Good morning and happy Solstice!

Good morning BT. Do I have the infamous zed?

OOPS. Missed by “that much” I guess. No eclipse here in NW Indiana, just clouds.

I “met” Nouriel Roubini for the first time on Rachel’s live broadcast last night. He had some very scary things to say about a double dip in housing, and things are gonna go further south with the Pukes in charge.

Welcome to the Post-Hope Era.

Good morning all.

G’Morning twolf1. I love the Solstice. My youngest son was born on the Solstice and I look forward to increasing sun in my yard.
Molly, we missed the eclispse because of clouds too. :( Well, maybe in 400 years are so, we can catch another soltice eclipse. Ya think?

Notice how Barbour is being called out by HuffPo and by TPM and by ThinkProgress…NOT by the NYT or the WaPO or by CNN. In short, the traditional media is ignoring bigotry these days, unless you’re Helen Thomas deploring Zionism of course. It’s not just FAUX “News” that’s become the propaganda arm of the Republican party, it’s the entire traditional media establishment. Unless and until we stop linking to them and giving them (and their advertisers) traffic, they have no incentive to change.

Good morning eCAHNomics. Glad you figured out the thermometer deal. :)

Mornin’, BT, pups

Apparently Obama’s economists are the only ones who believe in the tooth fairy trickle down theory.

And yep. Enjoy internet access while you can. The Obama administration has caved to big business again. I’ve been saying that Obama might as well be Bush. I was wrong and I apologize. Obama is worse than Bush. Far worse.

Good morning pups.

Thanks for the linkfest BT.

I’m starting to wonder if the president is actually a drone.

I wish the eclipse was in the DAYTIME instead of the middle of the night! LOL.

Wasssup? Just more discouraging news on the ‘nets. But, I’m not going to turn on the tb yet. Still got music on.

Heh. Some have accused me of being smart, but never moi.

In fact, the only tradmed mention I could find of Barbour’s praise for the Citizen’s Council in Mississippi is here at MSNBC.com. Note how they never use the word racism, instead focusing on a ‘contrast (duh) between Barbour and Obama. When the Citizens Council is brought up, it is entirely without context or mention of what a bunch of bigoted assholes they were and is presented as a he said/she said with a link to Talking Points Memo in which they go out of their way to point out how liberal TPM is. At some point the MSM just stopped calling Republicans out for bigotry.

That’s my problem with learning about the stars. Requires staying up at night. Not good at that.

Morning BT & Firepups:

Just in on the Ticker Tape…

Since I don’t do wireless this doesn’t seem to affect my access.

When the economy really tanks next year Obama will make us all tithe to the corporations so management can continue to receive obscene bonuses.

Actually, teh Google shows a bit of MSM coverage, although not what it deserves.
Discussing Civil Rights Era, a Governor Is Criticized

Barbour defends Miss. school integration account

And Rachel had a segment on it last night.

And when HB talks about the calmness of the early 60s, he apparently has forgotten Meredith at Ol Miss and that memorable struggle. He must think everyone who was around has died off…Not yet.

G’Morning, Shoto. Tom makes good points in his cartoons, but they are so “busy”. I did read through his roundup though and was reminded of Barbour’s comments about enjoying the beach. I wonder if he has the beaches segregated. You know know….this time the Blacks get to sit in the front…closer to the oil.

I view it as a foot in the door like the “payroll tax”.

demi, have you seen this?

Good morning, all.

I note that some of ya said some rather nice things about me, yesterday morning.

Thank you, thank you, very much.

[Muh earz wuz burnin' whilst moving fluffy, frozen water with a shovel and a broom - later, I discovered why, when I returned to the thread - but yins (practicing muh Pittsburghese) had already moved on to other thinks ...]

;~DW

Workin & lurkin.

Sporatic webs here @ work.

Why anybody takes that POS seriously is beyond me. I do not to watch him, he makes me sick to my stomach. To add insult they say he is a presidential candidate. Give me a break.

A little tune to bring you around…

I think TT is just about the best cartoonist working right now…or way up there, anyway. Dude is just brilliant.

Thanks for those links. They were pretty fucking timid though considering who he was praising and in both instances presented as a he said/she said and in both cases printing his spokesman’s denial without the full context of what Barbour said about Citizen’s Council or what a bunch of bigoted assholes they really were.

Got that right. Wife and I participated in Resurrection City on honeymoon.

Demi, I think that I did not see your name on the movie thread last night….really interesting. You may want to check it out.

Oh my gosh. I hadn’t seen that. I’m going to call him later. Holy cow. He does have a way of pissing off the authorities. During HS, every once in a while, there would be an announcement over the PA: Mr. Palast to the principals’ office.

Good for you….pretty amazing memory lapse, no?

Ex lovingly chides me still about us almost getting arrested on steps of Justice Dept when the heat starting breaking it up.

He does have a way with words, doesn’t he?

Mr. Palast to the principals’ office.

Gee, who coulda guessed.

I think Harvard ought to wait before rushing to embrace the return of ROTC. I’m convinced that the DADT policy is going to be replaced with something that still makes LGB Americans in the service second class citizens. Not only that but it doesn’t address T Americans but I guess discriminating against those people isn’t really discrimination, is it? After all, they’re not real people….

A good place to be back then…surprised it was only “almost”…

Oh yeah, I didn’t mean to imply that the coverage was enough. I also found an article in the National Journal (I don’t know anything about that publication, but I’ve at least heard of it).

But at least the story is out there beyond we lefty blogs.

And the pics are good too.

Licking boots of straight soldiers comes to mind.

Christmas in TX, y’alllll…s’posed to be in the 80s today.

Hee hee hee. Warmed ya up without wasting any fuel, huh.
I’ve decided to try and be only nice and not naughty today.

Anybody have any good cocktail recipes using pomegranate arils?

Yep but only as little as they thought they could get away with with. Just in case MM or somebody calls them on it, they can point to them and say “We DID cover it!”

I was there, lurking though. Believe it or not, I do a lot of lurking on certain threads. I’m not Always yakky. :)

Licking boots of straight soldiers comes to mind.

Yeah. Something like that.

At least I won’t have to listen to the insipid and ubiquitous, “so much for global warming” comments this week.

Military ID can do wonders sometimes. Told ‘em I was on leave from Nam, which was true.

OT: What was the Gibbs press conference yesterday? I was someplace where I could only see some pictures, but not hear. Anything interesting?

Boo. I’m freezin’ my butt off and it’s only in the 50s.

Walked a friend through why the payroll tax relief was a bad thing for social security and for individuals in general. Showed the friend how much their taxes would go up.

The friend said, “I feel stupid. Really stupid that I did not understand what was happening. Why didn’t the media address this better?”

“You rely on our current media to be good at telling you all viewpoints?” I asked.

The friend was very quiet.

Interesting times…you were certainly in the middle of it.

Boo. I’m freezin’ my butt off and it’s only in the 50s.

We’re havin’ a heat wave here today. Current temp is 26!

I have this knack of being in the right place at the wrong time, or is it the wrong place at the right time.

I know what you mean; Im a hot weather girl. I still think we should seriously hibernate when it gets cold. I do not do cold weather at all well.

Ah, Demi …

You has.

And you has?

Your friend, Greg, shore do get into sum innerestin’ places; I’m looking forward, with genuine anticipation, to reading his “report” on “baba” and Bee Pee.

;~DW

It’s been raining steadily for days, but I just checked the updated forecast and it shows partly cloudy and in the mid 60′s for Thursday and Friday, so I’m going to plan to get Outside. Getting a little cabin feverish here.

It was 36 in Brandon at 6:30 this AM but up to 49 now

DW: Would you remind us again what the salary for a Senator is? I guess they will have a “freeze” also; how sad.

I’d have stayed in bed and called in well.

Maybe the rain has depressed my friskyness. Naw…I’m just exhausted from all of the heavy duty house cleaning, getting ready.
I’m still waiting for my new to me computer to be delivered by UPS. Didn’t leave the house all day yesterday, ’cause it’s signature required delivery. Status says “on truck”, but where is it? In anticipation of its arrival I scrubbed my hand carved pine writing desk something fierce. Living room stills smells of Murphy’s Oil Soap.

My ex-husband’s uncle, a man without a lot of education (maybe high school) used to bring home the supermarket tabloids, and he believed everything in them simply because they were in print.

There’s also the “as seen on TV” phenomenon.

The dumbing of the American populace.

Sounds like we will be colder over the weekend; I would be smart to get to the movies. Otherwise, I may have to clean my house….

Hey SDragon, what can I do about a kitty cold?

In the 50′s?

Friggin’ heat wave!

Haven’t felt the fifties for more n a month …

Nine friggin’ teen … here, “high” of 26 is hoped for …

SD, I feel for ya … but someday I’m gonna haf to have muh head examined for continuing to live in the frozen tundra-land of the Homeland. Cuz, if muh head is here, then the rest of me is too … and all of me gets cold.

I be thinkin’ warm thoughts about you and yer tigers, even so.

;~DW

Yep. Where the hell did that supposed axiom, “if it’s in the paper, it must be true” come from anyway? There’s never been any history to support such a belief.

Take Neko to the vet. If she’s sneezing and blowin’ mucous she needs to be seen.

My cleaning lady loves the smell of Murphy’s oil soap. I don’t mind it myself. Gets used on my wooden kitchen floor, the best kitchen floor evah. Beat up enough so that one doesn’t have to worry about damage or dirt, but has that historic patina & cleans up real nice.

What are the movies that you are considering? I’d like to see the new Fockers one. But, I don’t go to the theater, I’ll wait.

Indeed I have noticed that. And I haven’t been able to figure out how that business model works.

They seem to be in the business of taking a series of snapshots of pop culture, biased toward taking more snapshots of pop culture. A business model of reinforcing a status quo that they create. Maybe it lets them delude themselves into thinking they’re movers and shakers, that they are shaping public discourse (which they are, but in a bad way IMO).

Example: They fill their media with constant drumbeats of Sarah Palin (they take a series of snapshots), so that they can continue to fill their media with her (they bias the coverage, in order to keep her relevant in pop culture, so that they can take another snapshot of her tomorrow).

They reinforce the status quo that they create. Not a long-term business model as far as I can tell.

Hmmm, I’se waitin’ fer a new-to-me ‘puter as well …

Murphy’s oil … been through a good bit of that, generations of my family have been devoted Murphy Oilers …

DW

Okay. I don’t have the money but I’ll get her seen somehow. Thanks. I guess I can skip my scrips this month.

Where are you, DW? Sounds a bit like NW Indiana,weather wise. I hung up my beloved bicycle for the winter when it quit getting to the high 40s a month or so ago.

I’ll look for the Bhutto movie, but it’s The King’s Speech getting remarkable reviews…a couple of others I’ve forgotten the names…;)

MEDIAN “salary” … 2.5 million … the best senators money can … RevBev.

DW

Um, not totally true. Men in Black, II I think it was. Ha.

Isn’t it obscene…I was shocked when I saw your comment.Thanks for the reminder.

Grrrrr… and I just read a stat that reported that 1 of 3 families are near poverty level.

Went to a wedding once filled with folks like your ex’s uncle.

My husband and I were scared to be there. Seriously scared. I thought I had “seen” so much working in urban poverty intervention and urban development…

Nope. I had yet to see much of Amurika.

Will you check and see if there’s such a thing as a kitty klinic? I want you to keep up on your own scrips.

I’ve always said that the only reason the media pays attention to Palin, O’Donnell or Bachmann is because they’re pretty. We don;t see “Virginia Foxx’s North Carolina” for example and she’s just as wingnutty as the other three. The news media in this country is as dead as the dodo.

Try the local SPCA. They usually have a program for low income etc folks. May be just a case of upper respiratory infection and antibiotics are pretty cheap.

We just thought it was amusing at the time. He wasn’t at all a violent sort, although they were all racist in a mild sort of way — “those people” and such. My parents were, too. Early in my marriage my husband and I got into quite an argument with my parents over the possibility of blacks moving into their neighborhood, and how the property values would go down. In those days, they probably would have.

I did the same with my co-workers. I had to present it from a far-right Libertarian perspective just to get them to listen. Once they were able to connect the dots in their own minds, they understood what a bad deal it is(or at least they claimed to understand).

I keep having a vision of the kitty having a breathing/inhaler treatment..wow. Just imagine.;)

Hey, I’d like to keep up on them too. Not to worry, I ought to be able to get her seen and get one of them filled. My vet isn’t too expensive, which is why I go out to the country when she needs a vet, instead of just down the street. Gasoline I can afford. For now.

O dear…better start my day…back later. Have a good one.

You mean you’re not a black leather, chrome and glass everywhere person. What, are you an old hippie, or somethin’?

Msmolly, I be in the Pitts.

The City of Crumbling Concrete and Rusty Steel Bridges: Pittsburgh, Pee A.

Didn’t see the eclipse becuz we got this cloud-cover that has parked itself over the city … occasionally it scatters some snow around, mostly we got wind, little wind, big wind, the wind does what it wants, blowing hither and yon .. the snow goes with it, just driftin’ along …

Then the snow … ALL ends up in … MY driveway.

I can only conclude that I have, inadvertantly, I assure you, annoyed certain wee wrathful dieties and they are making sport with me.

How be you doing, msmolly?

DW

If you got one with an engine you could have a windshield and be riding still! :-)

I’m 60 years old and have roots in Mississippi. The citizens council was always the upscale, upperclass racist organization as opposed to the downscale Klan.

To put it into today’s language, the citizens councils were the “serious” folks that knew best, though always blowing some dog whistles to the Klan to do their dirty work.

In other words, the precursors of country club republicans.

Speaking of ‘puters, one of today’s projects is to clean my laptop keyboard. The laptop is white, and I drag it all over the house including at meals, read blogs, stream radio, etc. and the keyboard has gotten disgusting. Don’t think I can use Murphy’s, tho…

Off to swim in the great capitalist cesspool.

US KIA Afghanistan: 1,440

US KIA Irak: 4,430

Iraki, Afghan and Pakistani casualties: estimates vary to over 1.5M

US MBS 2010: 43,896 and counting

Twist In My Sobriety

Be good to yourselves, and all other living things

Namaste

Now, what really scares me is the state of the economy. I am terrified to pay what would have been my payroll taxes into my retirement account to avoid the taxes now. So, rather than pay into an account based on investments which have yet to be protected by strong regulatory measures I can trust, it is easier to pay the taxes now and just save it at my local bank and pay off any debt and pay down my mortgage.

But if O thinks that I plan to stimulate the economy with that $$, he’s quite wrong and off the mark.

LOL, I be doing just fine, DW. Didn’t you have a serious accident or illness awhile back? If I’m remembering correctly, it’s good that you are able to shovel the white stuff.

Your history would make a great diary.

Oh it isn’t the windshield. It is the body that gets too cold riding when it’s in the 40s. You motorcycle types have the gear for it, and mostly bicycle riders don’t wear leathers. We could, I suppose. Some neighbors think I am a wuss because I don’t ride when it gets below about 50, but winter in NW Indiana also brings snow, freezing rain, and other unpleasant fallings from above.

Uh huh, I is that.

Been workin’ at it fer quite a spell, most of muh life, I reckon, demi.

And, ya know, I cain’t imagine having done anythang else.

Maybe I got a defective, little imagination, even though it seems I use it a lot?

I keep imagining a better world.

;~DW

A wee auto accident, msmolly, and I’m, more or less, “back” … and very glad, I must say, to be back among friends who understand so much and so profoundly well.

I consider myself very fortunate, indeed.

DW

Have recently becomes friends with a transplant from up your way. He assures me that they did indeed ride year round. Judging from the gear he showed me, I believe him. I’m good to about freezing and that is it. The good news is it does not get that cold here but for a few days a year.

This is a wild thread. All oldtime pups. Pretty rare these days for a day time post.

I second that!

DW

I don’t recall what you do for a living, DW. Are you retired, or self employed? Just getting a clearer picture of you. Care to share?

As one who received a recruitment letter from the White Citizens Councils (with a paper from a Columbia University psychology professor arguing the genetic inferiority of “Negroes”) and who sees that as my break from Southern racism, I think we need to take Haley Barbour’s coming out more seriously that he’s being taken by the progressive movement. Since the November elections, Alabama and Mississippi have become unhinged; whites are continually using racist jokes and slams against Obama to screen for “traitors to their race”. Nobody has been fired yet, to my knowledge, but that is a distinct possibility for moderate and liberal whites who are not circumspect.

For folks who don’t remember, the White Citizens Councils were a terrorist network aimed at destroying the civil rights movement. They recruited on every college campus in the South, and local councils were implicated in numerous attacks on and even murders of civil rights workers and African-Americans who were seeking the end of Jim Crow laws.

Without getting too alarmist about it, this is a very dangerous turn of events and toleration of Barbour’s language by moderates and progressives outside the South could well embolden the Fergit Hell’rs to seek physical intimidation of minorities like that we have not seen in fifty years.

It is the opinions outside the South that Haley Barbour is watching, and he’s looking for a pass, a wink and a nod that tells him he can still run for President as a bigot.

It is getting harder and harder to ferret out facts from any of the traditional media, even for the well informed. For the less informed, it is virtually impossible.

Thanks to both of you, but there are already tons of books written on that era and on that theme. The former editor of Harpers, Willie Morris, was from Yazoo City MS, and has written extensively. Faulkner and Walker Percy–both aristocrats–touch on it as well.

A lot of that stuff is interesting too, because it shows the interwoven nature of racism and class in Mississippi: the college educated, cotton gentry of the Delta (citizens council) versus the lower class whites (the Klan) and, of course, how racism was used to further the interests of the upper class whites at the expense of lower class whites.

I be retired, now, more or less … depending.

Did my education around psychology, but spent most of my working life as a self-employed wood butcher, building houses, from bottom to top, and then engaged in “high end” finish work and cabinet-making.

Have done a wee bit of writing on the side, but find that endeavor is more to the fore now, as it ties in with talking to as many people, of different “persuasions”, as my time permits, in the hopes that we can all discover a common humanity and a decent, civil future, actually, I’m pumping for a new Renaissance …

DW

Ah, but YOUR personal perspective, pineywoodsfats, is what I should like to read.

YOUR narrative would, I am certain, have a power of comprehension that would benefit us all AND extend the understanding we all surely could benefit from.

But then, I’m selfish, ‘cuz I like your “style”, in every sense of that word.

;~DW

Ah ha! You are a brain pickin’ wood cuttin’ wordsmith. Sounds like a renaissance man to me. :)

Exactly.

The Klan brand has been ruined, so Barbour can try to stake out a position using the citizens council–moderates of course–as cover, and hopes nobody really notices, until that becomes some new norm.

If he’s truly running for president and not just running his mouth, I can only guess he’s trying to mop up the southern vote and head off Palin or Huck in the primaries.

I’m sure you heard Barbour’s statements on his years at Ole Miss–how he was all nice and friendly to the new black students, one lady in particular.

Well, the press tracked her down in Seattle and she said in no uncertain terms that’s not the way she remembered it.

An important “heads up!”, TD, and much appreciated.

This is a time which too easily tolerates the intolerable, and the current political class (which includes the media) is at the forefront of encouraging and “pushing” for accepting of the unacceptable.

DW

Great thread, folks! I enjoyed reading it immensely. IF I don’t have the opportunity to see you all again beforehand, have a fabulous Holiday!

Allen (and btw, the SPLC lists the Citizens Council as a Hate Group) remains Nonplussed by this entire state of affairs! In fact, I am considering changing my screen name to WTF…

a

In light of the dustups the other day between Jo, Margaret and others, here’s an article (with interesting comments) by Medea Benjamin advising gays and lesbians to NOT join the military.

I couldn’t agree more. Well said Margaret.

I think some print journalist said it first. ; )