Bill Frist Declines Gubernatorial Bid

By GottaLaff

Frist is in the news again. Luckily, it will be shortlived:

Former Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN) has decided not to make the race for governor of Tennessee, a "high Republican source" tells the Chatanoogan.

The news is set to clear the way for Rep. Zach Wamp (R-TN) and Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam (R) to enter the race.

A "high Republican source"? Isn't the GOP the anti-drug party? Well, high or not, let's hope the source is accurate. It was difficult enough to bring myself to type his name after such a long time.

And what a relief to escape any more long distance diagnoses of patients in vegetative states and AIDS-transmission-via-tear ducts.

The doctor is out.

Terry McAuliffe announces bid for Virginia governor

By GottaLaff

It's official (original post here):

Terry McAuliffe on Saturday announced his candidacy for the Virginia governorship, attempting to position himself as the natural successor to Democrats Mark Warner and Tim Kaine.

In an e-mail video distributed to supporters, the former Democratic National Committee chairman said he has lived in the commonwealth for almost 20 years and that his campaign would focus on the economy, energy and the records of Warner and Kaine. McAuliffe is a resident of McLean and said he would make a formal announcement on Wednesday.

“Over the coming months, we will travel to every corner of the commonwealth to ask all Virginians to join our campaign to get the economy moving again,” McAuliffe said. “As governor, I’ll make it my job to protect your job, grow this economy, make Virginia a leader in renewable energy, focus on long-term transportation solutions and give our children the best education so they have a chance to pursue the American dream right here in Virginia.” [...]

His chairmanship of the DNC from 2001 to 2005 spanned a period in which the organization raised nearly $600 million, erased its debt and positioned itself for wins in the 2006 congressional elections and the 2008 presidential contest under current chairman Howard Dean.

McAuliffe has at least two primary opponents, State Sen. Robert Creigh Deeds, who ran for attorney general in 2005, and Brian Moran, who succeeded Deeds as chairman of the House Democratic Caucus in Richmond.

The only announced GOP candidate is current Attorney General Bob McDonnell, whom McAuliffe called “a good man” in his announcement video.

He's essentially Odie Clinton.

VIDEO: Cheers! Rachel Maddow the mixologist teaches us how to shake things up

By GottaLaff

Rachel the Mixologist: "Don't be a wuss about the shaking." Pshyeah! Take it away, Rach:

Rachel Maddow took time out from being Americas favorite TV liberal yesterday to give us a lesson in mixology. If you need something to serve at your New Years Eve party, Maddow, a booze enthusiast, demonstrates her favorite American classic cocktail, the Jack Rose. Watch the video to learn the proper way to shake and what constitutes real lime juice. Video by RJ Bone.

Rachel looks her cutest bestest in glasses and sweats. She'd make a great drinking buddy.

H/t: Mediabistro

Rainbow Room to close restaurant, citing economy

By GottaLaff

I hate to see these venerable businesses shutter, one by one-- or in the case of our Big Recession-- 12 by 12, at the very least:

The recession has reached the ritzy Rainbow Room, the special-occasion spot that overlooks midtown Manhattan from high above the tourist-attracting Rockefeller Center skating rink.

With business slowing and an ongoing lease dispute, the venue's Italian-themed Rainbow Grill restaurant plans to shutter as of Jan. 12, a spokesman said Saturday. Its bar, banquet space and the weekend dinner-dancing sessions that reflect its glamorous history will continue on the 65th floor. [...]

The Rainbow Room has symbolized cosmopolitan elegance since it opened in 1934, during the Great Depression. It is located above NBC's studios at Rockefeller Center, offering Art Deco ambiance and glittering vistas of the city skyline.

Generations of celebrities have performed and partied there. Frank Sinatra once showed up on the same night as Bob Dylan. Famously unruly Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards even donned a tie to see a Marianne Faithfull show there.

The venue's periodic dinner and dancing nights still call for suits and dresses — if not tuxedos and evening gowns — and feature a big-band orchestra.

There are no plans to convert the space, and it's unclear how long it will remain closed.

I've never been there, but it's still like saying good-bye to an old friend.

Franken Jumps Out to 225-Vote Lead on Strength of Absentee Ballots

By GottaLaff

Ohpleaseohpleaseohplease.

Nate the Great at Five Thirty Eight:

Minnesota took until 5 PM today to begin actually counting rejected absentee ballots, as the Canvassing Board sorted through various legal objections, underwent the arduous task of physically opening more than 900 ballots, and then gave the campaigns a chance to review the back of the ballots for identifying marks. Once they finally got underway, however, with election officials calling out the names of the candidates one ballot at a time, Franken went on a long winning streak and essentially never looked back.

All told, Franken gained a net of 176 ballots from the 952 under review according to The Uptake's unofficial count, putting him 225 votes ahead in the recount overall. Excluding disqualified ballots, Franken won 53.7 percent of the votes counted today, Coleman 34.1 percent, and other candidates 12.4 percent. Franken's 225-vote advantage is now slightly larger than the one Norm Coleman held before the recount began, when he led by 215 votes based on the certified Election Night tally.

Although the absentee ballots were expected by all observers to help Franken's prospects, the nearly 20-point margin that he ran up on Coleman today was surprisingly large [...]

Either way, a number of legal stratagems that might have seemed appealing to the Coleman campaign might now be somewhat mooted. [...] With Franken doing so well among the absentee ballots that were counted today, moreover, any Coleman attempts to get more absentee ballots counted would seem to have a high risk of backfiring.

Ohhhhhpleaseohpleaseohplease...

Also in Transition, the Youngest Obamas

By GottaLaff

(via)

After years of having to read about Jenna and not Jenna, it's nice to cover Sasha and Malia:

President-elect Barack Obama’s wife, Michelle, and daughters, Malia and Sasha, left for Washington on Saturday, a day ahead of him, so the young girls can get a head start on preparing for their first day at a new school in the nation’s capital on Monday, aides confirmed.

Mr. Obama worked at his transition office in the federal building downtown here for more than three hours on Saturday, but went home in time to say good-bye. He did not go with his family to Midway Airport. The president-elect is planning to fly to Washington on Sunday, and arrive in the evening.

What a life. I can't even imagine what it must be like to deal with so many new and challenging things while constantly in the public eye. And those are just the kids!

Obama praises new Colorado senator, Michael Bennet

By GottaLaff

Soon-to-be Senator Bennet got the Obama stamp of approval:

President-elect Barack Obama Saturday praised Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter's choice of Michael Bennet as that state's next senator [...]

"Filling Ken Salazar's boots in the US Senate is a tall order. But in selecting Michael Bennet, Governor Ritter has made an excellent choice," Obama said in a statement released by his transition office.

"Michael Bennet perfectly reflects the qualities of the ruggedly independent state he has been chosen to serve. An innovator in the public and private sectors, he has shown himself willing to challenge old thinking and stale policies," Obama also said.

I wonder if Bennet wears big cowboy hats too.

Bennet replaces Salazar, above, Obama's choice for interior secretary.

U.S.-installed Iraqi ex-Prime Minister: Bush is "utter failure"

By GottaLaff

We've been saying this for years:

Former U.S.-installed Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi has denounced the policies of President George W. Bush as an "utter failure" that gave rise to the sectarian venom that ravaged his country. [...]

Allawi ruled Iraq for almost a year after U.S. occupation officials handed power to him in 2004 as prime minister of an interim government. He was selected by a council hand-picked by Washington after the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.

"Yes, Bush's policies failed utterly," said Allawi, describing the U.S. administration that once backed him. "Utter failure. Failure of U.S. domestic and foreign policy, including fighting terrorism and economic policy."

"His insistence on names like 'democracy' and 'open elections', without giving attention to political stability, was a big mistake. It cast shadows on Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan and Egypt, and I believe this will be remembered in history as President Bush's policy," he said.

He really ought to think about blogging for TPC.

UPDATE via TPM:

President Bush had none of the power rooted in respect, judgment and persuasion. He won two elections and he controlled an army. Now he has nothing.

Guilt by hunch

By GottaLaff

How many times has this happened? It doesn't matter whether it's during campaign season, or if it's just easier to blame someone for a crime in order to appease a nervous nation, or even protect the actual guilty party.

Here's the headline on the New York Times website:

Portrait Emerges of Anthrax Suspect’s Troubled Life

The anthrax investigation yielded nothing more than a strong hunch that Dr. Bruce E. Ivins was the perpetrator, a Times examination found.

Guilt by hunch. Destruction of lives, reputations and credibility. Spread the rumors and misinformation, then retract when nobody is listening. That's what we've become.

Poll-itics: Despite rumors to the contrary, liberals and Republicans confident in Obama edition

By GottaLaff

Just as a rumor about a lack of Obama support from the troops has gone mainstream, so has a similar one about liberal support. They're both dead wrong:

Liberals’ Confidence in Obama Remains High
Conservatives’ opinions of president-elect becoming more positive

Gallup Poll Daily tracking finds support for Barack Obama among liberal Democrats holding steady at 93% despite news reports that his core supporters are disappointed with some of his cabinet appointments and other decisions. Meanwhile, in recent weeks, Obama's ratings have improved among conservative Republicans, up from 23% to 29%.

Get that? Nearly 1/3 of conservative Republicans have a better opinion of Obama, too.

More than 9 in 10 liberal Democrats have expressed confidence that Obama will make a good president since Gallup began tracking these opinions after the election last November. Moderate and conservative Democrats show nearly as high levels of confidence. [...]

Perhaps because his choices may signal a more politically moderate approach to governing, conservative, moderate, and liberal Republicans have become more confident in Obama's potential in recent weeks.

Now, a slim majority of moderate and liberal Republicans, 51%, say they are confident Obama will be a good president, up from 44% in November. Conservative Republicans remain largely skeptical of Obama's abilities, but in recent weeks his stock has risen slightly among this group, from 23% to 29%.

Shallow Thoughts: Reporting on the Israel/Gaza crisis edition

By GottaLaff

Today's Shallow Thought:

Note to CNN's Fredericka Whitfield: "Eminent" means "standing out so as to be readily perceived or noted : conspicuous; exhibiting eminence especially in standing above others in some quality or position : prominent". "Imminent" means "ready to take place ; especially : hanging threateningly over one's head." The Israeli ground incursion was "imminent", not "eminent".

Whitfield usually does a decent job, but when conveying a story of this magnitude, communicating accurately and professionally is desirable. And yes, I'm an admitted stickler.

That was today's Shallow Thought. Thank you for wading in.

Fox News claims ‘magic negro’ text was "inadvertently cleared for air"

By GottaLaff

Just like some of the so-called "polite" trolls, Fox News [sic] is defending itself against the "magic negro" crawl message it displayed on New Years Eve. From my Troll post:

Disruptive people, who keep themselves just at the edge of acceptable behavior. [...]

These are the posters all too often cry innocence and hide behind the very worthy excuse of open discussion, but are frequently just trying to stir up trouble.

Those are usually the ones accusing trusted and long time users of promoting censorship and trollish behavior.

Sound familiar? It should:

Instead of offering an apology, Scott took the opportunity to attack Fox’s rivals:

Fox News VP of programming Suzanne Scott explains, “We received tens of thousands of text message submissions during our New Years Eve special, and this particular viewer submission was inadvertently cleared for air. At FOX we recognize our error as opposed to networks who allow their hosts to utter crude vulgarities to the public.”

Fox New has a history of allowing racially-charged language aimed at Obama and his family to make it on air and then claiming it was simply a mistake. In June, after a Fox chyron referred to Michelle Obama as “Obama’s Baby Mama,” Fox’s Senior Vice President of Programming Bill Shine explained it by saying that “A producer on the program exercised poor judgment in using this chyron during the segment.”

Amazing, isn't it, how Faux News and trolls offer identical "innocent" excuses while pointing the finger at anyone but themselves. It won't wash on the Tee Vee Machine, and it doesn't wash here in the Blogosphere.

The ugly Bush stain: Convert forests to housing subdivisions edition

By GottaLaff

This nauseating abomination aka BushCo's New Rule, makes the Healthy Forests Initiative seem environmentally friendly:

In yet another potential last minute rule change, “the Bush administration appears poised to push through a change in U.S. Forest Service agreements that would make it far easier for mountain forests to be converted to housing subdivisions.” Though President-elect Obama has opposed the move, Mark E. Rey, the former timber lobbyist who heads the Forest Service, has signaled that he intends to finalize the plan before Obama’s inauguration. [...]

Rey is pushing a technical change that it will have “large implications“:

The shift is technical but with large implications. It would allow Plum Creek Timber to pave roads passing through Forest Service land. For decades, such roads were little more than trails used by logging trucks to reach timber stands.

But as Plum Creek has moved into the real estate business, paving those roads became a necessary prelude to opening vast tracts of the company’s 8 million acres to the vacation homes that are transforming landscapes across the West.

Scenic western Montana, where Plum Creek owns 1.2 million acres, would be most affected, placing fresh burdens on county governments to provide services, and undoing efforts to cluster housing near towns.

[...] The GAO concluded that 900 miles of logging roads could be paved in Montana and that amending the long-held easements “could have a nationwide impact.”

Much more here.

It's heartwarming to witness BushCo's love and loyalty to this majestic land of ours.

Remember this?

“History,” Bush replied, when asked by Woodward how he would be judged over time. “We don’t know. We’ll all be dead.”

For once, after all these heartburn-inducing, penetrating stains he's leaving, Bush may be right.

May I just say

That whoever decided to make this guy


the new Dr Who instead of this guy,


needs an immediate appointment with an opthamologist.

New Ann Coulter Book Coming This Week -- Rips (Surprise) Michelle and Barack O

By GottaLaff

The Madam's Apple is a nasty, hate-filled bleach-bottle of spumescent acid reflux. She's clearly mentally ill. She may not even be able to help herself. But hey, NBC will be happy to assist:

Ann Coulter will be dropping her latest bomb in bookstores this week. New York's Daily News has the latest preview, in which Coulter slams Michelle Obama as a faux-Jackie O, refers to "B. Hussein Obama" and claims the media "literally" wanted to have sex with him during the campaign.

Um, Ann? Seen this?

From the Daily News, a few excerpts:

• Re: Michelle Obama: "Her obvious imitation of Jackie O's style - the flipped-under hair, the sleeveless A-line dresses, the short strands of fake pearls - would have been laughable if done by anyone other than a media-designated saint."
• Of Cindy McCain: "dressed well without freakishly imitating famous First Ladies in history."
• And one more Michelle Obama slam: Coulter facetiously and snidely refers to Michelle Obama as a "saint" and "Mother Teresa" and suggests that her public service career "advanced in lockstep with the political advancement of her husband."
  

Love them family values, Madam's Apple, pointing out what an unethical embarrassment Michelle and her resume are. Helping others? Reaching out? What a bitch!

Mrs. Obama leaves your reputation in the dust, what with all those laudable accomplishments, plus bonus points for inspiring an entire nation. Wow, that must really get under your skin, which explains the motivation for those literary spasms that pass for books.

Following Coulter's own line of what passes for thinking, I wonder how she would describe Bristol Palin. "That one's" certainly no Mother Teresa.

By the way, I'm sure you've all noticed the months-long through-line of the media and our trolls that Madam's Apple regurgitated: "Media-designated saint". Was she in a coma during the press's mindless adulation of the Cod Piece in Chief? And that was for baselessly and fraudulently bombing a non-threatening, sovereign nation resulting in needless death, destruction, and worldwide scorn.

Compared to all that, Jack Abramoff and Bernard Madoff are saints.

BREAKING: Israeli ground forces move into Gaza

By GottaLaff

CNN is just reporting that leaflets were dropped to tell Gaza residents to leave immediately. This will be a "long and comprehensive operation", per the reporting.

They're going on to say that this will be urban warfare, advantage: Hamas, since it's on their turf.

The Israeli's want to occupy/control certain areas on the periphery of more highly popuated, denser areas like Gaza City, if I understood right, and the first stages will be limited in scope.

"This is just the beginning." And, per the reporting, this is what Hamas wanted to happen, to lure Israeli forces in, get them bogged down, leading to some sort of eruption of opinion in the Arab world. They want to inflame emotions against the Israelis.

Bristol's fiance Levi's (illegal?) apprenticeship raises questions about Palin

By GottaLaff

Can this family avoid scandal for even one lousy day? Happy New Year, Palins/Johnstons:

An Alaska talk show host and frequent critic of Gov. Sarah Palin claims in a column in the Anchorage Daily News that an apprenticeship Palin said her daughter's boyfriend is serving in Alaska's North Slope violates federal regulations.

Dan Fagan, who also publishes a Web site, thealaskastandard.com, said Levi Johnston's reported service as an electrical apprentice on Alaska's North Slope while he is enrolled in correspondence courses to complete high school violates federal regulations, which require a high school diploma.

Here are excerpts from Dan Fagan's piece:

Have you noticed how our governor seems to have convinced herself only some of the rules apply to her?

This attitude was really at the heart of Troopergate. It also allows her to do things like take cash from the state for spending more than 300 nights in her own home in Wasilla.

Now it appears the governor may have found a new way to skirt the rules. How is it possible that the governor's soon-to-be son-in-law, Levi Johnston, is working as an apprentice on the North Slope?

The governor, in trying to dispel rumors the father of her grandchild is a high school dropout, released this statement this past week [...]

You can read my original post about that here.

But federal regulations require all members of apprentice programs, union or otherwise, to first obtain a high school diploma, something the governor's soon-to-be son-in- law does not have. [...]

Bo Underwood, who heads up ASRC's electrical apprentice program, confirmed Johnston is indeed enrolled as an apprentice. Underwood claimed not to know whether a high school diploma is needed to be an ASRC apprentice and said he would check on it. But federal regulations clearly state a high school diploma is needed before entering an electrical workers apprentice program. How is it the man who runs the program does not know that?

Underwood also claimed not to know whether there is a waiting list for the ASRC apprentice program he runs.

As the McClatchy piece asks, how did Baby Daddy Levi get into the apprenticeship program if similar programs have long waiting lists?

Rebecca Logan, executive director of Associated Builders and Contractors, an organization that also has an electrical workers apprentice program, says waiting lists always accompany apprenticeship programs. Her organization's electrical apprentice program, one of only three in the state, has a waiting list of at least 100 people.

Favoritism? Linked to Grandma DimBulb? What?! Nevah! That would be-- Oh, what's that word again? Oh yes-- unethical.

Did Levi Johnston bypass the rules to get into a coveted program because of his soon-to-be mother-in-law? We don't know the governor's involvement. Eventually she will have to address the controversy.

Yeah, 'cause she's always been so good about doing that. Dream on, Fagan.

I believe 2009 will be the year more and more Alaskans will come to realize Sarah Palin is in way over her head as governor, doesn't always play by the rules, and is, at times, less than honest.

It would be about time. They're way-y-y behind the rest of us.

A poll commissioned by TheAlaskaStandard.com and conducted by Dittman Research shows the governor is losing some of her appeal. When respondents were asked whom they would vote for between Lisa Murkowski and Sarah Palin in a 2010 race for the Senate, an overwhelming number said Murkowski. According to the poll, Murkowski would beat Palin by a margin of 56 percent to 23 percent.

I sense slippage. Do you sense slippage? Say, around 33%'s worth? Now about 2010:

That's the year TransCanada will hold its open season. Chances producers will commit hundreds of billions of dollars to ship gas through the TransCanada pipeline instead of their own; I'd say 1 in 10.

Meaning AGIA. will be exposed for the silly policy it is several months before the governor is up for re-election.

Chances Palin is elected to a second term as governor, I'd say 3 in 10.

Schadenfreude? Priceless.

Reid Lobbied Against Appointing Jackson

By GottaLaff

Ever wonder why we choose to post what we post? Once in awhile in Comments, we get a mild complaint or two. Well, here it is: We post what's out there, what's available to us, and, obviously, what we hope is interesting to readers.

Paddy and I also, for the most part, put up what strikes an emotional chord in us, for whatever reason.

We also try to amuse once in awhile, and ignore the "real" news, just for a change of pace.

One other thing I'd like to make very clear: We don't necessarily agree with the content of an article. If we don't add commentary, it doesn't mean we agree (or disagree) with it. We simply though it was informative or interesting. My opinions have often been mistaken for those of the author of an article.

With that, I'm posting something that I find a little boring, because there's very little out there today:

Just days before Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was charged with trying to sell President-elect Obama's U.S. Senate seat to the highest bidder, the Chicago Sun Times reports Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) called to "make it clear who he didn't want in the post: Jesse Jackson, Jr., Danny Davis or Emil Jones."

"Rather, Reid called Blagojevich to argue he appoint either state Veterans Affairs chief Tammy Duckworth or Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan."

I'll be so relieved when Blago and the remnants of his polluted wake disappear.

A staycation from cliches

By GottaLaff

We've touched on a few annoying, overused catch phrases in Comments and posts. Now the L.A. Times is joining us. They're fed up with the following jargon and so am I (for the complete list and more extensive descriptions, go here):

• From Wall Street to Main Street. ... [B]by the time the phrase was peppering President-elect Obama's comments about his economic team and the next stimulus package, we were desperate to visit new metaphorical neighborhoods.
• Bailout. Whenever they rolled out a new, multibillion-dollar financial aid package for a company or industry deemed too big to fail, Bush administration officials referred to the effort in United Nations-esque phrases, such as "rescue" or "relief program." But the media took a one-size-fits-all approach with "bailout." [...] You know a word has reached cliche status when a friend asks to borrow a few bucks for lunch and refers to it as a bailout. (Just as overused but more colorful: credit crunch, economic downturn, mortgage meltdown.)
• Staycation. [This is] the supposed trend of stay-put vacations.
  
• Czar. [...] Seemingly every big initiative from government these days prompts talk of a czar. And to think Russia has gotten by without one for 90 years.
• Getting a haircut. [...] According to a Dialect Society linguist, the phrase, meaning to receive a lower financial return, dates to the 1950s. If we hear it again, we may tear out our hair.
• No Child . . . President Bush's much-debated, often-maligned No Child Left Behind Act has generated much bad jargon. No Child Left Untested is among the worst. [...] No Bureaucrat Left Behind is close behind.
• Blagojevich. It's a sign of personal triumph or travesty when your name becomes an overused verb. This one definitely falls into the latter category. Be sure not to Blagojevich your career. [...]
• Game-changer. Part of a long, unfortunate history of trivializing politics with the vocabulary of sports (see also: horse race, veepstakes). [...]
• Change. When voters chose Barack Obama over John McCain in November, they weren't just electing the next president. They were choosing a change agent on a path to change, or more precisely, to the change we need. Though we don't deny that this country welcomes change, typically on a four- to eight-year cycle, the word and all its variations are now passe. It's time for an adjustment. [...]
• Drill down. When the executive summary is just too light on detail, you can dig into the full report. You can scrutinize the data or pore over the charts. But please, do not "drill down."

At the end of the day, 24/7 due diligence will be necessary to avoid this jargon, you betcha. Because, it is what it is at this point in time. Going forward, we'll most likely see an overused catch phrase tsunami again in our lifetimes. With all due respect, to predict such a thing is not rocket science. Am I falling into the same trap right now? My bad, but don't tase me, bro'. I used to be such a maverick, but now? Not so much.

My name is Laffy, and I approve this message.

Doonesbury: Fox News obstructs the truth edition

By GottaLaff

Trudeau nails it again, and so creatively:

(click on image to enlarge)

VIDEO: Inauguration 2009

By GottaLaff

Seventeen more days:


H/t: Ady

The best financial jokes of 2008

Excellent stuff. More here, but these are my favs. h/t Kathy.

"Get my broker, Miss Jones."
"Yes sir. Stock, or Pawn?"

The market may be bad, but I slept like a baby last night. I woke up every hour and cried.

The problem with investment bank balance sheets is that on the left side nothing is right and on the right side nothing is left.

How do you find a good small-cap fund manager?
Find a good large-cap fund manager, and wait

The credit crunch has helped me get back on my feet. The car's been repossessed.

There's a surgeon, an architect and an economist. The surgeon said, 'Look, we're the most important. God's a surgeon because the very first thing God did was to extract Eve from Adam's rib.' The architect said, 'No, wait a minute, God is an architect. God made the world in seven days out of chaos.' The economist smiled, 'And who made the chaos?'

(snip)

The United States has developed a new weapon that destroys people but it leaves buildings standing. It's called the stock market.

President Bush said clients shouldn’t be concerned by all the bank closings. If the bank is closed, you just use the ATM, he said.

Cartoon via the delectable Luckovich.

Saturday Linkage

Just some random stuff since all the newsmakers must be sleeping in.

U.S.-installed Iraqi ex-PM says Bush "utter failure"

UK elderly could be fitted with electronic tags to save money on night care

English Language to Have One Million Words by April

Thousands of Shoes Appear on Miami Freeway (see video, also)

Rare 1937 Bugatti supercar found in English garage

Obama's Haunted House

FOX News Hypes Bogus Survey Supposedly Showing Rift Between Obama And Military

I am going to pull every hair out of my head by the end of the month the way this crap is going. This useless poll first surfaced on Monday and worked it's way around thru Drudge and the usual suspects to finally excrete itself out in the usual manner, on Fox. Via Newshounds.

Obama's win brings firsts for black press

About time. I don't know anyone ('cept maybe Pat Buchanan) that would have a problem with our press corps more accurately reflecting the makeup of the country.

Barack Obama’s election as president is prompting major changes in the nation’s black press, ushering in a series of firsts that editors say will reshape print, Internet, radio and television coverage aimed at African-American audiences.

Essence, the top selling magazine among black women, will have a full-time White House reporter for the first time. Ebony magazine will add a White House reporter, either full-time or as needed. Its sister publication, Jet magazine, will have a weekly two-page Washington report in every issue.

And Black Entertainment Television is scrapping its usual fare of videos and sitcoms for a four-hour live broadcast of Obama’s swearing in — just as the leading cable network in black households did for both party conventions last summer, and on Election Day. TV One will do the same, airing 21 hours of inauguration coverage throughout the day.

01/03/09: President-elect Obama's Weekly Address

Malia and Sasha's first day at Sidwell Friends

By GottaLaff

Sidwell Friends School in northwest Washington.

Photo: AP

Trying to be "normal" when you're the First Daughters of the first African American president at a private school filled with kids from well-connected families will take some doing:

Bodyguards will be around, for sure, but hard to spot. And their teachers will have a brand-new worry in the digital age — cell phone cameras.

That’s the life awaiting Malia and Sasha Obama when they step off the plane from Chicago on Sunday to start next week at Sidwell Friends School, which has been teaching presidents' kids dating back to Teddy Roosevelt. [...]

Yet, at Sidwell, former students said, the girls won’t be treated like little princesses. The school will try, as it did with Clinton before them, to help them simply fit in, along with the children of other wealthy and well-connected Washingtonians. [...]

An added bonus for the girls is that they already have friends there — Vice President-elect Joe Biden has grandchildren at the school.

No matter, they’ll be treated like all of the other students. [...]

“There is no celebri-dom at Sidwell, at all. It really is irrelevant who your parents are because everyone’s parents have accomplished something,” former Clinton classmate Lory Ivey Alexander said. “It’s so not a big deal when you are there. It’s almost unusual to think that other people see these people as celebrities. Sometimes people say to me ‘Oh my God, you went to school with Chelsea Clinton!' And I say, ‘No, Chelsea went to school with me!’” [...]

“The school will shelter their experience, somewhat, but it won’t be that they're special. Everyone is special,” she said. “But it’s not that special of an experience to have the first daughters or the second family. It was pretty normal for us and it will be for the people attending there now.”

It is all a part of the school’s Quaker philosophy, which stresses community service and interconnectedness — themes that could have been ripped from one of Obama’s stump speeches. The guiding principle is a belief that there is “that of God” in everyone. Diversity, both racially and economically, are also high on Sidwell’s list, which has about 1,000 students on two different campuses. Nearly 40 percent of students are non-white and 1 out of 5 students gets financial aid. Tuition is $28,442 for the elementary school and $29,442 for middle and upper school. [...]

The Obama girls will attend school on two different campuses — Sasha, a second-grader, in Bethesda, and Malia, a fifth-grader, in Washington, D.C.

School days open with a moment of silence, and each week there is “meeting for worship” where students sit for about 45 minutes in silence, or they can speak if they so choose. [...]

Still, it is the newness of it all that might make it different for the Obama girls. While they will be one of many Sidwell students with prominent parents, they will also be symbols, both nationally and internationally, because they are black.

[A]ccording to historian Doug Wead, ... the Obama family represents a real break from the past. [...]

“People are just flabbergasted. The Russians were just stunned by the election of the Obamas, and that this is a real democracy and the American dream is alive and really symbolized by Malia and Sasha,” Wead said.

That's a lot for their little shoulders to bear, but my money says they're up to the task.

Left out

By GottaLaff

One more from TPM:

[T]he journalistic establishment in Washington, whether it's the Post or the Politico or much of the rest of the journalistic apparatus in the city, is essentially Republican in character -- not necessarily in terms of individual voting habits, though you'd be surprised, but in fundamental outlook about whose opinions matter and how government functions, which is what really counts. And you can see that resurfacing with increasing clarity just in that last week.

He's referring to this, in posts here, here and in the excerpt above. And in related news (well, not news, this is from about a year ago):

(via)

The red, white, and blue Green Zone

By GottaLaff

Via TPM:

Almost goes without saying (but it shouldn't) that the transfer is largely a formality and U.S. troops are still providing security in and around the Green Zone.

He's referring to this.

Some victory.

In Breakthrough, Franken And Coleman Agree On Counting Ballots

By GottaLaff

Ohpleaseohpleaseohplease:

In a major breakthrough in Minnesota, the Coleman and Franken campaigns have resolved that about 900 wrongly-rejected absentee ballots will be counted this weekend, out of nearly 1,350 that the county election officials had initially sorted out. [...]

The Coleman campaign did manage to throw another wild card in, though: They're going to court to try to force the inclusion of about 650 ballots that the local officials have rejected, and which seem to be stacked their way.

In a very good sign for Al Franken, 255 absentees were sent out from heavily-Democratic Hennepin County (Minneapolis) alone, and the number of vetoes from the two campaigns were nearly tied there. So expect this particular load of votes to break for Franken, with the remaining question being how the ballots from all the other places work out. [...]

[F]rom where we stand right now, it appears that Franken is favored to still hold his paper-thin lead over Norm Coleman after the ballots are counted this weekend. But that will just be the result going into the next step: A whole lot of litigation from the Coleman campaign, which could bottle up a Franken win for weeks or even months.

Come on already. It's getting really, really old.

The Audacity of Soap

By GottaLaff

Talk about a clean campaign:

Proving that the power of political kitsch transcends even the lousiest of economic times, two Dallas businessmen are stimulating their own economics by peddling Obama soap. Specifically, “The Audacity of Soap,” complete with a wrapper featuring an image of the president-elect and the slogan, “This is our moment to clean up America.”

With scents ranging from “sea to shining cedar” and “blue state bluebonnet,” Obama bar proprietors Craig Tiritilli and Salah Boukadoum say the holidays are causing sales to spike, even as the national economy continues to languish.

Each bar sells for $9.99, with gift-wrapped holiday packages ranging from $16.99 to $39.99.

Bubblicious!

Obama continues to inspire people to do good things:

The partners say they donate a portion of each sale to the Yellow Ribbon Fund, a charity that provides assistance to families of injured U.S. military personnel. In all, they say they’d like to raise $50,000 for the charity.

“We caught election fever, we both supported Obama and we laughed about doing Obama soap a little bit,” said Mr. Boukadoum, who employed several dozen people as chief executive of Atrana Solutions, a financial transactions technology company, until selling it in 2005. “But it’s really good business. Obama is already helping to create jobs.”

We've said that before, haven't we? Obama's a natural when it comes to job creation. Why, I'll bet he washes his hands clean of the very notion of unemployment.

Sorry. Moving on.

Orders have shipped to almost all of the 50 U.S. states, as well as several foreign nations, Mr. Boukadoum added. [...]

If nothing else, Dallas County Republican Party Chairman Jonathan Neerman admires the Obama bar makers’ entrepreneurialism.

“If someone would have sold John McCain anti-aging cream a while back, maybe that would have worked pretty well,” Mr. Neerman joked.

Well, no, Mr. Neerman. One look at Gramm-pa and any fool can see he'd be a better spokesperson for aging cream, not anti-aging.

I can see it now: Buy Oil of McCain and watch wrinkles appear like magic! White teeth? Not a problem! With Crust YellowStrips, your mouth will look just like John McCain's! You too can have the look of rotten teeth in only 5 minutes a day!

Meanwhile, I'm all in a lather about The Audacity of Soap. I'm practically foaming at the mouth.

[Laffy Note: I would have provided the accompanying video, but lately, Blogger won't let me upload. You can find it here.]

First woman Solicitor General? Obama's top candidates are female

By GottaLaff

Your honor, I don't object!

Bloomberg reports that the first female deans of the Harvard and Stanford law schools — Elena Kagan and Kathleen Sullivan — “are the top candidates to serve” as Barack Obama’s Solicitor General. No woman has ever served in that position on a permanent basis. Kagan “became a top candidate for solicitor general after being passed over for deputy attorney general, a slot set to go to Washington lawyer David Ogden.” The Solicitor General is charged with litigating on behalf of the government before the Supreme Court and determining whether lower court decisions should be appealed.

Some background:
Elena Kagan:

She was a law clerk for Judge Abner Mikva on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit and for Justice Thurgood Marshall of the U.S. Supreme Court. In private practice, Kagan was an associate at the Washington, D.C., law firm of Williams & Connolly.

From 1995 to 1999, Dean Kagan served as Associate Counsel to U.S. President Bill Clinton and Deputy Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy and Deputy Director of the Domestic Policy Counsel.

On June 17, 1999, President Clinton nominated Kagan to serve as a Judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit, to replace James L. Buckley, who had taken senior status three years earlier. However, the Republican-led Senate Judiciary Committee declined to bring her nomination forward for a hearing.

[As Dean of Harvard Law School] she has been credited for bringing new vigor to her post and for employing a consensus-building leadership style. [...] Kagan is also credited with overcoming ideological disputes among the Law School faculty that had hindered new faculty appointments.

Kathleen Sullivan:

Born in Sault Sainte Marie, Michigan, Sullivan graduated from Cornell University in 1976, and graduated as a Marshall Scholar from Oxford in 1978. Sullivan then graduated from Harvard Law School in 1981, where her mentor Laurence Tribe called her "the most extraordinary student I had ever had."

Sullivan's expertise is in the area of constitutional law. She is the author of a leading text in the field,^[3] Constitutional Law, with the late Professor Gerald Gunther.

After law school, Sullivan worked for one year as a law clerk for Judge James L. Oakes on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.^[2] She also worked briefly as a constitutional litigator in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

A lesbian, Sullivan has filed amicus curiae briefs in many cases before the U.S. Supreme Court over the years dealing with gay rights,^[8] including Bowers v. Hardwick and Lawrence v. Texas

Bristol Palin goes on the record: Teen pregnancy 'not ideal'

By GottaLaff

That Bristol. She has such a flair for stating the obvious:

In a statement dated Wednesday but posted on the Alaska governor's Web site Friday, Bristol says the pregnancy was "not ideal," but is thankful to have a family who supported her.

“Teenagers need to prevent pregnancy to begin with – this isn’t ideal. But I’m fortunate to have a supportive family which is dealing with this together," Bristol Palin said in the statement. "Tripp is so perfectly precious; we love him with all our hearts. I can’t imagine life without him now.”

What a relief. Could you imagine the uproar had she said, "I'm imagining life without Tripp all the time. He's such a pain in the butt. Life would be so, like, easier and such, if he had never been born. Also." (That last part would have been picked up from Grandma. Two peas, those two!)

That wouldn't have gone over well at all.

In the same statement, Gov. Palin said she at first greeted the news of her daughter's pregnancy with "fear and a bit of despair."

"Isn’t it just like God to turn those circumstances into such an amazing, joyful blessing when you ask Him to help you through?" she said in the statement.

It sure as shootin' is, Grandma. What a heckuva deity he turned out to be. Honestly, I don't know how in the Sam Hill God did it, turning the birth of an adorable, sweet infant into something joyful. Most people hate babies. How wonderful for you that you've learned to accept them, especially because they seem to be so prevalent in your little fam.

Now let's hope you all learn to accept birth control with the same ease and enthusiasm.

The impossible dream

By GottaLaff

Just a wild guess, but it might have been something Bush said... or did:

[Josh Bolten and Stephen Hadley] voiced frustration over their inability to improve Bush's popularity and to counter the administration's image of arrogance.

Utterly stupefying.

Sad news: John Travolta's son dies in Bahamas

By GottaLaff

This is too sad:

The teenage son of actor John Travolta died suddenly on Friday during a family vacation in the Bahamas, according to the family's lawyer.

Jett Travolta, 16, suffered a seizure at his family's vacation home at the Old Bahama Bay Hotel on Grand Bahama Island, attorney Michael Ossi said.

Attempts were made to revive him, but he died at the scene, Ossi said.

Jett, who had a history of seizures, was the eldest child of Travolta and his wife, actress Kelly Preston. They also have a daughter, Ella Blue, who was born in 2000.

I'm sorry for the family. This is too painful for words.

UPDATE 5:15 PM ET -- Police just released more details. According to a report, Jett was last seen going into the bathroom at their private suite at the Old Bahama Bay Resort sometime yesterday. The body was discovered by the caretaker, Jeff Michael Kathrein, at 10:00 AM today. The report says Jett suffered from seizures.

An autopsy is being performed to determine the exact cause of death.

Caution: Obama may be good for your health

By GottaLaff

Watch Obama speak twice a day and call me in the morning:

Smoking Ban Prevented Heart Attacks; Does Each Obama Speech Do the Same?

"Every time Obama comes on television now, the collective blood pressure in the United States goes down 10 points."

That quote, attributed to Rep. Neil Abercrombie, a Democrat from Hawaii, appeared today in a Washington Post article on Obama's calm manner and how the president-elect's disposition reflects his upbringing in laid-back Hawaii. It suggests that Obama's cool is contagious is a positive way, that it reassures Americans rattled by the nation's state of crisis. [...]

[I]magine for a moment the possibility that Obama's speeches actually do lower listeners' blood pressure. Since high blood pressure contributes to heart attacks and strokes, is it possible that Obama's status as president-elect has prevented some cardiovascular attacks? [...]

Rigorous studies show that changes in the environment around people—for example, reduced smoking in public places—can rapidly and significantly lower heart attack rates.[...]

A change in the identity of the nation's commander-in-chief isn't the same thing as a law that results in cleaner air, but if it lowers people's blood pressure, it could have a similar effect. And if Obama's soothing presence (soothing to some voters, at any rate) on the national stage has led to a drop off in heart attacks, researchers should be able to confirm it the same way the authors of today's smoking study did—by comparing heart attack rates before and after Obama was elected.

An enterprising researcher could also contrast any shift in the heart attack rate in pro-Obama cities or states to any shift in areas that voted against the Democrat. If heart attacks have decreased in blue states since early November and have increased in red states, that would be an intriguing clue. (In parts of the country, heart attack rates naturally fluctuate from month to month, so researchers would have to take that into account, too.)

I'd also be interested in knowing whether the blood pressure of voters tends to change when they hear Obama speak—and whether there's any difference in the biological response his supporters and nonsupporters have.

I wonder if repeated national exposure to P.E. Obama would lower our insurance premiums. Preventive medicine and all, right?

Palin is odds-on favorite to win 2012 GOP nomination

By GottaLaff

It would be a gift:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is the front-runner to win the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, according to online oddsmakers.

Despite a slew of negative press this fall about Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) running mate, online gaming site Superbook.com puts Palin’s odds at 3.5-1, the best among Republican hopefuls.

We have so much video, so many sound bites, a veritable treasure trove of material... and it's only 2009. Think of the possibilities! The downside? Having to be exposed to that voice on a regular basis.

Other top GOP contenders include former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, whose odds are set at 4-1, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, at 5-1.

Former Rep. Bobby Jindal (R-La.), who is now governor of Louisiana, has a 6-1 shot of claiming the nomination.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford and former Speaker Newt Gingrich (Ga.) are each listed at 12-1 to win the Republican nomination on Superbook.com.

Gen. David Petraeus and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani are 15-1 dark horses while Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and McCain are considered 20-1 long shots.

::brakes screee-e-e-eching to a halt:: McCain? At 76? Really? Oh, yes. Please. By all means.

Maybe he'd consider a stint as Grandma DimBulb's vice presidential running mate.

Commenter compares Obama, Bush... Thinks Obama is a hypocrite

By GottaLaff

UPDATE:
Anon now goes by Not a Troll. Kudos for the i.d., Not.

The following Comment is from one of our Anonymi. You can review the original thread here.

Apparently, you didn't see it in the news that Bush has been cleared on some of the Gitmo cases, with more expected to be cleared. I'm not saying that Bush has been an angel, but I think that far more has been laid on him than was accurate.

And I don't see Obama as being transparent. There is too much about him and his time in the cesspool of Chicago that we don't know about. The mere fact that when something comes out about someone he knows in Chicago, such as Ayers, Wright, and Blagojevich, and Obama pleads total ignorance about their wrong behavior, it does make it seem that he's either hiding some stuff, or that he's simply too ignorant to be trusted with leading our country.

There are numerous other things that show that Obama is a chameleon, such as driving a gashog of a car until he ran for office, and then switching to a hybrid. Now he acts as someone who cares so deeply about the environment? Hypocritical.

He ate junk food and smoked cigarettes until getting into the public eye so much, and now he's Mr. Healthy-Workout-Machine?

Once again, I don't have time for further back-and-forths with one of our Anons. Please feel free to continue the conversation.

Please note: My last comment to Anon gave him/her kudos for civility. So far, he/she has followed the new guidelines. We may disagree strongly, but there was welcome absence of the usual troll games.

VIDEOS: Muslim Passengers Kicked Off Plane

By GottaLaff

Paddy linked to this story earlier. Now CNN's Rick Sanchez is reporting that the airline issued an apology and refunded the family's airfare (print story here).