Howard Dean is TOPS!

This just breaks my heart.

""This is Lee Eisenberg," he said, adding that he was speaking from New Hampshire.

Eisenberg said he was a mental health patient who had been trying to get help. He'd been unsuccessful, he said, because he didn't have the "thousands of dollars" he was told he'd need.

He tried several mental health facilities, he said, "even called the Department of Health and Human Services." But no one could help him, he said.

Eisenberg was well-spoken, articulate and impassioned about his cause. But as the call continued, he became more agitated.

"I need to speak to Hillary Clinton," he said. "Something's got to change. Ordinary people need help" with their insurance.

Later, he asked, "Can you get me Hillary Clinton?" And finally, he said again he wanted to speak with Clinton.

"I don't want to talk to CNN anymore," he said before hanging up the phone. Police said that no one from the Clinton campaign was involved in the negotiations."

 http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/11/30/clinton.hostagetaker/index.html

Blue Oyster Cult  This Ain't the Summer of Love   Columbia  Agents of Fortune  2:05:01 (Real) http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/24863

Paine, LOL, they must be......they moved you up  :)  ciao for now! 

 I should add that the block is poorly maintained and an unresolved embarrassment in the name of Howard and Jim (not to mention all of us, but pay no mind HQ and never address it ).

Yes, Linda.  Sad isn't it?

Tchau, Linda.

http://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/23106

Everyone check your local PBS listings -- I know no one here :~) wants to miss Barry Manilow's brand new Songs of the Seventies he did exclusively for PBS as a fundraiser. Ours is on this coming Monday night the 3rd. This would be an auspicious time to call up and pledge too -- but for PBS and CSPAN we would truly be mushrooms (in the dark being fed dirt, etc.)

Holly J say's to look at the guy who is going for  Hastert’s district:

http://www.john08.com/bio

John Laesch is a military veteran who served as an intelligence analyst in the Middle East, and was involved in Counter Terrorist operations and the daily enforcement of UN Sanctions on Saddam Hussein's regime. John is also a graduate of Illinois State University where he received a Bachelor of Science in History and a minor in Political Science. John is currently employed as a union carpenter (local 195) working for Monarch Construction. He is embarking on two new roles in life; one as the husband of Jennifer Downard and the other, with your help and your vote, as the Represenative of the People of the 14th Congressional District in Illinois.

[...]

http://www.john08.com/bio

Annilow
> we could resort to canibalism and trip the light fanastic in our life of shadow, but for SSPAN and PBS.

Former Yugoslavia  Transformed Pitch Man       0:26:49 (Real)

Gore on Jay Leno tonight?

Barry Manilow  VSM Very Strange Medley         1:39:35 (Real) http://wfmu.org/playlists/shows/23830

paine, a band i found the other night....

http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fus...

John Prine - Flag Decal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xp1mIYJNKWQ

I'll check it out, mprov.

On Prine's FLAG DECAL, and tangents to Barrack Obama and his notions on flag decals....

 ...ah, you can guess.

mprov, starts out good - like the instrumentals.

Like the voice. 

Gets a bit tiresome.

Like the tree in the artwork.

Wormholes add  value to furniture.

Oh, there's another tune coming.

I like them, but the drums a bit overdone., maybe (what do I know?).

15.

Imn2Paine
Fri, 11/30/07
10:13 pm

Paine that was fun - that was Barry singing his commercial jingles -- he still had his Brooklyn accent then. 30 years later, State Farm still uses 'Like A Good Neighbor State Farm is There'

Annilow

> I was a bit baffled by the anti-Barry Manilow trend a few or more years ago.  I guessed it was his appearance.  ?I don't know?, but he had talent...lots of talent.  Unmistakable.  "Who is John Galt?"

21. It's still there -- I was a 'closet' fan for many years - I think it's b/c his music is so uncool, ie, un rock and roll. He's a Julliard trained musician and has written a lot of beautiful stuff. His is a face only a mother (and several million female fans) could love. In his autobiography he tells how in late teens, he was always last chosen for sports, etc, but after he played piano and sung girls fell all over him, the best revenge I guess.

Biden said that he would lead Impeachment hearings if Bush moved against Iran, because Congress has not given him the green light.

Which to me reinforces Hillary Clinton's point of view that the legislation (you all know the one) she voted for did not give Bushass the authority to attack Iran.

I don't know who John Galt is.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Galt

a character in Atlas shrugged, a Scottish writer?

 but after he played piano and sung girls fell all over him

> Groupies have a way of soothing ones painful youth.   Lucky Talented guy!

a character in Atlas shrugged

And a repeated question or statement of ....

John Galt is one of the main characters in Ayn Rand's novel Atlas Shrugged. An engineer by trade, Galt is the male hero of the story; his actions include withdrawing his talents, 'stopping the motor of the world', and leading the 'strikers' against the 'looters'.

>

To me, Greenspan and Bush are looters, but they promote themselves as talented.

Since everyone across the country is repeating the phrase, "Who is John Galt?", it is natural that many people have attempted to answer that question. The phrase becomes an expression of helplessness and despair at the current state of the world. Dagny Taggart hears a number of John Galt Legends before finding the real John Galt and eventually joining his cause, and learning that all of the stories have an element of truth to them.

11:19

11:21

unfreaking believable HQ

I gotta hit the hay, folks.  Be well where you is.

Hi Puddle, Paine and all!

just driving by whilst i get my bills paid.

Hi, Barb. How's Mz Little?

Shes fine and dandy, Puddle.  Had her on my lap for a bit while I was computing.  Then Burt came in and gave me a nice soft ginger cookie.  I told him that next time, he should give it to me when Mz Little wuz NOT on my lap.  she ate about a 1/4 of that cookie.  it was a small one though.  At first, I broke off pieces and let her eat them off my palm, then she said, "Put the cookie down and step away" so I let her pull small pieces off the cookie.  What a brat.

I've been scanning pictures that my mother gave me of her family and my father's family.  some very very old photos.  I came across one of her grandmother.  She was so excited.  when I scan the photos, I add some white space at the bottom so that I can document who is in the picture, when and where it was taken if I have that info.  A long, tedious process, but it will make a wonderful christmas gift to my folks and kids when I put it on DVDs

So, how YOU been?  I sure miss you.

I miss us all.

Pretty good. Life is very interesting, unlike this dang election, lol!

Amen to that!

My disdain for the blog clock is well documented. But I AM fed up with the blog thermometer. It always says it's 10-20 degrees colder here than it really is.

I'm always overdressed!

Nice to see a thread post from Holly J ... and thanks for all that you and other IL progressives are doing to work for the candidates of your choice.

It is work like yours ... and the many other progresive groups that we are blessed with, many if not all inspired by Howard, that will help to make a difference.

And it's not easy work, even when Rethugs field simpletons and zealots for candidates.

================
Simp and Simpler
Fred Thompson and Mike Huckabee want to 'simplify' the tax code -- which is not to be confused with improving it.
By Michael Kinsley
Friday, November 30, 2007; 1:18 PM

The American tax code is hideously and needlessly complex. People say they want something simpler. Now two Republican presidential candidates are probably committing political suicide by offering people what they say they want.

The central gimmick of Fred Thompson's recently announced tax plan is to offer people a choice. They can pay taxes under the current rules -- with some juicy new breaks added from the big and small businesses wish lists -- or they can pay a so-called "flat tax," with lower rates and fewer deductions. So anyone who wants a simpler tax code could have one. But for some of them (people who get a lot of deductions now), the simpler tax will be a higher tax. How many people, do you suppose, would choose simplicity over complexity, even if simplicity will costs them more? My bet: approximately zero.

Like most flat-tax advocates over the years, Thompson puts a thumb on the scale by combining flatness with a large tax cut. The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center figures that Thompson's plan would fall a mere $2.5 trillion short of revenue over the next decade, compared with the current system. Two and a half trillion to play with makes it easy to arrange for more people to see their taxes go down than up if they choose the flat-tax alternative. But this has nothing to do with simplifying the system. If you don't care how much debt you run up, you can give everyone a tax cut without bothering about simplification. You can stop collecting tax at all! That would be nice and simple.

The real strategy of Thompson's plan is a familiar one from past Republican tax plans: give large breaks to business and the wealthy (such as abolishing the estate tax), bribe the middle class to go along by offering smaller breaks to them, and don't worry about paying for it all.

[...]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...

Well, I don't for a minute believe that putz is ready for this unless it is to leave all the hassle to his successor ... but it would be nice to be wrong.

But why wait? I don't like leaving things in his unworthy, corrupt hands any longer than we have to. Begin the impeachment process now!

===============
Is Bush Ready to Talk Pullout?
By Dan Froomkin
Special to washingtonpost.com
Friday, November 30, 2007; 1:44 PM

President Bush spent yesterday afternoon making empty threats about the Pentagon layoffs and operations cutbacks he says he'll have to make unless Congress passes a no-strings-attached defense appropriation.

The Pentagon has plenty of money for the time being. The real ongoing battle between Bush and Congress is about whether Bush will agree to an Iraq pullout date. Bush's Senate allies blocked a House bill that would have forked over another $50 billion for defense spending on condition that the president agree to pull all U.S. troops out of Iraq by December 2008.

But even as Bush was ratcheting up the partisan rhetoric, White House "war czar" Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute -- at least according to House Defense Appropriations Chairman John Murtha -- was suggesting that the president might be willing to agree to a pullout date that falls after December 2008.

In other words, after he leaves office.

Approving any kind of pullout language would be a major reversal for the White House. But agreeing to something that wouldn't happen until after January 2009 would fit right in with a strategy to kick the can down the road and leave the tough decisions and bitter consequences of withdrawal to Bush's successor.

[...]
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...

Late night quickies.  LOL  Did anyone see Moyers tonight? A Jewish guest hung AIPAC out to dry.

Israeli and Palestinian human rights groups had challenged the move, calling it an illegal collective punishment.

The Israeli government argues the cutbacks are used as economic sanctions in retaliation for rocket attacks by Palestinian militants in Gaza.

The strip has been under the control of the Islamist movement Hamas since June.

"We are convinced that, for now, there is no need to issue a stay, especially as the (government) respondents undertook from the outset to ensure that the (fuel) reductions do not cause humanitarian harm," the Israeli Supreme Court wrote in its ruling.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7121313.stm 

It was alleged that two years ago Mr Olmert altered the terms of the sale of Bank Leumi to help a friend who was considering buying it.

Mr Olmert, who was finance minister at the time, denied any wrongdoing.

Israeli police are still investigating two other cases in which Mr Olmert is alleged to have behaved improperly.

In one case he is alleged to have appointed political allies to positions throughout the trade and industry ministry when he headed it between 2003 and 2005.

In another, police are investigating the purchase of a house in Jerusalem which a government watchdog concluded was sold below market value by a developer.

Mr Olmert has strenuously denied any wrongdoing and has insisted that the investigations are part of a political vendetta against him.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7120436.stm 

Putz is panicking about his legacy since Iraq is lost.  Perhaps we're beginning the see the triumph of "good" over "evil."

We really do need Gore and it's more evident every day.  Since global warming isn't being addressed seriously by any of the doofuses, perhaps Gore will jump in.

Nite all.

One more.

Two *Deciders* are about to go head to head.

-- President Hugo Chavez on Friday wrapped up his campaign to push through broad constitutional changes with a broadside attack against adversaries at home and abroad -- including a threat to cut off oil exports to the United States.

Supporters of President Hugo Chavez rally Friday in Caracas, Venezuela.

Chavez told a crowd gathered in the center of Caracas that if the referendum was approved and the result was questioned -- "if the 'yes' vote wins on Sunday and the Venezuelan oligarchy, playing the [U.S.] empire's game, comes with their little stories of fraud" -- then he would order oil shipments to the United States halted Monday.

Chavez spoke after tens of thousands, brought on buses from throughout the country, marched down the capital's principal boulevard to rally support for Sunday's referendum, which would free Chavez from term-limit restrictions and move the country toward institutionalized socialism.

Friday's rally acted as a counterpoint to an opposition march down the same streets Thursday that brought out tens of thousands who fear the 69 constitutional changes would serve to undermine basic democratic freedoms.

Chavez, 53, warmed the crowd up by serenading them with holiday "gaitas" and other traditional songs before turning his attention to a litany of enemies and perceived enemies: internal critics, the United States, Spain's King Juan Carlos, Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe and domestic and international media.

"We're not really confronting those peons of imperialism," Chavez said, alluding to his Venezuelan opponents. "Our true enemy is called the North American empire, and ... we're going to give another knockout to Bush."

• Venezuelans protest as vote nears
• Venezuelan students, police clash
• Venezuela recalls Colombia envoy

He renewed his harsh criticisms of Juan Carlos and Uribe, with whom he has had recent high-profile disputes, and threatened to take independent Venezuela television network Globovision off the air if it broadcast partial results during the voting. He also threatened to take action against international networks, accusing CNN in particular of overstating the strength of the opposition's numbers.

"If any international channel comes here to take part in an operation from the imperialist against Venezuela, your reporters will be thrown out of the country, they will not be able to work here," Chavez said. "People at CNN, listen carefully: This is just a warning."

At stake in Sunday's vote is whether the leftist leader should have full authority over the now autonomous Central Bank and with it the nation's economic policy, changes Chavez has said he needs to move the economy further toward socialism.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/11/30/venezuela.protest/index.html 

Good morning, everybody

Got sidetracked by the Dodd blog and then my DNC blog and then John Prine.

Put John on Hannah.

Nice to "see Holly J"  some of her stuff is on Hannah too. 

So, I finished reading the previous thread and really have only one observation to make about that sorry fellow in Rochester.  The Boston Globe is reporting today that "he" caused all of Clinton's offices in NH and IOWA to be closed and the city of Rochester to be paralyzed.  To which I have to say, "get a grip, media"  It really is distressing that nobody seems to be clear anymore about who's actually doing what to whom.  Over-reacting public officials shut down Rochester and over-reacting politicians shuttered offices in two states.

Also, people with mental problems typically don't know they have them.  When a bi-polar person tells you that he's feeling just great, you can be pretty sure that an episode is about to start.  Distraction does work. 

I think I've finally got it.

If you proceed from the assumption that the purpose of government is to reward obedience and punish obstruction, then the delivery of benefits to obedient citizens and supporters can't be corrupt and with-holding public services from dissident populations is the appropriate response.

Obedience isn't the only commandment because it satisfies the ruler's ego; it's the only commandment because it's perceived as the essence of society.  In other words, if there is such a thing as consent, it's extracted, not voluntary.  People don't volunteer to be part of a community; they submit out of fear that if they don't, they'll starve.  Which, I guess, puts fear at the very foundation of the conservative view of the origins of society.

So, if, as a public official, you see your role as handing out punishments and rewards to the populace, according to whether they comply with directives or not, then giving preference to your supporters isn't corrupt, it's the norm.

Howard Dean referred to the Republican candidates as being out of the 'fifties.  He's got that entirely correct.  They want to return to a time when "public service" meant doling out public assets to the most "deserving."  And, since deserts are bound to be different, the suggestion that the distribution of services should be equal is anathema.  

How do you make people behave if their lunch is free? 

43.  If public officials see their role as distribution goods and services to people who conform their behavior to public directives, then an inequitable distribution is not a corruption; it's the expected consequence.

I think it's important for us to understand that because it explains why Republicans keep promising to reward people who vote for them with tax cuts.  And, when you think about it, if they're aiming to pass out rewards, then it's actually preferable that they reward the rich with more money, rather than, as they used to, handing out "rights" to public assets--i.e.

mining rights

mineral rights

logging rights

water rights

air rights

pollution rights

commercial rights

land rights, etc.

Of course, that's still going on, as well.  At present there's a strong push to claim sub-terranean water rights--pump the stuff out of the ground, bottle it and send it overseas.

The conversion of public assets into private profit has been going on a long time.  How did Rockefeller get to be an oil baron.  Why are West Virginia mountains being blown up and carted away?  The coal companies have mining rights.  Where and how did they get them?   

I wonder what The Founding Fathers would think of these "prayer breakfasts"?

Monica Smith
Sat, 12/01/07
7:14 am

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

The guy in NH so what?  We have had (and still do) a nut in the WH..................he has his finger on the button and believes in Revelation!

Ha Ha. They front paged my post for my local DFA group.

I guess I better check in here a little more often.

Well anyway, you now all know what I have been up too. :-)

Blog blessings, Holly J.

The blog knows and seeks out its own! 

Romney Supporters Caught Voting Multiple Times In Florida Straw Poll

Prison Planet | November 30, 2007

Fr om the St. Petersburg Times report on this today....

Mitt Romney bought himself a victory in the straw poll for Republicans at a rain-shortened barbecue in Vinoy Park.

Romney got 893 votes, besting second-place Ron Paul's 534 -- despite Paul's shuttling in supporters on a rented trolley and shuttle. The campaign had a plane sporting pro-Paul slogans and a boat touting him, too.

UPDATE:
Infowars has been in contact with KGEZ station owner, John Stokes, who indicated that the La Reconquista extremists who he believes were responsible for hanging the Mexican Flag on the station's broadcast tower specifically referred to the Alex Jones Show in their tirade against the American flag when they entered the KGEZ studios on Tuesday.

More info and updates to come...

There is a growing sense of outrage in Kalispell Montana after a Mexican flag was erected in front of a U.S. flag 200 feet up a huge tower that belongs to the oldest radio station in America - KGEZ.

Station owner John Stokes said that he was getting calls from angry supporters of the extremist La Reconquista movement, a separatist group that advocates the violent overthrow of the southern and western U.S. states, before also receiving death threats.

Two Mexican males entered the premises of KGEZ and demanded that another U.S. flag that was on a flagpole be taken down because it was "disrespectful". The flag was later stolen.

On Wednesday morning the station's ice covered 400 foot radio tower was scaled and the Mexican flag was hung in front of old glory.

(Article Continues Below)

 The Kalispell Police blotter makes mention of the incident but it has received no attention in the media.

Similar incidents have increased over the past few years. Last month, a veteran from Reno, Nev. made headlines after he took matters into his own hands and tore down a Mexican flag that was being illegally flown above a U.S. flag at a local business.

According to federal law it is illegal to fly any flag above the U.S. flag, and if flying more than one they must be on separate poles and be of an equal size.

The latest incident will fuel tensions about U.S. immigration policy, especially in light of recent revelations concerning the explosion of illegal immigrants now living in America.

Photos to follow - watch this space.

Rochester, NH police Police Chief describes Sen Clinton as very gracious to local, state, and federal law officers.

Describe her as very much available and accessible throughout the hostage standoff.

"It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God." (Matthew 19:24)

> does this relate to narrow mindedness?

9:35

20 degrees

OK. Many you you here can't understand why I support Obama. If you want to understand why liberal people like me do, read this article. It is long, written by a way to centerist person and the first page against boomers may turn you off. If you want to understand why I say Obama is the best to heal the nation and the world, read it.

“Goodbye to All That”

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200712/ob...

Andrew Sullivan from the Alantic.com
…….
Of the viable national candidates, only Obama and possibly McCain have the potential to bridge this widening partisan gulf. Polling reveals Obama to be the favored Democrat among Republicans. McCain’s bipartisan appeal has receded in recent years, especially with his enthusiastic embrace of the latest phase of the Iraq War. And his personal history can only reinforce the Vietnam divide. But Obama’s reach outside his own ranks remains striking. Why? It’s a good question: How has a black, urban liberal gained far stronger support among Republicans than the made-over moderate Clinton or the southern charmer Edwards? Perhaps because the Republicans and independents who are open to an Obama candidacy see his primary advantage in prosecuting the war on Islamist terrorism. It isn’t about his policies as such; it is about his person. They are prepared to set their own ideological preferences to one side in favor of what Obama offers America in a critical moment in our dealings with the rest of the world. The war today matters enormously. The war of the last generation? Not so much. If you are an American who yearns to finally get beyond the symbolic battles of the Boomer generation and face today’s actual problems, Obama may be your man.

…..
What does he offer? First and foremost: his face. Think of it as the most effective potential re-branding of the United States since Reagan.
…..

Consider this hypothetical. It’s November 2008. A young Pakistani Muslim is watching television and sees that this man—Barack Hussein Obama—is the new face of America. In one simple image, America’s soft power has been ratcheted up not a notch, but a logarithm. A brown-skinned man whose father was an African, who grew up in Indonesia and Hawaii, who attended a majority-Muslim school as a boy, is now the alleged enemy. If you wanted the crudest but most effective weapon against the demonization of America that fuels Islamist ideology, Obama’s face gets close. It proves them wrong about what America is in ways no words can.

The other obvious advantage that Obama has in facing the world and our enemies is his record on the Iraq War. He is the only major candidate to have clearly opposed it from the start.

Holly J
Sat, 12/01/07
10:14 am
___________________________________________________________________________

No Holly, Im not going to read that article..........however, if you can put down i 50 words or less why YOU like Obama Ill read that...............als, what do you care what we think anyways?  You like the guy..............hey thats fine by me...........

fyi - new thread

57.

Imn2Paine
Sat, 12/01/07
9:19 am


Yes it does.

It was written for those who are the "poor in spirit".


http://www.gnosticteachings.org/content/...

Andrew Sullivan is a Religious right winger that voted for Bush, his endorsement and pleas for support is as convincing Republican Strategist Frank Luntz, only not for most liberals or progressives.