Yes, Virginia we do torture... but now what?

*
I wanted to catch Dick Cheney on the Hannity Show last night.
We don't have cable (by choice) so I braved the thunderstorm at midnight to visit someone that did.

I thought the "interview" was fairly subdued for Hannity who is always trying to make his "points" through the somewhat loud leading questions he asks.
The whole thing which lasted around 20 or so minutes seemed scripted in it's lack of passion on both parts. I wondered what was going on, since neither of these people usually put me to sleep.
I also found that there is a part two tonight, don't know if it'll be any better.

Cheney stated:
"One of the things that I find a little bit disturbing about this recent disclosure is they put out the legal memos, the memos that the CIA got from the Office of Legal Counsel, but they didn't put out the memos that showed the success of the effort,"
and then he followed with:
"I haven't talked about it, but I know specifically of reports that I read, that I saw, that lay out what we learned through the interrogation process and what the consequences were for the country," Cheney said. "I've now formally asked the CIA to take steps to declassify those memos so we can lay them out there and the American people have a chance to see what we obtained and what we learned and how good the intelligence was."

That was the meat and potatoes of the first part of the interview. Defending torture (or at least his definition of it) as good because it got results...
Perhaps Cheney is right the results should be made public, then we could judge more accurately if Cheney is still redefining or not.
Regardless if there were any results or not... It doesn't let people off for torture.
Should police coerce and beat information and confessions out of their detainees?

Cheney gathered up the stormclouds outside the house and sent them towards the rest of the country. It will be of course be Obama's fault if we have problems now because he's weakened our country... This is 100% Cheney no doubt about that.
Let's just rewrite history: Bush greatest president ever. Obama evil in 95 days...
*
Jon Stewart weighs in on torture:
The same night the Daily Show was of course more animated. He started out with a segment that was funny while addressing serious material about our torturing prisoners.
"No one is upset about the fact that America tortures, they're just upset that they now know about it." He referred to the Obama suporters like Chris Mattnews as the "Yes, we can McChange a hope" crowd. Watch the segment it's relevant satire.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
We Don't Torture
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Economic Crisis Political Humor

Geneva Convention:
There seems to be enough banter about the definition of torture going on.
Is waterboarding torture? Of course it is.
Should we have done it? Not if we honor the Geneva Convention which we were a major part in.

We cannot change US laws or international laws by blatently ignoring them or redefining torture.
We cannot criticize and call for sanctions of others because of their disregard for such law and not seem hypocritically sanctimonious to the world.

It is sad to see our country willing to:
1) engage in torture and then try to redefine torture and international law.
2) let our engagement in torture go without prosecution and no accountability.
3) be willing to have the whole world see us as the "do as I say but not as I do" nation.

Obama said:we won't prosecute the lowly folk that engaged in torture because they were ordered to by higher ups... now it seems we won't prosecute the higher ups because we are "looking towards the future" not the past. What?


The president has the power to pardon those convicted of the crime of torture... but does he have the power to derail any investigation and criminal prosecution of those involved? Is that even legal?
I seem to remember president Clinton being impeached by congress and a special prosecutor (and Ken Starr was indeed "special") for lying about a blow job. You were willing to tear the country apart over that gleefully, but not over real crime against humanity?
Where exactly are our ethics and morals these days?

Law should not become a laughing stock.
We put young people in jail for smoking pot.
We talk of harsher illegal immigration laws.
But we allow torture to take place and then ignore the laws for prosecution?

How do we expect any of our own nations detainees abroad to be treated when charged with crimes if we pick and choose how we treat those we detained without regard to their human rights?

Way to go Obama/Biden, Way to go Cheney/Bush, I expected a big difference on this one.
I temporarily forgot my working definition of Politician: One who speaks with a forked tongue out of both sides of the mouth.
Most sadly disappointed.
There should be a special prosecutor and committee to look into how the torture happened and on what US authority was it carried out. It's that simple. Obama should stay out of it until the truth is known. If people are convicted then perhaps Obama in his infinite wisdom can convert their sentence or pardon those involved.

I know reading and education isn't necessarily the vogue these days... it apparently makes you either a liberal, cosmopolitan or even worse an "elitist" but please go to the library (they keep books there) or google the Geneva Convention there are summaries and read the damn thing.

I'm wondering if the same folk that are seeking to redefine "torture" are the ones that redefined "informed" to read "elitist?" Oh you betcha.

Does anyone care?

A very tired Laura

Obama laughs too much: quick get Rahm to pass that pissy look down.

*
I watched President Obama on 60 Minutes last night and thought it went okay.
He seems to understand the issues and is willing to talk to the press and public about what’s going on.
This is something we haven’t seen in a president in a very long time.
And after eight years of a president that couldn’t seem to answer a question without confusing whatever it was he was trying to say (and sometimes we never quite knew what he was going for) it’s nice to have a president that can complete a thought without a teleprompter.

However when I got up all I heard about was how Obama laughed too much, it’s inappropriate, he’s not serious enough, and spending too much time talking to the public.
It seems absolutely impossible to please anyone these days.

There are so many things going on in the world and all that you could find were various clips of Obama laughing that were showing up everywhere all day and into the night. Discouraging.
I guess he needs to practice looking serious and pissy in the mirror more. Surely Rahm could help with that.




Far more interesting is the underwater volcano near Tonga in the Pacific. Amazing photos.



Also now Alaska’s Mount Redoubt, 100 miles southwest of Anchorage, erupted.
I bet Bobby Jindal wishes he hadn’t criticized money going towards volcano monitoring in his republican rebuttal speech now.

Some of AIG’s folk gave their bonus money back, but not all of them.

Bernie Madoff’s accountant David Friehling was charged with securities fraud… now how about that bookkeeping wife of his?

My thought of the day: Perhaps Dick Cheney would shut up and stop fear-mongering to deliberately undermine the President of the USA if he was being prosecuted on the criminal charges warranted for torture as he should be under our laws. Why after the Clinton debacle do we turn our eyes from true crimes?

On the lighter side: two marriages:
Bruce Willis (54) married a thirty-two year old model what a surprise… Hmm.
The interesting one is David Letterman. He finally married his long term mate Regina Lasko. They began dating in 1986 and have a five year old son.
Congrats and good luck!
And speaking of marriage: Politico reported that Senator Chuck Schumer of NY has changed his mind on same sex marriage. This might mark a broader change in thought towards equality and human rights. We shall see.

G’night,

Laura

Obama's Special Olympics Gaffe, fantasy flying cars and paperweights.

*
I heard on the news that President Obama was on the phone apologizing for his Special Olympics bowling gaffe on Jay Leno the other night even before the show aired. Well, at least he admits when he messed up. Bush never could say he screwed up, though he did it regularly.

I thought the best news clip today was the answer to President Obama from the best bowler from the Special Olympics. He said that he’d love to bowl a game with President Obama. Adding that while it would be great, he warned the president that he’d better get in some practice before hand. A great response.



Saw a clip on an car-slash-airplane that has collapsible wings so it can go in a garage. I’m sure that this is a novelty because I for one hope we never have flying cars!!! It’s bad enough that you have to drive super defensively every day on the road looking out for idiots that don’t blink, run lights, speed, and cut you off. Being responsible for watching to your right, left, front, back and the road itself almost simultaneously is enough of a juggling act for a driver no matter how good they are. Who the hell wants to have to worry about someone crashing into you from above? Not me that’s for sure. Don’t want people running out of gas in the air or flying into things like wires, birds, other cars and tumbling out of the sky down onto me from above. No, no, no! Nor do I want them to take short cuts over my house. Bad enough we have road rage, don’t even want to think about air rage.


It’s cute as far as novelties go and probably satisfies a flying fantasy (ooh, ahh), but it obviously wouldn’t work on any mass scale. The estimated ticket price of $194,000 would be beyond the reach of most folk. This begs the question: do we really want the rich flying around above us? I surely don’t. Would it be too much to ask that we invest our time and money to work on things that would realistically help us right now, like solar, recyclable battery, wind and water power! Though these things may present a problem for car design we can figure it out if we really wanted to. Now that would actually help free us from our obscene oil dependency while being relatively cheap and either low or pollution free.

Flying cars, seriously? We just don’t really need them. Move on. Please.

****

On a personal note I’m shortly going to visit my eldest son in Washington DC and then swinging over to Virginia to visit a good friend I haven’t seen in person in around 15 years. So I spent today finishing one of the gifts I’m bringing down with me. I made sunshine paperweights using 3-4 inch diameter beach stones picked up during my regular walks along the shoreline. I used my acrylic paint and triple thick finishing spray. Came out reasonable well. I’m really hoping they’ll like them. (I’ve also make door stops from interesting larger rocks).


Off to bed early. I’m tired, and longing for some of that elusive sleep thing I get so little of…

G’night,
Laura
*

The threat of domestic terrorism. James Cummings in Belfast, Maine

*
The story of a Belfast, Maine man, James Cummings, that was shot by his wife Amber (who alleges years of sexual and physical abuse) was found online a while ago. Surprisingly it hasn’t gotten the attention that you would have expected from the media. I kept waiting. Much more time and effort was spent on the recent Cramer/Stewart feud (I’m guilty too) and whether Ann Coulter’s book sales are down and what that means (and who cares?) then this more disturbing story.

Bangor Daily News, Maine Feb 2009

What bothers me is that James was a white supremacist Hitler fan that as it came out over the course of a few months time (he was shot Dec. 9) had the makings of a dirty bomb in his home, including radioactive material and instructions. Now since this story has come out (without all that much ado) people tripped all over themselves to state that the radioactive material wasn’t all that dangerous, perhaps, but the real point is that he was serious about putting together a bomb. Pair this with the fact that if his wife hadn’t shot him (thank you) he might have actually harmed people in his OWN country, in his own state or town. What we don’t know was what was inside his head. A home grown domestic terrorist, perhaps not as capable in carrying out a plot as Tim McVeigh turned out to be but just as dangerous to innocent people. Was he a lone gunman type wing nut or was he in contact with others? Apparently he was upset with his cherished democracy having elected Barack Obama as our nations first black president by both popular and electoral consensus. This fact is repeated about his not liking Obama while his danger to people is consistently downplayed. Seriously, not that dangerous? Yeah. Only because he’s dead.

I’m fairly sure that if he was of Muslim faith or probably even just of middle eastern ancestry we would have heard far more about the whole thing. It barely made the public discourse. What I worry about is how many other wing nuts are out there plotting. We worry about “foreigners” so much we miss the fact that we do have our own home grown anti government factions and yes, plenty racists too. Political correctness would like us to believe we’ve gotten past racism but for many we haven’t.

All the nonsense ranging from the amusing if not stupid statement Chuck Norris said about how tough Texas should succeed from the nation rather than go the way of socialism (and that he could be president of Texas) to Limbaugh’s “I want Obama to fail” really isn’t helping bring this country together at a time when we need to work hard to unite and have faith in our country, not tear it apart from the inside out. The key word here is WORK HARD to heal and compromise not divide.

Senator Jim DeMint, of South Carolina (who opposes any real government expansion) said “conservatives might have to take to the streets to stop America’s slide into socialism.” What exactly does that mean? During the election Rep. Michele Bachmann urged investigation into which members of congress were “pro-America or anti-America.” (and do what with them?) Just because someone doesn’t agree with you doesn’t mean they are Anti-American. I would think that even though they disagree all the time our representatives are all pro-American and were freely elected by pro-American voters.

I appreciate everyone’s free speech but frankly I despised GW Bush right from the start, which is my prerogative in a free country but I never wanted him to fail or wished him any harm. Never would I disparage American soldiers though I can be against a war. Never would I want my government to fail because I didn’t agree with a policy. I am proud to be an American from New York. We must report on all possible acts of terrorism equally and denounce it whenever we find it.

Chuck Norris's article text. Black Belts and Succession?

I wonder would Chuck Norris be President of Texas, King or dictator?

G’night,

Laura
*

Three days left until the Bush administration fades into the sunset!

*

I understand why the incoming administration doesn't want to create a ruckus in the republican and democrat camps about the idea of looking into the Bush Administration's illegalities over the past 8 years. I really do. I get that it would create a media firestorm and has the possibility of a three ring circus-like atmosphere. I know if it was taken to congress it would tie them up inexorably in endless testimony and argument. I realize it would take money to run such proceedings, that we don't want to invest the time and cost of hearings at this point in time.


I also know that what Barack Obama said: “I don’t believe that anybody is above the law... we need to look forward as opposed to looking backwards.” doesn't even remotely begin to cover the issue at hand. I know that this logic is sound in the sense that in the grip of an economic meltdown he wants to keep the good will of both parties together and move the country forward towards a better time than now. Maybe he feels that an investigation into the policies and practices of the Bush administration would take necessary time and be a distraction to current pressing problems.


But I really needed a firmer condemnation of the blatent disregard the outgoing administration's towards human rights, constitutional law and overstepping of power of office. Bad enough we were sent to war under false pretense but to allow this to happen without bringing any accountability to bear is beyond wishing for bipartisanship. It is unconscionable and ignores the truth and justice that we keep being told is the American way of democracy.

At the very least set up a special commitee and create a report.

Paul Krugman article NY Times
We're talking some gross disregard for the laws, more along the possibility of Watergate, arguably in some cases even worse. There were hearings over Iran/Contra, Nixon resigned under clouds of wrongdoing, others went to jail...


For god's sake the republicans against the wishes of the majority of the people in this country spent a fortune on Kenneth Starr and his report while trying to impeach Bill Clinton because he lied about, uh, "getting a Lewinski?" Seriously. This country was dragged through the mud because of a vendetta for Clinton... over what? Not even close to the things this administration has done, and shows no remorse for doing.


It's not possible that as a country we will turn away from foul policies that caused so many deaths and trampled all over what our country is supposed to stand for???
This is the major problem with this country right now. It's always the other guy's fault. As a matter of fact Bush himself stated: "If it feels good do it, if you got a problem blame somebody else..."
No one takes responsibility for f**king up anymore straight on up to our elected officials/ People lie, cheat and steal... if it's overlooked at the top how do you expect the "average joe's" to be more noble then them?
The response to the near disaster plane in NY's Hudson River shows what our country and our people are capable of. Please Barack Obama as President: don't let this administration get away with these crimes.


Congressional hearings and further justice can be put on the back burner for a later date while you work on the economy but there must be an official record of this travesty.

The time is thankfully near to a new administration and hopefully to a better future.

G'night,

Laura

*

Five days left and GW gives his formal BuhBye...

*

Obama gets his 350 billion relaeased from TARP. And floats the $825 billion stimulus plan… Whew. Don’t know what to think about the economic package yet, it’s beyond my scope of “do we have any money left for gas?” life.

Was watching the rescue of the 155 people onboard the US Airways plane just after take off from La Guardia Airport in New York. They saved them all. Seems that the accident was caused by a flock of birds just after takeoff forcing an unexpected landing into the Hudson River. Scary. One thing I never want to hear in my lifetime is the pilot saying over the speaker “We’re going down Brace for impact.” Oldest son came home and went back over the holidays to DC on a similar flight in and out of La Guardia. Amazing landing and thanks to all those boats that helped out. Please give the pilot a key to the city or something.

Perhaps a lukewarm welcome to Senator Roland Burris from Illinois, but confirmation nonetheless. Took longer than I expected it to.

George W Bush gave his formal BuhBye speech, have nothing to say about that at the moment but “thank you.”

Is waterboarding torture? You betcha. No real way around it. We have condemned it in the past towards others, so if we don’t prosecute people here for engaging in it, what does that say about us I wonder?

I read somewhere I don’t remember now where at the moment that Christopher Hitchens (the journalist) volunteered to undergo Waterboarding himself. He stated his belief that it was clearly torture. It will be interesting to see what the new administration thinks about waterboarding, illegal wiretapping et al…

But clearly the best news of all is the Spiderman/Obama inauguration comic book issue is ready to go and I shall have one. Okay so admittedly it’s only great news to me but then I love comics to begin with. Anyway here’s the cover:



G'night,
Have a pleasant tomorrow.

Laura

*

Eight days left of GW Bush... but hey, who's counting?

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Sixteen days to the Obama inauguration, it's getting oh so close!

*

If you can stand to listen to Harry Reid for a while check out today's Meet the Press.
I'm not a fan of Reid but it was an interesting interview. I've decided that I like David Gregory as moderator for the show.
He asks hard questions and follows up on them. I like that.

At any rate, They talk about the Blagojevich appointment of Burris to the Illinois senate seat vacated by Obama.
Politician's talk with forked tongues out of both sides of their mouth. It's so amazing.
At one point when pressed to answer a question about how Reid says they won't seat Burris in the senate it goes like this:

SEN. REID: Hey, listen, David, I'm an old trial lawyer. There's always room to negotiate.

MR. GREGORY: All right, so you're not saying no completely that he won't serve?

SEN. REID: That's right.

Nah, I'd never know that you were a lawyer by the way you twist and turn questions and answers about like that in the wind.
So the proverbial non answer of "room to negotiate" is the answer to the question that is actually truly a non answer... Wow.
I think Rush made the point in the song "Freewill" how "If you choose not to decide, you still have made a choice."
Politicians choose to be unclear there's no doubt about it!

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

To grow up to be a politician you must first learn this cardinal rule little grasshopper:

You must learn the art of double speak, the art of saying one thing and appearing to say another or to say nothing at all and make it appear to mean something. You must learn this art well my child and you will grow up to be a great politician.

***
Thinking of song lyrics here's another appropriate one by Queen:

Another one bites the dust, Another one bites the dust
And another one gone, and another one gone, Another one bites the dust
Hey, Im gonna get you too, Another one bites the dust...

Yes, that would be Obama's choice for Secretary of Commerce in his cabinet... BuhBye Bill Richardson.
Bill withdrew his name because of, yup you guessed it, yet another "ongoing grand jury investigation" into contract/donation/business allegations.
Are there no honest men and women left in this country to represent us?
Wait, since we elect our representatives; we might just be getting what does indeed represent us after all and that dear friends is what makes me the most depressed... Ethics, hard work and truth seem to be in short order these days all around.
I wonder if that was what Bob Dylan meant when he sang "The Times They Are A-Changin'?"

On that happy note I'm going to bed.
Still sick but beginning to feel better.

G'night,

Laura

*

Thirty-five days left of George W Bush

*

Bernie Madoff's ponzi scheme has turned into a really big deal.
But there are still folk that feel deregulating everything is a great idea.
This year especially was a bad year for those that think that businesses and politics can regulate themselves.
But still we got the billion dollar bail out "to save the economy" even though many folk said don't do it, bad idea.
So what will happen to Madoff? Will anyone recoup their losses?
Good luck fixing the cumulative mess Barack, I can't imagine. I truly can't.

Hard to have faith in anyone anymore... People with education or without, poor or wealthy, equally untrustworthy.
Look at so many of our representatives. Politics as usual reeks. No consciences, how do they sleep at night???

RNC released a new anti Obama ad. This is from a link at the RNC's own site. Interesting. We haven't heard the full story and yet there is the ad. So, we're going to do this the whole 4 years are we? He's not even in office. It seems nothing has been done wrong on Obama's side and we don't know what the feds are advising him either. Of course someone from his staff was in touch with the governer of Illinois, he picks the new senator. Duh. American's are sooooo patient.



Such fuss over Hillary's senate seat. Apparently Caroline Kennedy wants it.
So what? She's capable, seems honest, smart, is a good fundraiser and has strong name recognition...
What really ticks me off are these Hillary supporters... you know the ones, those that refused to vote for Obama because he didn't chose her as the VP candidate, even after she asked them to support him.
Those that now are annoyed because Caroline Kennedy went public with her support for Obama over Hillary for presidential nominee. Also Ted Kennedy gave his support to Obama. Gee sorry, that's the way politics goes. Life goes on.
But they say she's not qualified, she's too pedigreed and not political enough.
Give me a break.
Who should we have? Someone like Al Franken, Ted Stevens, Dianne Wilkerson, Fred Thompson, or folk like Spitzer, Palin, Larry Craig or even John Edwards?
Seriously, get over it. I really wanted Hillary to be the first female president, I voted for her in the primary. But she lost because the voters spoke. I was disappointed but wouldn't in a million years have voted for the McCain/Palin ticket because my feelings were hurt. Grow up, you're not helping women seem reasonable and intelligent by being disgruntled sore losers.
If you're against Caroline Kennedy as senator (and I'm not against it, she's better than many of them) make it for a real reason.

And speaking of NY, Gov. Paterson signed a bill that would stop tax free cigarette sales by Indians... Interesting, need revenue?
New Bill on Indian Cigarette Tax

******
Non political:
If you caught Fall Out Boy on Leno tonight performing Sleigh Bells Ringing it must have made you smile (especially if you like them). I was impressed, it was nice to see a Christmas song that wasn't traditional Tony Bennet.

My mood is slightly better, not a lot mind you, but I guess it's an improvement.
Stressed out, one major gift isn't going to be here for Christmas which sucks because we cut back on the gifting.
Still have to bake and all hell has been breaking loose unexpectedly the last week or so.

UGH. Bah Humbug!

I mean Ho, Ho, Ho Merry Happy Christmas Year Holidays New Hanukkah Season Santa Menorah Tree... Kwanzaa.

And to all a Good Night!

Laura

*

Forty-two days left of George W Bush... and I'm baking pies while listening to the news.

*

Well, today's news story on constant re-play is of course the governor from Chicago Rod Blagojevich who was arrested on federal corruption charges. Supposedly he wanted to sell off the senate seat that was left open by Barack Obama for his own financial gain. Of course I'm a bit of a cynic (oh all right I'm a huge cynic) and I think many politicians use their political positions for their own gain (travel, trinkets, influence, donations) but seriously this doesn't even really make sense to me. How stupid can you be? Obviously though the governor makes the decision a lot of input comes from the party and elsewhere.
And having phone conversations about the fact... didn't anyone learn from Monica Lewinski's Linda Tripp recorded conversations?
Did John Edwards really think he could have had an affair (and a child?) and win the nomination for the presidency without anyone finding out about it? What a mess THAT would have been. People talk... Think of Clinton, Gary Hart, even Gingrich's behavior.
I'm starting to think politicians are a dumb lot, not all of them of course but... seriously idiotic behavior considering.
Jeeze, don't they get the concept of "being in the public eye?"

If there's a special election to fill Obama's seat instead of an appointment I wonder if there's a strong democrat to win it.
Not familiar with Illinois politicians and I'm sure the republicans would love to gain that seat. We'll see how they handle it.

Steve Colbert was on Conan O'Brien last night and did the "In the year 2000" piece with him. Funny.

Tonight I've been very busy. The next few days I'm baking things for early Christmas gifts and to try out a couple of recipes.
So, here's a few photos to explain why this post is not all that long.
One pie is for us, one for my mom. Was disappointed by how the crusts cracked but house smelled so yummy.
Had a piece with my hot tea just now and it was good. Apple Raspberry!
All that stuff taking up residence on my kitchen table until tomorrow night will turn into Christmas cookies tomorrow...







So forgive me if I have a few short posts here and there but holiday cheer requires me to put in some time baking!

G'night
Doesn't seem like 2009 will bring peace on earth and good will to all.
But you could say that I'm a dreamer, and I'm not the only one : )

Laura

*

Forty-three days left of GW Bush...

*

Wow I had no idea that Caroline Kennedy as a possibility for Hillary's senate seat was going to cause such a ruckus.
Glad I don't have to make the decision that NY Governor David Paterson will be responsible for.

Gen. Eric Shinseki (retired) seems a reasonable choice for Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Seems Obama is getting competent, intelligent and qualified people to head his cabinet.
This should be a great thing, we'll see how it plays out but it shows a lot of promise.
Or maybe the preferred word would be hope.

Supreme court declined to hear the Barack Obama's citizenship case... shouldn't have taken even that long?
Tribune Co is filing for bankruptcy and will be restructuring under the laws... will it be enough to save the papers?
Tune in tomorrow same bat time same bat channel...

Gitmo news: Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others detained for 9/11 attacks want to be put to death. Hmm.
What a quandary. Let's see they want to confess to conspiracy for helping plan the attacks and plead guilty to charges.
At least some of the relatives of people who lost their lives on 9/11 were able to be there at to see these men in front of them.
I don't know how I'd feel about seeing them in person myself. I just came across a paper my son wrote the day after 9/11 for a class. It made me cry and brought it all back to me. New Yorkers will never forget 9/11 it tore deep into our souls.
CNN story

Significant riots and protests in Greece because the police shot a 15 year old and the information as to why he was shot is rather sketchy. Though the news states that two police officers have been arrested in the case.
Greek riots

The world seems exceptionally dangerous when put on continuous diet of feedback loops of terrorist attacks in India, riots in Greece, The war in Afganistan and Iraq, pirates in Somali, scary things going on all over the world.
Perhaps our air and water quality, over crowding, poor diets, economic meltdowns and worldwide stress is making us a more aggressive species?

Looks like the auto industry is going to get money, how much and under what conditions is the big question.
All the companies including Toyota and others in the US are in serious trouble.
And everyone's fighting over everything as usual, seems to be a prerequisite of legislative bodies in general.

I think that there's too much "news" out there. It's interesting... with 24/7 news channels and constant access internet news there's a constant need for new stories. Seems like everything is made to sound somewhat sensational.
We don't hear some of the stories we should get the details of that would be relevant to us and other stories become a constant replay of video clips with endless banter. UGH. And they call that news.
No wonder most people prefer to watch TV shows and dvds instead of shoveling through all the news nonsense that does nothing much more than bore, anger, or scare the crap out of them.
Mostly bad news: economic, health, political, war, crime, job losses, recession... on and on and followed by a blonde with wishing you goodnight and happy holidays.
::sigh::

Interesting note: the "Call in gay day" idea for Wednesday. Questionable in effectiveness but will get people talking about human rights hopefully.

I'm hoping that I'm not being overly optimistic looking forward to 2009 but I still am.

Happy Holiday Season to all
and to all a G'night

Laura

*

Forty-six days left of GW Bush...

*

I'm wondering if it's getting near time to refinance our mortgage.
I hear that shortly the interest rates might go down a little yet again.
Will look into it next week and see if it would be beneficial to us or not.

I saw that OJ Simpson is going to jail for at least 9 years possibly more.
Now I'm not a vindictive person (though I can be rather sarcastic) but I was reasonably content with that judgement.
Restores my faith in Karma, though about 13 years overdue in arrival.
Now we'll see to what the cosmic powers demand of the juice.

Car manufacturers still crying you must save us.
While at least some of the banks are laughing all the way to the bank.
NY Times says that the US lost 533,000 jobs in November.
Outlook isn't that good for December/January.
I'm digging my heels in for a long cold winter.

I successfully accomplished my mission this evening and we video taped it in small segments.
I'm going to upload it tomorrow and attempt to make it watchable.
I apologize in advance for the possibility of the "awfulness" of my first video.
Was thinking of doing one or so a week.
If nothing else it was fun and I'll hopefully get better along the way.
So, I'll see you, or rather you'll see me tomorrow.

Still squawking about Obama's birth certificate (he was born in Hawaii).
Interesting that it was Clarence Thomas referral.
What a waste of time, effort and money.
Give it a rest... people will believe whatever they want to anyway.
Maybe Obama arrived via UFO, no wait now I remember:
I heard tell that was Sarah Palin and that's the scoop.
And you betcha. Pass it on...
Obama is a US citizen

Will Caroline Kennedy seriously look at the NY senate seat vacated by Hillary Clinton.
That's an interesting development.
Another woman smarter and more interesting than Sarah Palin.
Keep it coming.
Someday soon we'll come out of the dark ages and elect an intelligent, capable woman for the President of the USA.
Yes, we can.
And we will.

G'night
Back tomorrow.

Laura

Fifty days left of George W. Bush's, um, administrating...

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The stories coming out of Mumbai, India are very disturbing.
They're also getting information from the terrorist that they captured.
I feel very bad for all those caught in the attack.
I'd never understand such cruelty if I lived to be a thousand.
It also appears that India had some warning about the possibility of terror attack.
What is the point of all this intelligence that everybody collects when it never seems to be listened to by security agencies and governments? So frustrating.

So it's confirmed yet again that we're in a recession (like there was any doubt) and the stock exchange drops.
They say that we'll likely remain in a recession for a long while... duh. Thanks.
Conflicting reports on Black Friday shopping.
People shopped but the stores slashed prices, so with less shoppers and lower profits I don't know how it's a great thing.

Mall was relatively quiet on Sunday evening when we were there after dropping Coll at train.
Got a few good deals didn't at any point have to wait in line (shocking) and prices were pretty low.
Stuck to my budget and didn't buy much (only had one large bag.
Tonight I looked around online for Cyber Monday.
Not too impressed with sales though I did find 3 things I was looking for out there for pretty good prices.
Just ordered, low sale price, rebates and no shipping costs... not bad.
Would say what the things were but inquiring minds (read as relatives and children) would then know what they were getting.
Can't have that now can I?

And now it's formal Barack Obama has formally announced Hillary Clinton for the position of Secretary of State.
I think this is great. Of course not everyone agrees with me but that's fine.
He's put together a solidly competent and intelligent cabinet now we'll see how it works out in real time.

The Chambliss/Martin run off election in Georgia looks like a republican who's who cast of characters.
Giuliani, McCain, Palin, Romney, Huckabee and the other side is the same: Gore, B. Clinton... Amazing!

Still waiting to hear who officially will win the Minnesota election Coleman or Franken.
I'm thinking Coleman but I don't like Franken so I suppose I hold that against him. Ha, don't care that he's a democrat.
I'm just happy that we didn't have another drawn out contentious presidential election.
That would have been horrible.

Can't believe that it's December 1, 2008 all ready.
Doesn't seem possible yet my computer assures me it's true!

Well, let me get this off my chest now maybe it'll help:
AAAaaarrrrggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh!!!

Not sure it helped my long term stress levels but felt good right now.
In about a week or so that odd thwacking sound you'll hear
is actually the sound my head makes when it hits the table when I realize there aren't enough hours in the day or night to get ready for the holidays.

But then somehow I make it and always enjoy at least the beginning of every year because of the promise of the NEW...

G'night everyone,
Stay sane, if not, try not to show it!

Laura

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Fifty-six daze left of George W. Bush... or let's mess with the environment now.

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I think I lost a whole day, not really like me.
Sorry, I think I'm going to call it a lost weekend.
Blame it on my birthday it's as good an excuse as any other I guess.

Term of the day: Fiscal Responsibility.
Is this corporate welfare or corporate socialism? It's getting hard to tell.
And someone explain to me who decides which bank, agency, business gets money while others don't?

Mismanagement is the cause...
If you don't adjust the people responsible for the whole problem how does that realistically send the message that the market and capitalism actually works? Survival of the fittest or of the government favorites?
Perhaps the government should take over the American Car Industry until it is working again... and they've made the tax payer's investment dollars back. Now that would be interesting.

Did I really see Scooter Libby dressed up as a turkey while GW Bush pardoned him on the Onion site?
Great spoof folks and what a real turkey that truly is!


In Thanksgiving Tradition, Bush Pardons Scooter Libby In Giant Turkey Costume

The recount goes on in Minnesota with a little over 100 votes between Coleman and Franken leaning to the former.
Very contensious, get it over with all ready. Then we just have Georgia left in the runoff election.

Seeing a lot of Barack Obama the second day of speeches for him, then Paulson who is starting to really drive me crazy.
Not hearing too much from ole GW these days...

Damn Midnight Regulations that GW Bush is putting through. Decimating some of the environmental issues yet once again.
Get the damn lame duck (not my word for him but it does rhyme with it) out of office before he gets even more stupid. Please.
Here are some of the things he's putting through last minute that we have to deal with-> check it out it's amazing:

Bush's Midnight Regulations

White collar vs. blue collar
When comparing the bailout for financial institutions to the bridge loans for the domestic auto industry, Steelworker President Leo Gerard made this comment:
"The people who take a shower before they go to work get bailed out. The people who must take a shower after work get thrown out."

This sums up how I feel about this bail out. Wall Street gets bailed out because they can't go broke. CitiGroup is too big to let go broke? What the heck was that? Free market society indeed.
But blame the American auto workers and the union for the problems Auto management made... let them go out of business because who the hell cares about blue collar workers anyway?

Union busting is not a good thing folks. Hasn't worked before. Damn those workers that want good wages, realistic hours, job protection, safe workplaces and health care, stupid little things like that.
The CEO's fly around in corporate jets, get paid obscene wages (for f**king things up) and get bonuses, perks and unbelievable retirement packages... but hey, blame it on the workers because they're unionized and simply show up for work every day to make cars, well until they're laid off that is. Yup blame them ya'll.

Bye, bye middle class... Maybe they'll bail us out some day, you never know.
They should we're all cheap and easy ain't we, or is it expendable?

I still have my problems with Obama, we shall see what he actually does now that he's elected.
They all say lots of stuff before they get in, then the reality of politics kicks in and usually promises are hedged and dodged.

Politicians, can't live with 'em, wish we could live without 'em.

700 billion and not one job created.
The deficit is horrific.
But hey at least GW was cute in his Peruvian Poncho, wuddn't he?

Let's hope Obama has a better plan and let's hope it actually works.

Non politics:
Going to pick up my son tomorrow, visiting from DC for the long Thanksgiving weekend!
Everyone will be home so it'll be a cherished holiday.
My favorite holiday has always been Thanksgiving.
Family gathering together for a fine filling fall meal. The best!
(not to mention that I was born on Thanksgiving, though it rarely falls on it again)

G'night,
Enjoy Thanksgiving and help those less fortunate over the holiday season.

Laura

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Sixty-five days left of the Bush Doctrine...

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It will be nice to finally have a president that doesn't say "ta" instead of "to" or "ditn't..."
I think that if you can't pronounce “nuclear” you shouldn't be allowed to be sworn in as president.
After 8 years handlers still can't get him to say nuclear right even 50% of the time.

Saw the Obama's on 60 Minutes tonight and it was a nice interview.
They have a great rapport and nice family.
Both have worked hard and should be very proud of their accomplishments.

Why the hell don't people in the public eye think through what they say BEFORE they say it???
Paul Broun the congressman from Georgia (Republican) compared Obama's policy proposals to Hitler.
And now he's apologizing for his misstatement. Yeah. Read it see what you think.
Broun's Hitler statement
Hey next time Broun... make your point without the bullshit about Nazi Germany, Marxism and most of all ole boy: Adolf Hitler'sname shouldn't even come up in the discussion at all. Totally offensive misuse of history, unbelievably tactless and completely asinine (to put it mildly).

Good God now Gulliani is looking to run for governor of NY. No freakin' way Rudy.
You're way too "cosmopolitan" for us, too "elitist" and you seem to think "community organizers" have some sort of socially unacceptable disease. Really sad, coming from the once mayor of NYC don't you think?
Is hard work, advocating for human rights and compassion a bad thing now?
Go away Rudy and take your delusions of grandeur with you please.
The community of NY state doesn't need you to lead us anywhere...
Retire from politics and become a makeup artist all ready, or a really homely Marilyn Monroe impersonator.
You know you want to.

It would seem that there's going to be a real fight over the automotive industry's bleak outlook... and cash relief.
Now they're saying once again that we have to get the economy up and running again by the American people spending money to save all the businesses that are facing a dire year ahead... Um, wanna give us some money, maybe we'd spend it.
Maybe.
Or maybe we'd pay off our debt, or maybe we'd put it in the bank, remember the savings part of "savings and loan?"
This is going to be a tough year for many. No way around it realistically yet. Need better ideas, and no I don't have them.
Neither does the government on either side of the fence so far.

Weaselly bad credit commercials are showing up on the TV now... Let us fix your credit problems, get you loans, etc... just call this number and one of our wonderful representatives will take care of you. Yea sure.

Non politics:
Starting to feel better, cold is letting up a bit. (crosses fingers & knocks on wood)
My husband did a lot of maintenance on my imac and upgraded Parallels which now works a lot better...
I use my imac exclusively for photography, artwork, video and most creative projects.
I do most of my writing on my MacBookPro cause it's mobile and I can write anywhere.

G'night,

Laura

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Seventy more days of George W. Bush...

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Watching McCain on Jay Leno at the moment.
He's being rather gracious, funny and straightforward which is nice to see again.

The Dow Jones still down, where's this all going?
I saw a few angry articles about how it's Obama's fault that the stocks market is tanking further.
Right. Here we go with the bullshit again. Never stops does it? Never so much as a truce on either side.
Stated that it was falling because of Obama fear gripping the country. Seriously guys?
I suppose if he doesn't fix everything by the end of next year they'll be screaming.
(Like McCain had any real plans other than more of the same.)
The country is broken and we're all going to have to pitch in to fix it.
We're not used to hard times, especially our children.
Unfortunately our government's budget has no wriggle room. Using "magic money" it seems.

Bailing companies out and hoping for trickle down economic theory to work isn't gonna cut it.
Business as usual has to change, for all of us.
Who's gonna buy a car in this economy if the one they have is still runnin'?

Saw a clip that Conan O'Brien is giving all his audience members left over John McCain dolls.
We have the weirdest celebrity, political figure, media relationships in this country.

Have to go get a bunch of bloodwork, ekg, and other stuff.
Blood pressure up, chest pressure, head ache, shoulder pain, shortness of breath, oh yay.
Extremely tired. Doc today says get all these tests done. See cardiologist now. Fun.
Oh and losing weight would be good too.
So taking it easy tomorrow if at all possible. Probably typing some more.
Blood work is fasting so Thursday.

G'night.
Take care of yourselves everybody.

Laura

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No more George W. Bush in seventy-three days...

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So the Palin camp and the McCain camp are fighting over who said what about whom... awesome.





What does everyone think about Senator Joe Lieberman's position in the democratic ticket?
He's a democrat that ran against his own party in Connecticut on the independent party but is a member of the democratic party and holds the position of chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. He would likely lose that if they excommunicate him from the party.
It's no big secret that I'm no fan of Lieberman (I said he should be tarred, feathered and sent out of Connecticut for his RNC speech. Look he can support anyone he wants and it's mavericky and all but... it was what he said and how he campaigned that pissed many off. Republicans are courting him now. Ha. Fascinating this election was don't you think?
Now if NY could get rid of Rudy. ::sigh:: But that's almost impossible isn't it?
Not too favored by Social workers here even before the "community organizer" and "cosmopolitan" comments. Ugh.

Lieberman discussion(2:25 is the beginning of the Lieberman info...)
If you continue on in that clip on Lieberman it discusses Elisabeth Dole's loss and her ad that probably cost her the re-election. Isn't there something very important about not throwing stones if you live in a glass house. Be careful who you call godless as a Christian Elizabeth, Kay Hagan came back with the perfect better Christian response. Good job North Carolina.

Going in to the city tomorrow to see a lecture by Neil Gaiman. Trudging in with my Absolute Sandman 1,2 & 3 books, hopefully I can get them signed. That would be a great birthday present to myself. Heavy but I'll manage.

Obama's mutt comment was wonderful by the way! Honest, and so American. We are ALL mutts folks... deal with it.

G'night,
Enjoy the weekend!

Laura

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Seventy-five days to Barack Obama's inaugural address.

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Finally only 75 days in office left of George W. Bush the lame duck president!!!
Very happy to say that. No more mangling of the English language.

I'm interested in which direction Palin will go now.
(Though I'd really like her to disappear back to Alaska until at the very least 2009, perhaps a little longer.)
Will she be persuaded to pursue the power and distinction of running for the first female president in 2012?
(And it makes me really ill to think she would be elected the first female president.)
or will she go for the really big bucks that the conservative talk show hosts get from the "elite" media?

I don't think she can do both. Interesting. I doubt she'll go away. But hey I can dream right?

It was really inspiring to see how the world reacted to the announcement of "President Elect Barack Obama."
Amazing. How people here reacted.

I don't imagine he will accomplish all the things on his agenda... none of them do.
But I do think he'll heal some of our wounds if given a chance. And I hope he is given the chance.
Already we are hearing complaints on the air, I don't imagine that will stop.
The press likes to crucify presidents it seems and especially the democratic ones.

I'd like to think that the republicans next time will run a more moderate, less divisive candidate.
Or even better, since many conservative moderates feel left out of the system in both parties...
They will create a three party system... Left leaning democrats, right leaning republicans and an Independent party
that is more in the center of both. Now that would be interesting.

Meanwhile, I think attention should be rightfully given to Barack Obama. It was a long campaign and difficult.
The end of the Bush years.
Still smiling.

G'night
Going to get some sleep tonight.

Laura

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President elect Barack Obama. Next day feelings from a woman in NY.

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I'll begin by saying that both McCain and Obama gave fantastic speeches last night.
Both were sincere and both showed grace from opposite sides of the election result.
I'm truly glad that we didn't have to listen to Biden or Palin last night. It's not about them anymore for now.

For someone like me that stood up for a more moderate and yes, a more accepting, inclusive, liberal outlook on the world, this was a historic night.
While I'm thrilled with the Obama/Biden win, I do feel a tug at my heart that this was not the time for a female leader.
I voted for Obama/Biden because I am a woman, because I feel they will protect my rights as a woman and create a more moderate, inclusive government.
McCain/Palin won't represent my beliefs. They are too conservative.
I've stood for human rights all my life, ALL people's rights.

I stood along with other women for equal pay for equal work, for access to birth control, for legal rights and the right to choose.

I love the diversity of our country. The ethnicity, colors, and voices of all of our people. I cherish our freedoms, our rights, our democracy.
New York city is the image of the country I envision, the wonderful patchwork of movement and people.
I realize others see it differently and I respect that. I do not see a "real" America nor an "elitist" one.
We need to work together as a nation to seek a better future for all
of us.

I remember the extreme prejudices of the past, the marches on Washington, The loss of the lives of many good men in the cause for true equality and justice. People of all colors, sex, age and ethnicity stood together, sometimes for the first time ever.

I remember the split the Vietnam war brought to our country. The anger on both sides. I know you can be vehemently against a war and both love your country and totally support the young men that are sent to risk their lives in support of it's military actions.

I believe that gay people should have the same rights that "straight" people have across the board. I know many don't share that view.

This is truly historic and exciting. An amazingly dynamic time for our country; we are poised to change our future, to strengthen our place in the world.
Can we do it? I want to believe we can. I have Hope once again, I have a dream now too, and I think "Yes, yes, we can."

This is not a total mandate, I've lived long enough to know that nothing is ever cast totally in stone.
No, the future won't be easy, there will be many problems to face along the path, both expected and unexpected...
Kudos to the young people of this nation who actually DID get out and vote en masse this time.
For many of the young see the world as more diverse and varied than many of their older generation counterparts.

But today I believe with all my heart that we are a better people.

*****
There were some things that were interesting along with the election:

Unfortunately (to me anyway) it seems California will repeal the rights of gay couples to marry in that state. A loss of rights there, that could effect new initiatives in other states.

Michigan is now the thirteenth state to legalize medical marijuana.

Massachusetts has decriminalized small amounts of marijuana by 65%
yes, 35% no.

Michelle Bachmann of Minnesota was reelected. I really don't get that
at all.

Still can't see Al Franken as senator, but there will be a recount.
Coleman has the edge.

Washington state joined Oregon passing a right to die with dignity
bill allowing for lethal dose for patients with short time to live.

There are other items, but I'm way too tired and desperately need
sleep.

Au revoir

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One day till E-Day... Could it be in just over 48 hours it'll be over?

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Shortly we'll have a new president!!!
Might be a long night Tuesday!

I have no idea why Cheney endorsed McCain...
It's funny though in the sense that Obama was able to use it in one of his ads... no surprise there.
Interesting. Woulda thought that Bush and especially Cheney were persona non grata for endorsements at this juncture. Hmm.



I can't be sure how the election will turn out. Whether it'll be close or not we shall see Tuesday night.
But at least it will be over. Let's hope we don't have to wait any extra time like the last 2 presidential elections.
Let's hope for a great turnout and a clear winner.

I'm still sick. Crummy old cold.
Drinking a cup of hot tea and hoping to start feeling better sooner rather than later.

So tonight I don't have much to say.
Except this.
Monday: Prepare to Vote!
Tuesday: Go out and VOTE!

If you've all ready voted
Join all the rest of us watching the tv to find out who our next president will be.

G'night, sleep well.

Laura

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