The Best. Period.

There Was No Better Moment Than This In 2008.



Bring On 2009.

The Best Worsts

The Guardian:

19 E.D. Hill. Ms Hill is the Fox News anchor who referred to Barack and Michelle Obama's on-stage fist bump in early June as a "terrorist fist jab". I guess she's well familiar with the various and sundry ways in which couples express intimacy - she's been married three times herself. Fox announced in November that it wasn't renewing her contract.

18 Don Blankenship. Who? He's the head of a huge coal-mining company that is an industry leader, if one must put it that way, in so-called mountain-top removal mining. It's a hideous practice that destroys mountains and communities, and Blankenship is its poster child. Our supreme court has agreed to hear a case in which Blankenship financed the election of a state judge who, in a $50m lawsuit, ruled for Blankenship's company. Google Caperton v Massey, read more about Massey, and tell me if this fellow shouldn't perhaps be even higher.

17 Samuel Joseph Wurzelbacher. The man better known as Joe the Plumber wasn't a licensed plumber. He owed back taxes. He shocked even a Fox News anchor with his cavalier relationship to the facts. Let's hope he's 14 minutes into his allotted 15 minutes of fame.

16 John Edwards. How could a person run for president knowing that he'd cheated on his cancer-stricken wife with a woman who subsequently bore a child? (He denies paternity.) What if he'd actually won the nomination, and then this news came out? He gives bad judgment a bad name.

15 Heath and Deborah Campbell. You know, the parents who named their son Adolf Hitler Campbell. Nuff said.

14 Geraldine Ferraro. One of the worst vice-presidential candidates in recent history distinguished herself in 2008 as one of the worst political surrogates (for Hillary Clinton) in recent history. In between, she found a way to lose two Senate races that she once led by 20 points. What a career.

13 Stephen L Johnson. The Bush administration's chief environmental enforcement officer is ... about what you'd expect out of the Bush administration's chief environmental officer. He's loosened rules, ignored subpoenas and been rebuked by his own staff.

12 Sam Zell. Yes, market forces and technology are putting the American newspaper on life support, but that doesn't mean that the man who bought the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times should stroll into the intensive-care unit and pull the plug. Zell's belief that productivity should be measured purely by word output is a death knell for intensive, investigative work that uncovers corruption.

11 David Addington. Dick Cheney's top aide told Congress in June that he didn't even know what the unitary executive theory of presidential power was. This would be rather like Lavrenti Beria insisting that Lubyanka prison was actually a hotel.

10 The boys from AIG. Less than a week after the insurance giant received an $85bn federal bail-out, some AIG execs and sales reps spent $440,000 on a retreat at an exclusive resort, including $23,000 in spa charges. Well, they were under tremendous stress, you know.

9 Eliot Spitzer. The prostitute-visiting ex-New York governor, remember? Usually, when a scandal breaks, one reads the reports and starts thinking, "Well, I can see how they could wriggle out of this one." Even when the Lewinsky scandal broke, I could see how Bill Clinton might get out of it. But when the Spitzer story broke, it was evident instantly that he was dead meat.

8 Dick Cheney. Just because. If he lives to be 99 - and he's not as old as he looks: can you believe, for instance, that he's younger than Ringo? - and I'm still doing this column, something tells me he'll always find his way on the list. It'll take that long to undo the damage he's done to flag and country.

7 Steve Schmidt. John McCain didn't make the list, but his chief campaign strategist has earned an indisputable spot. He displayed a rare combination of incompetence, tone-deafness and cynicism. He's only as low as number eight because it didn't work.

6 Joe Lieberman. It's not that the Connecticut senator backed McCain. It's the way he did it, the way he does everything - the self-regard, the pride, the arrogation to himself of some kind of moral authority that he in fact does not have any more (even if he once did, itself a debatable proposition). Don't take it from me. Take it from his constituents, who ignored him to the tune of supporting Obama by a 22-point margin.

5 Michele Bachmann. Of the many memorable moments the campaign produced, I will never forget watching this Minnesota congresswoman say on national TV in October that Obama "may have anti-American views" and endorse the idea of a media investigation of all members of Congress to determine whether their views were sufficiently pro-American. The single most appalling political statement of the year.

4 Rod Blagojevich. "Whatever I say is always lawful, whatever I'm interested in doing is always lawful." Uh-huh. Depending on what comes out at his trial, he's a strong contender for an even higher spot in 2009.

3 George Bush. There were years when he would have been higher - 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007. I'll give him a slight pass for 2001, what with the attacks and all that. In those previous years, he stole an election, started an unnecessary war, lied about it, approved torture, let a great US city drown and so on. This year he merely presided over the bankruptcy of the global economy. Twenty days and counting.

2 Sarah Palin. Does she really deserve to be this high? Never in my adult lifetime has one politician so perfectly embodied everything that is malign about my country: the proto-fascist nativism, the know-nothingism, the utterly cavalier lack of knowledge about the actual principles on which the country was founded. So, heck, you betcha she does!

1 Bernard Madoff. It's pronounced "made-off". Could Dickens have named him better? Bilking people and institutions out of $50bn is a pretty surefire way to make yourself No 1 with a bullet on anyone's year-end bad guys' list.

Know Hope

People do get what they deserve:

The onetime Bush Attorney General admitted Tuesday that “skittish” law firms won’t hire him after his departure under fire from the Justice Department surrounding his role in the political firings of nine US Attorneys. He says he considers himself a victim of the “war on terror,” though his firing actually came after what seemed to be a war on US Attorneys who didn’t cleave to Administration policies.

Sounding dumbfounded, the 53-year-old former judge and corporate lawyer told the Wall Street Journal, “What is it that I did that is so fundamentally wrong, that deserves this kind of response to my service?”

Steve Benen helps him :

Just off the top of my head, there was the U.S. Attorney purge scandal, Gonzales signing torture memos, his conduct in John Ashcroft's hospital room, his oversight of a Justice Department that was engaged in widespread employment discrimination, and his gutting of the DoJ's Civil Rights Division. Gonzales was even investigated by the department's Inspector General on allegations of perjury and obstruction.

On warrantless-searches, the Military Commissions Act, policy on detainees at Guantanamo Bay, and the Geneva Conventions, Gonzales was a disaster. On managing the Justice Department, he filled his staff with Pat Robertson acolytes, feigned ignorance while structural disasters unfolded, and showed shocking tolerance for corruption and politicization of a department that, for the benefit of the nation and the rule of law, needed to maintain independence.

Andrew Cohen, the editor and chief legal analyst for CBS News, wrote a primer last year that Gonzales may want to reference to help refresh his memory.

By any reasonable standard, the Gonzales Era at the Justice Department is void of almost all redemptive qualities. He brought shame and disgrace to the Department because of his lack of independent judgment on some of the most vital legal issues of our time. And he brought chaos and confusion to the department because of his lack of respectable leadership over a cabinet-level department among the most important in the nation.

He neither served the longstanding role as "the people's attorney" nor fully met and tamed his duties and responsibilities to the constitution. He was a man who got the job not because he was supremely qualified or notably well-respected among the leading legal lights of our time, but because he had faithfully and with blind obedience served President George W. Bush for years in Texas (where he botched clemency memos in death penalty cases) and then as White House counsel (where he botched the nation's legal policy on torture).

Oh Ferchrissake

So Now Harry Reid decides to take a stand.

I sent him this note.

Majority Leader Reid,

I am a homeowner in Rep. Emanuel's district and a bit of a yellow dog democrat.

I am writing to ask you to seat Roland Burris. Admittedly, Governor Blagojevich is a disgrace.

Burris is not.

Please do not punish Illinois when our Governor finally does something right.

This is hardly the time for you, by the way, to flex the muscles we have failed to see flexed in the last two years.

You can contact him here. Please do.

Goodbye 2008

Some Faves of ours this year:

Okkervil River - Pop Lie



The Hold Steady - Stay Positive



MGMT - Kids



My Morning Jacket - Evil Urges



TV On The Radio - Golden Age



Conor Oberst - I Don't Want To Die In The Hospital



Blitzen Trapper - Furr (doesn't really do the song justice) (BUT X-TRA Points for the Beatle Bass)



David Byrne & Brian Eno (whodda thunk it?) - Strange Overtones

WTF?! A Good Solution.

Who'da thunk it ... politically clean, boring, black and probably just a placekeeper ...

CHICAGO – Embattled Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich has scheduled an afternoon news conference amid reports that he plans to name someone to Barack Obama's vacated U.S. Senate seat.

Blagojevich was arrested earlier this month on charges that he tried to sell or trade the seat to the highest bidder.

Citing unnamed sources, the Chicago Tribune reported Tuesday that Blagojevich plans to appoint 71-year-old former Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris. Senate leaders have said they will not seat anyone Blagojevich names.

Blagojevich has scheduled a 3 p.m. EST news conference. His spokesman Lucio Guerrero declined to say what the Democratic governor plans to discuss.

The governor has denied wrongdoing and has vowed to remain in office

Duh

Bushies cooperate with Vanity Fair to protect (or at least improve) their own positions in the history books:

Ex-aides say Bush never recovered from Katrina

AP News

Hurricane Katrina not only pulverized the Gulf Coast in 2005, it knocked the bully pulpit out from under President George W. Bush, according to two former advisers who spoke candidly about the political impact of the government's poor handling of the natural disaster.

"Katrina to me was the tipping point," said Matthew Dowd, Bush's pollster and chief strategist for the 2004 presidential campaign. "The president broke his bond with the public....

Dan Bartlett, former White House communications director and later counselor to the president, said: "Politically, it was the final nail in the coffin."

Lawrence Wilkerson, top aide and later chief of staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell, said that as a new president, Bush was like Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin,...

"[Having Cheney, Rumsfeld and Powell on board] allowed everybody to believe that this Sarah Palin-like president — because, let's face it, that's what he was — was going to be protected by this national-security elite, tested in the cauldrons of fire," Wilkerson said, adding that he considered Cheney probably the "most astute, bureaucratic entrepreneur" he'd ever met.

"He became vice president well before George Bush picked him," Wilkerson said of Cheney. "And he began to manipulate things from that point on, knowing that he was going to be able to convince this guy to pick him, knowing that he was then going to be able to wade into the vacuums that existed around George Bush — personality vacuum, character vacuum, details vacuum, experience vacuum."

Maine bishop threatens to punish vocal activist

Sent from Express News
PORTLAND, Maine - The leader of Maine's Roman Catholics has taken the unusual step of threatening to punish an outspoken advocate for people who were sexually abused by priests, possibly by denying him communion.

Paul Kendrick of Freeport has been banned from the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Portland, and warned in a letter that if he tries again to contact Portland Bishop Richard Malone he risks losing any right "to participate fully in the sacramental life of the church."

By DAVID SHARP Associated Press Writer

Palin's daughter gives birth to son named Tripp

Sent from Express News
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - The daughter of former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin has given birth to a son, a magazine reported Monday.

Bristol Palin, 18, gave birth to Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston on Saturday, People magazine reported online. He weighed 7 pounds, 4 ounces. Colleen Jones, the sister of Bristol's grandmother, told the magazine that "the baby is fine and Bristol is doing well."

The Associated Press

Hard to hear at holiday parties? Blame your brain

and I was blaming it on Rock & Roll....

Sent from Express News
NEW YORK - It's almost New Year's Eve, a time for plunging into boisterous crowds bathed in loud music. And for some of us, that means turning to an old friend and hearing things like this: "Did you know (BOOM-da-da-BOOM) went over (Bob! You look wonder-) so she said (clink-clink) and then I (Here, have another one) what would you do?" Huh? Too noisy to hear! But wait - how come these younger people understood what she said? What's wrong with your ears? Actually, part of the problem may be your brain.

In fact, it may lie in your brain's dimmer switch for controlling the input from your ears. That bit of brain circuitry appears to falter with age, and scientists are getting some clues about why.
By MALCOLM RITTER AP Science Writer

Jazz great Freddie Hubbard dead at 70

Sent from Express News
LOS ANGELES - Freddie Hubbard, the Grammy-winning jazz musician whose style influenced a generation of trumpet players and who collaborated with such greats as Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins, died Monday, a month after suffering a heart attack. He was 70.

Hubbard died at Sherman Oaks Hospital, said his manager, fellow trumpeter David Weiss of the New Jazz Composers Octet. He had been hospitalized since suffering the heart attack a day before Thanksgiving.
By JOHN ROGERS Associated Press Writer

Priority # 1

Now, as always, VACATION!

Apparently the permanent one coming up in three weeks is not enough....

Via Think Progress

While Bush has been briefed on the situation by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, he has opted not to interrupt his final vacation as president to make a public statement on the crisis. For someone who has enjoyed the most vacation days as sitting president — including days spent relaxing in comfort during Hurricane Katrina and in the lead-up to 9/11 — it shouldn’t come as a huge surprise that Bush prioritizes vacationing over crisis management.

ABC News reports:

Even an emerging crisis in the Middle East, one he pledged to resolve just 13 months ago, has not drawn President George W. Bush from his final vacation before leaving office. Despite his personal pledge at Annapolis last year to broker a deal between Israel and the Palestinians before 2009, this weekend Bush sent his spokesmen to comment in his stead. […]

Since departing Washington for Crawford on Friday, President Bush has made no attempt to be seen in public. In fact, he has yet to leave his ranch.

Today, in a press briefing delivered from the “Western White House” in Crawford, TX, White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe was asked what is on Bush’s schedule today. In addition to receiving “updates on the ongoing situation,” Johndroe said, “I expect he’ll probably ride his bicycle today and spend time with Mrs. Bush.”

1000 Words + 5

Someday Somebody Is Going To Have To Join Civilization

Yglesias observes, and we wholeheartedly concur

Marty Peretz on the Gaza attacks:

Message: do not fuck with the Jews.

I think that’s exactly right, and also incredibly idiotic. To people who feel besieged and impotent to resolve the political paralysis afflicting their country, something like sending the message “do not fuck with the Jews” must feel incredibly cathartic. But you have to ask yourself which Palestinian having lived through decades of Israeli occupation and all sorts of different ups-and-downs of Israeli policy and all manner of retaliatory strikes and cease-fires is really unaware that Israel doesn’t like being fucked with? The psychology of catastrophe is that one wants (a) to improve the situation, and (b) to lash out at a bad guy.

Under the circumstances, the temptation to decide that you can best accomplish (a) by doing (b) is overwhelming and so you respond to 9/11 by invading Iraq. But already the number of Israelis killed by Hamas rockets has increased (from a baseline of zero) since the retaliatory attack that was supposed to prevent such killings.

Loving Jesus Leads To Dick-Rot & Babies

But you knew that ....

Political Animal

analysis of data from a large federal survey found that more than half of youths became sexually active before marriage regardless of whether they had taken a "virginity pledge," but that the percentage who took precautions against pregnancy or sexually transmitted diseases was 10 points lower for pledgers than for non-pledgers.

"Taking a pledge doesn't seem to make any difference at all in any sexual behavior," said Janet E. Rosenbaum of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, whose report appears in the January issue of the journal Pediatrics. "But it does seem to make a difference in condom use and other forms of birth control that is quite striking."

A Musto Read

Michael Musto Reviews 2008

Honey, I can see New Jersey from my window, but that doesn't mean I understand it!

Rock songwriter Delaney Bramlett dies in LA at 69

Sent from Express News
LOS ANGELES - Singer-songwriter-producer Delaney Bramlett, who penned such classic rock songs as "Let it Rain" and worked with musicians George Harrison and Eric Clapton, has died. He was 69.

Bramlett died Saturday shortly before 5 a.m. at UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center in Los Angeles as a result of complications from gallbladder surgery, his wife Susan Lanier-Bramlett said.

The Associated Press

Study: Murders among black youths on the rise

Not that the Hillbilly party would care, of course....

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - The number of young black men and teenagers who either killed or were killed in shootings has risen at an alarming rate since 2000, a new study shows.

The study, to be released Monday by criminologists at Northeastern University in Boston, comes as FBI data is showing that murders have leveled off nationwide.

By LARA JAKES Associated Press Writer

Oh, my! Lions set NFL record for futility at 0-16

Being raised as a Detroit fan was good prep for taking on the cause of the Cubs ... and helped provide a background that eventually led me to realizing that some teams are culturally and irrevocably .... Losers.

Sent from Express News
GREEN BAY, Wis. - They'd known for weeks it was possible, each loss bringing them one stumble closer to a mark no team wants - or even wants to think about.

Yet when it finally happened, the Detroit Lions were still stunned, unable to find words to adequately describe the shame in their accomplishment. They are losers of historic proportion, the worst team ever in the NFL. Sixteen games, 16 losses, the perfectly imperfect season.

By NANCY ARMOUR AP National Writer

'Marley' stirs it up with record $14.75 mil Xmas

Oh sweet buddha, I took my niece to see this today ... 90 minutes of nothing followed by 30 minutes that no dog owner ever wants to experience. A real feel-good flick.

Sent from Express News
LOS ANGELES - Twentieth Century Fox says "Marley & Me" has set a Christmas Day record with $14.75 million at the box office.

That breaks the previous mark of $10.2 million, set by "Ali" in 2001, according to Media By Numbers LLC.
The Associated Press

Waiting For Santa

We're off to Toledo for Christmas with the family. Just a year ago I sat around the Christmas dinner table and was happily stunned to hear my Ohio relatives all express their fear that the Dems would blow it and not nominate Barack Obama.

Well, Yes We Did. And it still feels like a new world. I want nothing else for Christmas. (OK, maybe Rick Warren's plane to DC could gets re-routed to and then snowed in, San Francisco)

Lily is staying here so that Mr. Dan has someone to share the holiday with.

My best wishes go out to all of you as this momentous year draws to a close.

The best of Christmases to Dan, Lily, Amy, Tom, Kimberly, John, Tina, Mark, Stephen, Carrie, Alyssa (and Hank!), Ginger, Aidan, Isabel, Bob, Mary, Ginny, Becky, Steve, Julie I, Julie D, Peter, Terry, Pam, Alex, Tom, Carole, Jana, Dennis, Hilary, Paul, Mary and to all of you that stop by GT12.

Know Hope.

'Tis The Season

And Finally, as it is with Dave, So it will be with GT12

Tell It Darlene!

Springsteen explains quick turnaround of new album

Sent from Express News
NEW YORK - Bruce Springsteen says he was energized to make a new album quickly after recording a song he calls a "love-in-the-time-of-Bush meditation."

In notes posted on his Web site Tuesday, Springsteen explains the creation of his new disc "Working on Dream" (due out Jan. 27) - which follows his last album, "Magic," by only 15 months - an unusually quick turnaround for him.

It started with the song "What Love Can Do."

Springsteen says he usually doesn't write that quickly, but that the excitement from "Magic" left "more than enough fuel for the fire to keep going."

Springsteen will perform during halftime at the Super Bowl on Feb. 1 in Tampa, Fla. Springsteen recently was nominated for two Grammys for best solo rock vocal performance and best rock song, both for "Girls in Their Summer Clothes."

The Associated Press

Obama, 2 aides met with Blagojevich investigators

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - President-elect Barack Obama and two of his top aides met last week with federal investigators building a corruption case against Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, accused of trying to swap Obama's Senate seat for cash or a lucrative job.

The interviews with Obama, along with incoming chief of staff Rahm Emanuel and adviser Valerie Jarrett, were disclosed Tuesday in an internal report produced for Obama on contacts with Blagojevich. Obama delayed releasing his report until those interviews were completed with U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald's staff, incoming White House attorney Greg Craig said in the review he wrote for Obama.

Obama had no contact with the governor or his aides, the report states. Prosecutors have said Obama is not implicated in the case.

Emanuel was the only Obama transition team member who discussed the Senate appointment with Blagojevich, and those conversations were "totally appropriate and acceptable," Craig said Tuesday. No one on Obama's transition team discussed any deals or had any knowledge of deals, Craig's report said.

Sources have said Emanuel is not a target in the case. Jarrett was never a target of the federal investigation, a transition official said.

Craig's report identified close Obama friend Eric Whitaker as someone approached by one of Blagojevich's top aides to learn "who, if anyone, had the authority to speak for the president-elect" about the Senate appointment.

The report states that Obama told Whitaker that "no one was authorized to speak for him" and that "he had no interest in dictating the result of the selection process."

Blagojevich was charged on Dec. 9 with plotting to use his governor's authority to appoint Obama's Senate replacement and make state appointments and contracts in exchange for cash and other favors. He has denied any criminal wrongdoing and has resisted multiple calls for his resignation, including one from Obama.

During Emanuel's interview with federal authorities, he listened to a taped recording of a conversation with Blagojevich's office, according to a transition official who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to discuss information not included in the report.

Craig's report states that Emanuel had "one or two telephone calls" with Blagojevich and four conversations with John Harris, the governor's chief of staff who later resigned after being charged in the federal case. Craig told reporters Emanuel said he couldn't be sure it was only one call.

Emanuel left for a long-planned family vacation in Africa on Tuesday and was not available for comment.

The report was released in Washington while Obama was vacationing in Hawaii. The president-elect did not make himself available for questions.

The report said Obama authorized Emanuel to pass on the names of four people he considered to be highly qualified to take over his seat - Illinois Comptroller Dan Hynes, Illinois Veterans' Affairs Director Tammy Duckworth, Rep. Jan Schakowsky and Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.

Obama later offered other names of what he thought were qualified candidates, including Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Chicago Urban League Director Cheryle Jackson, the report said.

"Mr. Harris did not make any effort to extract a personal benefit for the governor in any of these conversations," the report said. There was no discussion of a Cabinet position, creation of a nonprofit foundation for Blagojevich, a private sector position or of any other personal benefit for the governor, according to the report.

The report said that earlier, Emanuel recommended Jarrett for the Senate seat without Obama's knowledge, and Jarrett later accepted a job as a senior White House adviser.

Craig revealed his findings into a memo to Obama. The memo was dated Tuesday, but a transition official said an initial copy was given to Obama on Dec. 15. On that day, Obama announced that the report was ready but that he was withholding it from public release for a week at the request of the U.S. attorneys still conducting their investigation.

By NEDRA PICKLER Associated Press Writer

Naming '08 Minn. Senate winner will take until '09

Sent from Express News
ST. PAUL, Minn. - Minnesota voters won't know who won the state's U.S. Senate race this year, and it's looking more likely that the new Congress will be sworn in before the race ends between Democrat Al Franken and Republican incumbent Norm Coleman.

The state Canvassing Board on Tuesday scheduled a Jan. 5 meeting and its chairman said the panel's work could spill into Jan. 6 - the day the next Congress convenes.
By BRIAN BAKST Associated Press Writer

Ex-Bill Clinton aides to join State Dept.

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - Two former Clinton administration officials were named Tuesday to join the State Department in high posts when Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton becomes secretary of state.

James Steinberg, a deputy national security adviser under President Bill Clinton, was chosen as deputy secretary of state. Jacob J. Lew, who was Clinton's budget director, was named to oversee management and budget issues as co-deputy, a unique arrangement for the department.
By MATTHEW LEE and BARRY SCHWEID Associated Press Writers

Old Fashioned Technical Difficulties

We have had a bit of a Yuletide catastrophe here at GT12 Central, resulting in a lack of Yuletide action here on the blog.

With repairs in progess, we now attend to our previously planned holiday programming.

Merry Christmas, Baby

'Tis The Season - Bonus Two-Days-Til-I-Go-Out-Of-Town Edition

GT12 Likes him better as David Johanson

A New Era

While we freeze here in Chi-Town our Homeboy PresElect does some modeling in Hawaii. And trying to appease the angry gays no doubt ... which, with a build like that can predispose us towards forgiveness.

'Tis The Season - Bonus 'Is Nothing Sacred?' Edition

Charlie Brown's Alternate Ending

'Tis The Season - Bonus 'Is Nothing Sacred?' Edition

Re-Thinking Ralphie

'Tis The Season - Bonus 'Is Nothing Sacred?' Edition

Rudolph, re-dubbed and redited and not appropriate for work

'Tis The Season - Bonus Two-Days-Til-I-Go-Out-Of-Town Edition

And Special nod to Tom Of Austin

'Tis The Season

You've been waiting for this! (personally, I was never that into Hula Hoops)

Toyota projects 1st ever operating loss for year

Sent from Express News
NAGOYA, Japan - Toyota Motor Corp. slashed its earnings forecast again Monday, projecting that it would report its first operating loss ever for the fiscal year through March on waning global demand and a surging yen.

"The change that has hit the world economy is of a critical scale that comes once in a hundred years," President Katsuaki Watanabe said at the company's Nagoya office. The drop in vehicle sales over the last month was "far faster, wider and deeper than expected."
By YURI KAGEYAMA AP Business Writer

Lawmaker says `no' to Rev. Warren at inauguration

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - The first openly gay member of Congress said Sunday it was a mistake for President-elect Barack Obama to invite the Rev. Rick Warren to deliver the invocation at his inauguration.

"Mr. Warren compared same-sex couples to incest. I found that deeply offensive and unfair," Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., said in a broadcast interview.
The Associated Press

Music industry drops effort to sue song swappers

Sent from Express News
LOS ANGELES - The group representing the U.S. recording industry said Friday it has abandoned its policy of suing people for sharing songs protected by copyright and will work with Internet service providers to cut abusers' access if they ignore repeated warnings.

The move ends a controversial program that saw the Recording Industry Association of America sue about 35,000 people since 2003 for swapping songs online. Because of high legal costs for defenders, virtually all of those hit with lawsuits settled, on average for around $3,500. The association's legal costs, in the meantime, exceeded the settlement money it brought in.
By RYAN NAKASHIMA AP Business Writer

Motor City's woes extend beyond auto industry

Sent from Express News
DETROIT - One measure of how tough times are in the Motor City: Some of the offenders in jail don't want to be released; some who do get out promptly re-offend to head back where there's heat, health care and three meals a day.

"For the first time, I'm seeing guys make a conscious decision they'll be better off in prison than in the community, homeless and hungry," said Joseph Williams of New Creations Community Outreach, which assists ex-offenders. "In prison they've got three hots and a cot, so they commit a crime to go back in and come out when times are better."
By DAVID CRARY and COREY WILLIAMS Associated Press Writers

Biden to oversee efforts aimed at middle class

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - Vice President-elect Joe Biden will oversee a task force that will make recommendations on how to build the ranks of the middle class, that ambiguously defined segment of society in which most Americans identify themselves.

Biden said the task force will include other Cabinet members and it will present President-elect Barack Obama with a package of proposals designed to ensure the middle class is "no longer being left behind."
By KEVIN FREKING Associated Press Writer

Obama names Holdren, Lubchenco to science posts

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - President-elect Barack Obama on Saturday named Harvard physicist John Holdren and marine biologist Jane Lubchenco to top science posts, signaling a change from Bush administration policies on global warming that were criticized for putting politics over science.

Both Holdren and Lubchenco are leading experts on climate change who have advocated forceful government response. Holdren will become Obama's science adviser as director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy; Lubchenco will lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which oversees ocean and atmospheric studies and does much of the government's research on global warming.

By HOPE YEN Associated Press Writer

'Tis The Season - Bonus Weekend Edition

Time is running out, I'll be busy this weekend and there is so much more to share ...

Like This Classic - It's not Christmas without 'Holiday Inn'



Nor without Bruce and Santa

1000 Words ...

... all either beginning with Stupid and ending with Ratfuck.

Looking over the Official Presidential and First Lady portraits of the changing regime we see one person who values thinking and one person who can't figure out how to dress himself.

Why I'm A Conservative ...

... Temperamentally, that is. And So is Barack.

Andrew grapples and comes to terms that I can mostly accept.

... feelings must at some point cede to reason. And I sense an understandable but, the more I think about it, misjudged response on the part of my fellow gays and lesbians. In our hurt, we may be pushing away from a real opportunity to engage and win hearts and minds.

I think Obama is different. I think the earnestness and sincerity of his campaign, and its generational force, have given us a chance for something new, and I fear that in responding too viscerally to the Warren choice, we may be throwing something very valuable away far too prematurely. There is no question that gays and lesbians have made enormous strides in explaining who we are in the last couple of decades. There is equally no question that Obama has substantively committed his administration to more gay inclusion and gay equality than any president in history. We absolutely do need to be vigilant on this. But we should also understand Obama's attempt to bridge some gaps in America that the Clintons, with their boomer baggage and Dick Morris cynicism, couldn't and didn't. This is what matters. Do gays and lesbians want to be a part of this - or sit fuming on the sidelines at symbolic slights?

I know the arguments against this, and if Obama delivers nothing on gay equality, the critics will have every reason to complain loudly, as they should. But I'm not going there yet. And the truth is: if we cannot engage a Rick Warren on the question of our equality, we may secure a narrow and bitter victory in some states (just as the Christianists won a narrow and bitter victory in California in November). But we will not win the bigger argument and our victories will lack the moral legitimacy they deserve.

... If I cannot pray with Rick Warren, I realize, then I am not worthy of being called a Christian. And if I cannot engage him, then I am not worthy of being called a writer. And if we cannot work with Obama to bridge these divides, none of us will be worthy of the great moral cause that this civil rights movement truly is.

The bitterness endures; the hurt doesn't go away; the pain is real. But that is when we need to engage the most, to overcome our feelings to engage in the larger project, to understand that not all our opponents are driven by hate, even though that may be how their words impact us. To turn away from such dialogue is to fail ourselves, to fail our gay brothers and sisters in red state America, and to miss the possibility of the Obama moment.

It can be hard to take yes for an answer. But yes is what Obama is saying. And we should not let our pride or our pain get in the way.

Fact: Clinton gave us Don't Ask, Don't Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act. And he was the 'best' we ever had.

Fact: Barack Obama is hands-down the best man that I've ever voted for.

Fact: BHO is straight

Fact: This Warren thing is incredibly painful and poorly thought through.


Now: Barry, You have one year to get rid of DADT and four years to get a Civil Unions Statute.

Franken Now Leading

Via an enthusiastic TPM:

For the very first time in the Minnesota recount, Al Franken has taken the lead in the running vote count from Minneapolis Star-Tribune. As of 10:18 a.m. ET, Franken now leads by four votes

11:01 Up by 139; Projected to win by 79

OK, Maybe ...

I'll think about it.

A Very ANGRY Andrew Sullivan writes:

One thing I'd say in defense of Obama. There were a few times in the campaign when my first reaction was that he had screwed up. In almost every case, he subsequently proved me wrong. And I think we need to take him seriously about a change in tone on these subjects. He's asking a lot from us. That doesn't mean we should not try to reciprocate. More later.

Hey, are we gonna get that Gay Secretary of The Navy? It could help a little. It's certainly just about as in your face as Warren

Some top retired military leaders and some Democrats in Congress are backing William White, chief operating officer of the Intrepid Museum Foundation, to be the next secretary of the Navy -- a move that would put the first openly gay person at the top of one of the services.

The secretary's job is a civilian position, so it would not run afoul of the ban on gays serving in the military, but it would renew focus on the "don't ask, don't tell" policy as President-elect Barack Obama prepares to take office.

"He would be phenomenal," said retired Gen. Hugh Shelton, who was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1997 to 2001, pointing to Mr. White's extensive background as a fundraiser for veterans' and military causes.

Retired members of the Joint Chiefs have contacted Mr. Obama's transition team to urge them to pick Mr. White, and members of Congress said he would be a good choice for a service secretary. [...]

Gen. Shelton called Mr. White's work at both the Intrepid Museum and the Fisher House Foundation "legendary."

"He has always been a staunch advocate of our men and women in uniform," Gen. Shelton said.

I'm sure that Unwired will not be appeased.

'Tis The Season

In Special Recognition of Rick Warren and the first awful thing that Barry Has Done

The Spirit Of Christmas

The best 5:12 you'll spend this season:



This, of course is the piece that gave birth to the legend.

Deja Vu

Another Democratic President, another chance for Gay people to be thrown under the bus before the damn thing even leaves the parking lot.

Don't tell me we're just like you ...

Mark Felt, Watergate's `Deep Throat,' dies at 95

Sent from Express News
SAN FRANCISCO - W. Mark Felt, the former FBI second-in-command who revealed himself as "Deep Throat" 30 years after he tipped off reporters to the Watergate scandal that toppled a president, has died. He was 95.

Felt died Thursday in Santa Rosa after suffering from congestive heart failure for several months, said family friend John D. O'Connor, who wrote the 2005 Vanity Fair article uncovering Felt's secret.
By LOUISE CHU Associated Press Writer

Minn. Senate recount likely to drag into new year

Sent from Express News
ST. PAUL, Minn. - A state board examining disputed ballots in Minnesota's U.S. Senate race is close to wrapping up its decisions on challenges, but a key court ruling has practically guaranteed that the recount drags into the new year.

The Canvassing Board hoped to finish ruling Friday on the remaining challenges to disputed ballots. On Thursday, Republican incumbent Norm Coleman saw his lead shrink from 360 votes to just two as most challenges were rejected. He had a 215-vote lead over Democrat Al Franken after the initial count of the Nov. 4 election.
By PATRICK CONDON Associated Press Writer

Legal fight planned over Ill. governor wiretaps

Sent from Express News
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Gov. Rod Blagojevich's attorney is offering a glimpse of his client's unfolding legal strategy, saying he'll challenge the lawfulness of court-ordered wiretaps at the heart of federal corruption allegations against the Democrat. But the two-term governor may go public to defend himself first.

With Blagojevich saying he's itching to talk, perhaps as early as Friday, Chicago attorney Ed Genson continued bashing what's gotten his client in a legal bind: FBI wiretaps that prosecutors say catch Blagojevich scheming to deal President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat for campaign cash or a plum job.
By JIM SUHR Associated Press Writer

Louvre: Sketches found on back of Leonardo work

Sent from Express News
PARIS - Researchers have found three previously unknown sketches on the back of a painting Leonardo da Vinci that may have been drawn by the Renaissance master.

Paris' Louvre Museum says the sketches feature a horse head, part of a skull and baby Jesus with a lamb. Researchers using infrared cameras found them on the back of "The Virgin and Child with Saint Anne."
The Associated Press

Coleman's lead down to 2 votes in Minn. canvass

Sent from Express News
ST. PAUL, Minn. - Sen. Norm Coleman saw his lead over Al Franken in Minnesota's U.S. Senate race dwindle to just two votes Thursday. Meanwhile, a key court ruling put hundreds of improperly rejected ballots in play and promised the recount would drag into the new year.

The Minnesota Supreme Court ruled that improperly rejected absentee ballots be included in the state's recount. It ordered the candidates to work with the Secretary of State and election officials to set up a process to identify ballots that were rejected in error. Counties must make a report by Dec. 31.
By PATRICK CONDON Associated Press Writer

Pet lovers protest cats on the menu in China

Sent from Express News
GUANGZHOU, China - While animal lovers in Beijing protested the killing of cats for food on Thursday, a butcher in Guangdong province - where felines are the main ingredient in a famous soup - just shrugged her shoulders and wielded her cleaver. "Cats have a strong flavor. Dogs taste much better, but if you really want cat meat, I can have it delivered by tomorrow," said the butcher, who gave only her surname, Huang.

It was just this attitude that outraged about 40 cat lovers who unfurled banners in a tearful protest outside the Guangdong government office in Beijing. Many were retirees who care for stray felines they said were being rounded up by dealers.
By WILLIAM FOREMAN Associated Press Writer

Report raps ex-White House pair on Iraq claims

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - Former White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales misled Congress when he claimed the CIA in 2002 approved information that ended up in the 2003 State of the Union speech about Iraq's alleged effort to buy uranium for its nuclear weapons program, a House committee said Thursday.

The committee also expressed skepticism about claims by then-national security adviser Condoleezza Rice that she was unaware of the CIA's doubts about the claim before President George W. Bush's speech.
By PAMELA HESS Associated Press Writer

Gates asks anew for plan to close Guantanamo

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - Defense Secretary Robert Gates has asked for an updated proposal for closing the controversial prison holding terrorist suspects in Cuba in case President-elect Barack Obama asks for one soon after taking office.

The Bush administration has studied the difficult issue before but couldn't resolve questions such as where to put the Guantanamo Bay detainees and how to resolve their cases.
The Associated Press

Cheney claims power to decide his public records

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - Dick Cheney's lawyers are asserting that the vice president alone has the authority to determine which records, if any, from his tenure will be handed over to the National Archives when he leaves office in January.

That claim is in federal court documents asking that a lawsuit over the records be dismissed. Cheney leaves office Jan. 20, potentially taking with him millions of records that might otherwise become public record.
By PAMELA HESS Associated Press Writer

Re-Run Season

Political Animal:

THE LEGACY PROJECT SPINS IRAQ.... Over the weekend, the president made his last "surprise" visit to Iraq, in what was supposed to be something of a victory lap, showing off how much better conditions in Iraq are now than before. When Muntadar al-Zaidi threw his shoes, and became a cause celebre, the victory lap apparently took a detour.

But it's nevertheless hard to miss the public-relations offensive -- presumably as an extension of the Bush Legacy Project -- in which prominent administration officials and/or Bush allies push the notion that the war in Iraq really was a great idea, reality notwithstanding.

Just over the last few days:

* Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice inexplicably told the AP yesterday that no "American money" was lost to corruption in Iraq.

* Far-right commentator Frank Gaffney insisted on MSNBC yesterday that Saddam Hussein was a "mortal threat" to the United States and while it was "regrettable" that U.S. troops had to die, they "did have to die." [See Below on GT12]

* Several conservative media personalities have condemned Iraqis as "ingrates" this week, for failing to thank the U.S. for our efforts.

* Vice President Dick Cheney, for reasons that defy comprehension, argued on Monday that Saddam Hussein "still had the capability to produce weapons of mass destruction" prior to the U.S. invasion.

* Bush, when confronted with the fact that al Qaeda wasn't in Iraq until after the U.S. invasion, said the development was irrelevant, asking, "So what?"

Be Glad That You're Not A Kid

Don't forget to thank W for putting Kid's First ...

We are the #1 country for percent of kids living in poverty.

Yglesias:

Note that if we allow this to continue, we’re going to keep slipping in terms of our relative educational attainment, and over the long run average American living standards will slip further and further behind those in northern Europe (and depending on how you look at leisure time, the rest of Europe as well). There are things we could do to get more out of our school system, but ultimately it’s inconceivable to me that we’ll ever get a first-rate levels of educational attainment with these kind of child poverty rate — it basically guarantees that portions of the system will be overburdened by too many children with too many problems. That’ll be fine for those getting the long end of the hyperinequality, but it’s sad to see the extent to which we’re slouching toward that future without any public acknowledgment of it or debate about the wisdom of our priorities. You would think that something like being by far the world leader in child poverty would dominate the political agenda — instead you never see it mentioned.

Time for a link to half in ten.

Chris, Liberated

An interesting effect of the rise of Obama has been the almost parallel rise of Chris Matthews' open 'liberalism'... something we figured existed somewhere, what with the whole history of working for Tip O'Neil and Jimmy Carter ...

It is extremely gratifying to see Chris use his obstreperousness for something more important that Bill Clinton's many personal failings and the victims thereof.

"Was there anything Saddam Hussein could have stopped that war?" Matthews asked [Frank] Gaffney, and when Gaffney attempted to justify the case for war based on the first Gulf War, and not the presence of weapons of mass destruction, Matthews pounced.

"Why the long inspections debate if they didn't matter?" he asked.
"Do you believe that the war had anything to do with [Cheney's] belief that [Iraq] had weapons of mass destruction stockpiled?" Matthews asked Gaffney. "Because he's admitting that they didn't have to have stockpiles for him to believe the war was justified. That's what's astounding."

An exasperated Matthews cut to Corn as Gaffney attempted to make the case that the cost of inaction would have been greater than the cost of the war, and when Gaffney said Hussein presented a "mortal threat" to the American people, Matthews attacked him for "still [using] the strategic language" of the Bush administration.

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

"Where do you get this from?" Matthews screamed. "We can't find the weapons, we can't find the rationale, what kind of mortal threat? Where do you get these words from? Mortal means you die.

"You guys sold the war as a nuclear threat to the United States...you sold every trick you could to get us into this war," he continued. "And now you're backpedaling. And I do find it astounding....Four thousand people are dead because of the way you feel. And Frank Gaffney, you're wrong about this."

"It is regrettable that they had to die," Gaffney said, "but I believe they did have to die," citing Hussein's chemical, biological, and nuclear capabilities. "The danger was inaction could have resulted in the death of a great many more Americans than 4,000. And that's the reason I'm still delighted that we did what we did."
"The American people don't buy it, Frank," Matthews said.

'Tis The Season

We Need A Little Mystery Science Theater 3000 Right This Very Minute!

Person Of The Year

Time Mag gives it to Barry.

Obama's competence fills him with a genuine self-confidence. "I've got a pretty healthy ego," he allows. That's clear when he offers a checklist for voters to use in judging his performance two years from now. It's quite an agenda. Listen: "Have we helped this economy recover from what is the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression? Have we instituted financial regulations and rules of the road that assure this kind of crisis doesn't occur again? Have we created jobs that pay well and allow families to support themselves? Have we made significant progress on reducing the cost of health care and expanding coverage? Have we begun what will probably be a decade-long project to shift America to a new energy economy? Have we begun what may be an even longer project of revitalizing our public-school systems?"

There's more: "Have we closed down Guantánamo in a responsible way, put a clear end to torture and restored a balance between the demands of our security and our Constitution? Have we rebuilt alliances around the world effectively? Have I drawn down U.S. troops out of Iraq, and have we strengthened our approach in Afghanistan — not just militarily but also diplomatically and in terms of development? And have we been able to reinvigorate international institutions to deal with transnational threats, like climate change, that we can't solve on our own?"

And: "Outside of specific policy measures, two years from now, I want the American people to be able to say, 'Government's not perfect; there are some things Obama does that get on my nerves. But you know what? I feel like the government's working for me. I feel like it's accountable. I feel like it's transparent. I feel that I am well informed about what government actions are being taken. I feel that this is a President and an Administration that admits when it makes mistakes and adapts itself to new information.'"

They acknowledge that there really was no other choice.

... He is a man about his business — a Mr. Fix It going to Washington. That's why he's here and why he doesn't care about the furniture. We've heard fine speechmakers before and read compelling personal narratives. We've observed candidates who somehow latch on to just the right issue at just the right moment. Obama was all these when he started his campaign: a talented speaker who had opposed the Iraq war and lived a biography that was all things to all people. But while events undermined those pillars of his candidacy, making Iraq seem less urgent and biography less relevant, Obama has kept on rising. He possesses a rare ability to read the imperatives and possibilities of each new moment and organize himself and others to anticipate change and translate it into opportunity. (See pictures of Obama's nation of hope.)

The real story of Obama's year is the steady march of seemingly impossible accomplishments: beating the Clinton machine, organizing previously marginal voters, harnessing the new technologies of democratic engagement, shattering fundraising records, turning previously red states blue — and then waking up the day after his victory to reinvent the presidential-transition process in the face of a potentially dangerous vacuum of leadership. "We always did our best up on the high wire," says his campaign manager, David Plouffe.

Free Money!

Well, almost ...

The Federal Reserve has cut its target for a key interest rate to the lowest level on record and pledged to use "all available tools" to combat a severe financial crisis and prolonged recession.

The central bank on Tuesday said it had reduced the federal funds rate, the interest that banks charge each other, to a range of zero to 0.25 percent. That is down from the 1 percent target rate in effect since the last meeting in October. Many analysts had expected the Fed to make a smaller cut to 0.5 percent.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues also pledged to use "all available tools" as they struggle to contain a financial crisis that is the worst since the 1930s and a recession that is already the longest in a quarter-century.

Slowly But, Maybe, Surely

Court sides with ACLU, strikes down Patriot Act gag provision

A federal appeals court ruling late Monday is the cause célèbre of the American Civil Liberties Union, as another provision of the Bush administration's Patriot Act falls to the judicial system.

Until the ruling, recipients of so-called "national security letters" were legally forbidden from speaking out. The letters, usually a demand for documents, or a notice that private records had been searched by government authorities, were criticized as a cover-all for FBI abuses.

"The appeals court invalidated parts of the statute that wrongly placed the burden on NSL recipients to initiate judicial review of gag orders, holding that the government has the burden to go to court and justify silencing NSL recipients," said the ACLU in a release. "The appeals court also invalidated parts of the statute that narrowly limited judicial review of the gag orders – provisions that required the courts to treat the government's claims about the need for secrecy as conclusive and required the courts to defer entirely to the executive branch."

Because of the ruling, the government will now be forced to justify individual gag orders before a court, instead of casually wielding the power of a blanket gag as the Bush administration has done since the blindingly fast passage of the Patriot Act in Oct. 2001.

In Sept. 2007, a federal judge ruled unconstitutional provisions within the Patriot Act which allowed the government to obtain search warrants without probable cause.

Oh! The Bravery of The Outgoing!

Alan Colmes, the soon-to-be-gone half of 'Hannity and Colmes' on Fox (did you know that Hannity had a partner on that show? - Right. That's my point) has apparently received his gonads from Roger Ailes Vault:

Since at least June of 2007, Coulter has been calling the then-candidate as "B. Hussein Obama," a practice which she still continues. When Fox host Neil Cavuto asked her in February, "Why do you keep saying the 'B. Hussein Obama'?" Coulter replied, "Well, that's his name. ... He's probably going to be our next president, President Hussein."

"Not only do you owe me an apology," Coulter insisted to Colmes, "but Michelle Obama owes me an apology for calling it was a 'fear-bomb' we were dropping by calling him Hussein."

"I would like my apology now," she smirked, folding her arms and tossing her head pertly. "I'm ready."

"Not an apology," responded Colmes sternly. "He is following tradition in terms of how a president is sworn in. You purposely underscored his middle name, diminishing his first name, to point out that he had the name of a terrorist!"

Coulter, who had previously noted that Obama "also said that this was to 'reboot' our relations with the Muslim world," insisted in response, "It can not simultaneously be a hate crime to use a man's middle name and ... for him to say 'this is going to change our relations with the Muslim world.'"

"Ann," Colmes finally said in frustration, "I think you are a hate crime."

Milestone

Rod makes it to Dickipedia!

Milorad “Rod” R. Blagojevich (born December 10, 1956) is a politician, currently clinging to one last toehold as chief executive of Illinois, and a dick. The subject of no fewer than a dozen separate federal investigations, Blagojevich is a disgrace to all Serbian-American governors everywhere—that means you, George Voinovich of Ohio. He is also just the kind of a-hole who threatens to screw the whole thing up for Barack Obama before he even takes office.

'Tis The Season

Another of the all-time greats ... you'll be seeing a few versions in the next week...

How about Bruce, the E-Streeters and Conan's Band?

From CBS News

Mr SM, Barry's neighbor, called it months ago....

Arne Duncan Obama's Pick for Education Secretary

http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2008/12/15/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry4670681.shtml

Not Just A Victory ...

Salon reports on the many Obamamiac house parties organized by the campaign (GT12 was too busy to attend)...

The Obama team reports that 4,252 "Change is Coming" house parties were held in all 50 states -- plus Guam and Puerto Rico. At least 1,950 cities had house parties, and Los Angeles had the largest single party, with 400 people in attendance.

The goal suggested for the meetings was for supporters to "reflect on this monumental journey and plan on how they can bring change to both Washington and their own communities."

The dialogue during the house parties was completely open.
Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt says the parties are the "next step in determining our supporters' vision for how the organization develops."

This weekend's turnout is one sign of how beneficial the extensive email network the Obama campaign acquired during the campaign could be -– leaving the Obama transition team with a potentially powerful grassroots tool at its fingertips. There is much debate -– and more than healthy dose of secrecy -– from the Obama Transition Team as what exactly to do with this consortium.

The house parties this weekend are just one of the first steps demonstrating how the list could potentially be useful at the grassroots level.

Not Hiding Anything

Barry wants you to know that he's just following orders:

"At the direction of the President-elect, a review of Transition staff contacts with Governor Blagojevich and his office has been conducted and completed and is ready for release. That review affirmed the public statements of the President-elect that he had no contact with the governor or his staff, and that the President-elect's staff was not involved in inappropriate discussions with the governor or his staff over the selection of his successor as US Senator.

"Also at the President-elect's direction, Gregory Craig, counsel to the Transition, has kept the US Attorney's office informed of this fact-gathering process in order to ensure our full cooperation with the investigation.

"In the course of those discussions, the US Attorney's office requested the public release of the Transition review be deferred until the week of December 22, in order not to impede their investigation of the governor. The Transition has agreed to this revised timetable for release," said Obama Transition Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer.

So, Not The Reason That We Suspected

Blame The Trib?

The Wall Street Journal Does...

Conventional wisdom holds that U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald ordered the FBI to arrest Rod Blagojevich before sunrise Tuesday in order to stop a crime from being committed. That would have been the sale of the Senate seat vacated by President-elect Barack Obama.

But the opposite is true: Members of Fitzgerald’s team are livid the scheme didn’t advance, at least for a little longer, according to some people close to Fitzgerald’s office. Why? Because had the plot unfolded, they might have had an opportunity most feds can only dream of: A chance to catch the sale of a Senate seat on tape, including the sellers and the buyers.

The precise timing of Tuesday’s dramatic, pre-dawn arrest was not dictated by Fitzgerald, nor was it dictated by the pace of Blagojevich’s alleged “crime spree.” It was dictated by the Chicago Tribune, according to people close to the investigation and a careful reading of the FBI’s affidavit in the case.

At Fitzgerald’s request, the paper had been holding back a story since October detailing how a confidante of Blagojevich was cooperating with his office.

Gerould Kern, the Tribune’s editor, said in a statement last week that these requests are granted in what he called isolated instances. “In each case, we strive to make the right decision as reporters and as citizens,” he said.

But editors decided to publish the story on Friday, Dec. 5, ending the Tribune’s own cooperation deal with the prosecutor.

CONTINUE

Twit Alert

Elton John filed a libel suit in response to this 'imagined diary' printed in Enland's 'Guardian'

What a few days it's been. First I sang Happy Birthday to my dear, dear friend Nelson Mandela - I like to think I'm one of the few people privileged enough to call him Madiba - at a party specially organised to provide white celebrities with a chance to be photographed cuddling him, wearing that patronisingly awestruck smile they all have. It says: "I love you, you adorable, apartheid-fighting teddy bear."

The next night I welcomed the exact same crowd to my place for my annual White Tie & Tiaras ball. Lulu, Kelly Osbourne, Agyness Deyn, Richard Desmond, Liz Hurley, Bill Clinton - I met most of them 10 minutes ago, but we have something very special and magical in common: we're all members of the entertainment industry. You can't manufacture a connection like that.

Naturally, everyone could afford just to hand over the money if they gave that much of a toss about Aids research - as could the sponsors. But we like to give guests a preposterously lavish evening, because they're the kind of people who wouldn't turn up for anything less. They fork out small fortunes for new dresses and so on, the sponsors blow hundreds of thousands on creating what convention demands we call a "magical world", and everyone wears immensely smug "My diamonds are by Chopard" grins in the newspapers and OK!. Once we've subtracted all these costs, the leftovers go to my foundation. I call this care-o-nomics.

He Lost.

What a twit.

Now, can I sue him for Crocodile Rock? If any song was less rock ... uh ... oh never mind. He's been a twit for like forever and, worse, a fucking weenie. A walking condemnation of the concept of Balls and Manhood.

meh.

Good

US Supreme Court orders review of Guantanamo torture case

The US Supreme Court on Monday revived a lawsuit by four former British detainees at the Guantanamo Bay military prison, ordering a lower court to reconsider their claims of torture and religious bias.

The justices ordered a Washington DC appeals court to review its January 2008 ruling quashing the lawsuit against former Defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld and 10 senior US military officers.

The high court said the case should be reconsidered in light of its June 12 ruling that prisoners held at the US naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba had a right to challenge their detention in civilian courts.

In their suit, the Britons claimed they were protected against torture by a US constitutional ban on cruel and unusual punishment. They also argued that their rights to practice their religion under the US Religious Freedom Restoration Act were violated at Guantanamo.

This Seems Like A Done Deal

Caroline Kennedy to Seek Clinton’s Senate Seat

Caroline Kennedy, the daughter of an American political dynasty, has decided she will pursue the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, a person told of her decision said Monday.

The decision came after a series of deeply personal and political conversations, in which Ms. Kennedy, who friends describe as unflashy but determined, wrestled with whether to give up what has been a lifetime of avoiding the spotlight.

Ms. Kennedy will ask that Gov. David A. Paterson consider her for the appointment. The governor was traveling to Utica today could not immediately be reached for comment.

If appointed, Ms. Kennedy would fill the seat once held by her uncle, the late Robert F. Kennedy.

It's Election Day!

Today, the 44th President of The United States will be chosen.

WTF?

Stupidest performance I've seen this year. Makes Coldplay seem like visionaries. Wrong on so many levels but we'll just focus on inane lyrics which are meant to seem deep, incoherent performance choices that wind up making West appear to be a giddy 5 year old as he complains of his pain and, well, just the hubris and unappealing self-pity of the whole thing.

Tipping Point

Nov 7, 2007. The Iowa Jefferson Jackson Dinner.

Watch Obama takeover the Democratic Party.

(it's 20 minutes long, but it is also history ... watch!)

'Tis The Season

Can you believe that I waited this long to post the greatest Christmans song of all time? (Hi Alex!)

Shoe-nuff

Here it is friends:

Official: Iraq reporter detained by PM's security

Sent from Express News
BAGHDAD - Thousands of Iraqis took to the streets Monday to demand the release of a reporter who threw his shoes at President George W. Bush, as Arabs across the Middle East hailed the journalist as a hero and praised his insult as a proper send-off to the unpopular U.S. president.

The protests came as a suicide truck bomber killed at least five police officers Monday at a checkpoint west of Baghdad, said Iraqi police.
By QASSIM ABDUL-ZAHRA Associated Press Writer

Analysis: Bush's Iraq trip highlights war unwon

Sent from Express News
BAGHDAD - President George W. Bush's whirlwind visit to Iraq was his ostensible victory lap for what often looked like a personal crusade.

The president leaves behind a war that even he and his own generals acknowledge is not yet over - and a devastated country whose divisions are far from healed.

Certainly, Baghdad is safer than it was a year ago. Bush visited the Green Zone on Sunday without being hustled for cover from the rockets and mortars that rained down on the area only six months ago.

But the country is far from safe by any normal standard. Nearly six years after the U.S. invasion, Iraq is a country of daily bombings, kidnappings and ambushes.

"There is still more work to be done," Bush said after his meeting with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. "The war is not over."

Prospects for stability are as uncertain as the fleeting stare of the heavily armed security guards who scour the streets for threats when they escort U.S. officials who foray outside their Green Zone enclave.

Suspicion among Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds - which fueled the war that erupted after Saddam Hussein's ouster - still run deep.

Nearly 150,000 U.S. troops remain in Iraq - more than when Bush ordered the "troop surge" largely credited with curbing violence and arresting the country's slide toward full scale civil war.

"There is still more work to be done," Bush said after his meeting with al-Maliki. "The war is not over."

The architect of the surge, Gen. David Petraeus, didn't even like to use the word "victory" in connection with the Iraq war.

Petraeus left in September to take a new post as the U.S. military's regional commander for the Middle East. Before his departure, Petraeus said "this is not the sort of struggle where you take a hill, plant the flag and go home to a victory parade."

"It's not a war with a simple slogan," he told the British Broadcasting Corp.

It has taken more than 4,200 U.S. deaths to learn that simple truth.

The U.S. presence in Iraq was riven by mistakes for years, starting with what Bush called the "intelligence failure" that led him to believe Saddam Hussein held weapons of mass destruction.

Bush then dispatched enough troops to defeat Saddam's army - but not enough the maintain law and order. The 2003 decision to disband the Iraqi army and purge members of Saddam's party drove thousands of Sunni Arabs to the insurgency.

U.S. officials were slow to respond to the insurgents. Dismissing them as "dead enders" from the Saddam regime, the Bush Pentagon failed to anticipate the Sunni-Shiite fighting that plunged the country to the brink of civil war in 2006.

The U.S. was also too quick to hand over responsibility to Iraq's fresh-minted security forces - a blunder that was reversed by the troop surge.

As the American public turned against the war, Bush remained resolute, even as his popularity dropped to historic lows.

He ordered the surge in 2006 after the Republicans lost control of Congress and against the advice of some of his party's most experienced foreign policy veterans.

Experts will debate for years whether it was the troop surge, or a Sunni revolt against al-Qaida, or the Shiite government's decision to confront Shiite militias that turned the tide.

Nor is in clear that the downturn in violence will last.

Nearly 100,000 Sunni insurgents turned against al-Qaida and joined forces with the Americans, who paid them. But they could switch sides again if the Shiite-led government fails to honor its promises of jobs for them.

Al-Qaida in Iraq and at least a dozen other Sunni groups remain active, especially in the north. Although U.S. and Iraqi forces crushed the Shiite militias last spring, U.S. commanders acknowledge privately that many of the fighters eluded them and could regroup.

With so much uncertainty, U.S. commanders are cautious.

"We are in no hurry to race away and have things crumble on us," said Lt. Gen. Lloyd Austin, the No. 2 commander. "This is hard work" because Iraq "is so very complex."

The future is in the hands of Bush's successor, President-elect Barack Obama, and the Iraqis themselves.

Obama campaigned on a promise to end the war, which he consistently opposed. The newly ratified U.S.-Iraqi security agreement sets a timetable for a U.S. withdrawal by 2012 - something the president resisted for years.

The challenge is now to manage the end of the war better than the beginning. Obama is keeping Bush's defense secretary, Robert Gates, to oversee it.

"It's important that we maintain enough presence here that we can help them get through this year of transition," Petraeus' successor, Gen. Raymond Odierno said this weekend. "We don't want to take a step backward because we've made so much progress here."

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Robert H. Reid is AP's chief of bureau in Baghdad and has reported from Iraq since 2003.

By ROBERT H. REID Associated Press Writer

Ill. officials issue fresh calls for resignation

Sent from Express News
CHICAGO - A handful of Illinois' top politicians called disgraced Gov. Rod Blagojevich incapacitated Sunday, issuing fresh calls for his resignation as lawmakers gear up for a session that could lead to his impeachment.

Fellow Democrats Attorney General Lisa Madigan and Lt. Gov. Patrick Quinn, both likely candidates in the 2010 gubernatorial campaign, criticized the governor anew during appearances on NBC's "Meet the Press" and CBS's "Face the Nation."

By DEANNA BELLANDI Associated Press Writer

Turnout in presidential elections hit 40-year high

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - Enthusiasm among blacks and Democrats for Barack Obama's candidacy pushed voter turnout in this year's elections to the highest level in 40 years.

Final figures from nearly every state and the District of Columbia showed that more than 131 million people voted, the most ever for a presidential election. A little more than 122 million voted in 2004.

The Associated Press