Your Weekend Lesson

Keep an eye out for Lily!

So You Don't Misunderstand Us

GT12 is feelings pains of recrimination for applauding the Republicans for not selecting a KKK member to lead them...

So, we also want to use TPM to let you know what little Michael Steele has to offer to this country:

Steele's History Of Exploiting The Homeless
Lied About Bush Comment In 2006
Steele Linked Stem Cell Research To Nazi Medical Experimentation
Steele Ad Flashback: 'I Love Puppies'
Full Steele Coverage At TPMmuckraker
Full RNC Race Coverage From TPMDC

The Death Of the Catholic Church

And a well deserved death, at that.

Former Hitler Youth and current Pope Benedict, in his fervor to undo Vatican II, re-instates a Holocaust Denier.

Christopher Buckley sums it up:

I’m no longer a practicing member of Mother Church, but the old reflexes die hard. Once an altar boy, always an altar boy. But really, I have to say, out loud, as it were, What—the fuck—were you thinking of, Your Holiness? This repugnant episode is surely to the Vatican what Abu Ghraib was to the Pentagon. No, actually, worse. Actually, not even on the same scale.

Take away quote:

"There’s certainly been a huge exploitation. Germany has paid out billions and billions of deutsche marks, and now euros, because the Germans have a guilt complex about their having gassed six million Jews. But I don’t think six million Jews were gassed. Now be careful, I beg of you,” he says, now looking at his interviewer, “this [that is, Holocaust-denying] is against the law in Germany.” He points over his shoulder at an imagined onlooker, “If there were a German here, you could have me thrown into prison before leaving Germany. I hope that’s not your intention….”

Re-Posting A Song Of Thanksgiving

Faithful Correspondent Tom Of Austin reports that the youtubes have removed this video ...

so we looked elsewhere and got us a new link:

<

Suicide Brigade Fails - UPDATED

He's a man of limited vision, but he's not the KKK's man in DC either ...

RNC elects first black national party chairman

WASHINGTON – The Republican National Committee has elected former Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele the first black Republican National Committee chairman.
Steele was the most moderate candidate in the field and was considered an outsider because he's not an RNC member. He beat back four challengers, including incumbent Mike Duncan, who was forced to withdraw from the field midway through the balloting in the face of a lack of support.

Yes (maybe) They Can (maaayyybe)(a little)

SALON assesses the Republicans' new leader:

Update: At first glance, this appears to be the kind of step forward that the Republican Party needs to be successful in the years ahead. As I noted in an earlier post, the race for RNC chair came down to a choice between an African-American moderate and a Southern white man with a troubled history when it comes to racial issues. Clearly, for a party that's increasingly relegated to representing only Southern whites, the RNC's voting members made the right choice, at least judging by that factor alone.

Steele does hold some promise when it comes to attracting minorities to the GOP. He was unsuccessful in his 2006 Senate race, true, but he did manage to pull 25 percent of the black vote, a mean feat for any Republican in Maryland.
On other fronts, though, Steele's a questionable choice. He hasn't displayed a ton of political acumen -- he's won elected office only once, and he didn't head that ticket.

He lost the aforementioned Senate race, and, before that, couldn't even win a GOP primary for state comptroller; he placed third, in fact. His tenure as head of the Maryland party wasn't brilliant, either, and he repeatedly had trouble recruiting candidates. (In his defense, it's not easy to be a Republican in the state.) Along the way, he's made some serious missteps: He got in trouble in 2006 for making some unguarded remarks disparaging then-President Bush to a group of reporters. His name was supposed to be kept off the comments, but when it quickly became obvious who was responsible, Steele tried to lie his way out of the gaffe. Also in 2006, he attracted unwanted attention when, speaking before a Jewish group, he compared stem cell research to medical tests that the Nazis conducted on prisoners during the Holocaust. The GOP better hope this victory is a sign that he's learned some hard lessons --he already has a tough fight ahead of him in trying to win over the party's conservative wing, which doesn't fully trust him because of his membership in the more moderate Republican Leadership Council.

And while Steele's personal resume looks impressive from afar, it's not nearly as pretty up close. He graduated from Johns Hopkins University and then got a law degree from Georgetown University, true. That said, though, he initially flunked out of Hopkins, and while he did pass the bar in Pennsylvania, he failed it in Maryland. His record as a businessman wasn't stellar, either. A consulting firm he founded never turned a profit, and was a serious drain on his finances. Shortly after he began his run for lieutenant governor, Steele ran into trouble because of a $25,000 loan his sister had given to his campaign for comptroller that he'd never paid back. Then, there were revelations of an additional $35,000 in personal debt, as well as more than $100,000 he'd taken out of two retirement accounts in order to support his family, leaving a balance of less than $600 at the time the news broke. He suffered further embarrassment over his finances when it was revealed that the Republican Party was paying him a consulting fee of $5,000 a month during his campaign for lieutenant governor

Suicide Brigade

Not To Forget Billy

OK, the song may seem obvious, but it held one of Billy Powell's nightly star turns too.

C'Mon '70's veterans, ALL TOGETHER NOW ......

FREEBIRD!!!!!

British songwriter John Martyn dead at 60

Sent from Express News
LONDON - British singer-songwriter John Martyn, whose soulful songs were covered by the likes of Eric Clapton, died Thursday. He was 60.

Martyn's official Web site said the musician, who lived in Ireland, died Thursday morning. It did not give a cause of death.

By JILL LAWLESS Associated Press Writer

May You Never

Center Right?

Everybody's covering this Gallup Report, so we should too.

Silver summarizes:

...just five states, collectively containing about 2 percent of the American population, have statistically significant pluralities of adults identifying themselves as Republicans. These are the "Mormon Belt" states of Utah, Idaho and Wyoming, plus Nebraska, plus Alaska. By contrast, 35 states are plurality Democratic, and 10 states are too close to call.

Basically: All you Democrats and left leaners out there ... you are so mainstream....

Saddlebacking

Dan Savage enlisted his readers in the development of a word honoring Rick Warren.

This is the result:

Saddlebacking: sad•dle•back•ing \ˈsa-dəl-ˈba-kiŋ\ vb [fr. Saddleback Church] (2009): the phenomenon of Christian teens engaging in unprotected anal sex in order to preserve their virginities.

After attending the Purity Ball, Heather and Bill saddlebacked all night because she’s saving herself for marriage.

Hipsters will remember Dan's first contribution to the sexual lexicon:

Santorum: san-TOR-um. The frothy mix of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the byproduct of anal sex.

Iceland to appoint gay woman minister to PM post

Sent from Express News
REYKJAVIK, Iceland - Iceland's next leader will be an openly gay former flight attendant who parlayed her experience as a union organizer into a decades-long political career.

Both parties forming Iceland's new coalition government support the appointment of Johanna Sigurdardottir, the island nation's 66-year-old social affairs minister, as Iceland's interim prime minister.
By DAVID STRINGER Associated Press Writer

Rights group asks Obama to release Bush-era memos

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - Civil libertarians urged the Obama administration to release dozens of memos under its control that could shed light on secret Bush-era interrogation, detention and surveillance activities.

The American Civil Liberties Union's list of at least 41 such undisclosed documents is the most exhaustive produced so far. These memos are a wish list for civil rights, privacy and human rights groups, as well as members of Congress, seeking more information about the legal reasoning that underpinned the Bush administration's secret programs.
By PAMELA HESS Associated Press Writer

Union membership rises for second straight year

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - Amid widening unemployment, home foreclosures and credit woes, union membership jumped to 12.4 percent of the work force last year.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says the ranks of organized labor rose by 428,000 workers - the biggest annual gain since the government began compiling such data in 1983. It's also the second year in a row that unions have added to their ranks. Membership rose by 311,000 members in 2007, to account for 12.1 percent of workers.
By SAM HANANEL Associated Press Writer

Lynyrd Skynyrd keyboardist dies at Florida home

Sent from Express News
ORANGE PARK, Fla. - A keyboardist for the southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd has died at his northeast Florida home.

Keyboard player Billy Powell called 911 about 12:55 a.m. Wednesday saying he was having trouble breathing. Rescue crews performed CPR, but he was pronounced dead at 1:52 a.m., said Orange Park Police Lt. Mark Cornett.

Powell, 56, who has a history of heart problems, missed a Tuesday appointment with his doctor for a cardiac evaluation. A heart attack is suspected. No autopsy will be performed because Powell's cardiologist will sign the death certificate, Cornett said.

The Jacksonville-based band was formed in 1966 by a group of high school students - famously, it took its name from a P.E. teacher they disliked, Leonard Skinner. Powell joined the group around 1972, the year before they released their first album, "Pronounced Leh-Nerd Skin-Nerd."

It became one of the South's most popular rock groups, and gained national fame with such hits as "Free Bird," "What's Your Name" and especially "Sweet Home Alabama," which reached the top 10 on the national charts in 1974.

The band was decimated on Oct. 20, 1977, when their chartered plane crashed in a swamp near McComb, Miss.

Six people were killed - lead singer Ronnie Van Zant; guitarist Steve Gaines; and his sister, vocalist Cassie Gaines; as well as an assistant road manager, the pilot and co-pilot.

Powell was one of the survivors.

Two years after the accident, Powell and fellow members Allen Collins, Gary Rossington and Leon Wilkeson formed the Rossington-Collins Band. It broke up in 1982.

Powell was on hand again in 1991 when a revived version of the band put out a new album, "Lynyrd Skynyrd 1991" and launched a tour in Baton Rouge, La., where the band was headed in 1977 when the plane crashed. Fans who kept their tickets from the canceled 1977 concert were admitted free.

The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006.

The Associated Press

He Lives!

Now Do You Believe?



Pastafarians Rejoice!

Rock fans head to Iowa to recall day music died

Sent from Express News
CLEAR LAKE, Iowa - It's been 50 years since a single-engine plane crashed into a snow-covered Iowa field, instantly killing three men whose names would become enshrined in the history of rock 'n' roll.

The passing decades haven't diminished fascination with that night on Feb. 2, 1959, when 22-year-old Buddy Holly, 28-year-old J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson and 17-year-old Ritchie Valens performed in Clear Lake and then boarded the plane for a planned 300-mile flight that lasted only minutes.
By MARCO SANTANA Associated Press Writer

Paul McCartney set for `Colbert Report' visit

And for a change, it's a good album.

Sent from Express News
LOS ANGELES - The Comedy Central TV channel says Paul McCartney is going to drop in on Stephen Colbert.

McCartney will be a guest on Wednesday's "The Colbert Report," talking up his latest album, "Electric Arguments." The work represents a collaboration between the former Beatle and producer-musician Youth, and was released under the band name the Fireman.

"The Colbert Report" airs at 11:30 p.m. EST weeknights.

The Associated Press

Anti-Rush

GT12 is not in the habit of showing the writings of evangelicals in a positive light.

But we do believe that the civility and respect that our new Pres campaigned for, promised and seems to be trying to model should be acknowledged where-ever it appears.

John Haggee (yes, that one) in the WaPo today:

The Bible commands that "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established," (Romans 13:1). So while I endorsed his opponent in the recent presidential election, I fully support Barack Obama as my new President.

I do not offer my good wishes out of religious conviction or civic spirit alone. Throughout the campaign, President Obama conducted himself with civility and grace. All campaigns are filled with scurrilous attacks, and some of President Obama's supporters engaged in such attacks - including many aimed against me personally. Yet not once did I doubt Mr. Obama's wish for a higher standard for political discourse.

I am astonished by those who wonder if evangelical Christians, a majority of whom did not vote for Mr. Obama, want to see our 44th President succeed. Of course we do. We are in the midst of an historic economic crisis and still fighting two foreign wars. We want President Obama to lead this country towards greater peace and prosperity. We not only embrace our new President, we pray fervently for his success.

.... On social issues, we have many obvious areas of disagreement, including the President's recent decision to lift the ban on federal funding for international organizations promoting or performing abortion. In the coming years, President Obama will no doubt pursue policies with which we disagree, and we will make our dissent known. I'm sure the president would expect nothing less. But we must always dissent with civility and respect - the same civility and respect that he has thus far shown to us. If we feel compelled to oppose our new president's policies, we must always be a loyal opposition.

The Bible tells Christians that they are to pray "for all who are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life," (I Timothy 2:1-2).

President Obama, Godspeed and may God's blessings be upon you, your family, and this nation. May the Lord grant you success in your mission to help America and the world lead a quiet and peaceable life.

The Hell We Are!

Bill Buckley's old mag is run by lunatics:

"We’re a nation not just where you are free to believe or not to believe; we’re a nation founded for Him — so we could praise Him, so we could do His will," - Kathryn-Jean Lopez.

Welcome To The Mainstream

Change We could Not Have Dreamed Of

"Now, my job is to communicate the fact that the United States has a stake in the well-being of the Muslim world, that the language we use has to be a language of respect. I have Muslim members of my family. I have lived in Muslim countries ... the largest one, Indonesia. And so what I want to communicate is the fact that in all my travels throughout the Muslim world, what I've come to understand is that regardless of your faith – and America is a country of Muslims, Jews, Christians, non-believers – regardless of your faith, people all have certain common hopes and common dreams.

"And my job is to communicate to the American people that the Muslim world is filled with extraordinary people who simply want to live their lives and see their children live better lives. My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy.

"... T]he bottom line in all these talks and all these conversations is, is a child in the Palestinian Territories going to be better off? Do they have a future for themselves? And is the child in Israel going to feel confident about his or her safety and security? And if we can keep our focus on making their lives better and look forward, and not simply think about all the conflicts and tragedies of the past, then I think that we have an opportunity to make real progress.

A Reader Writes

" I guess I'll kind of miss reading [Bilbo Kristolnut's] drivel - it always enraged me so deeply - like heroin (which I've never tried I admit) I couldn't stop - but, second, yesterday I was so sick of his shit I never even finished the column - thus missing the good news at the end

-herewith I offer my image of him - to replace your dumb clown"

Dispatching Bilbo

Scott Horton gives us the real whys and wherefores

The Sacking of Bill Kristol

Kristol’s writing wasn’t compelling or even very careful. He either lacked a talent for solid opinion journalism or wasn’t putting his heart into it. A give-away came in the form of four corrections the newspaper was forced to run over factual mistakes in the columns, creating an impression that they were rushed out without due diligence or attention to factual claims. A senior writer at Time magazine recounted to me a similar experience with Kristol following his stint in 2006-07. “His conservative ideas were cutting edge and influential,” I was told. “But his sloppy writing and failure to fact check what he wrote made us queasy.”

Kristol also regularly commented on political developments in which he was personally engaged—without disclosing the depth of his engagement. The Daily Beast previously highlighted his deep involvement in selection of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin to be John McCain’s running mate. In the campaign season that followed, boosterism about Sarah Palin became a staple of his writing, even at the expense of his relationship with McCain and leading figures in the McCain campaign. This conduct blurred the distinctions between being an actor on and observer of the political stage, raising some concern among the guardians of The Times’ credibility.

Oh Great, Now He's not being Helpful In Other Realms

Robert Christgau ('The Dean Of American Rock Critics) becomes undecipherable in a new field!

Wonkette:

CHRISTGAU REVIEWS BLOG POSTS NOW?

NOTED: “Jim Newell’s deconstruction of WSJ Reaganite-apostate Peggy Noonan’s inauguration column is even more unkind — perhaps even unfair. I really don’t see why he chose those three sentences to bf and annotate, for instance. Nevertheless, what a deft little Hatchett Job.” [Robert Christgau]

The Change We've Been Waiting For

At the end of Bill (The Buffoon) Kristol's NYT column today this Notice:

This is William Kristol’s last column.

To Review Why Bilbo today brings us such joy, review GT12's coverage here.

Sarah Palin fan unknowingly buys effigy with noose

Stoopid is as stoopid does.

Sent from Express News
WEST HOLLYWOOD, Calif. - The maker of a Sarah Palin mannequin says a would-be buyer backed out when he discovered its past - as a effigy hung by a noose in a West Hollywood home's Halloween display.

Professional window dresser ChadMichael Morrisette said the winner of the eBay auction thought he was buying a pro-Palin item until he heard a radio report about it.
The Associated Press

Boy, 14, dupes police, patrols Chicago for 5 hours

Sent from Express News
CHICAGO - A 14-year-old aspiring police officer donned a uniform, walked into a Chicago police station and managed to get an assignment - patroling in a squad car for five hours before he was detected, police said Sunday.

The boy did not have a gun, never issued any tickets and didn't drive the squad car, Deputy Superintendent Daniel Dugan said.
By MICHAEL TARM Associated Press Writer

Ill. governor considered Oprah Winfrey for Senate

Sent from Express News
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Gov. Rod Blagojevich, taking his defense to television rather than his impeachment trial, lashed out at his accusers Monday and revealed he had considered naming Oprah Winfrey to the U.S. Senate.

The embattled governor told ABC's "Good Morning America" that the idea of nominating the talk show host came to him as he explored potential candidates for the job that federal prosecutors allege he tried to sell to the highest bidder.
The Associated Press

States may gain power over emissions standards

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - Plunging into energy policy, President Barack Obama is poised to give states a freer hand in curbing emissions from cars, and to get his government moving on fuel-efficiency standards that could remake the auto industry.

Obama will announce his plans Monday at the White House, according to officials familiar with the details who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid pre-empting the president.
By BEN FELLER Associated Press Writer

Impeachment trial to proceed without Ill. governor

Sent from Express News
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - Gov. Rod Blagojevich, taking his defense to television rather than his impeachment trial, lashed out at his accusers Monday and revealed he had considered naming Oprah Winfrey to the U.S. Senate.

The embattled governor told ABC's "Good Morning America" that the idea of nominating the talk show host came to him as he explored potential candidates for the job that federal prosecutors allege he tried to sell to the highest bidder.
By CHRISTOPHER WILLS Associated Press Writer

Democrats: Stimulus plan no quick fix for economy

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - The White House warned Sunday that the country could face a long and painful financial recovery, even with major government intervention to stimulate the economy and save financial institutions.

"We're off and running, but it's going to get worse before it gets better," said Vice President Joe Biden, taking the lead on a theme echoed by other Democratic officials on the Sunday talk shows.
By STEPHEN OHLEMACHER Associated Press Writer

100 Hours Post-W

Another song For George:
Born To Lose - Social Distortion @ CBGB's



Think Progress Sums It Up

At 4 pm ET today, it will mark exactly 100 hours since Barack Obama became the 44th President of the United States. The first week on the job has been a very busy one for the new White House, as the Obama administration has worked quickly to repair the damage done under the last eight years of President Bush.

Obama’s record so far:

REGULATIONS
The Bush Record: In his final months, the Bush administration issued a series of “midnight regulations” that gutted safeguards protecting health, safety, the environment, and the public’s general welfare.

Obama’s Clean Break: Hours after his inauguration, Obama ordered a freeze on new regulations at all government agencies and departments and the withdrawal of all final or proposed regulations not yet published in the Federal Register.

IRAQ
The Bush Record: After using false intelligence to launch the war, Bush “surged” 30,000 troops to Iraq in 2007 and vetoed all attempts to end the war.

Obama’s Clean Break: Two days into his presidency, Obama called on U.S. military leaders to start to plan for a responsible withdrawal.

DIPLOMACY
The Bush Record: In his first term, Bush — in contrast to President Bill Clinton — “generally avoided robust efforts” to resolve the Middle East conflict. Bush demeaned diplomacy with “terrorists and radicals,” likening it to the “appeasement” of Nazi Germany.

Obama’s Clean Break: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton rejected the “rigid ideology” of Bush and pledged to exercise “smart power.” Stressing diplomacy, Obama and Clinton “appointed high-level emissaries to handle the Arab-Israeli issue and Pakistan and Afghanistan.”

TORTURE
The Bush Record: Torture began with the drafting of a secret legal memo holding that Bush could authorize interrogators to violate anti-torture laws. Bush’s senior-most officials approved torture that, in some cases, lead to death.

Obama’s Clean Break: Obama signed executive orders ending the CIA’s secret prisons and ending torture by requiring interrogations to abide by the Army Field Manual.

GUANTANAMO
The Bush Record: Bush created the “legal black hole” that is Guantanamo Bay. He called the harsh treatment of detainees there “an absurd allegation” and was rebuked time and again by the Supreme Court.

Obama’s Clean Break: On his first day, Obama signed an executive order closing Gitmo in one year and suspended all military tribunals for six months.

TRANSPARENCY
The Bush Record: Two out of five FOIA requests filed in 2006 were not processed. The number of exemptions increased 83 percent since 1998.

Obama’s Clean Break: Obama issued new orders instructing all agencies to “adopt a presumption in favor” of FOIA requests. Obama is developing an “Open Government Directive” over the next four months.

REVOLVING DOOR
The Bush Record: Many former Bush officials “joined the ranks of the companies they once regulated where they are highly compensated. In many instances, they have helped their new employers obtain lucrative government grants and contracts.”

Obama’s Clean Break: Obama laid out stringent lobbying limits that will ban aides from trying to influence the administration when they leave his staff and will ban gifts from lobbyists to anyone in the administration.

WOMEN’S RIGHTS
The Bush Record: Bush reinstated the Global Gag Rule, which prohibited aid from going toward any organization that mentioned abortion as an option in family planning. Sixteen countries lost access to birth control.

Obama’s Clean Break: Obama overturned the Gag Rule on Jan. 23.

We're Doing Our Best To Piss Off The Last Third

So, Obama pulls like 2/3 of the Hispanic vote in 2008.

This is a group once thought ripe for Republicanism, what with the whole [assumed] 3rd world nature of their Catholicism, (to say nothing of their much promised rejection of anything that black people might support that HRC told us about last spring).

Then came the immigration debate. And Barack.

Clearly, the Republicans are concerned that there are still too many brown people in their Jefferson Davis 'coalition':

Solis' confirmation as Labor secretary delayed

The confirmation of Rep. Hilda Solis, D-El Monte, as President Barack Obama's Labor secretary has been delayed because of Republican objections.

Democrats have announced that a Republican senator is using a parliamentary procedure to delay Solis' confirmation, the Washington paper Congress Daily reported Friday.

The anonymous hold - as the tactic is known - was placed because of Solis' support for "card check" legislation aimed at facilitating union organization and another bill regarding pay-discrimination, and for non-responsive answers during her confirmation hearing, according to GOP aides, the paper reported.

Retarded Ohio Man Surrounded By His Care-Takers

Take Five

HIGH-FIVE INAUGURATION! - watch more funny videos

Welcome Back George

Mitchell, that is. A personal hero of GT12.

Seasoned Negotiator to Serve as a Mideast Envoy

WASHINGTON — President Obama moved swiftly to engage on the Middle East on Wednesday, calling Israeli and Arab leaders on his first morning in office and preparing to appoint a seasoned peace negotiator and former senator, George J. Mitchell, as his special emissary to the region.

... He is viewed as a diplomatic heavyweight who may bring more balance to Washington’s relationships in the region.

“He’s neither pro-Israeli nor pro-Palestinian,” said Martin S. Indyk, a former American ambassador to Israel and an adviser to the Clinton administration. “He’s, in a sense, neutral.”

Any Irish-American worth his Guiness knows that this guy is a miracle-worker.

Since 1995, he has been active in the Northern Ireland peace process as U.S. Special Envoy to Northern Ireland. Mitchell first led a commission that established the principles on non-violence to which all parties in Northern Ireland had to adhere and subsequently chaired the all-party peace negotiations, which led to the Belfast Peace Agreement signed on Good Friday 1998 (known since as the Good Friday Agreement). Mitchell's personal intervention with the parties was crucial to the success of the talks. ... For his involvement in the Northern Ireland peace negotiations, Mitchell was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom[5] (on March 17, 1999) and the Liberty Medal (on July 4, 1998).

I was sure that the only thing that would bring peace to Ulster was a complete lack of people left for one side or the other to kill.

Not unlike the Israelis and the Palestinians...

I've been Meaning To Post something Like this

Federal civil unions: so simple

I realize that the screams from our own left will say "marriage or nothing." Here's a counter argument. By setting up such a clearly "separate but equal system" (there is no debate on this, right?), that separate but equal system, as a half step, will...become full marriage equality sooner, than the purer route of going from nothing at the federal level to full marriage equality in one step. Anyone who thinks that going from nothing to full marriage equality at the federal level all in one step is coming soon is fooling themselves. That is a much harder, bigger, and more time consuming route.

I wish I could say my thinking is original on this, but it is based on my discussions with a prominent LGBT Obama campaign official and a prominent ACLU attorney neither of whom wishes to go on record at this time.

Within three years of 'civil unions' becoming law every person in the country will have moved to abbreviating 'civil union' to, simply, 'marriage'.

The change will have occurred organically, never to be challenged again.

Saul Alinsky would never have held out for the 'whole pie'. He understood that change is best accomplished in increments achieved methodically and unyieldingly.

Rule 8: Keep the pressure on. Use different tactics and actions and use all events of the period for your purpose. “The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition. It is this that will cause the opposition to react to your advantage.”

I Wanted To Note ...

We are a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews and Hindus, and non-believers.”

The words 'Muslim' and 'non-believer' have never before been uttered in an inaugural address.

And Like A Bad Dream, It was Over When We Woke Up

all officers, employees, and other agents of the United States Government ...may not, in conducting interrogations, rely upon any interpretation of the law governing interrogation ... issued by the Department of Justice between September 11, 2001, and January 20, 2009

How Beautiful Are These

A Touching Farewell

GT12 promises to be classy and hopeful ... tomorrow

People line up to get souvenir Obama newspapers

Got Mine!

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - Newspapers are in trouble? Says who?

You couldn't tell it by the long line of people at a Hudson News Store at Washington's Union Station Wednesday morning.
The Associated Press

AP Poll: People optimistic on Obama by 3-1 margin

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - A new poll shows that by a 3-1 margin, the American people feel more optimistic about the country's future now that Barack Obama has been inaugurated president.

The Associated Press-Knowledge Networks poll found that 53 percent of those surveyed said they felt more optimistic, while just 15 percent said his ascendancy to the White House made them feel more pessimistic.
The Associated Press

Obama poised to put imprint on Iraq, Afghan wars

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama will begin to put his imprint on the nation's war strategy in his first full day in office, gathering his top military and national security advisers at the White House for what is expected to be the start of the new commander in chief's shift in emphasis from Iraq to Afghanistan.

According to officials, Obama will conduct a videoteleconference late Wednesday afternoon with members of the National Security Council as well as the U.S. military commanders in the two war zones.
By LOLITA C. BALDOR Associated Press Writer

Judge OKs 1st suspension in Gitmo cases

Sent from Express News
GUANTANAMO BAY NAVAL BASE, Cuba - A judge on Wednesday quickly granted President Barack Obama's request to suspend the war crimes trial of a young Canadian in what may be the beginning of the end for the Bush administration's system of trying alleged terrorists.

The judge, Army Col. Patrick Parrish, issued a written order for the 120-day continuance, without even holding a hearing on the question. Another judge was expected to rule later Wednesday on a similar motion to suspend the trial of five men charged in the Sept. 11 attacks.
By BEN FOX Associated Press Writer

We reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals.

Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake.

And so to all other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more. Recall that earlier generations faced down fascism and communism not just with missiles and tanks, but with sturdy alliances and enduring convictions.

They understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use; our security emanates from the justness of our cause, the force of our example, the tempering qualities of humility and restraint. We are the keepers of this legacy.

Today

We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battle-field, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearth-stone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the Union, when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better angels of our nature.

For the first time in my life I see the America that I was raised to believe in.

I tell myself that this is not really enough, that he still has to be President, he still has to do the job. but right now my heart says that my country is saved and that the people of my country saved it by voting for this man.

We chose Wisdom over Reaction, Accomplishment over Aristocracy, The ethnicity that we are over the ethnicity that we were, What we need over what we know, Our dreams over our nightmares, United States over Red and Blue States


How great are we?

Tomorrow

Sickness all around me (but not in me, because I live a healthy lifestyle) has resulted in little posting today.

Tomorrow there will be just one post, which will appear sometime between 8AM and 9AM.

Tomorrow Our Country becomes America, once again.

Come On Up.

One

Statement of President-elect Barack Obama on Martin Luther King Day

"Today, we celebrate the life of a preacher who, more than forty-five years ago, stood on our national mall in the shadow of Lincoln and shared his dream for our nation. His was a vision that all Americans might share the freedom to make of our lives what we will; that our children might climb higher than we would.

"Dr. Martin Luther King's was a life lived in loving service to others. As we honor that legacy, it's not a day just to pause and reflect - it's a day to act. Today, ordinary citizens will gather together all across the country to participate in the more than eleven thousand service projects they've created using USAservice.org. And I ask the American people to turn today's efforts into an ongoing commitment to enriching the lives of others in their communities, their cities, and their country.

"Tomorrow, we will come together as one people on the same mall where Dr. King's dream echoes still. As we do, we recognize that here in America, our destinies are inextricably linked. We resolve that as we walk, we must walk together. And as we go forward in the work of renewing the promise of this nation, let's remember King's lesson - that our separate dreams are really one."

Don't Ask, Just Watch?

Cadets at the U.S. Military Academy Thursday announced the nominees for the 2nd Annual Cadet Choice Award for the movie character that best exemplifies West Point leadership.

The nominees are:
Bruce Wayne in “The Dark Knight”

Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg in “Valkyrie”

"Indiana" Jones, Jr. in “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”

John Hancock in “Hancock”

Harvey Milk in “Milk”

James Bond in “Quantum of Solace”

What HBO Missed

The Rt. Rev. V. Gene Robinson, Episcopal Bishop of New Hampshire

Opening Inaugural EventLincoln Memorial, Washington, DCJanuary 18, 2009

Welcome to Washington! The fun is about to begin, but first, please join me in pausing for a moment, to ask God’s blessing upon our nation and our next president.

O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will…

Bless us with tears – for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women from many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.

Bless us with anger – at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

Bless us with discomfort – at the easy, simplistic “answers” we’ve preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth, about ourselves and the world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.

Bless us with patience – and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be “fixed” anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.

Bless us with humility – open to understanding that our own needs must always be balanced with those of the world.

Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance – replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences, and an understanding that in our diversity, we are stronger.

Bless us with compassion and generosity – remembering that every religion’s God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable in the human community, whether across town or across the world.

And God, we give you thanks for your child Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States.

Give him wisdom beyond his years, and inspire him with Lincoln’s reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy’s ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King’s dream of a nation for ALL the people.

Give him a quiet heart, for our Ship of State needs a steady, calm captain in these times.

Give him stirring words, for we will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.

Make him color-blind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States.

Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.

Give him the strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters’ childhoods.

And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we’re asking FAR too much of this one. We know the risk he and his wife are taking for all of us, and we implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand – that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity and peace.

AMEN.

Obama honors King on final pre-presidency day

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - Fresh off a rollicking celebration in the shadow of Abraham Lincoln, President-elect Barack Obama is shaping the final day of his pre-presidential life around another giant figure, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Obama is taking part in a community renovation project in the Washington area to honor King, the civil rights leader who was assassinated in 1968. Monday is the federal holiday commemorating the birthday of King, who advocated peaceful resistance and equality among all races. He blazed a trail for Obama, soon to be the nation's first black president.

By BEN FELLER Associated Press Writer

Schedule of events for Obama's inauguration

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - A schedule of some official and unofficial activities surrounding Barack Obama's inauguration on Jan. 20:

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MONDAY, JAN. 19

- National Day of Community Service event: To honor Dr. King's legacy, Obama, Biden and their families, joined by Americans across the country, will participate in activities dedicated to serving others in communities across the Washington, D.C. area.

- Black Tie & Boots Inaugural Ball, sponsored by the Texas State Society, at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center.

- Green Inaugural Ball at the Donald W. Reynolds Center for American Art and Portraiture. Ball hosted by former Vice President Al Gore.

- Huffington Post preinaugural ball at the Newseum.

- Hip-Hop Inaugural Ball at the Harman Center for the Arts. Hosted by the Hip-Hop Summit Action Network, Russell Simmons, LL Cool J, among others.

- A children's evening concert at the Verizon Center honoring military families. Event hosted by Michelle Obama, who will attend. Miley Cyrus, the Jonas Brothers are among the entertainers.

- Obama to attend three private dinners to honor former secretary of State Colin Powell, Biden and Sen. John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential nominee, for their public service. Dinners at the Hilton Washington, National Building Museum and Union Station.

TUESDAY, JAN. 20 (INAUGURATION DAY)

Gates to the Inaugural Ceremony open at 8 a.m. The inaugural festivities are scheduled to start at 10 a.m. on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol. They will include:

- Musical selections of The United States Marine Band, followed by the San Francisco Boys Chorus and the San Francisco Girls Chorus.

- Sen. Dianne Feinstein provides call to order and welcoming remarks.

- Invocation by the Rev. Rick Warren.

- Musical selection of Aretha Franklin.

- Biden will be sworn into office by Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens.

- Musical selection of John Williams, composer/arranger with Itzhak Perlman, (violin), Yo-Yo Ma (cello), Gabriela Montero (piano) and Anthony McGill (clarinet).

- Obama will take the Oath of Office, using President Lincoln's Inaugural Bible, administered by Chief Justice John Roberts. Scheduled around noon.

- Obama gives the inaugural address.

- Poem by Elizabeth Alexander.

- Benediction by Rev. Joseph E. Lowery.

- The National Anthem by The United States Navy Band "Sea Chanters."

After Obama gives inaugural address, he will escort outgoing President George W. Bush to a departure ceremony before attending a luncheon in the Capitol's Statuary Hall.

The 56th Inaugural Parade will then make its way down Pennsylvania Avenue from the Capitol to the White House.

Later that day, the Presidential Inaugural Committee will host 10 official inaugural balls:

- Neighborhood Inaugural Ball at the Washington Convention Center.

- Obama Home States (Illinois and Hawaii) Inaugural Ball at the Washington Convention Center.

- Biden Home States (Pennsylvania and Delaware) Inaugural Ball at the Washington Convention Center.

- Midwest Inaugural Ball at the Washington Convention Center.

- Mid-Atlantic Inaugural Ball at the Washington Convention Center.

- Western Inaugural Ball at the Washington Convention Center.

- Commander in Chief's Ball at the National Building Museum.

- Southern Inaugural Ball at the National Guard Armory.

- Eastern Inaugural Ball at Union Station.

- Youth Inaugural Ball at the Washington Hilton.

Unofficial balls include:

- Congressional Black Caucus Inaugural Ball at the Capitol Hilton.

- Creative Coalition Inaugural Ball at the Harman Center for the Arts.

- Recording Industry Association of America's ball for Feeding America.

- BET's Inaugural Ball at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel.

- Africa on the Potomac inaugural celebration at Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Va.

- American Music Inaugural Ball at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel.

- Inaugural Purple Ball at the Fairmont Hotel.

- Human Rights Campaign's Equality Ball at the Renaissance Mayflower Hotel.

- Inaugural Peace Ball at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum.

- Impact Film Fund ball.

WEDNESDAY, JAN. 21

- The president, vice president and their families will participate in a prayer service at the Washington National Cathedral.

The Associated Press

Future of abstinence-only funding is in limbo

Let's hope

Sent from Express News
NEW YORK - With the exit of the Bush administration, critics of abstinence-only sex education will be making an aggressive push to cut off federal funding for what they consider an ineffective, sometimes harmful program.

How quickly and completely they reach their goal is uncertain, however, as conservative supporters of abstinence education lobby Congress and President-elect Barack Obama to preserve at least some of the funding, which now totals $176 million a year.

By DAVID CRARY AP National Writer

'Anything possible,' Obama tells joyous crowd

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - Two days from the White House, President-elect Barack Obama joined a vast throng Sunday at a joyous pre-inauguration celebration staged among marble monuments to past heroes. "Anything is possible in America," declared the man who will confront economic crisis and two wars when he takes office.

"Despite the enormity of the task that lies ahead, I stand here today as hopeful as ever that the United States of America will endure - that it will prevail, that the dream of our founders will live on in our time," the president-elect said at the conclusion of a musical extravaganza that featured U2, Beyonce, Bruce Springsteen and a host of other stars.

By DAVID ESPO and BEN FELLER Associated Press Writers

He's Coming!

On The Road Again

PHILADELPHIA - President-elect Barack Obama, tracing the train route Abraham Lincoln took nearly a century and a half ago, undertook the final leg of his inaugural journey to the nation's capital Saturday, pledging to reclaim America's spirit but also warning of steep challenges facing the country.

"Starting now, let's take up in our own lives the work of perfecting our union," he said at Philadelphia's historic 30th Street train station. "Let's build a government that is responsible to the people and accept our own responsibilities as citizens to hold our government accountable. ... Let's make sure this election is not the end of what we do to change America, but the beginning and the hope for the future."

What A New York Miracle Looks Like

Thanks, CNN

The First Movie

#8 in a list of Photographic firsts.

From 1888:

This film is the first celluloid film created and it gives us a true look at how people looked and, more importantly, carried themselves (in the case of the women in full corseted gowns). The film only lasts for two seconds but it is enough time to see the characters walking. It was recorded at 12 frames per second by French inventor Louis Le Prince. It was filmed at the home of Joseph and Sarah Whitley, in Roundhay, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England on October 14 and the people who appear are Adophe Le Prince (Louis’s son), Sarah Whitley, Joseph Whitley, and Harriet Hartley. Ten days after filming, Sarah Whitley (Le Prince’s mother-in-law) died. Two years later Le Prince vanished mysteriously from a train traveling between Dijon and Paris. Another two years later, Alphonse was found shot dead in New York after testifying at a patent trial against Edison by the American Mutoscope Company

Wrong To The Very Last

Think Progress :

Today, President Bush continued his move out of the White House. Last week, when asked whether Bush would be utilizing moving vans, White House Press Secretary Dana Perino laughed and said this was unlikely, specifically ruling out the Ryder truck company:

Q: So is there a point where moving vans pull in?

PERINO: I don’t anticipate that you’ll see a big Ryder truck coming up to the White House — probably the wrong brand to use. (Laughter.)

Looks like Perino spoke too soon. It appears Bush actually did have a Ryder moving van pull up to the White House today:

Proudly Hurting American People

I have told you many times that Ken Blackwell is a Ratfuck of Bushian Proportions - a selfish narcissistic criminal christianist pile of something that a pile of dogshit would refuse to stand next to.

Do you still doubt me?

Blackwell: GOP Must Defeat Job-Creating Stimulus Because It Will Ruin GOP’s Election Chances

n an article published on Townhall today, RNC Chairman candidate and former Ohio [Secretary of State] Ken Blackwell urges congressional conservatives to oppose the reinvestment and recovery stimulus plan promoted by President-elect Obama. Though he offers standard conservative arguments against the plan — including a screed against the growth of “big government” — Blackwell seemed most concerned about the political benefit Democrats might see from successfully boosting the economy.

He warned that the bill, which calls for 80 percent job creation in the private sector, could create 600,000 new federal jobs — a problem because it would make it that much harder for for Republicans to win back Virginia ...

... The bottom line is that, in an economy that lost 1.2 million jobs last year, Blackwell’s biggest concern is to block the creation of new jobs because those newly-employed Americans might vote Democratic.

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Tip your hat to my home state. They drove this felon and his party from every state constitutional office and will replace kindly George Voinivich (a Republican of a different era) with some nice Democrat in 2010.

They Kept Us Safe

Only George didn't....

Graph from the Center For American Progress

The Death Of Comedy

What will we do without George?

The long-awaited final montage of Letterman's ""Great Moments in Presidential Speeches" aired last night.

Sources: Obama ready to end harsh interrogations

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - President-elect Barack Obama is preparing to prohibit the use of waterboarding and harsh interrogation techniques by ordering the CIA to follow military rules for questioning prisoners, according to two U.S. officials familiar with drafts of the plans. Still under debate is whether to include a loophole that would allow exceptions in extraordinary cases.

The proposal Obama is considering would require all CIA interrogators to follow conduct outlined in the U.S. Army Field Manual, the officials said. The plans would also have the effect of shutting down secret "black site" prisons around the world where the CIA has questioned terror suspects - with all future interrogations taking place inside American military facilities.

By LARA JAKES and PAMELA HESS Associated Press Writers

What Our Friends Overseas Have To Say

The Economist:

The frat boy ships out

... [a presidency rooted in three core beliefs]: "partisanship, politicisation and incompetence."

... The neoconservatives who had such influence over Mr Bush argued that unintended consequences were usually more important than the intended ones. The Bush presidency has proved them right in this, if in little else.

A president who laboured to produce Republican hegemony ended up dramatically weakening the Republican Party. The Democratic Party is now in a more powerful position than it has been at any time since the second world war. ...Americans who came of age during the Bush years identify with the Democrats by the largest majority recorded for any age cohort since the second world war.

A president who believed that America’s global supremacy was guaranteed by America’s unrivalled military power ended up demonstrating the limits of both. Many of America’s closest allies in Europe refused to co-operate with the Iraq war. Many of America’s rivals used America’s travails in Iraq to extend their power: Iran is more powerful than it was in 2000, and closer to acquiring a nuclear bomb; Russia and China have extended their web of alliances and strengthened their regional influence. Mr Bush’s recalibration of his policies in his second term suggests that even he recognises that America’s loss of soft power has cost it dear.

The American military machine is under intense strain. The demands of tackling the Iraq insurgency have forced America to short-change Afghanistan. Deployments have grown longer and redeployments more frequent. Recruitment standards are going down. The neoconservative dream of a muscle-bound America knocking down the “axis of evil” and planting democracies from North Korea to Iran looks, more than ever, like an overheated fantasy cooked up in a think-tank.

Finally, Mr Bush also demonstrated the limits of capitalist triumphalism. The Bush administration was as business-friendly as any in American history: Mr Bush was the first president with an MBA (from Harvard) and he appointed four CEOs to his cabinet, more than any previous president. The administration was also wedded to the fundamental tenets of Reaganomics: cut taxes and free the supply side and everything else will take care of itself. Mr Cheney even argued explicitly that “Reagan taught us that deficits don’t matter.”

Mr Bush now leaves behind a tax system in some ways less efficient than the one he inherited, in need of annual patches, and unable to fund the government even in good times. He also leaves behind a broken budget process. Any economic triumphalism is long gone. Many of the CEOs, most notably Donald Rumsfeld and Paul O’Neill, proved to be dismal administrators. Reaganomics helped to produce a giant deficit. The financial crisis has made re-regulation rather than deregulation the mantra in Washington, while government has acquired a much bigger role in the economy through its backing of banks and car companies

Go, And GWOT No More

Britain's foreign minister, David Miliband, writes today that it's past time to ditch the phrase "war on terror":

....The more we lump terrorist groups together and draw the battle lines as a simple binary struggle between moderates and extremists, or good and evil, the more we play into the hands of those seeking to unify groups with little in common....We must respond to terrorism by championing the rule of law, not subordinating it, for it is the cornerstone of the democratic society. We must uphold our commitments to human rights and civil liberties at home and abroad. That is surely the lesson of Guantánamo and it is why we welcome President-elect Obama's commitment to close it.

The Velvet Glove Has Been Thrown

More Proof

Barry actually understands the real entitlement nightmare, making the point I always make.

"Social Security, we can solve," [Obama] said, waving his left hand. "The big problem is Medicare, which is unsustainable [emphasis mine]. . . . We can't solve Medicare in isolation from the broader problems of the health-care system."

Now, how we give everybody health insurance in light of this fact is the mystery of our time.

An Exchange Waiting To Be Spoken

"... Yet I have always acted with the best interests of our country in mind. I have followed my conscience and done what I thought was right. You may not agree with some tough decisions I have made. But I hope you can agree that I was willing to make the tough decisions."

- G.W. Bush, Thursday Night

"No U.S. president can justify a policy that fails to achieve its intended results by pointing to the purity and rectitude of his intentions,"

- Paul Wolfowitz, "Statesmanship in the New Century," in Kagan, R. and Kristol, W, eds. Present Dangers: Crisis and Opportunity in American Foreign and Defense Policy, San Francisco, 2000, p. 335.

Not All Artists Are Fans ...

How else to explain the uniform hideousness of each of these images?

So True

"This defendant is a kind and generous man who is particularly mindful of others' needs. He is the antithesis of the haughty bullying star. He was not himself when addled by the habitual and relatively long-lasting using of illegal drugs."

Boy George's lawyer, prior to Boy receiving a 15 month prison sentence for falsely imprisoning a male escort by handcuffing him to a wall in a London apartment.

Obama's AG pick earns praise, GOP support

Sent from Express News
WASHINGTON - Former FBI Director Louis Freeh urged the Senate Judiciary Committee on Friday to confirm Eric Holder as the next attorney general as Barack Obama's pick won key support from another GOP senator.

Freeh's endorsement came during the second and final day of confirmation hearings before the committee.
By LARRY MARGASAK and DEVLIN BARRETT Associated Press Writers

And Rush Too

Our cantankerous friend Unwired rages at the continued exclusion of Rush from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

GT12 agrees (though with a good deal less enthusiasm).

It is our opinion that the great majority of acts admitted in the last 10 years have never come close to the influence of KISS and Rush.

It is just stupid to forget them. And stupid is the one thing elites don't want to be.

Just for the record, as it were, GT12 continues to hold to the positon that between the two bands there is only one decent song.

SPIN METER: Bush puts his record in best light

Sent from Express News
In his final speech to the nation, President George W. Bush took pride in his record at home and abroad, describing hopeful events and accomplishments. But what he left unsaid was significant, too.

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Afghanistan:

Bush said: "Afghanistan has gone from a nation where the Taliban harbored al-Qaida and stoned women in the streets to a young democracy that is fighting terror and encouraging girls to go to school."

He did not say that the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan has forced the U.S. to rush as many as 30,000 more troops there, seeking to turn the tide in fighting that has seen al-Qaida-linked militants and the Taliban make a comeback after initial defeats in the U.S.-led invasion in 2001.

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Iraq:

Bush said: "Iraq has gone from a brutal dictatorship and a sworn enemy of America to an Arab democracy at the heart of the Middle East and a friend of the United States."

He did not mention that violence in Iraq still persists despite improved security, that Iraq remains gripped by hostility between Shiite and Sunni Muslims, that most Americans think the war was a mistake, and that weapons of mass destruction - the original rationale for the war - were never found.

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Economy:

Bush said: "When challenges to our prosperity emerged, we rose to meet them. Facing the prospect of a financial collapse, we took decisive measures to safeguard our economy. These are very tough times for hardworking families, but the toll would be far worse if we had not acted."

He did not say that the largest of those decisive measures - an unpopular $700 billion bailout of the U.S. financial sector - has come under harsh criticism because of a lack of transparency and accountability about how the first $350 billion batch of money was spent.

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Education:

Bush said: "Across our country, students are rising to meet higher standards in public schools."

He did not say that one of the most common concerns about his No Child Left Behind education law is that some states set the bar too low because they are allowed to determine their own academic standards.

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Veterans:

Bush said: "Funding for our veterans has nearly doubled."

He did not say that embarrassing disclosures of shoddy conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and other facilities in 2007 forced his administration to retool the system of care for veterans.

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Katrina:

Bush mentioned Hurricane Katrina only once in this speech, praising Tony Recasner, "a principal who opened a new charter school from the ruins" of the storm.

He did not say that his government's response to the worst natural disaster in U.S. history included key failures, as even a White House report later found.

By The Associated Press

A Song For George

Let's hear for losers!

That's the story of his life:

Required Reading

There's alot of talk about this speech these days. Barry took the wife and kids out the other night to read it.

It is the finest speech ever given by a President.

It is required reading for all Americans.

Abraham Lincoln
Second Inaugural Address

Saturday, March 4, 1865

Fellow-Countrymen:

AT this second appearing to take the oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an extended address than there was at the first. Then a statement somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, during which public declarations have been constantly called forth on every point and phase of the great contest which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured.

On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural address was being delivered from this place, devoted altogether to saving the Union without war, urgent agents were in the city seeking to destroy it without war—seeking to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came.

One-eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, perpetuate, and extend this interest was the object for which the insurgents would rend the Union even by war, while the Government claimed no right to do more than to restrict the territorial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the war the magnitude or the duration which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible and pray to the same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces, but let us judge not, that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has His own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that American slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether."

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.

Thanks For The Memories

A Nation Thanks It's President

It's Coming ...

Can You Feel It?

At 9:00 p.m. Friday, the highest-level staffers will turn in their gear; and the West Wing will become a ghost town.

Chief of Staff Josh Bolten, Counselor Ed Gillespie, and Press Secy Dana Perino are the senior staffers who will remain here, on standby.

Monday is a federal holiday so the White House would be closed anyway.

On Tuesday, Special Agent Donald White of the U.S. Secret Service will shadow President Bush, sit in the customary front "shotgun" seat of the limousine, and guard the President until noon. At 12:01, Agent White steps over to a position behind Barack Obama.

Yes It Is!

NY Times:

Holder Tells Senators Waterboarding Is Torture

WASHINGTON — Pledging to run an independent Justice Department free of political taint, Eric H. Holder Jr. said on Thursday that he believes unequivocally that “waterboarding” is torture, and that it must not be practiced by the United States regardless of the circumstances.

Addressing the subject of torture at the military prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, Mr. Holder told Senator Patrick J. Leahy of Vermont, the committee chairman, “Waterboarding is torture.” It was so defined under the Spanish Inquisition and when used by the Japanese in World War II, he said, and it remains so today.

President-elect Barack Obama has vowed to close the prison, which Mr. Holder said he agreed with. “There are possibly many other people who are not going to be able to be tried but who nevertheless are dangerous to this country,” he said. “We’re going to have to try to figure out what to do with them.”

Asked whether a president might have the power to immunize people against criminal charges if they employ waterboarding, which creates a drowning-like sensation, to obtain intelligence to use against terrorists, Mr. Holder answered unambiguously: “Mr. Chairman, no one is above the law”

No Class

Palin is not attending Barry's McCainFest

Class

Did you know that on Monday Barry is hosting a dinner honoring John McCain?

Run-DMC, Metallica lead list of 2009 Rock Hall

Still No KISS?

Sent from Express News
NEW YORK - Run-DMC once hailed themselves as the Kings of Rock, so it's fitting that the pioneering rappers have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Run-DMC joins the heavy metal band Metallica, guitarist and former Yardbirds member Jeff Beck; soul singer and guitarist Bobby Womack and doo-wop group Little Anthony and the Imperials as this year's inductee class.

Though Run-DMC wasn't among the first rap acts, they were the first to achieve widespread mainstream success, and the first to notch a platinum album with 1986's "Raising Hell." The rapping duo of Joseph "Run" Simmons and Darryl "DMC" McDaniels - plus their DJ, the late Jam Master Jay - were rap's first rock stars. They had hits with songs like "My Adiddas" and "It's Tricky," but had their greatest success when they remade Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" with the rock act for a groundbreaking collaboration.

In an interview Wednesday, McDaniels called Run-DMC's induction "inconceivable."

"I'm a rap dude, I'm an MC from Hollis (a neighborhood in New York's borough of Queens), just rockin' the mic, and to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, with the Beatles, and (Bob) Dylan, and the rock 'n' roll gods? It's ridiculous! Ridiculous in a good way," he said.

He also gave a nod to the predecessors who paved the way for the group's success: "I share this nomination and the induction and the whole award with those cats, everyone from the Bronx and Harlem who started this."

Jam Master Jay - whose real name was Jason Mizell - was shot to death in his recording studio in 2002. McDaniels doesn't consider the induction bittersweet - "because Jay isn't here to celebrate doesn't mean he's not partaking in this event" - but said he couldn't see the duo performing during the April 4 induction ceremony in Cleveland without him.

"We can't do it without Jay," he said. "I want people to remember the last time they saw us together, the three of us."

Like Run-DMC, Metallica made its debut 25 years ago with the seminal album "Kill 'Em All," and became pioneers in their genre, with their thrashing metal sound, led by the frenetic guitar play of James Hetfield and the drumming of Lars Ulrich. One of rock's more enduring bands, the group has sold upwards of 60 million records in the United States alone, and are still one of music's most successful acts: They are on a top-selling tour, their latest album, "Death Magnetic," has sold more than a million copies and has also been nominated for Grammy awards.

"Life is good in Metallica right now. A lot of good things are happening. Quite opposite of what they were during the `St. Anger' time," said Hetfield, referring to the 2003 CD that was reviled by many Metallica fans.

The group - which also consists of guitarist Kirk Hammett and bass player Robert Trujillo - also went through periods of infighting (famously chronicled in the 2004 documentary "Metallica: Some Kind of Monster").

"So all the work and effort that we put into our relationship back then has brought a lot of fruits of labor with that, on this album, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Grammys. So we're feeling good," Hetfield added.

He also said the honor was for everyone who had played with the group: Late bassist Cliff Burton and bassist Jason Newsted, who will also be inducted.

Cleveland native Womack, who was part of the group the Womack Brothers until breaking out on his own with hits including "If You Think You're Lonely Now," said the induction ceremony would bring him back home for the first time in almost three decades.

"This is just the greatest, I'm extremely happy," he said. "It proves that, if you're blessed to be able to wait on what's important to you, a lot of things will change in life."

Besides the main inductees, rockabilly singer Wanda Jackson got a nod for the early influence category, and the sidemen inductees are session musician Spooner Oldham and two of Elvis Presley's musicians - drummer D.J. Fontana and bassist Bill Black.

The induction ceremony is returning to Cleveland after several years in New York City. It will aired live by the Fuse network.

The hall of fame also announced on Wednesday that Bruce Springsteen will be the focus of a new exhibit called "From Asbury Park to the Promised Land: The Life and Music of Bruce Springsteen." It opens April 1.

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Associated Press Writer John Carucci in New York contributed to this report.

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By NEKESA MUMBI MOODY AP Music Writer