was he ever on the wagon... ?

Apparently Jesus' work here is done, either as a prop or as a crutch.

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Update: Dubya: That Jesus thing? It was all bullshit!

the biggest "change" of all...

Barack Obama isn't George F'ing Bush!

signed, One Happier Progressive!

in the year 2525 (if man is still alive)...

"Trillion" is the new "billion."

Here's betting the news will be covering "quadtrillions" within 10 years.

jesus... !

I mean, the days are cold up here already...

"There is a storm coming," Friedman continued, "and it hasn't hit yet. And I believe the decisions made, possibly in these next two months, could determine the next four years. This administration could be over before it starts -- over in the sense that it will spend the next four years digging out of a hole that has been created right now, that may be deeper and darker than anyone realizes."

this explains much...

I suppose that if the NSA showed me its file of my proclivities, utterances, browses, or other assorted misbehavings, and wanted me to bark like a poodle (or send troops to Iraq and keep them there for no good reason), I'd likely be thankful that's all they wanted.

bonus... !!!

Hmm... Gee! Do I want universal health coverage if it means the end of the Republican party?

Is this, like, a trick question?

lennon was right...

Mighty white of the Vatican to "forgive" John Lennon for telling the truth. The Beatles were more popular than Jesus. Christians and Christianists don't know who Jesus was or is, they just wish they do. And the the 60s crazies plum forgot Him (no, not Lennon!) during the era of Beatlemania -- that is, until Lennon spoke his truth, and which apparently snapped them out of that particular mania. And Lennon got a taste of what happens when you're a buzzkill on a massive scale.

the anti-midas...

Given King Midas is said to have had the power to turn all matter into gold simply by touching it, I had, for some time, dubbed Dubya the "anti-Midas" as everything he touches turns to excrement.

Looks here like the world leaders have caught wind.

the benefit of the doubt...

In case you were wondering, I'm keeping my powder dry with respect to the kid-gloves treatment of Lieberlips in lieu of burning him at the stake. It says here Holy Joe wants to keep his job in 2012, and the only way he does that is to play ball with the Dems for the next four years. There's a lot of buyer's remorse to overcome in Connecticut, eh, Mr. Shays?

Meanwhile, I'm hearing Rahm Emanuel saying the Obama Administration plans on "going long & deep" with respect to reforming healthcare and energy, hiring Tom Daschle at HHS because he knows how to push legislation through the Senate like nobody's business, or the fact House Dems just bumped off John Dingell and replaced him with Henry Waxman on the Energy Committee, etc.; or the mere fact Emanuel and Hillary piss off the Republicans by merely looking cross-eyed at them -- all of which indicates to me that a strong wind is a'blowin' toward significant change...

... and presumably for the better.

So put me on simmer and check back in about 20 minutes.

a capital idea...

Have Big Oil bail out the Big 3.

the question is begged...

Which is more unbelievable -- Joe Lieberlips keeping his chairmanship of the Senate Homeland Security Committee or Dustin Pedroia winning the AL MVP?

Yo, Dustin! Can I borrow yer bat for a sec?

those who don't learn from history...

The book I'm reading at present...

An excerpt from which explains why the Republicans don't want you to learn about the American Revolution:

From the testimony from the Governor himself, the rebellion against him had the overwhelming support of the Virginia population. A member of his Council reported that the defection was "almost general" and laid it to "the Lewd dispositions of some Persons of desperate Fortunes" who had "the Vaine hopes of takeing the Countrey wholley out of his Majesty's handes into their owne." Another member of the Governor's Council, Richard Lee, noted that Bacon's Rebellion had started over Indian policy. But the "zealous inclination of the multitude" to support Bacon was due, he said, to "hopes of levelling."

"Levelling" meant equalizing the wealth. Levelling was to be behind countless actions of poor whites against the rich in all the English colonies in the century and a half before the Revolution.

So there it is. Barack Obama talks of "spreading the wealth," and the upper class calls it Socialism or Marxism, not factoring into the equation the fact the American Revolution came about precisely because greedy bastards back in the day, many of whom were direct ancestors of George Dubya and "his base," had fixed the system to the detriment of the many, who, in return, took exception to being ripped off by the select and often took matters in their own hands.

A shame, perhaps, that we are thus preempted by the historic vote on Nov. 4th of a more bloody and, hence, viscerally satisfying revolt -- the kind which would've been applauded by Thomas Jefferson... and, uhm, me.

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Update: Oh wait! Wasn't George III a direct ancestor to the Bushes? 232 years after the fact and the apple still doesn't fall far from the rotted tree.

thanks but...

Great! Recommendations from a war criminal and a wannabe from the Federalist Society... Mom would be so proud!

before throwing money at them, make them leave...

Sen. Levin: Big Three Auto CEO's Should Resign

A new era where the CEOs get a taste of what it's like to be ordinary...

Ah yes, but will Levin and the Dem leadership follow thru on doing the right thing? After all, the minority Repos are prepared to let the Big 3 die if for no other reason than to let the unions die too. Fair's fair means letting the Boards of Directors hang too.

another one bites the dust...

Estelle Reiner: 1914 - 2008

Estelle Reiner, who died on October 25 aged 94, uttered one of the most famous lines in modern cinema – as a customer in a New York deli in the 1989 film When Harry Met Sally she observed Meg Ryan's character faking an orgasm at a nearby table and told the waiter asking for her order: "I'll have what she's having."

Proof positive that Nora Ephron is best left writing the script as long as Rob Reiner gets to direct.

so it isn't just us... ?

Yah! 50 years from now History'll look smilingly on Dubya. Meanwhile:

Mr Sarkozy, using the familiar tu, tried to reason with him: "Yes but do you want to end up like [President] Bush?" Mr Putin was briefly lost for words, then said: "Ah -- you have scored a point there."

leahy to lieberlips: screw... !!

Oh so nice to see some spine in the Dem Senate Caucus:

"I'm one who does not feel that somebody should be rewarded with a major chairmanship after doing what he did."

And while you're at it, Dem Senators, give your leader Mr. Reid a final squeeze out the aft chute too, eh?

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Update: Bernie Sanders to Lieberlips: Screw 2!

"heritage," my left glute...

So I'm parked at the corner, waiting for my next call on the radio. I'm watching as this pick-up blows past. Attached to the bed in the back is a huge flag-pole festooned with an oversized Confederate flag flapping furiously and flatulently.

"Dickheads," I thought, shaking my head.

Yeah, yeah! "Heritage," is their argument. Gotta keep the faith, dude. Yeh, I get it. I mean, half my lineage is North Carolina/Virginia-way anyhow. I enjoy the people, they talk funny, I have a good time when I'm there. So to the good ol' boys of the deep south: the flag offends, but I believe you mean it, those of you who indulge in flying the Starz'n Barz, when you say it's about your heritage. I'm nuanced, I can go there.

But these assholes are from Maine! How many Confederates were in Maine during those, uhm, Heritage days? If there was one, he was a spy. Know what I mean?

Homey don't play that, and neither do I.

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Update: And don't get me started on the wind-drag a flag that big can increase in gas costs there, bud!

using the lord's name in vain...

... this being what was meant in der Bible:

"I'm like, OK, God, if there is an open door for me somewhere, this is what I always pray, I'm like, don't let me miss the open door. Show me where the open door is."

"I'm like, here's the open door, Sarah," said God. "The one at the far side of the bridge to nowhere, leading to that ice floe over there, okayyy? Like, just go on."

And then there was light. And it was good.

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Update: Matthew 6:5-6

5"And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.

6"But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

center-right-left-center-middle-up-down-wtf... ?

Word is Rahm Emanuel has taken the gig at the White House, Chief of Staff for President-elect Obama. Meanwhile, the lefties are in freak-mode at Nancy Pelosi's stated intent to govern "from the center." I too would like the hard lurch to the left, and, indeed, feel governing from the center would properly require a hard lurch to the left, but understand what needs be done to maintain success, more important than merely attaining such.

Clearly, the corporate media and the Oligarchy are highly resistant to "real change" -- say, from crony capitalism to market capitalism, which the cronyists like to call "socialism." And scaring the bejeebus out of those entities, while viscerally satisfying, is certainly a guarantee that any victories would be pyrrhic as they would likely be short-lived.

So the talk that is talked will continue to be corporate-speak. The marriage of gays, for example, will be put off, as the gays in the military were not in the first 100 days of Bill Clinton's presidency. The assumption here is Obama is at least the intellectual equal of Bill Clinton but is clearly 20 times smarter, and should learn from Clinton's mistake of lurching too far too soon in '92, consequently losing his Democratic majority in Congress in '94.

Any transition promises to take considerable time to smooth frictions with a hard-right minority -- a hardened-right at that, what with the decimation of Republican moderates -- one still with the capacity to filibuster anything and everything under the sun. "Hope" in this context, then, means a belief that more long-term liberal policies will be effected, and the push to the left will not be as obvious but will nonetheless be palpable.

So I'm a practical progressive (possibly naive), not to be confused with a compassionate conservative, whom I'd consider a fraud at his face. I'm perfectly willing to let Barack Obama play his hand and see where this all goes. I'm encouraged, meanwhile, to hear Robert Kennedy, Jr., is on the short list for EPA while Caroline Kennedy is being seen as the U.N. Ambassador. These are good things.

so, spark 'er up already... !

American voters more pro pot than ever (though not necessarily for the reasons above, but okay!)...

another one bites the dust...

Michael Crichton: 1942-2008

Author: Andromeda Strain, Jurassic Park, etc...

Creator of E.R. television series...

Global Warming Denier... alas!

the day after...

Unlike a letdown that may come, say, post-Christmas, the day after America shows the rest of the world we're not all assholes, the sensibility carries with it a fairly euphoric hangover. "Yes We Can!" "Hope!" "Change!" -- lovely buzzwords they. Following up is akin to having to maintain success, which is decidedly more difficult than achieving it. Of course one cannot maintain what one has yet to achieve, so one step at a time -- hey?

The elements apparently approve, the day is a hazy, 60-something, temperate experience, facilitating the buzz and making for a pleasant drive to the Y and a swim.

Of course, one cannot ignore the walking malignancy still in the White House endeavoring to metastasize itself by way of further deregulation of environmental and consumer safeguards (and so little time!!) and utterly ignoring how its presence made necessary an Obama presidency -- the will of the American people to the contrary be damned.

Meanwhile, I'm under little illusion as to the corporate-friendly policies this new president will implement (Rahm Emanuel as COS? Hello!?), but it is also apparent that he is aware he has to actually effect "change" to the old way of doing business. Economic stimulus: infrastructure and universal healthcare for starters; this new president, at the very least, knows that government has a much greater roll -- not bigger, necessarily, but certainly better. And that means re-regulation on a massive scale.

I suspect it'll take at least his entire first term, and likely well into his second, to fix what Dubya broke.

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Update: Ol' Morning Sickness has his rightist probs w/Emanuel too. Then it dawned: Of course, Emanuel is the ultimate behind-the-scenes triangulator, which means Obama is planning to stick it to both sides. Oy!

a gaming analogy...

Pennsylvania was 'check.'

Ohio was 'checkmate!'

yeah, baby, yeaaaaah... !!

Courtesy of DKos...

are we on... ?

Naahm rightly spanks me for not having blogged extensively of late, particularly during this politcal season of potential upheaval. My apologies to the three of you who actually read this space religiously, I have been running ragged, working 4 part-time jobs whilst looking after my mother who, back in January, was deemed terminal with cancer (bile duct now spread to the lungs) as you may know. Not that I'm needing sympathy, I rather enjoy the mix of driving a cab, substitute teaching, writing for the weekly paper (though not on a weekly basis, but in due time), and now working the front desk of an area hotel affords me the privilege at least of not having to draw another unemployment check -- sorry Naahm, times've been tough. Meanwhile, my mother I have discovered, as an adult whereas I could not when I was a more self-absorbed adolescent or child, just what a stout-hearted old girl with a heretofore undetected joi de vivre. She makes me proud of who she is and what she's done in her 81 years.

Also astounding that she says she's been hanging on if only to see Obama kick McCain's ass, which ought be today -- and she, a lifelong Republican. She loves the red & black Obama poster I brought home, it with "HOPE" as caption, a poster, which, by the way, resembles in somber if prideful tone those old Soviet/Prolitariat workers-of-the-world thematics you'd see in Chaatoes' basement (and I knew you'd appreciate that comparison, Naahmy).

And so this being my fancy way to segue into the political analysis -- where to begin?