meat just came on down here in San Antone and Punkinhaid leads off with quotes from some of the columnists and pundits on the “racial attacks” from Clinton campaign staffers against Obama.

HRC seems to be addressing it nicely (so far)

Yay Dakine! I’m so glad you‘re watching it, will appreciate hearing your reports.

Odd that people who are working to preserve the environment are challenged by giving up plastic bags. We always ask for brown paper or take our own cloth bags when we grocery shop. It really isn’t that hard.

Punkinhaid TRYING to be confrontational on the issue but HRC interrupting him and saying “Wait a minute.”

Sure. I got plenty of pics to prove it too. The worst part of it is that they see their reflection in my sliding glass door of my bedroom and constantly tap on the door. They stay for a couple of days, fly away for a couple of days and then come back again. I love them but they are pretty messy if you know what I mean.

Is he losing his touch?

Wait a minute, he didn’t have it in the first place.

Challenge: If you can take a photo that makes me think a grackel is anything more than an ugly obnoxious nuisance, you will have performed a miracle.

http://juliesmagiclightshow.com/?&pic=444
http://juliesmagiclightshow.com/?&pic=1856

There’s only so much I can do :)

Sure. I got plenty of pics to prove it too. The worst part of it is that they see their reflection in my sliding glass door of my bedroom and constantly tap on the door. They stay for a couple of days, fly away for a couple of days and then come back again. I love them but they are pretty messy if you know what I mean.

Those birds are HUGE!
Do they cause any problems for you at work?

Here is a pic–I’m not sure how to do a link so this may not work.

Last night I was going through cable channels and found GOD TV. Oh boy. This “show” was live from Cincinnati, Ohio where they were praying to gawd that the Adoption Coalition continue against those who choose abortion. Many came on-stage to say they weren’t aborted and were thankful to gawd. And then there was the male preacher who said to the audience that he didn’t want the nation to continue to see them as the ‘angry right’. LOL! I stared in amazement at these yahoos. I’m guessing….but I bet these are the people who will ban themselves behind Huckabee. *rolling eyes*

No, I can’t do one anymore. I used to be able to before we switched to the new site.

Timmeh is trying desperately to sandbag HRC. Question was about a comment on HRC being work horse vs show horse.

She responds that she was only talking about herself, that when she came to Senate in ‘01, folks expected her to be a “show horse” (”Frankly, that’s doing a lot of appearances on your show Tim”) but that she’s been a work horse.

Then he asks about the NH “moment” Was it frustration, tiredness or what? She responds that it was just the feeling of the moment. Then tries to get to her by how the woman who asked the question voted for BO.

Timmeh is trying desperately to get her to slam Obama as unready or whatever. She is parrying fairly well and not taking his bait. He wants her to say Obama not ready and she’s saying that it’s up to the voters.

Morning everyone. Bush still beating that war drum. “Iran threatens world security”. Everytime he says it I think everyone worldwide wants to counter with a resounding ‘YOU are the biggest threat to world security’

It was the behaviour modification that was the challenge for some, as it always is with people, not so much how committed you are.

The following are rhetorical questions based on what we found.

Do you keep you cloth bags in your car for those trips on the way home from somewhere or forgot to bring them when you leave the house to do errands? Do you have dogs that you clean up after? Do you reuse the same bag for bringing lunch? Do you use the plastic bags in small trash cans and recycle them that way? Then there’s the transition to buying small trash bags. etc.

Keep in mind this was a test for people who are concerned which would be less of a challenge then for the general public.

Okay, the head profile has a sort of dignity. The other is a very good photo and is more characteristic of the grackels I know. I don’t know how you found two who don’t have mishappen tail feathers bent out at odd angles. Anyway, very good job!

Julie, Do green herons get confused with grackels? Do they have similar noisy squawking garbled calls?

Timmeh pushing the “Surge is working meme” now and pushing HRC to say that she’ll keep the troops there “just a few more months.” She’s not taking the bait and repeating her point that the surge was to give the Irakis space for a political move. She’s saying that the Iraki government is following the US presidential race and reacting accordingly.

He’s bringing up the Iraki AUMF vote now and bringing up Obama’s anti-AUMF speech.

He’s trying to interrupt again and she ain’t letting him. She is in control of this interview.

Government of the Yahoos, by the Yahoos, for the Yahoos.

Maybe she’ll pull a Gotcha

From TPM:

After two polls showing roughly a tie between McCain and Romney in Michigan, a new McClatchy/MSNBC/Mason-Dixon poll shows Romney with an eight point lead.

LOL. God bless Kos.

Now that would be hilarious. I have this recurring dream that a guest on the show will bring along some Timmeh quotes and play gotcha right back at him one of these days on some inane, tangential, not-directly-related to anything topic. Just for fun… *g*

Now that I think about it, the MSM talking heads have always reminded me of a bunch of grackels and I think that would be a pretty good name for them. The McLaughlin group sounds like a bunch of them. Chris Matthews, except for coloration, is reminiscent of the constant obnoxious clamor. While the don’t literally crap all over everything, they do so figuratively.

In general, seems to be doin’ a pretty good job, as best I can tell.

Well Christy on your future appearance perhaps your dream will true. :)

HRC says that the ‘02 speech by Obama is to his credit but that Obama has moved back from it. Timmeh points out that she has voted in favor of a lot of the same things that she’s beating up Obama for. She responds “My campaign is not premised on the one speech and then voting contrary to it.”

Timmeh trying to hammer her for her vote. She takes responsibility for the vote and accuses Bush of abusing the authority he was given. Timmeh is trying very strongly to sandbag with snapshots of votes.

I think it would be very difficult to confuse a grackle with a green heron.

She’s not letting Timmeh control the mike and do his standard browbeating. When he starts to play gotcha, she’s slaps back. And she’s calling Bush admin liars for not doing what they said they would after the votes held (without using that word specifically)

There are certain times thru’out a 24-hour period (on Dish) when you have two choices on almost 100% of the channels….either religion or product pushing. Gak!

There are certain times thru’out a 24-hour period (on Dish) when you have two choices on almost 100% of the channels….either religion or product pushing. Gak!

it’s enough to cure anyone’s insomnia

Ok. We keep cloth bags in the car. We don’t have dogs, but I use plastic bags for the litter box scoopings (4 cats worth.) I guess I would use paper if there were no plastic bags. I have a soft sided lunch cooler. I would estimate that we have reduced our consumption of bags by about 75%, going by the quantity we have on hand (we don’t throw them in the trash, we save them).

“Keep in mind this was a test for people who are concerned which would be less of a challenge then for the general public.”

On a more general note, sooner or later the “general public” is going to have to wake the **** up and start addressing these issues.

Oh yeah, I am SO on the invite list. Ha!

Thanks for watching HRC I’m not sure I can. She grates on me.

OK, now Timmeh playing a debate speech that Bill gave in ‘92 on experience to shore up Obama.

HRC - It’s the economy stupid

I hope she answered that, while the economy was in a mess in 1992, our whole form of government and way of life were not under threat, the way they are now.

Timmeh - “So how ya gonna pay for it?”

HRC - “Purpose of stimulus is getting money to the people who need it. Drawing down Irak will help this need.”

Timmeh - “Don’t the people deserve blame for going for the cheaper rate ARMs?”

HRC - “The banks, lenders, predatory loan folks need to be restrained. Putting people into these loand who maybe should not have been placed there.

Me too. Especially when she cackles away in her pantsuit, crying and showing her cleavage.

Next sandbag is pardons. “Marc Rich’s ex-wife gave you X thousand dollars.”

I was not involved.

Your brothers pushed for pardons

“No one asked me and I will not allow them to do so in my admin”

KayInMaine January 13th, 2008 at 5:40 am
29
Good morning everyone.

Our soldiers are coming home and believing they’re still on the battlefield:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01…..jc15sRha4g

Scary.

Unfortunately, it happens after every conflict. Turning off that level of violent trauma and exposure is not easy for most people, long after the fact. I still have relatives who served in WWII and Korea who have nightmares. And for some, those nightmares translate into violent action. Mercifully, my family has escaped that through the years, but not every family is so lucky. The trick is to provide counseling and other services to folks with PTSD and other issues before they hit the breaking point…and we are not doing that nearly well enough at the moment. Not even close.

____________

and one should not overlook the fact that the Army has lowered it’s requirements for enlistment. some of the people they have accepted were troubled before they went in. we will be reaping this bitter harvest for a long time…..

__________

No cleavage today but a few laughs at Timmeh’s idiotic questions (He just asked about the VRWC and she laughed)

HRC on Russert is a show made for sado-masochists. I’d prefer to scrape my fingernails on a chalkboard. I hate watching Russert with any guest. Russert coddles Republicans and Joe Lieberman. He plays his stupid gotcha with Democrats. Better for blood pressure not to watch Russert.

Timmeh brings up a WSJ/NBC news poll comparing Clinton/Huckabee race vs Obama/Huckabee race on electability

HRC - “I thought if nothing else NH showed it’s not a good idea to look so hard at polling.”

I usually agree and avoid Timmeh but she is playing him today far more than he is playing her.

Timmeh “What’s your biggest personal adversity”

HRC - “Well, I think we lived through it publicly didn’t we?”

Timmeh “What’s your biggest personal adversity”

HRC - “Well, I think we lived through it publicly didn’t we?”

Choice answer Hillary!

OK, on commercial now and looks like the HRC piece has ended.

IMNSHO, Timmeh failed if his mission (as it usually appears to be) was a “gotcha soundbite.” She refused to take his bait and insteand, she took the attack.

Good. And I would have been happy if Obama and Edwards had handled it well also. Good job, Dakine, you ever think about doing sports play-by-play on radio?

thanks, dakine01 - sounds like Clinton did just fine…

‘morning all - coffee is ready.

OT, maybe not

BBC has this up wrt Iran’s energy program

D’accord. *g*

Russert thinks that he is a tough questioner. In reality he is a an easy interview. Because he can’t think in his seat, he is a prisoner of his aides notes. The interviews are often mischaracterized as ‘gotcha’ sessions. They are not. He never gets anyone. The assertions get made, but they are not proven up.

Russert’s true gift is self-promotion.

Russert is Cheney’s go to guy in the media. When the WH wants a credible reporter to disseminate propaganda - its Russert. Russert was a player in the Scooter Libby circus. Russert is GE Jack Welch’s boy. Russert blames the working man for losing his home to predatory lenders. Russert blames the working man for losing his job to China ans India.

Actually I did at one point when I was in Jr high try it when a cousin gave me a small tape recorder. Didn’t last long as it is not easy to do. Something that we are reminded of quite frequently here at the Lake when trying to follow various congressional hearings

You, you dumb f***!

I can dream.

dakine,
thank you for the most excellent reporting on the Timmeh Hillary mashup!

Yeah, I know. There are no shorthand descriptions, like left jab, uppercut, Texas Leager, off-tackle, etc. Maybe we should develop a dictionary of terms for tricky/nasty media interview tecniques.

That’s great Pete, and your story would be one that would be perfect to use in a campaign to do this, as an example for people to follow, and I encourage you to keep it up. I agree with you that the the general public needs to address it, along with the retailers.

People have various comfort levels, and if you’re going to position yourself as the agent of change for those levels, you have to look at yourself first, albeit your run the risk of being hypocritical. That was what this was about, and some of the folks I work have done great things to preserve land and water quality, but they had these ingrained behavior patterns that they didn’t realize, or were in denial about it, and it took doing something like this for them to realize it. And for some, changing behavior is a challenge no matter what. It’s human nature.

Good Morning Christy And to da pups
Plastic bag comment-When shopping and offered a bag I say” save the oil save the tree your Grandkids are going to want it”. Shocks most teens. When you wrap your head around that next realize it takes a gallon of petrol to produce a pound of meat.
To get involved go to www.peacecoalition.org and start your own chapter in your area great resourse.

Spew alert

OT but couldn’t resist posting from today’s Liz Smith column in the NYPost

“THE CHARMING gift from Judith and Rudy Giuliani arrived just a minute too late to get on my Christmas tree. But the items are classic and will remind through the years of one of the most unusual couples ever to tackle national politics and make a run for the White House.

The Giulianis sent two ornaments - one is a red, white and blue handsome ball representing the patriot Rudy. And the other is a dainty sequin glittering silver high-heeled slipper from Judith - his Cinderella. I noted how their selections reflect each of them and wished them health and happiness.”

Aw…….*g*

Hillary just finished with Russert here on the east coast. I think I’m calling this one for her.

Russert did not get her to take the bait, and she clarified alot of the out of context stuff, and kept her cool. I don’t think Russert landed one really meaningful punch on her.

Though he raised a small bruise with her AUMF vote.

What a BORING lineup. Think I’ll watch Sunday NFL Countdown.

According to this article by the Federation of Atomic Scientists:
http://www.fas.org/nuke/guide/.....index.html

the CIA had concluded that Israel had begun producing nuclear weapons in 1968 based on conversations that Edward Teller had had with colleagues in Israel. As for nuclear test:

Some type of non-nuclear test, perhaps a zero yield or implosion test, occurred on 2 November 1966 [possibly at Al-Naqab in the Negev]. There is no evidence that Israel has ever carried out a nuclear test, although many observers speculated that a suspected nuclear explosion in the southern Indian Ocean in 1979 was a joint South African-Israeli test.

According to wiki, the US began nuclear cooperation with Iran in the 1950s. This led to a research reactor fueled by highly enriched uranium in 1967. In 1975 a contract was signed with a German firm to build a reactor at Bushehr but the Iranian revolution came along before it was completed. In 1976, Gerald Ford offered to Iran a complete fuel cycle including extracting plutonium from nuclear fuel but this never really went anywhere.