NY TIMES: Andrew Wyeth, one of the most popular and also most lambasted artists in the history of American art, a reclusive linchpin in a colorful family dynasty of artists whose precise realist views of hardscrabble rural life became icons of national culture and sparked endless debates about the nature of modern art, died Friday at his home in Chadds Ford, Pa. He was 91.
Listening to George W. Bush speak for what I pray will be the last time when I watched his farewell address last night brought me back to 4th grade, and the memory of giving a speech on what you did during summer vacation in front of the class.
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"If you're a younger person, you ought to be asking members of Congress and the United State Senate and the president what you intend to do about it. If you see a train wreck coming, you ought to be saying, what are you going to do about it, Mr. Congressman, or Madam Congressman?"
Hillary Clinton was confirmed by a vote of 16-1. The one nay vote, Senator David "Diaper Man" Vitter(R-LA). And he voted by proxy. He didn't even have the balls to show up. Maybe he was getting his taint Handi-Wiped by a hooker.
Eric Holder has started his Senate Confirmation Hearing as Attorney General Designate and Sen. Patrick Leahy's first question was Holder's stance on waterboarding. He responded unlike Alberto Gonzales and Michael Mukasey that indeed, waterboarding is torture.
"This is still a dangerous world. It's a world of madmen and uncertainty and potential mential [sic] losses."
I've always thought Ron Christie was a complete idiot not so much for lack of intelligence, but for the fact that he could spew GOP talking points without a care in the world as to their validity. Yes, I know that's his job, but people should beware of those who can so easily talk bullshit... but I suppose that guys like Christie have to believe what they say to a point, else not be convincing. I do have to admit however, that he has been pretty laid back over the last few weeks while waiting for the inevitable to happen on January 20th. Christie was eating crow and surprisingly taking it like a man.
And then yesterday he couldn't take it anymore and just lost it. On Hardball with Chris Matthews, Christie was defending, or rather rewriting, the Bush legacy and took umbrage at Eric Alterman's characterization of George W. Bush being a liar (6:35 mark).
And then incredibly, after Matthews asked him about the 2004 election and there was crosstalk asking why Bush didn't defend Kerry, a veteran who served with honor unlike Dubya himself, there Christie was in all his lazy-eyed glory defending Bush and separating him from the swiftboating of John Kerry in 2004, when he gave us this little gem:
"You name once instance where the Swift Boaters lied." (10:03 mark)Alterman does a nice job of giving Christie an instance of a Bush lie, but by that time, Christie is on to the question of the Swift Boaters and refuses the answer, complete with grade schooler comments like "nice try" and "I'll give you an 'E' for Effort."
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"I speak plainly sometimes, but you've got to be mindful of the consequences of words. So put that down. I don't know if you'd call that a confession, a regret, something."
- To reporters, Washington, DC January 14, 2005
We all know he was and is sorely lacking. The delusional press conference yesterday proved that George W. Bush's skewed view of what has transpired during his eight years in the Oval Office... or perhaps I should say seven years in the Oval Office and one year at his Crawford ranch, flies in the face of logic and facts. The video below is proof positive that Bush is completely deranged, has no clue of the damage he's done to the safety, security and moral standing of the country and shows in a microcosm the blunder that was the Bush Administration.
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The White House had high expectations for yesterday's final, historic news conference. "ONE CORRESPONDENT PER ORGANIZATION," proclaimed the bulletin sent to reporters. "STANDING ROOM ONLY FOR NON-SEAT HOLDERS." But when the appointed hour of 9:15 a.m. arrived, the last two rows in the seven-row briefing room were empty, and a press aide told White House interns to fill those seats.I was wondering who was was applauding as Bush left the podium. Now we know.
Just when you thought it was safe to flush your toilet, it backs up and out comes the stink and sewage and Joe the Plumber. Sam "Joe" Wurzelbacher, who made an ass of himself during the presidential campaign is now making an ass of himself playing war correspondent for the conservative website PJTV.com.
His interviewing skills are atrocious, he can't think of a question to ask someone who's just given him a tour of a warehouse of catalogued spent shells recovered from bombing sites and then goes off on the media saying they shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a war zone... while he's playing reporter in a war zone! He'd rather watch war film trailers "like they did in World War I and World War II" to garner support for the troops before watching Marley and Me while stuffing his face with Jujyfruits™ instead of having real reporters report the real news.
Why does anyone keep taking this attention whore seriously?
"Then you wake up at the high school level and find out that the illiteracy level of our children are appalling."
- Washington, DC, January 2004
Then you wake up from having passed out after your last bender at the White House level and find out the illiteracy level of our president are appalling!
Appalling indeed.
Congratulations to Rickey Henderson on his first ballot selection into Baseball's Hall of Fame, and to Jim Rice on his 15th and final try.
ballplayer and teammate John Olerud and Rickey on the 1999 New York Mets. Olerud used to wear a helmet in the infield at his first base defensive position, and was questioned about it by Rickey.Obama Asks Bush For Bailout Funds
By 10am this morning, George W. Bush was ending his final news conference as President. One particular quote drew my attention.
The reporters got matter-of-factly down to business, asking during the 45 minute session whether he would make any move in his last week in office to request the second half of the $700 billion bailout from Congress, but he demurred, suggesting that it is most likely that the new Congress will deal with the new president on that matter.By 11:28am, Dana Perino made this statement:
“I don’t intend to make the request unless he specifically asks me to make it,” he said, speaking of President-elect Barack Obama.
This morning, President-elect Obama asked President Bush to formally notify Congress, on his behalf, of his intent to exercise the authority under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act to access the last tranche of $350 billion in funding for Treasury programs addressing the financial crisis. President Bush agreed to the President-elect’s request. We will continue our consultations with the President-elect’s transition team, and with Congress, on how best to proceed in accordance with the requirements of the statute.Bang! And just like that, what to me (and I may be over analyzing it) sounded like a challenge to Barack Obama to take over the reins became a resounding answer from the incoming President to just do exactly that, and thank you for opening the door - Obama gets the ball rolling on the remaining $350 billion in TARP funds eight days early.
This week saw the debut of a 9½ minute video tease of wingnut John Ziegler's "documentary" on Sarah Palin called Media Malpractice: How Obama Got Elected. Normally, I wouldn't spend much time on something like this because as his interviews display, Ziegler is a fucking nutjob who can't answer questions without sneering, guffawing and having an accusatory paranoid tone, answering questions with questions and comparisons of who he considers adversaries, while calling his interviewers "jokes" and telling them to go fuck themselves.
Although his documentary has yet to be released, I'm venturing to guess that this is Ziegler's attempt to be Sarah Palin's Leni Riefenstahl. In all fairness I am including the full YouTube video released by Ziegler and even though it may be hard to sit through, you really should watch to get the whole gist.
According to Ziegler, he interviewed Palin for approximately 50 minutes, which means about 20% of it is in his YouTube release. It's no surprise that Ziegler is trying to show Palin in the best possible light, and inferring that all of her faux pas were a misinterpretation by the evil liberal media and that she is always taken out of context. He even calls it "character assassination." And yet what I find so fascinating is that even though this was probably the best person to interview Palin, the statement from the Palin camp after the YouTube release was the following:
Governor Palin Says to Media, "There You Go Again"Read the rest of the press release here.
January 8, 2009, Anchorage, Alaska – Governor Sarah Palin today expressed dismay at continuing efforts in the media to take her comments out of context to create adversarial situations.
Ironically, the latest media eruption concerning the governor came out of an interview she gave to a filmmaker who is creating a documentary on distortions by the national press.
Gov. Palin gave the interview Monday as one of many voices contributing to the film "Media Malpractice...How Obama Got Elected," concerning the performance of the media last fall. The filmmaker posted excerpts from the interview on YouTube.com, which then led to misleading reports in the press.
Particularly troubling was a post on Politico.com titled, "Palin: Media Goes Easy on Kennedy." The headline inflames the governor's quote in the transcript, in which she answered a question about media treatment of the prospect that Caroline Kennedy would be appointed to the U.S. Senate: "It's going to be interesting to see how that plays out and I think that as we watch that we will perhaps be able to prove that there is a class issue here also that was such a factor in the scrutiny of my candidacy versus, say, the scrutiny of what her candidacy may be."
“I was not commenting at all on Caroline Kennedy as a prospective U.S. senator, but rather on the seemingly arbitrary ways in which news organizations determine the level and kind of scrutiny given to those who aspire to public office,” Gov. Palin said today. “In fact, I consider Ms. Kennedy qualified and experienced, and she could serve New York well.” ...
While much has been made of the Kennedy and Couric comments, there was a troubling remark, largely overlooked, that Palin made about Barack Obama that was a flat-out, blatant lie--a typically Palinesque twisting of the truth intending, once again, to turn her into a victim and to make Obama & Co., along with the media, appear to be hypocrites.
Here is Palin's latest Big Lie:"When I heard Barack Obama state in one of his interviews on national television that his wife was off limits, meaning, family's off limits-- you know, 'Attack me, I'm the public official, come after me, I can handle it and we'll duke it out if need be, but family's off limits'-- I naively believed, OK, they respected that in him and his demand for that to be adhered, naively believing that must apply to all of us, right? But it didn't apply."
While Obama did say that he found attacks on his wife "unacceptable," he also very boldly and emphatically stated that Palin's family was also off limits when asked a question about Bristol Palin's pregnancy:"I have said before and I will repeat again, I think people's families are off limits, and people's children are especially off limits. This shouldn't be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Governor Palin's performance as governor, or her potential performance as a VP. And so I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories."He wasn't protecting simply his own family with that assertion, he was also protecting Palin's. And Palin lacks the basic grace, integrity and human decency to acknowledge Obama's gesture. And then she twists the truth to make Obama seem selfish and the media unfair.
And what about her claim that Obama's wishes were "respected" about his own family? The right-wing press went after Michelle Obama relentlessly and so, too, did the McCain campaign. None other than Cindy McCain went after Michelle for comments she made about finally being proud of her country:"I don't know why she said what she said. Everyone has their own experience. I don't know why she said what she said, all I know is that I have always been proud of my country."
That seemed a little off-base coming from someone born with a silver-spoon in her mouth and who not only served as her husband's connection to the Keating Five Scandal, but then later stole drugs from her own nonprofit organization to sustain her drug habit. But make that charge she did.
And the right continued to attack her through the campaign--from Michelle Malkin to Ann Coulter. Anyone who claims otherwise is wallowing in duplicity.
So here again, Palin utterly distorts reality, fails to acknowledge Obama's gesture, doesn't acknowledge what her running mate's wife said about Michelle Obama, and turns herself, yet again, into a political victim. Where is Ann Coulter calling Palin on her self-victimization? The silence is deafening.
Click on portrait for a complete list of President Obama's Executive Orders, Presidential Memoranda and Proclamations
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