Happy Thanksgiving!
What are you thankful for?
Comments (49) «
Good evening friends. A nice clean slate to say something on...
This has not been an easy year for some people who I love very much. This has been a year to suck it up and take on some scary stuff in my life. The amazing thing is that the election really was very important to so many folks I know and really heartened them and made some of their problems feel more manageable....not cured them of course but made them a little easier to take. And so I am thankful to all those who worked to elect Obama and to Obama for the sense of compassion and connectedness he has brought to the country, which is infectious many of us. I realize there are many people on the right who feel just as crushed as I feel good....but they had eight years to savor having one of their own in power and they can hold their sweet taste of the Bush years in their mouths while the rest of us wash the ashes out of ours.
stupid natzi organisations. burd turd joins to be good german
Morning Bob, Just trying to decide whether to go out to the Stores for all the great bargains or not.
Gee whiz, not one sigle charitable organisation on that list. Just stupid Commie organisations.
3The_Evil_Dr*Burd on November 28, 2008 at 03:01 AM
organisation = American spelling of "organization."
You would think one who like to call themselves a Prof would know that.
I listed a number of charitable organizations I give to the other day. You must have missed it when you were at the Dog Show with your wife's puppies! Oh, and I give a lot to VoteVets and Iraqi Veterans against the War. (seems after watching their buddies blown apart, and learning it was all for lies, they are trying to get the truth out.)
Wonder if ole Stevie will give any cash to Palin when she tries her unsucessful run in 2012, or if she is a hairball too???? He says all politicians are, so I guess the mighty hunter must be too.
India pointed an accusing finger at Pakistan yesterday as commandos fought suspected Islamist terrorists through the corridors of two of Bombay’s top hotels. Dozens of foreigners were still being held hostage or trapped in the buildings.At least 125 people were killed and 327 wounded in Wednesday’s attacks on some of the city’s most high-profile buildings. Local hospitals and police said that the toll would rise further.
Nine foreigners were among the dead, including one Briton, a Japanese businessman, an Australian, a German and an Italian. Andreas Liveras, a 73-year-old British shipping tycoon, was shot dead moments after telling reporters that he was hiding in the basement of the Taj Mahal Palace.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office would not say how many British citizens were injured, trapped or being held hostage at the Taj Mahal and Oberoi hotels. Between 15 and 20 French nationals were inside.
Seven people were rescued from a residential complex that houses a Jewish centre. The Israeli Embassy said that ten of its citizens were being held hostage. A militant inside called a television channel to offer talks with the Government. He complained about rights abuses in Kashmir, over which India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars since 1947.
The Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, blamed the multiple attacks on forces “outside the country”, a thinly veiled reference to Pakistan. The Indian Navy boarded a cargo ship that had recently arrived in Bombay from Pakistan. The tension conjured memories of a militant attack on the Indian Parliament in 2001, which almost sparked a fourth war between the nuclear-armed neighbours.
Helicopters buzzed and crowds cheered as commandos moved into the Oberoi, where 20 to 30 people were thought to have been taken hostage and more than 100 were trapped in rooms. Gunshots rang out and flames billowed from a window.
The Taj Mahal hotel was also rocked by explosions and gunfire. Police claimed that only one injured militant remained in the building.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article5248664.ece
If this pans out as written, we could have a very serious situation erupt between the two nuclear states of Pakistan and India. The Kashmir issue has been trouble for decades. Pakistan and India have fought two or three wars since 1948 after the British decided to leave over Kashmir and a number of issues. We need to be quite vigilant of this situation.
just in case there was still anybody who thought Bush's idea of a Democracy in Iraq (once all his other lies were exposed) was going to produce his "Victory" !!!
Iraqis democracy has beaten Bush
While lately the news has mostly been about nothing and maybe some trivia about the boring establishment types Obama has picked for his cabinet, Bush has quietly been finishing up losing the war in Iraq.
Ironically, he is losing the real agenda, installing a regime obedient to the US and international oil companies, because he succeeded at what he thought was a purely propaganda goal, establishing a democracy.
http://professorsmartass.blogspot.com/2008/11/iraqis-democracy-has-beaten-bush.html
PamB on November 28, 2008 at 07:35 AM
Good morning, Pam. I don't go to stores, except grocery, anymore. I've gone strictly online for holiday shopping. I hope your Thanksgiving went well.
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev agreed to help start a nuclear energy program in Venezuela and said Moscow is willing to participate in a socialist trade bloc in Latin America led by President Hugo Chavez. Medvedev used his visit to Venezuela—the first by a Russian president—to extend Moscow's reach into Latin America and deepen trade and military ties. Chavez denied trying to provoke the United States, but he welcomed Russia's growing presence in Latin America as a reflection of declining U.S. influence.Chavez and Medvedev planned to visit a Russian destroyer docked in a Venezuelan port on Thursday. The arrival of Russian warships this week for training exercises with Venezuela's navy was the first deployment of its kind in the Caribbean since the Cold War.
Accords signed Wednesday included one pledging cooperation in nuclear energy for peaceful uses. Russia also agreed to work with Venezuela in oil projects and building ships.
Moscow plans to develop a nuclear cooperation program with Venezuela by the end of next year, said Sergey Kirienko, head of the Russian Federal Atomic Energy Agency.
"We are ready to teach students in nuclear physics and nuclear engineering," he said through an interpreter. He said the help would include "research and development" and "looking for uranium in the territory of Venezuela."
Chavez says Venezuela hopes to build a nuclear reactor for energy purposes...
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D94NBROO0&show_article=1
Venezuela with nuclear weapons is about as good a prospect as Iran having nuclear weapons. What, it's for peaceful purposes you say? Right, you keep on believing that.
This is thanks to Bush and those who voted for him!!
Charities can't keep up with deepening poverty
Need is being felt in the white-collar workforce, with the souring economy upending professionals who were once considered reliable donors to charities.
Catholic Charities of Orange County assembled Thanksgiving dinners for 500 families this week, filling plastic bags with frozen turkeys, cranberry sauce and other fixings. But word of the free food attracted 920 families, many of whom left empty-handed when the Santa Ana agency doled out the goods.
"There were tears in our eyes as we had to turn people away," said executive director Terrie Montminy, who referred families elsewhere for food or invited them back the next day for smaller packages.
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/front/la-me-charity27-2008nov27,0,4496882.story
Posted by Matt Ortega on November 27, 2008 at 08:14 AM
What are you thankful for?
Happy Thanksgiving to you too, Matt.
1 Chronicles 16:8
Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done.
Giving thanks is more than being thankful to God, it is letting others know of his gracious works so they too can come to know him as Father, Redeemer, and Victorious Lord.
I'm thankful to God, who has blessed me beyond measure...my cup runneth over.
My pride and joy, Pretty Bird & Necee, and the loverlies they gave me, Bella, Lily & Sisaroo.
A wonderful and loving husband who is the most awesome carpenter and hunter.
A very comfortable home in this tiny hamlet.
A great career where I work with some extraordinary professionals in a field of knowledge that brings me a tremendous amount of satisfaction.
Friends in my 3-D life, and all the wonderful people I have "met" here over the past 5 years.
Good health and lots of happiness.
Enough adversity in my past so that I may persevere (what doesn't kill us makes us stronger) and that builds character (some would say I'm quite the character) as well as some sorrow, which I have faith in knowing someday there shall be no more.
good morning, everyone. I hope you all enjoyed your Thanksgiving day and will extend that over the next few days as well. I'm going to brave the mobs and go grocery shopping. haha I have never, nor do I plan on, shopping in a retail store the day after thanksgiving!
PamB on November 28, 2008 at 08:04 AM
Not too bad at all, Pam. I cooked this year for my mother, her last sister, and the cousin who brought my aunt up from Raleigh. We had ham, chicken, and I fixed a wee bit of crow for the guests since they're NC Republicans. ;-)
peaceman on November 28, 2008 at 08:05 AM
Good morning, Peaceman.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/politico/20081127/pl_politico/16040
Jill Biden: Untraditional, unapologetic
Jill Biden has long chartered an untraditional path for a career politician’ wife.
She has four degrees —a bachelor’s, two master’s and a doctorate. She raised three children and has five grandchildren. For 31 years she’s been married to a U.S. Senator, although few of her students at a Delaware community college knew it, and she continued teaching English there four days a week while her husband campaigned for the vice presidency. She even did a little modeling in her 20s.
Esme, the point of going the day after Thanksgiving, is for the HUNT. It is the challenge, the competition to get to selected limited items before 100 other women do. The standing at the door at 5:00AM waiting for that door to open! I haven't done it for a few years now, but still can smell the blood! LOL.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/27/AR2008112702108.html
Obama Must Mobilize Supporters to Help Nonprofits
President-elect Barack Obama has been very judicious thus far about mobilizing the vast coterie of supporters from his campaign. Generation "O," for Obama, is ready to do its part in putting the country on a more hopeful path.
Bold! I'm no hunter, I'm a gatherer. haha Necee & I went shopping last weekend and the carpenter & I went after we went out to eat yesterday afternoon, the rest of my shopping was done online.
We are going to paint the "big" living room this week and go to a local tree farm to cut our tree next weekend. Lots to do! And with Lily arriving on Tues. it will have plenty of excitement. Not to mention the election summit and the official certification (if the lawsuit in Franklin co. gets settled, that is) at work!
I think compared to Lynn Cheney, Jill Biden will be a breath of fresh air. Remember back in the 2004 elections, how crass and low level Lynn Cheney was? I wonder what kind of grandmother she is, to her Gay daughter's child?
Bob, How did you prepare the Crow? I hope you let them wash it down with a nice wine. :)
I am thankful for good health for my entire family, and for the miracle birth of our first grandson. After a very difficult and rocky pregnancy when we wondered if he would be born at all, he came 3 weeks early and has been a joy. Joining his two cousins as the apple of my eye. I am especially thankful for the Election of 2008, proving that there was a Reverse Bradley Effect, where Americans showed that Racism is dissipating. I am thankful to Howard Dean and his 50 State strategy which brought us more of a majority. I am also thankful for all of the friends I have made through blogging. Especially those I have met in person.
miles to go before I sleep and all that jazz.
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
Whose woods these are I think I know,
His house is in the village though.
He will not see me stopping here,
To watch his woods fill up with snow.
My little horse must think it queer,
To stop without a farmhouse near,
Between the woods and frozen lake,
The darkest evening of the year.
He gives his harness bells a shake,
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep,
Of easy wind and downy flake.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
-- Robert Frost
enjoy the day, everyone.
bbl, after shower, breakfast, etc.
Going to jump start my deep fall cleaning for my Christmas party today. will be in and out.
Good morning, all.
Esmeralda on November 28, 2008 at 08:51 AM
Essie,
Jill Biden would appreciate that post. You'll have to get that children's book, "Twas the Night Before Thanksgiving" for Bella next year. She'll be old enough by then to laugh at the irony...and you will enjoy laughing with her.
I love so many of the children's books written in the last few decades as well as the classics. They're written with on so many levels that adults have a lot to think about as they entertain their children/grandchildren.
I'm thankful this year that my husband and I were able to celebrate our 25 years together. I'm hopeful that my children will find the same sort of love and challenge that got us through so many struggles. I'm thankful for my many friends and endearing family favorites.
I thank the Lord for my continued sense of humor and faith in my fellow man which has never wavered even though fate has not always been kind. I pray that my husband continues to enjoy good health.
I'm optimistic that with a lot of hard work and a little more maturity, this nation will strive again to do the right thing without wallowing in greed or feeling pity for what it is now reaping. It's a good time for us to get off our slacker asses and make good things happen for others.
I'm off to grocery shop, too. I'm not going near the department and discount stores. Everything that is on sale today will be on sale next week as well. Besides, we are not going to buy many presents this year. Our cup runneth over in so many other ways.
bbl.
MSNBC.comMajor attacks in India since 2005
Nov. 26, 2008:
Series of shooting and grenade attacks, including two on luxury hotels, kill at least 78 people and wound 100 in Mumbai, India's main commercial city.
Sept. 13, 2008:
At least five explosions in crowded shopping areas kill 21 and wound 100 in New Delhi, national capital.
July 26, 2008:
Some 16 small bombs explode in Ahmedabad, killing 45.
July 25, 2008:
Seven small bombs kill two in Bangalore, hub of India's technology industry.
May 13, 2008:
Seven bombs hit crowded markets and streets outside Hindu temples in Jaipur, killing 80.
Nov. 24, 2007:
Nearly simultaneous explosions rip courthouse complexes in Lucknow, Varanasi and Faizabad, killing 16.
Aug. 25, 2007:
Forty-three people killed by three explosions at park and street-side food stall in Hyderabad.
May 18, 2007:
Bomb during Friday prayers at historic mosque in Hyderabad kills 11 worshippers. Police later fatally shoot five people during clashes with Muslims protesting attack.
Feb. 19, 2007:
Train heading from India to Pakistan torn apart by two bombs, sparking fire that kills 68.
July 11, 2006:
Seven blasts rip through rail stations and commuter trains in Mumbai, killing 187.March 7, 2006:
Three explosions rock Hindu temple and train station in Hindu holy city of Varanasi, killing 20.
Oct. 29, 2005:
Sixty-two people killed by three blasts at markets in New Delhi ahead of Hindu holiday of Diwali.
Source: The Associated PressUpdated: 5:51 p.m. ET Nov. 26, 2008
© 2008 MSNBC.com
You know, sooner or later, the Indians are going to get pi**ed enough to do something about this. I wish them the best of luck though, I sincerely hope they don't start WW3 in the process.
Worker dies at Long Island Wal-Mart after being trampled in Black Friday stampedeBY JOE GOULD
DAILY NEWS WRITERUpdated Friday, November 28th 2008, 10:19 AM
A worker died after being trampled and a woman miscarried when hundreds of shoppers smashed through the doors of a Long Island Wal-Mart Friday morning, witnesses said.
The unidentified worker, employed as an overnight stock clerk, tried to hold back the unruly crowds just after the Valley Stream store opened at 5 a.m.
Witnesses said the surging throngs of shoppers knocked the man down. He fell and was stepped on. As he gasped for air, shoppers ran over and around him.
"He was bum-rushed by 200 people," said Jimmy Overby, 43, a co-worker. "They took the doors off the hinges. He was trampled and killed in front of me. They took me down too...I literally had to fight people off my back."
Nassau County Police are still investigating and would not confirm the witness accounts. The Medical Examiner will determine the cause of death. Police did say there were several injuries but weren't more specific.
Jessica Keyes was among the shoppers. She told the Daily News she saw a woman knocked down just a few feet from the dying worker.
"When the paramedics came, she said 'I'm pregnant,'" Keyes said.
Paramedics treated the woman inside the store and then, according to Keys, told the woman:
"There's nothing we can do. The baby is gone."
Before police shut down the store, eager shoppers streamed past emergency crews as they worked furiously to save the store clerk's life.
"They were working on him, but you could see he was dead, said Halcyon Alexander, 29. "People were still coming through."
Only a few stopped.
"They're savages," said shopper Kimberly Cribbs, 27. "It's sad. It's terrible."
I agree with you wholeheartedly, Ms. Cribbs. They are savages.
Morning,
27
BobVADemocratHawk on November 28, 2008
Fear mongering at msnbc, and we help to spread the chills?
Perhaps an unfair question for you: are you more afraid of losing your life or of losing your conscience and humanity?
I think that the MSM is keeping people fighting and ignornant at a time when we should be concentrating on more dire problems.
--------------------
— A spotty scorecard, UNICEF, Progress of Nations 2000
"The continuation of this suffering and loss of life contravenes the natural human instinct to help in times of disaster. Imagine the horror of the world if a major earthquake were to occur and people stood by and watched without assisting the survivors! Yet every day, the equivalent of a major earthquake killing over 30,000 young children occurs to a disturbingly muted response. They die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death."
*************
Unfortunately, it seems that the world still does not notice. It might be reasonable to expect that death and tragedy on this scale should be prime time headlines news. Yet, these issues only surface when there are global meetings or concerts (such as the various G8 summits, the Make Poverty History campaign in 2005, etc).
Furthermore, year after year, we witness that when those campaigns end and the meetings conclude, so does the mainstream media coverage. It feels as though even when there is some media attention, the ones who suffer are not the ones that compel the mainstream to report, but instead it is the movement of the celebrities and leaders of the wealthy countries that makes this issue newsworthy.
Even rarer in the mainstream media is any thought that wealthy countries may be part of the problem too. The effects of international policies, the current form of globalization, and the influence the wealthy countries have on these processes is rarely looked at.
Instead, promises and pledges from the wealthy, powerful countries, and the corruption of the poorer ones—who receive apparently abundant goodwill—make the headlines; the repeated broken promises, the low quality and quantity of aid, and conditions with unfair strings attached do not.
Accountability of the recipient countries is often mentioned when these issues touch the mainstream. Accountability of the roles that international institutions such as the World Bank and IMF, and their funders (the wealthy/powerful countries), rarely does. The risk is that citizens of these countries get a false sense of hope creating the misleading impression that appropriate action is taken in their names.
It may be harsh to say the mainstream media is one of the many causes of poverty, as such, but the point here is that their influence is enormous. Silence, as well as noise, can both have an effect.
My views about real moderation and that "false centrism" that Dean talked about in 2004.
In trying to accomodate that very loud Republican noise machine, many of our Democrats moved their way. It was easier to do it than fight such an overwhelming media conglomerate. They called it the center, but it wasn't the center at all. It was the conservative right.
TomN on November 28, 2008 at 12:12 PM
The answer to your question is the latter. Though I do think it is unfair to try to pin the actions of the Mumbai terrorists, or any other terrorist for that matter, on the reporting of the MSM. That's the equivalent of saying a schoolkid shot up his school to get on TV when we both know that any schoolkid who even considers such should be given immediate psychiatric treatment.
Furthermore, this article seems to be written by someone who has an ax to grind with wealthy nations. Why are some nations wealthy and some aren't? It all comes down to their people. No government can stand without significant support from its people. No society can flourish without intelligent people.
So why are some nations poor and some not? You only have to look at the quality of its people for the answer to that question. Two and a quarter centuires ago, we were, for all intents and purposes, a thrid world nation. That speaks well for our citizenry over the past two centuries. Contrast that with a nation like Egypt or China, who has a much longer history than us. I would much rather be a citizen of the U.S. than either of those two because we Americans made this a better place and in a much shorter time. Sooner or later, these poor countries, as you and the writer of the article you cite, will have to learn to stand up for themselves and handle their own affairs in a civilized manner.
Africa is a prime example. The Africans have been free of colonialism for decades now. Yet, instead of building their own infrastructure by coming together, much as the original 13 colonies did, they war with each other for petty reasons like a bunch of savages. The colonial powers left the technology behind. The continent of Africa receives billions of dollars each year in foregin aid. Yet they find a way to either squander their resources or let some some third-rate petty dictator, like Robert Mugabe, literally destroy their country.
In closing, I can have some sympathy for poorer countries. They deserve some help. But when is enough, well, enough? When there are hungry Americans, homeless Americans, downtrodden Americans, isolated and forgotten Americans, I'm going to help those Americans first and I would sincerely hope that the President-Elect would agree with me. Our first responsibility is to the 300 million Americans right here. We got to where we are today on our own. Let everyone else do the same.
madfloridian on November 28, 2008 at 01:23 PM
As the resident centerist here, let me give you an idea of what the political center looks like from my perspective. Then, we can debate what is center, left, or right.
Strong Defense - Yes
Iraq - No
Afghanistan - Yes
Gay Marriage - No
Civil Unions - Yes
Paygo - Yes
Entitlements - Yes, but tax appropriately and progressively and use means testing
Diplomacy - Something like Star Trek's Prime Directive (i.e. leave everyone alone unless they cross a border then go to the U.N. for sanctioning, time permitting)
UN - Great place but it does not run our foreign policy
Assault Weapons ban - Yes
Abortion - No third term, minors need parental or judicial consent other than that, Roe V. Wade is OK.
Affirmative Action - No
Welfare - No, except in recessions
I could go on and if you have any questions, please feel free to ask. But I would respectfully remind you that the majority of Democrats elected in 2006 and 2008, including the President-Elect are either centerist or center-left. VA's two senators, Jim Webb and Mark Warner are a prime example of centerists.
We will not stand for a repeat of the Carter Administration. We will not stand for blaming America for all of the world's problem nor will we reinstate welfare or affirmative action. With the exception of his trade policy, President Clinton was a good example of a centerist presidency. That seems like a good place to start for me. And considering the cabinent selections of the President-Elect, I think he mostly agrees. Time will tell.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) - Somali pirates hijacked a chemical tanker with dozens of Indian crew members Friday and a helicopter rescued three British security guards who had jumped into the sea, officials said.A warship on patrol nearby sent helicopters to intervene in the attack, but they arrived after pirates had taken control of the Liberian-flagged ship, according to Noel Choong, head of the International Maritime Bureau's piracy reporting center in Malaysia.
The ship master had sent a distress call to the piracy reporting center, which relayed the alert to international forces policing Somali waters, Choong said. No details about how the pirates attacked or the condition of the crew were available immediately.
Choong said the ship was being operated out of Singapore.
Still on board were 25 Indian and two Bangladeshi crew members, said diplomats who could not be named due to restrictions on speaking to the media. The British security guards escaped by jumping into the water, said a news release issued by their company, Anti-Piracy Maritime Security Solutions...
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081128/D94NUP200.html
Needless to say, having your security personnel jump ship is not exactly good for business. I wonder how much a professional coward is paid these days?
I wonder what kind of grandmother she is, to her Gay daughter's child?
23
PamB on November 28, 2008 at 08:49 AM
What kind of grandmom are you, to your loose daughters little bastard?
Why is the fact she is "Gay" so important to you?
I think you are full of crap Pammy and dont like fags.
bbl, after shower, breakfast, etc.
Going to jump start my deep fall cleaning for my Christmas party today. will be in and out.
25
PamB on November 28, 2008 at 08:58 AM
I'm NOT going to ask what you meant by taking a shower to start your deep fall cleaning, but it sounds gross, you did not need to post it.
Bob,
There are horrible iniquities right now around the world, and too many people are suffering and life forms being rubbed out for poor reasons. My point is the MSM makes these big problems worse by diverting attention and resoures away from these problems toward more business-like and selfish and nationalistic ones.
It is not the audience's fault that they are conditioned to be hungry for lurid entertainment, nor that they have not been taught any defenses against the power of advertizing techniques. But it is a failure of the business model of the world economy, IMHO, to be so successful at exploiting fear and greed, through the MSM, that the world pisses away its future in fighting for resources or religion or whatever while too many suffering people are hidden from public view.
Regardless of the cause of this scary violence, it is the exploitation of these acts to keep us in a state of perpetual war that I am addressing.
We see the violent actions and many times hear the false interpretations of these actions. We rarely hear the motivations or reasons for these violent acts. Did not the American colonists gain their freedom by terrorist actions? Now that we are the empire, and much of the world our economic colonies, does our press not now sing a different tune as to the motivations of the oppressed?
The USA has some high ideals and an impressive constitution. Much of the rest of the world admires us. It is some of our business and military undertakings that are shocking the world because they are being done under the auspices of high-minded democracy and freedom.
In liberal blogland, reports that Barack Obama will probably choose Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State and retired general James Jones as National Security Adviser and retain Robert Gates as Secretary of Defense have prompted a chorus of groans. "I feel incredibly frustrated," wrote Chris Bowers on OpenLeft.com "Progressives are being entirely left out."A word of advice: cheer up. It's precisely because Obama intends to pursue a genuinely progressive foreign policy that he's surrounding himself with people who can guard his right flank at home. When George W. Bush wanted to sell the Iraq war, he trotted out Colin Powell--because Powell was nobody's idea of a hawk. Now Obama may be preparing to do the reverse. To give himself cover for a withdrawal from Iraq and a diplomatic push with Iran, he's surrounding himself with people like Gates, Clinton and Jones, who can't be lampooned as doves.
To grasp the logic of this strategy, start with the fact that Obama's likely national-security picks don't actually disagree very much with the foreign policy he laid out during the campaign. Jones is on record calling the Iraq war a "debacle" and urging that the detention center at Guantánamo Bay be closed "tomorrow." Gates has also reportedly pushed for closing Gitmo and for faster withdrawals from Iraq. He has called a military strike against Iran a "strategic calamity," urged diplomacy with Tehran's mullahs and denounced the "creeping militarization" of U.S. foreign policy. (You don't hear that from a Defense Secretary every day.) For her part, Hillary Clinton during the presidential campaign embraced an Iraq-withdrawal position virtually identical to Obama's. And although they fought a sound-bite war over sitting down with the leaders of countries like Iran, the two candidates' actual Iran policies were pretty much the same. Both wanted intensive diplomacy; both wanted to start it at lower levels and work up from there.
On key policy issues, Jones, Gates and Clinton aren't significantly more hawkish than Obama. What they are is more hawkish symbolically. Gates is a Republican; Jones is a Marine general who once worked for John McCain; Clinton, as Senator from New York, has gained credibility with hawkish pro-Israel groups. In other words, what distinguishes Gates, Jones and Clinton isn't their desire to shift Obama's policies to the right; it's their ability to persuade the right to give Obama's policies a chance...
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1862446,00.html
So all of y'all in the Kucinich\Sheehan wing of the Party, take heart. This is politics. We voted for President-Elect Obama, not any of his cabinent picks. He has four years to prove himself. Let's see what happens.
bbl, after shower, breakfast, etc.
Going to jump start my deep fall cleaning for my Christmas party today. will be in and out.
25
PamB on November 28, 2008 at 08:58 AM
I'm NOT going to ask what you meant by taking a shower to start your deep fall cleaning, but it sounds gross, you did not need to post it.
35
CactusBarrack on November 28, 2008 at 02:25 PM
I agree Cactus, we absolutely didn't need to hear about that.
I watched the morning show on NBC as they ran a story about how funny Obama was. They put together a few clips and David Gregory and some half wit reporter talked for five minutes describing his funny jokes. It was the dumbest news story I have every seen. More like idol worship.
I don't judge a person on how funny they are, but claiming Obama was funny is going off the deep end.
The man could not tell a joke to save his life, which is ok, some people can't, but it was a story done without reason.
Karl Rove Praises Chairman O's Economic Team
Until recently, it has appeared obvious that Obama is a radical leftist who duped moderates into foolishly voting for him. But as he selects his cabinet, the possibility has arisen that it's the hard left kooks he's used as stepping stones who've been duped. The recent improvements in the stock market suggest that investors are starting to believe he will govern not as reckless radical, but as a mediocre centrist — albeit a big-government mediocre centrist. In other words, he may govern like liberals' conception of Satan incarnate, George W. Bush.
If any human being could be more hated by moonbats than W, it's Karl Rove, whom liberals used to accuse of being "Bush's brain." Their monitors must be growing blurry behind specks of spittle as they read Rove's endorsement of Obama's economic team. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122783239069463007.html
The team even includes Larry Summers, who was driven out of Harvard for politically incorrect thought crimes, and who attempted — like a Republican — to rein in the excesses of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Maybe this will cheer up disheartened moonbats who are beginning to suspect we haven't elected Vladimir Lenin after all: The Guardian has moved beyond comparing The One to famous presidents, finding him reminiscent of Cicero. After he takes office and actually does something, he'll no doubt be compared to Zeus.
The people who elected Obama for change had better start helping him and congress with directions. Just look at where business and special interests writing legislation and investing in elections has brought us.
Don't wait and see to whom your credit and earnings will be sold, direct this wayward state of laws away from usury and war towards peace and prosperity through action. Hound them all to end this corruption.
------------
Noam Chomsky: “What Next? The Elections, the Economy, and the World”
~snip~
And notice incidentally on the side that the institutions that run the elections, public relations industry, advertisers, they have a role—their major role is commercial advertising. I mean, selling a candidate is kind of a side rule. In commercial advertising as everybody knows, everybody who has ever looked at a television program, the advertising is not intended to provide information about the product, all right? I don’t have to go on about that. It’s obvious. The point of the advertising is to delude people with the imagery and, you know, tales of a football player, sexy actress, who you know, drives to the moon in a car or something like that. But, that’s certainly not to inform people. In fact, it’s to keep people uninformed.
The goal of advertising is to create uninformed consumers who will make irrational choices. Those of you who suffered through an economics course know that markets are supposed to be based on informed consumers making rational choices. But industry spends hundreds of millions of dollars a year to undermine markets and to ensure, you know, to get uninformed consumers making irrational choices.
And when they turn to selling a candidate they do the same thing. They want uninformed consumers, you know, uninformed voters to make irrational choices based on the success of illusion, slander, and effective body language or whatever else is supposed to be significant. So you undermine democracy pretty much the same way you undermine markets. Well, that’s the nature of an election when it’s run by the business world, and you’d expect it to be like that. There should be no surprise there. And it should also turn out the elected candidate didn’t have any debts. So you can follow Brand Obama can be whatever they decide it to be, not what the population decides that it should be, as in the south, let’s say.
http://www.democracynow.org/2008/11/24/noam_chomsky_what_next_the_elections
You got to feel sorry for Obama, he takes office in a short time and to live up to what the liberals made him out to be, he has to part the sea, raise the dead, clean the planet in five days or less.
I bet Pammy is the first one bitching when he doesn't. Once a whinner, always a whinner.
TomN on November 28, 2008 at 02:26 PM
...It is not the audience's fault that they are conditioned to be hungry for lurid entertainment, nor that they have not been taught any defenses against the power of advertizing techniques...
But it is, Tom. I cannot feel sorry for someone who buys bottled water or pet rocks. And people need to be smart enough to distinguish opinion from fact.
...Did not the American colonists gain their freedom by terrorist actions? Now that we are the empire, and much of the world our economic colonies, does our press not now sing a different tune as to the motivations of the oppressed?
There is a stark difference between the founding fathers and a terrorist group such al Al-Qaeda. Our founding fathers were attempting to make a free society out of an oppressed one. Groups like Al-Qaeda want to further repress society into one religion, Sharia law, and the like. So for the very people you are advocating for in this debate, the choice is repression, or harsh repression.
...It is some of our business and military undertakings that are shocking the world because they are being done under the auspices of high-minded democracy and freedom...
Indeed! The real enemy is conservatism and especially social conservatism. To me, the only difference between Al-Qaeda and Focus on the Family is one is Muslim and one is Christian. Well, that and Al-Qaeda will kill you for being Christian. Dobson's mob will just call you a heathen and banish you. But neither will entertain the thought that their religious interpretations just might be incorrect in some way. And that'll start a war quicker than anything else.
A buddy of mine occasionally opines, "We ought to outlaw religion". My knee-jerk reaction is to remind him of the First Amendment however, he makes a valid point. The majority of mankind's conflicts have come not from lack of resources but of religious or societal differences. Humans, as a rule, do not like things that are too different from them.
November 28, 2008Obama Foreign Policy Looks Like Bush 41
By E. J. Dionne
WASHINGTON -- In electing Barack Obama, the country traded the foreign policy of the second President Bush for the foreign policy of the first President Bush.
That is the meaning of Obama's apparent decision to keep Robert Gates on as secretary of defense and also to select Hillary Clinton as secretary of state.
With strong ties to the military and a carefully cultivated image of tough-mindedness, Clinton will protect the incoming president's back from those on the right ready to pounce at any sign of what they see as weakness.
As for Gates, Obama has found the ideal figure to help him organize his planned withdrawal from Iraq, and to bless it.
What's most striking about Obama's approach to foreign policy is that he is less an idealist than a realist who would advance American interests by diplomacy, by working to improve the country's image abroad, and by using military force prudently and cautiously.
This sounds a lot like the foreign policy of George H.W. Bush, and it makes perfect sense that Obama has had conversations with the senior Bush's closest foreign policy adviser, Brent Scowcroft. Obama has drawn counsel from many in Scowcroft's circle, and Gates himself was deputy national security adviser under Scowcroft...
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2008/11/obama_foreign_policy_looks_lik.html
You know, I can live with that. Bush 41's foreign policy was leaps and bounds superior to Bush 43's and looked quite a bit like Clinton's. This is America. We are neither pu**ies nor bullies.
Bob,
Intolerance and Hatred comes in all forms INCLUDING those who hate Religion.
Comparing all Christians to a one sect of muslims is silly.
As for conservatives, look up the word Bob, you don't seem to have any idea what the conservative movement is about, maybe your hatred is blinding you.
BobVADemocratHawk on November 28, 2008 at 02:53 PM
Ask your friend what war the US ever started for religious reasons.
Some business-like rationalizations for the MSM to ignore the 30,000, thirty-thousand, children dying each day from preventable causes: poverty.
Guess we are buying it, after all, whatever it is we're told to buy. And then get such a case of cognitive dissonance hearing about it that facing the poverty issue becomes more frightening than fighting terror, and is pointedly ignored.
Authoritarian reproduction technique? Or how to restore base conservatives?
--------------
"Some people fear there will be fatigue at hearing those depressing stories all the time, or the advertisers will pressure the media companies to put a bit more entertainment or good news on so that buying moods are not affected.
However, news of tragedies in Iraq are also depressing, but nevertheless do received regular headline coverage.
Also there is worry that the lack of sensationalism attached to reporting the same news story each day will result in lower television viewing ratings and this may have various consequences—especially where advertising is concerned.
Finally there is the question of whether people want to hear about such depressing news stories. After all the media feels it is delivering what its viewers would like. However, it is difficult for people to know what they do or do not want to see, if they are never given the options of the alternatives. If the magnitude of this suffering is hardly reported in a sustained manner, how can viewers judge whether they wish to watch it or not?"
Bob,
Again, in case you missed it, I am not advocating for this or that group or country, I am trying to discuss the media's role in hyping threats to promote and continue the war economy in a time of peace. None other than the Financial Times says we are in a peacetime economy.
Since the decline of our last "enemy", the soviet Union, we have been plunged down the merry and bloody path of creating "enemies" out of terrorists. And I contend it is a distorted and fraudulent path promoted by the MSM.
It is an economic balance of business commerce and military business that we spread around the world. It is an unsustainable model as put forth by Chalmers Johnson's arguments in Sorrows of Empire and Nemesis.
My position is that it is a better sustainable economic plan to put the effort into relieving poverty by some sort of instrument as the peace corp. The military empire base effort is making too many enemies and is bankrupting the US.
I think we agree that ignorance is the root of much of the world's problems. How to fix it?
Sally-* on November 28, 2008 at 03:07 PM
I do not need to ask him that question. The answer is the Revolutionary War to break away from England and notably, the church of England.
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