Craig Crawford's Trail Mix

Woo woo??

"The price of shingles is going through the roof."

Just an observation

Good video...One thing better about about snuggling with the laptop instead of the computer? No inky fingers! (~_~)

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/03/obama-snub-sign-of-the-times.html#comment-213983

Oops - meant to say newspaper... :(

"The night sky is only a sort of carbon paper..."

Sylvia Plath
"Insomniac"

Famous Quotes:

"HUH?"

--Sarah Palin

"...a sheet of newsprint on the fire..."

Sylvia Plath

"good night, don't let the bloggers bite."

for the first time in ages, I must drag this out:

ROTFFLMAO !!!

I went all-electronic and quit bring paper into the house six years ago. Before that, I was a total paper-junkie, buying dailies from Chicago, Detroit (2), local paper, Cleveland (until they curtailed the delivery radius) , and every town I visited the first place I hit was the news-coin-box or newsstand.
Now I never, ever buy a paper.
Are people like me the ones who killed the print industry?
I accept no blame. I bought more papers in my life than twenty people ever should have.
The times changed and I went with the flow.
I still get The New Yorker Magazine, even though it, too, is online.
However, Obama snubbing WaPo and The Times is way too much for me to appreciate...maybe he was sending a message , but I don't like it.
So why, then, did he call on Faux Noise?

I don't like that he snubbed Ms. Thomas. Seems petty or something. At least that's how it looked from here.

news...killer bees sting and send four people to the hospital in La Mesa, California

Sean Penn ready to play "Larry" in Farrelly Bros. "Three Stooges" movie....Jim Carrey will be Curly, and Benicio del Toro will probably be Moe.

http://www.mtv.com/movies/news/articles/1607739/story.jhtml

craig...put some Kentucky Club in that pipe and blow us some smoke clouds next video!

From the current Publisher of the Des Moines Register (promoted from being the VP of Advertising)...

"Newspapers are slotted sort of as a thing, a printed thing. To me, I don't work in that industry,"

"...she believes the physical newspaper will still be around in five to seven years. However, she said, she is not as certain after that."

"Hollingsworth said the Register is now asking readers to send in good news stories because it is something everyone is craving."

Thoughts...1)The Cowles family (previous owners before Gannett bought the paper) must be spinning around in their graves. 2) When the Publisher doesn't identify themselves as a newspaper person, it's not a newspaper anymore, and 3) If the readers are responsible for "creating" their own news stories, the paper becomes nothing more than a Facebook competitor. The Fourth Estate has been foreclosed on...

http://www.kcci.com/news/18994381/detail.html

One more Des Moines Register note...

David Yepsen, only the fourth political columnist in the last 90 years at the Des Moines Register, is leaving after 35 years to become the chairman of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Ill.

Yepsen, the Dean of Iowa Caucus political reporting, has repeatedly said he was not forced out of the position. The paper has not announced if he will be replaced. The early betting is that he will be replaced by a group of reader-generated blogs that will be available only on the on-line version of the paper...

Citizen Kane -- How to Run a Newspaper...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzhb3U2cONs

Posted by: DexterJohnson Author Profile Page | March 26, 2009 12:37 AM

I hope they're not trying to make a comedy with that cast. Jack Black for Moe, Jim Norton for Curly, Rob Schnieder for Larry. Sean Penn already played Larry in "Carlito's Way".

Jim Norton for Curly! That foul-mouthed bastard would be perfect...but can he quit speaking about vaginas and masturbation long enough to do a scene? His performances on Opie & Anthony (XM 202) drove me away from that show.
Last year Pat Cooper told him he didn't need to work so blue, that he really was offending too many folks.
Norton said "thanks" and did not learn one damn thing. He's a repulsive weasel.

Jack Black as Moe, and pour some coffee down Stephen Wright's throat and cast him as Larry.

In Detroit in 1968 a strike by labor unions shut down the papers.
Detroit was reeling from the 1967 riots and then they had no newspapers to promote healing and recovery.
The Tigers were great that year, but fans could not follow them through the papers, cultural events suffered greatly as attendance dropped due to no newspapers.
The strike against Gannett in the mid-1990s was brutal, and the paper published through the strike.
Columnists like Susan Watson stayed with the strikers, Mitch Albom broke through and began writing his column before the strike was settled.
Fires were set, cluster-nails were used to flatten delivery trucks...no progress was made for YEARS...but still, that strike was not as bad as the 1968 strike was in effect of paralyzing the daily life of a city.

OMG !
http://tinyurl.com/cuzggq

you either adapt 'innovate and adjust to the new reality
or become extinct'' that's why i'm not tapping this
out in morse code'
environmentalist should be ok with the rapid demise of
newspapers ' less demand for trees ' and less
trash for landfills

.-.. --- .-..

Posted by: DexterJohnson Author Profile Page | March 26, 2009 2:52 AM

-.-- . - .- -. --- - .... . .-. .-- .- .-. -. .. -. --. ... .. --. -.

.- -. -.-- --- -. . .-- .... --- -.. .-. . ... ... . ... .-.. .. -.- . .- .--. .. -- .--. ..-. --- .-. .- -. -.-- .-. . .- ... --- -. .. ... .- -. .- ... ... .... --- .-.. .

dahdy dah dah?

looks like someone has way too much time on their
hands'''

too much time......would it were me.......

bowc......butcept now its seeds and stalks?

Teen arrested in NYC radio reporter's slaying

By TOM HAYS
Associated Press Writer

NEW YORK (AP) -- A teenager with a Web site describing him as a sadomasochist and featuring photos of a knife collection was arrested Wednesday in the stabbing death of a veteran New York City radio reporter he met on the Internet.

Police officials said that John Katehis, 16, confessed to killing George Weber shortly after being taken into custody late Tuesday in Middletown, N.Y., where he was hiding out at a friend's home.

hmmm.......the blind boys of alabama are doing "Amazing Grace" to the tune of "House of the Rising Sun"..........that's a tad odd sounding.......

and all the bovines sang "Amazing Graze"............

the "giant" newspapers dying off does not mean that there will not be newspapers......newspapers fill a need that online writing cannot fill.........hence, if the big ones die, there will spring up others to take their place......as i said before, the local rag is one big right wing talking point and i would be happy to watch them croak...........k. parker, krauthammer, goldberg, murchison, greenberg are what they regularly run for op-eds......I'm not the least interested in what those goobers have to say...........

the local papers also ignore the fact that there is a road of death out here on the island.......were i not to happen on the typical scenes while in transit, i'd hardly be aware of how deadly is this particular road......tomorrow there will be a small blurb on the inside of the "local" section quickly naming whomever it was who died yesterday after a head-on collision threw him from his mini-van (which subsequently ran over him) on the deadman's curve in front of my shop.......if there were a plastic cross near every death on this road it would look like a long skinny cemetary.............

the controversy is between those who want to build a highway across the island to the outlying McMansion Islands and those who imagine they're going to "keep this island rural." the new highway, while eating up some land would return the road of death to a quiet rural by-way........

good morning gang....
Craig.... they talked about this subject on the first hour of the Diane Rehm Show yesterday..... they said:
A: most of the news agencies Obama did call on were given a heads up email shortly before the presser.... and

B:since he called mostly on established newspapers for his first one..... and since he claims to be an agent of change.... they speculated he did this to show that the times really are changing..... and

C: speculated he'd call on a mixture for his third presser....

they did not think it was a deliberate negative snub..... it was more to give other venues..... such as a blog (politico)... a chance....

Fake Twitterers

"More than 72,000 people, for example, are following a fake Stephen Colbert. And a spokeswoman for Tina Fey has confirmed that the 89,000 people follow a faux Fey on the micro-blogging site. Twitter has also had to delete fake accounts set up by impostors purporting to be David Bowie; basketball players Shaquille O'Neal and Nate Robertson; the Dalai Lama; comedian Michael Ian Black; actress Emma Watson; actor Ewan McGregor; and the Austin Police Department. "

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090326/ap_on_re_us/crystal_cathedral_twitter

oh yeah..... the video.....

ROTFLMAO!!

...and in honor of the prop pipe, I request that today Craig refer to all of the guys as Chip or Bud and all of the gals as Princess or Kitty.

CC aint around...........he's working undercover............

if all the trucks and service vans and homeowner SUV's which use this road to reach and work on the outlying islands were lined up end to end on the 10 or 15 miles from the islands to the main highway it would probably be every day at quitting time............

"hmmm.......the blind boys of alabama are doing "Amazing Grace" to the tune of "House of the Rising Sun"..........that's a tad odd sounding..."

sturge, "house of the rising sun" always reminded me of another song in a stretched out version sorta like how meridith wilson stretched out "76 trombones" to be "goodnight my someone"... just can't think of what it is tho'.... it sure as heck isn't "amazing grace"... maybe they're just trying for a medley, but usually medleys are connected in some way... hmmm well maybe.

http://www.scdot.org/community/bohicket.shtml

a very nize little road ran thru it.

if all the vehicles were lined up from the mainland to the island, there's your bridge. just pave over them.

in that first picture I just linked you can see the metal stuck into a tree from where some big box-truck got a bit too close to the edge of the road.....it's still there, also...............

goodnight my someone
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdSDupGZZH0
speeded up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODu888i14-I&feature=related

oops......it's on the right hand side of the picture.....

mornin'

sturg - stop talkin' sense - it won't win you any friends.

I have to laugh because we saw the same thing - on a bit larger scale, aas they debated about building corridors in WV to provide something akin to semi safe traffic routes for passers through and trucks to use to cross the state. Having ajob that required me to travel out of Elkins to about 6 surrounding counties, I got behind more log and coal trucks than Carters has pills, and lemme tell ya - while I was pissed that it took so long to get anywhere, I was more concerned about traffic trying to pass the damn things on the uphills (and here, them uphills are winding, narrow things with virtually no passing lanes or shoulders) and vice versa on the way down. Lots of makeshift shrines in these parts. Ennywho, the hippies - many of whom I hung out and rode bicycles with were agin it - held parties and rallies opposing it - because it was ugly and would displace some species of minnow. I wasn't particularly popular when it came to that subject. Not sure what the current status of it is, but I know that parts of it are complete - a series of little roads to nowhere. Screw 'em.

craig, if the called-on got a heads up notice, why was that lady reporter surprised? did he take it out of pre-ordained order or did he just call on someone not on the list?
btw, how much notice timewise do they get? minutes, hours, days? time for collusion with others on list?

I would drive hundreds of miles out of my way to avoid the West Va. Turnpike which I rode on exactly once. don't know where that road relates to the one of which you speak but that's what i know of WVa. roads

Hey, sturg, here's our little saga:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corridor_H

http://www.gribblenation.com/wvpics/corrh/

It appears at least one segment has been delayed for until 2020. wonderful...

"Lots of makeshift shrines in these parts"

pogo, always see crosses at these. don't muslims, jews, hindus etc ever have fatal road wrecks?

sturg, the WV turnpike is in the southern mountains - goes through the coalfields from Bristol to Charleston - if you think you'd avoid the turnpike, you should try driving through that area on the state routes it replaced - but give yourself a full day to do it - oh, and if you tend toward motion sickness, I recommed scopolamine patches. Corridor H runs E-W across the middle of the state as an alternative US 33 and US 250 - two US highways best know for their dramatic views and kiss your ass turns.

pogo, always see crosses at these. don't muslims, jews, hindus etc ever have fatal road wrecks?

they do, but it seems they have better sense than to put up symbols of ancient methods of public execution to commemorate their dead family members.........

pat, I may be wrong, but at least here, the muslims, jews, hindus, etc. can have their annual convention at the local Dairy Queen - and still not fill the place.

Question - what do atheists put in thier roadside shrines? I could ponder this all day.

an atheist puts up an across...............?

“If Jesus had been killed twenty years ago, Catholic school children would be wearing little electric chairs around their necks instead of crosses.”

---- Lenny Bruce

sturge, a "?" denotes an agnostic.

This is what we're trying to fight against in Afghanistan?

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/world/asia/26tribal.html?_r=1&hp

So what kind of picture do they need to paint for us to understand that we aren't going to have any real success there - charcoal, water color or oil?

sturg - maybe a dead end sign??

Blogger Bite!

So Craig - Interesting!

So kill two birds with one stone

Not only is this a news worthy story regarding the News PRINT industry - so in line with what you do.

But it is also a shot at the competition by CQ showing who is becoming the new News King as the clock continues to tick. I wish we could do that in our industry.

You also seem more relaxed post final book edit draft – or whatever…

And now Bay Hill !! and the return of Tiger - Go MAGIC

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/03/obama-snub-sign-of-the-times.html#comment-213982

Cosmo - also interesting

Maybe get ready for Super Inflation Period - afterall how do you make a big debt look smaller?

We're never getting out of that hell hole, Pogo. I saw that coming during ther primaries, despite all the "I was against war" talk....

And I also knew the anti0war crowd would just nod and say, "Well, he's the decider..."

Don't let the "Bloggers" bite.....yes, my hiney is still feeling it! lol

You know Craig, I noticed this phenomena the other night at the press conference..... However, I found it refreshing that President Obama called on little knowns.
He's right to tame the 24/7 Media Crazies and try to have a press conference that tells the Country something, rather then give us all a raw stomach from the crap that we've eaten in the past.....

There used to be well thought out, brilliant questions in those gatherings. Up to now, its been a tabloid circus.

Newspapers as we know it may or may not ... e dead...I just think, like everything in this present world...they are inflated beyond the reality or their real subscribers. I'm very sad about my local Post Inteligencer going away, but its not really. I've been reading it daily for the last 5 years online. Even if I haven't lived at home, I've read it faithfully. Too bad it couldn't keep the paper going too.

Once they all deflate and the strongest News Papers survive, there will still be paper on the weekends for those of us who love to spend and entire peaceful morning, shaking, smoothing, and drinking in words.

Damn, Pats, we apparently haven't even figured how their government apparently can both support and oppose the Taliban. Shit, at least in VN we knew the north vietnamese government supported the VC. Great idea - put military forces into a country to combat one identifiable enemy, then try to figure out whether the government is for you or agin you. I don't know, but I think there's some kind of cart-horse thing going on there.

Gail Collins got more than one giggle-snort out of me today.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/26/opinion/26collins.html

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/03/obama-snub-sign-of-the-times.html#comment-213992

Ivy,

He didn't snub her. This was his second news conference. She got a prominent question at the first. He has to spread the glory.

Sheila & Jamie....
exactly..... why look at Craig's topic as the glass half empty.... I think it really is the glass half full....

since I'm a big sports fan..... I liken it to what happens in that venue....
veteran players do get most of the play time.... but it's always exciting and necessary for a team to put in the new and upcoming kid and give him a chance to get a feel for the game at the big league level....

I see nothing wrong with Obama asking Ms Thomas for a question maybe every other press conference or so and making way for newer players....
in fact... I very much like it....

LMAO at your Gail Collins link, Pogo. Especially this line:

"This is not a problem in New York, since we have a state government so awful that we barely noticed this week when prosecutors revealed that the state pension fund scandal is intertwined with a deal to sell DVDs of a movie called “Chooch.”

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/03/obama-snub-sign-of-the-times.html#comment-213997

3) If the readers are responsible for "creating" their own news stories, the paper becomes nothing more than a Facebook competitor. The Fourth Estate has been foreclosed on...

Spike,

Newspapers have always done this as part of their mission to serve the community where they publish. Who won the blue ribbon at a 4H sponsored event at the county fair is NEWS. One place genealogists look for information is the newspaper microfiche at a libray. It provides a cultural picture through advertisements and social notices of the time and place where an ancestor lived.

Computers, email, and social pages are already costing us a written record of day to day history that was once provided by letters and journals. The disappearance of newspapers would mean an even greater loss since we would depend on books for history and those usually are written only about the famous. That would be like picking up People Magazine and thinking that was the way everyone lives.

Of course he snubbed them--the people making the decisions as whom to call have absolutely no class.

Here, Here Jamie

Patsi, Gail has become one of my favorite NYT columnists. IMHO she has all the humor and none of the bile that I look for in an op-ed columnist. Hell, I harbor enough anger for the columnist and myself.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/03/obama-snub-sign-of-the-times.html#comment-214031

patd

The first time I heard that Amazing Grace/House of the Rising Sun cross was the Animals back in the 1960s
but many others did it this way back to the 1920s

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=439

Jamie,

Jim Lehrer was on Imus yesterday or the day before. The most striking thing he said about journalists is that they are perpetual optimists. That's what makes them so special and their written words so important.

The impending loss of these people as part of our societal process is incredibly depressing. Perhaps some will run for elected office; I think the skill set that makes them good journalists could also make them very effective office holders.

pogo, thanks for the gail collins link. this was my favorite excerpt of it (very timely considering craig's video of the day):

"In summary, there appears to be only two constants in our ever-changing world. One is that Barack Obama is going to be on television every day forever. No venue is too strange. Soon, he’ll be on “Dancing With the Stars” (“And now, doing the Health Care, Energy and Education tango ...”) or delivering the weather report. (“Here we see a wave of systemic change, moving across the nation ...”)

The other immutable truth is that we always need to have somebody we can be really, really angry at."

Team Obama is moving along.

"Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is expected to propose sweeping new financial regulations during Congressional testimony Thursday, including tougher government oversight of financial risk taking,"

http://tinyurl.com/calw65

oops. meant yesterday's "all obama all the time" video

Craig,
Nice video. Although I'm not discounting the notion of a snub, I'm not sure the reason is fear of hardcore probing questions.

I believe that the President and his staff view the media as a tool to be used at their disposal. With this in mind they are selecting those parts of the media that they can count on to achieve whatever the goal "du jour" is.

I personally believe that this crisis for print media is going to lead to some real investigative reporting which has been lacking for years.

I have always laughed at how the media get their noses bent out of shape whenever anyone deviates from the time-worn rituals that supposedly dictate how things like presidential news conferences should work.

The hilarious conceit is that a system of selecting questioners randomly based on who shouts the loudest or who is wearing an attention-getting red dress is somehow more democratic than going down a predetermined list.

Do it either way, and it doesn't matter. It's just another form of Washington kabuki no matter what.

About two-thirds of the 400+ crowd opposed a parkway on Johns Island
Stratton Lawrence

"According to the Johns Island Comprehensive Plan, the island is not supposed to dramatically grow," says Desrosiers. "Spending nearly a billion dollars on Johns Island is crazy when we should be supporting infrastructure in places designated for development."

After last week's meeting was opened to public comment, Bill Saunders of the Concerned Citizens of the Sea Islands — a group working to keep Johns and Wadmalaw Islands rural — expressed suspicion that the resort islands' strong support for the parkway stems from a desire to complete the road for golf's PGA Championships, scheduled to be played on Kiawah in 2012. About two-thirds of the crowd cheered boisterously for over a minute after the comment. Seabrook Island's Mayor Frank McNulty spoke in response to that concern.

"This situation has nothing to do with a golf tournament, or with making it easier for people on Seabrook and Kiawah to get to Charleston. It's got nothing to do with evacuation routes, or even with roads on Johns Island," said McNulty. "The only thing is safety. The roads are too dangerous, there's too many accidents, and too many people have died."

Kiawah Mayor Bill Wert said that one death due to roads with no shoulders is too many, pleading to council to recommend the parkway.

"Study time is over. Action time is at hand," said Wert to the loud boos of much of the crowd.

http://www.charlestoncitypaper.com/gyrobase/Content?oid=oid%3A47360

"Do it either way, and it doesn't matter. It's just another form of Washington kabuki no matter what."

Lard,

I disagree. I think it's a crass attempt at showing who's in charge, now. I think there's no doubt that this administration, as did the last, wishes the traditional media would vanish.

And as for the need for a "new and improved villain"---there is never a shortage----and Gail Collins mentions the next most obvious group---hedge fund managers.

"Top hedge fund managers do well in a down year"

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/25/business/25hedge.html?em

I went to a kabuki theater back in the late '60s. It was down the street and off to the right from the Sony building.

Having seen it, I was convinced that ritual choreographs leave much to be desired. But, they do serve as a framework for thoughtful reflection.

Upon such reflection, I never returned to a kabuki theater.

Coreen from your link

“Ironically enough, we’re going to go beg for capital from the very people we’ve been trying to vilify.”

Jack

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/03/obama-snub-sign-of-the-times.html#comment-214044

Pogo --

I know they have a flag of some sort. My neighborhood association sent me a letter saying they'd start appearing if I were allowed to put a garden flag by my mailbox.

~)

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/03/the-hypocrisy-of-partisans-par.html#comment-212918

Don't worry, Jack, no matter what we say about them, greed will make them do the self-serving thing--to our benefit.

BTW
The Blue corn came yesterday
For pictures

http://cbhopibluecornexperiment.blogspot.com/

Jack

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/03/obama-snub-sign-of-the-times.html#comment-214081

lol
True

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/03/obama-snub-sign-of-the-times.html#comment-214058

Jamie --

I know this President is all about changing things up. But I feel Ms. Thomas has a traditional role in those press conferences that was established by previous presidents and, as long as she is there, it ought to be honored.

Damn, I wish I had a place to sow the corn. Rather, I wish I had soil suitable for it.

Ivy, I totally agree with you.

flatus......i'd bet that corn could grow on a ROCK

Flatus

One hill in a big pot

Jack

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/03/obama-snub-sign-of-the-times.html#comment-214080

Ivy, Probably a flag with the Darwin Fish though the fish with "bite me" is another alternative

http://www.evolvefish.com/fish/emblems.html

Yes, Jack, the irony of this entire meltdown---those that may have created & benefited to extraordinary levels--to the detriment of many---will again have the opportuntiy to again benefit to extraordinary levels.

And Flatus, I do hope that--- "greed will make them do the self-serving thing" ---that wil benefit others.

In the meantime, though no surprise , 2008 looks to have been just about the worst year economically in a very long time.

"U.S. economy contracts 6.3%,the weakest since 1982;
and profits declined 16.5%, the most since 1953--- but there may be some incremental signs of hope.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aemO.zzB7LlE&refer=home

Birthday of poet Robert Frost (1874)

"I often see flowers from a passing car
That are gone before I can tell what they are.

I want to get out of the train and go back
To see what they were beside the track.

I name all the flowers I am sure they weren't;
Not fireweed loving where woods have burnt--

Not bluebells gracing a tunnel mouth--
Not lupine living on sand and drouth.

Was something brushed across my mind
That no one on earth will ever find?

Heaven gives its glimpses only to those
Not in position to look too close."

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/03/obama-snub-sign-of-the-times.html#comment-214091

Jamie --

OMG. I definitely see what they're worried about now.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/03/obama-snub-sign-of-the-times.html#comment-214074

sturg, I'm just guessin', but I'm guessin' that Desrosiers wasn't your date to the meeting.

Ivy, those yard Nazis are annoying, aren't they? I fortunately don't live in an area with restrictive covenants. I have lived in houses in neighborhoods with them twice in the past, and they can be royal pains in the ass. At least in my neighborhoods, the yard nazis have been retired folks who apparently had nothing better to do with their time than annoy the crap out of people who had other things to do. Oh, and atheists have a flag - who knew? (I'd order one, but it would piss Mrs. P off something awful).

http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/rel-ath.html

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/03/obama-snub-sign-of-the-times.html#comment-214085

They respect her role Ivy, but no President has called on her every time over the many decades she has been part of the press corps . That would be hogging the limelight and I don't believe she is that kind of person. Sometimes the teacher has to call on someone other than the smart kid in class.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/03/obama-snub-sign-of-the-times.html#comment-214075

Flatus, I think that's just something you say because it supports your broader perception of Obama.

But the fact is, the provenance of the "shouted question" news conference is not something carved in the Constitution (as traditionalists would almost want you to believe) -- it extends only back so far as the Nixon Administration. Before that, it was reporters politely asking questions of LBJ, JFK and Ike in newfangled, televised news conferences. Before that it was Truman, FDR and their predecessors calling "the boys" into the Oval Office to gather around the desk for informal BS sessions -- parts of which were understood to be on the record, parts of which were understood to be off the record.

And in every case, every one of those presidents was "in charge" -- ie., doing it the way he wanted it done. So I don't see what's so profoundly different in principle about the way Obama is doing things.

jamie, absolutely ROF over the fish emblem site. I've passed it along to a good friend with a great sense of humor. It would take me months if I were forced to choose just one - although I am partial to the Food Fish Emblem and the Sushi one.

Some creative efforts (with links) to use humor to lessen the pain from the economic meltdown courtesy of Credit Slips.

"Laughing through the Pain"

1. Bankster Buddies toilet paper--printed with faces of
govt officials who had a role in the meltdown- bipartisan appeal.

2. Disposable BS Bag--printed with driections & warning "do not attempt to dispose of your BS through any govt agency since they produce more BS than they can dispose of themselves"

3. A new twist on a classic song--Take a load off Fannie.

http://www.creditslips.org/

Geithner testifying on C-SPAN3 and on line if you want to watch without commercials.

"The impending loss of these people as part of our societal process is incredibly depressing. Perhaps some will run for elected office; I think the skill set that makes them good journalists could also make them very effective office holders."

Flatus, I have always assumed the journalists will still be journalists, just delivering their message through a different medium.
.........

"I personally believe that this crisis for print media is going to lead to some real investigative reporting which has been lacking for years."

... wouldn't that be nice, Jax. :)

"The making of a journalist: no ideas and the ability to express them."
-Kraus, Karl

(I feel ashamed to have quoted that)

...And if you want to talk about "tradition" in White House news conferences, here's one snub that hasn't been mentioned: The Associated Press. Traditonally, that correspondent always was featured prominently. On Tuesday night, nada.

Not sure why Helen T even goes to these things anymore, or even has a White House press pass. At least she's not going into that good night screeching her lungs out like that awful Sarah McLendon did. But her continued presence in the White House press room is increasingly taking on a "Willie Mays in 1973" vibe, or worse yet, the weirdness of that actress who actually obtained a press pass and hung out all the time in the press room through the 1990s -- I think it was Barbara Billingsley (June Cleaver)? Or does anyone know if it was someone else? I'm sure Craig will remember.

Renee,
Thanks for filling me in on the background of Border Explorer yesterday. I'll go over and check out eProf's blog too.

Thought for the day :
" An institution is the lengthened shadow of one man. "

1821 Earnest Angel German statistician (Law of Angel)
1840 George Smith London England, assyriologist (cuneiform (script))
1863 Henry Royce founder (Rolls-Royce Limited in 1884)
1904 Joseph Campbell mythologist (Mythic Image)
1911 Tennessee Williams Columbus MS, dramatist (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof)
1916 Sterling Hayden Upper Montclair NJ, actor (Dr Strangelove, Asphalt Jungle, Cobra)
1919 Strother Martin Kokomo IN, actor (Cool Hand Luke, Slapshot)

1780 1st British Sunday newspaper appears (British Gazette & Sunday Monitor)
1804 Congress orders removal of Indians east of Mississippi to Louisiana
1804 Territory of Orleans organized in Louisiana Purchase
1845 Joseph Francis, New York NY, patents a corrugated sheet-iron lifeboat
1845 Patent awarded for adhesive medicated plaster, precusor of bandaid
1862 Battle of La Glorieta Pass New Mexico Territory (Apache Canyon, Pigeon's Ranch)
1863 Voters in West Virginia approve gradual emancipation of slaves
1871 Paris Commune founded
1872 7.8 earthquake shakes Owens Valley, California
1872 Thomas J Martin patents fire extinguisher
1910 US forbid immigration to criminals, anarchists, paupers & the sick
1913 Dayton OH almost destroyed when Scioto, Miami, & Muskingum River reach flood stage simultaneously
1936 200" telescope lens shipped, Corning Glass Works, New York-Cal Tech
1936 Mary Joyce ends a 1,000 mile trip by dog in Alaska
1937 Joe DiMaggio takes Ty Cobb's advice & replace his 40 with 36 oz bat
1937 Spinach growers of Crystal City TX, erect statue of Popeye
1942 1st "Eichmann transport" to Auschwitz & Birkenau Camps
1942 1st 700 Jews from Polish Lvov-district reach concentration camp Belzec
1944 705 British bombers attack Essen
1953 Dr Jonas Salk announces new vaccine to prevent polio [myelitis]
1954 US performs atmospheric nuclear test at Bikini Island
1955 "Ballad of Davy Crockett" becomes the #1 record in US
1970 500th nuclear explosion announced by the US since 1945
1973 Soap opera "The Young and the Restless" premieres
---------------------
Strother Martin first appears in "Strategic Air Command" with a speaking part as clerk addressing Jimmy Stewart. That was the first time he steals a scene from a bigger star. He did it his whole career.
And when he was with L.Q. Jones, they both stole the scene.

See the "Wild Bunch".

Martin -
http://www.filmdope.com/Gallery/ActorsM/11233-21298.gif
Jones -
http://www.filmdope.com/Gallery/ActorsJ/8931-21298.gif

Poor Robert Ryan , he never had a chance in that movie.

"What we've got here..."

Craig -
I like the pipe. Sort of a metaphor for papers. Seeing a guy with a pipe and paper, well it's starting to have the feel of an artifact.

Earliest Evidence Of Domesticated Maize Discovered: Dates Back 8,700 Years

ScienceDaily (Mar. 25, 2009) — Maize was domesticated from its wild ancestor more than 8700 years according to biological evidence uncovered by researchers in the Mexico's Central Balsas River Valley. This is the earliest dated evidence -- by 1200 years -- for the presence and use of domesticated maize.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090323212037.htm

... mainly linking this, because it's by James Carville (and I love the guy). Btw, he thinks Obama is still doing a good job communicating.

Daddy, tell me, what exactly is a derivative?
"If nature abhors a vacuum, politics abhors complexity...

As someone who has prided himself on being able to reduce complex problems to simple messages, I am totally stumped by derivatives.

After hours of research, they seem to be something rich, greedy bankers thought up to make more money selling them to other rich, greedy bankers. They did not understand what they were selling. Buyers did not understand what they were buying and insurers did not understand what they were insuring. Now the taxpayer is stuck with these things that no one can explain.......The problem is compounded by the fact that the only people who can explain them are the bankers who created them. It is like relying on a criminal to tell us how he committed a crime – and paying him to do it.

Good luck, Mr President."
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7f21ae14-198a-11de-9d34-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1

So that would be the first evidence of tortillas"

ummm - good cue for lunch.

CBob

There are a whole lot of birthdays today as well.

Leonard Nimoy
Diana Ross
Nancy Pelosi
Kenny Chesney
Alan Arkin
Bob Woodward
Jennifer Grey
Sandra Day O'Connor

What did you buy Nancy and Sandy?

Jamie -
The horns of being an editor ...... What put in what to take out.
Leonard Nimoy is a major oversight on my part.

Huge deficits put nation on unsustainable course
"Republican critics, meanwhile, call the Obama deficits "unconscionable," but their outrage rings hollow considering that GOP President George W. Bush and a GOP Congress squandered the surpluses they inherited and doubled the national debt.

This isn't an insoluble problem. Everyone knows what has to happen. Democrats have to show spending restraint and make tough choices among competing priorities. Republicans have to overcome their hostility to any and all tax hikes. The economic crisis won't be an excuse to put this off for much longer."
http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2009/03/huge-deficits-p.html

CBob

I knew Nimoy was a poet. I didn't realize that he was an accomplished photographer as well

http://www.thehypertexts.com/Leonard%20Nimoy%20Poet%20Poetry%20Photographer%20Photography%20Picture%20Literary%20Bio.htm

Off to address some more envelopes.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/03/obama-snub-sign-of-the-times.html#comment-214093

Ivy, Thanks for posting that Robert Frost poem. Since it's his birthday, here are a couple of quotes by him - the first one seems appropriate, many years later. The second one, I don't believe. :)

"A bank is a place where they lend you an umbrella in fair weather and ask for it back when it begins to rain."

"A liberal is a man too broadminded to take his own side in a quarrel."
http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/robert_frost/quotes

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/03/obama-snub-sign-of-the-times.html#comment-214104

1955 "Ballad of Davy Crockett" becomes the #1 record in US

Well, this auspicious occasion calls out for a Davy Crockett quote: "Since you have chosen to elect a man with a timber toe to succeed me, you may all go to hell and I will go to Texas."

Final statement on his Congressional defeat

... a couple more, for the road:

"I'm not confused. I'm just well mixed."

"Forgive, O Lord, my little jokes on Thee, and I'll forgive Thy great big joke on me."

- Robert Frost

Craig-love the video and am glad to see the train ad back too.
Sturge- You are a pisser, thanks for the laughs.
Ivy- email me and I'll call you if you like. Don'tknow if you saw that message yesterday.

"A new twist on a classic song--Take a load off Fannie."

LMAO@Coreen!!!!!

"don't let the bloggers bite" LOL ... love it, that gave me a good chuckle ...

Yes, afraid newspapers are a dying breed, but what enjoyment they've given us .. my obsession with them started early .. in 6th grade, my teacher gave us an assignment to scour the newspaper for local news & events. That got me hooked on wanting to know more of what was going on & not just in my neck of the woods. I use to drive my Dad crazy .. I'd read the paper from cover to cover before he got home & no matter how careful i was, he always knew I'd read it first .. he hated that, lol

Sadly, our Kentucky Post was first gobbled up by a large newspaper in Cinti, then they proceeded to gut it, Ky news ended up being only about 8 pages, some times less .. they stopped the presses last year .. oh, you can go on line to get Ky news, but like the paper, it's mostly Cinti, Oh news with Northern Ky news peppered here & there ...

I think it's petty to ignore any one just because you don't like some articles their publication has written .. without observation & criticism from news sources, facts & truths won't be learned ...

!:^}
Viv

What is to stop a good reporter (who doesn't care if they ever get called on again) to submit a softball question and then ask him a real kneecapper when called on on live TV?

Most of us know that he doesn't think on his feet as well as Hil'ry, but enough of those nasty little comebacks like the one on Tuesday night & it will be obvious to everyone. I think his only chance of getting through these things is to have a list & hope everyone sticks to the script.

For Train Lovers ... !:^}

Astonishing video: Most gigantic model railroad in the world

his is simply unbelievable. The Miniatur Wunderland model railroad in Hamburg, Germany is the largest in the world, covering 16,146 square feet of space with more than 10,000 train cars running around its 6.8 miles of HO scale track. Now, the makers of this huge layout have created a video that gives you a jaw-dropping look at the vast scope of this intricate work of art.

Its construction started in 2000, and is still underway, with a tiny airport due for completion by the end of this year. This is just the beginning — there are plans to double to layout by 2014. We especially like the Las Vegas portion, complete with dazzling LEDs lighting up the night.

You have to watch the new video above to get the full impact of this remarkable achievement, which has taken in excess of 500,000 working hours to build. There's good reason why this is Germany's most popular attraction, already visited by more than 5 million flabbergasted tourists.

http://dvice.com/archives/2009/03/astonishing_mos.php

Posted by: COSMOdeCRITIC | March 26, 2009 12:06 AM : "The price of shingles is going through the roof."

Just an observation"
****************************************************
Mr. deCritic,
If you don't catch chicken pox, you won't have to deal with shingles.

Btw, are shingles mentioned in the health care proposal ?

Let's make the system even more expensive...

"If so many jobs require random drug tests these days, why not these benefits"?

"Drug testing is not the only restriction envisioned for people receiving public assistance: a bill in the Tennessee Legislature would cap lottery winnings for recipients at $600."

"...alternative measures offer treatment, but can also threaten future benefits if drug problems persist, she said. They also cost less than the $400 or so needed for tests that can catch a sufficient range of illegal drugs, and rule out false positive results with a follow-up test..."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090326/ap_on_bi_ge/states_welfare_with_strings;_ylt=AkdMum8YhNpe1vW5nMWJ6ads.aF4;_ylu=X3oDMTE5dGw2YmtnBHBvcwM0BHNlYwN5bi1tb3N0LXZpZXdlZARzbGsDc3RhdGVzY29uc2lk

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/03/obama-snub-sign-of-the-times.html#comment-214127

Aww Blue I enjoyed that comeback. Sure it was snarky, but most politicians should try it on occasion.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/03/obama-snub-sign-of-the-times.html#comment-214114

Chloe, You notice the Repugs never mention that their budgets looked better for years because they never included the costs of Iraq and Afghanistan. They spent the money and added to the debt, but it was all "off budget". Now they yowl at the size of the Obama budget whena huge part of it is the war.

I had enough of the red-faced, snarkiness of W out in the Rose Garden. A real answer would have been preferable.

i watched some of pres.obama's online town hall
meeting'' more of the same questions '' same answers
now if he logged on here and got in the Mix'
i would be impressed

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/03/obama-snub-sign-of-the-times.html#comment-214135

mqw - How do you know that he hasn't? :-)

seriously, it would be interesting for him to do something like that, make arrangements with the website, use an alias and then just dive into the back and forth. They could announce a transcript after the fact (presuming he didn't start a flame war).

Off and running. Enjoy your day.

Posted by: LardassLiberal| March 26, 2009 10:29 AM

Nice observations!

craig would probably block him out'
but that would be great '' no pre approval of the
questions

hey good people....

I don't get why so many of you are choosing to see Tuesday night as a "snub"....
Obama has had 2 press conferences...... one where he called exclusively on only established media.... and one where he called on only new media.....

I don't extrapolate anything out of that except that he has decided to make some changes as he campaigned on.....

just my 2 cents.... it's been interesting reading yours.....

How about ?

If you don't pass the drug test :

No Stimulus

No Bailout

No Bonus (This test also looks for traces Martini and Scotch)

No offshore oil drill permit

No Supreme Court filing

No radio station license (This test detects cigar use going back 6 months)

No participation in the Federally Guaranteed Major League Baseball monopoly (Test also detects trace amounts of snuff )

No Defense or State Department contracts (Tests for Cuban cigars and Iranian caviar only)

Lard, thanks for this:
http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/03/obama-snub-sign-of-the-times.html#comment-214097

You're right about the change in prez-press relations in the last fifty years. But, I make no bones about it, I think Mr Obama is in over is head because of his lack of experience.

None of that makes a hill of corn if he takes charge when it comes to speaking with the people. Often, though, I don't think he owns the words he is uttering.

And, I think Mr Axelrod is, figuratively, the devil incarnate; that they are his hands that are manipulating the presidential marionette.

I also think they should move his press conferences back to the briefing room giving the regulars the opportunity to be his inquisitors.

No, Mr Obama wasn't my candidate. But, I really, really do want him to have a thrillingly successful presidency.

mqw probably thinks most of the posts here come from Obama.

Bumper sticker:

"My God attends Red River Christian Academy"

"they do serve as a framework for thoughtful reflection.

Upon such reflection, I never returned to a kabuki theater"

flatus, reminds me of the time i visited a sanga's formal zazen meditation.

"Often, though, I don't think he owns the words he is uttering.

And, I think Mr Axelrod is, figuratively, the devil incarnate; that they are his hands that are manipulating the presidential marionette."

... when you put it that way Flatus, it's scary.
My greatest fear, is that you are right. When does the marketing become more important than the product? (or is it always)

ah Flatus...
I see where you're coming from now..... you believed Rev. Wright when he said "we've been grooming him for years".... a statement that still gives me pause as well.....

BTW.... it was also discussed on NPR yesterday that the major networks would probably only let Obama have so much prime time tv for press conferences....
as they lost mucho money giving him an entire hour without commercial breaks....

sometimes it does seem like issues and subjects
discussed here show up in the mainstream media a
day or two later '
maybe y'all are just one step ahead of everybody else

"maybe y'all are just one step ahead of everybody else"

You left yourself out of that statement mqw. :)
.... should have read "maybe we all".

Yes, mqw, on more than one occasion we've seen things discussed here pop up in the discussions at MSNBC and on HuffPo. I imagine those aren't the only outlets that just by coincidence (I'm sure) have happened upon topics aday after we discussed them. Craig certainly isn't an unknown in punditry ciorcles, although he is IMHO incredibly underutilized.

So, to which newspaper do any of you think Obama owes a nod ? Does that newspaper even have a Washington bureau these days, or does it just click and scrape AP, NYT, WaPo, or WaTi ?

In 1961, JFK announced that he found the reportage of the NY Herald Tribune to be one-side and inaccurate. This truth sent the newspaper into a swift decline.

The republican political elite snubbed the WaPo and fed stories to the WaTimes, a propaganda sheet owned by Sun Myung Moon, the Korean Jesus. That didn't work nearly as JFK's move. The Christian Right hates those blasphemous Moonies, while the Fiscal Deservatives all waste their bonus money on the Wall Street Urinal.

In the 1980s, the Twin Cities had 2 fine newspapers. In 20 years of sales and resales, and of losing or throwing away their best reporters and writers, the StabHarpoon is a mime of a shadow of a ghost of its former self. The Satanic Pie in Face Press fell even farther, and is now unfit even for wrapping bird poop.

Once great papers, the Louisville Courier, the St Louis Post Disp, the LA Times, the Des Moines Register, have all fallen to disgracefully low levels of journalism and writing, or vanished into bankruptcy court.

If all the rightwing rags close, there will be a dire coupon shortage until the internet steps in to fill the gap. It'll give the trees a much needed break.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/03/obama-snub-sign-of-the-times.html#comment-214151

pogo, would you be hinting that intellectual foul play is afoot? plagiarism perhaps? old-fashioned copy-catting?

pat, I don't know that I'd go quite that far - at least not the plagiarism part - after all, this is a blog and there ain't much of a claim to intellectual property that attaches here. I'd just say that I have personally heard on a couple of occasions - both back during the primary campaigns when I was actually watching MSNBC with any regularity - phrases uttered by this pundit or that that had been written here the previous day.

Flatus,
I understand that Kabuki is a late 17th Century descendent of medieval puppet shows. A great fire or some such thing destroyed all the puppets, and to fill the drama gap, Kabuki was invented. Do I have that anywhere near correct ? It sounds so dopey, that it must be true.

Any way, we have a homologue here, with actors playing Popeye, the Flinstones, Batman, etc. (Were the cartoonists' desks all burnt in a great fire ?) To me, the concept behind actors playing cartoon characters is only slightly more appealing than cartoons depicting golf tournaments.

Afternoon financial report - jobless claims up, GDP down.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/26/economy-dips-at-slightly-_n_179417.html

And Boner and Co. would continue down the road to perdition - still chasing the mirage. Morons.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/26/gop-budget-proposal-massi_n_179598.html

Old Sea,

Yes, thank you, I saw your post...I'm checking on our dates...I'll email you at the info at new moon magick dot net...if that is a good address to use?

Don't know if anyone cited it previously, but there was an article in February's Smithsonian by Geraldine Brooks about how marvelous Martha's Vineyard is...AFTER Labor Day!

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/travel/My-Kind-of-Town-Vineyard-Haven-Massachusetts.html

At lunchtime today while shopping in the "stretchy pants" department at Walmart, I encountered a lady who moved here from MV to be near her son -- never met her before but very very sweet lady she was -- she advised a "nice thing" about MV is that you can go there and "people won't bother you" (ironically, she talked to me first, and I'm so grateful she did, she made my day and didn't even know it ... :))

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/03/obama-snub-sign-of-the-times.html#comment-214117

Chloe,

I'm so glad you liked the Frost poem this morning, and that it led you to others. My yellowed volume of "The Poems of Robert Frost" had been my father's. It's dated 1946 which is the year he graduated high school, but it could have been for a freshman or sophomore college course since he purchased it as a used text for $1.45. It is full of margin notations which I don't know if they are his handwriting or the previous owner's. SOMEBODY really studied those poems! Either way, it is a treasured memento as he has been gone since I was 13.

xrep..... ROFL!.... you are on fire today.....

ivygreen.... September is Rick's and my favorite month to vacation anywhere in New England..... it's still warm, but not humid.... bugs are gone.... the trees are still in full bloom.... and kids are back in school..... we really LOVE the southern Maine beaches in Sept...

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/03/obama-snub-sign-of-the-times.html#comment-214156

XR,

I hadn't heard that origin for kabuki. But, even if inaccurate, it does sound like a worthwhile rumor to circulate. :)

I was in Japan three separate times with none of those stays lasting more than two weeks. Being Korean at heart, I am hopelessly angry at what the Japanese did to Korea and to my family, in particular.

They 'borrowed' one of my wife's sisters and never bothered returning her. I fight every one of their efforts at revision of their deplorable history so far as it pertains to atrocities in China and the subjugation of Korean girls for the pleasure of their troops.

"Either way, it is a treasured memento as he has been gone since I was 13."
http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/03/obama-snub-sign-of-the-times.html#comment-214159

Ivy,

Thanks for sharing how precious that copy of 'The Poems of Robert Frost' is to you and why. Those kind of stories are what I treasure most about this place.

(I may have to order myself a 'used' copy of that book now - Thanks again)

Flatus, ditto your 1:56 post.

Pogo writes "Yes, mqw, on more than one occasion we've seen things discussed here pop up in the discussions at MSNBC and on HuffPo"

I have seen the same thing many times, not just with this pundit' s comments but with comments made by members of this blog. I think that jounalists read blogs and that is what they consider investigative reporting. They steal the thoughts and ideas from the bloggers and present the ideas as their own.

I know many important people, or those who think they are important, read Craig's blog. That is one of the reasons I write what I think here when I am pissed. I feel like I am telling someone other than my dog how I feel. Down in my neck of the woods my dog is the only one who listens when I discuss politics, at least she pretends to.

The internet has given us, JQ public, a platform to express how we feel whether or not anything is done.

Lardass! Lardass! Lardass!

...thought you were dead. Glad to see you're not.

I read the news today
About a lucky man who made the grade

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZez_k4vAzU

Oh, and also:

-.-- --- ..- --. ..- -.-- ... .- .-. . -. --- ..-. ..- -.

lordbloggington:

I've tried for HOURS---but I can't decipher the dot-dash-dot cryptic message you posted before the sun came up!

THERE YOU GO AGAIN!! HAHAHAHAHA !

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/03/obama-snub-sign-of-the-times.html#comment-214165

Have I seen his face before? I can't be sure, but he may be from the House of Lords. Hey, me too!

".-.. --- .-.." = "LOL"

"-.-- . - .- -. --- - .... . .-. .-- .- .-. -. .. -. --. ... .. --. -.

.- -. -.-- --- -. . .-- .... --- -.. .-. . ... ... . ... .-.. .. -.- . .- .--. .. -- .--. ..-. --- .-. .- -. -.-- .-. . .- ... --- -. .. ... .- -. .- ... ... .... --- .-.. ." = "Yet another warning sign Anybody who dresses up like a pimp for any reason is an a*****e"

(That pic is definitely Madoff)

"-.-- --- ..- --. ..- -.-- ... .- .-. . -. --- ..-. ..- -." = "You guys are no fun"

If you want to check my work:

http://www.mds975.co.uk/Images/amateur_radio/morse_code_table.jpg

...and Dexter is fun, at least. 'A' for effort, buddy.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Monsanto-s-dream-bill-HR-by-Linn-Cohen-Cole-090309-337.html

28
votesBuzz up!

Tell A Friend
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To begin reversing GM contamination will require ending the power biotech companies such as Monsanto exert over our government and through that, over our food.

HR 875, was introduced by Rosa DeLauro whose husband Stanley Greenburg works for Monsanto.

The bill is monstrous on level after level - the power it would give to Monsanto, the criminalization of seed banking, the prison terms and confiscatory fines for farmers, the 24 hours GPS tracking of their animals, the easements on their property to allow for warrantless government entry, the stripping away of their property rights, the imposition by the filthy, greedy industrial side of anti-farming international "industrial" standards to independent farms - the only part of our food system that still works, the planned elimination of farmers through all these means.

Dan Seals (of England Dan/John Ford Coley) had passed away of cancer at 61

http://www.comcast.net/articles/music/20090326/Obit.Dan.Seals/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRFZUB3NzGs

"I fight every one of their efforts at revision of their deplorable history"

Japan, right?

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/03/obama-snub-sign-of-the-times.html#comment-214155

Pogo,

Craig did say once that we had some well known lurkers who apparently like to read the conversations. We shouldn't be surprised if some of the ideas, positions, and links we put up appear later in the material used by anchors.

For the most part this is a pretty eclectic group with a wide range of professions, talents and education. It may lean left but we have our right and middle that hold up their end pretty well.

It is simply one of the best places I've been on the net for fascinating conversation that I have ever found. (excluding the late unpleasantness).

KGC

Petition to sign against that Monsanto power grab

http://www.peaceteam.net/action/pnum942.php

This will go to members of Congress. I am sick unto death of this mega corporations getting away with crud that would send an individual to jail.

Quote from Stan Laurel about politics in Hollywood from July 31st, 1960:

"And there is the other kind of politics—with performers offering their opinions on national issues as if their opinions were important. Who are they after all? What right have they to impose their thoughts on the public, which certainly knows as much as they do? I think some of our stars are beginning to believe their publicity—they're taking themselves too seriously. Nobody else does."

I found this quote on the website "Letters From Stan".

Ivy- that email is fine. Sept.is great. I really love hot nights though so I enjoy JUly when I can be out all night without a sweater. It is most crowded the 2nd and 3rd week of August, but pretty cool things happen then (illuminations and the fireworks) . I always figure that no matter how crowded it gets here, it still isn't as crowded as America.

Oh Jamie -- don't have people remember Dan for the England Dan days...listen to his serious stuff...this one written with the great Bob McDill:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GU9qWR6Bosw

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/03/obama-snub-sign-of-the-times.html#comment-214171

Lord of the Blog --

ROTFL -- The pundits have to work extra hard to plagiarize your work.

Jamie
Thanks for posting the petition link --
I'm kind of suprised at the turn this bill has taken - it's part of what is supposed to be a reform of food safety issues..

RE: Dan Seals...he truly was a good man. The very first time I met him he put me to work on his latest project, the restoration of a slave cemetery he'd found on his property. It was such an amazing project...

http://www.dansealsfanpage.com/mypage111.htm

also, Dan and brother Jim (Seals and Crofts) had formed a duo and were recording...

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/03/obama-snub-sign-of-the-times.html#comment-214182

Old Sea --

Thanks for reply and info...sounds promising and we'll be getting our "act" together pronto since my hub is a "planner aheader."

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/03/obama-snub-sign-of-the-times.html#comment-214183

Patsi,

I only said that for people who might not recognize him otherwise. I posted one of his beautiful solo songs on my blog.

Thanks, Ms Renee, I appreciate that. It means I'm a hottie, right ?

Jamie....
did you know that the duo Seals and Crofts are Baha'is....

and I will forever be grateful to some of those high powered lurkers for bitching to Craig about the unpleasantness..... this place has become awesome....

xrep.... ROFL!..... of course it does..... :0)

There's a warm wind blowin' the stars around...

First obesity, then diabetes, and now kidney stones.
We have to stop killing our children

http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-health/20090326/MED.Kids_.Kidney.Stones/

Scott Atlas, senior fellow at the Hoover Institution and a professor at the Stanford University Medical Center, discusses how before turning to government as the solution, some unheralded facts about America's health care system should be considered.

America Helath Care vs What Some Would Like It To Be

http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba649

Canada and the UK are so lacking, so why is the US trying to model themselves after such a brokendown systems?

Flatus, I remember being appalled at reading that the Japanese buried alive 10,000 striking Korean miners.

A deep survey of their own history would have shown the Japanese that the Bushido mindset and training was mown down by Tokugawa firearms, weapons that any unskilled farmer could wield. How could they calculate that Bushido spirit would stand up against the combined power of the 4 next most powerful forces in East Asia ? Especially after the allied victories in the battles of the Atlantic, Kursk, Indore, & Midway ! The war party not only enslaved and slaughtered millions of non-Japanese, it doomed millions of Japanese to horrible suffering and premature death. I will never understand why they venerate those monsterous villains. Btw, they still treat the Buraka and Ainu like dirt.

TIR

Just try to convince someone in Canada or England to give up what they have in favor of the expensive crud we are stuck with..

We pay for everyone through our taxes anyway except we pay twice as much as we should because of conditions that should have been treated at a doctor's office can become life threatening by the time it hits the emergency room

The only reason we can't get single payer is because of Insurance Companies desire for profits. Look where the greed of insurers has gotten us with financial services. Why give them a place for greed with medical services.

I thought that after we started complaining re the lack of support from Obama's fans FOR him now, the msm began to talk about it and some of O's fans began to speak up.

We have a young Japanese couple and their kids as friends. They go back every so often, but are pretty Americanized. When they come over, we all hug etc, but the last time they were in Japan, as she hugged her parents and siblings, her grandmother stood huddled in a corner and would not be hugged.

I've always thought that every ethnic group which has come to this country and stayed has benefitted from a little Americanization - altho I know some of you will see that as xenophobia. I guess what I see is that edges are worn off their cultures and they learn to get along with others. The two groups I think have benefitted the most are the Japanese and Germans, probably because of their long military histories. I understand your feelings very well, Flatus.

I remember one story I heard was that after the peace treaty with Japan, soldiers were approached by civilians asking re :democracy?"

Hope I haven't offended anyone.

pogo......about the parkway......I don't push one way or the other on it......the parkway would be good, but then it's not my land it's going across, so I leave that one to the mysterious powers and drive carefully at off-peak hours......and I for damn sure dont go to meetings with people booing and hollering and such......too much like church.......if it happens---it happens......

I do see that the "keep it rural" folks are on the losing side in the long run.....rural is history in these parts.......

If you depend upon BIG GOVCO to wake you up every morning then you'll love this site. Through the use of graphs, charts and government's own related web sites you'll see just how fast Big GOVCO has grown throughout the 20th century, and how much the private sector has shrunk.

http://mwhodges.home.att.net/

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/03/obama-snub-sign-of-the-times.html#comment-214192

Jamie & Renee --

It shows blog discourse can be cutting-edge, high quality, entertaining, informative and civilized all at the same time! Your word "fascinating" is the best!

Jamie,

In the UK they have this really great way of dealing with cancer patients. It is commonly referred to as the postal lottery. Now if you live in the correct postal zone you might get cancer fighting drugs, if you don't, well so sad to bad. Where do you live? In a good postal zone, or in one that is not to lucky?

I dont believe that

Ivy- You can crash here if you'd like. LOts to do, doesn't much matter where you stay, you'lll be out all the time. I google earthed it for you, but now don't know how to show you. If you want to see where I live type in 4 chapman ave, oak bluffs ma. You;ll notice lots of cars across the st., its the packy .

If you have Excel this is an eye-opener.

"Hospital Waiting Times and List Statistics," Department of Health, England

http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Statistics/Performancedataandstatistics/HospitalWaitingTimesandListStatistics/index.htm?IdcService=GET_FILE&dID=186979&Rendition=Web

Great tribute on your blog, Jamie!!!

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/03/obama-snub-sign-of-the-times.html#comment-214205

TIR, You really have to stop believing everything you hear in your right ear. Sorry, I have friends and acquaintances in Britain.

One particular one has been through years of a mother with severe medical problems. She even blogs in a humorous way about the treatment and refers to her mother as "The Mumborg" because of the various installed parts.

Here, the family would have been bankrupt and destitute. There, life goes on as usual and the sick and injured get treated. Here, she would have been thrown out of the hospital almost as soon as she came to. There they let mumborg out of "THE CUBE" for one day as it was the English Mother's Day, but then it was back to the collective for more treatment and a careful watch for infection

http://crpitt.blogspot.com/2009/03/latest-update-from-cube.html

TIR

The link you published goes to a huge download. You might want to start here at the home page

http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/index.htm

As far as waiting times are concerned. Emergencies are treated immediately. Necessary but not urgent treatment is on a schedule depending on illness. Elective surgeries (i.e. face lifts) are private.

Just because something isn't done for four months doesn't mean the patient isn't getting care. I would rather see a doctor and get medicine and a waiting time that die after sitting in an emergency room for 24 hours because I don't have a doctor.

Patsi,

You get back there and tell a story about him. Your connections to these musicians and insight about their lives is a real gift to us.

TIR

I did some double checking on your "post code lottery". It was a system of organizing medical appointments for future treatment to make sure people kept their appointments with penalties of delays for failure to appear.

Guess what? It was abandoned as ineffectual for the purpose more than six years ago.

You really must check these things a bit.

Poor Valerie Thorpe from Kent, England

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118972648229127086.html

Inequality in Britain, page 14. Here is that postal code thing again.

http://www.debate-central.org/topics/2002/book2.pdf

TIR

I was just coming back to say that the "Postal Code" lottery did still apply somewhat to treatment drugs because of the local control in some districts.

If an experimental drug hasn't yet been approved (similar to our FDA), some districts allow the experimental use for free while others charge. This is being challenged for universal treatment from one district to another. Nothing prevents treatment with existing approved drugs.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-382568/Postcode-lottery-cancer-wonder-drug.html

Due to stories such as this, it looks as if the practice will be abolitshed this year.

Some more info since it might be of interest to the women on the site. The drug being discussed in the British articles is "Herceptin" discovered in 1975 and developed then submitted for first trials in 1992 in 2008 the FDA approved for a standard use. Until last year, you had to be in a trial to get the drug. Not exactly universal on request treatment for the U.S.

http://www.gene.com/gene/products/information/oncology/herceptin/timeline.html

The history and the Nobel prize for medicine that was won along the way is fascinating.

Stan on South Park figures out how the bailouts work. I think it is as good an explanation as any other we have been given.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/26/south-park-explains-the-b_n_179748.html

Patsi,

I just read what you wrote about Dan Seals. Absolutely wonderful. You have three blogs and didn't tell anyone? Come on woman ... brag a little, you won't over do it with a sentence or two.

TiR -- you must understand that you may be able to slide BS by some people...but Jamie will not be among them.

I did the main one because the book company I'm with insisted, Jamie -- they are big on internet marketing. Thanks God they are on top of things...ha.

Patsi,

The journal site for young girls is a real service to others. Are you publicizing it in some way.

Hey! TIR I just read this on a friends blog. A young 24 year old woman with Stage 4 Hodgkins Lymphoma. Her insurance is maxed out and now the treatment is all on her. Shame she isn't in Great Britain or Canada, but there is a national boundary in the way.

Maybe you would like to donate

http://mouseski.blogspot.com/

Well Pelosi has joined Reid in fast tracking Healthcare. Gee,,,I can imagine why? She doesn't want any Republican disruptions..lol. Wonder what side she'll pick on the Patriot Act, the FBI or the ACLU.

Jamie, I didn't see your evidence that Card Check was removed from the bill that isn't happening.

Heavy Hitting Lurkers? I suggest they ask if Obama all the time if the administration should bury the billions spent so far on missile defense when the Air Borne laser and other projects are reaching operational success. Technology is our edge, or will that be sacrificed for earmarks? We may look back years from now and compare that decision with America forgoing aircraft or subs because they were too expensive.

A snub to WAPO and the NYT? Despite my differences with these two over the years, Huffington and Kos as replacements would be even worse "reporting".

Craig, buddy, you never chimed in on the Pelosi version of the new Free Freedoms. Would Franklin been happy?

"My Prize Question, therefore should be, To discover some drug wholesome and not disagreeable, to be mixed with our common food or sauces, that shall render the natural discharges of wind from our bodies, not only inoffesive, but agreeable as perfume."

Ben Franklin

Gees, that was sloppy. new Free Press Freedoms Im meant to say.

And yes, I was comparing the House version to farting...lol.

"The journal site for young girls is a real service to others. Are you publicizing it in some way."

No -- I'm just starting on it....thanks. I believe it truly is important.

Jamie -- doesn't it just kill you to see people in THIS country haviung to rely on donations to get treatment? I stay outraged about it. Every time I see a child's picture on a donation jar and it says they need an operation.

Max, I think they will be working on that new drug to eliminate waste odor in that pig odor management earmark. I may even invest in that one if they come up with it.

Max - Once more with feeling and hopes of reading comprehension. I DID NOT SAY that card check was removed from the bill

I SAID that the Republican claim that card check prevented a secret ballot was a lie. Nothing in the bill prevents a secret ballot if that is desired by the employees. After being confronted with this truth several times, Republicans stopped telling this lie in their public statements.

Emails continue to spread the lie that card check forbids a secret ballot, but there is no law against lying in an email.

Now will you please stop saying I've said something I did not say.

"If you get sick at the airport it could be a terminal illness."

Just a thought

Those who oppose card check argue it strips workers of their right to a secret ballot and that card check increases intimidation and pressure by union organizers, making card check an inaccurate mechanism for determining employee support for unionization. Many business organizations, including The U.S. Chamber of Commerce opposes the implementation of card check. From its website:

"Under the existing law today, workers have a chance to vote for or against unionization in a private-ballot election that is federally supervised. Under Card Check, if more than 50% of workers at a facility sign a card, the government would have to certify the union, and a private ballot election would be prohibited--even if workers want one. By forcing workers to sign a card in public - instead of vote in private - card check opens the door to intimidation and coercion. Over 70% of voters agree that a private election is better than card check." All of above from Wiki...

I guess my reading comprehension isn't as good as yours. As a result of the above reading, some Democrats have floated the idea of a COMPROMISE.
I rather doubt that Obama will be able to explain how card check doesn't lead in most cases to the end of secret ballots. Okay, I will let this one slide. As far as lying in emails, I noted more than 20 emails I got last year from the DNC that were hilarious.

Well Ben did say not disagreeable ct. We will have to see what swine beano tastes like.

Another bad smell: http://pundits.thehill.com/2009/03/25/dscc-keeps-madoff-money-mainstream-media-virtually-silent/

Who is keeping Madoff money?

Now what if US Aegis systems in Japan were active. Would the US be obligated to use them?

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SP378087.htm

And why out Aegis there and not on Israel's cpast to send Iran a stronge but defensive signal?

typos typos typos...my bad, but then you're all use to my proof reading...lol sorry again.

Hey Max, take a breath.

Hey Cosmo, I was keeping it shorter and should I not have responded to Jamie's assertion? I think the US chamber of commerce is a valid source as is Wiki usually (except when hackers clean up Obama's history).

I do note that WAPO and the NYT are likely to run the stories I posted links to. And no matter how they have sunk, these media forces have a bit more sway than Huffington and Kos.

As Obama considers big cuts in missile defense, the NK test show why ballistic missiles still have significant power. In the Wired article I posted yesterday some DOD laugh at such threats to us. But then our allies aren't quite as humorous about the issue and forward US deployed theaters are indeed threatened.

Okay Slate article on the cross claims about the Secret Ballot giving both Union and Business positions

http://www.slate.com/id/2213352/

Max,

From reading the Slate piece. It comes down to we are both right sort of somewhat maybe with qualifications unless and if possibly :-)

The Detroit papers are both switching to a new "more modern" format Monday. There will be a printed edition seven days a week as always.
Monday the editors and managers and columnists are taking to the streets to hand out free papers, and the newsboxes will be set to "free" for that one day.
They also have a same-day postal delivery, but I don't know how far that offer extends out away from Detroit.

"Does the measure eliminate the "secret ballot" in union elections? Business groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce say yes. (Warren Buffett has voiced his concern as well.) Labor groups like the SEIU and AFL-CIO say no. Which is it? Would the bill eliminate the secret ballot?"

Of course, I understand the points the Unions make, but 1. Slate isn't the most centrist blog and 2. there are better solutions to Union claims than promoting an idea that business can easily bash. The present Democratic tact is pandering for votes. For instance, the new law on discrimination allow suits against a new owner for past ownership discrimination which will lead to wholesale firing of past employees. The court had a more than reasonable verdict on the woman who brought her case to SCOTUS, so Congress retaliated with over kill.

A fair and bipartisan solution would be better than open voting. Yes, sometimes it would serve Unions to have secret voting. Transparent arbitration to solve this is exactly the kind of negotiations business and Unions require. Likewise, Democrat hold up a free trade bill with Columbia because they don't like the treatment of Unions by Uribe. They over look the direct associations between FARC and the Unions. Between crime and Unions. If modern corporations are criminal organizations, then so too are Unions which often let their people down while leadership swims in the money.

I know a carpenter assigned the the Javits Center. He drives a BMW (and so to his wife) while collecting unemployment most of the year while Javits jobs go to leadership friends. They keep him busy enough to keep the money rolling. He doesn't mind, he has a great deal.

Craig,

Lose the pipe. Get a cigar.

Here is one of those greedy people that made a bunch of money off Freddy Mac.

Rahm Emanuel's profitable stint at mortgage giant
Short Freddie Mac stay made him at least $320,000

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/obama/chi-rahm-emanuel-profit-26-mar26,0,5682373.story

This book review appeared in today's Wall Street Journal. It was informative and encouraging.

The book is titled "The Body Broken" by author Lynne Greenberg

WSJ Bookshelf -- "When Pain Comes to Stay"

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123802355924342085.html

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/03/obama-snub-sign-of-the-times.html#comment-214246

Which, by the way, I read in the newspaper's printed copy before going online to search out the link...probably would never have seen if not for turning actual pages... :)

Posted on Twitter

COSMOdeCRITIC@johnboehner Hey Spray Tan: You're an idiot. You're 1 step above Tom Delay & he's garbage on feet. When do you realize, NO ONE believes you?

That's my 6 1/2 cents worth.

Bloggers bite? Sign me up.

tt

huh huh... huh huh... He said 'Boehner'...huh huh... huh huh...

http://www.factcheck.org/politics/obamas_prime_time_pitch.html

Some things wrong about Obama's Press conference are cited above. What is more troubling is that given Obama was aware of the questions, he still gave incorrect answers. Did media take him to task the next day?

Does someone here wish to dispute Fact Check? Gee...let me see if policheck below mentions these items....

Just wondering.......

night yall.

The Frankin quote is for you LB, night.....

Thanks, Max. It really got me thinking... about life, the universe... well, just those two things, actually.

Coach K. . you're out of here. . just as predicted. .Good.

Ladies and Gentlemen -
I assure you all that when Andrew, and Craig made today's clip, they had no idea that in :

1780 1st British Sunday newspaper appears (British Gazette & Sunday Monitor)

I thought that was a nice little nugget of nothing.

You know when you look at enough history, you see it being woven right before your eyes.

Granted it's a small thread.

"given Obama was aware of the questions"

Wrong again. He preselected the questioners not vetted the questions.

I crossed paths with "Pepper Sauce Rod " today. This is the first hard proof of good karma boys and girls. The price of admission, as it were.

Hey Rezdog -
You need to plant some corn with me.

"You know when you look at enough history, you see it being woven right before your eyes."

-You ain't seen nuthin' yet.

Sounds good. I've always got along with Hopis. .it's just Navajos I've fought. :-) What's your e-mail addressor website?

Ready for you mind to be blown, Bob?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity

Wrong again? And what else dear Rezdog was wrong tonight? Perhaps you should debate Fact Check, instead of me. I think Obama had a good idea what questions were coming from those he picked, but I stand corrected that he did not know the exact questions (and was thrown by a few).

Gee, what would happen if Obama showed up on Fox again to take those sharper questions?

Life and the universe LB? Interesting effect...lol

The first part of the quote from Bejamin Franklin An American Life by Walter Isaacson goes like this...

"It is universally well known that in digeasting our common food, there is created or produced in the bowels of human creatures a great quantity of air. That the permitting this air to escape and mix with the atmosphere is usually offensive to the company from the fetid smell that accompanies it. That all well-bred people therefore, to avoid giving such offense, forcibly restrain the efforts of nature to discharge that wind. That so retained contrary to nature, it not only gives frequently great present pain, but occasions future diseases....." Franklin as quoted on page 373

Ah, what a practical dreamer.... and I hope the fuller quote helps my analogy above.......

One can only imagine was the Contitutional Convention smelled like, yet there emerged after much struggle a profound movement towards liberty.

Today's Congressional Chambers smell far better, but I wonder about the results.

Late for bed as usual, night again...

Max

I got seeds in 3 of the 4 corners of this country now or on the way, we need someone in San Diego to square the map.

Eprof -
You got to plant Hopi Blue Corn in Arizona man. It's 15 seeds.

Flatus -
Get a shovel, dig a hole, dump a bag of steer manure in it, a little top soil on that to plant a ring of seeds, we need to get below Strug on the map.

Euro Tom , Rosiethecat , Chef Sheila come on folks.

We're not doing bad, 13 locations so far.

Typos are mine, not Franklin of course!

'A' for effort, Max.

maxtrue,
I like the idea of an abm protecting Japan, Israel, and all the other good guys.

The fly in the ointment is that a rusty old freighter can carry a bomb to Tel Aviv or Haifa even more cheaply and easily.

What I don't understand is why Iran or nk would even bother to build IRBMs. It must be a male ego thing. Uh, wanting to possess a big one. "Hey, everyone on the planet ! Lookit my rocket, hard, potent, and erect !"

An old rust bucket would be cheaper, but you can't use it as a threat or brag about it. You can't get off with an old tub. Besides, vessels are so femmy.

Bowmanc,

If you think $320,000 is a lot of money, you're in the wrong party.

Rezdog -

http://cbhopibluecornexperiment.blogspot.com/

Read the bottom post first -

Rezdog -
Nobody got along with the Navajos .

Lord -
My mind was blown in Bloomington Ill. one night in Sept. of 1970 when I had to eat 8 hits of acid.

"Perhaps you should debate Fact Check"

Why Max?, They weren't wrong!

Wasn't very good acid either.

Didn't know there was such a thing as "good acid".

BREAKING NEWS

"TRAIN LOAD OF PAINT DERAILED. NEARBY BUSINESSES PUT IN THE RED."

Film at 11

Okay, as I move to shut off my computer, I did see XRepublican's comment. Forgive the length, Consider this two posts in one.

Since we do have Aegis systems off Japan, NK is certainly going to test US resolve sbout defending others with missile defense. Perhaps that is part of what's going on here.

Iran isn't going to fire ballistic missiles at the US. I understand that, but nukes would serve as a retaliatory ace in hand and certainly they can cause havoc to theaters of US or allied operation. Here are some points before my brain goes dead.

1. Cruise missiles, clandestinely fired mobile missiles, drones and air craft would be better ways to deliver force. Missile defense systems can adapt to these threats once technology is perfected. The F-35 plans to have a laser canon. Will it?

2. Recent articles have pointed to the 100% requirement of a wmd strike and that leaves out via mail or shipping. We all know how bad delivery companies are. Seriously, Democrats are now going back on their promise of inspecting 100% of containers based on this "new thinking" that terrorists would be fools to put such a hard to get WMD in a shipping container. Will partisan fighting leave the door open?.

3. NK is producing a mobile missile just for remote launch from cargo ships and sea platforms. I am sure Iranians are in NK to watch their test as are Syrians.

4, DOD is not 100% confident Missle defense secrets would stay in Israel. What if Obama ruptures our relationship as some claim he might do? Would Israel barter info to get favors? That is one reason DOD didn’t want us to sell Raptors to Japan.

5. As everyone takes off to space, hitting high altitude targets will be a necessary capability. China now says they will send two military space stations up in the next few years.

6. Our forces need theater protection. Air Borne laser, X band radar and other ideas would greatly reduce threats because our worst foes have limited missiles and fewer nukes or other wmd. We shouldn’t lose the best edge we have.

7. Still, I agree that a new thrust to deploy and create advanced missile etc. defense systems would make foes wonder, reduce the need for Saudis and others to build their own nukes, keep Russia from bitching and throw the arms race towards defensive capability. The breakthrough involving the 100kw laser is promising because as an electron laser, many municipal energy sources can power it. It is far smaller than chemical lasers and scientists think it can be economically produced and increased to 1000kw, but they need a mere 100 million to get to the next stage.

One last thing as my brain cells are fluttering, Obama seems to be focusing on small wars. Without advanced weapons for conventional fighting like raptors, air refueling, rail gun destroyers, advanced drones, China and Russia will catch up and adversaries will learn from them how to defeat the old stuff. Obama is scraping an advanced bomber. How long can we use B-52s.

Okay I'm beat...

a final good night.

Anyone notice the neat thread on The BackChannel Blog. Plenty to watch and have a chuckle.

Anyone notice the neat thread on The BackChannel Blog. Plenty to watch and have a chuckle.

Lord -

But my mind was first blown when I walked into a mescaline lab on Ave X in Lubbock in July of 1967.
Wayne Peters and the McCarty Brothers. cooked 6.000 double OO horse capsules of organic mescaline . The peyote buttons were in potato sacks sacked two high all the way around the room.

And it was all legal as the day is long.
Because Texas didn't have a law against any of that stuff until Aug 5 , 1967. They had a pot law, the penalty was death.

Wayne Peters and the McCarty Brothers knew all this, they left town on Aug, 4, 1967, with all those OO horse capsules , bound for Denver.
Sold it all , and when to the San Juan mountains for six weeks.

I was the "Unidentified Youth" in the paper on Aug, 6, 1967. My 54' Ford had 38 colors of spray paint on it. I got a picture on my blog man.

So you see, Wiki pages ain't gonna blow my mind.

The government should issue a double ought capsule of mescaline to everyone when they turn 21.

It'd be the best thing that ever happened to this country.

Lord -
Purple Olsey, Orange Sunshine.

sugarloaf - don't call us, we'll call you

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4njPe2_rho

You remind me of someone I know.

" Could relate to our quarter track tape ?
You know the band preforms in the nude. "

Lord -

what's the best western ever made ?

I vote Monty Walsh.

Shane.

Where Eagles Dare

'The Good Times Are Coming sung by Mama Cass Elliott. from Monte Walsh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C4a4ve9cOHk

Actually, probably "Dances with Wolves", now that I think about it.

September of 1970 , CBob got a taste.
Didn't have to look this up---September 18, 1970---Jimi Hendrix died, putting a damper on my 21st birthday.
I was in California and I went to a bar and drank a Lucky Lager.

...superlatives being subjective, of course. Just playin' along.

...and had abalone for dinner. and jumbo prawns....

The cook serving food in Monte Walsh -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiNcM3z9Dzo

Thanks, maxtrue.

I'm going to ponder your remarks on our defense position.

If I were Tiny Tinpot, the hereditary President and Maximum Generalissimo of the People's Republic of Brutopia, I would spend my people's harvest on 2 nukes (in case the 1st didn't detonate) and deliver them via an antique trawler staffed by a crew of suicide bombers.

That way, I'd have some people's harvest left over to buy sterlet caviar, black truffles, and Dom Perignon.
What good is it to be a blood-thirsty maniacal dictator, if you can't eat like the Louis XIV ?

Not 'the' Louis XIV, for heaven's sake. I mean 'old 'Louis XIV

Goodnight all!

Dex -
I was at a cider mill outside of Bloomingtom . We made 15 gallons of pear cider.

Outlaw Josey Wales is good, too. And that one with Robert Redford where he's a mountain man, and that one with Charles Bronson where blows up his own cabin. Does the documentary of the old guy who moved to Alaska count?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fbwOxPLI8qs

livin' on the backstreets....

..never heard of pear cider...now I have!

http://moblog.net/media/c/r/a/craft/pear-cider.jpg

It's a tie.
Shane & The Professionals

XR,

Considering that In 2006, according to the US Census Bureau, the median annual household income was $48,201 that is not a paltry sum. For most American sthat is a lot of money. Sure it isn't the millions that the evil capitalist predators recieved, but it shows that the politcally well connected get rewards for being well connected wether they are democrat or republican. There is a whole lot of posturing on both sides right now to show the little people that the powerful politicans on on their side. Not everyone will be fooled.

LB

Jeremiah Johnson

I've never seen "Shane". I'll have to take your words for it.

Go watch it & enjoy

Yeah; "Jeremiah Johnson" kicks ass. I had the privilege of seeing it during a brief respite in Colorado, which added to my appreciation of it.

You ask, I deliver

1. The one about life in Wyoming isolation starring Conchatta Farrell and Rip Torn. ?Title?
2. Dances w/ Wolves
3. Treasure of the Sierra Madre
4. Shane
5. High Plains Drifter

I take it that's for me. Not being a western fan, I'll try by elimination.

Shane?---NO
Treasure---NO
Never saw the other 2 but I'd guess, Dances. High Plains is an Eastwood flick

I think you might have been refering to Heartland. I probably erred in thinking it was multiple choice

I did a picture vest of Josey Wells , but I don't think I ever posted a picture of it. It was like this one , but longer -

http://colorado-bob.blogspot.com/2006/12/for-sale-leter-buck-picture-vest.html

Don't get Craig started on "Liver Eatin' Johnson" .

Xrep -
1. The one about life in Wyoming isolation starring Conchatta Farrell and Rip Torn. ?Title?

Don't have the title, but you're right , that was a good little movie.

Heartland

I appreciate the craftsmanship, but that is one weird article of clothing right there. It's cool, though.

I never liked that kid in Shane.

Funny though Jack Palance, was in two of our picks.

How the West was Won -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OoYe_g5TlDA

THE BIG COUNTRY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ifxqOVt_YE8

For A Few Dollars More
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLXQltR7vUQ

You're cool and all, Bob, but this guy is a real hard-ass:

Alone in the Wilderness- Dick Proenneke
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYJKd0rkKss

The Magnificent Seven -

"I'm a traveling salesman .... ladies corsets."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEqX2xFM87w

We don't need no stinking badges!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VqomZQMZQCQ

council meeting from blazing saddles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=On73aHpgdSQ

eastwood......"the unforgiven" beatty......"McCabe and Mrs Miller" "shane" "Red River" etc

oh......."Terror in Tiny Town" starring a bunch of leftover short people from the Wizard of Oz"

ha ha ha ha

"After 1980, of course, a very different financial system emerged. In the deregulation-minded Reagan era, old-fashioned banking was increasingly replaced by wheeling and dealing on a grand scale. The new system was much bigger than the old regime: On the eve of the current crisis, finance and insurance accounted for 8 percent of G.D.P., more than twice their share in the 1960s."

Pogo, that Krugman piece was jam packed with 'facts'. Like he said, sooner or later, things were bound to go wrong, and eventually they did.

"...the underlying vision remains that of a financial system more or less the same as it was two years ago.....I don’t share that vision......I don’t think this is just a financial panic; I believe that it represents the failure of a whole model of banking, of an overgrown financial sector that did more harm than good. I don’t think the Obama administration can bring securitization back to life, and I don’t believe it should try."

Do you agree with him? Because I think I do.