Some of my favorite pics for this year...

Left:That's been my permanent state for the last six months...

Right: I KNOW these people....

Left: Dave? That you?

Right: If the "corporatists" have their way, can this be far off?

And the rudest (but still funny) of them all.....

Dammit....just ....damn...

In case you haven't heard, Benazir Bhutto was assassinated this morning (our time) in Pakistan. Here's the link to Josh Marshall's first reaction to the story. And, here's a link to the most recent updates (as of 2PM CST). According to some reports, there is already wide-spread violent reaction to the assassination and, in some circles, Musharrif himself is being blamed for allowing it to happen.

Here's a snip:

"The holding of fair and free elections is not possible in the presence of Pervez Musharraf. After the killing of Benazir Bhutto, I announce that the Pakistan Muslim League-N will boycott the elections," Sharif told a news conference, referring to his party.

Sharif urged other parties to join the boycott of the Jan. 8 parliamentary elections. A collective response, including by Bhutto's own party could seriously undermine the legitimacy of the vote as Musharraf attempts to engineer a transition to democracy after eight years of military rule.
"I demand that Musharraf should quit immediately," he said.

Reaction over the kingdom of Left-Blogsylvania has been pretty consistent in it's praise for Bhutto and condemnation of Musarrif and his regime but it has been duly noted that during her term as Prime Minister, Bhutto was no stranger to corruption and controversy.

Ultimately, of course, the assassination of Bhutto will be defined in terms of what it means to "us"...."us" of course meaning the United States of America. And, I'm afraid, that the prognosis isn't all that good. This could lead to a civil war or something very much resembling a civil war in Pakistan which would be dangerous to our interests in two distinct ways:

First, it will hamper, if not downright end, any efforts to hunt down and destroy the new breeding grounds of terrorist activity in the Warzikistan or northern provinces of Pakistan where we were just starting to make some progress with the Musharrif government. Hence, Taliban-like organizations and Al Queda wannabe organizations can grow and fester in that region if Pakistani forces are pre-occupied with keeping peace within the heartland of the country.

Second, and this is a BIGGIE....Pakistan not only possesses nuclear weapons, it also possesses proven and reliable vehicles to deliver them....within range of India and perhaps even farther...Turkey? Iran? Iraq? Ponder, for a moment, the consequences of a fundamentalist, Taliban-like regime with that capability. Scary huh? I certainly think so.

I won't go as far as some who have already "cannonized" Bhutto. She was no saint as far as I can tell, but at the same time she was a much greater advocate of our version of democracy and secular government than is our current "boy", Musharrif.

In all....

this is troubling....deeply troubling.

A different perspective on Christmas

Yeah, it's a cross post...but gimme a break....it's a Holiday!

Here's the linky-thing

Happy Holidays

Okay....fess up....

Who's bright idea was it to wish for a "White Christmas"?

A Message from Russ

I want to wish you and your family a happy holiday and New Year.

Thanks to your ongoing enthusiasm for our work, we just surpassed our year-end goal of raising $30,000, giving us a solid financial foundation to start 2008 off right.

Over the last year, I was honored by your outpouring of support for my work in the Senate. From trying to hold this Administration accountable for their complete disregard for the rule of law, to our fight to end this President's disastrous Iraq-centric foreign policy - you were right there with me, and for that I cannot thank you enough.

I am confident that in 2008, with your continued support, we can build on our past success and not only elect a Democrat to the White House - but also offer even more assistance to great progressive candidates across the country. I look forward to working with you on these challenges as together we continue to advance a progressive reform agenda for the nation.

Thank you again for all that you do.

Have a wonderful holiday and New Year.


Sincerely,
Russ Feingold

All time hits...of this one...

This comes to us courtesy of Jesus' General and the tapes of Truth Radio and Kent Hovind.

Keep in mind, these are transcripts from actual radio shows......

a few snippets for your entertainment:

Low cholesterol and its link to infertility. Keep in mind the big picture. Satan hates God. And Satan and God have been at war for 6,000 years. God's plan is fill the world with kids. [...] Satan, of course, wants the opposite. He wants to reduce the world's population to zero as soon as possible. And so Satan is going to work towards reduction of the population and lowering cholesterol is good way of doing that.

Truth Radio 19 April 2006 @ 35:30 (Tape 2)

If evolution is true, you could not know that it's true because your brain is nothing but chemicals. Think about that.Source: Seminar Transcript circa 1999Source: http://www.johnankerberg.org/Articles/_PDFArchives/science/SC1W0700.pdf

I happen to believe - I don't know if I could prove this - I happen to believe that during the original creation with the canopy of water overhead, increased air pressure and filtered sunlight, fermentation was not possible. I don't think Noah knew what he was doing when he got drunk. It was an accident. He was used to making the grape juice [...] so I'm going to give Noah the benefit of the doubt and assume his getting drunk was purely accidental ignorance.Truth Radio 1 August 2006 (Tape 1)

I think somebody has been slipping crazy pills into the watersupply.....

Top 10 Bushisms of 2007

Thanks to our friends over at WTF is it Now! We are pleased to present the

Top 10 Bushisms of 2007...

Enjoy!

10. “And there is distrust in Washington. I am surprised, frankly, at the amount of distrust that exists in this town. And I’m sorry it’s the case, and I’ll work hard to try to elevate it.” –interview on National Public Radio, Jan. 29, 2007.

9. “I fully understand those who say you can’t win this thing militarily. That’s exactly what the United States military says, that you can’t win this military.” –on the need for political progress in Iraq, Washington, D.C., Oct. 17, 2007

8. “One of my concerns is that the health care not be as good as it can possibly be.” –on military benefits, Tipp City, Ohio, April 19, 2007

7. “Mr. Prime Minister, thank you for your introduction. Thank you for being such a fine host for the OPEC summit.” –addressing Australian Prime Minister John Howard at the APEC Summit. Later, in the same speech: “As John Howard accurately noted when he went to thank the Austrian troops there last year…” –referring to Australian troops as “Austrian troops,” Sept. 7, 2007

6. “My relationship with this good man is where I’ve been focused, and that’s where my concentration is. And I don’t regret any other aspect of it. And so I — we filled a lot of space together.” –on British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Washington, D.C., May 17, 2007

5. “You helped our nation celebrate its bicentennial in 17 — 1976.” –to Queen Elizabeth, Washington, D.C., May 7, 2007

4. “The question is, who ought to make that decision? The Congress or the commanders? And as you know, my position is clear — I’m a Commander Guy.” –deciding he is no longer just “The Decider,” Washington, D.C., May 2, 2007

3. “Information is moving — you know, nightly news is one way, of course, but it’s also moving through the blogosphere and through the Internets.” –Washington, D.C., May 2, 2007

2. “There are some similarities, of course (between Iraq and Vietnam). Death is terrible.” –Tipp City, Ohio, April 19, 2007

1. “As yesterday’s positive report card shows, childrens do learn when standards are high and results are measured.” –on the No Child Left Behind Act, Washington, D.C., Sept. 26, 2007

Hooray for the grumpy old man!!!!

Those of us who have known Dave Obey for a while (like 30 years) know he has a tendency to be....ummmmmmm.....blunt......okay...downright grumpy....but we love him anyway. And here's exactly why we love him:

From this morning's Washington Post:

"Absent a Republican willingness to sit down and work out a reasonable compromise, I think we ought to end the game and go to the president's numbers," Obey said. "I was willing to listen to the argument that we ought to at least add more for Afghanistan, but when the White House refuses to compromise, when the White House continues to stick it in our eye, I say to hell with it."

snip:

a stern veto threat this weekend from White House budget director Jim Nussle put the deal in jeopardy, and Obey said he is prepared for a long standoff with the White House.

"If anybody thinks we can get out of here this week, they're smoking something illegal," he said.

Yeah.....that's the Dave Obey we love....and exactly WHY we love him!

Oops! My bad!

I didn't realize that I am so far out of the loop....until I got a call from Dave this morning reminding me that the December Meeting has been cancelled....we won't meet again until January 17.

That means no holiday socializing......

hmmmmmm....

could it be........

At any rate...happy holiday season to everyone!

Meeting night on Thursday

I've been a bit behind on posting lately but that's because the world has suddenly turned very very demanding of me and I've had to spread myself pretty thin for the past six weeks.

I haven't seen the agenda yet but I did confirm with Dave that Thursday night is our normal monthly meeting night and, as usual it's at the Legion Hall in Pittsville at 6:30 P.M...

The biggest national news, and by far, the most disappointing, is that at least two, and possible three members of our national leadership were briefed on Bush Administration torture er...ah..."harsh interrogation techniques" ...you know waterboarding? as far back as 2002. These same leaders then proceeded to spin and equivocate (e.g. LIE THROUGH THEIR TEETH) to the rest of us for almost five years. It's all over the web and on some progressive sites, there is a call for Nancy Pelosi to resign....

Yes, it's true. Nancy was one of the so-called "gang of eight" who was briefed on teh techniques, along with Jane Harmon. Here's the link to the version of the story on the Washington Post site. Read it ....but keep the vomit bucket handy.


The implications of this news are staggering. As one blogger put it, it's not that our own Democratic leadership was ineffectual in stopping the Bush administration from using torture, they were, in fact, complicit in it. Some bloggers (like Digby) are suggesting that primary opponents for each of the complicit Democrats are in order....specifically against Jane Harmon who barely survived a primary challenge last cycle/and they are also suggesting that Pelosi step down as Speaker.

I'm personally sickened by this news....how 'bout you?

This is getting out of hand....

Take a look at this article from Kevin Drum

snippet:

Yesterday's joke (from Chris Hayes)....

Myself, I'm currently working on two stories, one about a crucial little league team defeat John Edwards suffered in 4th grade that taught him hard lessons about resilience and competition and 5,000-word profile of an advertising exec from Duluth who roomed with Mitt Romney at Harvard for a week while his own dorm was under construction.

and then.......this is real:


In Boston this evening, Senator Obama said: "I'm not running to fulfill some long held plans or because I think it's open to me."....But that's not what Senator Obama's teachers, family, classmates or staff say:

....In third grade, Senator Obama wrote an essay titled 'I Want To Be a President.' His third grade teacher: Fermina Katarina Sinaga "asked her class to write an essay titled 'My dream: What I want to be in the future.' Senator Obama wrote 'I want to be a President,' she said." [The Los Angeles Times, 3/15/07]
In kindergarten, Senator Obama wrote an essay titled 'I Want to Become President.' "Iis Darmawan, 63, Senator Obama's kindergarten teacher, remembers him as an exceptionally tall and curly haired child who quickly picked up the local language and had sharp math skills. He wrote an essay titled, 'I Want To Become President,' the teacher said." [AP, 1/25/07 ]

Apparently ...at least according to Drum....this came from Hillary's press camp.

What does this mean to you?

Our good friend Tbogg posted this picture and I found it interesting enough to post here..

To me...it looks like Republicans paying homage their corproate Masters.......but then again, what do I know?