Born dia.

Off with the dog,
here’s a tidbit on what we’ll see on Tweety:
Rove To Lead The Good Fight Against Holder

Yep…Good Morning, I missed most of Matthews…but per Andrew Sullivan, big plans for a Truth Commission on ”war Crimes”, sounds like plans/efforts already underway.

Good morning, pups. It’s Egan, Friedman, Kristof and Rich today in the NYT. Mr. Egan gives us “Final Days Fire Sale,” in which he says as the Bush administration winds down, it has a message for the oil and gas industry: Take what you want — and get while the getting is good. Mr. Friedman considers “Cars, Kabul and Banks,” and says that when Barack Obama takes office he will have to make mammoth decisions. The bases of those decisions should be on the things themselves, the core truths about each. Mr. Kristof suggests that someone put “A Finger in the Dike,” and that there are sound arguments against an auto bailout, but none trump the argument for one — when conditions are so fragile, we can’t risk a staggering blow to the national economy. Mr. Rich has “Two Cheers for Rod Blagojevich,” and says Gov. Rod Blagojevich of Illinois is a timely national whipping boy for an era of corruption and profound lack of accountability.

They’re here if you want to see the whole thing.

The coffee, tea and hot chocolate are ready, and I’ve got French toast made with challah, with Vermont maple syrup. I hope that all pups in the Northeast have power and are staying warm. Ice storms are no fun at all. Have a great day.

Duh. Those columns are here. I’s a doofus!

Morning RexBev & Marion, thanks for the French Toast.

Bush just landed in Iraq, part of his farewell tour.

So he’s strolling around viewing the wreckage he created with a satisfied smirk on his face? Just what Iraq needs…

strummin’ his guitar and eating cake.

Morning all,
Elliot: I always appreciate your SundayAM posts thanks
Marion: doofus not
It was a beautiful day here yesterday, today not so much – current temp 11 and falling expecting negative nos. and snowing. Time to break out the down

Left this EPU’d Dr. Kirk’s post, it probably deserves more attention

Bush sneaks through host of laws to undermine Obama

The lame-duck Republican team is rushing through radical measures, from coal waste dumping to power stations in national parks, that will take months to overturn, reports Paul Harris in New York

Paul Harris
The Observer, Sunday 14 December 2008

After spending eight years at the helm of one of the most ideologically driven administrations in American history, George W. Bush is ending his presidency in characteristically aggressive fashion, with a swath of controversial measures designed to reward supporters and enrage opponents.

By the time he vacates the White House, he will have issued a record number of so-called ‘midnight regulations’ – so called because of the stealthy way they appear on the rule books – to undermine the administration of Barack Obama, many of which could take years to undo.

Dozens of new rules have already been introduced which critics say will diminish worker safety, pollute the environment, promote gun use and curtail abortion rights. Many rules promote the interests of large industries, such as coal mining or energy, which have energetically supported Bush during his two terms as president. More are expected this week.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worl…..egulations

Morning, folks; it’s a whole lot warmer in Upstate New York this morning; I’ve got 26 degrees. It’s overcast, but not bad.

43 degrees going up to 50 with 50% chance of rain in Chicago, where the sun shines occasionally on public officials

Oh happy day to all the firepups.
It’s 46 degrees here. Pretty nippy for us Angelenos. Born and raised here, I’m used to warmer temps, but I put an extra blanket on the bed and made split pea soup last night. It almost feels holidayish. It’s so strange to celebrate the winter holidays when it’s hot, which happens a lot here.
How is everyone doing this morning?
I’ll skip watching David this morning, if that’s okay.

he SF Chronicle points out the obvious about the hosts and guests on news shows

Good morning, could the farewell tour end at the Hague?

and we’re glad for that.

oops..new post upstairs about Bush taking himself off to Iraq.

We can wish and hop and dream for justice, but, I’m not sure that there’s much chance of that.
We’ll prolly have to settle for a very tainted legacy.
(when I see your handle I always smile…hatguy. :)

I meant “hope”, but if hopping up and down helps, I’ll be glad to do that.

I thought I’d put it out there. That’s a very nice thing to hear about making you smile. You just made my day.

This is David Gregory’s first Sunday as the host of NBC’s long-running “Meet the Press,” beginning what one of his rivals calls a new, post-Tim Russert era for the network Sunday public affairs shows. But some wonder if anything will really change.

Not only does Gregory’s promotion in the aftermath of Russert’s death ensure that all the shows will continue to be hosted by white men, roughly 80 percent of the newsmakers and pundits who have appeared on the shows over the past eight years also have been white men.

like Marcy sez, No Girlz Aloud

would be nice, him sitting in his jail cell on a coldass bench.

Hmm… Someone tried to burn down Caribou Barbie’s church.

Now there’s a Christmas card with the title Joy to The World.

thank you!

Didn’t see Virg Benero, mayor of Lansing, MI, who has been one of the most vocal and effective proponent for loans to the U.S. auto industry. Rich TV celebrity talking heads are affraid of someone willing to speak truth to power. They want only those on their programs that are well versed in the mannered kabuki that is their formula.

Nope, he should be on the list, he has really been good making the case clearly and simply while knocking down lame arguments from the other side.

I’m interested to see his first go at it, he has an ambitious line-up, eight guests.

Last Fri. on the CBS News Katie Couric asks the “venerable” Bob Schieffer what the real reason was for primarily Republican Senators voting against loans to the U.S. auto industry. This Beltway Brahmin said the Senators were merely responding to their constituents opposition to a “bailout” of the auto industry. Does anyone know what this guy gets paid for his blistering insights?

don’t know the exact figure but it appears to be too much.

and I’d like to know how many phone calls, faxes and emails these guys actually GOT from their constituents telling them to vote against loans. I think they did not get that many – I think this was all tremendous posturing on their parts, a huge game of chicken…to give them cover for 2010 and 2012 so that they could say “we didn’t vote for the auto bailout”.

I tried to send one of those web form emails to CBS and each time I clicked I got a 404 page doesn’t exist error. Figures. I see Schieffer has Corkhead on. This oughta be a lovefest between Levin, Corkhead and Schieffer.

edit – clicked submit

That’s fair.
But, in all honesty, I’ll be at church this morning. I’m sure I’ll hear later in the day how it went, tho.

I am astonished. Bill Kristol sounded like an FDLer and Juan Williams sounded like a southern Repug re the auto bailout. Kristol said the southern Repugs have done permanent damage to the party with their stance on the bailout.

Williams stuck with the “bad CEO’s, they deserve it, ” meme…

McLaughlin featured Blagogate to slime Obama with the aid of Crowley and Buchannon. Words like ooze, Chicago sleaze, bandied about.

Insane Old Clown McLaughlin did not know who is Rahm Emmanuel. Buchannon gave him the backstory right there on the air. Utterly craptastic.

The news said that Palin’s home church has a million dollars worth of fire damage. How did a state with just over half a million people get a church in one of it’s cities worth that much?

Palin’s church of up to 1,000 parishioners can support a million dollar church. HOW? Tax dollars? Info from wiki

The church was founded in 1977. It asked Alaska native Larry Kroon to become pastor in 1978.[2] The church’s first building in Wasilla was completed in 1979, with capacity for seating 250 people. A second story was added in 1984, then a larger sanctuary added in 1996. The building was then sold to another church, enabling the church to buy 20 acres of land in Wasilla.[6] A new church building was dedicated on October 1, 2006.[7][8] The church hosts up to 1000 parishioners. [9] The church has strong recruitment practices. In Caring for the Harvest Force in the New Millennium, authors Tom A.Steffen and Fredrick Douglas Pennoyer describe Wasilla Bible Church as doing a “superb job” of bringing teenagers “to commit to Jesus.”[10]

A suspicious fire did over $1 million dollars in damage to the church on Friday, 12 Dec 2008.[4]

Snagglelophodus says “stop the bean-counting”. That may be true for very small samples …but over decades and over several networks the fact is…it’s a real issue. Imagine if you had a nation, half one race…half the other…both equally well-educated. But the major news analysis programs (i.e. where opinions are aired) are hosted by only one group. Imagine still, that views of that other group are shown to be significantly out of the range from the actual membership of that group (i.e. Carly Fiorina, Libby Dole and Kay Baily Hutchinson being on far more often than more representative spokespeople).

Actually that was $1 million in DAMAGE. Which means that the actual value of the church was far higher…and that doesn’t even include the land it was on. That’s over $1000/person. But I suppose over decades they may have soaked the zealous for amounts like that.

And don’t forget that Alaska gives over $1000/year BACK in state revenues from the Alaska Investment Fund – which is based on oil and gas export taxes and leases. If the church tells the parishioners “give us those checks” it’s likely money indirectly coming from the State. The more Palin gives back, the more that goes into her church.

And ultimately that money comes from those that buy Alaskan oil and gas in the lower 48.

Interesting…the “socialist” Alaska Permanent Fund was created in 1976 when the Trans Alaska Pipeline was completed. I suspect that Alaskans wouldn’t have supported such an ostentatious church before then. As well, the creation of the Fund brought tens of thousands of people to Alaska, attracted by the low taxes, increase in jobs, and development that the fund brought to the economy. Many of those people were Southern evangelicals.

Southern evangelicals to add to the descendents of dust bowl refugees sent to Alaska in about 1937. Such a mix probably wouldn’t be very interested in education and progressive policies.