Month: November 2012

Today’s Washington Post had a good article about Bill Bolling and how he came to his decision to bow out of the race for Governor of Virginia. In many ways it was a sad story.  Many normal Republicans feel a great sense of loss with Bolling’s decision.  They should also feel a sense of betrayal and revulsion at what really happened to shut them out.

For starters, Bill Bolling was betrayed by Ken Cuccinelli.  Cuccinelli knew it was not his turn.  He knew he needed to run for Attorney General again or at best, Lieutenant Governor, a part time position.  The Cooch is not only an extremist, he is also greedy and he and his supporters strove to get what they wanted and now.  They seized control of the party and turned a primary into a convention to limit who took place in the decision making process.  That process perhaps is why the Republicans got to where they are now.

Had Mitt Romney won, much of this scenario would have been different.  But he didn’t and we have to look at why.  Virginia very well might have played a key roll.

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What a great idea! Don’t over-think it.

Which would you take?

Liberty is certainly not for women, immigrants, gays, lesbians, people who believe in climate change,  the irreligious, and the list goes on.

Rumor has it that Jeannemarie Devolites Davis might up the ante and run for governor against Cuccinelli.  To quote Ben Tribbett of Not Larry Sabato blog from Facebook:

“OMG OMG OMG OMG OMG!  Jeannemarie is thinking about bumping up and running against Cuccinelli for Governor now.  This would be the greatest shit show of all time.  Oooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhh.”

Nothing like adding a little sparkle to things until that Republican Convention.

I will just wait for Terry McAuliffe to come kick his butt.

From NARAL:

I believe in keeping things simple.

Will you be doing your part to see that Cuccinelli never moves into the Governor’s Mansion?

 

 

 

I believe this has become such a sensational story because the moment was captured unbeknown  to the officer and the man he was helping. I hope this story will serve as a reminder to all of us that a simple act of compassion, regardless of whether anyone else ever sees it, can have a real positve impact for a fellow human being.

On a cold November night in Times Square, Officer Lawrence DePrimo was working a counterterrorism post when he encountered an older, barefooted homeless man. The officer disappeared for a moment, then returned with a new pair of boots, and knelt to help the man put them on.

The act of kindness would have gone unnoticed and mostly forgotten, had it not been for a tourist from Arizona.

This is what I mean, had this woman from Arizona never “recorded” this exchange, for eternity, this act of kindess would have been a solitary moment in time.  Instead, the whole world can revel in this officers kindness, wondering, , if WE would have noticed this man who had no home with blisters on his feet.

The officer, normally assigned to the Sixth Precinct in the West Village, readily recalled the encounter. “It was freezing out and you could see the blisters on the man’s feet,” he said in an interview. “I had two pairs of socks and I was still cold.” They started talking; he found out the man’s shoe size: 12.

As the man walked slowly down Seventh Avenue on his heels, Officer DePrimo went into a Skechers shoe store at about 9:30 p.m. “We were just kind of shocked,” said Jose Cano, 28, a manager working at the store that night. “Most of us are New Yorkers and we just kind of pass by that kind of thing. Especially in this neighborhood.”

I hope, instead of vicariously relishing in this moment of compassion, that we will challenge ourselves to find OUR better angels and help a fellow soul in need.

Elephants never forget. These old dudes sure didn’t have the same standards when talking “one of their own” Condie Rice.

 

 

Thanks Elena, for the find.

Huffingtonpost.com:

A Fox News interview ended rather abruptly on Monday after a guest took not one but two jabs at the network hosting him (see update below).

Co-anchor Jon Scott interviewed Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author Thomas Ricks, who has covered the military for decades, about his new book “The Generals.” Scott asked Ricks weigh in on the attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi and Sen. John McCain’s criticisms of Amb. Susan Rice.

“I think Benghazi was generally hyped by this network especially,” Ricks said. He added that he thought McCain seemed to be “backing off” from criticizing Rice since “the campaign [was] over.”

“When you have four people dead for the first time in more than 30 years, how do you call that hype?” Scott said, pushing back against Ricks’ characterization of the network’s coverage.

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The other day, after posting Extreme  wings of GOP denying culpability in loss, some of our readers felt that it was a case of liberals telling conservatives how to win elections.   Part of me wanted to snidely and snarkily say,” well, it looks like you guys need a little help here.”  I resisted and have been thinking about it ever since.

Let’s move the shift away from conservatives vs. liberals.  Conservatives and liberals are NOT  posts, but political positions on a continuum.  What’s a liberal?  What’s a conservative?  Are there positions in between?  Of course.  Let’s deal with the terms  Republican and Democrat since those words can be exact.  You either vote Republican or Democrat.  You don’t vote sorta.

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Temperatures are dropping to around zero and freezing winds are blowing in off of both the deserts and mountains in the region.  Many refugees left their homes wearing just  T-shirts and flip-flops.  It was summer and fighting was fierce.  The tent shelters do little to block the cold.

Relief efforts are slow to arrive and money is short.  Some of the refugee camps aren’t reachable because of fighting.  Some aren’t in country.  At least 7 members of the Red Crescent have been killed already.

Huge sums of money are needed to provide food, shelter and warmer clothing for displaced families, many of them children.  The United States has given $8.5 million and Great Britain has contributed $7.8 million.  With the exception of Kuwait who has contributed $1 million, the surrounding Arab countries have not contributed to the aid of these people at all.

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Not so nice weather out there.  Brrrrrrr!  It’s cold and windy.  Winter can’t be far off now.

Let’s see, we have the winter solstice and the Mayan end of the world to look forward to.

Is anyone making plans?

What are the hot toys to buy this year?  HELP!!!

 

• Full Beaver Moon – November This was the time to set beaver traps before the swamps froze, to ensure a supply of warm winter furs. Another interpretation suggests that the name Full Beaver Moon comes from the fact that the beavers are now actively preparing for winter. It is sometimes also referred to as the Frosty Moon.  Nov. 28

 

From the Washingtonpost.com:

“This is not exploitation. This is generosity,” said Ziyad Hamad, whose charity, Kitab al-Sunna, is one of the largest organizations helping Syrian refugees in Jordan.

Well, that all depends on one’s point of view.  Currently there are about 300,000 displaced Syrians because of civil war.  For a family with a widowed daughter, a dowry of $5000 is pretty hard to resist when you have left with the clothes on your back. If you are a wealthy man from Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain, the offer of marriage might be considered generous or exploitative.

“Of course I would rather her marry a Syrian, someone from our community, but what can we do?” Abu Yousef said of his daughter, whose husband was killed in the Syrian uprising. Although he at first rejected the idea, Abu Yousef said he had consented to an arrangement proposed by a 55-year-old retired Saudi engineer as an opportunity to provide for his widowed daughter, 27, and her three children.

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Who killed J R is not longer the question.  Larry Hagman is actually really dead.  He was 81 was died overnight in Dallas after spending Thanksgiving with family and friends.  He was working on the TV show that came back last year.  He died of complications of his recent bout with cancer.

Dallas was one of the longest running TV shows in history.  It made a come back last year, much to the delight of people like me.  J. R. was just as conniving and morally bankrupt as ever.  The original show ran on CBS network from April 1978 to May 1991.  The recent back to life Dallas was seen on TNT.  Many original characters at least put in cameo appearances when the show started back up.  Notably absent was Bobby’s wife, Pamela Ewing, daughter of Digger Barnes.

Hagman was the son of Mary Martin, of Broadway’s Peter Pan fame.  Mary Martin flew through the theater on wires.  No one minded that Peter was a girl.

Did you watch the original Dallas?  How about the reruns?    I thoroughly enjoyed it coming back years later although probably not as much as the original.

From dallasnews.com:

In his memoir, Hello Darlin’, Mr. Hagman said, “Ronald Reagan was campaigning against Jimmy Carter, American hostages were being held in Iran, Polish shipyard workers were on strike, and all anyone wanted to know was, who shot J.R.?”

The world was filled with J.R. T-shirts, coffee mugs and bumper stickers.

“Everyone was making a windfall from J.R. except me,” he said.

He threatened to leave the show if his contract were not renegotiated.

I remember the J. R. frenzy and Hagman was right.  It was the question of the day.  Who shot J. R. ?

Warner brothers released the following, describing Larry Hagman:

 “…a giant, a larger-than-life personality whose iconic performance as J.R. Ewing will endure as one of the most indelible in entertainment history. He truly loved portraying this globally recognized character, and he leaves a legacy of entertainment, generosity and grace.”

 

Then there is the day after Thanksgiving. What to post? I know what I posted this day last year ….but this is now.

How about one pissed off turkey chasing a reporter down the street? It just does my soul good. And to think, Elena cares about how these mo-fos are treated.