Dec 27 2007
Thanks for stopping in….
Please don’t rec the pony party, another will trot up in a few hours. Hang out and chit chat, and please go check out some of the excellent offerings on our recent and rec’d list.
(^.^)
A few years ago we went to Puerto Rico for our first ‘real’ vacation (no kids- furred or furless)
If I had my druthers I’d be….
Dec 27 2007
Grieving is hard. Writing is cathartic.
At least, it is for us.
I just posted a piece called “As I Lay Dying…” — A Farewell to Mumsie on both ePluribus Media and DailyKos, the two spots on the vast Intertube network where she was known the best.
It was a stream-of-consciousness piece that Wifey and I both shared in the creation of, started as I sat vigil by Mumsie’s side in the nursing home and completed, for the most part, last night as Wifey and I quietly passed the small pocket computer between us at our local watering hole.
Please go leave a comment in one or both places for Wifey, and if you “knew” Mumsie through any of our writings please feel free to post a note for her as well.
Dec 27 2007
As 2007 draws to a close, it’s again time for the annual data about executions in the US. From my abolitionist’s perspective, this year’s statistics are better than last year’s and are trending in the right direction. But the numbers are especially troubling because they show a concentration of state killing and a continued enthusiasm for it in Texas.
Join me across the wall for the 2007 wrap up.
Dec 27 2007
This just in from NBC news. Benazir Bhutto has been killed in a suicide bombing in Pakistan:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22…
VIDEO LINK: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21…
Here’s the BBC Report
[UPDATE] Eye witness report from the assassination:
Sardar Qamar Hayyat, a leader from Bhutto’s party, said at the time of the attack he was standing about 10 yards away from her vehicle _ a white, bulletproof SUV with a sunroof.
“She was inside the vehicle and was coming out from the gate after addressing the rally when some of the youths started chanting slogans in her favor. Then I saw a smiling Bhutto emerging from the vehicle’s roof and responding to their slogans,” he said.
“Then I saw a thin, young man jumping toward her vehicle from the back and opening fire. Moments later, I saw her speeding vehicle going away,” he added.
Mangled bodies lay in a pool of blood and pieces of clothing and shoes were scattered on the road. The clothing of some victims was shredded and people covered their bodies with party flags. There was an acrid smell of explosive fumes in the air [following the bomb detonation].
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan – Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto died shortly after being seriously wounded in an attack after a rally in the city of Rawalpindi, news agencies reported on Wednesday.
This is both horrible and dangerous.
More news will follow on the above link. This is breaking now. If you have access to MSNBC, they have brought on Madeline Albright to comment.
She referred to this as a “coup against the rule of law.”
Bhutto’s husband has reported that his wife was shot in the neck during the suicide bombing.
To say that this is a potential disaster for so many is an understatement. This will put the West in the position to have to strengthen their ties with Mussharaf and cause further destabilisation in what is a nuclear power under pressure from both Al Quaeda and the Taliban.
Madeline Albright: “This has made things even worse in the most tragic way.”
The gunman shot at her as she stood in her vehicle, exposing herself through the sunroof and then detonated his bomb. It was thought that a bullet severed her spine at her neck and came out through her cheek, but after surgery, reports are emerging that is was the force of the blast that caused her death.
This was a true assassination. The rally was supposed to be secured by the government security forces with metal detectors and body searches. That the bomber blew himself up after shooting at her raises the question: Was it to inflict chaos, maximum damage, kill her supporters or to hide his own identity (or all of the above)?
[UPDATE] VIDEO LINK
The question becomes how both the bomber gained access and who he was that it was important he blow himself up beyond recognition.
Another point of interest: She met with Karzai of Afghanistan just before the rally.
[UPDATE] The BBC has just filed their report with Mussharaf’s response.
The funeral will be very telling in terms of where the Pakistani people stand and how much further they and the stability of the region are at risk.
[UPDATE] al Qaeda has claimed responsibility and the Pakistani authorities said they intercepted a phone call from an al Qaeda suspect congratulating someone for the assassination.
Dec 27 2007
This is an Open Thread: Everything Is On Sale
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan (CNN) — Pakistan former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was targeted in a deadly suicide bombing Thursday. Media reports quote her husband saying she suffered a bullet wound to the neck in the attack.
The attack has left at least 14 dead and 40 injured, Tariq Azim Khan, the country’s former information minister, told CNN in a telephone interview.Bhutto’s husband, Asif Ali Zardari told CNN affiliate Geo TV that his wife was shot in the neck in the attack.
The attacker is said to have detonated a bomb as he tried to enter the rally where thousands of people gathered to hear Bhutto speak, police said.
USA
U.S. Ruling Backs Benefit Cut at 65 in Retiree Plans
WASHINGTON – The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said Wednesday that employers could reduce or eliminate health benefits for retirees when they turn 65 and become eligible for Medicare.
The policy, set forth in a new regulation, allows employers to establish two classes of retirees, with more comprehensive benefits for those under 65 and more limited benefits – or none at all – for those older.More than 10 million retirees rely on employer-sponsored health plans as a primary source of coverage or as a supplement to Medicare, and Naomi C. Earp, the commission’s chairwoman, said, “This rule will help employers continue to voluntarily provide and maintain these critically important health benefits.”
Democrats Enter Stretch in Iowa
As Clinton Emphasizes Experience, Obama and Edwards Call for Change
MOUNT PLEASANT, Iowa, Dec. 26 — With just eight days left to break a three-way deadlock in the Democratic contest here, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton began delivering a closing argument Wednesday that centered on the experience she and her husband gained in the Oval Office during his administration, while her two chief rivals both argued that they could best succeed in bringing change to Washington.The issues of experience and change have defined the Democratic race for nearly a year, and the dichotomy continued to dominate as the three Democratic front-runners hit the campaign trail running after a Christmas break. Sen. Barack Obama (Ill.), who plans to make his endgame pitch in a speech on Thursday, urged voters to ask themselves, “Do you believe in change?” Former senator John Edwards (N.C.) detoured through New Hampshire before a planned return to Iowa, arguing that his is a more radical call for change than Obama’s. Clinton and Obama are launching television ads in the state to bolster their arguments as the three remain tightly bunched in surveys.
Dec 27 2007
 Muse in the Morning |
The muses are ancient. The inspirations for our stories were said to be born from them. Muses of song and dance, or poetry and prose, of comedy and tragedy, of the inward and the outward. In one version they are Calliope, Euterpe and Terpsichore, Erato and Clio, Thalia and Melpomene, Polyhymnia and Urania.
It has also been traditional to name a tenth muse. Plato declared Sappho to be the tenth muse, the muse of women poets. Others have been suggested throughout the centuries. I don’t have a name for one, but I do think there should be a muse for the graphical arts. And maybe there should be many more.
Please join us inside to celebrate our various muses…
Dec 27 2007
On the day after Christmas…
Take your pick.
In the world of retail Boxing Day is the day everyone brings back all the crap they got for gifts that they didn’t want or is the wrong size or the wrong color or that they shoplifted and now want full retail for instead of the 10% that the local fence will give them.
Now fortunately for me I never had to work the counter during this period of long lines and testy, hung over sales people and managers dealing with irate customers who think that making their sob story more pitiful than the last one will get them any treatment more special than what everyone gets.
Bingo, have some store credit. Go nuts. Have a nice day.
What makes it especially crappy for the clerks is that you don’t normally get a lot of practice with the return procedures because your manager will handle it since it’s easier than training you. Now you have 20 in a row and the first 7 or 8 are slow until you get the hang of things.
As a customer I have to warn you, this is not a swap meet. If they didn’t have a blue size 6 on Christmas Eve, they don’t have it now either EVEN IF THE CUSTOMER RIGHT AHEAD OF YOU IN LINE JUST RETURNED A SIZE 6 IN BLUE!
It has to go back to the warehouse for processing and re-packaging. Really.
So if you braved the surly stares today you have my admiration for your tenacity. If you waited for the rush to pass my respect for your brilliance.
But don’t wait too long. It all has to be out of the store before February inventory so it doesn’t have to be counted.
Dec 27 2007
Yesterday LithiumCola wrote about the Boston Globe’s questionnaire about Executive Power. S/he wrote about the strong answers Senator Obama gave. We’ll I thought I’d focus a diary just on his answers and not just on the two questions LC highlighted. The questionnaire is quite informative and gives you a good look at were the canidates stand. All except Fred Thomson who was asleep and Rudy Giuliani who was day dreaming about 9/11.
Dec 27 2007
If you were looking for excuses for December’s Iraq Moratorium to be smaller than previous ones, there were plenty available. It fell four days before Christmas, on the darkest day of the year, with cold weather in much of the country and campuses closed for winter break.
None of that mattered in Hayward, a city of 2,129 in northwestern Wisconsin, which we’ve reported on previously. When 40 people turned out there in November, we projected that on a percentage basis that was equivalent to 12,000 people in Milwaukee, 160,000 in New York City, or 6 million nationally.
Puffed up by that kind of publicity here and elsewhere, one of the organizers, Steve Carlson, boldly set a goal of 75 for Iraq Moratorium #4 in December. He later had some second thoughts, no doubt.
So, what happened? They doubled attendance. Here’s the report:
Dec 27 2007
Its about that time of year when we all start trying to sum up the entirity of 2007 with a list of the “10 best” of everything. When I reflect on the last 12 months, what strikes me is that it was the year I came to grips with the fact that the Democrats were not going to “save us” from Bushco and began to look at the failings of what we so affectionately call “democracy.” So its been a pretty heavy year for me.
But I also think about the three things that have helped me survive this year of dark enlightenment. That being blogs, music and comedy. So as I reflect, I’d like to take that last one and think about all the ways I’ve had my funny bone tickled and my mind tingled by the comedians – the ones who seem to be the sane among us.
These guys (my new year’s wish will be for more women in these ranks) had a lot of insane material to work with this year. And the one I find most memorable is from John Stewart as he schools us on the concept of “the enemy of my enemy is my friend (or not).”
Dec 27 2007
As 2007 draws to a close, you know we’ll be seeing lists of the top 10 or top 100 about everything you can imagine. When I reflect on the year, I think of three things that helped me keep my sanity during a year when our ranting went from being directed exclusively at the Republicans and moved into frustration with Democrats as well. Where do we look for sanity and hope? For me this year its been blogs, music and comedians.
So for tonight, I thought it might be fun to take that last one and find some of the moments that brought a laugh to my belly and a sigh of recognition to my heart. These folks had a lot of ironic material to work with this year. And the one that stands out to me is by John Stewart. As you know, you won’t see these clips on youtube, so you have to click through to Crooks and Liars to see this bit where Stewart explains the concept of The Enemy of My Enemy is my Friend (or not).