2010

Happy New Year everyone. My striped socks and I are retiring.

Yup. Susan Boyle. Yup.

Love her or hate her, this was a remarkable moment in contemporary culture this year. A phoenomenom in fact. Check out the pix at right from the new album cover.  Quite remarkable what a bit of professional help and some money will do. You go, Susan. Have a wonderful life.

Continuing with the favorite videos

And again, this is an encore appearance at WhateverWorks, but it’s a favorite, so it’s on the list tonight.

Who else you gonna’ tell?

I am watching 30 Rock and, since it’s New Year’s Eve, I am also dressed to kill. Plaid flannel pj bottoms. Peeking out from under them a snazzy pair of knee highs in a bright horizontal stripe. Even the crocs can’t disguise their brilliance.

Moving on up – a simple white tee shirt, a classic. A sleeveless hoodie completes the ensemble, unless I should be counting the very large headphones. Also red glasses. I think clothes are everything, don’t you?

Child abuse. Or so s-o-m-e would say

And another favorite.

That wasn’t the end of the story

United apparently failed to make good with Dave Carroll. A reminder was necessary.

Moving on . . . see?

Okay, in that, I shall attempt now to confine myself to happy and maybe funny. How about this to start? This is not the first time this video has appeared on this blog; it deserves an encore.

Enough of that

Okay, back to work

As many posts as could be retrieved, have been.  We will now return to our regularly scheduled blogging.

Restoration number 7 – “There they go again!”

Originally posted December 27, 2009 – there were three comments

Oh CNN, CNN. It’s important or it isn’t!

Because I watch way too much television . . .was happily watching Christine Amanpour when CNN switched to breaking news. Real news, I will give them that. (the Delta flight with suspicious guy on board). They have stayed in breaking news mode now for 28 minutes. And something I have never seen before – commercials broke into the program right in the middle of the report and came back to an anchor who had no awareness that there’d ever been a commercial break.

I’m going to guess that these commercials were pre-programmed for Amanpour’s recorded show and when that was replaced with live news, the programming was not cancelled.

Perhaps someone out there who works in TV can explain. I wonder if it has anything to do with reduced staff levels.
Or maybe, as is often the case, CNN really doesn’t give a shit about news.

UPDATE: Odd. We are now 17 minutes past the time slot for the Amanpour show and the oddly timed commercials are still occurring. Odd, odd, odd.

TALKANDPOLITICS SAID: “You know, cable died today. Mentioned Daily Dish will stick to this day – the emotions of revolution in Iran ’09.

I replied with something – lord knows what.

TALKANDPOLITICS ALSO SAID: So I’ve seen – and laugh ever time 🙂 I still miss it though – a good anchor to guide you through all the noise.

Restoration number 6 – Good morning

Originally posted December 29, 2009  – there were six comments and I cannot locate all of them.

C'mon over

Steve Clemons, founding member of  The New Americas Foundation and proprietor of The Washington Note has a column at Talking Points Memo today. He’s a foreign policy guy and a pretty smart one.  He reminds us that Osama Bin Laden’s goals – stated prior to 9-11 and repeated since then – include destabilizing the Middle East by drawing in America (and hurting America’s economic security by so doing).

“National security officials in the administration need to go back and Peter Bergen‘s Holy War, Inc.: Inside the Secret World of Osama bin Laden in which he recounts many aspects of bin Laden’s plan from the Islamic extremist uber-guru’s own words – which was to draw the US deeply into the Middle East, and by its presence — destabilize the governments in the region.”

On this, the 82nd day of the ninth year of the War in Afghanistan, while the neo-cons are braying for attacks on Yemen and Iran, I gotta ask my fellow citizen. How’s that going for you?

Here are the comments I’ve located. I post them here as a courtesy to the commenters.

SUSIE said “Time to bring back the draft”. I agreed strongly.

TALKANDPOLITICS said “Man… I just saw some quips from Yemeni officials – US must support us more, or else terror bla bla bla.. It’s the same all over, one more foot in the quicksand. But the Saudis (and Bin Ladins), how are they doing? Not much blow-ups there? Filthy rich? Got the two holiest cities? Are they just pulling strings here?”

I replied.

TALKANDPOLITICS then said: “You know.. the middle eastern way of navigating chaos and ambiguities, the whole smoke and mirrors culture, you can’t beat them. So many layers of proxies and deceits.. I think most arabic words have at least 20-30 meanings – depending on context and relation. And the egyptian concept of “soon” is said to be 60-70 years – a few seconds for the pyramids.”

Restoration number 5 – “She still makes my teeth hurt”

Originally posted December 30, 2009

Everyone is weighing in on the crotch bomber. According to Maureen Dowd:

ACTUALLY NOT THE PROBLEM: “If we can’t catch a Nigerian with a powerful explosive powder in his oddly feminine-looking underpants and a syringe full of acid, a man whose own father had alerted the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria, a traveler whose ticket was paid for in cash and who didn’t check bags, whose visa renewal had been denied by the British, who had studied Arabic in Al Qaeda sanctuary Yemen, whose name was on a counter-terrorism watch list, who can we catch?”

ACTUALLY THE PROBLEM: Obama’s less than blustery response.

She even closed her column with “Heck of a job, Barry”.

Who else lives in Maureen Dowd’s world?

ED COMMENTED: “The day after the incident, I heard a story on NPR that I haven’t heard explored anywhere else.  They interviewed a man from Michigan who was on the flight.  He said that when the Nigerian tried to board the flight without a passport, a respectable looking Indian man described as appearing professioanl  and in his 50s stepped forward and was trying to intimidate the ticket agent into allowing the man to board.  This interviewee said he felt the two were travelling together.  When the ticket agent pushed back, the Indian man requested to speak with the supervisor which he then did.  Have you heard any of this from other sources?  It seems important, if true.”

I have not.

Restoration number 4 – Good morning

This was today’s – December 31, 2009

Today is the 84th day of the ninth year of the War in Afgahnistan.

From icasualties.org, an important witness to our wars. They track all casualties.  Here are the fatalities to date for Afghanistan. These are military only, no staff or contractors. And  I don’t think the ’09 figure includes the eight killed yesterday.

Year	US	UK	Other	Total
2001	12	0	0	12
2002	49	3	17	69
2003	48	0	9	57
2004	52	1	7	60
2005	99	1	31	131
2006	98	39	54	191
2007	117	42	73	232
2008	155	51	89	295
2009	318	107	94	519
Total	948	244	374	1566

Restoration number 3 – “Keep ’em comin”

(THIS IS STILL PAINFUL – THE ONLY POSTS I CAN RESTORE ARE THE ONES COMMENTED ON. THE MAJORITY WERE NOT COMMENTED ON.)

Originally posted December 30, 2009 – there were three comments (below)

Whoooaaa there, Trigger. This is what I like  to hear. Somebody may be growing a spine. Maybe not as afraid of the press as we’ve been up to now?

From today’s White House Blog, Dan Pfeiffer issues what looks like a statement in response to the criticism of the President’s reaction. (It is the White House Blog after all).

A few highlights:
. . . it is telling that Vice President Cheney and others seem to be more focused on criticizing the Administration than condemning the attackers. (omg, we’re naming names! Go team!)
. .  this President is not interested in bellicose rhetoric, he is focused on action. Seven years of bellicose rhetoric failed to reduce the threat from al Qaeda and succeeded in dividing this country.
. . . President Obama doesn’t need to beat his chest to prove it, and – unlike the last Administration – we are not at war with a tactic (“terrorism”), we at war with something that is tangible: al Qaeda and its violent extremist allies.

Maureen Dowd take note.

TEXASTRAILERPARK SAID: “The GOP is only interested in revisionist history.  According to Mary Matalin, the Bush administration “inherited” the 9/11 attacks.  Dana Perino goes even further into the weeds to say that no terrorist attack occurred under Bush’s watch.  Dick Cheney would wet his pants with joy  if the U.S. were to suffer another terrorist attack.  As for Maureen Dowd, she gets a little too precious sometimes.  Makes my teeth hurt too!  Great post.”

Since she is a new visitor, I comment back that I liked her picture.

TEXASATRAILERPARK SAID: “Thanks, Moe.  That was me circa 1952, when life was simpler and I hadn’t begun to worry yet  about what other people thought of me.  Now, life has come full circle!”

Texas: I’ve lost the original comment and thus your linked name. Please comment again so your link comes back to life! I cannot even find my way to your blog – just asked Ben Hoffman to give me the link, but in case he’s off playing tennis again . . .

Restoration number 2

JUST FOR THE FUN OF IT

The Presidents video was my favorite youtube of the year. Here’s another favorite.

First restoration

AND BY MY LIGHTS, THE ONE I VALUE THE MOST

This one comes from HerBunk at youtube. Once upon a time, before HBO came down on his channel, he used to post Bill Mahar’s Real Time every week. I miss that.

This video was removed – by HerBunk I assume  – a few months ago. It’s been restored and I hope you’ll invest the four minutes before it goes away again.

Oh no.

I just deleted every post I published since December 26. I am pretty upset. More  later.

UPDATE: I’ve been finding some of them via comments links (who knew? go through that door and the post is still there!). Now I have to try to find some caches in google or somewhere. If anyone has any of my content, please let me know. Of course,  I’ve no idea why anyone would have any, but obviously given this morning’s event, I still have a great deal to learn.

Read it and weep

Enough said? Just how batshit crazy are we anyway? Comes from here. With  hat tip to Andrew Sullivan.

I can only take off two shoes at a time

Oh wonderful – more travel restrictions because another horse has already left the barn. That’ll do it all right.

Merry merry merrry merry

I love this.

What the . . . ?

My last 18 posts? No links. Is this how a blog commits suicide?

Friday Night Oldies (on Saturday, again)

Don’t know what it is about these recent Friday nights, but they slide right by me. (Yesterday, I guess I had a good excuse – making merry and all . . .). NOTE: Check out the on-stage audience at about 42 seconds in.

Everywhere but here

Some bandersnatch-of-motivation grabbed me this morning and before I could put up resistance,   I’d reshelved a few hundred books, reordered drawers and cabinets, had me a merciless round of out-it-goes!. Anticipation of the approaching New Year? It’s new to me, but I welcome it. In between bursts of energy, I’ve popped into a few blogs to comment and thus enlighten.

I might have better spent some time here, as the world surely needs my constant stream of likes, dislikes and opinion.

Good afternoon

It’s already the 79th day of the ninth year of the War in Afghanistan.

You know what I dread? I dread typing the words “the eleventh year of the War in Afghanistan.”

And so, to all a good night . . .

Gifts are given, food is eaten, the surviving parent has been visited, the two year old stood up remarkably well for a kid who missed his nap. And now, at home . . . anything good on TV tonight?

Merry Christmas

I wish a holly, jolly to you all on the 78th day of the ninth year of the War in Afghanistan.

Johnny Mathis

Quick thought

and one that doesn’t belong here on Christmas Eve. However . . . The Senate passed the  health care bill 60-39. And everyone will say ‘but that’s a partisan bill, it’s only Democrats supporting  it.”  True. The citizens of the United States elected 60 Democrats. And so it goes.

Christmas Eve

For children, today and tonight are almost unbearably exciting. By tomorrow night, they’ll be crying and cranky, inflicting their sugar-overdose on the exhausted adults around them.

The only child who will be in my immediate orbit tomorrow morning is two years old. When he arrived at his grandmother’s house last night, he was introduced to his new toddler-sized red table with two little chairs. I’m told he  promptly sat down, had his Legos brought to him and apparently there he will stay throughout the festivities, fully satisfied and quite unaware that more might be coming. I guess tomorrow we’ll have to place any further gifts right on Aidan’s table or he’ll not entertain accepting them. And even so, they’re unlikely to compete with the sheer joy of his own table.

Good morning

Today is the 77th day of the ninth year of the War in Afghanistan.

Charlie

Charlie is one of the kids I love. He’s only ten. But he’s so bright that when talking to him, I quite forget that he is in fact a child. The most remarkable thing about his wonderful mind and facility with language is that – at his young age – he is fully conversant with irony, sarcasm and even snark. Is this even possible? Yea or nay, it’s one of the many reasons I love Charlie.  (He’s also very kind – not a quality found often in kids his age, but Charlie is thoroughly decent and kind.)

However, even the snarkiest and most sarcastic of young’uns can’t resist going all kid when presented with puppies. (This picture is from a summer trip. Charlie came home with one of those pups and named him Tuck.)