"Boosting the debt limit is more a matter of politics than economics."

Treasury Secretary John Snow on Thursday said the United States could face the prospect of not being able to pay its bills early next year unless Congress raises the government's borrowing authority, now capped at $8.18 trillion.

[snip]

The last time Congress agreed to boost the debt limit was in November 2004 — from $7.38 trillion to the current $8.18 trillion. The government's statutory borrowing authority also was pushed up in 2002 and in 2003.

Boy, I sure wish I had the same credit advisor as Bush has.

"I would have been less surprised if little green men walked in."

Interesting little story:

A 16-year-old determined to witness Iraq's struggle for democracy firsthand secretly hopped a plane to the Middle East alone and eventually made it to Baghdad - frightening his parents and stunning officials who consider it one of the most dangerous places on Earth - before agreeing to return to Fort Lauderdale.

It's not as bad as it sounds, and definitely worth reading in full over here.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Saturday's Random Ten, Christmas Eve Edition

Saturday's Random Ten
Christmas Eve Edition

Bing Crosby & Rosemary Clooney - Silver Bells

Rosie O'Donnell & Jessica Simpson - Rockin Around The Christmas Tree

Yello - Jingle Bells (Techno)

RuPaul - Santa Baby (by far the best version of this song!)

Sheryl Crow - Run, Run, Rudolph

Lou Rawls - The Christmas Song

Vince Guaraldi Trio - A Charlie Brown Christmas

Marvin & Johnny - It's Christmas Time

Bare Naked Ladies, Guster, Dido, et al., - Do They Know It's Christmas

BB King - Merry Christmas, Baby

Bonus Track:

Beavis & Butthead - Twelve Boobs of Christmas

But there is no war against religion, they say...yeah. Sure. Whatever you say, lefties...

Typical flawed reasoning over at Butts4Bush:

I'm a believer in God; ergo, I'm a believer that the universe was designed by an intelligence. Given that one recent poll I saw shows that 94% of Americans believe in God, it follows that 94% believe in intelligent design of the universe.

... "it follows that ..."

With that reasoning, let's try this on for size. 70% of Americans think that Bush lied to this country about the reasons for going to war in Iraq, ERGO, 70% of Americans believe BUSH IS A BIG FAT FUCKING LIAR.

Yeah, I like that!

The post closes with this little doosie:

Our children are not to even so much as hear about alternative theories of the universe because any alternative is an establishment of a different religion from that of our reigning liberal orthodoxy.

How in the name of GOD can these people talk about "reigning liberal orthodoxy," when the God Damnned Right Wing Fucking Christian Neocons are the ones in charge of the White House, The House and The Senate? I can't find one fucking liberal up on the hill, as it were, so it just galls me when I read or hear or have to listen to these really ignorant assholes talk about the "reigning liberal orthodoxy," which does not exist. I swear, don't these people smell the shit in their own pants once in a while?

Holiday Friday Random Ten

FRIDAY'S RANDOM TEN
Holiday Style

Enya - Silent Night
Elvis Presley - Winter Wonderland
Ben Folds - Lonely Christmas Eve
Na Leo - A Christmas Wish
Shinehead - Silent Night
The Falcons - Can This Be Christmas
Perry Como - There Is No Christmas Like A Home Christmas
Bryan Adams - Something About Christmas
Barbra Streisand - O Little Town Of Bethleham
Lee Ritenour - White Christmas

Bonus track:

Drifters - The Christmas Song

The pathetic-looking tree was hustled out of the building Wednesday night.

The 18-foot Colorado blue spruce lost its needles and died after Statehouse workers dried it with commercial fans and sprayed it with a fire-retardant chemical. The workers were following the stringent new fire code enacted after a nightclub blaze in West Warwick three years ago killed 100 people.

Ouch.

Forget About Ted, What About Laura?

It always amazes me how often the Rethugs bring up Mary Jo Kopechne whenever it's time to denigrate or dismiss something Ted Kennedy has to say. Like this over at Butts For Bush:

In a commentary over at Boston.com Senator Ted Kennedy (Hic-MA) unloads on President Bush over the NSA monitoring program.

We'd normally link to it and quote from it, but until we can get a reaction from Mary Jo Kopechne, we figure it would be improper to give Ted Kennedy any space on our blog...equal time, and all that.

I say it's high time we throw Michael Dutton Douglas in their face.

At What Point Do You Just Run Out Of Breath?

I read the comment below over at ButtsForBush, and my jaw dropped. The only solace I have, for the time being, is that the majority of Americans have been changing their opinions in the past six months. These card-carrying right wing, Republican kooks are preaching to a much smaller choir, and the more their statements are at odds with reality, the more the Republican party stands to loose.

But in the real adult world, the economy is red-hot, not mired in joblessness or relegating millions to poverty. Unemployment is low, so are interest rates. Growth is high, as is consumer spending and confidence...The military isn’t broken. Unlike after Vietnam when the Russians, Iranians, Cambodians, and Nicaraguans all soon tried to press their luck at our expense, most of our adversaries don’t believe the U.S. military is losing in Iraq, much less that it is wise now to take it on. Instead, the general impression is that our veteran and battle-hardened forces are even more lethal than was true of the 1990s — and engaging successfully in an almost impossible war.

Friday Random Ten

I was watching "Without A Trace" last night, and as it faded out to closing credits, Otis Redding’s "Try A Little Tenderness" began to play.

"Oh she may be weary, young girls they do get weary, wearing that same old shabby dress."

My mind immediately recalled a time when I was 15 or 16 years old, and dancing at the Cinnamon Cinder, in Long Beach. It was a dance club, and it had live entertainment as well. We were underage (there were three of us girls), as you had to be 18 to get in, but that never deterred us. We would hitchhike from Belmont Shore to the traffic circle on Lakewood Blvd., where the Cinnamon Cinder used to be located. We would get dropped off in the parking lot, and then we would bum money from people to get the cover. Once in, it was dance, dance, dance.

When I checked my Otis Redding MP3's, I noticed I did not have "Try A Little Tenderness" and decided to download it in the morning.

When I downloaded it, and played it in its entirety, instead of remembering my teen dancing days at the Cinnamon Cinder, the image of "Duckie" from "Pretty In Pink" came into view. And when Otis belts out "You got to squeeze her, don’t tease her, never leave her ... you got na na na ... try a little tenderness," (or words to that effect), all I could visualize was Duckie lip synching that song to Andie in the record store!

Which brings me to tonight’s Friday Random Ten. It’s a Molly Ringwald night. Load up your three favorite soundtracks ("The Breakfast Club," "Sixteen Candles," and "Pretty In Pink"), hit random, and play the first ten.

Vapors - I Think I’m Turning Japanese
Otis Redding - Try A Little Tenderness
Oingo Boingo - Wild Sex
Duane Eddy - Peter Gunn Theme
OMD - If You Leave
Psychedelic Furs - Pretty In Pink
Altered Images - Happy Birthday
The Smiths - Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want
Belouis Some - Round, Round
Thompson Twins - If You Were Here

Bonus Track:

David Bowie - Young Americans

If You Just Wish It True

NBC/WSJ Poll: 39 percent approve of Bush’s handling of his job while 55 percent disapprove.

NYT/CBS Poll: 40 percent approve of Bush’s handling of his job while 53 percent disapprove.

AP/Ipsos Poll: 42 percent approve of Bush's handling of his job while 57 percent disapprove.

Fast forward to Butts4Bush blog: A Financial Dynamics poll conducted December 12-13 find Bush's approval rating at 50%.

WTF? Who the hell is Financial Dynamics, and who cares?

This little tidbit closes out the post:

With Americans seeing the indisputable evidence of the strength of our economy, and President Bush speaking out more on Iraq, we're seeing an obvious trend of higher polls numbers for the President, and more frowns from Democrats...

A record plunge in the cost of gasoline

With the government increasingly relying on propaganda to promote everything from the war in Iraq is going fine to the economy is fine, how can any sane person believe the news these days.

Take the gas prices. The oil companies were making billions already in profits. Obscene profits. Then starting in July of this year, and continuing through the two hurricanes, the oil companies raised the prices of gas 60 cents and took in more obscene huge profits.

Now that the oil companies, after their little meeting with congress, have dropped the price more than 60 cents in the past month, back to what it was in July and earlier, the government touts THIS as proof the economy is picking up!

Ha ha ha. Good thing I had already had my cup of coffee when I read that.

HEADLINES, AND OTHER ASSORTED TOPICS I DID NOT BLOG ABOUT

Diebold CEO resigns.

Rendon Group paid $56 million thus far, and was paid to promote propaganda in Afghanistan.

Capitol Hill leaders voting tax cuts for the rich and cutting necessary spending for the poor.

Dick Cheney's wife giving civics lessons now, to schoolchildren, comparing Iraqi constitutional votes to early American constitutional creation.

President and CEO of Red Cross resigns.

California executes Tookie Williams.

Pentagon simply rewriting the "torture" rules to get around McCain amendment banning torture

America's illegally held detainees in Europe "quietly" shipped to North Africa (Morocco) a month ago when word "leaked out."

White House pushing for more lax pollution rules, that would allow "ten times the unreported pollution."

U.S. warning Canadian politicians not to "bash Washington" during their January 2006 elections.

US trade deficit hits "record $68 billion dollars."

Pentagon spying on ordinary citizens (no surprise there).

White House refusing to bail out New Orleans utility (despite having bailed out NYC's utility after 9/11)

Gulf Coast families facing high rejection rates and widespread delays.

That Nigger's Crazy

Glad you all came, er, cum to the show ... Richard Pryor - Live - That Nigger's Crazy

RIP, baby.

Two In One Day

I live at a very busy intersection, and there are numerous accidents that I have witnessed from my very own windows viewing the streets below.

Today, there were two of them. One at the corner of 6th St. and Detroit Ave., where one party was pinned in their car, and the other at the corner of 6th St. and La Brea Ave., where one car slammed into the water hydrent and knocked it about 40 feet ahead, unleashing tons of water onto La Brea Ave. and 6th St.

Seeing little children in one of the cars involved was disheartening, but the fact that the accident (the one on La Brea and 6th) did not involve major injuries gave me some comfort.

I hate hearing that screech of the brakes, followed by the inevitable smashing sound. I hear the screech a lot without the smash, but when I do hear the smash, it's not welcome.

The sounds of sirens, police, ambulance and fire trucks, are all around, now. The fire station is only two blocks away, so the fortunate thing in my area is rapid response.

Last Thanksgiving, my grandson burned his hand on the stove when unattened at a relative's event. Faced with driving him to the hospital, vs. driving two blocks to the fire station, we opted for the fire station, knowing they were equipped to handle burn trauma. They even opted to take the grandson to Cedars Sinai rather than our insured hospital, Queen of Angels, due to expediency, and thank goodness, the insurance paid for it.

I hate witnessing these accidents so routinely.

UPDATE: Lot's of metal hammering as the city crews are here trying to close off the water. A police car is visible at the gas station, but there are an innordinate number of police officers around. Must be that time of the evening ... donut time. (grins)

FRT - Rocking Around The Christmas Tree Edition

Friday Random Ten, Rocking Around The Christmas Tree Edition

The Carpenters - Sleigh Ride
Celine Dion - So This Is Christmas
Jackson Five - Santa Claus Is Coming To Town
Alabama - Christmas Memories
Vandals - Christmas Time For My Penis
Vince Guaraldi Trio - Christmas Time Is Here
Don Ho - Mele Kalikimaka
Christina Aguillera & BB King - Merry Christmas, Baby
Ann & Nancy Wilson - Blue Christmas
Atomic Kitten - Last Christmas

Bonus Track:

Bare Naked Ladies & Sarah McLachlan - God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen

Cross-posted at feministe.

Presidential Waaaaaaaa!

Doesn't this just beat all?

Bush-administration officials privately threatened organizers of the U.N. Climate Change Conference, telling them that any chance there might’ve been for the United States to sign on to the Kyoto global-warming protocol would be scuttled if they allowed Bill Clinton to speak at the gathering today in Montreal, according to a source involved with the negotiations who spoke to New York Magazine on condition of anonymity.

It never ceases to amaze me that our governmental representatives act in such a ridiculously childish fashion. And, the Republican fixation on Bill Clinton is an entity unto itself.

I'm actually taking great satisfaction out of the recent comments Bill has been making of late. A few chuckles here and there.

Imagine

It was 25 years ago today that Mark David Chapman brutally shot John Lennon in front of the Dakota in NYC.



He wasn't my favorite Beatle, during Beatlemania. After the break-up, I probably tended to enjoy Paul's upbeat pretty songs to John's more dark and mellow songs. But, something happend that December 8, back in 1980. I remember we were watching Monday Night Football, when the boys announced that John had just been shot. The mood became somber, and even though I was not all that into John, I started crying. And when the news came later that he had died, I can't tell you how horrible we all felt.

I think over the years, I've come to enjoy John's music a hell of a lot more than I do Paul's. I've even grown to like Oko! (laughing).

Tonite, as with all the other December 8's, I'll be hanging out at John's Star on the Walk of Fame, singing Give Peace A Chance with my fellow Lennon Lovers. See ya there.

NOLA Just Can't Catch A Break

Hours after New Orleans officials announced Tuesday that they would deploy a city-owned, wireless Internet network in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, regional phone giant BellSouth Corp. withdrew an offer to donate one of its damaged buildings that would have housed new police headquarters, city officials said yesterday.

According to the officials, the head of BellSouth's Louisiana operations, Bill Oliver, angrily rescinded the offer of the building in a conversation with New Orleans homeland security director Terry Ebbert, who oversees the roughly 1,650-member police force.

City officials said BellSouth was upset about the plan to bring high-speed Internet access for free to homes and businesses to help stimulate resettlement and relocation to the devastated city. Around the country, large telephone companies have aggressively lobbied against localities launching their own Internet networks, arguing that they amount to taxpayer-funded competition. Some states have laws prohibiting them.

[snip]

Greg Meffert, the city's chief technology officer and a deputy mayor, said he is saddened that BellSouth finds the city's network so objectionable.

"It's a once-in-a-century opportunity to truly show the entire world what can be, instead of just what is, and help write future history in the process," Meffert said. "It's a damn shame they don't see that."

Unbelievable.

Condi Needs To Be Bitch Slapped, NOW

For decades, the United States and other countries have used "renditions" to transport terrorist suspects from the country where they were captured to their home country or to other countries where they can be questioned, held, or brought to justice.

[snip]

Rendition is a vital tool in combating transnational terrorism. Its use is not unique to the United States, or to the current administration. Last year, then Director of Central Intelligence George Tenet recalled that our earlier counterterrorism successes included "the rendition of many dozens of terrorists prior to September 11, 2001".

Someone really, really, really needs to bitchslap this piece of shit that passes for a human being.

Every time she opens her mouth, crap just comes out. This time, it's about the secret CIA prisons, the gulags, as it were. The Bush defense now is everyone does it, so what is the big deal.

Just when you think more stuff can't crawl out from underneath the rock ...

FRIDAY'S RANDOM TEN
DECK THE HALLS EDITION


Bing Crosby & Andrews Sisters - Jingle Bells
Steve Lawrence & Eydie Gorme - Happy Holidays
Carpenters - The Christmas Song
George Thorogood - Rock And Roll Christmas
Tony Bennet - White Christmas
Cyrus Chestnut - Hark, The Herald Angels Sing
Jose Feliciano - Little Drummer Boy
Rosie O’Donnell & Cher - Please Come Home For Christmas
John Denver - Please, Daddy, Don’t Get Drunk This Christmas
Kenny Rogers & Dolly Parton - I’ll Be Home With Bells On

Bonus Track

Bon Jovi - Please Come Home For Christmas