Thanks, Elliott, and it looks like another Avoid moment for MTP. The Book Salon with Helen Thomas is a must this afternoon, though.

I’ll be checking out Chris Matthews shortly.

Joek Line saying how complicated Obama’s line is, gotta stay and oughta go, Pakistan’s gooks.??

Ignatius, it’s right, Pakistan is the issue, vacuum can’t be left, and pres’s problem is to get that pt across.

Andrea – make issue national security, can’t ever build state in Afghanistan.

Kornblut, it’s about lowering the stakes. Not gonna save the whole country of Afghanistan.

Tweety, but he’s got to tell the generals whattado.

Ignatius; key word is transfer, to gov’t so it’s their problem, exit line.

Jokeline; blown it by generals, who wanna ‘win’

Tweety, back to how to work with military when not giving them what they want.

Andrea, this is smarter, watch the Brits, getting more from allies.

JokeLine, they’re leaving fast, and don’t really fight when there.

Tweety; so pres have to make it clear.

Kornblutt; not open ended, have to make pt we have to get out.

Andrea, now Hillary cozying up to Karzai who’s been dumped. 3 to 5 years. Training up Afghan forces, hard to convince anyone that’s gonna happen.

Kornblut, and that’s too long, can’t pass it off is pt to make

Ignatius, expectations about growing Afthan forces are never to close to never.amendment isn’t scaled back enuff.

Joekline; What we need to hear, what’s gonna look like in a year.

Tweety; did we get Karzai to admit he’s gotta take charge?

Ignatius; heh. no one believes it

Kornblut; breaking down figures so we know what we can do if we end spending in Afghanistan

Andrea, gotta sell it, not meeting smell test tho

Tweety; left isn’t liking it

Ignatius, no, the right will be the obstacle

Andrea; selling the war tho he was expected to get out.

Tweety; dithering?

Kornblut; will look anti-bush

Ignatius; that’s the truth, looks good for doing opposite of idiots. but too much college professor

Tweety; salute at Dover was the answer to military relations.

clips of Reagan saluting like he oughta, then GHW and son being sappy. Then Obama giving StarTrek salute.

now onto trashing Hillary. Andrea showing great pics of Hillary

You’re quick…
Hey, Dragon….Happy Birthday…Are you having a Caturday Party? What fun..Angela and I wish we were there….

Sorry about all the transcription…Love how his panel tries to get Tweety back onto the subject.

I ignored the segment on Hillary except was interested to see that Andrea had the staff doing her pics. hmmm, who’s in charge here? Tweety’s gone off on Hillary too many times for the brass?

yes, happy Birthday, Yellow Dragon, hi RevBev.

I think ABC must be running a test of some sort: “What will it take to make Paul Krugman and Bernie Sanders’ heads explode?”

Good morning everyone & thanks Elliott.

Unfortunately, I’m still in the midst of the worst cold I’ve had for years, so must stay inside today. Looking for some other excuse to avoid the talking heads.

Bernie Sanders puts up with the maniacs in the Senate every day, has become quite good at showing them up as liars; Krugman is getting quite adept at it, too.

Sorry, do you have the recipe of Garlic Lemonade that was here a few days back?

Q&A with Naomi Klein will not likely be bad at all.

Good morning, pups. Frank Rich is off today, so it’s Dowd, Friedman and Kristof. MoDo has decided to remind us of how she used to write before she became a harpy. In “The Wizards’ Wizard” she says she’s seen some people who were fierce in the face of mortification and death. But none as fierce as Abe Pollin, Washington’s great sports impresario and philanthropist. The Moustache of Wisdom, in “America vs. the Narrative,” tells us why a cocktail of half-truths, propaganda and outright lies about America have taken hold in the Arab-Muslim world since 9/11. Mr. Kristof asks “Are We Going to Let John Die?” and says those members of Congress who are wavering on health reform are blind to the innumerable Americans who die annually as a consequence of not having insurance.

Here they are.

The coffee, tea and hot chocolate are ready, and I’ve got French toast with a bit of cinnamon and warm maple syrup. As a bonus here’s an article in the Times about food stamp usage that states the program now helps one in eight Americans and one in four children. (The bold outrage is mine.) There’s also an interactive map of food stamp usage. Appalling isn’t the word for it. Try to have a good day.

I was so cross about the food stamp article I forgot the other linky.

Here they are.

Hi. My name is Marion, and I’m a doofus. Hi, Marion…

Hi, Marion….It’s Advent.

Yes, I was gonna go back & find those suggestions. I thought I had the cold under control, but alas, it was not to be.

Morning all. Thanks Elliot. The MSM is following the same business plan as General Motors until Detroit’s collapse. Ignore your job then wonder why revenues are going bye bye.

Me and Southern Dragon have the same boithday!

Also, Louisa May Alcott is 177 today. She had to write like crazy to keep her hippie dad’s commune from going bust, which it alas did anyway.

Happy birthday Sharkbabe

Happy Birthday Sharkbabe. Do you like cats too?

Happy birthday!

and thanks, Marion, wonder of wonders that the Friedman measure goes to insurance deprivations, gotta be a Large scale.

Morning, folks. Happy birthday SD!

And to you, sharkbabe!

Very cute.

Sorry you’re not feeling well, eCAHN. How long have you been sick? I’m getting a head cold too…

First felt it coming on Wednesday morning. Travelled to PA for T-day, and it just has gotten successively worse. I don’t get colds very often but I can usually knock them out at the beginning with vitamin C. Not this time, however. I just hope I haven’t infected others along the way.

Anyone know if cats can get colds?

Loo Hoo, I hope your head cold turns out to be minor.

Heh. Govt intends to shame banksters into making loans. Guest on WJ sez they are unshamable.

Q&A with Naomi Klein will not likely be bad at all.

Yeah, she’s as brilliant as she is beautiful. And Brian Lamb can actually be tolerable in Q&A. I can’t stand him on Washington Journal, he doesn’t know how to keep out of the discussion.

Agree, Brian Lamb has practice at containing himself, and has moderated his rightwing leanings after the disaster of seeing what happens when the ideology is empowered.

Is Helen Thomas actually going to be online for the book salon?

How do you know Brian Lamb is a wingnut? I’ve always suspected he is, but have had a hard time getting firm evidence, as he tried to keep his Qs neutral and spends way too much time on process.

Actually, it’s more from long listening and reading comments about him, but the choice of guests is definitely out of balance toward the right, and he’s so very warm and fuzzy toward wingnuts.

Thanks, Elliott. Good morning all.

Happy Birthday SoDrag and Sharkbabe!

eCAHN, try some zinc. Someone from here said it really helped her cold end fast.

Happy birthday SD and Sharkbabe!

Yep, I’ve picked up that too.

AR reporter on WJ avers that Lincoln has managed to piss people off on both sides of health care debate. PO’d wingnuts be allowing debate to procede, and PO’d lefties by promising to filibuster bill.

Yeah, I can’t point to anything definitive, but he seems to side with the wingnuts. It’s more noticeable on WJ than Q&A.

But I have to admit, I also get the impression that Greta is a liberal. Of course I see that as a positive thing, but if I was a wingnut I wouldn’t like it.

Brian ask Naomi Klein to respond to this:

http://casazaza.blogspot.com/

I can’t believe it’s here already! One of my favorite seasons — I love the Advent hymns and sense of anticipation.

Just sounded like Adelaide from Guys N’ Dolls doing a number on ‘we got enuff republicans in the democratic party’ – hilarious stuff.

Christmas would be a lot better without fundies and catholic bishops.

Good morning everybody, and also Happy Birthday Sharkbabe -and Louisa May

Ruth’s Bobblehead translation :)

Mike, you’re not inviting them to your party, are you?

Yes,
and hope you feel better soon.

I forgot to say Good Morning and Happy Birthday to Southern Dragon and Sharkbabe.
PS, I’m not inviting any fundies or Catholic Bishops to anything holiday related at my house. I still have a cute, young man at home and must protect him.

My mother didn’t raise any masochists!

For those with colds, don’t forget the homemade chicken soup, jewish penicillin.

good morning FIREDAWGS!!!”

no time to live blog my breakfast this morning, am working on my latest diary;

Blair Told He Attacking Iraq Would be a War Crime

told by his own attorney general, blair then went and put a gag order on said ag so he could go forward with that war crime

crazy stuff going on there, anyone want to join me, I’ll be there cleaning up my post, let me know if you see typo or grammar issues while i still have a chance to edit

She must have done her job well, because it seems like you take good care of your self.

also might look into oil of oregano, great natural anti viral, to be had from health food stores

Sometimes atheists sound just like fundies.

Prefer to get even as opposed to getting mad, though that comes from being married to two lawyers.

this turned up at the wrong place, was supposed to respond to Elliott

I’d say my pleasure, but it’s pretty mixed. At least, I notice that Tweety is veering away from the dark side these days, has better commenters/panelists.

At present, am NOT watching RickW on MTP, staying with WashJournal instead.

I agree with you but wonder which comment inspired that insight.

I wonder how long before the right wing begins to revere her like we do, now that she’s holding obama’s feet to the fire they must be loving her

Are you thinking of Christopher Hitchins? He sounds like an asshole no matter what subject he speaks about. Most atheists I know are bored by any discussion of god.

I have no idea why they didn’t mandate the loans in the first place, the money they recieved needed to be ear marked for the specific loans the government needed to stimulate the economy

Getting mad will just give one a headache, or a heart attack. Working on getting even might be seen as proactive. *g* Action, not dispair, and all that.

Yes, will be interesting to watch O withdrawal syptoms of the left, inlcuding opinions of the few probing reporters who remain.

ecahn, thom hartmann makes an interesting claim as far as the fed

he says their rates are based on middle class wage pressure, when there’s upward pressure on wages the rates go up, when no pressure or downward pressure the rates go down

seems true to me, of course there are other factors but that one right three demonstrates why rates have been so low for so long, we’ve been losing real wages for quite some time

Of course you know why loans weren’t made in the first place. O is scared of his own shadow and wouldn’t demand any quid pro quo for the bailout. “Shaming” now is just a bald & shameless appeal to populism.

May I edit?
He sounds like an pompous asshole…
Okay? If it weren’t for your cold, you probably might have added that.

Greenspan thought rising real wages would be inflationary. Sorta became conventional wisdom during his reign. Strange, because Greenspan was so interested in productivity which, in the older conventional wisdom, was thought to be a way to generate non-inflationary rises in real wages. (I have a whole alternative analysis on these subjects, but that’s another story.)

I saw some positive comments about Christmas and I anticipated the usual reaction from the atheist fundies. That’s how I should have phrased my comment– there are Christian fundies and atheist fundies, and they have some marked similarities. But as eCAHN pointed out, not all atheists are fundies. Just as not all Christians are fundies.

Perfectly OK with the edit. (Even without a cold, my fingers often type faster than my brain works.)

Most atheists I know are like me, no surprise. No problem with the residual cultural aspects of religion, like holidays (or holy days, as I think the derivation is).

This is somewhat unfair in that most of the loans to the biggies were made by Paulson after he got his two page application with the exception possibly of AIG.

scared might not be the word, he might have been corrupted or fooled by his advisors

either way, not the man for the job…but fdr was on the banksters side for a while as well, maybe obama will have an epiphane

eCAHN, might be too far into your cold to help much now, but I swear by Cold-EEZE zinc lozenges. They definitely make the cold less severe and the duration shorter. I usually start sucking on them at the very beginning, when I’m beginning to feel a cold coming on. They really work!

so thom is right

greenspan I believe didn’t understand the differance between “inflationary” rises vs productive rises in real wage

I believe his theory would be “there needs to be a low bar that is constant” rather then “the low bar should be raised”

I am led to believe he has learned his theories are wrong, unlike the other miltonians who continue believing (or claiming without believing) that their theory is correct

did greenspan come up with that on his own or was the theory bandied about to which he acted

Thanks. Earliest I’m going out is tomorrow if I feel better. I’ll buy some when I do. If not for this one, I’ll have them on hand for the next time.

Maybe an age thing, but as an atheist I find myself increasingly annoyed by all of the God stuff. I try to keep quiet about it, since I also believe in people having a perfect right to their own beliefs. But they keep intruding on my beliefs, and I’m often offended by it. Maybe just crabby old woman syndrome?

I am led to believe he has learned his theories are wrong, unlike the other miltonians who continue believing (or claiming without believing) that their theory is correct

A lot of good that does now.

Again, couldn’t agree with you more. Just for clarification, my comment about protecting my child from certain influences is based on my very progressive Christian beliefs.

Usually it all just seems like children’s lit, don’t get annoyed. But I saw a shirt yesterday in a tony store, decorated with gaudy shiny stuff with the pic of the manger scene, up close with very non-ethnic faces, and shuddered. Ick.

I’m making this up from my experience, not because I actually know how Greenspan’s thinking evolved. Wages are a lagging phenomenon. So in the inflationary 1970s (the only inflationary decade post-WWII, in all of the 60+ years), that so scarred economists in the policy making world, the last phase involved wages catching up (having been severely eroded during the earlier inflation). That phase probably frustrated the policymakers who were trying to wring out inflation. Thus the ongoing focus on “wage inflation.” Yet another wrong lesson learned from history.

I resemble that.

Regarding the intrusion on your beliefs, do you mean here at the Lake, or just in general in the world, or specifically in politics?

eCahn, question for you too.

Actually I think that there is some fear of deflation now.

there needs to be a documentary or 60 minutes or something educating the masses for that lesson you just taught.

good stuff

Mornin’, Elliott, pups.

Thank you, Elliott. *blush* I couldn’t wish for anything cuter than that vid. Well, mebbe the little tiger him/herself. *g*

The Toronto Humane Society needs more folks like the one playing with this bundle of love. I’ll be talking about this story in Caturday later.

As an agnostic I will generally make a snide or snarky remark like what was wrong with Joseph and Mary that they just didn’t check into the Ritz-Carlton

Happy Your Day, Sharkbabe!

lolcat

Cahnstance can’t catch your cold but they do get colds. They have blah days just like us, tummyaches just like us and gnarly days just like us. *g*

i told them to quite hanging out with them ballers.

U.S. politics has become increasingly religiousized. It’s disgusting.

Oh good. She’s taking to spending part of the night sleeping on top of me.

She was really wiped out for a full day after her visit to the vet and all the shots. Even found a little vomit spot. I was warned in advance she might react. Otherwise she’s in fine fettle.

I was truly looking for some clarification, honestly. Just wondering if comments like “Hey, it’s advent” is offensive somehow. Some people here are avowed atheists and some avowed Christians. Unless someone knows a commenters affiliation, I don’t think we can tell just by a comment which way we lean. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone here trying to pursuade anyone else to believe other than they do.

The deflation fears were most intense a year ago. Now that financial markets have rebounded and economy has stopped plummetting, deflation fears have subsided.

The influence of the right wing fundamentalist xtians on politics, especially during the W reign is really awful and I am disgusted too. Misusing some potentially positive idealogy for selfish, greedy, judgemental and hateful and hurtful influence. Terrible.

Not everyone is so optimistic.

http://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/200x/2009/11/25/De-investing-from-the-USA

interesting, no?

I only had 4 on the waterbed last night, every one on the afghan. Second really cold night so far. Clean blankee goes on the bed tonight so I can look forward to a major struggle getting under the covers tonight. Last night with the afghan was just practice.

I typed that deflation fears have subsided. I didn’t type that they had disappeared. Still a lot of uncertainty about the future.

Oh, you’re asking if my original comment was a response to one of your comments. No, it wasn’t.

Peace, sistah! :-)

So my niece, who mid-wived the cat adoption, emails me to get the latest stories. About 2 days after the transfer, she asked if Cahnstance was sleeping with me. I responded that she’s not a slut and that these interspecies relationships take time to develop. Has to be some foreplay, dontcha think?

i typed a rote quote ;)

We cool. Not liking to offend folks, I sometimes ask questions, so I can learn.

Camping at the beach was rather difficult because it was freezing. Big dog was sleeping on my legs. He’s a lot of btu’s, but dang, my legs were hurting by morning because he’s so heavy.

I found this really interesting vid at HuffPo. Very clever.

The Decline of Empires. They need to add an US of A bubble. You have to expand the vid to full screen so the names of the countries can be seen as they break off. Very cool.

Your going to make some Texas politicians (Gomert) heads explode.

LOL

I am so not into camping in cold weather.

I can remember winter camping with my son when he was in the scouts and nearly breaking it off when I had to get up during the night.

magnolia tree here budding

Snow still on the ground from two weeks ago.

Happy Birthday! doing anything special today?

I see rxbusa is causing trouble over at Seminal *g*

The weather during the day was very pleasant, and the second night was nearly as cold. Still, being 5 minutes walking time to the gorgeous beach and being under the pines was wonderful. We were tenting it. But, we were also eyeing the little pop up trailers that a lot of people had. I’m not getting any younger. ha. So, I think we might be looking for a deal on a little trailer some time in the future.

big mistake, Magnolia, you’ll regret it.

birthday hawk!

lol :o

That would be a good thing.

Regarding the intrusion on your beliefs, do you mean here at the Lake, or just in general in the world, or specifically in politics?

Sorry, left the thread to make breakfast, so this will be EPU’d. NOT here at the Lake, more just in general.

Tomorrow night my roses are supposed to freeze, may cut any that are still good today.

that reminds me, the primrose are starting to bud too!

oh, That Kind of cold.

My first visit to Maine was spring break of freshman year in a summer cabin there, hiphigh drifts to walk thru, sliding around on totally frozen Lake Sebago. Getting up at night to put more logs on the fire in the fireplace.

Loved it.

If you really, really want to be cold sleep in a pop up trailer with a floor up off of the ground in wintertime.

Thanks, Molly.

I wonder if they make something with a heated floor. My top part was warm, it was just my underside that was cool, and that was on a pretty thick air mattress.

Thanks. Not really. Gonna get back into the 10th anniversary edition of Naomi Klein’s No Logo, which arrived yesterday. Don’t know why I haven’t read it before now. First, however, I gotta scrub the mineral buildup off of the water fountain. And I do mean scrub. Can’t use chemicals so it’s all elbow grease. Small wire brush and emery cloth. The minerals in the water here, and I use spring water, is unbelievable. I saved the doggy plates from Thanxgiver for today so I can stuff myself again. Gave the turkey to the tigers that night. Told Linda just cuz I didn’t eat any ddidn’t mean the tigers couldn’t have my share. *g*

You’re right, troublemaker at Seminal.

Brian Lamb seems to really enjoy progressive, lefty types but shows too much respect for wingnuts. He never believed there was such a thing as neoconservatives especially as it related to Chainy-Bush admin. He seems very strong on anti-racism issues.
Camping when it’s really hot is kind of annoying also. My husband refuses to camp, says it’s too similar to his home life and he hitchhiked w/ friends across the US twice. Hates ditch camping.
Thinking of popup also for 60+ travel rather than hotels. Want to make some x-country trips on the blue roads and photojournal as best as I am able.
Looking forward to Naomi K. and Helen. Always loved it when everytime she had a chance to ask a question: “Why are we in Iraq?” Never did get an answer.
Lived in Maine for two years – got to love the winter there. They raced cars on Lake Sebago!

Ah, Sunday morning multi tasking. I’m working in the kitchen, too. Watching (or at least listening) to Charles Laughton in Hunchback, checking in here. La la la.

The extension cord would be a bitch to roll up. *g*

Hee hee hee.

They claimed they were going to use the money for loans. Then they handed out the big bonuses to all their execs.

Time for a 3rd party, people. Weiner or Sanders or Kucinic…. one of you guys, please take the wheel!!!

Obama and team are just not getting it done! Caving at every turn.