Good morning Elliott. Been hanging out with demi & Raven downstairs then foothillsmike woke up. Told ‘em I was moving up, but didn’t leave a link. I’ll go back & do it.

With any luck, I’ll be outside in the sun & cold today, and I expect full reports on talking heads when I get back in. *g*

lol!
morning eCAHN
it’s cccold here, must be freezin’ where you are. brrrzchill

McConnell, the most powerful Republican in Washington

should be an oxymoron.
Instead he’s just a moron.

Damp and chill in IL.
Went skiing w/ lil mack yesterday.
(or what passes for skiing in WI).
A little sore this AM.

Overnight low was 12, but it’s expected to get up to around 30, as yesterday. But yesterday was very windy, so too cold with windchill. 30 is fine with no wind & I need a dose of sunshine as it’s been a week or more since I’ve spent an extended time outdoors.

Cheney’s the guest with his old friend Bob Schieffer this morning, Schief gave an interview on it
here’s the opening:

“None of us ever know what tomorrow brings but it does make me feel a little nostalgic thinking back to those other days when he was thirty two and I was just a little bit older,” CBS News’ Bob Schieffer said of Dick Cheney in an interview with CBSNews.com. “It was different world, a lot has happened since then. So, I will enjoy seeing him when he comes here just from a personal standpoint.”

a little nostalgic, aww

you can say that again,
morning mack

Seems like WJs day is off to a bad start. They can’t find anyone to take Israels side. Waaaah.
388 hrs & 33 min

‘twould be a sweet touch if they ended up cellmates as well.

Official Good Morning to all,
ECahn…Polo, found yo.
Here’s the link to, well, yesterday’s PUAC.
http://firedoglake.com/2009/01…../#comments
At # 95, Jayt copied The Washington Post has published the winning submissions to its yearly neologism contest,
Here’s an example:
Ignoranus (n): A person who’s both stupid and an asshole.
Just to put this comment in the OT category. hee hee

I have to be very careful about unfavorable remarks about age…but it’s getting harder to be even handed and tolerant/;)

The US press is doing their best.

Meant On Topic, if we’re speaking of talking heads.

oh demi, those were hysterical

so true RevBev. .)

just wow.

I emailed the neologisms to a couple of friends. I love them but am completely incapable of thinking of them myself.

that was basically my reaction, selise.
Wonder what gems will come of this reunion

Thank Jayt.
Thought they might be a good counterpoint to the Sunday Talking Heads thread.
Have I thanked you lately for what you do here? No?
(((Elliot)))
You have what might be seen as a thankless job.
Nevertheless, useful and appreciated. Even if I’m never here for those shows. (church, ya know)

This is where Cheney needs to be locked up
http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos…..N6APWMbVjQ
388 hrs & 22 min

downity: the act of humble and submissive acquiessence.

To paraphrase Sarah Palin:

I guess Franken Is Ahead as Recount For Minn. Senate Seat Ends
is sort of like Franken wins the election,
except that saying it that way that would involve actual reporting.

oh thanks demi!
yes the Sunday Shows are a church of a different denomination. *s*

How quickly I forget. *g*

The Hague will be a good start towards some justice…

Matthew’s panel talking about what promises Obama can keep, then contrasting with previous Pres’ promises…like humble foreign policy and NO new taxes.

I’ve got 2 chapters left in Krugman’s book, so gonna read one. Goal is 1 book/day in 2009. At the beginning of the year it seems doable because I always start several books, then depending on my mood, finish them at different times (or not at all). At the beginning of the new year, a push to complete the started ones makes it look like an impressive reading rate.

I remember in a bio of TR, that he read over 300 books/year. Even when he was prez, iirc. And wrote all those letters. And did all that other stuff. Truly astonishing.

P.S. Although, as always, Tom Toles
makes wading through today’s Post worthwhile.

I am shocked that CNN this morning is no longer reporting the full count of dead and injured Palestinians since the beginning of the airstrikes last week. Until yesterday evening CNN were reporting the 465 deaths and more than 2,500 injured. This morning, they have arbitrarily and surprisingly reset the counter and is now only reporting the number of deaths since the ground invasions. SO for those that are tuning in for the first time, you will be forgiven for thinking that the deaths, as reported this am as being 9 Palestinians and 30 Israeli soldiers injured. The question to ask, why would CNN do this? We keep a running count of the total number of US soldiers killed in Iraq. Why reset the count?

What a sad comment. Like not counting the Iraqi dead. Holy God.

Because Israel told them to?

They are just transcriptionists. Spewing what they are told to.
388 hrs & 9 min

Selective counting? Cherry picking? Yes, sad.

Ha Madoff victims wanting a bailout.
388 hrs & 4 min

I posted this elsewhere, but it fits in here this morning. If you want to learn how Israel manipulates the US gov’t and the media, watch this documentary. It is long..1:19:14.. Peace, Propaganda, and the Promised Land.

http://filmtalks.net/post/2007…..onflict/#a

Someone on Matthews notes the newest and most expensive toilet paper selling well and more expensive trips to Anarctica. So it goes.

I am sick and tired of this promised land shit.
388 hrs & 0 min

Mike, you’re too funny. It’s as if I don’t even need a calendar or clock when you’re around.

robert parry has a blistering and informative essay: How Hypocrisy on ‘Terrorism’ Kills

Israel, a nation that was born out of Zionist terrorism, has launched massive airstrikes against targets in Gaza using high-tech weapons produced by the United States, a country that often has aided and abetted terrorism by its client military forces, such as Chile’s Operation Condor and the Nicaraguan contras, and even today harbors right-wing Cuban terrorists implicated in blowing up a civilian airliner.

Yet, with that moral ambiguity excluded from the debate, the justification for the Israeli attacks, which have killed at least 364 people, is the righteous fight against “terrorism,” since Gaza is ruled by the militant Palestinian group, Hamas.

have few more links to share, but especially recommend this one. imo, an important historical perspective all americans and israelis should be familiar with.

The world is sick of it. A great documentary, though, well worth the time to watch it.

thanks for that report. infuriating, but good to know.

Just can’t wait for 0 hrs & 0 min. Getting closer
387 hrs & 56 min

The US media is trying to balance the antiwar outcry from every other corner of the world.
“Fair and Balanced”

yeah, most of the victims only thought they were profiting from insider trading, why not bail them out? AP source

Privatize the profits, socialize the losses.
Welfare Capitalism.

anthony shadid was one of my favorite reporters during our invasion and beginning occupation of iraq. haven’t seen anything from him for awhile, but he’s back now (i think this is the third piece i’ve seen from him in three days):

Attacks Further Split Arab Public, Rulers
Leaders Assailed Over Censure of Hamas

BAGHDAD, Jan. 3 — “War on Gaza” was the description the satellite channel al-Jazeera gave for the Israeli ground invasion that began Saturday, a culmination of eight days of bombing that have killed hundreds of Palestinians in the crowded seaside strip. But across the Arab world, the struggle was as noteworthy for what was becoming a war at home.

from Ynetnews: Sakhnin protest: IDF op a war crime

Tens of thousands of people take part in biggest rally organized by Arab sector in recent years, in protest of Israeli operation in Gaza. Demonstrators call Olmert, Barak and Ashkenazi war criminals. MK Taha: Hold peace negotiations instead of bombarding

Yisrael Beiteinu Chairman Avigdor Liberman said in response to the mass protest in Sakhnin that “just as the Israeli government knows the operation in Gaza can’t be stopped until Hamas is defeated, so must we act against those citizens of Israel not are not loyal to the State.”

this is the attitude that scares me most. as bad as things are, they can get worse.

Thousands join march to protest against Israel action.

They know how to protest in the UK..over a 1,000 pairs of shoes thrown at Downing Street. Bush’s true legacy in action.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worl…..est-london

Israel fires artillery shells into Gaza as air strikes hit Mosque.

Israel is using white phosphorus.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worl…..-artillery

Is there someone actually sorting them into pairs? *G*
387 hrs & 46 min

pairs is a funny word…like we say we put on a pair of jeans..one is a pair?

Can’t wait for a shoe salesman to use that next time I am shopping for footwear.
387 hrs & 40 min

I think it comes from a pair of leg coverings?

excellent. thanks. i think i’ve got some old gardening shoes i could dig up to use for a good cause.

from ilan pappe: Israel’s righteous fury and its victims in Gaza. worth reading for a radical historical perspective:

But the lies and distorted representations are not the worst part of it. It is the direct attack on the last vestiges of humanity and dignity of the Palestinian people that is most enraging. The Palestinians in Israel have shown their solidarity with the people of Gaza and are now branded as a fifth column in the Jewish state; their right to remain in their homeland cast as doubtful given their lack of support for the Israeli aggression. ….[snip]

There are no boundaries to the hypocrisy that a righteous fury produces. The discourse of the generals and the politicians is moving erratically between self-compliments of the humanity the army displays in its “surgical” operations on the one hand, and the need to destroy Gaza for once and for all, in a humane way of course, on the other.

This righteous fury is a constant phenomenon in the Israeli, and before that Zionist, dispossession of Palestine. Every act whether it was ethnic cleansing, occupation, massacre or destruction was always portrayed as morally just and as a pure act of self-defense reluctantly perpetrated by Israel in its war against the worst kind of human beings. In his excellent volume The Returns of Zionism: Myths, Politics and Scholarship in Israel, Gabi Piterberg explores the ideological origins and historical progression of this righteous fury. Today in Israel, from Left to Right, from Likud to Kadima, from the academia to the media, one can hear this righteous fury of a state that is more busy than any other state in the world in destroying and dispossessing an indigenous population.

It is crucial to explore the ideological origins of this attitude and derive the necessary political conclusions form its prevalence. This righteous fury shields the society and politicians in Israel from any external rebuke or criticism. But far worse, it is translated always into destructive policies against the Palestinians. With no internal mechanism of criticism and no external pressure, every Palestinian becomes a potential target of this fury. Given the firepower of the Jewish state it can inevitably only end in more massive killings, massacres and ethnic cleansing.

Like a nice cul de sac in Dallas?

Maybe a “pair” of legs = one jean? *g*

chris floyd quotes the angry arab from 2006 and now:

On Hate.

I had written this post on hate back in the Israeli war on Lebanon in 2006. I still believe in it of course. Political anger and rejection of Zionist colonization of Palestine is acceptable and imperative, but not hate — not on racial, religious, or ethnic grounds.

[Here is his 2006 post]:

I was thinking about us Arabs who are watching a savage Israeli war on Lebanon on live TV. I have been thinking about hate. Just yesterday, I read a column by the confidante of Rafiq Hariri (that corrupt politician who put the foundations of the construction not of Lebanon but of the Israeli/American/Saudi conspiracy in Lebanon), Faysal Salman, writing in As-Safir. And the column was a very vicious anti-Jewish babble. I really think that we should avoid the pressures to succumb to hate. I always cite Richard Nixon when he gave that rambling address at the White House before leaving after his resignation. He said, I am paraphrasing: Your enemies don’t win, until you hate them. And when you do, you destroy yourself. Hate is not a constructive energy, not politically and certainly not personally. I am not here preaching a message of Christian or hippie “love.” Political anger is justified but that has to be articulated in a rational and humane manner. We can’t, or shouldn’t, allow Israel and its crimes to make us worse as human beings, especially when we criticize the Zionist project on humanitarian grounds.

i really like this perspective. wish i had it to quote for somethingthedogsaid’s diary. love the dog, but didn’t agree with that diary.

oops. here’s the link to chris floyd’s post:

http://www.chris-floyd.com/com…..-arab.html

Good one..

yikes. bush is moving to a house about 2 miles from where i used to live.

I am off to take care of the 5 Ss.
BBL
387 hrs & 27 min

Police said that 12,000 people had taken part in the protest, but the Stop The War Coalition, organisers of the demonstration, said the real figure was six times that at more than 60,000.

They seem to have trouble counting…..

Good Morning everyone…… woke up at 5:30am and could not go back to sleep…..

By that you mean..trouble telling the truth, of course..’g’..The political plaque that they all suffer from…severe lying tongue..

How are you doing? Better each day, I hope.

Maybe your former neighbors have ALOT of shoes….for anyone who missed it, check the link to Frank Rich and his comments about W. Just perfect ;)

Good morning everyone! A woman on C-SPAN is smacking around the guests this morning. She even said, “Don’t laugh at me sir because it’s not funny!”. She’s right. I love how Americans have had enough and are just telling it like it is.

there is a report up from the ism volunteers on the ground in gaza. a warning, thought, regarding the pictures – they are difficult. What the medics see, do, and are subjected to; uncensored

Internationals from the ISM (International Solidarity Movement) and the Free Gaza Movement have decided to join the EMT personnel in their work around Gaza.

I start in Jabaliya, in northern Gaza at the eastern border, where I meet an amiable team of professionals. After delivering a pregnant woman to hospital, our first serious call is to retrieve the bodies of two killed resistance fighters, hit by shells. The sight of the one in our ambulance is ugly, his face has exploded.

very difficult writing in the midst of such action.

Burris to meet with Dem leaders, source says

Senate Democratic leaders have scheduled a meeting with Roland Burris, who was chosen by embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich to fill the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama, a Democratic source said Saturday.

Yesterday I was full of energy…. did wash, changed beds, grocery shopping, cleaned out old magazines, bookcases and cooked two really great dishes we watched on the foodnetwork…. Elmore requested……

great!

I was watching that and it was funny how the guy kept trying to get the straight talkers off the phone without looking like he REALLY hung up on them which he did….

Glad to hear that..take care..

I can’t look…piece on PRN earlier talking about hospitals being completely overwhelmed…lack of space, staff, supplies. No end in sight.

good luck tomorrow (if i’ve remembered the day correctly).

Is It Murder? – With drunken driving fatalities staying constant despite all the campaigns against the crime, some prosecutors are pursuing harsher penalties against perpetrators, including long prison terms for those who caused deaths.

The stupid MADD mothers have made it harder to stop drunk driving by lowering the blood alcohol limit. This clogs the courts with people who have a small amount of alcohol in their blood, who don’t pose any threat whatsoever, and shields the people who really are drunk. The rich can afford the fines and the lawyers to get through it but the honest working people who have a couple of beers after work are devastated by it. And of course so are the people who get killed by the real drunks who are still driving.

What a bunch of morons.

BTW, I’m a recovering alcoholic and I quit just before the MADD mothers took control of the country, so I don’t have a dog in this fight.

don’t blame you – that’s why i put in the warning. still, what they are doing – by being there and by reporting what they see – is such important work.

I think they should seat Burris and when that happens, they shoot down the premises for the plantation caucus to deny Franken…. Of course how soon can the MN SOS get the vote certified…..

Yes, thanks. Im outta here, Chaplain work at local hospital..looking for hope. BBL

There’s a diary at DKos that is disturbing. It suggests that there is a possibility that Reid may seat Coleman provisionally. I don’t want to start rumors, the diary only suggests that the possibility exists. Anyone know anything more about this? That would truly be the last straw, but maybe there’s nothing to the story.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/…..534/679841

I really don’t see how since the latest count has Franken up 227 and they are still counting … this kos diary…. BREAKING: AL-VALANCHE —- Franken WINS

Morning, folks – it’s sunny and beautiful at Chez Siberia on the Susquehanna – and all of — 4 degrees at this point. In the negative numbers when we got up first thing.

I know. It was excellent. Maybe we FDLers should make a pact on one morning a week to call into C-SPAN and just scream and yell until we’re hung up on? I know what will happen too. On that particular morning each week, there will be no phone calls taken on C-SPAN. ;-)

Up the revolution! Power to the people!

Thanks for the link, bb. I’m going there now and skipping the Sunday talking heads…heard enough of their crap in my lifetime.

As for Darth, sounded to me like he wrote the press comment for US Ambassador to UN (Alejandro Wolf) which he gave after the closed door, emergency meeting of the UN Security Council yesterday. BTW, the US is openly charged with blocking “any product” of that meeting. Surprised, anyone???

OK… do I need to get out my barf bags out if I watch Meet the Press?

The Politico

Pix and vids from last night’s protest at BayWalk in St Petersburg.

St Pete for Peace – slide show

St Petersburg Times – video

NBC (local) – video, click on “Protest at BayWalk”

Yes…and this has been another episode of…
Morning, Katymine — how goes it there? It’s in the ‘damn cold’ range here.

Not making comment on the weather….. in the high 50-60’s here in Phoenix…. they predict rain overnight & today….. haven’t see it yet…..The one thing you don’t have to do is shovel sunshine…… we get payback with in July-Aug….. and the monsoon season…

thanks SD, will go look at them now.

You will like it..Much better than talking heads..

Affirmative!

Like to see someone with a US flag modified w/ 50 stars of David
386 hrs & 50 min

My daughter’s in Cancun….80 degrees.

thank you!

UNITED NATIONS — The United States late Saturday blocked approval of a U.N. Security Council statement calling for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip and southern Israel and expressing concern at the escalation of violence between Israel and Hamas.

U.S. deputy ambassador Alejandro Wolff said the United States saw no prospect of Hamas abiding by last week’s council call for an immediate end to the violence. Therefore, he said, a new statement at this time “would not be adhered to and would have no underpinning for success, would not do credit to the council.”

nice huh?

Like in NM, you get mighty 3″ and 4″ and even 6″ rains or so I’m told. (distance tween drops).

How about an Israeli and US kippot?

http://www.milechai.com/kippot…..ippot.html

wonderful!

don’t think i have the stomach to watch the talking heads this morning – not after reading some of the news.

katymine, it’s nice to hear that you feel so strong.

Its all day to day right now…… may go back to bed since I woke up so early…. Harry Reid is putting me to sleep….

NOT IN MY NAME

UNITED NATIONS — The United States late Saturday blocked approval of a U.N. Security Council statement calling for an immediate cease-fire in the Gaza Strip

im pulling for you BIGTIME

I gave up watching them years ago. If there’s a segment worth watching C & L usually has a clip later in the afternoon. Instead of football I’ll watch the flick bluebutterfly linked to earlier.

I got to BayWalk on time and they’d been rockin’ n’ rollin’ for at least a half hour. With the exception of the march most of the vids were shot before I got there. I was the lucky one who got into the only confrontation with 2 of the Israeli supporters. There were less than a dozen and most left before the march started. 4 of us from VFP/SPFP stayed to watch all the stuff and these 2 guys crossed the street and came right up to me. One said, “How much did they pay you to carry that sign?” I responded, “They didn’t have to, they told me you’d be here.” He and friend stomped into BayWalk.

The United States late Saturday blocked approval

Hell, I’m surprised the US didn’t ask the UN to step in and help the IDF.

Gregory’s Gambit = gotcha.

Do you have any regrets we were so mean to poor widdle Bushie?

Give me a frackin’ break.

HAHAHAHAHA…twits

yea,they polished his knob only twice a day instead of 3X

G’morning, everyone. The United States blocked approvsl…must be a greedy, warmongering nation, eh?

i profoundly hate those ahem “diplomats”

can it get anymore revolting? dont answer that

Did I miss this: was someone announced for UN ambassador from the Obama side? Because I’m really really disliking the people we have who purport to represent us that are there right now.

Damn, I musta missed the Mumia segment this morning. I’ll have to do the archive later.

another foggy,cold rainy day here

Susan Rice.

good morning…ugh

New York Times says she favors dramatic action against genocide, among other things.

Susan Rice will be the new UN Amb. The position has been elevated to cabinet level.
386 hrs & 18 min

wow my new puter erased….”

thank goodness

US troops are in Israel permanently. Have any of you heard about that on MSM? It is no longer a theory that US forces will be expected to die for Israel; it is a fact.

http://www.defensenews.com/sto…..#038;s=LAN

eek it did it again

Is killing Arabs considered genocide?
386 hrs & 15 min

no idea – but there is new stuff upstairs..

my computer is editing me…g

Probably not. Just certain Arabs.

It appears that only two governments in the world think that it is not. The US and Israel mutual admiration society.

http://www.defensenews.com/sto…..#038;s=LAN

What year is that from, bb?

..oops..didn’t mean to add that link..can’t do them when I want to..but, can when I don’t..figures..

2008..

Here is one with the date…

http://forecasthighs.com/2008/…..in-israel/

oh thanks, bb, It wasn’t clear what year

Is it just me or does the neocon on C-SPAN this morning appear to have two shiny white horns reflecting on his bald head? Bah hahahahahaha! Hysterical and so appropriate.

armytimes

http://www.armytimes.com/news/…..nd_092608/

LOL, I think you’re right about those horn buds

I see that. Did you notice him playing with his wedding ring?

LOL Nice horns on the neocon this morning! About the wedding ring….I didn’t notice because I was too busy throwing shoes at him with my eyes. See? LOL

Thanks for that link, bb. Went there. Aug and Sept this was done, huh? No, I don’t think there was a hint back then in MSM; one of you FDL hounds would have been on it like a duck on a junebug.

Has there been a response from Putin?

‘Til now I’ve withheld judgment on Robt Gates. Now, IMHO he has to go.

What else has Bush/Cheney pulled off that has been kept secret that will have such grave consequences for the entire world?

It is now clear to me that Israel is US’s awesome weapon with which to threaten Europe, Russia, Middle East, most of Africa, parts of China and SE Asia.

Thanks for all you do, bluebutterfly.

Bluebutterfly, what I learned at your link @89 was merciless in showing me how I had been led down the garden path all my life by a secret government and a dishonest media….

Then, in my early 70’s one day I wandered into Firedoglake…

‘and now old friends are acting strange,
they shake their heads, they say I’ve changed;
but somethings lost and somethings gained
In living every day…’

Thank you, all pups here at FDL. I would name each one individually but might miss one or two; wouldn’t want to do that!

selise @ 39: that quote just about says it all, doesn’t it?

I’m dismayed by all the talk talk talk talk that goes on about Israel … most of it clinically insane as well as morally detached (from the tone of it you’d think they were discussing the merits of using a teaspoon or a soupspoon for your soup …). The truth is simple and all the words seek to obscure the truth. And the same goes for endless talk about is it or isn’t it … genocide. Give me a break.

selise @ 54: recognizing the Palestinians as an ”indigenous” population explains everything very well in a single word … this is a history we have seen in our own country as well. It also explains how this is so ’easily’ allowed to continue.

i actually do think it’s important to get the language right (as much as possible anyway), otherwise people who disagree won’t even understand what is being said. that said, i reject moral detachment. i just don’t think rage at the injustice means giving up on either rationality or empathy.