the thought of pollsters being "violently queasy" pleases me inordinately!!! heh!!! May it ever be thus!!!! 

We watch TDS on DVR so I don't know what night it was from, but Jon had Zogby on & I was reminded of what a sleazy, self-satisfied creature he seems to be. 

I'd love to see us move to a more regulated campaign cycle modeled on Australia or the UK. The way we do it here just results in perpetual campaigns so much so that actual governance is neglected. Of course, that might have a positive side, given what we've seen this admin do!!!  

and honestly was one of the best episodes in a while, even with out writers. Jon had his knives out and was sticking everyone who needed to be stuck quite well. For those of you who missed it, that episode can be seen at http://tinyurl.com/2845np for the first segment other segments including Zogby are linked form there.

Is this to be shown in theaters or on TV?

http://tinyurl.com/3bdruf

I couldn't find it...in my search..

"Heaven has no rage like love to hatred turned
Nor hell a fury like a woman scorned."
"The Mourning Bride" (1697) by William Congreve

"I fear all we have done is to awaken a sleeping giant and fill... (her) ... with a terrible resolve." Fictionalized Admiral Yamamoto, "Tora! Tora! Tora!" (1970)

Good article Maddy... and I repeat Jasons words!!! I have been there, again and again...in the business world. Even with Dish! They gave all the regional service to the good ol' boys, that didn't have ANY customer service. WHY, I asked...after all I was with the company from the beginning AND, had one of the TOP service records, according to churn reports...but, NO GO...that was just the latest...just to long of a list in my years working for corporations.

Not looking good..like a yo-yo

Guess I'm going to become a B of A customer. They have a bank pretty close to me. My mother uses it. Will this mean I can walk in and talk to a person about my mortgage if I want to?

Boa... as in constrictor taking out all the small banks one by one.

Countrywide wasn't a small bank. Just wondering how it's going to impact where I send my mortgage payment. I'm sure they'll start sending me credit card offers and whatever else I don't want from them any minute now. Countrywide called me yesterday to remind me that I'm a preferred customer. I told them thank you very much, but I'm still working to pay off my house. No to HELOC and other money borrowing, but thanks for asking.

All banks. In my personal experience they have absorbed MBNA, Fleet, and now Countrywide. Pretty soon they will live up to their name.

was called something like Bank of America. It was modeled on the Bank of England.

I noticed that CountryWide Bank got saved from itself ( criminal behavior and all) your FHA of CW-BA loan sales pitch to you immediately after their purchase by B&A I find interesting too;

banks' behavior with their clients ( and with each other ) is an area of interest for me maybe for others as well....

as far as I know insurance was the American colonies first big business industry ( trade/production of goods another thing) banking came to America after that

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_central_banking_in_the_United_States

http://www.projects.ex.ac.uk/RDavies/arian/northamerica.html

synthetic environment Americans deserve what the rest of civilized world has affordable guaranteed single-payer healthcare.

I wish they would quit sending me junk mail every couple of weeks...I'm not going to get a credit card from these ripoff artists. Quite happy with the two I've had for 20+ years.

Gold just set a record a $900 an ounce.

It is STILL the economy... stupid.

Live Market Quotes @ Kitco
NEW YORK SPOT PRICE (market is closed)

GOLD
Date 01/11/2008
Time (EST) 13:30
Bid 894.90
Ask 895.60
Change +4.00
+0.45%
Low 888.80
High 898.50 <------------

WORLD SPOT PRICE (same as above)
(Will open in 43 hrs. 50 mins.)

LONDON FIX Jan 11, 2008
AM 893.75
PM 891.00

Silver tracking along these same lines...

Rich- can you recommend any good places to read up on silver? Mark was thinking about starting up with that, a little here & there- seems like an excellent idea to me. 

I try to make a regular stop www.321gold.com

I good place to start investing is your local coin dealer - they sell ounce rolls of coin at the going market rate (and you'll have some REAL money to barter with when you just might have to implement your "personal exit strategy"). If you want to INVEST, I used www.Kitco.com for silver and gold in their "pool" account (where would you keep all that metal?). They sell many different coins as well, from Krugerands to Gold Maple Leafs. Check out the Perth Mint as well (yes the Perth in Australia). My understanding is that some law or policy was passed early in 2007 (late in 2006?) that makes it difficult to open new accounts overseas (I was grandfathered in just in time).

I got in silver when it was about $8.30/oz back in 2005 but I don't see this run stopping any time soon. It's not too late to get in - I'd wait until the next sag (triangle theory) for the price to come down some.

I revisited this thread where you'd put a ton of good info- the serf's up! thread

http://securingamerica.com/ccn/node/13971 

at one point today when the S and P dropped below 1400 it hit $900 See Kitco.com for the price graph. Either way that is insanely high.

Donna Brazile was equally outraged at President Clinton on CNN yesterday. Up until then I thought she was solidly behind Hillary.

Don't forget the Rep. Miller endorsement.

January 10, 2008 11:26 AM

On CNN's Inside Edition Tuesday, former Bill Clinton/Al Gore senior strategist Donna Brazile expressed some disappointment at the comments the former President made about Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, at Dartmouth College the other day.

Read more about those comments HERE and read the whole CNN interview with Brazile HERE.

Back on Tuesday -- when everyone thought Clinton was about to lose New Hampshire (including, obviously, the Clintons) -- Brazile said that Bill Clinton "shouldn't take out all his pain on Barack Obama... It sounds like sour grapes coming from the former commander in chief, someone that many Democrats hold in high esteem. For him to go after Obama, using 'fairy tale', calling him a 'kid,' as he did last week, it's an insult. And I tell you, as an African- American, I find his words and his tone to be very depressing."

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/01/the-bill-factor.html

I would not be surprised if Donna throws that super delegate vote of hers into Obama's pot.

Donna play the race card. I'm sure that "kid" was a reference to his comparative age and experience not his race.

I saw an A-A man on the TV the other night saying "if Hillary says she can do a better job than Obama, it can be taken as racist"

So how does one run against an A-A under those rules?

Of course Obama saying Hillary is old ....and that all she's done is "have tea" with world leaders is perfectly acceptable

"The Right always knows who its enemies are" Lance Mannion

I don't know what man you are talking about but that is ridiculous. Hillary has been saying she could do a better job hasn't she? There was no race talk until Hillary's campaign was desperate and put Bill out there non-stop. It was offensive when Bill twisted the civil rights movement to be all about President Johnson.

I said before I thought they ought to keep Bill under lock and key until this thing is over.

The Hillary campaign didn't want to bring Bill along for the ride but felt they were forced to by the poll numbers. She can do this on her own. She'll look stronger for doing it all by herself.

...that mentioned Johnson, not Bill

She was trying to say that Johnson was the one who put into law what MLK was fighting for. She said it very clumsily I grant you that.

As for the guy on TV, believe me he said it. I saw him.

"The Right always knows who its enemies are" Lance Mannion

I don't doubt he said it but it doesn't make it true.

..and parcel of playing the race card.

I expect A-As to vote for Obama. I just hope that the ones on TV don't invent slights in order to tarnish the Clintons, who did so much for them, in the process.

According to Chris Rock, Bill was the first black president. I doubt he would have called him that if he was considered in any way racist by the black community.

"The Right always knows who its enemies are" Lance Mannion

Who played the race card? Was this man referring to Donna Brazile's comments?

Anyway, in the end, Donna said, "I think it's time that he helps Hillary talk about her message and not go down this road." I agree.

..they don't go down the RC road.

I have no idea what he was referring to but the mere fact that he said it....and he was A-A....was playing the RC

"The Right always knows who its enemies are" Lance Mannion

I hope dems don't end up with an anti-diversity slate backlash by the time the GE rolls around- I mean that as applicable to HRC and BO. Dems like to indulge in this sort of discussion- Rs don't (not defending that). 

I'm really starting to worry about this.

Nothing Hillary said in NH was clumsy.

I hope I got BOs age right-

By the time Wes was 47, he was a one star General with the most exciting & fast developing part of his career lay just ahead of him.

For Bill Clinton, the man from Hope, etc. was 47 he was elected president in 1993- also the most interesting & dynamic portion of his career ahead of him.

When Hillary Clinton was 47, she was working on universal health care.

-------

I think any one of these people's lives sound like a fairy tale from a distance. It seems to me that in the narrative put together by the BO campaign seems to stress the fresh, the new, change, hope- as if out of nowhere. Aren't they the ones doing it? And doesn't it in part come from precisely the fact that he is a new player on the national stage? By the way, if I were to say "playah" does that make me racist? The PC language police thing is really getting old fast, I recall it well from surprise the very culture wars of multiculturalism in the 90s.

Besides, I thought words were the magical everything, as he explained (I think it was) in the last debate to those of us too stupid to understand how we communicate & solve problems... with words.

People are going to need MUCH thicker skin to get through this primary season.

in the same league as the other Democratic "spokespeople" they allow to appear on teevee -- Carville and Begala specifically. They often do more harm than good for Democrats, imho.

This is from the comments at above post. I agree:

It seems his speech against Obama was somewhat incoherent, but Obama and the Media have been many-times more offensive ... Just in their whole treatment of Hillary. There has been NO respect for her, in too many cases. Bill could be more careful though, as Hillary would be and is. Don't let Bill's actions cloud your view regarding Hillary. She's behaved with the perfect sense through it all! If not, she would have been consumed by all of Obama's and the media's put downs and insults. And as for the arguement that Hillary's first lady years don't give her "experience" nor "credits," she was greatly active in the presidential actions. A case in point, she came out with her own Children's Healthcare bill on behalf of the white house. And she's always been unusally active in governing, with Bill. She has alot more experience and skill than you might think.

Once in a while you get shown the light, In the strangest of places if you look at it right.

8. Nevada SEIU endorsement
9. Rep. George Miller (Nancy Pelosi's "consiglieri") endorsement

but every thing I am writing could be interpreted as snarky so I am just going to say. Good for him. Now lets continue on to the next round of states, have actual debates on issues that effect Americans, and determine who will lead our party in the General election.

to Jason!

No cash prizes.

I agree Jason should receive last night's classy guy award, but he'll have to share it with WKC who was the class of the Clinton campaign in New Hampshire.

10. Senator Johnson of South Dakota
11. Former Senator Gary Hart

It just is what it is...politics.

It's the money folks; upwardly mobile, yuppie, Lincoln Park, send your kids to private school - soundly in BO's corner.

The rest of us laboring realists? Not so much.

I speak of Chicago, folks.

Own his business, does ok and is in his 40s, told me today that he's for Hillary over Barack, because people can talk about change, but Hillary knows how to get things done. I was so impressed:) He's not even political. He thinks their all pretty horrible in DC most of the time.

About 10 minutes ago I received an email invitation to a conference in Chicago this may. But when I checked the registration fees it was in Australian dollars! I hope they still take US dollars in Wrigleyville! 

Barry
Are you safer today than you were six years ago?©

I don't think the Australian dollar has kept up as well as the Canadian dollar for example.

they're still happy to take US cash in Wrigleyville.

I'm looking into joining a food co-op that's coming together in my neighborhood. For a few hours a week, I'll be able to save $$ on healthy good stuff.

that is legitmately, spelled correctly I hope! --authentically awesome. :) Probably meet cool people too.

...add some jalapeno-topped cheese nachos and we're there

at people dressing in religious garb of a religion they do not practice. The idea of him in a yamulke kind peeves me. Nevermind the fact that he was trying to out cry Senator Clinton. :P

bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb bomb

spoiled child playing on the floor of the royal palace with toy soldiers

Auchwitz was in Poland near Krakow. That was in the Russian area of operations and there were no aircraft that had the range to make it there from England. By the time the allies had bomber capable bases in mainland Europe, the Russians were racing through Eastern Europe.

Lets not forget that the "alliance" with Stalin was much more "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" situation than the relationship we had with England, the Commonwealth, and the Free European forces. Launching an air raid in to that area could have broken the fragile alliance. Nevermind, we would have killed the prisoners with our bombs. In that time very tough choices had to be made (allowing the bombing of Coventry, fire bombing of Dreseden and Tokyo, the atomic bomb, the evacuation of the children of Leningrade over Lake Ladoga leaving their families behind). It just goes to show how little understanding of history he and his EASTERN EUROPEAN HISTORY SPECIALIST Sec of State Rice, actually have. I am glad FDR and Truman were at the helm then instead of this crew.

on a night train express about five  years ago, going between Warsaw to Vienna then on to Florence, Italty- it was poetically named The Chopin Express. With all the travel I've done in Poland there is an immensely detectable pervasive-- and eternal--  sadness that lingers in the land itself. But the history of Poland is an extremely bloody history of conquest & re-conquest. 

I had a somewhat frightening experience on the train itself- it is a strange feeling anyway to be a stranger unable to speak the language & passing through the blackest of night punctuated by yellowish lights looming up suddenly as the train makes unannounced stops, lurching to a halt. The compartments have face to face seating, so you are left gazing into the eyes of strangers the whole time.

In Czechoslovakia some people got on & the German girl I'd sort of buddied up with fell alseep. A man came in first, then a woman a few minutes later. At first I didn't realize what was going on but something about the way the woman made a big show of taking off her coat & putting it on the overhead rack caught my eye. Something over acted or dramatic. Then I realized I could see them in the window (I was reading a book), and that they were tag teaming.

The woman pointed to her neck then towards her hip. I had on a very normal nothing sterling silver & amber necklace- that is why I was in Poland in the first place, my business is amber, but I never have ever had any high dollar value jewelry that would be worth stealing myself as a person walking around. All I really had to lose was my camera, and for a second, the way she gestured at her throat, I thought, my life. 

I couldn't think of what to do. I just tried to keep my face blank. I was scared to leave the compartment & get next to a door or get between the cars. And I really couldn't communicate with anyone too well. 

So after awhile, I spilled a bunch of mineral water all over the guy & made a big deal of looking into his eyes & smiling, making a big friendly fuss about cleaning it up - sort of in a big dumb clown way. Maybe they realized I didn't have much to steal, or maybe the human contact worked. The woman looked disgusted but at the next stop they just got up & left. :)

--

I just can't stand to see Bush playacting on the world stage for one minute longer. He fouls all that he touches.  

Firstly I flew in from Vienna to Krakow-Balice to visit my best friend from college who was teaching at the American School of Krakow at that time (he then went on to teach english at a polish public high school before returning home a few years ago). Unfortunately he was very late and I could not reach him. (Cell phone service in rural Poland in the late 90s was not exactly spectacular) The last plane back to Vienna was getting ready to leave. I did not know any Polish (though I spoke enough German to get by quite well in Austria) so was considering my options, like flying back to Vienna. Fortuantely he showed up at the last minute.

While there another friend who was living in Berlin at the time came down to visit. She wanted to go see auchwitz and the ghetto since this was just around the time of "Shindlers List". I tried to beg out but ended up going to the ghetto with them. Maybe it was because I am a Jew myself and those were my people, but I got very nervous, shaking, and almost physically ill being there. Once they saw that we quickly left, but I am very glad I did not go to Auchwitz itself.

One of the oddest things I saw/did on that trip was to go to the Vienna aquarium. I am a big zoo and aquaria guy so wanted to see it. Little did I know that it was inside an old WWII Nazi anti-aircraft tower in the center of the city. Funny thing is that I actually had a great feeling there. Something positive had been made of that. Where as the ghetto seemed very quiet and empty, like people had just disappeared from there yesterday. I can not really explain it better than that but the feeling was completely different.

Best part of that trip was staying in Zell am See. It is a beautiful town with a wonderful lake beach and easy access to hiking along Europes highest waterfalls. For those who might have seen "Band of Brothers" this is the town in which the 101st was located during the last episode "Austria". It looked so similar to the town and hotel I stayed in that I think they may have shot that on location. Word to the wise, never try to buy a glass of gin in a German speaking country.

Oh and then there was the dinner with the Russian "maffioso's" wife story. I'll save that one for another time. Now that really was an interesting vacation. :D

I studied Eastern European History as my minor. One of my old jokes (which is none too kind) is that Poland is the country great armies roll through. Unfortunately for them, between the Mongols, the Russians, the Prussians, the French, the Austrians, and the Germans, it is far too true.

about the gin ;)

The thing that stays with me is the immense emptiness of the castles - how there are few to no personal objects that survived to be passed down. Would love to talk about it more - we should do a travels blog, maybe, in the interests of Clarkie peace & diplomacy, eh- where we can all share some more experiences like this. 

do you have a business website? your way of dealing with menacing situations is very resourceful....terrific skills for travel adventurer;

synthetic environment Americans deserve what the rest of civilized world has affordable guaranteed single-payer healthcare.

but I don't want to put a link here - you don't take email from here, right?  look for

andzia amber

& don't reply, just give me a star then I'll delete

I email with few of us; I'll look for and so forth.....

synthetic environment Americans deserve what the rest of civilized world has affordable guaranteed single-payer healthcare.

Bombing was the huge deciding factor in that war. The battle of Dreseden was a big deal as was the one in Russia, what was it Stalingrad? That's what they had in those days. They did know about the concentration camps and did nothing. Everybody has blood on their hands for that one pretty much.

arguing that we couldn't have done more at the time - was primarily a comment on w's tendency to bomb things

OT

btw, if you want the Babylon 5 pilot, I have the dvd which is two feature length here & could mail it to you if you contact me through the form. Then you can just return it at your leisure or find another Clarkie to round robin it to. :)

I saw them slightly out of order myself, going straight into the series. There are lots of refinements in costumes etc. that come shortly after the pilot aired so to me the pilot is a little odd, but enjoyable nonetheless. If you are already in Netflix you may prefer to view it that way so you don't have to fuss about returning it- however I'd be happy to send it.

E-B was looking for DVDs. She might like to see it.

I am involved with strategy to lower/cover costs of very expensive medicines that I need; entertainment information low priority on the back burner with my tea kettle; efforts involving direct democracy and regular life endeavors top priorities ( the side road turned into main street have been diverted from my personal plans aha aha aha into politics for some time now )

synthetic environment Americans deserve what the rest of civilized world has affordable guaranteed single-payer healthcare.

and firefly is so much better of a show. I just need my own Kaleigh. :D

firefly rocks but I'm only in Season 2.5 of Bab5 so I don't want to hear it!!!! :) 

I'm just sayin.

we would be expecting "Dollhouse" some time in 2008. Now who knows.

..kind of reminded me of the time Bush was on the aircraft carrier pretending to be a fighter pilot (sorry, you didn't prove it in Vietnam when we trained you, so I'm not giving him credit)

"In addition, Mrs. Clinton’s package would channel $25 billion to help low-income families pay heating bills this winter."

===

This is sometimes (often) why I have a beef with the Democratic party being a fiscal conservative and social moderate/liberal. Instead of us throwing $25 billion down the toilet, how about giving $50 billion to low-income families in the form of tax credits to put extra insulation in their homes in order to 1) save money for anyone occupying those homes for the next several decades, 2) reduce our dependence on foreign oil and 3) increase the values of those homes by making them more energy efficient.

And perhaps the government needs to step in with minimal energy-efficiency standards for any new home construction and not allow builders to 'cut corners' on this (if we're wanting minimum mpg standards for cars, we can save a lot more energy by how we construct our homes)

in her energy independence plan, DB. It's one of the reasons Bob Villa endorsed her. :-)

The aid package is just temporary relief, because it is THAT bad. She understands the difference between long-term and short-term solutions.

"As long as war is regarded as wicked, it will always have its fascination. When it is looked upon as vulgar, it will cease to be popular." - Oscar Wilde

...let's INVEST the money on longer-term solutions rather than short-term 'fixes' (where 'fix' is about equivalent to giving a cocaine addict some more crack to get him over his problems).

So, what to do to immediately cover increased energy costs in the short term? Let's look at some data on average American spending for a family with $50K income.

Average alcoholic beverages: $36/month
Average tobacco products/smoking supplies: $23/month
Average entertainment: $174/month

To my way of thinking, all of those go to $0/month which results in monthly savings of $233/month or $2,796 per year which can be used to offset higher energy costs.

And then, assuming that one doesn't like that change in lifestyle, cast a vote in the next election against the crooks and those who would have us making war in the Middle East for the next 100 years.

Yesterday I think, on why we need a quick stimulus fix to get things going to jump start employment along with the other fixes the the housing market, but doing something that's long term like tax cuts, creates more problems down the road. It was an interesting way of looking at things. I could see their point.

Don't assume all lower income people smoke and drink. That's a snobbish way of looking at it. My sister doesn't smoke or drink. She lives in Maine and home heating oil is really really high. She doesn't spend a lot on entertainment either. She's just like an awful lot of people in Maine who don't make much money. They are all over America.

But the good news is that those of us over 50 can be trusted so it'll be a while for us. :)

Barry
Are you safer today than you were six years ago?©

Did they explain why the 1964 cutoff?

According to the BBC its because those over 50 are far less likely to be terrorist. :)

Barry
Are you safer today than you were six years ago?©