Craig Crawford's Trail Mix

Woo Hoo again.....

Craig...

Do you need my snail mail addy again?

I got your book the other day and will start reading it shortly or actually soon.

Good night and God Bless.

Craig, Your columns are making this such a real human event. I either have forgotten or never knew the details re what was happening daily before and after the wall came down. I hope you give us all your columns that you wrote then.

If anybody is, like me, a fan of Thomas Fleming's books, you might not know that he has a new one out this month, The Intimate Lives of the Founding Fathers,
which apparently includes their parents. I wish my whole family were as easy to buy christmas presents for as my sister is!

XR, once again I find myself in awe of your solution to problems. Your handling of the lobbyists can't be beat!

Thanks, Ms Bethyboo,

After funding and helping to organize the Town Hall Meeting thugs, the Big Insho lobbyists deserve to be exiled to a spongy ice floe in the Arctic Ocean, surrounded by starving Polar Bears. Come to think of it Big Oil's pro-global warming lobbyists deserve the same.

I try not to be too blood-thirsty, but I sometimes have rapeblican flashbacks.

Wer zulezt lacht, lacht am besten.

It seems like only yesterday that the fear and trembling party was yapping that Armageddon was near, when the satanic dark-skinned commies would attack the White Christian West. The Christian right 'knew' that Jesus would fly in on a cloud and zap all the bad guys, with his sword-tongue, but the mammonists were concerned because the mammon doesn't fly, and is a feeble god. mammonists figured that we have better weapons, bit would be badly outnumbered by the commies more disciplined troops. republicans are always overly impressed by discipline.

The commies proved to be undisciplined, and they weren't 9 feet tall. That saved Jesus a needless trip.

The rapeblicans cautioned that the fall of communism was a clever trick, and that we'd better be more alert than ever ! And, we'd better build even more and bigger bombs, 'cuz those commies number in the billions, and are really disciplined.

Now the King of Cuba is talking about reform.

So, everything has changed dramatically, except in one little corner of the world, where rapeblican fear-mongers continue to sell the same old gas under a different name : "There are billions of Muslims and they'll strap on a bomb belt and cool as can be walk right into the beauty salon. Bang. That's discipline."

communism in Europe went down with almost no violence or struggle. After years of fear-mongers' alarms about dominoes, it was the Euro-commies who toppled like dominoes. That feebleness went completely against the vegas line.

xr, kept waiting for the lights to go out since you seemed to be the last one here for awhile. burn on, eternal flame, then 'til we see the enlightenment

"No speech writers, they have to write their own speeches."

bow, that i wholeheartedly agree with as to floor speeches in the house and senate chambers. let the critters have the briefest of notes maybe, but there should be rules against verbatim reading. candid comments and honest debate in the venerable chambers would be mind-muscle building and healthy for the democracy/republic. maybe the critters would have to understand what they're saying if they actually argue the points they espouse.

maybe the critters would have to understand what they're saying if they actually argue the points they espouse.

slim chance of that, by golly........

Obama finally spoke up about the Stupak amendment. And it's a good thing he did:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/joanne-bamberger/am-i-angrier-at-bart-stup_b_352320.html

flatus, think this will out compete windows 7?

"A new computer aimed at people aged over 60 who are unfamiliar with PCs and the internet has been unveiled.

The simplified desktop - called SimplicITy - has just six buttons directing users to basic tasks such as e-mail and chat."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8352606.stm

speaking of turning off the lights...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/11/itaipu-blackout-hits-brazil

Turn out the Lights:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8PMSZOQcmI

Craig- interesting read! Today is Veteran's Day- any chance of featuring Jamie's site, petition or soapbox? Or even, god I'm bold this morning, asking the folks at CQ to feature our soapbox for the day? Honestly it gets lost in the sauce and is hard to find with all the other issues there. Just for a day?

http://94campaign.blogspot.com/

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/Liberator-Status-For-Pattons-Army#signatures

http://www.congress.org/soapbox/alert/14326421

Newly discovered video of the east germans on a buying spree in west germany after the fall of the wall:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AkLE4X-bbU

"http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/11/last-one-out-turn-off-the-ligh.html#comment-270416"

Of course, not. These perennial solutions for old people always flop. Either people have the moxie and desire to be computer facile or they don't. If they don't then they have difficulty communicating in other ways. So...

Good stuff, Craig. I remember watching and wondering how it, seemingly, happened so fast and really wanted to talk it over with my ex-boyfriend who had gotten out of Czechoslovakia with his folks in '69.

Thought for the day :
" Fear is the tax that conscience pays to guilt. "

DeMint seeks term limits: He should begin by volunteering.

When elected people have term limits, only lobbyists will have voices.

sturge, after the lights go down low

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-cEvyBlZcs

To all veterans everywhere..... THANK YOU!

Craig.... it occurred to me while reading your column what we'll really be missing now that newspapers are going the way of the dinosaur.... it's been great to read your thoughts back from when you were in your early 30s and how nice to still have them available. As much as I like being online.... all your columns now will disappear.

Old Sea -
Signed your 94th petition ...

Craig -
You have a great ear for the human , when large events swirl.

"When elected people have term limits, only lobbyists will have voices."

flatus, and experienced legislative staff wield more power than usual.

when the lights go on again all over the world

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vzlFaY0s_QI

ScienceDaily (Nov. 9, 2009) — The epic flooding that hit the Atlanta area in September was so extremely rare that, six weeks later this event has defied attempts to describe it. Scientists have reviewed the numbers and they are stunning.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091106121918.htm

Thanks Cbob! I was thinking the same thing about Craig- couldn't put it to words like you did though.

The collapse of the Wall effectively marked the end of our longest war. During that War, there were more times than I can recall where we were on the brink of open hostilities, and where actual hostilities took place sub rosa.

The stress on both service members and their families was constant. Deployments, remote assignments, alerts, training for the most cataclysmic events, and the absolute willingness to die for something bigger than themselves; there was no such thing as situational ethics within SAC or the other nuclear forces.

flatus, is there a veterans of the cold war memorial? saw where there were efforts for one to be established/erected but never knew the outcome.

"The elevator is the last free ride in America."

Dick Gregory on Imus just now.

"flatus, is there a veterans of the cold war memorial?"

Of course there is, it's the Washington Monument.

mornin'

To all who are or were or hve family members who are or were members of the armed services, happy veterans' day.

Criag, great piece - was the typo in the paragraph about the really in Leipzig in the original - or is that a new typo? ;-)

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/11/last-one-out-turn-off-the-ligh.html#comment-270424

What, sturg, you expect leadership by example in DC? What a great joke to start the day.

tribute to world war 1 airmen. imagine what it was like fighting in those open air cockpits!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7F9PBY-EL3s

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/us/11dalton.html?_r=1&hp

" Justice Kennedy’s office had insisted on approving any article about a talk he gave to an assembly of Dalton high school students on Oct. 28.

"Kathleen Arberg, the court’s public information officer, said Justice Kennedy’s office had made the request to make sure the quotations attributed to him were accurate.

"The justice’s office received a draft of the proposed article on Monday and returned it to the newspaper the same day with “a couple of minor tweaks,” Ms. Arberg said. Quotations were “tidied up” to better reflect the meaning the justice had intended to convey, she said."

I find this disturbing and deeply disappointing from the swing vote on the Supreme Court.

pat, exposed is the word that comes to mind. Breezy, too.

A new fuel-cell technology promises to revolutionize access to cheap, clean energy.

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200912/wallace-energy

Pogo

Having been misquoted by the press my own self, I can understand the restriction.

Jack

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/11/last-one-out-turn-off-the-ligh.html#comment-270415

Patsi,
Excellent piece,thanks...

I kept trying to think of something to write for Veteran's Day and nothing worked. It all sounded too mushy or too antiseptic or too cliche'd and then I saw this website

http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/40324

There is something so moving about the way these particular family members react when their soldier comes home.

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/2009/11/10/is-bill-clintons-senate-pep-talk-bad-news/

"Is Bill Clinton’s Senate Pep Talk Bad News?"

"Rahm Emanuel, who has been pushing the trigger idea for almost a year, is a former senior advisor to President Clinton. A month ago, Bill Clinton openly endorsed Snowe’s trigger and called it a “good idea.” Clinton has never been a strong supporter of the public option, and he shares Rahm’s goal of getting anything passed and labeling it a win."

Good morning all,
Love President Clinton,but if true,this sucks!! I remember NAFTA,so Bill Clinton doesn't walk on water either...Politicians, can't live with them can't live without them...Max,you love this I bet!!..

In my building, the elevator is no free ride.

Very interesting -Craig's comments regarding the Wall. Many forget how significant the event was. There was greater joy and bipartisan joy on that day than on election night this last november. United, this country out lasted the Soviets. It sure wasn't strong socialism here and the Moore crowd that tipped the advantage towards the West. It was far more than stupidity that did the Russians in.

Still, Obama has much on his mind and his speech yesterday was spot on. Sure, he could have depicted Jihadists as the new "communist enemy" to be defeated in the "long war", but what he said was quite powerful. The gravitas came from brevity, the lack of PC bullshit, explaining how our military still sacrifices for the defense of Liberal Democracy far more than we acknowledge and that murder and terror cannot be defended by religious decree. He hardly needed to mention that the Taliban, AQ and grass root jihadists have praised the shooter.

One note: had the uber Liberals gotten their way, the Wall would not have come down. They wanted us to retreat, remove our missiles and troops and reward the Soviets with trade and commerce without any appreciable reciprocity. Sounds familiar doesn't it?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/10/2266-veterans-died-in-200_n_353033.html This issue should be dealt with first then they can finish putting the screws to us.

a little bit of progress- a site called newstin picked up the petition. Don't know what they are about, but am glad they did!!
http://www.newstin.com/tag/us/155849184

http://www.taylormarsh.com/

"WJC to the Rescue"

"When you’re in trouble, who are you going to call? When it’s economics, it’s William Jefferson Clinton. No one around does it better, and with health care in the balance, he made the case on the most practical of terms:

Clinton argued that even “the most cold-hearted person” ought to support health care reform simply from an economic standpoint. He reminded Democrats of the political momentum their failure to pass reform in 1993 delivered the House of Representatives to the Republicans the following year.

“The point I want to make is: Just pass the bill, even if it’s not exactly what you want,” Clinton told Democrats. “When you try and fail, the other guys write history.” …

Good for Rahm Emanuel, as well as Harry Reid, for getting former President Clinton to the Senate. A huge tip of the hat to Pres. Obama who knew that no one can talk to the Blue Dogs in the Senate like Bubba."

"they’ll also run on plant waste, or almost anything else containing hydrogen and carbon"

cbob, if that "bloom box" will run on people and pork poop, he's really done something.

Tony, I saw this last night. The GOP called Clinton's "trigger" comments a huge gaff delivered just as he was to push the Senate towards a different approach. I can't figure out what Clinton is thinking nor why Rahm is not on Obama's page. It is clear however that Hillary and Bill would have pushed stage one through Congress already making it clear stage one would not have started a "government-run" option, allowed illegals the ability to get insurance or abortion to come from Federal funds banned by Hyde. They would have laid the foundation for stage two advancing "smart incrementalism" the hallmark of the Clinton Referendum. Healthcare requires some support from conservatives and the new Gallop poll is alarming and today's AP poll showing signs already growing of the mood we had when Carter was President. Now who predicted that?

One seduces some critical GOP support, not offer them false gestures. Realism and experiance v inexperiance and wishful thinking. Like the CBO won't crack the Pelosi numbers?

Now I understand why Hillary wanted to run the show a decade ago. Today's leadership is an example how not to do healthcare and Democrat Warner had some smart words yesterday.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/11/last-one-out-turn-off-the-ligh.html#comment-270440

Pogo, I'm not bothered by it where the appearance was educational and when accuracy and context was important for the wider audience.

I've done the same thing for military interviews.

And, for regular newspaper interviews, I've insisted that certain areas be off-limits. Beyond, that, I was red meat.

When interviewed on NPR, I've always been treated fairly.

"Now I understand why Hillary wanted to run the show a decade ago. Today's leadership is an example how not to do healthcare and Democrat Warner had some smart words yesterday."

Max,
I agree!! President Obama's Administration on healthcare,rudderless...I still want single payer and nothing will change my mind,not even President Clinton and Hillary...Why give huge subsidies to the thieving Insurance companies?????

Jack, the first amendment would suggest that the press id free to misqute you. The doctrine that Kennedy is employing is called prior restraint - it has been rejected as violative of the various rights bestowed by the Constitution in numerous contexts for various rights by the court on which Kennedy sits, and he has been a champion of sorts for the rights bestowed under the First Amendment. No one wants to be misquoted, but Kennedy's court has said that the right of the press to publish trumps the right of a speaker to edit. It's a "shoe on the other foot" thing and I find it inappropriate and inconsistent with the Court's First Amendment decisions.

Pogo, what I find infinitely more offensive is critters 'modifying and extending their remarks' without objection. That is truly repugnant.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/11/last-one-out-turn-off-the-ligh.html#comment-270421

Flatus,

You had the same reaction I did, only being me, I was meaner: All buyers of this product will be directed to the nearest ice floe.

Tony, while it is true there is some unreasonable profit made by insurers (and just about everyone else), several recent articles by reputable sources have shot down the claim that the insurance industry makes abnormal or excessive profit. I believe the average is between 4% - 5%. Fact Check people...

I think we will eventually get to a combined worker comp/healthinsurance single pay, but the way will be incremental. I repeat: the primary directive even repeatedly stated by Obama is economics stupid! The primary goal is to lower costs. Everyone got that? The next biggest goal is insuring ALL as this lowers ER costs and allows insurance to stop banning pre-existing conditions. EVERYTHING else is secondary.

Much of the uber Liberal anger is that their goals are different. They want gold plans for all and the rich to pay for it. Can you understand the difference in approach? Both mindsets will probably lead towards a single pay system, but not without bipartisan effort. "Smart incrementalism" is the way to go with keeping the hot button issues for stage two. Stage one should have been, 1. covering almost everyone with strong ID requirements 2. new tough program to end fraud 3. reasonable defensive medicine reform 3. comeptition by threat of trigger, co-ops, loosening interstate competition, better audits of insurance companies, hardboard by states to offer healthyNY-like programs expanded to help small business and lower Middle Class 4. Bill of Rights for patients

This would have worked, but as I said, Democratic leadership had other goals and proved that such ideologically driven strategy backfires and fails. If this is any indication of our national security approach, we are in deep shit. While I often am sympathetic to some of the lofty goals the uber Liberals pitch, their profound misreading of reality and pragmaticism is a rather embarrassing failure of people who appear smarter than that stubborn stupidity. Of course the uber Conservatives suffer their version of stupidity too. And it is a nastier version as well.

From the moment Pelosi and Obama announced their hardball and expedited intentions regarding healthcare, my gut told me how this would play out. So far nothing has surprised me except how stubborn the Democratic learning curve with the 2010 election in sight from the start of this mess.

Just my thoughts Tony, got to run....

Later.

craig...enjoying the history. XR...enjoying your posts.

Hubby gets his CTscan today...we hope the cancer has left the building. We also have started a new war with our trojan, congressman, Harry Teague. One of the naysayers of the house vote on Saturday. A newly elected dem, very few of knew he was a pseudo-dem.

Flatus - it was a speech, not an interview. Kennedy wanted to review the quotes to make sure they said what he meant, not what he said. Freedom of the press does not require accuracy even though we hope that''s what the press gives, and bestows no right on one who speaks to review what the press will report before it is published. Educational speech or not, he is a prominent member of our government, and freedom of the press was intended to be first and foremost, to let the people know what the members of the government were doing and saying - without allowing them to change what they said to reflect what they might have claimed to mean upon reflection.

I don't believe that Kennedy was engaged in any nepharious rewriting of his comments - that would be inconsistent with his approach to serving on the court, but I find a restriction of prior restraint on the press (even if it is a HS newspaper) to be inconsistent with his own decisions, which, by the way, are the law of the land on that very subject - to say nothing of his reputation as a champion of first amendment rights.

patd

Snoopy vs The Red Baron

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

Speaking of the First Amendment...

http://wheels.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/i-believe-license-banned-by-judge/?hp

You say speech, I say religion. I agree with this commenter's words: "... If people were just seeking a way to express their faith on the back of a car, they could have come up with an easier and different option. Isn’t that why God created bumperstickers?"

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/11/last-one-out-turn-off-the-ligh.html#comment-270456

Flatus,

Revise and extend is one of my pet peeves. Talk about a waste of trees and tax payer funds just so some critter can pretend they did something they didn't do in order to impress the district people with a mailer that gets thrown in the trash.

But on to something really important - the preservation of the N'awlens Po Boy

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/11/dining/11unit.html

I'd love to see Jared Fogle beaten to within an inch of his life with a stale loaf of French bread.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2009/11/last-one-out-turn-off-the-ligh.html#comment-270456

Flatus, on this we agree completely.

"'I believe the average is between 4% - 5%. Fact Check people..."

Max they increased the overhead to decrease the visible profit because they knew reform was coming. There is a portion of the bill that will require that no more than 15% of premiums will be spent on overhead with 85% going to medical costs, but you know they are going to jack up premiums long before this goes into effect.

Charities have been playing the "overhead vs. dedicated use" game for ages and the Insurance companies know a good scam when they see one

http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/pallotta/2009/06/beware-of-highly-efficient-cha.html

As long as we don't have single payer we will need a "throw the bums in jail now" enforcement mechanism for the overpriced executives. Don't hold your breath waiting for this to happen since the politicos like those campaign contributions.

On the Daily Show last night, Jon Stewart pointed out that, in a segment about Rep. Michele Bachmann's tea party rally at the Capitol last week, Fox News' Sean Hannity used footage from the much bigger 9/12 rally, apparently to pump up the attendance numbers.

http://tpmlivewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/11/jon-stewart-catches-fox-using-912-footage-to-make-tea-party-look-bigger.php?ref=fpb

heheheheh

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/10/fox-news-fact-checks-sara_n_353210.html

This is the idiot who woud be president? Good god, save us.

October was wettest on record in USA

http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/2009-11-10-october-climate-usa_N.htm?csp=34

NEW THREAD

our gracious host, what a sweetheart.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/10/AR2009111018739_pf.html

[Fair warning - this quote might be a little longer than you or I might like to see, but it bears pointing out]

"The health bill now heads to a much less certain fate in the Senate, where instead of a dictatorship of the majority there is a dictatorship of the minority.

"Because of the quaint traditions of the upper chamber, there are today scores of top positions in government that routinely remain unfilled for months because one senator or another has decided to put a "hold" on a nomination. And on any controversial issue, and even some that are not, 60 votes are now required to overcome the threat of endless "debate" and actually pass a piece of legislation, along with 60 votes on as many amendments as senators can dream up.

"It's gotten to the point now where all it takes to kill something in the Senate is the mere threat of a filibuster, without anyone actually having to mount one. And if you somehow managed to get, say, health reform legislation to the floor, it would take 60 votes to pass a bill that included the public option and 60 votes to pass one without it.

"Catch-22!

"Despite what you hear from legislative leaders, there is nothing preordained about this wholesale disregard for majority rule. In fact, it violates the letter and spirit of the U.S. Constitution, which expressly delineates a limited number of instances in which anything other than a majority vote is required. And it makes a mockery of Senate rules and precedent, which for nearly two centuries were grounded in a tradition of comity and mutual respect between majority and minority. "

Can I gert and "Amen"?

lemme rephrase that - Can I get an "Amen"?

Prosecutor pushes smear campaign against students
Cook County D.A. uses the long arm of the law to harass journalism students working on exonerating prisoners

http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/feature/2009/11/11/exoneration/index.html

amen, pogo, but go to the new thread. now.

osh, if still here, go straight to new thread. do not pass go. asap. stat. go girl!