Housekeeping

November 24, 2005

Like most blogs, posting will be erratic (and probably minimal) here today, barring some major and unexpected news event. Tomorrow’s content may also be a little unpredictable, and to borrow a White House term, “conditions-based.”

Just so readers know, guest-poster Morbo will have words of wisdom for your reading pleasure on Saturday, and there will be a Sunday Discussion Group.

Not incidentally, in light of the holiday, I thought I’d also take a moment to extend my sincere thanks to all of you who read the site. I appreciate your interest, support, and encouragement, and I’m grateful that so many of you are willing to peruse my daily tirades.

If there’s anything going on today that’s of particular interest, feel free to treat this as an open thread.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING ALL!!!!

  • Milestone in Congress: House introduces
    resolution on Peak Oil. Check this out:

    http://www.truthout.org/issues_05/112305EA.shtml

    I am shocked. The sleeping giant is finally
    waking up to one (Peak Oil) of the greatest
    crises facing the world in the 21st century.
    The other, of course, is global warming. The
    irony is that we destroy the earth’s environment
    with the very substance that we’re running out
    of. So far, though, it seems the administration
    is asleep on Peak Oil, or perhaps in denial,
    and playing the anti-science card with
    global warming.

    It’s amazing what Dick Cheney’s energy
    cabal with Big Oil could have accomplished,
    but didn’t, back in 2001. If Gore had been
    president, we’d be well on our way, leading
    the world. What a tragedy. And we wouldn’t
    be in Iraq. That in itself should be grounds
    for impeachment.

    Happy Thanksgiving.

  • As long as this is an open thread, this is an article everyone should read before dinner tonight. Tax cuts for the wealthy don’t help anyone, even the wealthy.

    On the cost side of the ledger, the federal budget deficits created by the recent tax cuts have had serious consequences, even for the wealthy. These deficits will exceed $300 billion for each of the next six years, according to projections by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The most widely reported consequences of the deficits have been cuts in government programs that serve the nation’s poorest families. And since the wealthy are well represented in our political system, their favored programs may seem safe from the budget ax. Wealthy families have further insulated themselves by living in gated communities and sending their children to private schools. Yet such steps go only so far.

    Heh.

  • Happy Thanksgiving again! Thank you for the Carpetbagger Report, a regular stop on the internet for me.

    I am thankful today that Jose Padilla, an American citizen arrested on American soil, will have his day in court. To their credit, President Bush and Attorney General Gonzalez righted a wrong.

    And allow me to once again mention that I exposed Grover Norquist’s financial misdeeds at the TPM Cafe. (See my last comment.)

    http://auctionhouse.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/11/4/114556/020

    I take great pleasure in announcing that Jack Abramoff’s pal, Grover Norquist overstated the income of Americans For Tax Reform by $236k or 25% of net income in 2004. Net assets of Americans For Tax Reform were overstated by $6.5 million.

    This is really, really sleazy stuff. But is anyone surprised?

    In my comment before the Norquist one, I listed every company registered to David Safavian, another pal of Jack Abramoff. I suspect that Mr. Safavian
    is in a lot more hot water than we know now.

    Iam really curious about Janus-Merritt Development, LLC. The name of the lobbying business owned by David Safavian and Grover Norquist was Janus-Merritt Strategies, LLC.

    GSC Sales, LLC was registered by Safavian in 2003 which is around the time he advanced to chief administrator of federal procurement at the OMB.

    This is just too much fun.

  • Thanks, CB. This is a daily blog stop for me–at least once. My favorite actually. 🙂 Happy Thanksgiving to all!

  • Thanks for the Carpetbagger Report. I look at blogs etc in this order these days:
    1. Carpetbagger Report.
    2. TPM
    3. Huffington’s Latest News
    4. Salon Magazine
    5. Slashdot
    6.Random Sites: Roger Ailes, World O’Crap,TPM Cafe, truthout, the Revealer, The Gadlyer, Early Warning, firedoglake

    Comment: Are Dems Wimps? I think most of the Republicans’ reputation for toughness is simply the willingness to iie, defame, libel and demonize. It’s not a strength in the long run.

  • “The best holiday of ’em all ”

    I’ll take Thanksgiving.

    You can have Halloween, New Year’s, Christmas, Fourth of July, Easter, Hanukkah and any day dedicated to presidents.

    You can stack them all up on one side, and the turkey and I will stand on the other.

    I’ll take Thanksgiving.

    It is, to me, exactly what a holiday should be.

    For one thing, there are no gifts. You never have to worry about what to get someone for Thanksgiving or how much to spend. There are no lectures about “greed” or “commercialization” or how we’re “forgetting the spirit” of Thanksgiving. No way. The spirit of Thanksgiving is eating.

    Who could forget that?

    Secondly, it comes with football. What other holiday does that? New Year’s Day? But at least with Thanksgiving, you don’t have a hangover.

    Also, there is no “right” place to go on Thanksgiving ­ except home. There is no church or synagogue. No graves that must be visited. No trekking out to watch fireworks.

    You just sit on the couch, or sit at the table, and you laugh and eat and laugh and burp and ­ ta-da! ­ you are credited with knowing the “true meaning” of the holiday.

    Also, it comes with a parade.

    Did I mention the dressing? Not the turkey dressing. The human dressing. There isn’t any! Oh, sure, maybe you put on a nice pair of pants. Maybe. But who really dresses up for Thanksgiving? You can celebrate in a sweatshirt. Can you say that about New Year’s Eve? Not unless you’re a lonely, pathetic loser.

    And Thanksgiving doesn’t require some smarty-pants history known only by your geeky cousin from Baltimore. Uh-uh. There’s no quoting Lincoln or Washington. No reading from the Declaration of Independence.

    What do you need to know about Thanksgiving? The Pilgrims and the Indians had dinner. Pass the gravy.

    Thanksgiving never moves. It is always on a Thursday, strategically placed so that you might as well take off Friday as well, since Saturday and Sunday are next, and, while you’re at it, maybe half of Wednesday just to pick up everyone from the airport. Thanksgiving gets you half a week off.

    What does Labor Day get you? Monday?

    And there is no shopping on Thanksgiving, unlike Memorial Day or Presidents Day. Sure, there are Thanksgiving sales, but you do them on FRIDAY! How cool is that?

    Also, there are no masks. You don’t beg for candy from strangers. And nobody eggs your house.

    Have I mentioned stuffing?

    There is no more celebratory food ­ short of dessert ­ than stuffing. Be honest. When you were young, you couldn’t get enough of it, right? Maybe you hated cranberry sauce, but all kids loved stuffing. It was everything great about bread and pudding and hot, mushy food wrapped into one.

    Tell me you don’t still feel that.

    Tell me there’s anything better than a meal that goes all night, that doesn’t have an event tied to it, that doesn’t come with a bill at the end.

    Tell me there’s anything better than only having to catch up with your aunts, uncles and cousins to feel like you did the holiday proud.

    Tell me there’s anything easier than passing plates. Tell me there’s any better place to appreciate what you have than in a kitchen filled with good smells.

    Tell me there’s a better invention than “the kids’ table.”

    And what holiday not only condones but pretty much expects you to fall asleep on the couch?

    So let’s sum up. No costumes, no presents, no services, no tuxedoes, no time limit, no guilt trips, and all the food, naps and football you want.

    I’ll take Thanksgiving. After all, no one tries to sit on the turkey’s lap and ask for an Xbox.

  • Crabby > You’re almost right. Gimme Thanksgiving anyday. BUT hold Black Friday. Please. 😉

  • http://apnews.excite.com/article/20051125/D8E38D406.html

    OMFG! If this nutterbutter manages to snag a single client, I will f*$king puke. What is going on with this world???? This can be nothing but another symptom of the decline of yet another great power. It’s amazing to think what 5 years of s$&t can do to a country. 3 more, and we are doomed. Luckily I can be thankful for my health, because on this Thanksgiving day, in the immortal words of Mr. F. Bueller, “I weep for the future.” As bad as our leadership (or lack thereof is), it is a reflection of what we have become. Fat, incompetent, repulsive, corrupt – if only the pain we all suffer could be visited only upon the sorry souls who think this is all ok. I just want to yak.

  • -Mugabe in Zimbabwe
    -Putin in Russia taking over the Yukos oil and gas companies and refinancing his military with it. The Russian government taking over TV and radio stations and newspapers to suppress the free press which is a necessary part of democracy. Wait a minute! That sounds fairly important. A free press which is a necessary part of democracy. I wonder what a free press would be like. A press that told facts and the news and didn’t suck up to the mushrooms growing on the shady side of this administration. How many people remember the theme songs the networks came up with to go along with their supposed coverage of the war. You got to hear it going to and from commercials, which is the point. The media organizations in their collaborations with the government viewed the war like a “Super Super Bowl” with all of it’s potential profits. Embed a few reporters to ensure the coverage is all one sided and you seal the deal. If you have any doubts about the media in it’s “Slant For Bush” campaign, look how quickly in Britain and here in the US the story about Bush considering bombing Al Jazeera was quashed.
    The reason I mentioned Mugabe in Zimbabwe and Putin is because they are oblivious to the US in it’s supposed self-proclaimed role as the remaining super power and world’s policeman. I think a good analogy to explain how the US is viewed by other world leaders is to recall the movie, “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome”. What if the roles of “MasterBlaster” were reversed and the giant didn’t have Downs Syndrome. This could explain the world wide effort to suppress democracy under Bush’s watch. The alternative is that deals have been made. Neither alternative is acceptable. Bush’s lackey Bolton continues to harass a cowed Annan into inaction about Bush’s War. Let’s see, we have a dictator that invaded another country for oil, used chemical weapons on people and killed countless thousands. Hmm! History does repeat itself. It took 12 years this time.
    Meanwhile, Bush and his administration strut and spout the same lines like a child’s toy with the string you pull. Let’s “rattle their cages”. Can Bush account for all of his depleted uranium?
    Abort Bush’s presidency in 2007. Maybe we can “all just get along” on that.
    HAPPY THANKSGIVING and let’s hope next Thanksgiving will be better for people on both sides of this unnecessary war.

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