From Tena: My husband got me an iPod nano for Christmas. I had given him so many hints that I really expected it. What I didn’t expect is quite how much I’d love it; I’m addicted to it. I can’t stop dancing – having the music right up on top of my eardrums (my husband got me a great pair of earphones) turns me into a complete dancepuppet. I dance all the time – I dance while I’m on my feet, I dance while I’m sitting in front of my computer. I also did not realize where releasing my inner … Continue reading My iPod

Virtual bubble wrap! I love the Internets. A. Continue reading Go have some fun

From Holden: Trent Duffy is still handling the gaggle, let me know if you see Little Scottie’s face on a milk carton. Q On Monday, are you — is Scott or you doing briefings on Monday, do you know? MR. DUFFY: Federal holiday. Q Sorry, what about tomorrow? MR. DUFFY: Saturday. And a couple of good questions about President Steelyeyed’s rockribbedness. Q Scott had said that the President was not going to sign an extension of the Patriot Act — temporary extension of the Patriot Act. Were there any sort of discussions of whether or not he should so this … Continue reading Today on Holden’s Obsession with the Gaggle

From Holden: Now that the Justice Department has finally decided to investigate the leak that allowed us to know that Bush was illegally spying on us one year after the leak occurred, I have a question. Is Chimpy’s extra-constitutional snooping program still classified? If it is, then didn’t the president himself violate the law when he brashly confirmed the existence of the program. He even discussed some of it’s specifics, as did Abu Al Gonzales and NSA wonk Michael Hayden. The program is still classified, should they be speaking about it in public? Continue reading A Simple Question

So I was back over at Steve’s, reading the comments to the post I cited below, and came across this, which really, to me, is the whole freaking enchillada with cheese: as a union member with full med. coverage it sickens me to hear people, esp. white collar workers, whine “why should they get full medical when i don’t?” the proper question these dopes should be asking is “why shouldn’t I get full medical like THEY do?” I mean, if we have to fall back on appealing to people’s self-interest, which in the history of politics has never been a … Continue reading The Question

Go read Steve and then come back here. And tell me, please, what would be wrong with discussing this part: When faced with the fact that people they thought less about than elves, despite making their economic lives possible, had beneifts long gone from their jobs, many were resentful. After all, they had been told their entire lives that college guaranteed success and confirmed their intellgence. If some jackhole like Jack Welch can get his golf club dues included in his retirement, you want to tell me why a city worker shouldn’t expect a pension after 30 years’ good work? … Continue reading We Need A Little More Class Warfare

Yes, we got our ferrets presents. Shut up. The beasties approach the second-hand cat tree warily. Stripe plays in the wrapping paper, much more interested in that than the sleeping bag mom spent the afternoon sewing for him, spoiled little brat. Now they figure out what the tree is for. Ferret geometry. A. Continue reading Friday Ferretblogging: Holiday Edition

Maybe it’s just that I’m really smashed right now (a week on the NyQuil diet will lower your tolerance all to hell) but I’d like to make out with NTodd just a little bit. Yes, showing two guys ride the mechanical bull together is just like glorifying a psychopathic dictator responsible for the murder of tens of millions of people, including homosexuals.� And dude, you’re so right that if we let the faggy fags from Queerville marry each other, their wives will be totally humiliated because, uh…they’ll never marry their wives, who will project forward to a time that they … Continue reading You Know What This Musical Needs? More Gay!

From Holden: British documents prove the use of information gained through torture in Uzbekistan by the UK and US governments, sez kos. Continue reading British Documents and US Torture

From Holden: It’s been quite some time since I last took a peek at the new jobless numbers. How are we doing? In the week ending Dec. 24, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 322,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 319,000. The 4-week moving average was 325,000, an increase of 250 from the previous week’s revised average of 324,750. Continue reading A Very Jobless Christmas

From Holden: My Bush Boom’s last best hope is fizzling. Sales of previously owned homes fell by 1.7 percent in November, a fresh sign that the high-flying housing market is losing altitude. The latest snapshot of activity in the housing market, released by the National Association of Realtors on Thursday, showed that November’s sales of existing homes, including single-family, town homes and condominiums, totaled 6.97 million units at a seasonally adjusted annual rate. It marked the lowest level of sales since March. The over-the-month decline was slightly steeper than the 1.3 percent drop that analysts were expecting before the report … Continue reading Housing Bubble Continues to Leak

From Holden: A $100,000 military jeep that can’t be driven in a war zone? Sweet. The Marine Corps is paying $100,000 apiece for a revamped military jeep that some critics call a rip-off of taxpayers, according to a news report Thursday. The Marines budgeted to buy more than 400 vehicles, called Growlers, under a contract that could total $296 million including ammunition, USA Today said, citing Pentagon records. Built by Ocala, Fla.-based American Growler, the Growler is made partly from salvaged M151 jeep parts and is available in several versions. Four years ago, the Dominican Republic paid $33,000 for a … Continue reading Ya Gotsta Love Our Pentagon

From Holden: Hey, Tommie, do you want your medal? We’ll get it to you in a jiffy. An Ulster war veteran who risked his life in Iraq has told of his surprise and sadness after a military medal to recognise his bravery was sent to him in the post two years late and wrapped in a Jiffy bag. The Rev Charles McCartney, from Belfast, who served as a chaplain with the British Army when they invaded Iraq in March 2003, has expressed his disbelief after he unceremoniously received his Iraq war medal from the postman. In the past, the former … Continue reading Support Our Troops! UK Edition

It’s coming back, it’s coming back, it’s coming back! That is all, lest I descend even further into incoherent fannish squealing. A. Continue reading Today on Athenae’s Obsession With Starbuck

Two Romenesko items, inches from one another. The first is a series of resolutions for the newspaper industry’s new year. I won’t annoy you by quoting them. It’s fairly standard bullshit: embrace the Internet! Write more about young people! Never mind that in the history of newspapers content has never driven readership and that your marketing as an industry makes the Chevy Nova look like an advertising triumph! Just keep right on pretending all you have to do is figure out this online thingamabob and everything will be fine! GAWD. It’s like desperate parents dyeing their hair pink and listening … Continue reading Be It Resolved

From Holden: Duffman is back, as Little Scottie continues to duck the press corps. First, a standard “no comment” on the innumerable cases that Chimpy’s extra-consitutional snooping has jeopardized. Q The New York Times reports today that there are several legal challenges based on the NSA wiretaps. Are you concerned that these challenges could jeopardize the cases against people you guys have already described as very bad people? MR. DUFFY: Jessica, I think Attorney General Gonzales and General Hayden did a very thorough briefing about the legal underpinnings that the administration is basing this program on. I don’t have anything … Continue reading Today on Holden’s Obsession with the Gaggle

From Holden: Yesterday saw Terrence Trent d’Uffy subbing for the neverpresent Little Scottie, and new revelations about the Chimpster’s extra-constitutional snooping had Trent clamming up and backing up. Q To follow up on last week, you know that New York Times story that talked about the NSA, and how the government was doing much broader surveillance than the White House has acknowledged. Are you familiar with that story? MR. DUFFY: Yes, I saw the story. We’ll be declining to comment on any specific operational details. [snip] Q If I could just follow up on that for a second. In the … Continue reading Today on Holden’s Obsession with the Gaggle

From Holden: Robert F. Turner, co-founder of the Center for National Security Law at the University of Virginia School of Law and a Reagan-era lawdog, takes to the editorial pages of the WSJ to defend Dear Leader’s extra-consitutional snooping. Unfortunately for his argument and the blind legions of the right Turner stumbled over the truth. I’m not saying that what the president authorized was unquestionably lawful. The Supreme Court in the 1972 “Keith case” held that a warrant was required for national security wiretaps involving purely domestic targets, but expressly distinguished the case from one involving wiretapping “foreign powers” or … Continue reading Gettin’ All Defensive and Shit

From Holden: Ummm, if folks ain’t borrowing to buy homes then the housing bubble has indeed popped. U.S. mortgage applications fell to a more than 3-1/2-year low last week amid a sharp drop in demand for loan refinancing even as interest rates held steady, an industry trade group said on Wednesday. The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage applications for the week ended December 23 decreased 6.8 percent to 554.1 from the previous week’s 594.6. Volume was at its lowest level since the week ended May 24, 2002, when the index hit 516.9. The group’s seasonally … Continue reading The Deathrattle of My Bush Boom

From Holden: You’ll have to read what Jane sez to understand what has me typing Yoda-like headlines. Continue reading Completely Fucked, We Are

From Holden: Via John at AMERICAblog, here comes the civil war. Kurdish leaders have inserted more than 10,000 of their militia members into Iraqi army divisions in northern Iraq to lay the groundwork to swarm south, seize the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and possibly half of Mosul, Iraq’s third-largest city, and secure the borders of an independent Kurdistan. Five days of interviews with Kurdish leaders and troops in the region suggest that U.S. plans to bring unity to Iraq before withdrawing American troops by training and equipping a national army aren’t gaining traction. Instead, some troops that are formally under … Continue reading “Kirkuk will be Ours.”

From Holden: Via John at AMERICAblog, here comes the civil war. Kurdish leaders have inserted more than 10,000 of their militia members into Iraqi army divisions in northern Iraq to lay the groundwork to swarm south, seize the oil-rich city of Kirkuk and possibly half of Mosul, Iraq’s third-largest city, and secure the borders of an independent Kurdistan. Five days of interviews with Kurdish leaders and troops in the region suggest that U.S. plans to bring unity to Iraq before withdrawing American troops by training and equipping a national army aren’t gaining traction. Instead, some troops that are formally under … Continue reading ”Kirkuk will be Ours.”

How’s your toy war working out for you these days? The Hague is too good for the motherfuckers who started this mess. A. Continue reading Required Reading For All 101st Fighting Keyboarders

From Holden: The Army National Guard needs fresh blood. The Army National Guard thinks it has cooked up the right potion to cure its recruiting dilemma. A load of pizza, a heaping helping of NASCAR, and a dash of free MP3 downloads and video games — plus some cash incentives — are luring the next wave of part-time soldiers. This formula, which is being used to reach those who the Guard thinks are most likely to join, is helping reverse a precipitous decline in the ranks. [snip] Enter the pizza — actually, the pizza box. On it is a picture … Continue reading Jenna, Your Country is Calling

From Holden: What an insufferable ass. In an interview on CNN’s Situation Room Friday, Robert Novack said he “probably” regrets writing the column that revealed the name of CIA employee Valerie Plame. [snip] “I probably do [regret writing it]” he told anchor Wolf Blitzer, “because it’s caused me so much trouble. I don’t think I did anything wrong, but as a practical matter, it wasn’t a big scoop. You know, I think it was in the seventh paragraph of a 13-paragraph story or 11-paragraph story…. And so it was just a throw-away line.” Poor Novak, his leak caused him “so … Continue reading Bob Novak: Probably a Douchebag

From Holden: WaPo’s Jim VandeHei is anything but subtle. With the administration moving ahead with plans to renovate the dirty and decaying press room off the West Wing of the White House, spokesman Scott McClellan — or his replacement, if he steps aside before then — intends to start briefing the world from historic Jackson Place, across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House, as early as July. I’ve been predicting a Scottie exit for months, ostensibly to rescue his mom’s flagging Texas gubernatorial campaign. In fact, Scottie has lost his credibility with the press corps and is no longer a … Continue reading Scottie Shuffles Off

From Holden: Damn, I hate the Bushes. President George W. Bush and first lady Laura Bush personally awarded a Purple Heart to a former Idaho high school track star who lost both his legs in an explosion in Iraq. Marine Cpl. Travis Greene, who graduated from Twin Falls High School in 1999 and was given a track scholarship to Boise State University, received the medal last week at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., where he is being treated. [snip] [Cpl. Greene’s father] said nurses adjusted his son’s pain medication before the president’s visit. “They turned down Travis’ … Continue reading Sick, Ghoulish People

From Holden: Since when is going in circles considered to be progress? U.S. troops in Iraq will try this month for the third time in three years to return the Sunni city of Samarra to Iraqi police to escape the cycle of violence. Continue reading Third Time’s the Charm

All right, because we’re all bitter anti-Christmas liberals on this blog (and you, Mom!), tell me which Christmas song you absolutely hate. Me, I cannot effing stand Rocking Around the Christmas Tree. A. Continue reading You’ve Been Christmas Caroled!

Those of you who read here regularly know that God and I have a complicated and not always amicable relationship. This time of year He’s trying to charm me using carols and candles and wreaths and Midnight Mass, and I’m asking my girlfriends to remind me of all the times I said I’d never go back to Him no matter what He did or said. Falling back in love with God at Christmas is the worst kind of cop-out, like taking back a cheating boyfriend because he brings you flowers. I’m a sucker that way, though: sing me O Holy … Continue reading The Weary World Rejoicing