Craig Crawford's Trail Mix

Yipee is it me...

Another word to help CC get to his goal of 70,000 -

Parsimony

Craig....
Turn on the fire place? How about put on the log... opps Florida Boy.

Lets hope the intelligence brief was not that bad - but as we already discussed - Obama's eyes are wide open in his new world and it must be a heavy weight.

And to put the video of Nov 5th FOX trash up again... Come now.... Those reports are part of the set up of today’s piece – and earlier post here.

But the Daily Show and SNL were great.

After all Sarah may have learned from the master --- Control the Words just words... fool me once!

As it is not the candidates that are not the bright ones.

" Democrat Mark Begich, who trailed Stevens by more than 3,200 votes to start the day Wednesday, jumped to an 814-vote lead as state officials resumed their count of early and absentee ballots. The tally late Wednesday was 132,196 to 131,382, with an estimated 30,000 ballots remaining to be counted, some on Friday and some next week."

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iIFF00DjwVw_yFN4MkHDk3-mC9bQD94DU5C00

From CNBC this morning -

"Zombie Economy"

Thousands of Colombians have taken part in violent protests to demand the return of money invested in disreputable financial schemes.

In some cities, police used batons and tear gas to control angry investors.

Protesters took on riot police and rampaged through city centres as a series of pyramid schemes collapsed across the country.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/11/13/2418999.htm?section=justin

" Democrat Mark Begich, who trailed Stevens by more than 3,200 votes to start the day Wednesday, jumped to an 814-vote lead as state officials resumed their count of early and absentee ballots."

Great news, anon...

and Bethy -- good news about the little owl, too!

Patsi,

I haven't wanted a gov job since 1974, when a convention failed to choose me as their candidate. That gave the other guy the joy of trying to run away from richard nixon, while trying to run for the House. 1974 was not a nice year for republican candidates, as nixon hung onto them like the tar baby. Kind of like 2006.

Anywhat, if Big Brother babybush wants to waste the taxpayers' dollars digging up my name, so be it. I'm a sick old man who isn't afraid of the torturers' dogs. Like John Hancock, I'm happy to defy the tyrant.

Anon - Who knew that Glenn Turner was in Columbia now?

Shows the power of words just words vs Facts, just the facts please.....

Hanky Pank rushed us into a plan --that he now says won't work... gee who could have predicted.

" I'm a sick old man who isn't afraid of the torturers' dogs. "

Ha -- I understand, x....

Yet, here’s what Palin tells Van Susteren:

"It [Alaska] is not like other states where perhaps the oil company actually owns all the resources underground and they're the ones that solely benefit from development. Here in Alaska we partner with the oil industry.

http://www.alaskadispatch.com/tundra-talk/1-talk-of-the-tundra/297-does-palin-understand-alaskas-oil-industry.html

--------------------------------
More proof that Palin knows almost zero about energy, where it comes from, or how the world gets.

KGC.. I liked the plan that found its way directly to the individual with the need and helped to fix the Number one issue that caused this cascade.

If I recall this was more of the Hillary / McCain plan.

Patsi - are you doing a marathon?

paulson belongs behind bars. So do many of the criminals he's been bailing out. While I'm on the topic, does anyone know of anyone in the bushcheney gang who doesn't belong in the max facility, ADX Florence ?

Ping -
The Almond Joy Rule :

Some days I try to follow a tangent , some days I don't.

Anon - yup'rs that thar was a non biased link. Thank's for a shar'n it that didn't put no spin or creativiti on to it's conclusion.... heck why confuse "Tax" with Lease with Rights.... Heck at the end of the day who cares how the money comes as long as it comes...

Oh.. And top of the morning to ya

I do like your passion for everything energy~

xrepublican -

30 days in the hole.

For those that do not know about the invincible Glenn Turner - No relation to Ted - you better Dare to be Great !!! It aren’t to late...

You will get a little more of the color and history of one of the Characters from Craig’s home town.

Xrep

Heckuva job Hanky! Paulson is good at the internecine battles of Goldman Sachs (and Wall St) but not good at public policy.

Ping
The Clinton plan and the McCain plan either one would have been better than the wasteful and stupid Paulson plan
Haven't heard much from Senator Shelby --wonder what he has to say thes days/

So all the GOP Governors are in Florida today. Well one of the other parts of a diverse and inverse state – the farther south you go the less it is.

Charlie’s new politically correct Hottie pictured with him – he needs some revival for many of us in Florida – Maybe the National Stage will take him?

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-crist1308nov13,0,2376698.story

What you need to keep in mind is that buying up toxic assets was the raison d’être of the Paulson plan. It's why Congress gave him the $700 billion. It's what the TARP (the Troubled Asset Relief Program) mentioned above refers to. He had to have it he said or the financial system would collapse. Even at the time he was warned by many that it was a supremely bad idea, and after kicking it around for nearly two months, he now agrees but makes it sound like he had questions about it from the beginning. He didn’t. This typifies the Paulson style: absolute confidence coupled with a refusal to address or even acknowledge core problems. He dithers, gets it wrong, and even when he stumbles or is pushed in the right direction he embraces a solution that is totally inadequate. In other words, Paulson is very much part of the problem, not part of the solution. His leadership wastes time and money we do not have.
http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/1693

"Patsi - are you doing a marathon?"

Feels like it, Ping. The dog got me up in the night once again. And he prowled around outside for what seemed like an eternity. He's just lucky that I had this place to read and comment...because otherwise I'd have just gone back to bed and let him sleep on the cold porch the rest of the night!

Ping -
There is no bias in the quote , Palin thinks that Alaska is different, it's not. Oil companies don't own land, or the minerals under that land. They lease it, and pay royalties on the production.

"Is it too much to ask that our leaders understand the fundamentals of oil leasing, taxing and ownership, both in Alaska and the rest of the country?"

Any official who wastes $700 B!LL!ON of public money by tossing it to the same bankers who have shown themselves to be utterly irresponsible and guileful deserves more than 30 days in the hole. He deserves 10 years in the psych ward of the hospital prison at Rochester on anti-psychotic meds.

Talk about 'tax and spend' and 'picking winners and losers', these republicans make LBJ and Jimmy Carter seem like pillers of fiscal prudence and free enterprise.

Anon -

The method of collection and the rule of law is different. I see leasing vs taxing vs..... as a difference, maybe a fine point but none the less a variant.

Xrep -

Do not just throw in the worker- make sure to include the master mind (master mind is a gross overstatement for the following)

Nancy P, Harry R, Barney F... and all the complacent ones. afterall they along with many others hand the hands on the wheel also that drove our economic car into the ditch.

Failed fiscal policy - how soon we forget

mornin' all.

Well, I see Alaska is supplying us with topics of conversation again. Palin, of course, shows she's an idiot again. Interesting definitionof partnership - you (oil company) pay taxes and royalties to the state for oil (or gas or coal for that matter) taken from state land, and you pay taxes on oil (or gas or coal for that matter) taken from private land, and that's different from other states, where you pay taxes and royalties to the state for oil (or gas or coal for that matter) taken from state land, and you pay taxes on oil (or gas or coal for that matter) taken from private land. But wait, that sounds the same - and it is.Oh, I see, Alaska gives its residents CHECKS from the taxes and royalties paid to the stae. NOW I see. And she wants to be president, criticizing all those socialists? Good god.

And let's hope Ted "I paid every bill I got (wink, wink)" Stevens continues to fall behind Begich. I just hope Begich doesn't have buddies in the construction business who've renovated his house. too.

Evidently Sarah isn't getting a good reception at the Governor's conference...what I'll bet is this -- she will campaign to head up the evangelical side of the Republican party -- and that will split them right down the middle. You should be cheering her on, Pogo! ha!

Okay -- you want to talk dumb. Pawlenty talking about campaigning for Reagan and getting spit on by hippies. Uh -- were hippies running rampant in 1980?

Leasing and taxing are two different sources of revenue and are dependent on who owns the land (more properly the mineral rights). If the land is private, the lease is between the landowner and teh mineral co., who pays royallties and/or lease payments to the owner and taxes to the state. If the land is public, the state (fed or state, depending on whose land it is) gets all three sources of payment, depending upon how the lease is structured. e.g. companies enter into leases that they never drill on, and pay only lease payments to the owner, drill on it and they pay the lease payments plus royalties to the owner and taxes to the state on the minerals they take out. States often offset the royalties and taxes against the lease payments for their own land. Alaska's biggest difference is in the amount of oil producing land owned by the state and federal governments.

Anon

lol
From your link

"We tried to find an example elsewhere in the country where a company owns the oil, but came up short."

lol

Try Texas, or Oklahoma. The oil in the ground is almost all privately owned.

What I find amusing about many of the critics are how they are often as ignorant as they accuse Palin of being.
Jack

Pong,

If there is a 'master mind' of this financial fiasco it is Treasury Secretary paulson, with the assistance of bush appointed and republican Senate confirmed FRB Chair, ben bernake, and bush appointed and republican Senate confirmed secretary of commerce, ben gutierrez.

pelosi, frank, and reid are just going along with the republican administration's and john mccain's screwball plan, the way they did with the republicans' Iraq and Afghanistan fiascos. They are play the dopey Lepidus to our republican financial triumvirate.

In Alaska they chose to do the stupid, and short sighted thing. They chose to give everybody a check every year from oil royalties. In Texas, money from oil production on state lands was diverted to the Permanent University Fund. That money built 2 things :
The University of Texas
Texas A&M
( Later on this fund was opened up to other schools. )
Now most of those fields are depleted, but Texas has 2 engines of growth that won't be depleted.

The University of Texas has a talking oil well. Santa Rita #1, the discovery there made the school very very rich. The recording used to say, " Hi I'm Santa Rita #1 ......" . and it would tell the story of the find.

Never walk past it at 3 in the morning when you're really stoned.

Santa Rita #1
"Patron Saint of the Impossible"
http://www.texasbob.com/travel/tbt_santarita.html

Patsi, you're right. You go get 'em Sarah.

Hippies, in '79? There were still a few I'd guess, but I'm betting Pawlenty never saw them at teh U of MN. Sounds good, though, doesn't it? Invoking both Reagan and hippies. Now if he was talking about campaigning for Reagan in the 60s when he ran for governor I might buy it\, but since he would have been 7 years old at the time, I kinda doubt it.

We found living breathing hippies in indiana in 1980.....they were very impressed with the converted school bus in which our band was travelling.....
It was near Gnaw Bone, Indiana somewhere and a couple band guys went down into some caves with them.....

but I never saw them spit on anyone......or act like they would.....they were too laid back......

Jack -
I'm not arguing that oil isn't on private lands, I'm arguing that oil companies don't buy that land, as Palin seems to think. You lease it, you deplete it, and you move on.
That's why oil companies have guys called a "Land Man" . He goes and leases the prospect.

The best advice I ever got was from an old "Land Man"

"What you want to do, is get where a lot of money is changin' hands, and hope some of it sticks to you."

anon.....but then also, you gotta know when to hold them and know when to fold them, know when to walk away and know when to run.....and NEVER count your money while youre sitting at the table cause there'll be time enough for counting when the dealing's done.

"Sounds good, though, doesn't it? Invoking both Reagan and hippies."

ROFL -- true.

Craig the economic numbers are sobering enough to account for the President-Elect's tone during his press conference without having to speculate as to what he saw in the intelligence report. Times are tough and are going to remain tough for quite a while, an overly up beat President-Elect serves no one well.

Sturg -

I never found that place, but I never forgot that advice.

Spitting hippies :
See Lee Atwater

ScienceDaily (Nov. 13, 2008) — What would happen in California was hit by the Big One? New 3-D animations of a magnitude 7.8 earthquake scenario are now available to the public.*

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/11/081112173629.htm

Good morning-
Here is a video of Rohm Emanuel & the civil service planhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l0B7dOQwKm0

Gingrich says GOP is outmatched

Gingrich, Republican speaker of the House from 1995 to 1999, declined say who he wanted as the next chairman of the party. He said his main concern was the rise of what he called the “modern left,” which just a few years ago was thought to be moribund in this country but now looks alive and kicking.

Gingrich said the fundraising capacity of the left in the last election proved astonishing and far outstripped what Republicans were able to gather. “The modern left has gotten that large,” Gingrich said

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15563.html

Nice!

I see MSNBC found out that the Palin Africa-Continent
issue turned out to be a hoax. The network says the story wasn't properly vetted. It's one of those front page
shockers and page 16 retractions....

Jack -
Fox reported that nugget first - Carl Camaron.

Jack -
One of my old offices :

http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/9427/picture2pz9.png

Anon, that may be the case in Texas, but here in the land of Consol, Peabody and Pennzoil, in addition to the leases like you reference - here those are with landowners who would not sell their minerals outright - the companies went through several decades of acquisition where they sent the land men out with severance deeds and purchased all the minerals under the surface, so they actually do own the oil, coal and gas. Even where the companies own the minerals, most of the severance deeds made the minerals subject to royaltiy payments to the surface owner when the minerals are extracted. As you might expect, there are more than a few disputes between surface owners and mineral owners over the extraction of the minerals the companies own or lease. A few years back I was involved in a case where a gas company cleared 12 acres of a 90 acre "farm" (i.e. woods with a house in them) to put 2 gas wells in and service an existing 3rd well. One of the roads they put in - dirt, of course - had a 200' cleared corridor - it looked like they were clearing to put a runway in.

Exactly anon, I don't see or hear a lot of Dems going after Palin, it's members of her own party who are gunning for her. We of the left would like nothing better than for her to be the titular head of her party.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2008/11/video-trail-mix-its-more-fun-t.html#comment-172732

sturg, that's catchy - someone should write a song...

jax, anon, I guess that means that MSNBC is now responsible for publishing retractions for Fox's lies. Damn lib'ral media.

Pogo: Damn right .....I bet maybe if someone could run it by kenny rogers he'd do it in a minute.......he's quite a gambler, I heard.........

Patsi,

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2008/11/a-memorable-transition.html#comment-172567

I thought so. :-)

For all who took interest in the Great Owl Rescue last night, let us hope that he grows up healthy to look like this

http://www.bio.davidson.edu/people/vecase/Behavior/Spring2007/Nannes/assets/screech-owl-1.jpg

Patsi,

Healthy people can donate blood until quite old if they are not on medication that interferes with transfusions. Bone marrow donation has risks that make it more hazardous the older you are. I suppose if you were a family member match, you could insist, but they probably won't budge on the rules for the bank
registration.

Pogo -
It's a fine point, Jack doesn't do fine points.

Solar, if you're about -

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2008/11/a-memorable-transition.html#comment-172603

Is this the new biology?

sturg - I heard that, too. Must be true. Wonder if Ruby ever took her love to town?

I set the scenario of a 3 way battle to control the poor scraps left by the bush crime family and the prisoner:

1. palin will battle the huckster for control of all the Christian Right's clueless myrmidons, an ever increasing number of whom are 'going walkabout.'
The huckster wins this contest because their god tells them that a woman should not be 'the head.' The huckster knows his only chance to be 'the head' will depend upon having a running mate with sound credentials from one of the other 2 wings of the party.
Therefore sarah gets thrown under the bus.

2. tim pawlenty, aka Governor Potholes Aplenty, will rassle with willard romney for the heartless and souless of the Mammonist wing of the party. romney has an advantage in being rich as Croesus, and being very attractive to the party members who hate Mexicans. Unfortunately, for him, he is also a Latter Day Saint, and therefore hated by Protestants bigots. Pawlenty's advantage is his Catholic apostacy (now Methodist like babybushcheney), boyish goodlooks, hockey credentials, and an utterly ruthless ambition.

3. The bloodthirsty neoconnunist conquerors of Iraq, Afghanistan, and American Airports have Julie Annie to lead them - despite his embarrassing red dress and untidy sex life. If Hadley or Bolton could gain some name-recognition, one of them might be able to loosen Julie Annie's grip on this particular savage horde. newsmax is the key to winning that name recognition, so the candidate who throws the most prostitutes across dick morris' and compamy's path will probably win.

Craig...same with Al Gore although the "loser" moniker was right out of the republican election trick bag. Gore almost looked relieved not to take the job and seems to be having a blast with fame and money since he was elected prez (but did not serve). Gore sure seemed like a square peg that would not fit into the round presidential hole.

Obama's hair will get grayer now that he has seen the truth. It must be horrifying.

Pogo....yup yup.....sad case.......after Ruby took her love to town and Lucille picked a fine time to leave him he took to drink and before long was the coward of the whole county......

This movie shows a view of southern California with the seismic waves radiating outward from the fault as the rupture propagates towards the northwest along the San Andreas fault.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/regional/nca/simulations/shakeout/

One hell of an animation, the quake starts out by the Salton Sea.

and Dolly was just an island in the stream.

xrep...I like you post...add a number 4

ouija branch who are still channeling Ronald Reagan

Craig....
well I remember posting on this blog about a month ago that every time I saw Obama on the teevee he made me think of that old cliche..... be careful what you wish for...... bet he's finding out it's true......

finally made my last shipment to various galleries this morning....... phew..... glad that's done and over...... now I have to rebuild an inventory..... oh joy!..... time to play with color!.....

Palin reminds me of Aimee Semple McPhearson, the question is when will she disappear from Venice Beach ?

A world famous icthyologist, Weldon Eou, converted to the PETA philosophy recently, and then suddenly died of a heart attack. The scientist's last will and testament left his vast collection of sea creatures to his only child, Amy. The trouble was that all the fish had been released into the lake, including a swarm of dangerous morays, which began to propagate at a popular swimming beach. The local authorities immediately demanded that Amy drop everything and 'fix' the problem created by her icthyologist father. Fixing would have been difficult enough had Amy not been 34 weeks pregnant and about to release her own, personal swarm.

The moral of the story is, "Eou picked a fine time to leave me loose eels."

Mr. Obama made a lot of promises. People from both the left and the right are going to be watching very carefully to see if he delivers. It appears that the economy is going to trump everything else and if he doesn't get that moving his entire agenda will be in trouble.

That said, he does have the excellent excuse that every time things don't work out as planned, he can blame the failed policies of George Bush. They screwed things up so bad that it is going to take more time than expected to fix everything.

. . . that is what we are. . .

The sooner you guy stop fixating on Palin the sooner she disappears. Stop your hand wringing she didn't get elected. Better to worry about Joe Biden. I bet Obama's transition team is scoping out all of Cheney's undisclosed locations so they can park Biden there so he doesn't talk to the press and go off message.

Anon,

Aimee Semple McPherson could speak in complete sentences

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GXoBjuQ9Zo

Who said anything about wanting Palin to disappear? RUN SARAH, RUN!

When there's a thing on the reef,
with big shiny white teeth -

That's a Moray ...

But like so many others on this blog:

"I just dropped in to see what condition my condition was in."

The Dude abides.

It appears that Anon did:

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2008/11/video-trail-mix-its-more-fun-t.html#comment-172761

Jamie -
Still hand wringing over the USGS animations of the Big One rolling through the Cajon Pass. These are amazing.

Aimee is one of my favorite cons, I'll check it out, as soon as I finish destroying downtown L.A.

When the Big One goes through the Cajon Pass the ground will move upward as much as 10ft. at 6 ft. per second.

Talk about a Bad Day at Black Rock.

Today's Thread on The BackChannel Blog:

For what did they die? by Horsedooty

http://clistersbackchannel.wordpress.com/

Sarah gets far less applause from the Republican power brokers that she did from the right wing sheeple they led to the slaughter

Anon

If in LA at the time, I hope I'm at my friend's home in Woodland HIlls. Their swimming pool would flood the house again like it did in the last major 7.1 and require all new carpets and the driveway would be a mess, but it looks as if the rock the house sits on will hold firm while destruction reigns around them.

Pogo, Anon
You're missing the point on the MSNBC vetting story. The issue isn't Palin. It's the press and their vetting process. It consisted entirely of receiving and e-mail from someone they considered reputable.
Any pragmatic individual would see this as just another significant failing of the press. The fact that you both don't have an issue speaks volumes.

Sweetie assures me that Dr. Eou's dughter's name is Mia. So:

Eou took a fine time to leave mia loose eels. oi.

Thanks Blonde wino ! I forgot all about those Spiritualist republicans who belong to Nancy Reagan's Wicca.

"Bone marrow donation has risks that make it more hazardous the older you are. I suppose if you were a family member match, you could insist, but they probably won't budge on the rules for the bank
registration."

I expect you are right, Jamie. But if by some miracle, this turns out to cure AIDS -- I'd fight for the right to give bone marrow if it was needed by someone. And in that case, I would hope they'd relax the rules.

sturge, bow and xrep -- you are all on a roll this morning....:)

What's sarah palin's take on the vital Harry Potter issue ?

I just went and read some of last night's entries. As an athist ex-presbyterian current member of a catholic parish, I enjoyed the religious/metaphysical discussions. We are all part of the one. I think I got IT (for those of you who remember North Dallas 40) Now here did Iput that pyramid?

Jack -
That's why I never watch Fox, and why I keep fresh batteries in my bullshit detector .

Anon,
Fox, MSN, CNN whats the difference. None can be trusted as has been demonstrated. If it's working for you to ignore the faults of some then by all means....keep it going....laughs

The vetting -- or not -- of stories is what I was talking about yesterday. Some fool throws a story out there and a bunch of fools buy it, and suddenly, the truth matters not. It disgusts me whether it's BS thrown at a Democrat OR a Republican. Because as a people we just keep getting dumber.

Jack -
A thought experiment :

2 Trillion dollars of mutual fund wealth has been wiped out this year.

But on a board on the net I read someone claiming that his market wealth has increased by 12 % this year.

Do I believe him ?

Patsi,
Don't waste your breath. As you can see the group think mentality rules here. It doesn't matter if it's true or not. If it supports their postion it must be true...if not its a lie....vetting is just an inconvenience.

"What's sarah palin's take on the vital Harry Potter issue ?"

And that story is one of the BS ones to which I refer. The accusation was that in 1996 Palin tried to get about a hundred books banned, including:

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Prizoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

Never mind that the first Harry Potter book was not published until 1997.

jax, I get the impression that the fact that Palin was the victim was more important to you than the fact that the story was bogus. And speaking of speaking volumes, the fact that you're calling on only the "progressive" media outlet to issue the correction for a story it repeated after the "conservative" media outlet failed to vet speaks volumes. I'm not aware of any instance where one media outlet issued a retraction for a story broken by another media outlet who got it wrong when the 2nd outlet was using the first as their source fot the story. I expect that Hannity will also call on MSNBC to issue a retraction on H&C tonight.

Anon,
My own retirement accounts went up 12% so far this year. I sat in money market all year until mid October. I bumped in and out twice since then and I'm getting ready to buy again today. So yes I absolutely believe it has been done. If I had timed the trades better my returns would have been 23% just since mid October.

I put most of the Palin-stories in the same category as the Obama-is-a-Muslim crap.

If she really wanted to capitalize on her position now, she really would follow Aimee Semple McPherson's lead, and start a TV evangelistic church. She'd be a media star, end up a gazillionaire, and still have political clout.

But I'd like to see her stay and keep the Republicans split up.

Jack -
You and Patsi can always join Palin's Mensa group.

"jax, I get the impression that the fact that Palin was the victim was more important to you than the fact that the story was bogus. "

I don't know what jax thinks, Pogo. But I can't stand the bogus stories that the press allows to grow no matter who it is about. And this season there were a lot thrown in her direction.

For those of you near Virginia next week:

Larry Sabato and the UVA Center for Politics are hosting their annual American Democracy Conference next Friday, Nov 21. This is a day long event, but guests are welcome to come and go. Additional information is below. Take a look at the website for this free event here:
http://www.centerforpolitics.org/programs/adc/

Pogo,
Your impression is wrong. I could care less about Palin. The story that I quoted was that MSNBC issed a retraction and that they said they didn't vett it properly.
They got one e-mail and ran with it.

Please take your meds....I want to talk with the professional, thought provoking, pragmatic pogo....let me know when he gets in.

Pogo-

Fox is real big on the retractions in the New York Times.

PALIN POLITICAL BIO
(for immediate release)

Sarah Palin was the warm-hearted but tough-minded reform Mayor of the booming metropolis of Wasilla, a gleaming city near the Russian border. As Mayor, Palin completely reorganized government operations, creating a more humane, but remarkably less intrusive city. By intelligently designing city departments, Palin was able to cut taxes by 89 %.

As Governor of the great state of Alaska, Palin has had a larger palette on which to display her vast talents. in the 23 months since Palin (Guv, as her admirers lovingly address her) took office school children's test scores have risen 53% while crime has dropped to a 223 year low, and the once endangered polar bear has made a great comeback, now that the Alaska's Democrats have all sent to prison.

-30-

Anon -- always back to name calling, huh? And I'll bet you have STERLING academic credentials.

"now that the Alaska's Democrats have all sent to prison. "

ROFL -- actually, I heard an hour show on NPR with an editor who followed her through her career. He said that, while he was not a fan of Palin, she had not brought her religion into her governing and had worked well with Democrats.

And I still think she should become a television evangelist. Serious bucks. She could then outfit the poorly dressed members of the RNC.

Keep in mind the words of that great philosopher, Zorro the Gay Blade: There is no crime in being poor, just in dressing poorly.

Jack _
"My own retirement accounts went up 12% so far this year. I sat in money market all year until mid October. I bumped in and out twice since then and I'm getting ready to buy again today. So yes I absolutely believe it has been done. If I had timed the trades better my returns would have been 23% just since mid October."

Where do I "vet" this story ?

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2008/11/video-trail-mix-its-more-fun-t.html#comment-172793

Forgot to add that Craig is going to be a panelist at Larry Sabato's American Democracy conference in Charlottesville next Friday.

Craig - what time is your panel?

I thought the Palin interview (Greta's) was interesting.

When Greta asked her about eating moose and caribou, Palin gave her rationale as something like, "We have a choice of importing beef that's been fed hormones and treated with antibiotics, or harvesting a local natural resource that is thoughtfully and sustainably managed." Also, when talking about killing of wolves, she said that was required to control the number of predators competing for the food resource.

Things are all relative. By that token, I would have been right there helping Bethy with her owl.

She made good sense.

I remember when the animal rights people caused enough fuss that the government stopped using wolf fur on the hoods of our parkas. It was replaced with some synthetic that was really inferior in use to the animal pelt. The G.I. lost in that exchange.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2008/11/video-trail-mix-its-more-fun-t.html#comment-172790

She already is a media star!

Jax, oh, and your point about "Fox, MSN, CNN what's the difference" is true enough with respect to the lack of vetting charge. But you're assigning blame to one of them and diverting the blame from the one most deserving of blame with "You're missing the point on the MSNBC vetting story." If you want to blame the media, blame the media. If you want to blame the approrpriate upstream outlet in this instance, blame Fox. When I criticize Hannity, I'm criticizing Hannity, not every political commentator out there. When I intend to criticize all of them, I try to make that clear by referring to them as a group. Same for actual news media. If reading what you wrote as you wrote it and taking your meaning from your words is groupthink, I plead guilty.

Again, I won't answer for jax. But my belief is that CNN and MSNBC have changed because of the Fox example. It is conflict television.

Patsi -

I haven't called anyone a name. I just pointed out one of several groups that can appreciate your superior critical thinking skills.

"critical thinking skills"

ROFL. This from the person obsessing on virtual earthquakes.

Patsi....
I've mentioned before that I sit on my local library's board of trustees..... it's a small town library with a very small book budget..... we don't use a cent to buy political books, but will accept them as direct donations....

I've had several so called "progressives" question me as to why we have all of Ann Coulter's books.....

"progressives"....... think Progresso...... hmmmm.... hmmmm.... maybe not quite so good.....

Or Progressive Insurance!

"I've had several so called "progressives" question me as to why we have all of Ann Coulter's books....."

Renee, they're released to the library under "read and reject" rules.

Pogo,
The only story that I saw this morning regarding this was the MSNBC story. I didn't didn't get the memo that I needed to research all other possible stories before
commenting.....

Anon....laughs....that's what is great you don't have to believe it. It's a free country....for a little while longer at least

Is Obama gonna let his girls appear on Hannah Montana?

Renee -- Interesting. And I'm sure they'd be horrified if branded "book banners."

I've long thought that the right wing book sellers catapult their releases to the best seller lists by shipping thousands to libraries and other outlets that can't be truly figured.

I thought the whacks at Palin were stupid. Who cared if she was a book-burner ? There was no great outcry across the land, rallying us to save our literature from the barbarians. There was a collective yawn. Thank goodness that she wasn't a book-burner !

Most of the early press drivel I saw gushed that Palin had borne a Down Syndrone child to term, when she could have had a nice happy abortion instead. It made want to scream, both that she used her kid as an election tool, and that reporters arrogated to themselves the right and duty to judge the Palin child.

These repellant proceedures were duplicated in the 'Bristol pregnancy story'. If real news is 'man bites dog', then this second story should have been cast as "Candidate Role-models Pre-marital Sex"

I hope Palin runs hard for the republican presidential nomination for the same reason Brian does.

Jack -
Bingo, and I don't always believe political stories on cable news either.

"Candidate Role-models Pre-marital Sex"

????

Patsi,
All of the news services have changed. It's no longer taboo to be viewed as a partisan reporter. It's almost a
resume requirement that you openly lean one way or the other. Ethics are boring and a tedious waste of time.....and you know what....most people could care less.

Anon,
I just checked to be sure....2.8% Jan 1 - Oct 12.
8.9% Oct12 - yesterday.

Hear about the two guys who were arguing about which was the more apathetic?

Sturg -
Who cares.

RUN SARAH, RUN!

Two maggots fought in dead Ernest.

--Frank Gilbreth, Jr.

What if the next 4 years are horrible, Sarah runs and wins in 2012?

Corey,
If that happens I'd have to assume that we have truly hit rock bottom.

Patsi : "Keep in mind the words of that great philosopher, Zorro the Gay Blade: There is no crime in being poor, just in dressing poorly."

I love it. Shouldn't we presume that the heroic Men in Tights stole clothes from the rich to give to the poor ?

Flatus,
Don't believe the hype. Alaskans eat 'em 'cuz moose taste like heaven, and caribou are luscious. All that 'importing organic beef' malarkey is pure eyewash for arugulavores.

Corey - Stephen Baldwin will move back to the US?

OK, jax, I think we've beaten this one to death a couple times over. Truce?

Corey : "What if the next 4 years are horrible, Sarah runs and wins in 2012?"

If that happens, Mexico will intervene, returning the favor. They'll stop beside his grave and declare,

"Pershing, we are here ! "

"What if the next 4 years are horrible, Sarah runs and wins in 2012?"

(I know that was semi-tongue-in-cheek, Corey....:)

I don't think the next four years are going to be any picnic. I'll be surprised to even see any real health care reform. But neither do I think it will be a failed presidency. From what I've seen so far, Obama is making solid moves.

Sarah Palin will only have the evangelicals behind her. She''ll have Romney, Jindal, Pawlenty and who knows....maybe Gingrich out for her hide. It'll be a bloodbath.

"arugulavores" LOL

Actually, Stephen Baldwin just appeared on Hannah Montana. As a dare from her, he got the initials HM tattoed on himself.

Patsi,

She will hunt them all down by airplane.

Sturg-

You need a rim shot emodicon.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2008/11/video-trail-mix-its-more-fun-t.html#comment-172831

Pats, your mouth (well, fingers) to god's ear.

Pogo,
I agree....wasn't even a good topic....I probably should have just skipped it.....all the best...

And some baggy pants.

He promised to leave the US (mocking his brother Alec I'm sure) if Obama was elected. I may not have contributed to Obama's election coffers, but does Baldwin have a site set up to finance his ticket to somewhere else? I just might send him a buck.

Two maggots fought in dead Ernest.

--Frank Gilbreth, Jr.

Sturg, I wonder who first came up with something like this. I remember in the middle 50s as something like, "Did ya here about the two maggots making love in dead Ernest?"

Probably been variations of that for eons.

jax, issue now put to bed. and now, lunch.

This kind of article irritates hell out of me. It's speculating about whether the Obamas might leave their girls in Chicago with their grandmother. (Supposedly leaked by someone "close to the family.")

Puhleeze. Of course that isn't going to happen. People are running out of stuff to write about.

But even more egregious, the photo shows fans and press clogging the girls school in Chicago and turning it into a zoo. Just sickening. I'll bet at some point Michelle Obama lands on the press like a mother eagle if they don't give her daughters some space.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2008-11-13/will-the-obama-kids-stay-in-chicago-with-grandma/

"Also, when talking about killing of wolves, she said that was required to control the number of predators competing for the food resource."

Flatus,

Wouldn't that rationale put human beings at the top of the list?

xr@11:54

"Don't believe the hype. Alaskans eat 'em 'cuz moose taste like heaven, and caribou are luscious." Greta sure cooed over the moose chili.

"All that 'importing organic beef' malarkey is pure eyewash for arugulavores." Any doubt who would win, the arugulavores or the troglodytes?

"Wouldn't that rationale put human beings at the top of the list?"

Jamie, I kind of thought of it more as putting them at the top of the food chain. I did over simplify--I think she also said that DNR monitored the wolf population in order to assure its viability.

The whole wolf/predator question is such a hot button. I despise the idea of hunting the wolves down, but I also understand some of the ranchers issues. I got a feel for a small part of it when I lived several years out at the farm. The coyotes were thick. And I (unfortunately) saw a newborn colt they killed and started to eat....Love coyotes, love horses. A problem.

Don't you remember that South Park, Jamie? They said they could no longer kill for sport, they had to "thin out the population". Besides, if humans could use that rationale on each other... there'd be some serious trouble. I have talked to deer hunters. Asked them why they were gonna go out and kill a defenseless animal. They said if they didn't thin out the population, a lot of the deer would starve because there wouldn't be enough food for the deer. BTW, rifle season starts here on the 15th. My old bowling league used to take the week off during the start of rifle season.

Flatus....
nah..... our library is waaaaay too small for the wingnuts to care about....
Coulter's books were donated by a local patron..... I know who donated them....

we also carry all of Al Franken's books...... I donated those.....

hey..... our friend that makes those beautiful birch bark canoes and occasionally spends winters with the Cree in northern Quebec... says that moose nose soup is delicious!.....

Patsi, I wouldn't be surprised if they ended up at the Friends school that other presidential kids have attended.

Conflation -

Conflation occurs when the identities of two or more individuals, concepts, or places, sharing some characteristics of one another, become confused until there seems to be only a single identity.

Item #1 -
The original story -
Cameron tells Chicago Tribune columnist Phil Rosenthal, "The people who put this out, and it's senior McCain staff, are now in the cross hairs themselves for attacking the running mate, which by proxy means attacking the ticket they were trying to elect."

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/fnc/carl_cameron_talksand_so_does_martin_eisenstadt_100412.asp

Item #2 -
The secondary story -
Instead, the duo behind the character that caused MSNBC's David Shuster to report, albeit temporarily, a supposed source of Carl Cameron's story about Gov. Sarah Palin are Eitan Gorlin and Dan Mirvish, two filmmakers who have created an elaborate hoax that has lasted for more than a year.

http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/politics/martin_eisenstadt_revealed_if_they_were_going_to_be_cowards_then_we_figured_we_may_as_well_step_in_100502.asp

Why does SoetorObama refuse to release these certified hardcopy documents?

"Certified copies of Obama’s Application and Admission forms for Occidental College, Columbia University and Harvard Law School"

Was he an “International Student”? Did he apply and register as an Indonesian or Kenyan citizen?

SoetorObama -- a “foreign exchange student?”

They had a major problem with wild pigs in Michigan. They told hunters they could kill them if they wanted to, no wild pig hunting license was needed. The pigs had been doing serious damage to farmer's crops, not too mention being a dangerous animal.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2008/11/video-trail-mix-its-more-fun-t.html#comment-172840

Either way, it belongs in the "Gag a Maggot" file.

Sturgeone,

I don't suppose that was my great uncle Ernest, who wasn't all that great. He certainly wasn't worth fighting over.

Once, in the wilds of northern Minnesota, great uncle Ernest was cornered by a hungry bear. After pawing at him for awhile, the bear finally said, "Well, there's not much to eat on you, is there?"

Great uncle Ernest confessed, "Pal, I don't even have a cup of coffee on me."

Cleland ad causing problems for Chambliss....excellent!

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1108/15561.html

There are no ranches in Alaska.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2008/11/video-trail-mix-its-more-fun-t.html#comment-172846

Darn I was hoping for a long "finally getting even" hunting season.

http://i155.photobucket.com/albums/s300/sjclark1967/FarSideDeer.gif

Nor in NYC.

It would seem that Cameron hasn't retracted his story at all.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2008/11/video-trail-mix-its-more-fun-t.html#comment-172848

Corey,

Unlike the wolves, human hunters don't thin out the weakest of a herd. They use their man made weapons to go after the strongest (most points)

If hunters used their skill the same way that other predators do, I wouldn't have a problem with them, particularly if they ate the meat.

It is the beautiful head of the multi point buck hanging on the wall that makes me want to turn the gun on the human and mount their heads.

Most all of my Uncles of my Dad's side of the family hunted. It's a little hard to read, but my Uncle Harold was World Champion in the 1952 FS Outdoor Archery competition.

http://www.nfaa-archery.org/depot/history/639-2008915-46-10OutdrChamps2008Update2.pdf.pdf

Easier to read:

http://www.nfaa-archery.org/depot/history/639-2008915-46-10OutdrChamps2008Update2.pdf.pdf