Just EPU’d below: BBC reported this lately, genocide of Palestinians is not an accident, it is a feature, hanukkah bah!

Israeli leaders ‘to topple Hamas’

The two leading candidates to become Israel’s next prime minister have vowed if elected to topple the Palestinian Islamist movement, Hamas, in Gaza.
The threats by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Likud party leader Binyamin Netanyahu came after PM Ehud Olmert warned against making bold statements.
A six-month Egyptian-brokered truce between Israel and Hamas, which runs Gaza, came to an end on Friday.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7794577.stm

Maybe the best pay and bonuses for the banking executives is being paid in the worthless assets they created.

Well, they may be rich and bailed out, but I’m not convinced they’re any better off than us, the meek, the lowly. Didn’t Jesus have something to say about the poor in spirit?
I may not have a porsche in the driveway, and no presents under my tree, but I’ve got a kitchen full of home made goodies and a bunch of little things for the stockings.

The Guardian has this story, the gift of normal sight:

Inventor’s 2020 vision: to help 1bn of the world’s poorest see better
Professor pioneers DIY adjustable glasses that do not need an optician

It was a chance conversation on March 23 1985 (”in the afternoon, as I recall”) that first started Josh Silver on his quest to make the world’s poor see. A professor of physics at Oxford University, Silver was idly discussing optical lenses with a colleague, wondering whether they might be adjusted without the need for expensive specialist equipment, when the lightbulb of inspiration first flickered above his head.

What if it were possible, he thought, to make a pair of glasses which, instead of requiring an optician, could be “tuned” by the wearer to correct his or her own vision? Might it be possible to bring affordable spectacles to millions who would never otherwise have them?

http://www.guardian.co.uk/soci…..osh-silver

The rich aren’t better than anyone. If they lost everything tomorrow, they couldn’t survive. The rest of us? We’d be fine, because we know how it is to live day to day.

How the hell would the post rich shovel all this damn snow we have this morning Kay. They would be lost carrying in wood for the wood stove as well.

I am beginning to think that Madoff is my hero.

Maybe…I surely would like to know more about where all the initial bailout money has gone…like back to those who created the disaster? Paulson asked from the get-go for no accountability. Everything Paulson wants, Paulson getsssss Quite an act.

Good morning, pups. If it’s Monday it must be Kristol, Cohen and Krugman in the NYT. Oh, sweet merciful baby Jesus in the manger, Billy “I’m a moron” Kristol has yakked up a particularly odious furball this morning. He produced “Popularity Isn’t Everything,” in which he loftily opines that, in admiration of straight talkers, we should give credit to the nation’s most unpopular Republican, Dick Cheney, and the nation’s most unpopular Democrat, Rod Blagojevich. You just can’t make this stuff up, you know… Mr. Cohen, in “Two Shoes for Democracy,” says that the message behind an Iraqi journalist’s insulting gesture — which was in a sense a democratic act — is that the Green Zone should be eliminated. Mr. Krugman, in “Life Without Bubbles,” says it may take a lot longer than many people think before the United States economy is ready to live without bubbles. And until then, the economy is going to need a lot of government help.

http://mgpaquin.wordpress.com/.

The coffee, tea and hot chocolate are ready, and the biscuits are out of the oven. There are thermoses on the table so the folks who have snow to shovel can take something warm with them. I hope you all have power and heat. Have a great day.

Bloomberg the pig, reveals true Wall Street Culture:

The artifact came in the form of a photocopied booklet with the title The Portable Bloomberg: The Wit and Wisdom of Michael Bloomberg — 32 pages of Bloomberg quips, anecdotes, and aphorisms with occasional illustrations — dated February 14, 1990, when Bloomberg was a much smaller company, and Bloomberg himself a much less visible figure (this was seven years before publication of his book, Bloomberg by Bloomberg, which has a similar, if more sanitized, tone).

“Make the customer think he’s getting laid when he’s getting fucked,” is the booklet’s first Bloomberg quotation.

“A good salesperson asks for the order,” went the second piece of purported Bloomberg wisdom. “It’s like the guy who goes into a bar, and walks up to every gorgeous girl there, and says ‘Do you want to fuck?’ He gets turned down a lot — but he gets fucked a lot, too!”

I read from the booklet: “The three biggest lies are: the check’s in the mail, I’ll respect you in the morning, and I’m glad I’m Jewish.” I said: “He actually said that?”

Pause. “Often.”

I read another Bloombergism: “If women wanted to be appreciated for their brains, they’d go to the library instead of to Bloomingdale’s.” And another: “I know for a fact that any self-respecting woman who walks past a construction site and doesn’t get a whistle will turn around and walk past again and again until she does get one.”

“This is Bloomberg culture,” she said. “You have to understand, Mike is very uncensored.” After a second, she went on: “When Mike says outrageous things, it’s sort of a test. It’s a loyalty test. It’s a bonding thing when everyone laughs. You stop thinking that it might be inappropriate.”

“Is all of this a direct quote — these are his actual words?”

“Yes.”

http://74.125.45.132/search?q=…..#038;gl=us

Bloomberg the pig demotes or fires pregnant women, for being pregnant:

http://www.portfolio.com/execu…..-Bloomberg

He wasn’t terribly fond of the money changers working in the temple. Things haven’t changed much in over 2,000 years. Churches are still being used to make money…and his message of love and God within each person has been hijacked.

The money has gone back to the owners of the Federal Reserve from whence it came.

Hopefully the NYTimes will not renew Kristol’s contract. It’s a chilly nineteen degrees here but I feel fortunate because I know that the chill will not last long.

Hopefully the NYTimes will not renew Kristol’s contract.

That’s pretty high up towards the top of my Christmas wish list this year!

I don’t often read kristol and have no idea why this morning should have been different……but, to put it bluntly, that’s the biggest turd I have ever seen come out of his mouth.

Rude..crude..and lude. I assume no copyright on the booklet? Have fun spreading it far and wide.

Bloomer’s a short little fellow, ain’t he? I’ve noticed this kind of talk, especially about women, from other very short men I’ve known.

Small man syndrome perhaps?

12 degrees in mid-Hudson.

Good morning everyone.

Yep, nasty piece of work, Bloomberg.

Bush the job creator! While scanning the Guardian today, I read this paragraph. Baydan has recruited an extra 100 staff to meet orders for 300,000 pairs of Model 271 – more than four times the shoe’s normal annual sale – following an outpouring of support for Zaidi’s act, which was intended as a protest, but led to his arrest by Iraqi security forces. The type of shoe that was thrown at Bush is selling so fast that now there are fewer unemployed.

I am so dreading leaving the house, it’s absolutely frigid out there.
I can smell the cash burning in my furnace.

Here’s WJ this morning
7:30-8:00 KERRY WEEMS
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services – Acting Administrator http://www.cms.hhs.gov

Nursing Home Compare: http://www.hospitalcompare.hhs.gov

Topic: A new rating system, unveiled last week by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, which rates nursing homes on a five-star basis.

8:00-8:30 JUSTIN FOX
Uplink Time Magazine
Business & Economics Columnist http://www.time.com

Blog: http://curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com

Topic: In the wake of losses in the stock market, a growing number of policymakers are questioning the viability of 401K retirement funds. Guest will discuss the future of 401Ks in the Obama administration and the next Congress.

8:30-9:00 Newspaper Articles/Phones

9:00-10:00 DAVID HOFF
Education Week
Associate Editor http://www.edweek.org

Topic: Department of Education – the first in a series of segments on the cabinet appointments & the departments they oversee. Today, we’ll focus on the Department of Education. Pres.-elect Obama named Arne Duncan as the nominee for Education Secretary last week.

9:15 LINDA LUTTON Chicago Public Radio
Reporter

Topic: A look at Education Secretary nominee Arne Duncan & his work with the Chicago Public Schools.

Here’s a WaPoo article about missing Bush/Cheney emails, and how we not ever see much. Is it odd to not include any mention of Mike Connell’s plane crash, which just happened?

Seems like a “move along….nothing to see here” poy to me.

According to official figures, 2 million jobs have disappeared in the U.S. in the year ending in November, and only a little over 2 million have been added in the 8 years of W, vs. 23 million during Clinton. With a little luck, the rest of the jobs added during the past 8 will disappear in December & January. Heckuva job W.

Although, thinking more about it, I guess there’s plenty of bigger men who think and say the same things. Asshole-ishness is found at any height, complexion, and gender.

Whoops.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..id=topnews

But he’s kept us safe, so we should be on our knees.

Bloomberg, Paulson, Kristol, Mike McConnell what a hell of a list of turds to start the day with.

Dealt with a few of those in my life, too. Mr. Personable in public as compared to those harassing, belittling, sexist, and racist comments. A Jew making fun of Jews? Under the guise of a joke, insecure people attack others. It is their game..”it is only a joke” is the excuse used to ensure that all of their teeth remain intact.

I have an ax to grind. My late husband was short & suffered from the syndrome. Not pretty.

Um, on our knees raises some undesirable thoughts. Brain bleach please.

Not before, or on, 911. I wish some brave person would say that to his smirking face. Say it to everyone who brags about how safe he kept America.

Morning all,
Single didgets here again, high today 13 with flurries

Big men with deep voices have a big advantage – they get the presumption of competence. Short women, not so much :-)

I think they are referred to as “self-hating Jews” – but only by other Jews.

Don’t try the same thing as a gentile, or you’ll be forced to wear an “anti-Semite” lapel pin.

I wonder how safe all of the newly homeless feel?

Especially if the short women are blond. I’m intimately familiar with the syndrome. It’s what made me become overly serious.

Sorry to hear about the “late” part.

It’s too bad that happens to some of those who are vertically challenged. Robert Reich I think is under 5′ but he doesn’t seem to have it. Since he’s so short, maybe he’s just like, “Aw shit. Who the hell am kidding. Might as well be nice.”

I grew up with Fahrenheit, but we live now with Celsius and I forget how to do the conversions, so when people say it’s +13, that sounds warm to me. I won’t scare you with the temps we get.

So right….pulling themselves up to be even bigger, louder, a sure way to take up more space and bully. Seen it alot. As if to fill the room.

NPR news about a court allowing a suit to go forward against the Vatican…very new ground.

What homeless..he would say if you asked him.

Well, for a person who still thinks the Iraqis should be grateful to him, I think it would be an exercise in futility to tell W he’s made the world a less safe place.

Hope we hear from our friend Barbara…very cold in her part of the world with some power outages.

As in “what’s his beef?” Everyone tired of having an idiot for our Pres. raise a hand.

Robert Reich is my favorite vertically challenged man. He even has a sense of humor about it.
http://www.amazon.com/Ill-Be-S…..038;sr=1-6
I once ran into him at the airport. He sticks out as much being short as Volcker being tall.

The bailout was to SAVE the existing finance and banking system,. Their twisted logic is that we NEED that system or the “real” economy is up shit’s creek.

So the money went exactly where it had been going before with some minor exception. They have retreated on their crazy investment schemes cos no one would play, but the pay and excesses go on as per usual – that part of the system had to be saved

Where is Barbara? For the first time in forty years, the whole of this country is covered in snow all at once, including the west coast and the islands, which hardly ever see snow.

Isn’t that a pain? I still think in feet, inches, yards, ounces, pounds, etc etc. Trudeau was an ass…. when he forced the change to metric. Confusion still reigns in the grocery store. Gotta love the Weather Channel..it gives the conversion.

My kids learned metric in school, so I always say to them..”in your language” when we try to get on the same page about any kind of measurement.

688 hours and 7 min to inauguration

I swear he is clinically insane. That is the only thing that explains his complete detachment from reality.

Barbara is in MN…they are very below zero. Yuk.

For the first time in forty years, the whole of this country is covered in snow all at once, including the west coast and the islands

Jeebers and Obama went there for Christmas

The world holds its breath; waiting to exhale.

but who’s counting?

I am not a psychiatrist but there’s something very wrong with W. Loved Bush on the couch.

As in learning disabled/alcohol impaired/sociopath. SO?

He went to Canada?

Me too with most measurements — wth is a kilometre, eg? It’s funny how we make the switch so easily with something like temperature (well, live in a cold country, and you catch up on that fast) but not with most of the other measures. I still cook in cups and tsps and tbsps, and that’s not likely to change because the old recipes are so engraved in the nerves. It makes reading new ones challenging though.

I had a young guy try to send me out of the conference room for coffee.

Hawaii

I don’t think he actually believes that stuff. He’s not that stupid. He’s laughing with his fellow fratboys when he says the Iraqis should be grateful. He thinks its all a big joke.

Just like the fratboys in Boulder some years back who put up a sign above their door saying “No Fat Chicks”. They got in trouble and had to get sensitivity training, but I’m sure they all had a big laugh about it.

lol. I meant the Gulf Islands off Vancouver. Sorry.

It is serious for them, though, as it is for many of you guys who live in parts that don’t normally get this weather. They’re just not built for it, so they have more outages and broken pipes and so on than we do, even though we get colder.

OMG! Is he still alive?

Sorry. Never had that happen to me.

I apologize for the delay in getting back to you, Nomolos. I was shoveling. LOL I have a few pictures up on my blog on what I discovered this morning @ 6am after shoveling TWICE yesterday.

And yes! The rich ain’t seen no shovel in years! Brooms neither. ;-)

mornin’ all.

1 degree here in Indy.

I’m goin’ all in – if I win four times in a row, maybe we’ll get up to 16 degrees….?

Not only am I not a psychiatrist, but I’m not a mindreader, so I don’t know what W actually believes. But I can hear what he sez, and that’s pretty disgusting.

Aha, now I see, you are in Canada and by islands you mean Vancouver ISland etc and one of my favourite spots, Victoria although I am still trying to find a property at a reasonable price in Saltspring.

I thought you were in the fascist state of america. Sorry ’bout that.

Me, either. Have taken psychology courses in university, though. Enough to agree with you on the very wrong statement. The other cons show by their lack of eye contact, facial expressions, body language, etc. that they are aware they are lying. Georgie is a stone faced liar. Almost as if he would be shocked to learn that he is a liar. A pathological liar, I think. He lies like we breathe..constantly.

This makes me think back to something I heard on c-span during the Walter Reed debacle. A b!tch from NJ called in and said she thought *the better class certainly deserved better health care than the rest of us*.
That proved to me once and for all that there are people in this country who have a sense of entitlement and they intend to do all they can to make sure that the rest of us know our place————at the bottom.

Take it easy with that shoveling. I threw my back out the other day and am now shoveling a half shovel full at a time and take lots of tea breaks. What ever happened to the local teenagers that used to come by and dig out us old folks?

Morning Swim is upstairs…

Funny, that’s pretty much the language about Palin…just came so natural, as if she did not know the difference.

She probably had a bunch of money invested in health insurance companies where the profit is generally about 17%

The U.S. has exactly the kind of medical care one would expect from a “market” system: fine for the rich, and for the rest of the people, not so much.

Looks like what my VW bug looked like all winter when I lived in Denver.

If the rich aren’t mentally ill before they become rich, it seems that they certainly are afterwards.

Did she back up that statement with a definition? If better means rich, then they can pay for their own medical care, can’t they? Or did she think that is the job of those who can’t afford their own?

Take care of your back, Nomolos! Nothing worse than trying to throw 15-30 pounds of snow per shovel scoop with a bad back. ;-) We’re actually ‘ahead’ of the game. My son and I shoveled twice last night before going to bed, but I woke up this morning to close to another foot of snow on my car with wind drifts near 2 feet high. I can pull out of the driveway right now, so that’s good. The roads don’t seem too bad because the town was plowing all night.

I need to find me a local teenager to shovel the roof off. I do have a roof shovel, though. Dammit. LOL

I had some work in Rockport/Camdem a few years back, and took a “taxi” (local elderly man with a van) between the two towns. Could barely understand a word the guy was saying. It was some sort of English and I heard it a lot in that area. They all said it was just a classic Maine accent.

Is that pretty common throughout the state?

How the hell did you find your VW bug in Colorado after a snow storm? LOL

Well, the Maine accent comes from England. We like to think of ourselves as the ‘drunken Brits’ when we talk. ;-) I’m serious. My grandmother’s accent was really thick and everytime she talked my cousin Sam would motion like he was drinking from a bottle and then would say, “Gram is on the sauce again”. LOL

The Republicans paid for a speech coach for Palin. Can you just imagine how bad she was before she was taught how to speak? Twins separated at birth, her and Bush, or did she just visit the future in-laws house a few too many times and breathe in too many fumes?

Bonkers, the Maine accent gets thicker as you drive away from Portland heading north, east or west of it. Along the coastline where you were, the Maine accent is slightly different. It’s more like an English ship captain’s accent. ;-)

It wasn’t easy. I lived in a huge apartment complex and I usually just waited until they cleared most of it. Cross countried to work.

Thanks. It was really interesting.

“…most of it” being the parking lots.

We can thank “St” Paul for that!

Where’d the bailout money go? The banks aren’t telling.