Good morning, pups. It’s Dowd, Friedman, Rich, and guest columnist Bono today. Mr. Kristof is off today, and Bono has his spot. MoDo, in “Fie, Fatal Flaw!”, says President Obama’s legislative career offers cautionary tales about the toll of constant consensus building. The Moustache of Wisdom is in Berlin. In “The Power in 11/9″ he says the day in 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell was one of the greatest manifestations of people power ever seen and offers important lessons to the Obama team. Mr. Rich says “Goldman Can Spare You a Dime,” and that the less we know about Goldman Sachs, the easier it is for reckless gambling to return to capitalism’s casino. Bono gives us “Rebranding America,” in which he says President Obama reminds us that America is not just a country but an idea, a great idea about opportunity for all and responsibility to your fellow man.

Here they are.

The coffee and tea are ready, and I’ve got those wonderful blueberry ricotta pancakes that Elliott had for us last week. Inquiring minds are DYING to know — which “three Senators at the center of the debate” on health care will Fox have on? What are the odds that they’ll all be Republicans? Not that I’ll watch Fox to find out, mind you… Have a great day.

Are the server hamsters hungry? I had to log on this morning…

I’ve had to login every time I access for a week now.

morning, all.

Chris Matthews;
Tweety and panel agree, that the Party of No branding is deep and alienating what’s left of the wingers’ political frame.

Then Tweety does a hit job on Hillary (yep, yawn, what’s new?) and doesn’t credit that she will ever retire, nudges her onto op-eds

Sully disagrees with Dan Rather, emotionally on about getting out of Afghanistan for those maybe 100 al Qaeda, Rather insists they mostly want us to stay .

Morning all.
It looks like *&%$^## Rahm is going to give some **+@$## interviews this **$##@#% morning.

I’ve got FDL as my home page, so it’s very unusual for me, but the second time in the last week or so.

Ah… It would seem we agree about Mr. Emanuel. Choosing him as Chief of Staff is going to go down in the history books as the single stupidest thing Obama ever did.

Morning Elliott. Thanks for what you do.
Farreed Zacharia did these interviews last week is it a repeat?

more Tweety; Helene Cooper; Pres O approval ratings in Israel at basement level for pushing Palestine.

Ending by panel saying banks are destroying faith in this admin. Sully; pressure on Pres for sound financial bill.

Yes, it appears that way.

thanks for the roundup, Marion. Here’s a kernel that seems really important from Bono talking to Gen Jones;
‘The general and I also found ourselves talking about what can happen when the three extremes — poverty, ideology and climate — come together. We found ourselves discussing the stretch of land that runs across the continent of Africa, just along the creeping sands of the Sahara — an area that includes Sudan and northern Nigeria. He also agreed that many people didn’t see that the Horn of Africa — the troubled region that encompasses Somalia and Ethiopia — is a classic case of the three extremes becoming an unholy trinity (I’m paraphrasing) and threatening peace and stability around the world.

The military man also offered me an equation. Stability = security + development.’

No one is talking about the real important stuff – you know like the balloon boy.
http://www.balloonboygame.com/

You left out: interviews in which he will speak the words of his #^%*&## joined at the hip boss who can’t function without his #^%*&## Blue Dogger.

Cut to the chase. 48 hours of bouncing shiny things, the press goes dancing along. SNL had a good skit of news announcer being harrassed by a persistent balloon while trying to do news.

They were good buds in Chicago. BO knew exactly what he would get in Rahm, and Rahm is doing exactly as they both agreed at the moment Barry made his stupid choice. Look at everyone else BO has chosen to play marble with him. To say his choice was “stupid” means that we still believe our beloved pres meant all that he said and promised during the campaign–NOT SO. He lied to us and he and #$%^*## Rahm and he are laughing it up in the back room where they’re making all their deals. That is, when Baucus, Reid, and Dodd aren’t using that room to screw us all with healthcare. Transparency Anyone?

It wasn’t stupid. His choice of Emanuel was carefully thought out like all of his decisions. Obama, whatever else you may think of him, is a brilliant man. He knew exactly what he was doing when he chose Emanuel. He is a center-right politician and he chose a center-right political hit man as his chief of staff.

I wish people would quit trying to cut Obama slack on this, as if he had a sudden brain fart and accidentally chose someone he didn’t intend.

He chose Emanuel intentionally. Just accept it.

Good Morning, All
Woke up too eary and started thinking about Jane and Kobe and then couldn’t get back to sleep. I came here intentionally, however to see what’s going in the world and Some People’s heads. (Raven!)

Dem study of winger voters at TPM:
‘Conservatives see themselves as an oppressed minority, holding on to knowledge that isn’t represented in the wider media and culture: “Conservative Republicans passionately believe that they represent a group of people who have been targeted by a popular culture and set of liberal elites – embodied in the liberal mainstream media – that mock their values and are actively working to advance the downfall of the things that matter most to them in their lives – their faith, their families, their country, and their freedom.”‘
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/10/democracy-corps-republican-base-voters-living-in-another-world.php?ref=mp

maybe they’ll take to the hills, we should be so lucky

Oh, and Elliot, Michele in the morning? Ugh, but at least I lost my appetite. Some pictures are too much for Sunday morning. And, speaking of photographs, have you all seen this?
http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn17992-new-camera-promises-to-capture-your-whole-life.html#
I’m not sure if I want all of my life recorded.

Originally invented to help jog the memories of people with Alzheimer’s disease, it might one day be used by consumers to create “lifelogs” that archive their entire lives.

E.g.; …this morning I am having 9 grain toast … sounds like Tweeting. which strikes me as a derivative from keeping track of meds.

Reminds me of that movie, can’t remember the name of it, with Drew Barrymore. X number of First Dates, wherein the young lady has lost all short term memory.

Shock will do that, won’t it. Maybe a life recorder would solve some sanity issues for others than Ms. B.

I’m still looking at the TPM study (see my comment #17) that firmly establishes it’s making total nuts out of wingers to lose their power structure.

To the moon!
We mock their values? Holy cow, Charlie. I’m looking at this family value: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/15/interracial-couple-denied_n_322784.html
NEW ORLEANS A Louisiana justice of the peace said he refused to issue a marriage license to an interracial couple out of concern for any children the couple might have.

Good morning. Thanks for your work Elliott. I might have to make use of it today, as they’re still predicting that the nor’easter is gonna strike. Hasn’t started raining yet, though.

gotcher values right here, see the comments about abuse of women at Broadsheet from http://echidneofthesnakes.blogspot.com/

There is always football a little later.

We just got thru two weeks of overcast and rain, here. for me it isn’t football, but CSpan hearings and comments threads with good sorts, that gets me thru.

I’d rather be beaten with a stick.

I have laundry to put away. AND, I have stacks of books to shelve, but that requires I completely organize my bookshelves, since they’re roughly ordered by category and there’s no roon to slot in new books. I’m deacquisitioning my National Geographic collection to make room. It’s a task that will take a couple of hours.

Now you can see what lenths I’ll go to, to avoid football.

Where do you live that you get Tweety so early in the morning?

I’m in far N.TX., outside city areas – and my MTP starts in 40 minutes, too.

Those comments! They’re just wrong.

So you’re in the central time zone? Wow, your programs start really early.

In my area, programs don’t start until 10ET.

I just got dumped off and had to log in – Whas up

Good Morning eCAHN. Now, see, if I was your literal neighbor instead of just a virtual one, I could come over and lend a hand. Sounds fun to me, but you me. We could have some tea and listen to some nice classical. I’d even bring over some freshly baked bread.

They’re reflective of this comment I just saw from an editor in Halifax;

“The rationale is all fucked up. Every paper is chasing “web hits” with the idea that the more hits they get, the more web advertising they can sell.

And so we have this ever-insistent push for more web hits– we are taught how to write google-friendly headlines, how to tag and categorize stories, how to have as much inter-connectivity inside the site as possible, etc. Part of that is having a “robust” commenting section, so that people can come and post their nonsense and drivel as easily as possible.

But they all acknowledge that they’ll NEVER be able to sell enough web advertising to support the old dead-tree version of the paper, so the push seems pointless. More, it just degrades the entire product.

I think we should simply charge for access to the site. That would require us to write better, more worthy material, as opposed to becoming a platform for every teenage kid with an agenda. “

Did you pass wind? Sorry. I guess lots of folks are having that problem. It’s gets squirrelly here everything there are back stage changes, it seems.
Welcome back, tho.

It’s because we’re way out, I suspect that the programs are early so we can watch before we get off to the Big City

I read through yesterdays book salon and it got me thinking about something Bartlett said.

Why is the creation of wealth considered an a priori “good”?

Wealth when it is the aggregation of money means nothing if it is not used for some purpose.

In societal terms creating wealth should mean that the society can advance the quality of life, the standard of living, advance the culture, arts and so on. Absent that wealth creation is only what is extracted from workers, the ground, or won at gambling.

When people referred to America as the wealthiest nation in the world they seem to miss the whole quality of life, advancement of culture and so forth. We’ve seen our wealth represented as consumer rubbish, high tech gizmos and all sorts of energy hogging things we fill our lives with.

We’re not wealthy. We’re impoverished as a nation.

Well, maybe. I usually try to write gooder. Ha. Anyway, with this here site, you just figure most of the gals aren’t wearing bras anyway.

I’m not saying that I’m not having problems on the site, because if I typed that, then, poof, instant problems.

Instant Karma’s gonna get you.

Bartlett has switched monoideas. He’s still an ideologue, but now one with a slightly different tilt. Worthless POS, IMO.

I call it the thingness of things. For example, I discovered that if you own 6 umbrellas, you never leave one in a cab anymore, and sometime you even find one in a cab.

I like what you said about converts. I’m the same way.

Actually, I think we all do well here, not a lot of bad notes.

The editor’s comments seem like he’s reading comments like the godawful ones on women being abused; show them yer tits variety.

How many pairs of gloves have you got? *g*
Sorry Ruth, that’s an inside joke between us and I’m probably rude for bringing it up.

I’m still working on why I’ve developed that attitude toward converts. Perhaps it’s their certainty that I find off-putting, especially since they were so certain in the opposite direction previously. Did you note how ofter, when the Q was uncomfortable for him, Bartlett was dismissive. For example, he dismissed the Rs as brain dead. Now, I’d agree, but I’d like him to put some meat on the bones, like how they became brain dead and how he came to realize that. But don’t think he’s self-aware enough to explicate that.

Enough to color coordinate with each of my ski outfits.

Reminded me of McAyn with his too many houses to remember actually.

But it’s time now to get some breakfast, leave you all with a friend’s answer to Rachel Maddow showing her not sick puppy in pirate costume after Poppy bush called her a KO sick puppies, here ; http://www.alaska.net/~babyrne/BLOG0187.jpg

bbl

Yes, it’s probably that so sure certainly. It might also be a case of what is instigating the conversion. Like, those who find Jesus in prison. Or someone who retreats from a “bad” habit suddenly become intolerant and judgemental. Ya know?

You’re too cute, hip chick.

Dry drunks? Are all converts intolerant? Were they intolerant before, but in a different way? Qs that I’m mulling.

Good mulling. I think that it’s probably a yes, intolerant before and after. But, maybe not all, 100%. Maybe a real conversion is the one that truly renews. Maybe?

Good morning!

If the three Senators on Fox aren’t all R’s, there’ll be a Blue Dog in there.

Some people solved this problem by clearing their cache or resetting their passwords.

I quit both smoking and drinking and I’m not intolerant or contemptuous of people who still do those things. I think there’s a certain personality type that causes converts to be intolerant of the non-converted.

Ahh, Ruth, thanks so much for the Tweety preview, was surprised Clinton’s weren’t a topic but I see Chris couldn’t help himself anyway. *sigh*

good morning all!!!

kick the day off with some panera live blog, then get to some important social info

it’s miserable outside, first time I’ve worn a sweatshirt since last winter, it’s raining pretty hard, clouds are contiguous and it looks like there is no releif for quite some time

cold too

BUT NOT TOO COLD FOR ME TO PUT TOP DOWN!!!!!

tee hee, on the drive to the panera it was hardly a drizzle, I dawned my barcelona, turned heat up full blast, lowered top AND OFF TO THE RACES

it started raining while I was driving but NO WORRIES since if I maintained speed, no rain!!!

panera is toasty, crowded, I had the coffee and the spinach artichoke soufle

I have no idea if the coffee is better then usual or the chill from top down driving makes me appreciate it that much more but good it is
o
f course I did finally have to slow down and stop, so wet I am

social commentary below

%^#& yeah!

I quit smoking but am tolerant of those who do, as long as they don’t do it indoors where I am. Who am I to tell anyone else what to do.

social commentary below

so I have a co-worker who’s a pretty inteligent man, now a teacher, raised in a strictly republican household, his closest brother, while a good man does nothing but repeat oreily and limbaugh hate about liberals

anyway, during the election the teacher supported obabam, (but not in front of his dad)

now however he is saying obama is failing at what he was voted for and I believe this opinion is going to grow

obama is going to need a victory of some kind and soon me thinks

Of course now in NYC you have to pass through clouds of smoke as your walk down the street in front of many buildings. YUCK

Sorry, my mistake. Here are the updated listings – which I fixed uptop:

A spirited discussion with a panel of international economists. Is the stimulus working? Plus, the ongoing crisis in Pakistan and Afghanistan — we have some new perspectives on the problems the US faces in both countries, and a conversation with the Indian foreign minister you do not want to miss.

I haven’t quit smoking or drinking but I am intolerant of the intolerant.

Good morning all.

Listening to callers from abroad on WJ. Mostly expats, but much more intelligent than domestic callers. Anyhow, they mostly agree with your coworker on O.

Yep. That is annoying.

ya gotta admit they are #^%*&## Blue Dogs

I’m working on being tolerant of the intolerant. And, I’m not kidding.

Virtually business as usual to most americans. They don’t see one iota of change. People don’t like to be fooled or taken for a fool.

Obama might get cut some slack if he was really advocating change – new policies, fighting against Rs and so forth. But he is showing himself to be a well spoken W and following his policies.

People are giving him some time, but that is running out. For example the DADT – if he wants to change the policy, as CIC he should issue a order END OF STORY.

He chose Emanuel intentionally. Just accept it.

But I don’t have to like it — grrr

I tried that once or twice but it didn’t work. *g*

Morning demi. Yes, hugs and more hugs for Jane and her pups. He was the love of her life.

here’s what’s wrong with the stimulous elliot;

it’s top down not bottom up, sure it works somewhat top down at the beginning but it works forever if you stimulate bottom up

we need jobs, we need real, living wage jobs, and the way to do that is to create new industry and rebuild the old infrastructure

we need research, development and production of new industry, this cannot happen top down from the corporate world, corporations will grow from government development, development happens far slower if we wait for corporate economic necesity

and there is the rub

corporations use an economic profit model, government uses a social progress model, two completely differant goals with completely differant results

The Fox Senators:
Sen. Kent Conrad (D-ND), Sen. John Thune (R-SD), Sen. Arlen Specter (PA)

*g* back attcha. Isn’t interesting how we can get a good idea of the personalities of the other pups by having read a lot of their comments? For example, I’m just sure you are one of the most tolerant and nicest people I know. That’s how I see you.

It’s a good thing “ObamaCare to include psychological counseling for Republicans” ;)

corporations use an economic profit model, government uses a social progress model, two completely differant goals with completely differant results

Under Bush government became a wing of the corporations

Lordy!

I am going to argue your point, success isn’t necessarily brilliant, or more to the point, brilliance in one venue does not necessarily traverse to other venue

obama has been miserably incompetant at negotiation, incredibly incompetant managing the economic resources given him to fix our economy and incredibly naive hiring those same economic advisors that were responsible for the problem in the first place

all the while NOT hiring those economic theorists who got everything right, down to every nuance of events as they unfolded, predicting them long before the collapse

so I argue your point entirely

yup

and we were hoping to fix that by electing obama…sadly, not to happen though

I know. And, then when I came out to the LR and saw my guys chew toys all over the floor, I got tears. Love can be so scarey, because we know what it feels like when it’s gone. Not to say there aren’t lots of great memories, but loss is so deep.

Ack, it’s been raining here for days!
Guess you won’t get much snow

Nearly everyone thinks I am laid back but I learned a long time ago “don’t get mad – get even” *g*

What a sadistic society. Makes me count our blessings.

Rich has a great editorial today. Obama, great values, no convictions.

Yes and action is the antidote for despair.

I’ll report it. Try resetting your password.

I have to re-log in everytime I close my browser, can you report that too?

thanx

that is him in one paragraph or less

Don’t know where you live ,but up here I may not be able to put top down till next April.
60 degrees is my cut off even while wearing my hoodie and blasting the heater !

The featured footage of Hillary looking goofy doing old folk activities of course is what he lives for.

Very true!

Arr matey!

The back tents at the carnival sideshows get their money from this type.

The deal with his advisers I suspect is that he took in outsiders they would strip wall street and it would be taking a haircut bigtime. Since they own all the money, and unless Obama was prepared to play hardball, he would be crushed by Wall Street.

In the health care debate, they also read him the news essentially saying WE are the main rainmakers in the health care system WE are the stake holders, WE must not be hurt, or WE will screw you and the american public, since WE have the power to do so. Alternative – nationalize these industries.

That’s too radical. So he tries to get them to propose ways for them to act nicer. See the results.

I also like Don’t go away mad, just go away. Har. Not very tolerant, tho.

The costume started as a patch for an eye after surgery, but the kitty (Zoey) kept wriggling out of it.

that was supposed to reply to Elliott at #92

Heh, looks like the storm is passing to the east of me. Snoopy dance.

But real men don’t eat soufflé! ;)

tee hee

my cut off is 35 degrees!!!

I sit low in the car, heat works GREAT and I don my barcelona, I just love the open air and feel confined with top up

of course for some reason I don’t feel confined with top up when I’m driving a hardtop but I get claustrophobic when the ability is there and it’s not being used

Going to play in your “little” yard? I planted the beginnings of my winter garden yesterday. Lettuce and green onions. Will add some more stuff today. Yippee.

I do try. Also.

lol

Good Morning!

I know you meant confined, but congined is kind of a fun word. What would that mean, folks?

We lost a pet this past summer ,he had been with us nearly 18 years. My adult daughters were heartbroken ,Tiger the Cat had been with us most of their lives.
I’m sure Jane must be heartbroken too, our pets become so much a part of our lives ,it’s really tough when we lose one.

Ha!

Chris Wallace whining about the ongoing snubbing by the White House.

Will bicycle to the farmers market if the rain holds off. Not sure what I’ll do after that.

Amen.

After my body gets acclamated my tolerance for colder temps goes up considerably. First cold blast I cover up and shiver but after a couple of days I’m good with it.

aha, I edited before I saw your excellant post, I would have kept congined there

I know there are quite a few people I would not mind congining with myself that’s for sure

(good idea, we have a new word and have it mean whatever we want!!!)

Of course you do. I bet your sweetheart does too. I find that the longer I’ve been a citizen of this lake, I have learned to be more tolerant or it would just piss me off too much to enjoy myself. Ya know?

but but but — what about trickle down economics?

Our system does not lend itself to reform. It rather lends itself very effectively to the concentration of power and control.

The only thing to change that is not legislation, voting or any other democratic process, but systemic collapse of whatever system needs to be reformed.

We almost had that with the financial sector and a collapse would have brought a complete new model, perhaps with some justice, equity and rationality – that is a financial system whose purpose is to capitalize industries and provide jobs and so forth to American workers. What we got is the preservation of a system which is only about wealth creation and protection for the wealthy – same old sh*t.

Bad move in bailing out wall street. Main Street is hurting and the additional pain from a wall street collapse short term would be more acceptable than the continuing pain long term they are in for because the present policies continue the past ones.

buy a farm?

I didn’t even know there was a market in new york for farms though, I have to take a visit

Good deal. And, it’s fun sometimes to just have an open agenda. So many possiblities.

Kyl on MTP ‘not sure it’s a fact’ that more and more Americns die from a lack of health care. Saying to take it slow financially there, hurry up killing in wars.

Dodd; lost 28K off ins. in CT, paid for by those who still have ins and pay growing premiums.

now off to reboot

Did something happen to Kobe?

ZOMG

Karl Rove is the designated defender of Fox News as not-the-arm/brain-of-the Republican-party! Surreal

not a real man I guess!!!

the guy who came up with that expression?
quite the wuss I must say

And, darn you. Your Sunday morning breakfasts always make me hungry and it’s still dark here so I always have to drool until the sun comes up and I can go out to fetch something fresh and odorifous. New words?

There’s a great farmers market at Union Square in Manhattan. You must have some on LI too. I have actually visited two of the farms that show up on Sundays.

I do find I have developed a virulent dislike for several trolls lately. Not very tolerant and was even sensored and chastised by the mod the other day. (I did go stand in a corner for 5 minutes)

I’m off. Be well.

And he speaks as a neutral observer too./s

odorifous…BRILLIANT!!!!

You??? Sometimes I’ve had the urge to say Oh, just shut the fuck up!
You know, I just love it when Southern Dragon or Raven chime in with a wonderful “horse shit”.

You??? Sometimes I’ve had the urge to say Oh, just shut the f**k up!
You know, I just love it when Southern Dragon or Raven chime in with a wonderful “horse shit”.

Veddy interesting. The 125 wouldn’t link, so I thought I was being modded and changed it. I’m such a nice little potty mouth.

Kobe’s no longer with us !
http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/9944

hey peoples.

up late. was up late last night watchi’ the Jankees game (WIN!!!! 13 innings!!!!)

51 & Sunny in Graysonville. Forecast is for 67 and clear. Love it.

Trolls blow.

wait. what’s with the ** ??? You can’t say “fuck” anymore? If so, Thers better start lookin’.

SD put up a tribute

Hey Demi

member how I was saying I need to get in better shape?

can I have a donut for breakfast? will that set me back?

*S*

Go Phils!

re: wus.

had a discussion the other day…. can you say “pussy” here when referring to a person? Like, say, Harry Reid?

never got a ruling

I guess we can say it, but I was getting a database error until I changed the spelling. Dunno.

Bad Beerfart Liberal. No donut.
Wouldn’t you rather have a nice fresh fruit salad. Or, at least a bagel with cream cheese?

I believe there are several banned words. The C one and the t word that rhymes with what.

Thanks, Elliot.

F&*king David Axelrod is waxing on about achieving “goals” in health care reform on ABC’s This Week, while refusing to answer the simple question about whether the public option has to be in the merged Senate bill.

What a d*ck.

He looks like an over-pampered weasel that is way too far out of touch with the needs of real people.

Wrong, second to Larry Summers and what about Tim.