Driving home from DL, I was listening to one of my favorite songs, “Alfie.” (I love it so much, I even like the cover by Cher.) This one is the classic soundtrack song as written by Hal David and Burt Bacharach, performed by Dionne Warwick. It also happens to sum up my personal philosophy:
What’s it [...]

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This must really bust Bush’s stones:
Nov. 22, 2005 — Venezuela has agreed to sell heating oil at discount prices in low-income communities in Chicago, New York and Boston.
Venezuela’s president has decided to expand his Oil-for-the-Poor program and sell cheap oil to the number one superpower of the world. The Houston-based petroleum company CITGO, wholly owned [...]

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Scalia: Dementia or stone cold liar? You decide.

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Really, Bob. Just go away and stay away.

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It’s the Mirror, so I take it with a grain of salt. But if this is true, Bubble Boy is in even more trouble:
PRESIDENT Bush planned to bomb Arab TV station al-Jazeera in friendly Qatar, a “Top Secret” No 10 memo reveals.
But he was talked out of it at a White House summit by [...]

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This Vietnam vet defines patriotism. Good letter.

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Any tactic to get out of facing the music on their tactics:
“Dirty Bomb” suspect Jose Padilla, held by the U.S. as an enemy combatant for more than three years, has been indicted on federal charges in Miami, according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales was expected to discuss the indictment at a news [...]

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Community service opportunity for Philadelphia readers:
The Old Pine Community Center (421 Lombard St.) will be the distribution point for around 40,000 to 60,000 cans of food, which need to be organized and sent out to numerous local food pantries. They need help sorting, moving, etc., and will need people tonight, all day tomorrow (Wednesday), [...]

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WashPo’s Eugene Robinson:
The president says that Iraq is a test of our nation’s resolve, that anything less than victory will confirm the enemy’s view that America lacks the stomach for a fight. But “stay the course” doesn’t play as a strategy when the course seems to lead nowhere. What is victory in Iraq? When will [...]

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In the spirit of the season, this Salon piece deconstructs the right-wing horror stories about “the war on Christmas.
“Despite Johnson’s lamentations, one can in fact offer Christmas greetings without legal counsel. Christmas trees are permitted in public schools. (They’re considered secular symbols.) Nativity scenes are allowed on public property, although if the government erects [...]

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It’s a cold, miserable day as we tough out the tail end of a nor’easter. A perfect night for convivial company and beer at Drinking Liberally, 18th & Lombard Sts., 6 - 9 p.m.

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It used to be that almost every time there was a Mercury retrograde, I’d invariably lock my keys in the car. It hasn’t happened in a while, but it happened this morning - when I dropped the car off at a parking lot near the office.
“Don’t worry, we have people who take care of that,” [...]

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Here’s another heapin’ helping, Republican style:
WASHINGTON - Three days after Rep. Jean Schmidt was booed off the House floor for saying that “cowards cut and run, Marines never do,” the Ohioan she quoted disputed the comments.
Danny Bubp, a freshman state representative who is a colonel in the Marine Corps Reserve, told The Enquirer that he [...]

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This morning I went to put on a skirt I’d last worn in August and I couldn’t wear it. I mean, it was literally falling down. Instead, I’m wearing a skirt I wasn’t able to fit into in a long time.
Apparently I’m shrinking. Not anywhere near where I want to be, but definitely getting [...]

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E.J. Dionne on the recent budget disaster:
But the Republican leadership does not want to revisit the tax cuts. It wants to keep control over the budget within the Republican Party, which is dominated by its right wing. Eventually, enough moderate Republicans cave in. The game continues. The system guarantees that moderation, so often praised by [...]

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Q: How can you tell Dick Cheney’s lying? A: His lips are moving.
Vice President Cheney yesterday accused critics of engaging in “revisionism of the most corrupt and shameless variety” in the Iraq debate, in a major speech that reflected the uncompromising style that has made him a touchstone for many of the controversies shadowing President [...]

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I truly don’t understand situations like this. Is conservative blogger Ann Althaus essentially saying that boys are mean and icky, and they should act more like girls? Because that’s what it sounds like to me.
There are only two proper responses to assholes of either gender: ignore them - or decimate them. (Consider the source of [...]

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This morning on the train, I was singing “The Train,” that Suzzy Roche song, to myself:
I sit down on the train
with my big pocketbook
the guitar and a sugar-free drink
I wipe the sweat off of my brow
with the side of my arm
and take off all that I can
I am trying not to have a bad day
everybody [...]

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They really lack imagination, don’t they? Fortunately, MoveOn has raised enough money to run counterattack ads:
For those politically minded Las Vegas residents rolling out of bed this morning and tuning in to the weekly Sunday chatfests (and that group must surely number in the dozens), the Republican National Committee is sponsoring a 60-second ad taking [...]

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Former DeLay aide Mike Scanlon cops a plea, and some elected officials will go to bed very, very nervous tonight:
Nov. 21 (Bloomberg) — Michael Scanlon, a former associate of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, pleaded guilty to conspiring to corrupt public officials and defraud clients, clearing the way for his cooperation in an investigation of his one-time [...]

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Bob Steve Clemons:
Woodward on Larry King AGAIN Tonight, 9 p.m.
Bob Woodward should have recused himself from any public commentary about the Plame case given that he knew all along that he was a material witness to the investigation. Previously on Larry King Live, Woodward downplayed the significance of the investigation, said it would be insignificant [...]

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Good piece on torture at Digby’s place.

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Do you ever get the feeling that to this gang, stealing is the point?
WASHINGTON — Back in the mid-1990s, the Republican-controlled House of Representatives, aggressively delving into alleged misconduct by the Clinton administration, logged 140 hours of sworn testimony into whether former president Bill Clinton had used the White House Christmas card list to identify [...]

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Piqued by a friend’s email, I did a little searching and found this:
If you have celebrated the recent fall in gasoline prices, then I suggest that you take off that stupid-looking party hat, sober up, walk over to the telephone and buy oil and oil stocks, because James Howard Kunstler, in his Commentary on the [...]

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A letter to President Bush from Michael Moore:
Dear Mr. Bush:
I would like to extend my hand and invite you to join us, the mainstream American majority. We, the people — that’s the majority of the people — share these majority opinions:
1. Going to war was a mistake — a big mistake. (link)
2. [...]

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Just when you think the Republicans can’t possibly get any more juvenile, they surpass themselves.

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Krugman:
Mr. Bush never asked the nation for the sacrifices - higher taxes, a bigger military and, possibly, a revived draft - that might have made a long-term commitment to Iraq possible. Instead, the war has been fought on borrowed money and borrowed time. And time is running out. With some military units on their third [...]

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GM announces it will close nine U.S. plants.
DETROIT (AP) — General Motors Corp. will eliminate 30,000 jobs and close nine North American assembly, stamping and powertrain plants by 2008 as part of an effort to get production in line with demand and position the world’s biggest automaker to start making money again after absorbing nearly [...]

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Legendary guitarist Link Wray is dead.

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New Orleans is still, quite literally, a disaster area. But since it’s off the radar for mainstream media, it’s not real anymore.

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