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O Tannenbaum 23 December 2008

Posted by marisacat in Greece, Inconvenient Voice of the Voter, Viva La Revolucion!.
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People flee from the burning Christmas Tree in Athens’ central Syntagma Square after it was set on fire by demonstrators during a night of riots in Athens on December 08, 2008. Fury at the fatal police shooting of a schoolboy, 15-year-old Alexis Grigoropoulos, erupted in a third day of rioting across Greece today, with youths looting stores, attacking hotels and clashing with the security forces. [AFP PHOTO / Aris Messinis]

Comments»

1. Heather-Rose Ryan - 23 December 2008

Great pic, but didn’t that happen weeks ago?

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2. Madman in the Marketplace - 23 December 2008

as for the “lox and bagels” thing … I was trying to pick a Ob = Jeebus joke, and I thought that fit better with the current theme than saying that I heard he was gonna walk on top of the reflecting pond to greet the crowd, so I went for loaves and fishes.

I hear there is a tight-knit jewish community here in Milwaukee (there were stories about them holding a memorial service for the Jewish couple killed in Mumbai a couple of weeks ago), so there must be a good deli or two to get lox. I wouldn’t know if it was any good, because I actually can’t stand lox. Smoked salmon is too fishy for me. If I’m going to have salmon, it’s going to be a salmon steak grilled with some rosemary.

I was always happy to just enjoy my Tal’s bagel with a smear when I lived in NYC. No lox for me.

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3. lucid - 23 December 2008

I only like smoked white fish…the texture of the salmon [even unsmoked] I find kind of annoying…

So I’m off for some ‘jesusiness’ in Tucson for a few days… After I spoke with my folks and sister’s family tonight, they launched into some carols without putting down the phone [my mom of course at the organ]… ugh. Couldn’t tell if it was intentional or just that my 5 year old nephew didn’t understand that to hang up a cell phone he needed to close it – either way, I hung up after a syrupy verse of ‘Oh little town of Bethlehem’… hmm, nicotine withdrawal mixed with my least favorite cycle of Christian music – must be why I hate the holidays.

And the Mattes link from the last thread that was briefly discussed last thread – written by a Jew for the LA Times kind of poking fun at the whole ‘the Jews control Hollywood’ shtick.

As far as I can recall mockery of ‘identity sensitivities’, particularly religious ones, have always been stock and trade among the denizens here – one of the reasons I like this blog above all others.

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4. marisacat - 23 December 2008

1

I am not using it as news.

I like the lay out of the pic and the sense of tension in the placement of the people running from the burning bush.

It’s not Easter yet.

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5. marisacat - 23 December 2008

The governor’s frustration follows reports last week that Kevin Sheekey, a top deputy for Mr. Bloomberg who has been advising Ms. Kennedy, had called a labor leader and told him that Ms. Kennedy was going to be senator, “so get on board now,” and that a member of Senator Edward M. Kennedy’s staff was helping Ms. Kennedy reach out to unions.

Seems some ptb want CKS to walk on some glass. For a bit at least.

May they all congeal and claw at one another.

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6. Madman in the Marketplace - 23 December 2008

I like the lay out of the pic and the sense of tension in the placement of the people running from the burning bush.

I like to think it was Gawd telling them to go throw more molotov cocktails.

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7. Madman in the Marketplace - 23 December 2008

And now for something different — a new Grace Jones – Corporate Cannibal

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8. Heather-Rose Ryan - 23 December 2008

2. as for the “lox and bagels” thing … I was trying to pick a Ob = Jeebus joke

Well, it fell flat.

Madman:

I wouldn’t know if it was any good, because I actually can’t stand lox. Smoked salmon is too fishy for me.

lucid:

I only like smoked white fish…the texture of the salmon [even unsmoked] I find kind of annoying…

Who cares? The world doesn’t revolve around your taste buds.

As far as I can recall mockery of ‘identity sensitivities’, particularly religious ones, have always been stock and trade among the denizens here – one of the reasons I like this blog above all others.

And fun is fun – within reason. But the recent festival of Jew-bashing was too much for me to tolerate.

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9. marisacat - 23 December 2008

hmmm mmmm…. Amy h ad Max Blumenthal on about Warren…

You know, Newsweek named Rick Warren one of the fifteen people who make America great. And even The Nation, which I’ve written for, you know, the venerable left-wing magazine, in 2005 published a piece calling Rick Warren America’s pastor. [They are next to useless, all but false flag. From embracing Webb and Biden to Warren.]
…

And he’s been pumped up by a small group of Democratic consultants, who urged Barack Obama first to go to his church and speak with him and then to participate in a debate this August that was broadcast by CNN, the Saddleback Forum, where Rick Warren essentially got to interview both candidates sequentially, John McCain and Barack Obama, on the issues and serve as the national minister. The debate went really badly for Obama, because Rick Warren asked him a trick question about abortion: When does a baby get human rights? Barack Obama couldn’t answer it. Soon after, he was attacked by right-wing radio hosts for his answer, because he said, you know, “This question is above my pay grade.” And Rick Warren even went on a conservative radio show and, you know, chuckled about Obama’s response and kind of lightly mocked him. […]

Lie down, pick up fleas. There’s Warren establishing a hostage game. In a heart beat I’ll bad mouth you (and now I am even a greater! famouser! pastor than I was a couple weeks ago).

Good going.

And Good Luck Melissa Etheridge:

So, Rick Warren openly backed Proposition 8 in California last November—this November, and he did so in the terms that you heard him speaking to Steven Waldman, essentially saying that two percent of our population, the homosexual population, was trying to dictate to the rest us, which is a really demagogic thing to say. He told that to his congregation. And he’s backed every anti-gay proposition that’s come down the pike in California in the last ten years, including Proposition 22, which laid the groundwork for Proposition 8. He joined up with James Dobson and Charles Colson and Tony Perkins and these people to do this.

And the Mormons and the Catholics… and the scabrous black ministers in CA who I am sure got money from the Catholics and the Mormons.

AND BONO and his ONE campaign. Which Obster too is all mixed up in, wore the white rubber bracelet for months… met with Bono privately in DC, in Feb of 2006 iirc. Bono is too entwined with the government, not independent at all. Xtian.

MAX BLUMENTHAL: Right. And this [his blast email near the end of GE ’04] is before Rick Warren became a member of the ONE Campaign, before, you know, the media had began puffing him, and before people—Democratic consultants like Mara Vanderslice, who ran a sort of Christian front group for Obama called Matthew 25, and self-proclaimed progressive evangelicals in the media, like Amy Sullivan, began presenting him as one of the new evangelicals who was going to take us beyond the Christian right. But the evidence was there that Rick Warren had sort of insidiously backed George W. Bush by saying that pastors had to vote and urge their congregations to vote on issues like abortion and homosexuality. If you vote on those issues and you say that those issues are non-negotiable, then of course you’re going to vote for George W. Bush, and of course you’re going to back the Republicans for Congress.

So fuckign screwed. Because obster is weak. The party is corrupt and our systems are utterly corrupted. IMO.

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10. marisacat - 23 December 2008

ANN CURRY: If science finds that this is biological—

REV. RICK WARREN: Yeah?

ANN CURRY: —that people are born to be gay, would you change your position?

REV. RICK WARREN: No. And the reason why is because we all have biological predispositions. I’m naturally inclined to have sex with every beautiful woman I see. But that doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do.

AMY GOODMAN: That’s Rick Warren. Max Blumenthal, final thoughts?

MAX BLUMENTHAL: Well, that’s a bizarre remark I haven’t heard. And, you know, I like to get to know women first, and I think, you know, most people do.

Rick Warren has a doctrine of women’s submission, which he preaches to his church, and he tells the female members of his church that they have to support their husbands’ decisions, even if they make bad financial decisions, because women have to submit in a biblical manner to their husbands. So this goes way beyond being anti-gay. He’s, you know, patriarchal. …..snip….

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11. Heather-Rose Ryan - 23 December 2008

Madman and lucid: what kind of “Jew food” do you like?

(everyone else can join in)

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12. lucid - 23 December 2008

11- Anything from Katz’s deli or the various little shops that still hang on in the LES – pickled anything [particularly fish]. A lot I can’t eat. I was at a Hanukkah party on Sunday and, alas, couldn’t eat the latkes because of the flour in them [though I love them], but I did have an awesome salmon tartare [despite my general dislike of salmon]. I’m good with kosher wine. I can’t eat bagels, but love them… need I go on? Just really don’t like lox. If the salmon is minced like in a tartare, I don’t notice the texture, but I just don’t like the fish in general beyond something like that [I guess sushi is ok too because you don’t get the sense of the texture].

10- So this goes way beyond being anti-gay. He’s, you know, patriarchal.

Really, somehow that surprises me. 😉

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13. Heather-Rose Ryan - 23 December 2008

Ah, I have found it – the quote from The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas:

My father was a quiet man who took things quietly, though he felt them deeply. The first terrible morning of the San Francisco fire I woke him and told him, the city has been rocked by an earthquake and is now on fire. That will give us a black eye in the East, he replied turning and going to sleep again. I remember that once when a brother and his comrade had gone horse-back riding, one of the horses returned riderless to the hotel, the mother of the other boy began to make a terrible scene. Be calm madam, said my father, perhaps it is my son who has been killed.

One of my top 10 favorite books.

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14. marisacat - 23 December 2008

I am for anything that makes me laugh… SMBIVA dissects some drooly Dem flack:

In other words: Obama may be dismayingly right-wing, but he’s still not as bad as Congress. What a relief! We sure dodged a bullet there!

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15. BooHooHooMan - 24 December 2008

Heather, Heather Heather, you twittering Snoot.

Spare me your very bad send up
of Travis Bickle in a Blogmaid’s outfit.

I’m Looking at you BHHM.

LOL. Your pose has been evident to me for quite some time as was
your deliberate-or-dumb-as-stump read of mattes a few threads back…. oh so obvious….

So,
my Willing-to-Swap-Mayflower-Credentials-With-McJoan-Anyday
Dear…
Kindly Fuck Off……..LOL.

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16. BooHooHooMan - 24 December 2008

{ Cue argumentative rejoinder – HEATHER’s on tonight…}

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17. BooHooHooMan - 24 December 2008

4 I like the lay out of the pic and the sense of tension in the placement of the people running from the burning bush.

Me too. {but is that “Appropriate”??}LOL.

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18. marisacat - 24 December 2008

hmmm Jerry Nadler says he is interested in the Hillary seat as well.

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19. Madman in the Marketplace - 24 December 2008

Nadler?!?!?!?!?!

RFLMAO

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20. Heather-Rose Ryan - 24 December 2008

Hi BHHM! Add several shakes of anti-Semitism to your regular spew of loopy logorrhea and your posts become a Superfund site. But of course you cultivate that style, like so many ‘net schlobs do, to cover their lack of intellect.

Very silly indeed.

And did you ever tell us what your Daily Kos user ID was? Or IS? Oh no, I don’t think you did. LOL! Mr. Agitprop.

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21. Heather-Rose Ryan - 24 December 2008

Willing-to-Swap-Mayflower-Credentials-With-McJoan-Anyday

Oh yeah, absolutely. Does that bug you?

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22. marisacat - 24 December 2008

Bloomberg…

Dec. 24 (Bloomberg) — Missouri’s plan to spend $750 million in federal money on highways and nothing on mass transit in St. Louis doesn’t square with President-elect Barack Obama’s vision for a revolutionary re-engineering of the nation’s infrastructure.

Utah would pour 87 percent of the funds it may receive in a new economic stimulus bill into new road capacity. Arizona would spend $869 million of its $1.2 billion wish list on highways.

While many states are keeping their project lists secret, plans that have surfaced show why environmentalists and some development experts say much of the stimulus spending may promote urban sprawl while scrimping on more green-friendly rail and mass transit. …snip…

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23. bayprairie - 24 December 2008

oh come on heather, shove off.

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24. Heather-Rose Ryan - 24 December 2008

Sorry, bay, but I like this blog and I find the infestation of anti-Semitic BHHM to be a real drag. Surely there are other places on the internet where people can vent their hatred of Jews.

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25. Heather-Rose Ryan - 24 December 2008

Oh by the way – “JEWS CONTROL HOLLYWOOD”. I just thought I’d point that out. Shocking, isn’t it? What will those crazy Jews do next?

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26. marisacat - 24 December 2008

I am nto up for this today, at all. Too under the weather… but people can thrash it out at will. Or not.

But I will point out (as has been pointed out previously) that the ”Hollywood article” ws posted by mattes and was indeed written by a Jew. Unless a “stein” can change its stripes (off hand I don’t know anything about the author). mattes has already defended herself once against criticism (I don’t remember what thread anymore, recently)…

I read lots more inflammatory (to some eyes), blunt and informative material in the Israeli press than I ever read here (in the US), we are so circumscribed. Thank god for Ma’ariv and Ha’aretz, and even Ynet News which is conservative and sometimes reactionary, it strikes me as more open and accessible on issues than the US press and the weight of the AIPAC heavy thumb. Even the Jpost.

I don’t care who likes it or dislikes it, but i am not shutting down posts and comments. And I am not exhorting myself to “like” any group, esp any group taking political action that I disagree with, in principle as well as tactics adopted… Whether Mormons or Catholics or Black Ministers or Evanjellicals or Jewish groups or who the hell ever. I’ve been called ”homophobe”.. ”racist”… ”lesbian” (what a contortion) and a few other things online…. It started with Meteor Blades, even before I opposed (such as any position I might take would matter at all) Obama… and the yapping cadres at PFF set after me over Ob- or whatever…oh I was so scared!! Poor lousy Peeder who then erased all the words… words are so … just words.

Madman was called out as racist for calling MB a “cigar store Indian”. Boober the party apparatchik morphed the actual words to saying Madman used “nigger”… which in fact he did not… well Madman is part Lakota, thru the maternal line. I LONG ago suspected that MB had a past life as an informant. ”At too many hot spots across too many years”, was how i put it… and too practised at shutting down argument.

They just seek to shut down criticism. Which can be harsh and unfair. And wrong.

Unfortunately imo “American” is the worst damned religion. The capital “R” religious always choose each other and their insular cut off from humanity cult rituals over every one else on earth

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27. Heather-Rose Ryan - 24 December 2008

mattes has already defended herself once against criticism

Good, she can continue to do so. I would like to see her explain why she thinks the article is “interesting”.

I don’t care who likes it or dislikes it, but i am not shutting down posts and comments.

Nobody has asked you to.

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28. marisacat - 24 December 2008

No but you sought to exhort me to “like” the Jews. Or to simper that I so like the Jews. Hell, they are PEOPLE. Bad good and in between. “The Jewish Nation” is our war partner. I won’t waste time being kind.

How manipulable do you think I am?… and you sought to TRY (foolish endeavor) to make me feel that someone’s words here reflect badly on me or this blog (as if this blog matters, HA!).

Don’t be silly Heather.

But if you think that challenging people to name their preferred “jew food” (and being nasty when they state what do or do not like) or challenging people for their monikers at Dkos or elsewhere (I never used sock puppets but I sure know plenty who did and DO still)… is somehow cute, it’s not. But if that is YOUR level, have at it.

Now i have said all I intend to say on accusations of Jewish hatred or racism or whatever schtick is parading.

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29. marisacat - 24 December 2008

whoops. No pardon, after announcing there would be one, for of all things a MORTGAGE SCAMMER. The WH is claiming a technical reversal. Whatever works.

Isaac Toussie’s pardon was among those listed in a press release yesterday. But the White House just issued the following statement:

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30. Madman in the Marketplace - 24 December 2008

Clown strip-searched before children’s charity flight

A clown in full costume was left stunned after being strip-searched by Birmingham airport security as he tried to board a plane.

Children’s entertainer David Vaughan, 60, was dressed as PC Konk, complete with huge floppy shoes, a policeman’s helmet and face paint, when he was taken aside by security staff at Birmingham airport.

Mr Vaughan had been booked by Variety Club Midlands to entertain 100 disadvantaged children on a plane as it circled the region on a one-hour Christmas charity flight. But a piece of metal on his costume set off the security alarm, prompting security guards to confiscate his plastic handcuffs and order him to strip down to his shorts and T-shirt.

Staff also demanded he put the liquid for his plastic bubble-blowing saxophone into a clear sealed plastic bag.

“I’d made sure I’d bought plastic handcuffs and a plastic whistle but I hadn’t realised that the costume had a metal band – I thought it was plastic,” said Mr Vaughan, from Shard End, Birmingham.

“They took me to the customs office, I took off the costume and they put it through the X-ray machine.

“That was fine and I put it back on. Then they confiscated my handcuffs, which were plastic.”

Mr Vaughan was finally allowed to board the Thomas Cook-sponsored plane, which took off from Birmingham and returned an hour later after the incident last Tuesday.

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31. Heather-Rose Ryan - 24 December 2008

OK, MCat, if you want to be identified with the lame bigoted stupidities spouted by BHHM and mattes, go right ahead. Your choice.

“JEWS CONTROL HOLLYWOOD”. OhmyGawd. But of course we don’t have a problem with “Jews” – they are just people, right?

As for DKos user names: I find it hilarious that some people don’t want to reveal theirs. There is far too much slinking around behind pseudonyms for my taste.

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32. Intermittent Bystander - 24 December 2008

The world doesn’t revolve around

my taste

Too true! More’s the pity for us all, eh?

29 – Whoopsie Daisy for Mr. Toussie.

I’d love to know the backstory on this one, because one factor — the father’s $28,500 contribution to the RNC — seemed both like a)not enough money to buy a pardon and b)to create an appearance of conflict that made it a heavier lift, not a lighter one.

Wonder if they sent the family a blushing smiley when they conveyed the news?

Another item dropped down the news chimney tonight: Merry Christmas, GMAC.

The Federal Reserve said today that it has granted GMAC’s request to become a bank holding company, giving it access to new sources of funding, including a potential infusion of taxpayer funds from the Treasury Department and a variety of lending programs operated by the Fed itself. The troubled auto lender needs the money to survive large, continuing losses on its portfolios of car and home mortgage loans.

The company is the major source of funding for General Motors dealers and provides loans for many GM customers, making its fate a crucial factor in the survival of GM. The Fed’s decision was a welcome holiday present for GMAC’s major investors, GM and Cerberus Capital Management, which bought a 51 percent stake in GMAC in 2006.

I’m trying to dry out my house – temps rose enough to bring actual rain, as well as melt snow here – enough to commence the annual Making of the Meringues.

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33. marisacat - 24 December 2008

The Federal Reserve said today that it has granted GMAC’s request to become a bank holding company, giving it access to new sources of funding, including a potential infusion of taxpayer funds from the Treasury Department and …

Bail Out era. Without end…

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34. Intermittent Bystander - 24 December 2008

Taxpayer parallels?

Scared of Santa.

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35. mattes - 24 December 2008

ADL appeals to attorney general in Rubashkin case

The Anti-Defamation League has asked the U.S. attorney general to ensure that Israel’s Law of Return is not used to deny bail to Jewish defendants.

In a letter Wednesday to Michael Mukasey, an Orthodox Jew, ADL National Director Abraham Foxman took note of a federal magistrate judge’s recent denial of bail to the former manager of the Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking plant.

The judge, Jon Scoles, ruled that Rubashkin posed a risk of flight and declined to release him on bail, pointing to evidence that he had a travel bag with cash and travel documents on hand at the time of his arrest. He also noted that two others accused of crimes connected to their work at Agriprocessors are believed to have fled to Israel.

http://jta.org/news/article/2008/12/24/1001808/adl-appeals-to-attorney-general-in-rubashkin-case#When:18:58:00Z

I guess we won’t have to worry about Madoff.

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36. Madman in the Marketplace - 24 December 2008

US Economy Shrinks as IMF Warns of Great Depression

The IMF’s top economist, Olivier Blanchard, maintained that governments around the world should boost domestic demand in order to avoid another Great Depression similar to the global downturn that shook the world in the 1930’s.

“Consumer and business confidence indexes have never fallen so far since they began. The coming months will be very bad,” Blanchard said in an interview with the French newspaper Le Monde.

“It is imperative to stifle this loss of confidence, to restart household consumption, if we want to prevent this recession developing into a Great Depression,” he added.

New data out in France offered some relief, showing that household consumption of manufactured goods – a key growth indicator – rallied 0.3 percent last month after slumping in October.

“It is a first small Christmas present for the French economy,” said Alexander Law, an economist at the Xerfi research centre in Paris.

The European Central Bank also issued some heartening pre-Christmas data showing that the eurozone’s current account deficit had narrowed to 6.4 billion euros (9 billion dollars) in October from 8.8 billion euros in September.

But elsewhere in Europe the news was more downbeat. Retail sales in Italy went down 0.3 percent in October, Denmark’s economy contracted 0.4 percent in the third quarter and the Dutch economy had zero growth, official data showed.

Finland’s unemployment rate rose to 6.0 percent in November from 5.8 percent in October and the Polish central bank cut its key lending rate by 75 basis points to 5.00 percent in a bid to fend off a recession.

In Ukraine, thousands of people took to the streets for a union-led protest to demand higher wages and more social protection in the former Soviet republic, which has been hit hard by the global economic crisis.

News of weakening growth also sent the British pound sliding under 1.0550 euros, nearing a record low of 1.0463 reached last week, as dealers bet on more interest rate cuts from the Bank of England and forecast parity with the euro.

The dollar exchange rate also drifted lower against the euro and the yen.

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37. marisacat - 24 December 2008

hmm I have no idea where we are headed but I decided with massive Bail Outs for massive failure, I want a tax rebate. 300, 600 I am not picky.. but I want one.

I landed on thsi tidbit about Fairfield Greenwich Group (the Noel family)…have to love it:

* For What’s It Worth writes about those 2 Ph.Ds that Fairfield Greenwich had scrutinizing Madoff’s books.

Noel’s son in law, Corina’s husband and founding FGG partner Andres Piedrahita told a friend that FGG had two PhDs working Bernie’s numbers to make sure the man was on the up and up.

FGG’s pending due diligence defense would look better if those wizards had doctorates in math, instead of Medieval art history – just a suggestion from a former lawyer, so take it for what it’s worth.

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38. Madman in the Marketplace - 24 December 2008

I’d make a joke about how using medieval historians to run that audit might actually work, but Heather and ADL would put out a fatwa on me.

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39. Madman in the Marketplace - 24 December 2008
40. mattes - 24 December 2008

Dear marisacat,

Thank-you for not banning me for being a Obamabot. I promise to do penance if in the next 6 months he does not make significant changes to our foreign affairs. I will hide behind a rock. Promise.

Also, I am sorry, but in good conscience, I can’t say I “like” any group of people. I can not say I like blacks…or I like Jews, or I like the english…or the french…or hungarians
…or what not. I try my best to judge people as individuals. Doesn’t matter to me what ethnic group or religious group or secret society….or nationality they are. Good people get caught up in sadistic ideologies. Even Nazis and Zionists. And bad people have taken advantage of humanitarian causes. The people I tend to “like” have what I consider good hearts and the ability to not take themselves too seriously. Oh, and, elitism and the pursue of power/money as a goal is a real turnoff for me. Few people seem to be able to retain power, and still be a compassionate being, IMO. A dilemma.

I know you have not asked for an explanation, no problem, but sure hope, I’ve explain myself sufficiently this time.

Oh, and I also find “interesting” that the only pundit on TV that can take AIPAC to task is Jon Stewart. The only. And of course we all know what has happened to people like Finkelstein.

But, I’ll understand if, if…..well.

Meanwhile:

Brown leans on Israel in attempt to foster peace

Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, appears to be paving the way for a fresh, Anglo-American peace initiative in the Middle East in the new year.

Diplomats in London said there were clear signs that Mr Brown was preparing the ground for Barack Obama to spearhead a bid for an Israeli-Palestinian accord soon after his inauguration as US president on Jan 20.

In recent weeks, Mr Brown has markedly toughened his public pronouncements over continued Israeli expansion in the occupied West Bank and called for an end to the economic blockade of Gaza.

He has also met this month both Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, and Salam Fayyad, his Palestinian equivalent, while, simultaneously, instituting a string of small but significant measures to increase pressure on Israel.

According to a “well-informed Washington source” quoted by The Times newspaper, Mr Brown’s efforts are being synchronised with Mr Obama’s advisers.

“There are limits, of course, to what the prime minister can achieve, but it appears he is sending a message to Israel that there could be real consequences unless it compromises. Even so, the big moves will have to come from Mr Obama when he takes office.”

Mr Netanyahu’s Likud Party is already opposed to a Palestinian state, and there have been worrying signs recently of a grass-roots movement to push the party even further to the right.

For his part, Mr Brown has made clear his commitment to a two-state solution and has also very publicly stepped up the pressure on Israel to stop its expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank.
snip
This week, for instance, British customs officials began random searches of Israeli goods coming into the country to ensure that they actually came from inside Israel, which are tariff free within the EU, and not from settlements, which are not.

http://www.thenational.ae/article/20081225/FOREIGN/650568725/1135/OPINION

I believe the Germans and French have recently & publicly come out against the settlements as well. I am hopeful this time there will be real pressure on Israel, ….for the first time to move to a two-state solution. The fear is of course that Israel will scramble the playing field by taking a shot at Iran in the middle of Obama transition.

The Madoff scandal has cut the $$$spigot to the settlements, and that’s not a bad thing.

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41. marisacat - 24 December 2008

that photgraphic “don’t divorce” is a good idea… where the NO on 8 campaign should have been. So simple. Real people.

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42. Madman in the Marketplace - 24 December 2008

Arpaio, activist group standing their ground

The Board of Supervisors’ meetings also have undergone a number of changes since the Maricopa Citizens group began attending.

The supervisors cut the amount of time each member of the public is allowed to speak during the public comment portions of the public meetings. The board permits each speaker two minutes. Previously, the board gave every speaker three minutes.

Generally, eight or nine sheriff’s office deputies and county security officers station themselves around the perimeter of the small auditorium where the board holds its meetings. Also, as many as 20 deputies and officers are stationed out-of-view in hallways around the edges of the auditorium and another 20 or so patrol a plaza outside the auditorium’s front doors.

In the pre-Maricopa Citizens era, usually a few deputies worked the metal detectors in the auditorium’s lobby and a few others remained inside the auditorium.

Most noticeably, deputies and security officers restrict movement within the auditorium, directing spectators to take seats and remain in their seats while the meetings are in session.

Previously, Board of Supervisors meetings were conducted like virtually every other public meeting, at which spectators routinely stand in the aisles and occasionally walk about to confer with other spectators.

In that regard, crowds at most public meetings more closely resemble spectators at a baseball game rather than audience members at a movie theater.

And, of course, deputies and security agents at the Board of Supervisors meetings have begun to arrest spectators. That development came Wednesday.

During the meeting, Board of Supervisors chairman Andy Kunasek warned spectators that they were being disruptive by applauding speakers, but deputies neither dismissed nor arrested spectators who applauded an animal advocate or a public transportation advocate who sang a birthday song for Kunasek.

The scene was different when about 15 spectators stood and clapped for 20 seconds after a Maricopa Citizens group member spoke critically of Arpaio during her turn at the lectern.

Deputies arrested Joel Nelson, Jason Odhner, Monica Sandschafer and Kristy Theilen on allegations of disorderly conduct and trespassing.

Odhner is a member of the Maricopa Citizens. Nelson, Sandschafer and Theilen are members of ACORN. ACORN has been closely aligned with the Maricopa Citizens during the anti-Arpaio campaign.

Nelson is black. The other three are white. Early Friday morning, three deputies appeared at Terán’s home to give her a disorderly conduct citation linked to her role at Wednesday’s meeting. Terán is Hispanic.

Deputies made the arrests in a clear attempt to intimidate people associated with Maricopa Citizens, said Carlos Calindo, who attended the meeting.

“It is incredible the way they behaved,” said Calindo, who is not a member of the citizens organization. “You come in there and the atmosphere is incredibly oppressive. They yell at you. They scold you. They try to intimidate you. It is improper.”

The lone matter at issue for deputies is people’s behavior in the meetings, Arpaio said.

“They’re not trying to intimidate anybody. They’re just responding to violations of the law, which is disorderly conduct and trespassing,” he said.

“I don’t know if Mary Rose (Wilcox) has a little problem with this, but she has to understand that we enforce the laws of the state of Arizona. We don’t enforce her laws,” Arpaio said.

The Maricopa Citizens are more invigorated than ever, said Danny Ortega, an attorney for the organization.

“If what Sheriff Joe Arpaio and the Board of Supervisors are trying to do is intimidate citizens who petition the government, they are absolutely wrong. They will not intimidate us,” he said.

“What occurred Wednesday is nothing short of atrocious, over the top, an abuse of power, an abuse of discretion. More than anything else, it was Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his deputies as well as the Board of Supervisors who trampled, absolutely trampled, on the Constitution of this country,” he said.

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43. Madman in the Marketplace - 24 December 2008

41 – I thought it was a great idea.

40 – mattes

did you mean Heather with that?

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44. NYCO - 24 December 2008

I like halvah. Taste for it inherited from Dad… a Catholic boy who was in a Jewish street gang!

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45. mattes - 24 December 2008

MadMan…no I mean Marisacat. It’s her site. I am not trying to changed any minds here….. :o))

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46. Madman in the Marketplace - 24 December 2008

IOZ linked to steaming pile of 19th Century male winger “wisdom”.

When a Woman Isn’t in the Mood: Part I
Dennis Prager
Tuesday, December 23, 2008

Given our preoccupation with politics and economics, it is easy to forget that for most of us micro issues still play a greater role in our lives. So here are some thoughts that, as heretical as they might sound, have been found extremely helpful, sometimes even marriage-saving, from listeners to my radio show, which features a “male-female hour” every week.

The subject is one of the most common problems that besets marriages: the wife who is “not in the mood” and the consequently frustrated and hurt husband.

There are marriages with the opposite problem — a wife who is frustrated and hurt because her husband is rarely in the mood. But, as important and as destructive as that problem is, it has different causes and different solutions, and is therefore not addressed here. What is addressed is the far more common problem of “He wants, she doesn’t want.”

It is an axiom of contemporary marital life that if a wife is not in the mood, she need not have sex with her husband. Here are some arguments why a woman who loves her husband might want to rethink this axiom.

Yes, I had to check too … it IS still 2008.

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47. Madman in the Marketplace - 24 December 2008

oh, I get it … sorry mattes!

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48. Madman in the Marketplace - 24 December 2008

CCR Statement on the Selection of Rev. Rick Warren to Lead the Convocation at the Presidential Inauguration

December 23, 2008 – The Center for Constitutional Rights is outraged at President Obama’s choice of the right wing Rev. Rick Warren to lead the convocation at his inauguration. This is “change” we can neither believe in nor support. Many of us have been looking forward to this inauguration as we have no other in the past, with great hope that the new administration will restore our Constitution and its place in a nation of laws. We understand, too, that the new president is working to reach across the aisle and make people of different beliefs welcome at his table.

But the choice of Rev. Warren is a callous slap in the face to all progressives and people of conscience who cherish the equality of women and their right to a safe and legal abortion. Roe v. Wade is still the law of the land. It is a constitutional right. Women fought and died for it. A man who so vocally opposes such a hard won and important a constitutional right has no place at this inauguration.

The choice of Rev. Warren is a slap in the face to all progressives and people of conscience who cherish the equality of men and women in the LGBT community. His vocal support for the shameful California Proposition 8 pushes from the table those who have fought long and hard to be able to love and be loved without the interference of hate mongers. A man like Rick Warren who envisions a society where some classes of people are entitled to fundamental rights while others are not based solely on whom and how they love has no place at this inauguration.

We understand that there will be compromises and decisions we won’t agree with in the coming years, and we will be right there challenging them. But to begin it all in this way, is a terrible signal to send to the people who worked day and night to elect President Obama. He should withdraw his invitation. At the very least, he should ask someone else to officiate as well, someone with decency and eloquence who can balance the presence of Rev. Warren. If the president is at a loss for ideas, allow us to suggest two women who could ably fit the bill: Bishop Katherine Jeffords Schori, the presiding head of the Episcopal church who supports the ordination of gay ministers, and Susana Heschel, a feminist theologian and daughter of Abraham Joshua Heschel, the Jewish leader who worked hand in hand with Martin Luther King.

Let’s not start off on the wrong foot and hobble progress before we’ve even begun.

The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Founded in 1966 by attorneys who represented civil rights movements in the South, CCR is a non-profit legal and educational organization committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change.

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49. mattes - 24 December 2008

MadM, no one told me I did not have to submit to my husbands. I did because I did not want them to say NO when I was in the mood….)) Purely selfish.

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50. Madman in the Marketplace - 24 December 2008

49 – there you go, thinking again … I think the Bible says women aren’t supposed to do that.

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51. Madman in the Marketplace - 24 December 2008

Xmas memories of my childhood in Chicagoland: Hardrock, Coco, and Joe

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52. Madman in the Marketplace - 24 December 2008
53. mattes - 24 December 2008

#The bible and I came to a dead end early on, major problem with genocide, the chosen people and salvation through the messiah, popes etc.

But I do use it as a reference. I hesitate to get into “beings” from the other side, or out-of-body experiences….occurrences from the beginning of earthlife.

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54. Madman in the Marketplace - 24 December 2008
55. Intermittent Bystander - 24 December 2008

I want a tax rebate. 300, 600 I am not picky.. but I want one.

For the wars and waste alone, we all deserve health care and free broadband for life.

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56. Intermittent Bystander - 24 December 2008

That includes Iraqis, Afghanis, and others, BTW.

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57. Intermittent Bystander - 24 December 2008

Apologies for forgetting to post these source links to the Mixed Precipitation setlist here the other day.

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58. Intermittent Bystander - 24 December 2008

Oops. Source links redo. (Just for anyone who’s interested.)

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59. mattes - 24 December 2008

AIG paid 16 billion in credit default swaps so far. And we have not even started unraveling the second and third wave of toxic mortgages.

And Not one penny to consumer. With all the advertising, cable should be free.

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60. Madman in the Marketplace - 24 December 2008
61. Intermittent Bystander - 24 December 2008

First batch of meringues accomplished!

Smiley with whipped cream and berries here.

::Passes platter to all::

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62. Intermittent Bystander - 24 December 2008

You too, FreeSpeechers!

meringue . . . harangue . . .

Stop me before I write limericks again!

Sorry you’re feeling under the weather, MCat. The weather has been pretty damn hard to escape, as of late.

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63. Madman in the Marketplace - 24 December 2008
64. Intermittent Bystander - 24 December 2008

39 – Please Don’t Divorce ….

Sweet. More berries and whipped cream for all.

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65. Madman in the Marketplace - 24 December 2008

Maybe Prager would have more luck if he brought home meringues!

Verdict with Cheese

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66. Intermittent Bystander - 24 December 2008

63 – I love meringues!

Yay!

Santa Claus bailout hearings have got me laughing like a bowl full of jelly and I’m only 30 seconds into ’em!

Oh, Jesus Christ . . .

Breaking the elf union is like eating a glass sandwich. . . .

LOL!

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67. Madman in the Marketplace - 24 December 2008

you know, the whole problem would be solved if the elves would only work for the same wages as the pixies and gnomes …

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68. Intermittent Bystander - 24 December 2008

Tribalism strikes again!

flings claymore and limerick

Have I mentioned my gun-toting, belly-dancing, female, Jewish, descended-from-Anglo-and-Scottish-suffragette-Socialists, Tel Aviv cab driving fifth-cousin-or wtf-once-or-twice-removed lately?

We’ll all be working for confiscated caviar and smuggled meringues any day now, I swear.

We shall owe a ton! We shall owe a ton! We shall owe a ton, somedaaaaay!

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69. Madman in the Marketplace - 24 December 2008

Grace Nearing’s 10 Books Not to Read Before You Die

#1 Eloise, by Kay Thompson

Eloise is a little girl — a force of nature, really — who lives at The Plaza Hotel in New York in a long ago time when pedophiles didn’t yet exist and bumptious children could wander freely through the metropolis. This classic children’s story left me with a lifetime disappointment that suburban homes don’t come with Room Service.

Reason for reading: big print/small words, four-color cover too enticing to resist

#2 The Baltimore Catechism, by The Third Plenary Council of Baltimore*

The fundamentals of Catholicism reduced to 25,000 straightforward sets of questions and answers. No discussions or clarifications necessary!

*Note: The special deluxe edition featuring pop-up cutouts of the Milk Bottles of Sin is exempt from this do-not-read list.

Reason for reading: required indoctrination

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70. Madman in the Marketplace - 24 December 2008

Jesus’s back in the Mall, baby, and it’s just alright with me

An unforgettable spiritual journey.

RFLMAO!

😛

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71. cad - 24 December 2008

Now you know why Prager was recently divorced. Imagine him demanding sex from his wife.

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72. CSTAR - 24 December 2008

Re 61 62

Meringues, harangues, Merengue!

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73. marisacat - 24 December 2008

Sorry IB

Your comment at 68 now out of moderation… 🙂 the confiscated caviar one…

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74. marisacat - 24 December 2008

40 [jsut catching up…]

I will hide behind a rock. Promise.

No need for that mattes…

By now I am just thank ful to not be called racist for thinking he is a big fat problem… 🙄 Which, who knows, he may not be…

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75. marisacat - 24 December 2008

LOL New post…

LINK … slam on the brakes for Santa… 😆

…………………… 🙄 …………….

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