Craig Crawford's Trail Mix

Great appearance Craig!

I don't know if you guys talked about it in the earlier link, but our Governor (Paterson) may be resigning before the end of the week.

Supposedly more scandals, perhaps a combination of Eliot Spitzer and Marion Barry, but apparently no hookers.

Think-tanks take oil money and use it to fund climate deniers

ExxonMobil cash supported concerted campaign to undermine case for man-made warming

http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/climate-change/thinktanks-take-oil-money-and-use-it-to-fund-climate-deniers-1891747.html

Hey Ed, Imus was talking about it this morning- was suppose to be an article , can't remember where, got stopped. He will be on Imus Wens. I think I heard.

Cbob- sad that, criminal really, but I'm not surprised. What I'm surprised at is the number of polls that say people don't believe in global warming. But then again, don't hav any faith in the pollsters either.

http://slatest.slate.com/id/2244012/entry/2/

So Obama is gonna try another "engagement". He runs the risk of looking silly with his attack, talk, attack, talk, attack, talk stuff. Let's see what happens.

The GOP better get their shit together too, because they can't run from engagement nor can they stumble over their own silly plans. What they hope is that Democratic leadership attacks them and aborts "talking".

The cold winter, the manipulation of date and the cost of change during recession is effecting polls on GW. Humanity isn't very good at pre-empting what they can't see. Now if astronomers published the picture of an asteroid racing to hit us, I suspect people would unite in prevention.

OSH,

I'm guessing the Gov may cancel his Imus appearance. It's interesting that the Times-Union broke the story by reporting that the New York Times is "about to report" on a scandal involving the Governor. Sort of scooping the guys who are actually doing the reporting.

CQ's Taegan Goddard has a couple of snippets up on Political Wire. Paterson has had discussions with party insiders regarding the possibilites of resignation or just serving out his term and withdrawing from the 2010 gubernatorial race.

One story has Paterson being caught in a compromising position in a closet at the Governor's Mansion. Sheesh, you'd think they'd give the guy credit for not taking her to the bed he and his wife presumably share there!!!

There are way too many easy jokes I could come up with regarding his disability, but I'm not going to put any of them in writing.

Good morning--I won't rub it in that we have sunshine--beautiful BRIGHT sunshine--in the knobs today. I will merely remark that it will help dry out the foot deep mud we've been struggling with for the past week.

Dreyfuss Report on Iran

http://www.thenation.com/blogs/dreyfuss/527708/bad_to_worse_in_iraq

Uncle Jay explains the news

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LotzjpeH2T0

While we were looking the other way, a Cat 4 cyclone hit Tahiti -

At least 3,400 people were evacuated from Tahiti and nearby islands as Oli approached,

Oli 4 days ago -

http://www.redorbit.com/images/images-of-the-day/img/27698/cyclone_oli/index.html

Updated the donation page -
http://www.justgiving.com/Colorado-Bob

Typos ?

cbob, replace "had" before "contributed" in the second sentence with "have" .... otherwise good upbeat update

"New York Gov. David Paterson's office made the rounds to major news outlets Monday to shoot down rumors the governor is planning to step down in the wake of a "bombshell" New York Times story about to be published that is so scandalous he can't politically survive it.

The governor is reportedly expected to do an interview with the Times on Tuesday, but his staff insists there's no there there."

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/02/08/paterson-aides-deny-reports-hes-resign/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%253A+foxnews%252Fpolitics+%2528Text+-+Politics%2529&utm_content=My+Yahoo

http://slatest.slate.com/id/2244012/entry/2/

Well, Obama's trying to sucker the Republicans into another debate, but they don't seem to be biting. Obama should sweeten the deal. All he has to do is say, "I was elected to cover "all" and lower costs. We can put the present Bill aside and discuss other solutions as long as they deal with the central goals I mentioned."

All he is trying to do is to frame any Republican suggestions in the context of the common goal. The debate is really about to what degree any ideas help. Republicans don't want to go on record at the moment in agreement with Democrats on common goals. Some Republicans think such talks with MC Obama would be their Waterloo......

I would like to think of the possibilities as the start of Liberal Consensus 2. Right now, Obama is offering the GOP less than he did Iran and look at those results......

PatD,

Thanks for the link re Gov. Paterson. I suppose anyone could be involved in a cover-up but I was glad to see the quote from the New York State Trooper who heads up the Governor's detail. Perhaps it is all just rumors. While I'm skeptical, I'm anxious to believe some good news about our Governor, if it makes sense.

craig, re fish camp buy, you might want to check with these guys (at new, interdisciplinary study led by geologists at The Florida State University) to see how high the sea level rise will be... info could help with lowering the price.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/10/091005161336.htm

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2010/02/health-care-diagnosis-unclear.html#comment-284105

You mean Iraq, Jamie? Iran however, is doing their most to screw with Iraqi politics. The earlier Iranian play to seize one of the Iraqi deputed oil wells was a mistake, or was it?

Anyway, with new advanced Faetah -10 missiles going to Hizb'Allah the real red lines are being crossed. Silence usually precedes surprise.

John Murtha has passed away.

Max

Yes I meant Iraq.

that new fsu study is about the northwest area i know, but they have their hands on statewide info and what they don't have, they sure could find for you.

Ed- haven't kept up with him much, do know Imus was impressed with something he said last week, which now escapes me as most everything else. Personally I don't care who is screwing who, besides its February, what else is there to do? Glad to hear the TU is doing some investigative reporting- just don't like the msm to screw undeserving ones, hope that isn't the case. . Keep us informed please if you get any more local news.

Yes, Murtha died and I wondered days ago whether resistant infection might be the issue. This is another problem for Democrats...

Spitzer must be amused, especially after SNL last night.

"besides its February, what else is there to do?"

Shovel snow?

Jack

Lol, yeah that too.

amused with Paterson, not by Murtha's death that is....

Lots of sex?

that is, what to do during winter....

that was my point max but Jack kindly reminded us of another activity, not quite as satisfying.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8500761.stm

This has been out there for years. One theory for lif extension would be to increase telomeric ends through gene therapy.

Ah, wouldn't be nice to be as simple as turning the hands of the chromosomal clock back....

Definitely not as enjoyable...OSH

speaking of such things, bill clinton to the rescue

http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/international-affairs/80165-bill-clinton-to-the-rescue

I heard what Young said Clinton asked Edwards after Mr. Two Americas was caught. Young suggests Clinton said that if Young worked for him, he wouldn't have gotten caught. Glad such behavior is so amusing,,,

On a more evolutionary spin: http://www.wired.com/thisdayintech/2010/02/0208gregor-mendel-reads-paper

It hasn't been that long when you think about it. Still, Black Eyed Peas make more news today than Mendel's....

I knew it was a job for Big Dawg- even called his office about it shortly after he landed.

"Right now, Obama is offering the GOP less than he did Iran and look at those results......"

Hi Max,
I'd say the President has been offering Republican's a hell of a lot more than the Bush crowd ever offered Dems! In fact,he's still reaching out to Republicans who continually just say NO..We will see if this next meeting is more of the same from Republican's..I'm not however letting Dems off the hook for having the largest majority since the 60's and squandering it..

Maxtrue,

This is for you...

http://www.star-telegram.com/business/columnists/mitchell_schnurman/story/1950992.html

I love bringing up this site. The first sentence in front of my eyes: "Lots of Sex"

That's how you know you are at a political site.

Just opened this, haven't read it yet -

Massive moisture-driven extreme precipitation during warmest winter in the satellite record — and the deniers say it disproves (!) climate science
Plus Dr. Jeff Masters on "Heavy snowfall in a warming world"

http://climateprogress.org/2010/02/08/climate-science-extreme-weather-moisture-precipitation-warmest-winter-satellite-record-deniers-jeff-masters/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climateprogress%2FlCrX+%28Climate+Progress%29&utm_content=Google+Reader

http://www.taylormarsh.com/2010/02/08/bipartisanship-obama-believes-in/

"Bipartisanship Obama Believes In"

"Because of the lack of Democratic leadership, which includes a lack of will to use reconciliation, but also the craftiness to pull together a bill that had a simple way forward, Republicans are in a tremendous position. It’s a political gift if they’re smart enough to accept it, though there’s no indication they’re willing to be opportunistic if it’s seen to benefit Obama. Though if you listened to “Morning Joe” this morning, an alternate universe if ever there was one today, Scarborough posited that Republicans were never offered a way into the debate, which is absolutely untrue.

This latest bipartisanship meeting is vintage David Plouffe, getting everyone in the room so that blame or credit is shared, with a new narrative able to be crafted afterward. But also showing his candidate in the light that got him elected, bipartisan Obama, the guy with no ideology. Not that has helped him so far, because leadership by its very nature requires a point of view and an ideological north so you have some place to begin, not to mention a passionate core people judge worth trusting, as they did during the election season. That is so way back when."

Amazing - Man may have survived four weeks in Haitian rubble

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/02/08/haiti.rescue/index.html

http://fdlaction.firedoglake.com/

"How Republicans Might Game Obama’s Proposed Bipartisan Health Care Meeting"

Tearing Down the Bill

"Republicans don’t have many good ideas left for health care reform. Almost every non-crazy idea put forward by Republicans has been integrated in some fashion into this current, right-of-center bill. Trying to explain why Republicans are not voting for the bill because it simply lacks tort reform and a less-regulated way of selling insurance across state lines will probably not play well, especially after Obama explains what selling insurance across state lines really means for consumers. But just because Republicans might not have many popular ideas to add does not mean there aren’t many unpopular provisions in the bill ripe for attack.

Republicans can use this meeting to go piece-by-piece through the health bill to make the case for why it is unacceptable. There is not just the “Cornhusker kickback,” there is the deal with PhRMA, there is a special provision for Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, several deals to help different hospitals, and many different carve-outs. If Republicans take the time to shine a spotlight on each of these deals, it could be damaging to the bill’s prospects, and to the Democrats."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-kuttner/weathervane-week_b_452911.html

"Weathervane Week"

"So what will it be, Mr. Punch-it-through, or Mr. Bipartisan? Obama seems to be determined to give bipartisanship one more shot, hoping that his reasonableness will trump Republican obstruction.

Last week, right after his State of the Union Address, President Obama spent several hours with the Republicans at their Baltimore caucus retreat in his continuing, elusive quest for common ground. This week, he oscillated like a broken compass between bipartisan and partisan.

Obama's meeting with the House Republican Caucus was immediately followed by two sessions where he sounded almost truculent. Speaking to a town meeting in Nashua, New Hampshire, Obama insisted that the health bill was alive, with or without Republican support. "We're in the red zone," he insisted. "We've got to punch it through."

Bear, so Gates thought it was a cheaper alternative? One, he spun the obsolete stuff when he knew exactly the roles the F-22 could play that the F-35 can't. Two, he also knew the coming fighters Russia and China are advancing as well as an air defense role that is escalating every year.

Then the article claims that Gates didn't know the production problems, but even I posted them here from at least three respectable sources before Gates ended the F-22. I have been saying from day one to expect 1. amazing cost increases and 2. new worries about not having more F-22s to plug up the holes in our strategy. In fact, some nations think playing the attrition game against our limited stock is a feasible counter to the F-22. Force is credible when one side knows you are willing to take losses. We don't have the numbers of F-22s to risk them....

I repeat my original suggestion: keep the production line open on F-22s for two reasons: 1. modified F-22s could keep our edge for some time and can be determined as we go, 2. parts and more F-22 could be sustained with additional interest from Australia and Japan. Gates never even went there.

The F-35 is a great fighter, I am sure. But it has less abilities and half the thrust and stealth of an F-22. At least we could have started planning for the next generation fighter as we could with NASA rockets, but this administration isn't looking down the road. I think it underestimates the impact on work force, technological edge and taxpayer programs already invested in and able to kick out additional products if needed. Already the money saved by closing the F-22 has been lost through waste and delay.

Tony, no doubt Republicans are demanding more than Bush delivered. I can't argue that. Still, the Indy crowd watching already punished the Republicans and will punish Dems if they use GOP standards as a guide. Much of the "bipartisan" overtures are BS, but again, without a smart cornering, Republicans won't get slapped in the Democratic clinch for puny reforms is the match don't happen while Democrats will get beaten for sordid management and the pretense of engagement, if it is just theater.

Obama can only lure in the wolf with real bait. He had better be smarter than his moves with Iran. If engagement is merely theater, Obama doesn't score the points he will need for November......

The bait is the offer to refashion reform and the trick is to stick to the prime directive most Americans understand: cover all and lower costs. The rest is bullshit. pre-existing, Bill of Rights, waste, fraud, tort reform etc are all MEANS for achieving the stated goals. I am not sure Obama and his brain trust are clever enough to provide REAL theater as their last show has been somewhat lacking.....

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2010/02/health-care-diagnosis-unclear.html#comment-284139

Punch it through? How? And the campaign mode is too close for vague theories. Obama is a salesperson, not a puncher. His punch is as good as he can set Republicans up for the sucker punch. Bush supplied that for Obama against McCain. Republicans are lame enough to be suckered into the ring now with real bait. Obama wins the debate for a reasonable centrist solution, but let's face it: many on his Left do not want anything short of their grail. They resist what Obama needs to offer Republicans to get them into the ring......

Now it's our turn...the whole state of Ohio except one N.E. county is under a snow alert for a massive storm starting tomorrow. Oh joy.

Dexter,

Stock up. Stay warm and safe.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2010/02/health-care-diagnosis-unclear.html#comment-284136

Incredible......

"The bait is the offer to refashion reform and the trick is to stick to the prime directive most Americans understand: cover all and lower costs. The rest is bullshit. pre-existing, Bill of Rights, waste, fraud, tort reform etc are all MEANS for achieving the stated goals."

Max,
I still doubt Republican's will put aside their dislike of this President and do the right thing as far as healthcare.Republicans had 8 years under Bush,nothing on healthcare.I said to Grace yesterday as some fool on Fox kept saying tax cuts that's the answer,since Reagan we have had 20 years of Republican rule and 9 years of Dems,with the Reagan and Bush tax cuts why isn't this country doing well?No answer...

Dex... and anyone else in the path of snow heaven.... you lucky dogs you. One of the best eastern ski mountains is right across the street.... Loon Mt.... lots of Europeans come here to ski.... and there's no snow to speak of. There's a high sitting over New England that is causing us to have very cold temps and all the storms to go south of us.

I mean no snow here.... and CBob says it was snowing today in Lubbock, TX.... go figure.

I'm still reelin' about Who Dat! Take that Peyton.... Tom Brady has more Super Bowl rings than you and Eli put together.... ha!

High Five Renee!!!!

Who DAT? chortle chortle glee glee

Ain't it grand?

Loon Mt? Sweet Renee!

Rumors that East TN will have a wintery mix either tonight or tomorrow night that will eventually turn over to all rain.

That's all we need--more mud--:D

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2010/02/health-care-diagnosis-unclear.html#comment-284150

Er, Fair, perhaps it's time to reevaluate your moniker :)

Tony, tax cuts don't cut it in the heavy weight fight battle for the crown. Obama simply deflects the silly catch-all and agrees to "select cuts" for the Middle Class and small business. Points Obama.

The first engagements will be health care and economy. Hell, I recommend a Beck-like Chalk Board. The Pie Chart can say alot. Obama has two good engagements needed: health care and jobs. That defines the populist theme as Republicans and Democrats hunting support give lip to the anger.....

On a real stage with millions who watch Fox and watch it's countering stations, all will see of how leadership behaves. It will have consequences neither side can ignore...

Things could be worse. Imagine this cable selection tonight a few years from now….

: Serious volcanic activity near Yellowstone http://www.dur.ac.uk/g.r.foulger/Offprints/Yellowstone.pdf

click

CNN Reports: The sudden disappearance of earth’s magnetic field http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/09/080926105021.htm

A calm Dr. Gupta explains why plants have lots of chromosomes……

click

HBO Tonight: “Prions” TV’s top sci fi series guide: Half-Crazy Michaela shares her healing powers with Peter by exchanging bodily fluids.
http://timsmedblog.com/?p=6

hmmm….click

MSNBC Breaking Story “CDC: Who let the worms out?”

http://www.sfu.ca/sfunews/news/story_02051010.shtml

click

FOX Relatives of one of the most violent mass murderers in solar history sighted.. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE61154120100202

Vatican astronomers say they see the form of a "Jesus"..

"Jumping off the edge of the world " . 101

I told my young friend to "Jump off the edge of the world " this week, easy for me to say ........ I have 3 teeth in the top of my head & 15 dollars in the bank.

I can urge you all down that same path. But I can't help you all . Only Crawford & his love ones get this ticket.

Craig , call my friend from the 8th grade, He's got a fish camp in Costa Rica.

Hell, he may have lost it by now. But he'd like to know, I sent you -

The Yellow Coco Lodge , Costa Rica -
http://www.yellowcocolodge.com/

---------------
A much better fish camp than any of us will ever see.

Use my name here, it'll work.

I'd rather my ghost go to Costa Rica ......... than Fucking Fla.

So I stroll in to the Trail Mix Roadhouse and find the place--empty???

So--I sneak behind the bar, fumble around until I find a Diet Pepsi, and then look around for a jukebox--

cause the knobite's been in a Texas state of mind all day

(MUSICALLY)

but there's no jukebox--just shadows on a stage down at yon end where the light's not too good--

and the shadows start to play, fiddles, steel, piano--

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YxYfrPaAZ4

and heck, I can't NOT sing along--

I'll turn the lights out when I leave. ;) Nite, y'all.

Oops--hi, Cbob. Sorta tripped over you there.;)

Get in touch with Jose' . Tell him I sent you. I won't tell him what D.C costs.

You have my promise, it will be a bolt out if the blue.

That's as close to the end of the world as I can get tonight.

Fair -
If Craig can't read this thread ...... we're all in deep shit.

LOL--

Wait a minute. DO we have a Trail Mix Roadhouse? Cause if not, I'M in deep shit--for creating things out of too little sleep and too much imagination--

I need 5 more fucking boxes , or to put a finer point on it ...........
WE need 468 % more to make 100, that's a thousand people.

That may be all we can save, It's more than I dreamed of, it's less than I want.

Let's all jump off the edge of the world.

This may be the biggest gift, any of us will ever see. , but I'm certain it's the biggest one we ever give.

Too much guilt trip ?

You're not in fucking Haiti, under some cotton sheets & blue plastic . With twigs and branches holding up your world.

No guilt in Haiti, no shelter either.

Here's what we did > 2 million homeless
!00,000 saved from that fate . We caught maybe 1 % of 100,000.

If you jump far enough , you jump into this.

There are scouts , who were working with the 82nd Airborne, they are waiting for the next load.

I don't know where we find it. I am spent, I need help.

Don't ever run the numbers, before you start a big trip. You'll never get in the rig.

Better to be broke down out side of Dumas , than sitting at home on the dime.

Dumas ....... Part of the "Heartland", but when you get there, it's still a shit hole.

" The Heartland " ......... It weights 300 pounds, and needs a coronary by-pass .

Too bitter ?

On the other hand .... Costa Rica has a new woman president , the first for that country.

She won by a land side.

Never the less .... Dumas is still a shit hole in need of a coronary by-pass, ....... avoid it at all costs.

Hillary 2012

Correct the big stupid mistake...

"don't know where we find it. I am spent, I need help."

Well, sorry. But I have an overdue electric bill I can't pay. So you'll be beating me over the head in the cold very soon.

patsi, if you are over sixty your friendly area agency on aging can help or give helpful advice on confronting the utility co. also there's the LIHEAP program for heating and cooling assistance. tenn got 80 mil this year they say to spread around. they also can give helpful advice.
http://tennessee.gov/humanserv/adfam/afs_hea.html

there is also the old standby of calling, whining, cajolling your not so friendly utility co.

Craig- Having a pot of chili around for a snowstorm is the best, chocolate chip cookies are a requisite here too. If you don't have the time though pick up some tortillas, cheese ,beans, salsa, veggies and meat of your choice. Then you can make tacos, enchiladas, burritos, quesadillas (quickest) and when you're tired of those options layer it in a casserole and you have chilaquiles.
www.reluctantgourmet.com/hcchilaquiles.htm

pogo, are you okay? wv really got pelted and today's forecast looks like it's deja vu all over again. hope you didn't have to go to work or to any lp must-see games during all this. road conditions must be terrible there.

champ/serfy, breaking news! or would that more accurately be smashing news.

"The experiments, smashing protons into each other, produced a few more subatomic particles known as pions and kaons than the team was expecting."

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8505203.stm

just what we need, more pions and kaons...

"I think it's not going to be a problem, but it is one of the many things that we need to know as we move toward searches for the most rare particles and new physics," he told BBC News.

he "thinks it's not going to be a problem"?
thinks?

"Whatever your views on Murtha -- and as someone who grew up in southwest Pennsylvania, I certainly have my own opinions -- this is very bad news for Johnstown, the main town in the district he represented for nearly 36 years. Because if there's one thing Murtha did, it was bring home the bacon. Millions of dollars of it."

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/02/08/was_murtha_good_for_johnstown

passing tho'ts on choice of symbol:

tea bag - white on the outside, all dried up on the inside.

however, with a little waterboarding....

Good morning all,
Pat,
Thanks for the DADT comic strip the other day,very funny..

C'bob - I see those tents with the ShelterBox logo on newsclip after newsclip.

Wintery mix on the way for later this week in metroplex.

Let's plan our summer camping trip. I need images of warm weather & nature.

Sorry about the bum link-
http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/chipotle-chilaquiles

http://www.taylormarsh.com/

"What’s In It for Republicans?"

"What do you know. Ezra Klein finally gets it. Better late than never, though as long as it took it’s not very impressive.

On Sunday, John Boehner and Mitch McConnell responded to Barack Obama’s summit invitation by demanding Obama scrap the health-care reform bill entirely. This is the context for that demand. What they want isn’t a bill that incorporates their ideas. They’ve already got that. What they want is no bill at all. And that’s a hard position for the White House to compromise with."

For a summer camping trip we could help in planning Jamie's trip east- with tmer stops along the way and she could be the Trailmix Trailblazer!

summer camping is pretty good at peaks of otter.......

hard to beat the delaware river gap and the poconos........

Tony, its just pre-negotiating...lol. That was Sunday and now it's Tuesday.......

http://slatest.slate.com/id/2244108/entry/2/

Obama' two fer two terminating Meshuds....Atta boy, let's make it three fer three as soon as the Taliban finds a new Meshud.

Bob, are you alright?

max, he's probably caught up in that ecstasy that preachers get when passing the plate. spirited endorphins. the doing good high.

nil agit exemplum, litem quod lite resolvit.

--Horace

patd......moo-jicians get them same endorphins except they use a Hat........I'm thinking about putting a big galvanised bucket on wheels......paint it up like a mardi gras float......lol

"If THIS don't bring 'em........ they ain't coming."

--Billy Joe Johnson, Myrtle Beach

Good news for the Florida Republican Party :))

http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/secret-contract-lavish-spending-push-republican-party-of-florida-to-crisis/1071784

"Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- The American missionaries in Haiti facing kidnapping charges for trying to take 33 children out of the country last week made an earlier, unsuccessful attempt at taking dozens of other children, a Haitian police officer said.

The officer did not want to be identified for fear of reprisals. He told CNN on Monday that he had stopped the 10 Baptist missionaries, including group leader Laura Silsby, on January 26 as they tried to transport 40 children from Haiti to the Dominican Republic.

The officer said he discovered Silsby and the nine other Americans on a bus in Port-au-Prince's Pétionville neighborhood after receiving a tip from a concerned citizen."

http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/02/09/haiti.border.arrests/?hpt=T2

"if you are over sixty your friendly area agency on aging "

Patd -- I swear! The TVA screwed up with that mess last year and we were warned that consumers would pay for it. My last bill was almost $400! and I just barely paid it when the next mother arrived!

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2010/02/health-care-diagnosis-unclear.html#comment-284186

Sea

Here's Highway 50
http://www.route50.com/

It doesn't go south to hit Texas, so I might have to plan a side trip. or take a southern route home.

Patsi, we're in the same boat so far as utility bills in our part of SC. Ours was over $400 last month with probably a little less this time.

If you want for us folks to help, how about an email address where we can PayPal some funds to you.

I know you'd do the same for us.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2010/02/health-care-diagnosis-unclear.html#comment-284178

patd

Do we worry now or wait to hear "oops"

Jamie, it's always pretty going through Flagstaff.

Flatus

I just wish they would put 66 back together. I know you can drive parts of it, but there is something to be said for the old "Mother Road"

Jamie, it was a wonderful experience driving 66. And thinking about it made me think back to A1A going down through Florida many years ago--back when they had the do-it-yourself pump 'em up gas pumps. And the signs saying "127 miles to the Greasy Pig". Just like Burma Shave signs up north.

And where Craig, he wasn't around then, could have gone fishing out of Baldy's Inlet just above Briny Breezes.

mornin'

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2010/02/health-care-diagnosis-unclear.html#comment-284177

Pat, we're OK here - we got 12" of the white stuff over the weekend, are on the 2nd school closing day since, and have 5-11" of mix/snow forecast for over thenext 24 hours. The roads aren't too bad now - at least the main ones, but by tonight, they could be the same shitty condidtion they were in lstr weekend. I just hope the principal of LP's school will let them have an early dismissal on July 4 so they can see the parade and fireworks - they'll probably still be in school then. I lucked out and heard a guy plowing the next door neighbor's place with a tractor and paid him to get my driveway - which would have taken me hours considering how heavy the snow was. Thanks for asking. btw, exactly where are you located?

Really sorry to hear the news about John Murtha - big loss there.

Flatus

Freeways are all well and good for getting from point A to point B, but I like to meander through towns to see what you can see, and you can only do that on the blue lines.

Hah! Route 50 runs through my fair city - I've been on it as recently as last night. It's not so bad west of here, but go east and you'll quickly be wondering what the hell you could have been thinking. But it is a beautiful trip throught the Alppalachians - just remember that as you go through the 90th kiss-your-ass turn and you're still hours from DC, Pogo warned you. (note - Scopolomine)

Jamie, Charles Kuralt was the next best thing to being there. I sure miss his shows.

Oh, and jamie, I forgot to say - not much in the way of towns east of Grafton, WV until you get to Winchester, VA - really only Aurora, Romney and Capon Bridge - and there ain't much to see in them towns, but the mountains are pretty memorable. The VA countryside from Winchester is well worth the ride, though.

Maxtrue,

There are 2 F-35s tearing up the Fort Worth sky right now...they look good...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/09/colbert-sarah-palin-is-a_n_454744.html

Rep Thaddeus McCotter On Cavuto 9 February 2010. Sitting in for Neil Cavuto, Charles Payne, asks Rep McCotter.

"Is the GOP up for this, are you going to take the bait."

Thaddeus McCotter responds "I certainly don't think we should take the bait.

http://youhavetobethistalltogoonthisride.blogspot.com/2010/02/rep-thaddeus-mccotter-r-michigan-not.html

McCotter Responding to

President Obama, to host a televised bipartisan health care meeting February 25th.

Rt 50 through Missouri and Kansas is a _long_ road.

jamie - You're driving across the country?

Flat - Every road through that part of the country is a long road. Even I-80 through my homestate of NE...the scenery almost never changes.

Enjoying the PBS series with Frye driving to every state. Ted Turner seems like a douche.

Craig - Have you gone into hibernation? The whole city shut down?

The local media in DFW is calling for our storm en route "Snowmaggedon Light." Was Snowmageddon Prez Obama's word, Stephen Colbert's word, or...?

Cades Cove Loop Road--eleven miles of one way traffic after a pretty drive up from Townsend--a beautiful place, especially early in the day, when the wildlife are out--deer, wild turkeys, and round about the time the blackberries ripen old sow bears with their roly-poly little babies--in the spring the redbuds and dogwoods are the big draw; in the summer, a right stiff hike will take you up to where flame azaleas make the mountains look like they're on fire; in the fall the leaves are breathtaking and in winter there's a wonderful hush that you don't get the rest of the year, because there are fewer tourists from about November to February.

Anybody who likes off-trail adventures and good stories about people and places in the mountains--my brother knows the Smokies like the back of his hand and is a much better storyteller than the park rangers are--

And no, the Tennessee Board of Tourism is NOT paying me for this, although they damned well ought to--;)

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2010/02/health-care-diagnosis-unclear.html#comment-284212

Blue,

I'm thinking about September to take one last freaking long drive while I can still do it. :-) I absolutely love driving and consider 10 hour including two stops easy enough.

Still 6000 + miles is a little daunting. I'm not wedded to highway 50 except that is the easiest departing from my daughter's place in Sacramento and finally reaching DC (unless will all end up at a Florida fish camp)

Any pointers with the trip planning would be helpful.

Fair, I spent a great deal of my youth hiking in the Smokies - absolutely love the Cade's Cove area. They used to have a terrific collection of things the bears in the park had punched holes in - like drink cans, pots and the like. One of the rangers liked to tell about what he was sure was the stupidest thing he ever saw - a parent who put his kid in the car and let a bear get in so he could take a picture of the two of them. The gods must have been smiling because the bear didn't maul the kid.

Hey, Pogo, I'll have to ask Paul if he's seen that stuff. And you're right--the gods weren't just smiling, they were on GUARD DUTY--(can you BELIEVE some of the stupid things people will do???)

Paul's like me, a night owl, and he loves hiking the Loop Road during the full moon. He says it's bright enough you can see as well as in daylight and feels like you can almost touch the moon.

Jamie....
I told you in an email a couple years ago that if you ever get to the east, you could stay with Rick and I and be our guest.... that offer still stands and always will. Depending on the timing.... we or at least I will also make sure we get to see OSH... on me. I mean it.

Patsi... please let us know if you need help. What's the point of having a little money if you can't use it to help your friends....

We might see a bit of snow tomorrow. Rick has friends coming up on Thursday and our ski club is coming up to Loon Mt. on Friday... he is excited for some fresh snow.... keeping my fingers crossed!

pat, btw, here it's rain that started as sleet. We might dodge teh bullet - now where's some wood to knock on?

Re Wbama's 'attempt to woo' republicans : It is a charade played by both the White House and the repub;lican leadership to get what both want out of the 2010 election.

Wbama wants to be able to say that he reached across the aisle for 2 years and only got bitten by the rabid republicans.

republican leaders want to go back to their base and brag that they killed health.

We've also got some scenic places closer by--the Cherohala Skyway, which hangs a left above Tellico Plains and takes you all the way to the NC line, one of the best leaf drives in the fall--

When you get to the bottom of the Skyway, go to the right instead of the left and an eighteen mile drive up a very narrow but gorgeous two-lane blacktop takes you to Bald River Falls. Our number one tourist spot in Monroe Co. (it and the Lost Sea at Sweetwater), it's not very tall or very wide, but it's very photogenic ;) and with all the rain we're having got a huge water volume as well.

And Jeffrey's Hell, a wilderness area. Basically an outsized laurel hell that was for some years in the late 19th and early 20th centuries logged of virgin timber and then abandoned after a 1925 fire. Great spooky story about how it got its name.

We seem to have dodged the snow bullet here in the knobs, too. More rain. Before long the mud will be TWO feet deep. Flatus suggested yesterday that, with all this rain, I might want to rethink my screen name--I think he's got a point. I'm thinkin' of changin' it from Fairweather to RainCrow. :D

The worst drives are across the prairie. A friend once drove from East Grand Forks, MN to Vancouver, BC through towns like Swift Current, Medicine Hat and Moose Jaw. He said that he was afraid he'd fall asleep the entire ghastly way until he made Calgary.

Omaha NE to Lawrence KS failed to thrill me. The Brainerd MN to Morehead/Fargo to Bismark/Mandan to Glendive MT to Bozeman MT slog is a deadly soporific. Fortunately, the victims die in their sleep, and don't suffer.

X, you're being too cynical. What happened to Yes WE Can?

Obama,
I saw this today: http://www.rr.com/news/topic/article/rr/9000/10284129/Obama_says_both_sides_have_to_give_on_health_care

I guess you have been keeping up with my posts. I also see you want the GOP to work with you on jobs. Great, health care and jobs. If you are being sincere, don't listen to the nay sayers on either side. You win in a "bipartisan" think tank for the practical engineering of solutions. You can't forget to keep EVERYTHING relative to the stated BIPARTISAN GOAL which you should be redeclaring every five hours.

I know the Republicans don't want this heavy weight fight. I know the Left thinks you getting into the ring is appeasement. But I know you can deflate the Tea Baggers, send Republicans scrambling and not fail to get some moderate traction or make a mockery out of their pledge..

Don't you love how some people scorn keeping an eye on getting re-elected? That is essential, yes?

Good luck, and curb Plouffe, will ya? The man needs to drink far more coffee.......

Max NYC

Well if I dip south I can get the Trail Mix southern contingent and then do the drive up the east cost. It would give me an excuse to visit New Orleans.

murtha surgical error

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/medical-alerts-murthas-death-surgical-mistake-broken-heart/story?id=9787211

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2010/02/health-care-diagnosis-unclear.html#comment-284212

Yes, he seems so. I love taking the drive west from NYC through Penn during the fall on I-76 (Is that right?)

Nice run up 80 from NYC to Boston too......

Great run up to Woodstock during the fall from NYC north on the Palisades Parkway and on to 87. I love the Hudon during the fall.......

I had a feeling Murtha's passing was due to inflection. Same with my father. If you don't stamp out the infection from the start it grows too fast for an older person to fight. My father complained from pain, but the first scan revealed little. By the time he was remitted, it was too late. I

would like to know the type of infection. You know how many people die like Murtha every year in the US? Maybe Obama could start with that and the need for some sweeping changes to how we deal with hospitals issues increasing every day.......

As for dying of a broken heart, that is hard to fix. It is often a sickness unto death...if left untreated by love.

Gripes about the tedium of the prairie aside, I really love long drives. I'm trying to get Sweetie to drive with me to LA in the middle of the month.

The Cumberland Trail and the Great Smokey Mountains are to-die-for-gorgeous year 'round. So are the Willamette River Valley, and the drive between Great Falls MT and Spokane WA. Seattle WA to Whistler Mountain, north of Vancouver, BC is a spectacular, where the North American fjords begin. In Summer, the Circle around Lake Superior is breathtaking, except for the eastern end of the UP. The Ottawa River Valley when the maples are red is unbelievably RED.

Max!! Who would have guessed, from reading your usual posts, that you're such a romantic??? ;)

Seriously, that "broken heart syndrome" reminds me of an anecdote that would have fit in nicely with the "love of place" theme at Take This Tune: The great Wallowa Nez Perce chief, Joseph (Thunder-rolling-in-the-mountains), died on a reservation in Oklahoma in 1904, far from his beloved Wallowa River Valley in Oregon--and his doctor wrote on his death certificate "died of a broken heart."

Xrep....
I've crossed this country and Canada several times when I was in my 20s. I actually liked the prairies.... loved the golden wheat fields of Saskatchewan and Alberta. Only thing is that at the time there was only state camping areas along the trans-Canadian. My girlfriend and I didn't get a hot shower until we hit a private campground in Moose Jaw,,,, what a treat!

Can anyone think of anything horrible to say about this itinerary?

Sacramento, CA
Bakersfield, CA
Flagstaff, AZ,
Albuquerque, NM
Lubbock, TX
Dallas, TX
Memphis, TN
Knoxville, TN
Arlington, VA/DC
Then up East Coast
Repeat in Reverse

3081 miles, 50 hours total behind the wheel for the cross country portion but taking it easy and allowing two weeks each way to try to see everybody on my list, it should be a nice month. Maybe finally get the "get up and go" gypsy out of my system.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2010/02/health-care-diagnosis-unclear.html#comment-284225

jamie, who really needs an excuse to go to N'awlins? I just f*ckin' love N'awlins. plus, it would give you a great excuse to swing past the land of sturg and Flatus - the barrier islands are great little drive if you like the ocean - THEN you could do a swing through the Smokies and up Skyline drive, then whip up the Shenandoah Valley to Winchester then into the DC area on Rt. 50, missing the hell of Rt. 50 in eastern WV. Now THAT would be one hell of a good car trip - assuming you have a couple of months or so to do it. As to your proposed itinerary, Albuquerque, Dallas, Memphis, Knoxville, Arlington - great places to visit.

Patsi -

Sorry , didn't mean to upset you . I know things are tough . Just me railing against the dark and shadows late at night.

As for my attack on the "Heartland" last night .... Daylight brought this story .......

Millions Of Meals Rushed to Haiti by Tiny Small-Town Charity; Thousands of Volunteers.

http://betterjudge.newsvine.com/_news/2010/02/08/3870537-millions-of-meals-rushed-to-haiti-by-tiny-small-town-charity-thousands-of-volunteers?threadId=786745&commentId=12276221#c12276221

Another snowball from God. Splat .........

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2010/02/health-care-diagnosis-unclear.html#comment-284198

Oh dear -- thanks, Flatus. I can't say how much that means to me. But I'll figure something out.

Maxtrue,

The idea that the WH can move blue dogs by threatening them on the right is intriguing, but it is a loser, because the blue dogs are the Dems who are in trouble for their obstructionism.

The idea that republicans will help on jobs and health care is a loser. The only way the WH can gain republican support is to give up on 3 important issues :
1. reregulating Wall Street and lending;
2. a national energy re-fit, AND
3. Roe v Wade.

So, if Wbama becomes a republican, the republicans will support a few of his timid attempts to change what's planted on the back lawn.

However, a mutually agreeable inability to reach any agreement will preserve the republican myth that they are relevant, while preserving the Dem myth that they can't put people ahead of corps because of republican intransigence. It's all just an incumbents' plan for re-success that doesn't entail boat rocking. In other words, the bipartisan agreement has already been reached, and it provides nothing more than the same old crepitation, without having to get off the pot.

Thanks to you, too, Renee....you are fabulous. I have money owed me -- just have to figure out a way to get it in time.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2010/02/health-care-diagnosis-unclear.html#comment-284234

Not a one. Excellent itinerary.

Thought for the day :
" Of all forms of caution, caution in love is the most fatal. "

1947 Joe Ely Amarillo TX, country vocalist (Honky Tonk Masquerade)

1964 1st appearance of Beatles on "Ed Sullivan Show" (73.7 million viewers)

best leave the mocking to pros

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/02/robert-gibbs-mocks-sarah-palin-from-white-house-podiumwhen-imitation-isnt-flattery.html

Life is what happens between the truckstops.

I'll be back later.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2010/02/health-care-diagnosis-unclear.html#comment-284235

Pogo,

I have to do TN but I think you just added another leg in there somewhere. :-)

"Fox News employment again used as GOP launching pad for office"

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201002090028

so? after supreme court ruling, it's a wonder they haven't thrown rupert's hat in too.

noticed that mediamatters when naming names of fox emps turned candidate, they left out harold ford.... he not only was an analyst with fox but also with nbc, wasn't he?

My friends the Tornadoes are getting an award, with a fancy dinner and everything ......

You’ll read more about them later. But I wanted to let folks know the names of the winners of the annual William D. Kerns Award for the Performing Arts, and the William D. Kerns Award for the Visual Arts.

http://blogs.lubbockonline.com/centerstage/2010/02/05/wdk-award-winners-for-2009/

Tony,

I just received my copy of Air Force Times (15 Feb issue) a short while ago. The major story is Gays openly serving, and how the troops feel about it. It includes a large sample (but unscientific because the pool is subscribers to Military Times publications, not the entire military population).

I commend the issue to you because it addresses so many of the things that we discussed or thought about discussing.

I can't email the pages to you. I could mail you the entire issue, which I will do it you wish. But, I think you may want to subscribe to the paper because it's sure to be a continuing story.

The email is www.airforcetimes.com

It's not expensive.

yeah, harold was a former fox in the nbc hen house:

"Harold Ford Jr. Jumps From FNC to MSNBC
By Chris Ariens on Mar 24, 2008 06:05 PM
First on TVNewser: Former U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. is now a political analyst for NBC News. He is appearing on MSNBC for the first time tonight on David Gregory's Race for the White House. Ford had been an analyst for Fox News Channel since March 2007. He appeared on FNC during primary coverage, most recently on March 11."
http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/the_revolving_door/harold_ford_jr_jumps_from_fnc_to_msnbc_80636.asp

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2010/02/health-care-diagnosis-unclear.html#comment-284248

Interesting formatting there--I didn't try to do anything special, it just happened. And, of course, I didn't mean to say email, it's the URL.

jamie, as an ex-VAer, I have to say that the land of Presidents Washington and Jefferson is some of the prettiest you can drive through - I'm not sure why anyone would have gone further west than the Shenadoah Valley once they got that far - except thinking that Eden had to be just a few more miles to the West.

"Still think China's going to sign on to a new round of tough sanctions against Iran? Think again. China has most likely already passed the European Union to become Iran's No. 1 trading partner..."

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/02/09/china_is_now_irans_top_trading_partner

jamie. if it were me, I'd do the SC/VA swing in one direction and the TN swing in the other - but that's just me.

Pogo

I got to see a lot of Virginia while living in DC and it is beautiful. I was just looking at the road to get to DC and trying to figure out how to see the most people going one way or the other.

New Orleans and the drive up by the ocean is tempting. I may just have to lay out a big highway map of the US or play with google maps until I finally get something that works.

Beltway Pundits Sick and Tired of Snow

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/opinions/view/opinion/Beltway-Pundits-Sick-and-Tired-of-Snow-2475

Sounds as if our host may have acquired seasonal affective disorder syndrome.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2010/02/health-care-diagnosis-unclear.html#comment-284248

Flatus,
Thanks.Will do, its a very important issue for me and its always good to be informed.

All the more reason China will blink Patd, as Russia has. There are more surprises that will come from Iran. Look for Feb 11. Obama is playing the Taiwan issue with China and lots of Democrats want some action on trade imbalance with China as well as action on NK. Germany is a critical player and kudos to France. Today Quds organized stone-throwing at European embassies. It will get ugly and Obama could very well get convergence. Russia is pleased with the squashed orange in the Ukraine brought on by failed Liberal governance. China will likely not want to be the last man out. In any case, tis turn of events probably green lights Israeli action, but puts the US and NATO on a trigger reaction should it come to that...

Yesterday I meant dangerous Fatah -110 missiles into Lebanon and Syria. The next blow up will be very ugly which Clinton should impress upon China......

X, I understand your logic, but I think Obama is doing what he must to draw Republicans into the cross fire. Gibbs blasts Palin while pumping engagement. The press to split is on. I loaded up the pop corn...

You are right in stating the goals of financial reform: curb bad banks from uncapped profit. Target help for Middle Class and small business...correct mortgages and dry credit lines. Blinking here on either side will bring the wrath of voters. The heavy weight ring will be watched by many.....

Health care remains: lowering costs and covering all.

If Obama refuses to be side tracked toward other goals, he wins. If he keeps the focus clear and engages Republicans, some will have to blink because of THEIR demographic pressure at home. Blue Dogs can step forward and be the mediator in bridging gaps. That role helps them too. Hardcore Repubs will look foolish blathering. The echo chamber must be used to reach Indies. Grid lock is no one's option now, The key will be if the WH is interested in theatrics or accomplishment. A real discourse favors Obama, but Republicans can be forced into taking the bait....

We shall see X, we shall see....

http://www.taylormarsh.com/

"Sarah Palin Won’t Make Hillary’s Mistakes"

"As the left and the DNC mock Palin and delight in the prospect of a potential 2012 candidacy, with the Establishment crew on the right clucking over her lack of experience and required learning still needed to be done, Sarah Palin quietly goes about her business building her own personal base. Tea Partiers got her first. Next stop?

Next week, Palin will be a VIP guest of honor at the Daytona International Speedway for the Daytona 500. She’ll walk among the campers and RVs set up infield. This summer, she’s agreed to speak at an international bowling expo. In April, in Las Vegas, Palin will keynote the Wine and Spirit Wholesalers Convention at Caesar’s Palace. She will make choices in Republican primaries — she campaigned Sunday with Rick Perry, bearing a “Hi mom!” on her palm — more on that in a bit — and an eloquent jab at the President: “‘We will proudly cling to our guns and our religion.” – Marc Ambinder"

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2010/02/health-care-diagnosis-unclear.html#comment-284232

Just think of me a romantic Liberal Frank Luntz here. Just trying to help, you know.....hone the strategy....

How we frame the discourse, how we manuever and be realistic drives real reform and progress. I'm just being the foil Fair........

I'm probably not the person the bulk of my posts suggests.......

romantic, always......

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2010/02/health-care-diagnosis-unclear.html#comment-284260

Tony, unless Palin gets a brain transplant, I rather doubt Republicans will support her more than 30%

MaCains' daughter deflated her balloon today. Be happy Palin is knee deep in Tea Bags Tony.....

A more moderate Palin might be dangerous.... And one who could speak coherently, even moe dangerous....

http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-02-08/justice-clinton/?cid=hp:mainpromo2

"Justice Clinton?"

"The political bombshell of the year could turn out to be Supreme Court Justice Hillary Clinton.

Don’t laugh. It’s politics. Stuff happens. And a lot stranger stuff has happened in recent years. Two words. Sarah Palin.

Last week, ABC News reported: “Lawyers for President Obama have been working behind the scenes to prepare for the possibility of one, and maybe two Supreme Court vacancies this spring. Court watchers believe two of the more liberal members of the court, Justices John Paul Stevens and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, could decide to step aside for reasons of age and health. That would give the president his second and third chance to shape his legacy on the Supreme Court.”

In one stroke, Obama would eliminate any remaining bad feelings—and become a Hillaryland hero."

http://slatest.slate.com/id/2244217/entry/2/

Tony, above...

ABC explains Murtha's fatal plight......

Three days of an infection was too late. ABC won't say what kind of infection. The kind Hospitals have helped make drug resistant?

Boy, news really digs deep, don't they?

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2010/02/health-care-diagnosis-unclear.html#comment-284263

I think Hillary better serves us in politics. If she's really set on retiring (I don't buy it) maybe she would consider the job. Judges aren't sen much. I don't see Hillary liking the life style........

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2010/02/health-care-diagnosis-unclear.html#comment-284262

Good evening Max,
I don't know,GWB seemed pretty clueless at times.Palin seems to let her gut guide her like Bush and Republican's liked him enough to give him 2 terms.Its hard for me to believe she could be elected President,but again i still find it hard to believe Bush was elected President.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2010/02/health-care-diagnosis-unclear.html#comment-284265

I agree.I just thought it was a fun read.I will support Hillary whatever she does.I hope she keeps to politics,we need her.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2010/02/health-care-diagnosis-unclear.html#comment-284265

Max,
Thanks for the Slate piece on Dan Choi,didn't know he was asked to rejoin his unit,wonderful..

I-80 doesn't go to Boston, Max.

Sorry Serf, 80 is what I take to Ohio sometimes and 93 leads me to Boston via the Merrit and Hartford....

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/02/04/france.burqa.ban/index.html

Give her a ticket Sarkozy........her allegience is to God, not the French Constitution....

I suspect a bunch here should join her in God's Land.....

Here in the US of A, I meant

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2010/02/health-care-diagnosis-unclear.html#comment-284266

Well, you have a point, but most Indies have lost their ability to tolerate stilted, disjointed speech. Palin is a habitual speech butcher. I switch channels when some interviewer asks her for some new ideas.

I'll defend her against sexist attacks, but I have yet to hear her say something fresh, bright, new or wise. SNL did a spoof on Rahm and I think Palin had it coming. Obama played with her today and she will never mold Tea Baggers into what she imagines the majority of them are. Let's see her take a swipe at Kirk in Illinois or Brown in MA. Obama should be so lucky to run against Palin.

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/trailmix/2010/02/health-care-diagnosis-unclear.html#comment-284271

Ha! I take a swipe at SoCons and no noticed........

Once Palin loses her looks, which will be soon, you'll never hear from her again.

I didn't see Palin's speech at the convention, but I did see the clip of her asking how the "Hopey , Changey... was going" and I thought it was juvenile and does not do anything to enhance her stature as a serious politician. That said, it was also juvenile of Gibbs to write his grocery list on his hand to mock her. He is in the White House for God's sake, at least save that crap for Letterman or Leno.

"it was also juvenile of Gibbs to write his grocery list on his hand to mock her."

How does Gibbs still have a job? They need an Ari Fleisher-type in there.

Posted by: patd | February 9, 2010 4:35 PM :
"Still think China's going to sign on to a new round of tough sanctions against Iran? Think again. China has most likely already passed the European Union to become Iran's No. 1 trading partner..."

Ya, but if we the US and EU told redChina that Iran was about to become redChina's biggesttrading partner, things would change in a heartbeat.

Here's the best thing about being a ruthless dictatorship with a widemouth memory hole : you can change your mind in an instant, make no apologies, and let assure every abject slave that the new policy has been in place since it was first promulgateed by the Yellow Emperor. As in, "The great Socialist Chinese people have always opposed the criminal nuclear proliferator Imperialist regime of the running dog Separatist Iranian enemy of the downtrodden workers of the world."

1 1/2 Billion heads would simulateously nod in agreement.

Countdown doing the reservation crisis.

Here's the link for the Cheyenne River assistance fund.

http://www.razoo.com/story/Cheyenne-River-Sioux-Tribe-Storm-Relief-Emergency-Assistance

An article an issue or two ago in the New Yorker painted Gibbs as the best Press Secretary since Mighty Joe Pulitzer.

I thought I was gonna {gasp} barf.

The majority of t-baggers will be dead before Palin loses what they think of as her young & good looks.

In fact, if the WH can compromise with the republicans on health care and eliminate Medicare before the recess, most t-baggers could be dead by November.

Oh, Pulitzer wasn't Press Secretary? That's okay. Neither is Gibbs.

Max, I'm glad you qualified that "romantic. . .Frank Luntz" with the word "Liberal". I read his Wiki. It raised my eyebrows a bit.

Actually, I'm more inclined to think of you as ornery, if we must use a classification, but ornery is not a pejorative. Knobites respect orneriness.

There's no line in the Q'uran mandating the burka. How do the boobs at Reuters know that this particular gal is Oumkheyr, if she won't take her rag off ?

There's a sucker born every minute and that particular sucker's name was Reuters. If the burka and burka bullshitters had arrived in the US in the 1960s, lee harvey oswald would still be alive today.

Salinger was the best Press Sec'y.

No, I mean the other one.

Let me qualify that. We respect orneriness MOST of the time. As long as it's ornery in a good cause. Orneriness for the sake of being ornery, not so much.

Clinton is too old to be named SC justice. Sotomayor was way too old. We need a 21 year old who can outlive reactionaries like roberts and alito.

She's in her prime--has at least twenty really good years.

But, I think she wants a real job.

PM music from the Roadhouse:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghtDdck7UP8

where the drinks are cold, the sawdust fresh, and the crowd's so nice there's no need for chicken wire.

Most nights.

Y'all rest well. Nite--:)

"The majority of t-baggers will be dead before Palin loses what they think of as her young & good looks." -xrep

OK, you got a laugh out of me there.

They love her for her mind.

I'm still amazed "Tea-bagger" is an accepted contemporary political descriptor, and that adherents wear the label with pride.

I think it's a hoot--waving a tea-bag and saying that act makes them one with our patriot ancestors who risked life and liberty in the Boston Tea Party.

What's next, the "Rusty Trombone Party"?

February 8, 2010
Why I'm back in Haiti

http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2010/02/08/why-im-back-in-haiti/comment-page-1/#comment-994065

Woo hoo, Mr. Kitty , our feral cat boarder just walked out of his cage and sat down next to it! Maybe I'm in too deep- does this sound like cabin fever?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kis40CX4-B8&feature=related

I had forgotten this song until it turned up on Imus's show Tuesday. Means a lot.

Roberts and Alito have 30 bad years left to go on the SCOTUS. Clinton might have 20.

America needs younger much younger replacements on the SCOTUS, to prevent possible future republican presidents from replacing them with wingnuts like the Gang of 5.

I mistakenly capitalized the names of 2 SCOTUS members who don't deserve the dignity. Sorry.

Secy Clinton is 7 years 9 months older than roberts.

The younger the Obama - or any Dem president's -nominees, the less likely they are to be replaced in the next 25 years with more crazed wingnuts like roberts, alito, thomas, scalia, and kennedy, screwballs who appoint presidents willy-nilly, and give foreign corporations the same freedom of political speech (actually freedom of political spend and influence) rights that individual American citizens have.

If Stevens or Ginzberg retire, America needs the extra protection afforded by forty to fifty year old nominees.

That said, I could go for another President Clinton right now, before she gets too old. Like, today.

Sorry, that was supposed to be Ginsburg.

I must have been thinking of the theoretician on career decision making.

Actually, the Boston Tea Party folks stole and destroyed extremely valuable private property in their protest against taxation without representation.

By comparison, the t-baggers have representation, and merely want to destroy America's commonwealth and ability to support itself. They worship private property.

The most exact comparison of the Boston Tea Party to protesters of our day would probably be the thugs who messed up Seattle during the WTO meeting in '99, who viewed rightly viewed the WTO as a non-representative quango, a quasi-governmental organization.

Private property worshipers exhibit ignorance of the most elemental characteristics of property.

For instance, many believe that they have an absolute right to do whatever they wish on or with their private property. This ignores the fact that all the land grants by the Crown and Parliament in the original colonies, and by the US Congress to the rest of the states, retain absolute rights over private lands regarding approved uses, the enforcement of laws, and the collection of taxes.

Promoters of a mythic absolute property rights, such as many if not most t-baggers, are the 21st Century equivalent of snake oil peddlers.

The vast majority of the acreage of the country was either purchased or conquered by the US government. This land was given to state governments to administer, provided that those states complied with and enforced US law. The only exceptions are the 13 colonies, which had the same property rights under the British Charters and Grants, and the Republics of Vermont and Texas, who were specifically given the right to, at any later date, secede first, and then abrogate US law, if they so desired. At the adoption of the Constitution, the individual states subjected themselves to the USA and its laws. Regarding the two republics, as long as those entities remain in the Union, they are to obey US laws in all of their acreage. That was their agreement with the US in the treaties that made them parts of our republic.

The wording I use conveys the ideas involved, rather than quoting the actual documents, whose diction and syntax differ from mine and each other. However, the ideas are the same.

Hey ! Rise and shine. It's time to milk those cows, you layabouts.