Hey, Sunny -

Still around?

I’m guessing here but the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court is allowed to bring crib notes to the swearing in. This guy is the Chief Justice.

I think Bush was afraid to appoint anyone smarter than him for higher office. If so, it shows.

Yep. I’m here.

Judicial temperament indeed.

That was aimed at Alito, not Roberts.

Chilly, yes….reading 10° here at the house but better than a day or so back when it was approaching 0°. Brrrrrrrrrrr! Ready for spring, fer sure but the days feel like they are getting longer. Did y’all get any snow?

The American Civil Liberties Union announced Wednesday that the Supreme Court will not hear Mukasey v. ACLU, the Bush administration’s attempt to appeal federal court rulings against the Child Online Protection Act (COPA), passed by Congress in 1998 after the fall of the 1996 Communications Decency Act.

“For over a decade the government has been trying to thwart freedom of speech on the Internet, and for years the courts have been finding the attempts unconstitutional,” said ACLU senior staff attorney and lead counsel Chris Hansen. “It is not the role of the government to decide what people can see and do on the Internet. Those are personal decisions that should be made by individuals and their families.”

http://rawstory.com/news/2008/….._0121.html

Wooo…that’s cold. We’ve not been below the high teens.

Just a bit of snow, below freezing every night. Balmy 40 today. Friday’s will be the day — 57 hi 40s low.

Days are getting longer, very cheering. And speaking of cheering, the pansies are blooming their little hearts out. I don’t remember them in mid winter from my youth, do you?

Illinois first lady gets fired from her job as fundraiser for homeless agency:

http://www.google.com/hostedne…..QD95RUNM80

Probably can’t breath in that household for all the expletives flyin’ around……sometimes the karma really does come home to roost. It’s tough everywhere, toots; maybe you and the hubby will soon find out what it *really* means to be homeless.

Yeah, well, those modifying words throw some people who have a different background in learning grammar. It’s almost like a split infinitive construction.

OTOH, we have a whole generation who have no idea that ‘loose’ doesn’t fit everywhere. And one can point out: “to loose the dogs of war” is far different from “to lose the logs of war.” To which the standard answer is, “Huh?”

Well, I was born and reared downeast so the pansies just kept truckin’ along all winter there. Lots of memories of my mother planting a bed of them beside a long walkway leading up to the house. Left a bunch of pots planted up with assorted colors before leaving the coast and hope they manage to survive two months of total neglect. It’s amazing how long you can manage to keep the little suckers blooming into very hot weather if you just keep them deadheaded and watered.

Yeah, Friday’s lookin’ nice temp-wise. One of the more irritating things about this time of year is scheduling appointments that have to be canceled when the weather blows up in your face…like what happened yesterday morning. :-(

$100,000 is pretty stiff for a non-profit fund raiser who can’t produce.
Doubt her name opens doors these days.

Citizen SunnyNobility:

WEhere you at there Citizen Sunny…up here in the heartland of democracy and the anus of progress we’ve had a heat wave into the 20’s for 2 days…down below zero tomorrow again?

OT The Guardian reports:

Whirlwind hits Washington as President Obama starts work
• Obama ditches succession of Bush policies on hectic first day
• Guantánamo to close within a year and tribunals suspended
• New foreign policy includes offer of negotiations with Iran

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worl…..-in-office

Wapoo publishes screed from schrub’s chief speechlieswriter……

http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..03215.html

….and much hilarity ensues in the comments section; that thread will bear watching as more are added. *g*

Bless your heart norske (in the nicest sense *g*). We’re discussing the balmy south.

This hard winter is such a tragedy for so many in the mid-west. Fingers crossed this weather will break soon – we all need the cheer of an early spring.

Vile piece of work that is. Back to read the comments.

Wife is wondering why I haven’t lit the woodstove yet today… I pointed out that it 21 degrees and not really cold (58 degrees in the house). Going to light the woodstove now.

Morning.
I only read the first page of comments but they were 100% against that ridiculous piece.

Marc Thiessen the White House speechwriter, was Foreign Relations Committee spokesman for Sen. Jesse Helms from 1995 to 2001.

What more do we need to know.

Good morning, pups. It’s Collins, Cohen and Kristof today. Ah, it may be beginning already. Ms. Collins, in “Woodstock Without the Mud,” says the inauguration left the whole country glued together emotionally, one big American ball of hope. But there were signs in the Capitol that the new era was off to a slow start. It turns out that not all Democrats are perfect, so the new administration is probably doomed… Mr. Cohen welcomes “The Age of Responsibility.” He notes responsibility, restraint, humility, peace: this is not the habitual vocabulary of America’s heroic narrative. But it constitutes a new lexicon of American power. Mr. Kristof, in “The Remaking of America,” says President Obama is making an excellent start, and the globe is eager for American leadership. In the meantime, there are two immediate tests by which he will be judged: Guantánamo and the Middle East.

Here they are.

The coffee, tea and hot chocolate are ready, and I’ve got apple walnut muffins that are still warm from the oven. It’s 24° here this morning, even colder than yesterday morning. Our subfreezing temps may depart by the weekend, and it can’t be too soon for me. Stay warm, and have a lovely day.

Page 2 is the same. Not a single comment in favor.

Isn’t Seymour Hirsch supposed to write a mind-blowing expose? When might we expect that?

Citizen nomolos:

You better getcher butt movin on that fire…MY wife doesn’t like ta hit the linolium at 0530 when ya ken see yer breath…preserve the domestic tranquillit5y.

That Marky Marc was also Rumsfeld’s speechifier. You go with the speech writer you have, not the one you wish you had:
http://www.dod.mil/pubs/foi/mi…..D-106.html

I hear Shrub is writing about about Marc. It’s called “My Pet Toadie.” It took about 7 minutes to write.

Good morning everyone! MSNBC aired a video this morning of President Obama flubbing a web address over & over. As I watched him try to get the web address right, I thought to myself, “Too many Inaugural Balls last night apparently”. LOL!

Done and raging. No breath can be seen. No icicles in the shower. Life is good.

The *sstwit is the personification of everything bushian. There really should be another circle of hell created for people that devoid of humanity. Interesting the connection to the worst pol ever produced by our state…and definitely one of the worst in the entire country.

Did you see the clip of Biden joking about C.J. Roberts and Obama looking disgusted? Not flattering to our new pres.

Linky?

Here it is:
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.c…..at_joe.php

Obama didn’t laugh but I did!

I love Joe Biden. Gaffes and all. Maybe, especially the gaffes.

This was necessary because there would have arisen a cottage industry of right-wing hackery claiming Obama’s Presidency was illegal.

Who woulda thought we’d have a Chief Justice who would make William Wrenchquist look competent? Yeesh, another big “F-you! America” from the Neocons.

The worst, I think, is Alito. He didn’t come to the inauguration???? WTF?

This was necessary because there would have had already arisen a cottage industry of right-wing hackery claiming Obama’s Presidency was illegal.

Fixed, for accuracy. See, for example, Chris Wallace. (Sorry, couldn’t quickly find film…)

So Lush Limpbawl says he wants Obama to fail. Someone needs to ask Lush if a terrorist attack in America would constitute a failure for Obama, as Shrub’s speech writer argues, and therefore does Lush hope for a terrorist attack on American soil. Is Lush hoping for another 9/11? Seems like a very fair question based on his own words.

Huh. Acheeto didn’t come to a meeting Obama had with the others last week either. Were all the other Justices at the Inauguration?

Oh wow. Here’s what the Alaskan state government is working on for legislation:

http://www.anchoragepress.com/…..575161.txt

Bestiality is first on the list!

Split infinatives are not correct Latin Grammar. They are used in English. The worst use of English in the United Staes in the over dependance on gerunds.

To Burgle vs To Buglararize indeed.

I’m surprised people in the US drink water, and don’t beverage water.

Sayrah Paylin seemed to think “Brad” was an animal in the sack, or at least liked to ride his “Pole”aris.

TARP Thursday on WJ:

7:35-8:00 COREY BOLES
Dow Jones Newswires
Reporter http://www.dowjones.com

Topic: Status of congressional action on TARP (Troubled Assets Relief Program) and the stimulus package, as well as how the new Obama Administration is dealing with Congress on these bills?

8:00-8:30 REP. KENDRICK MEEK D-Florida, 17th District
Ways & Means Cmte Member http://kendrickmeek.house.gov

Topic: Congressional action on TARP & the stimulus package. Rep. Meek will be involved in today’s markup of the stimulus bill by the Ways & Means Cmte. He supports the TARP bill and the stimulus bill outlined by Democratic leaders. FYI, he recently announced he’s running for U.S. Senate in Florida, & if elected he’ll be first African American elected to statewide office and the first African American senator from the South.

8:30-9:00 REP. ZACH WAMP
R-Tennessee 3rd District
Appropriations Cmte Member http://www.house.gov/wamp

Topic: Congressional action on TARP & the stimulus package. He opposes the TARP bill and the stimulus bill outlined by Democratic leaders. He was involved in Wednesday’s Appropriations Cmte markup of the stimulus bill.

9:00-9:30 Question/Newspaper Articles/Phones

9:30-10 MARK UPDEGROV
Author, “Baptism by Fire: Eight
Presidents Who Took Office in Times of Crisis”

Topic: His new book, “Baptism by Fire: Eight Presidents Who Took Office in Times of Crisis,” in which he identifies eight presidents who have presided over the country in comparable times of crisis – George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Tyler, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, John F. Kennedy and Gerald Ford. Guest will also discuss what lessons President Obama might glean from these historic predecessors’ legacies.

Whoa, David Gregory is saying that Obama is going to allow torture in some circumstances. Is that correct?

By far the best Christmas gift ever, the foreign edition of The New Yorker, just came in the mails. If they still have half the reporting integrity they had during Nixon or Reagan maladministrations, they are the only trustworthy news source in America; NYTimes and Washington Post are fish wraps in comparison. Off to read real reporting.

HAND (Have A Nice Day) all.

New Yorker and The Nation are the two magazines we get. Good writing in both, not the usual hackery one gets from the “popular” press.

Considering the source…. I wonder.

Off to prepare for work. See all later.

I doubt it. The right wingers on the radio and on our tvs are trying to mold American’s perception of Barack early on in the hopes it will have the same affect it did on George Bush. I know this because yesterday Howie Carr out of Boston/WRKO made this point. This is why we have to be on guard and can’t be relaxed, because the neocons are still fighting that Barack is a Muslim, is not American born, and is not a legitimate president of the United States! You know and I know this isn’t true, but the neocons don’t care. They want a wave of hatred against Barack to start now!

Jerks. Americans despised George Bush & Dick Cheney for good reason back in 2001. We were justified in our contempt. The neocons? They’ve got nothing but lies pulled out of their asses as usual.

LOL Yes, I’m sure the Alaskan legislators are going after bestiality with the Palin & Johnston families in mind!

What, they let this moron do more than MTP? Didn’t I see a post the other day about what some thought were loopholes in the Army interrogation manual or some such? He’s prolly latched on to that and will blow it all out of proportion, of course.

This is most interesting. The cybernannies have decided that today’s early morning swim is not allowed to be viewed — blocked as porn.

Must be the KO vid they don’t like.

Either that or somebody used a naughty word. I had a comment thread suddenly blocked for porn yesterday…I could see the main post, but not comments. It’s infuriating!

marion – am i understanding correctly? that when i use the F word it blocks you from being able to read the thread? i am so sorry if that is so!

NPR news saying Obama re-took the Oath of Office last night privately. Administered by Chief Justice Roberts after Roberts had earlier messed up the language and Obama had followed his lead. It had not been considered serious, but it was a just in case dealie.

The Rethugs will still harp on it for another week or two. It’s all they got. For now. Rush Limpdick says he hopes Obama fails.

I have absolutely no earthly idea what sets it off. There are some threads that are full of “bad words,” and there have been some that seem to be as pure as the driven snow that are blocked. It’s baffling and enraging.

True enough. But pleased to hear NPR stating it was Robert’s eff up.

phew!

thanks – if you ever think you might have figured out what triggers the filters, please let me know and i will modify my typing accordingly.

There is a small, nagging, niggling part of me that assumes that the damned filters are Republicans and just get pissed off from time to time!

LOL!

must be. *g*

Well, at least he showed up…and showed up again. And on the 20th so did the rest of the Supreme Court, even Clarence Thomas, with one exception, perpetual 9-year old Samuel Alito.

reagan/bush appointees are gonna make it very hard to get decisions based on people needs over corporate needs

Alito: I hope he had a reason other than race or churlishness…

It’s the latter. His panties are all in a bunch because there were Senators who voted against his confirmation. One of them happens to occupy the Oval Office…

Wishful thinking

“To lose the logs of war” apparently refers to the cutting of rain forests to fuel the war machine. /s

Freud would have had a field day with this stumble (The Psychopathology of Everyday Life). Federalist Society member Roberts, who is opposed to a whole lot of what he thinks Obama represents, intends to follow through on the proper formalities of swearing in his ideological opponent, but is unable to repress fully his antipathy for his opponent. What he wants to say is, “…will execute the President…” what he is supposed to say is, “Will execute faithfully the office of the President…” but his id surges through, escaping total control by his ego, and it comes out, “…will execute the office to the President faithfully….”

Look ahead in two years’ time for Newt Gingrich to be the guiding hand behind the Businessmen’s Plot of 2010….

And there won’t be a Smedley Butler this time– Gingrich already has twelve generals in his pocket.