What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?

It's a song.

As 2009 winds down -- as well as the whole of the "aughts" decade -- I find myself reminiscent about all of the things that I have experienced. Both in my personal life and as my on-line alter-ego, I feel that I have been greatly blessed. My family is happy and (reasonably) healthy, TPW has a good job and we live in a great community of which I am growing more fond everyday. Adding to all of this the fact that I am able to be a stay-at-home-dad is merely icing on an extremely delicious cake.

It is times like these that I am thankful that I am fortunate enough to live in America. After watching some of the protest videos coming out of Iran, I really don't need to elaborate much more on that. Yowza.

As for the blog, we have been plugging away all year and continue to make in-roads deeper into the Internets. Our reach has grown, as has our readership. For that I am grateful to B-Diddy, The Fury Blogger and Vast for adding their two coppers as well as spreading the good word about ThePajamaPundit.com. 2010 is going to be a big year here. The 2009 Weblog Awards have yet to announce finalists (*crosses fingers*), but I am hopeful we'll see some results in the next few days. Also, I have some dramatic changes in mind for the website. In the coming months, I'm planning a top-down redesign of the entire blog. This will include a more user-friendly interface, web 2.0 styling, stronger social media integration and much more. Stay tuned for the fun.

That's it for posting for me until Monday (most likely). I hope that you all have a very festive New Year celebration tonight. Please be safe. Remember, if you're drivin', don't drink and if you're drinkin', don't drive. I expect to see you all right back here in 2010.

Much love.

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United State Of Pop: 2009

DJ Earworm's annual mash-up of all of the Billboard Top 25 songs from the year.

2008's rendition is here.

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2009 In Review

Head nod: Vast

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Graphic Display

Sometimes words are just not enough.

This graphic from the New York Times is floating around the net today. Note: that it apears to have New Jersey marked wrong on the first map.

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Happening In Iran

Via Sullivan comes more dramatic footage of protests in Iran.

the full scene of that astonishing moment when a group of baseej is surrounded by the crowd, and disarmed. If this doesn't unnerve Ahmadi, what will? And it makes a new and ante-upping move by the regime more likely

How much higher can the Iranian regime up their ante? Yikes.

I'm glad that someone is still covering this story. Kudos to those at the Dish.

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The Whole World Is Laughing At You Al Qaeda

Tim Russo at Plunderbund makes a very salient point regarding that failed terrorist, al Qaeda and our collective fear turning to laughter:

Barack Obama is doing America’s work, by addressing the problem calmly, quietly, confidently. That leadership will translate into confidence in the American public the same way the panicked leadership of the Bush administration translated into fear.

Al Qaeda seems almost miffed that we aren’t panicking. I can’t really recall Al Qaeda so loudly and immediately claiming credit for any attack, not even 9/11. And yet, they’ve done so here, praising testicle toaster as a failed martyr, making him a banner headline, because the American response isn’t giving them enough ink.

In fact, there is a growing tinge of mockery of this terrorist for toasting his testicles. This dude who can’t light a fuse is gonna raise the terror threat level to orange? Please. It strikes me as practically British – laughing at the Nazis all the way to the rubble pile in the East End. We’re laughing at Al Qaeda, for the first time, in unison, as a country. Think about that.

I am thinking. And I agree that this is indeed a welcome change.

Head nod: Dish

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Photo: EPA

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The Times Person Of The Year

No. Not Time magazine. The Times Of London. Good on them:

Neda Soltan was not political. She did not vote in the Iranian presidential election on June 12. The young student was appalled, however, by the way that the regime shamelessly rigged the result and reinstalled Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Ignoring the pleas of her family, she went with her music teacher eight days later to join a huge opposition demonstration in Tehran.

“Even if a bullet goes through my heart it’s not important,” she told Caspian Makan, her fiancé. “What we’re fighting for is more important. When it comes to taking our stolen rights back we should not hesitate. Everyone is responsible. Each person leaves a footprint in this world.”

Ms Soltan, 26, had no idea just how big a footprint she would leave. Hours after leaving home, she was indeed shot, by a government militiaman, as she and other demonstrators chanted: “Death to the dictator.”

Arash Hejazi, a doctor standing near by, remembers her looking down in surprise as blood gushed from her chest. She collapsed. More blood spewed from her mouth. As she lay dying on the pavement, her life ebbing out of her, “I felt she was trying to ask a question. Why?” said Dr Hejazi, who tried to save her life. Why had an election that generated so much excitement ended with a government that claims to champion the highest moral values, the finest Islamic principles, butchering its own youth?

A 40-second telephone clip of Ms Soltan’s final moments flashed around the world. Overnight she became a global symbol of the regime’s brutality, and of the remarkable courage of Iran’s opposition in a region where other populations are all too easily suppressed by despotic governments.

If you do not know who Neda Soltan is, go here. And wake up.

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Quote Of The Day Response

Steve Bennen parses Dick Cheney's over-the-top criticism of the President:

Let's review a few pesky details. First, it was Cheney's administration that released some of the alleged terrorists who plotted the attack into an "art therapy rehabilitation program" in Saudi Arabia, only to see them become terrorist leaders in Yemen. It was also Cheney's administration that gave Abdulmutallab a visa to enter the United States in the first place.

Second, let's compare some "low-key responses." President Obama addressed a failed terrorist attack three days after it occurred. Eight years ago, when a terrorist tried to blow up an airplane under nearly identical circumstances, then-President Bush waited six days before making brief, cursory public remarks. Five days after the attempted terrorist attack, then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld refused substantive comment altogether, telling reporters, "That's a matter that's in the hands of the law enforcement people." A White House spokesperson would only say at the time that officials were "continuing to monitor events."

Democrats, at the time, didn't launch an assault against the Bush administration, and we didn't see Al Gore condemning the White House. It simply didn't occur to Democrats in 2001 to use the attempted mass murder of hundreds of Americans to undermine the presidency.

Eight years later, Dick Cheney believes his principal responsibility is to destroy President Obama -- the man Americans chose to clean up the messes Cheney left as a parting gift after eight years of abject failure.

Indeed.

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The Would-Be Christmas Bomber

I really like what Richard Engle had to say toward the end of the clip. His comparison to 'moving in' to solve problems really resonated with me.

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Quote Of The Day

"As I’ve watched the events of the last few days it is clear once again that President Obama is trying to pretend we are not at war. He seems to think if he has a low key response to an attempt to blow up an airliner and kill hundreds of people, we won’t be at war. He seems to think if he gives terrorists the rights of Americans, lets them lawyer up and reads them their Miranda rights, we won’t be at war. He seems to think if we bring the mastermind of 9/11 to New York, give him a lawyer and trial in civilian court, we won’t be at war.

"He seems to think if he closes Guantanamo and releases the hard-core al Qaeda trained terrorists still there, we won’t be at war. He seems to think if he gets rid of the words, ‘war on terror,’ we won’t be at war. But we are at war and when President Obama pretends we aren’t, it makes us less safe. Why doesn’t he want to admit we’re at war? It doesn’t fit with the view of the world he brought with him to the Oval Office. It doesn’t fit with what seems to be the goal of his presidency – social transformation—the restructuring of American society. President Obama’s first object and his highest responsibility must be to defend us against an enemy that knows we are at war." -Dick Cheney, former vice-president and current head-cheerleader for opposition to Barack Obama.

What is notable about his statement (as pointed out by others) is that at no time in his condemnation of President Obama did he condemn the attempted attack on Christmas day. It seems to me that this man is overly concerned with criticizing Barack Obama...

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Defending Traditional Marriage

...just got tougher. Traditional marriage enthusiast Karl Rove has gotten a divorce from his second wife:

Spokeswoman Dana Perino said, "Karl Rove and his wife, Darby, were granted a divorce last week. The couple came to the decision mutually and amicably, and they maintain a close relationship and a strong friendship. There will be no further comment and the family requests that its privacy be respected."

Personally, I could care less. My guess is that, like his first wife, Mrs. Rove #2 got tired of his obsession with politics. I don't agree with Rove on much, but I definitely respect his right to clam-up about it.

Glenn Greenwald? Not so much:

[T]hose like Rove who have devoted endless efforts to barring gay citizens from marrying on the ground that our laws must enshrine Christian concepts of "traditional marriage" continuously take advantage of laws that enable them to end their own marriages on a whim, and even enter new marriages with their so-called "second, third and fourth wives," which only seems to intensify their "traditional marriage" preaching.

I've long thought that the solution to the cheap, cost-free moralizing that leads very upstanding people like Karl Rove to want to ban same-sex marriages (which they don't want to enter into themselves, and thus cost them nothing) is to have those same "principles" apply consistently to all marriage laws. If Karl Rove, Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh and their friends and followers actually were required by law to stay married to their wives -- the way that "traditional marriage" was generally supposed to work -- the movement to have our secular laws conform to "traditional marriage" principles would almost certainly die a quick, quiet and well-deserved death.

The catch-22 with Rove is that, by all accounts, he's not a gay-bashing homophobic Christianist who wants to ban gay-marriage because he believes it to be the downfall of humanity. Rather, Rove has simply used marriage equality (and homosexuality in general) as a wedge issue in the two largest campaigns in which he played a part (the 2000 and 2004 presidentials).

Karl Rove aside, I think that Greenwald makes a great point: if gay-marriage is a 'threat' to traditional marriage, then so is divorce. In fact, given the current divorce rates in this country, I would argue that divorce is a much larger threat to traditional marriage.

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On The Christmas Day Terrorism Attempt

I think that Brown Man pretty much sums up my thoughts:

The paradox is, the people who like President Obama the least are the ones who needed him the most when this all happened - without him to use as a punching bag, they would have to dig up real stories to talk about every night.

But the thing is, we're Americans.

So since the plane didn't blow up, we as a nation did what we always do - go on red alert for a day or so in our minds, and then move on to the next thing, which in this case was another big plate of that Christmas bar-be-que and a couple of shots of that Yuletide cognac. That doesn't mean we didn't think it was serious. It's just how we cope with stuff in 2009.

[snip]

By the time the president comes on TV to talk about this in the next few days, just about the time you start to miss all of that good eating you did last week, he will have some facts in hand. He will have had time to think about the options that are available, and whether or not structural changes are needed in how we look at airport security.

In other words, he might just have time to do something more useful than frowning at a camera, which is all he would have done last week.

Indeed.

I'm not going to say much about the incident. Critics will argue that it's all the President's fault because he's a bad person or Muslim or a criminal of some kind (or all of the above?). Proponents will say that this was a victory for the Obama administration because no actual terrorist event happened (just an attempt).

I am pleased that this was a failed attempt, but clearly there is much work to be done in the apparently incompetent nearly incompetent department of Homeland Security.

Get to work Ms. Napolitano.

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Quote Of The Day II

"The Illinois Republican Party disavows the statements made today by Mr. Andrew Martin in his statewide radio advertisements. His statements today are consistent with his history of bizarre behavior and often times hate-filled speech which has no place in the Illinois Republican Party. Mr. Martin will no longer be recognized as a legitimate Republican Candidate by the Illinois Republican Party.

In addition, it has been brought to our attention that Mr. Martin's sources are now denying any such statements or allegations. According to Raymond True, a leader of the Republican Party in Lake County:

'Mr. Martin did not contact me in any way before making his announcement. The comments attributed to me are completely false. I request through the media that Andy Martin cease and desist from making any additional statements that are incorrectly attributed to me.'" -a statement from the Illinois Republican party, in response to an ad aired by Andy Martin against Representative Mark Kirk (R-Il) in a Republican senatorial primary battle in that state.

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Hard Wuerk

-M.Wuerker, Wuerking Drawings

Happy holidays Matt -- and thanks again to all at Politico for the goodies.

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The Freedom Tower Gets A Subway

Eat fresh, I guess:

A sandwich shop was hoisted into place atop the Ground Zero construction site Tuesday and it should be up and running by late January.

When it's fully staffed, it will cater to ironworkers building the Freedom Tower so they don't have to spend their entire 30-minute break traveling up and down the huge structure to get food.

Right now, it's only five stories in the sky, welded onto a platform with a harness for extra safety. As the building goes higher, so will Subway and its signature $5 subs.

"It will be the same price as the street, and really what you're going to see is a fully functioning Subway store potentially 105 stories in the sky," said Joe Allegretti, Subway's regional development office manager.

I wonder how Subway got the contract...

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Birther Watch, Ctd.

Um. This is just too weird now:

For much of 2009, a disbarred attorney named Charles Lincoln played key roles in Orly Taitz’s multiple “birther” lawsuits against President Obama. Lincoln claimed to be a “law clerk” for Taitz, and he showed up again and again to file documents or assist her in court.

Last week, Lincoln went on his personal blog and filed a lengthy, emotional post confessing that he had fallen in love with Taitz — who is married — and been used by a “disloyal and treacherous person.”

Read the rest of Weigel's article at The Washington Independent and see why I am utterly fascinated with the Birthers.

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Quote Of The Day

"I was there. We inherited a recession from President Clinton and we inherited the most tragic attack on our own soil in our nation’s history. And President Bush dealt with it. And within a year of his presidency at this comparable time, unemployment was at 5 percent. And we were creating jobs." -Mary Matalin, an assistant to both George W. Bush and Dick Cheney, on CNN's State Of The Union.

Paul Krugman debunks here.

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Why Can't We Be Friends?

Via Mr.Furious:

I did a screen grab on CNN.com talking about Iran Officials stating “Arrest All Protestors”. Look at what I saw. Doesn’t it look like they’re just playing a game of football?



It would be nicer if things were like this in Iran.

Indeed.

Yet another reason why I am thankful to live in America. As bad as things may get here -- it's a fraction of the troubles that folks in other countries are dealing with...

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Photo: CNN via AFP/Getty Images

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Simply Having A Wonderful Christmas Time

Things are starting to return to something resembling normalcy here at ThePajamaPundit.com World Headquarters. I had a great Christmas weekend with The Pajama Family. Pictures (and video?) to come soon.

Some blog housekeeping notes:

- TPW and The Boy do not have any work or school this week. Therefore, I will have a full-house all week long. This fact may hinder my posting abilities. Just a bit.

- New Year's Eve and New Year's Day I will not be in town -- so no blogging those days (or nights).

- Today, the Weblog Awards are supposed to be announcing the finalists in the 2009 categories. I'll update everyone on our status as soon as I know.

I hope you all had a great Christmas weekend (I know I did!) and I wish you the best for 2010!

So -- what did you get from Santa?

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Christmas Goodies, Ctd.

Merry Christmas!

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Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

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Christmas Goodies, Ctd.

A holiday favorite at our house.

Oh, and Merry Christmas Eve! Put out your milk and cookies for You-Know-Who!

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Christmas Goodies, Ctd.

I don't normally enjoy the music of John Denver -- but in this case I'll make a large concession.

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Christmas Goodies, Ctd.

If you are unfamiliar with the Lawrence Welk Show, check here. Let's just say that their send-up is spot-on. Jolly good.

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Christmas Goodies, Ctd.

"White Christmas" from 1942's Holiday Inn.

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Health Care Passes

And as expected, the vote was split along party lines:

After months of blown deadlines and political near-death experiences, a sweeping health care reform bill cleared the Senate Thursday on a party-line vote, putting President Barack Obama within reach of a domestic policy achievement that has eluded Democrats for decades.

With Vice President Joe Biden presiding over the session, Democrats gathered in the chamber before sunrise on the day before Christmas to cast a vote long in coming but in the end, hardly a surprise, a 60-39 tally that was the fourth time in as many days that Democrats proved they could muster the winning margin.

But this was the one that counted, the bookend to a House vote last month that puts Congress on record saying that Americans have the right to affordable health insurance, with plans that will cover 30 million Americans currently without it.

Funny. I don't feel like a Communist...

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Breaking: A Whole Lot Of Switchin' Goin' On

Maybe. In my inbox via Politico:

Republicans are stepping up efforts to convince more House Democrats to switch parties and are focusing on Rep. Chris Carney (D-Penn.), who has been asked by Sen. John McCain about making such a move, a top GOP official tells POLITICO.

I voted for Carney when I lived in his Congressional district. I'm not surprised that the GOP is chasing him -- he is a blue-dog.

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Christmas Goodies, Ctd.

All of my earlier talk about Billie Holiday singing Christmas tunes put me in the mood for this. This is Louis Armstrong singing "Christmastime In New Orleans" followed by Billie Holiday singing "I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm". Enjoy.

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Unexpected Christmas Goodies

[click image to enlarge]

I got home from some last-minute holiday errands with the kids (both of them) and a package was on my doorstep. The contents of said package are pictured above. Apparently, the good folks at The Politico have an inside source at the North Pole. I was (desperately) in need of a new travel mug for my coffee.

Needless to say, a very big thank-you to Pam and everyone at The Politico for their generosity.

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Christmas Goodies, Ctd.

Classic.

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Christmas Goodies, Ctd.

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Christmas Goodies, Ctd.

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Christmas Goodies, Ctd.

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Christmas Goodies, Ctd.

From The Crooner and Swooner's Christmas Special. Frank and Bing are two of my all-time favorite singers.

I wish I could find the other part...

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Christmas Goodies

Leon Redbone and Zooey Deschaniel singing "Baby It's Cold Outside" from the soundtrack to Elf.

Zooey Deschanel is one of very few actors that sings so well that I would pay money for it. Her voice is reminiscent of Billie Holiday's, and ever-so-pleasant to hear.

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A Late-Night (Or Early Morning?) Vote

Health care inches forward:

The Democratic Party’s decades-long push to remake the U.S. health care system cleared a major hurdle early Monday morning, with the Senate voting to advance a massive $871 billion bill to extend coverage to nearly all Americans and tighten regulations on private insurers.

Less than two days after releasing a bill with 383 pages of changes, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) corralled his politically diverse caucus and delivered the 60 votes necessary for the most crucial test vote in the legislative process so far — effectively assuring the reform package will clear the Senate later this week.

The final tally was a straight party-line vote, 60-40. All Democrats and two independents voted yes and all Republicans voted no – and each side bitterly accused the other of trying to thwart true reform through petty gamesmanship.

The senators voted just after 1 a.m. while seated at their desks, a rarely used practice implemented only for historic votes.

Hopefully the Senators will be able to sleep-in today...

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Snowy Day

1:21 p.m.

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Saturday Morning Cartoon

Finish your hot cinnamon rolls (I just did) -- it's cartoon time!


...parts two and three after the jump.

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The Obligatory 'Happy Holidays' Post

Well folks, it's that time of year again.

Today is Friday, and Christmas is next week. As I've done in the past, I'm going to take the week of Christmas off from the blog. Oh, I'll continue to check in occasionally with my unique brand of blogalicious celebration (so please continue to stop by), but my frequency in posting will fall-off as compared to the usual pace here.

Seeing as how the news cycle does not take a break for the holidays, I will be around. If there are extremely interesting newsy tidbits that require my attention, I'll comment on them.

Lastly, December 28th is allegedly the finalist announcement date for the 2009 Weblog Awards -- so watch for that as well.

I would like to send out my sincerest wishes for a Happy Hanukkah, a Merry Christmas, a Happy Kwanzaa and a fantastic Boxing Day to you and yours! Have a great holiday -- much love to all!

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You Gotta Know When To Hold 'Em...

Barney Frank favors online gambling -- for libertarian reasons?

Over the objections of gambling opponents in Congress, the Obama administration has granted a request by US Representative Barney Frank to delay a long-scheduled federal crackdown on illegal Internet poker and casino sites.

Frank sought the six-month reprieve so he could keep working on a pet issue: legalizing online gambling.

“I urged them to do it and I was very pleased,’’ the Newton Democrat said of the delay. “It gives us a chance.’’

You won’t find the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee at a poker table or roulette wheel, as Frank doesn’t gamble. But he said he does not want the government telling people what to do with their own money.

Frank has established himself as a friend of the online gambling industry by seeking to overturn a 2006 law that will make it illegal for US credit card companies to process charges from Internet gambling sites.

The law, intended to cut off the life blood of the $16-billion-a-year online gambling industry, was scheduled to take effect Dec. 1. But last week, the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department pushed back the effective date until June to give Frank and other gambling supporters time to draft a bill to set up a system to regulate and collect taxes from legal online gaming.

My emphasis.

I may not agree with Barney Frank on much, but it seems to me that his thinking is correct on this issue. As long as there are safeguards in place to regulate the 'casinos' that are online, I see no reason in the legalization of such activities.

Thoughts?

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Hard Wuerk

-M.Wuerker, Wuerking Drawings

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French Helath Care Rules!

Matt Welch at reason shares his thoughts:

Need a prescription for muscle relaxers, an anti-fungal cream, or a steroid inhaler for temporary lung trouble? In the U.S. you have to fight to get on the appointment schedule of a doctor within your health insurance network (I’ll conservatively put the average wait time at five days), then have him or her scrawl something unintelligible on a slip of paper, which you take to a drugstore to exchange for your medicine. You might pay the doc $40, but then his office sends you a separate bill for the visit, and for an examination, and those bills also go to your insurance company, which sends you an adjustment sheet weeks after the doctor’s office has sent its third payment notice. By the time it’s all sorted out, you’ve probably paid a few hundred dollars to three different entities, without having a clue about how or why any of the prices were set.

In France, by contrast, you walk to the corner pharmacist, get either a prescription or over-the-counter medication right away, shell out a dozen or so euros, and you’re done. If you need a doctor, it’s not hard to get an appointment within a day or three, you make payments for everything (including X-rays) on the spot, and the amounts are routinely less than the co-payments for U.S. doctor visits. I’ve had back X-rays, detailed ear examinations, even minor oral surgery, and never have I paid more than maybe €300 for any one procedure.

And it’s not like the medical professionals in France are chopped liver. In the U.S., my wife had some lumps in her breast dismissed as harmless by a hurried, indifferent doctor at Kaiser Permanente. Eight months later, during our annual Christmas visit in Lyon, one of the best breast surgeons in the country detected that the lumps were growing and removed them.

Bear in mind, he describes himself as a libertarian...

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Spoiler Alert: It's A Trap!

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Quote Of The Day II

"Andrew looked shocked. The governor bum-rushed him. They greeted each other. It was stiff and cordial. It was like seeing your old girlfriend at the prom." -a guest at New York State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo's birthday party, commenting on Governor David Paterson's surprise appearance there.

Head nod: Ben Smith


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Photo: Shannon DeCelle/NY Post

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Marriage Equality In Washington

Gay marriage likely to be has been legalized today:

District of Columbia Mayor Adrian Fenty is scheduled to sign a measure that would recognize gay marriages as legal. The city council overwhelming passed the bill on Tuesday, following a similar vote on December 1.

According to Fenty's schedule, posted on-line, the mayor will perform the signing at All Souls Church, a Unitarian house of worship in the northwest part of the District that is known for its diversity and for the welcoming of same-sex couples.

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Traficant: I'm A Bitter Man

Jim Traficant is back. Probably. Maybe.

It's a long video clip, but worth it.

I have to say that, despite the guy's shortcomings, he is definitely passionate.

Head nod: Taegan Goddard

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Tweet Of The Day

"People of Connecticut: What have u done 2 this country? We hold u responsible. Start recall of Lieberman 2day or we’ll boycott your state." @MMFlint (filmmaker Michael Moore), in response to Joe Lieberman's non-support of the current health care bill.

Head nod: E.D. Kain

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Iron Man 2 Trailer Online

A screenshot from the new Iron Man 2 trailer. I can't embed the preview because it's only available through Apple right now. Still, it's worth your click...

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Franken Objects, McCain Defends

This is a very interesting, and awkward back-and-forth in the Senate that is making the rounds on the Internets today.

Clearly, Senator Franken was playing to the base of the Democratic party -- who are less-than-pleased with Joe Lieberman right now.

... or not:

A spokesperson for Franken explained that Lieberman was told to stop peaking because Senate leaders were enforcing the strict time limits so they could finish a defense spending bill and get to the health bill.

Majority Leader Harry Reid's spokesman, Jim Manley, said, "We did that to maintain order and [so] that no senator had an unfair advantage over another in terms of speaking. It was a simple request of the leader and Sen. Franken was adhering to the request of his leadership."

Later in the evening it appeared that Lieberman and Franken had made amends, as they could be seen talking, laughing and even hugging on the Senate floor.

Whatever you guys say.

Postscript: Senator McCain uses the word 'comity', not 'comedy' as I thought when first viewing the video. That makes much more sense to me now.

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Happiness Is...

...skee ball at Chuck E Cheese.

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Specter Versus Toomey: It's A Tie

Well, right now at least:

Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter and Republican challenger Pat Toomey are deadlocked 44 - 44 percent in Pennsylvania's marquee 2010 U.S. Senate race, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. President Barack Obama's job approval in this pivotal swing state remains below 50 percent at 49 - 45 percent.

Sen. Specter holds a commanding 53 - 30 percent lead in the Democratic Senate primary over Congressman Joe Sestak, a slight increase from the 44 - 25 percent margin when the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University last surveyed Pennsylvania voters October 1.

Specter, who spent more than three decades in public life as a Republican, switched parties earlier this year and held an impressive 53 - 33 percent lead over Toomey in a May 4 Quinnipiac University poll. But that gap narrowed in the spring and summer. Toomey took a statistically insignificant 43 - 42 percent lead in an October 1 survey, virtually unchanged from today's 44 - 44 percent tie.

"With less than 11 months to go, Sen. Arlen Specter and Pat Toomey are neck-and-neck. Specter has the state's Democratic registration advantage on his side, while Toomey can take heart in the numbers that show problems for Specter in measures in addition to the horse race," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

A lot can happen in the next couple of months -- especially if Joe Sestak were to pull off an upset in the Democratic primary election...

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Photo: AP file composite

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Quote Of The Day

"What would have happened if Mother Mary had been covered by Obamacare? What if that young, poor and uninsured teenage woman had been provided the federal funds (via Obamacare) and facilities (via Planned Parenthood, etc.) to avoid the ridicule, ostracizing, persecution and possible stoning because of her out-of-wedlock pregnancy? Imagine all the great souls who could have been erased from history and the influence of mankind if their parents had been as progressive as Washington¹s wise men and women! Will Obamacare morph into Herodcare for the unborn?" -Chuck Norris (yes, that Chuck Norris)

Ugh.

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Aaron Schock: Pro-Torture

"I don't believe that we should limit waterboarding - or, quite frankly, any other alternative torture technique - if it means saving Americans' lives." My emphasis. [the exchange starts at 2:15 into the clip, and the actual quote happens at 2:41]

He may be a pretty face and a rising star in the GOP -- but Representative Aaron Schock (R-Il) just lost any respect that I had for him (which wasn't much because I knew so little about him).

My guess is that after this interview aired, Schock likely received several calls from from the top-brass in the GOP. He botched that 'enhanced interrogation technique' talking point numerous times.

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Credibility

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Barf

Sorry about my bloggitty absence this afternoon gang.

The Little Girl was complaining of a headache this morning -- and upgraded (downgraded?) her status to vomiting by the afternoon.

Yeah. Not good.

So, here I am, wrist-deep in vomit trying to take care of her and clean up after her as well.

Have a great Thursday. I'll catch up with you tomorrow.

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The End Of A Decade

Time is excessively pleased that the '00s (the "aughts"?) are ending.

At exactly two minutes after midnight on Jan. 1, 2000, an alarm sounded at a nuclear power plant in Onagawa, Japan. Government officials and computer scientists around the globe held their breath. Was this the beginning of a massive Y2K computer meltdown? Actually, no. It was an isolated event, one of a handful of glitches to occur (including the failure of 500 slot machines at two racetracks in Delaware) as the sun rose on the new decade. The dreaded millennial meltdown never happened.

Instead, it was the American Dream that was about to dim. Bookended by 9/11 at the start and a financial wipeout at the end, the first 10 years of this century will very likely go down as the most dispiriting and disillusioning decade Americans have lived through in the post–World War II era. We're still weeks away from the end of '09, but it's not too early to pass judgment. Call it the Decade from Hell, or the Reckoning, or the Decade of Broken Dreams, or the Lost Decade. Call it whatever you want — just give thanks that it is nearly over.

It was a pretty good decade for me personally. I got married in 2001. The Boy was born in '03 and the Little Girl in '06. So, those are definitely good things, no?

But, on a national level, I get their point.

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Dick Of The Day

...or perhaps the month. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) -- come on down!

You can tell a lot about a man by the way he treats the people who bring him coffee and little bags of pretzels, and make sure his belongings are stowed securely in the overhead bin. So when an important man, a U.S. senator, actually -- busy, busy, busy -- flouts federal regs by refusing to turn off his cellphone so the plane can pull away from the gate (oh, and to heck with his fellow passengers, who in their humble way also had lives to get on with while they instead tapped their toes and he kept on yakking), well, that was bad enough. "It's Harry Reid calling,'' the rudenik, a.k.a. Chuck Schumer, announced to his hostages. "I guess health care will have to wait.''

But when the senior senator from New York then called a flight attendant who was only doing her job the b-word under his breath, that told us even more. Like how much women must be willing to put up with from a self-described "tireless advocate for women's rights" and how little -- this and only this -- the "advocate" has to do to keep the franchise.

This clown is a joke. Full story here.

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Photo: Brendan Smialowski/Bloomberg

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Poll: Tom Corbet Leads Jim Gerlach

However, there are some other really interesting tid-bits found within this Quinnipiac University poll. On Marijuana:

Pennsylvania voters say 59 - 35 percent that allowing marijuana to be used for medical purposes is a good idea

On current governor Ed Rendell's approval ratings:

Term-limited Gov. Ed Rendell, who cannot seek a third term, gets a negative 43 - 49 percent job approval rating, a trend that began in July when the state lived through a three-month budget stalemate that turned off voters of both parties.

The State Legislature, with which Gov. Rendell feuded during the budget standoff, gets a much lower 25 - 64 percent negative job approval, its worst score ever.

...not really that surprising, given that dreadful budget dispute. Ugh.

But, the biggest take-home-point from this poll is that in the 2010 race for governor, the 'I don't know' crowd is a large one:

"Fifty percent of Pennsylvania voters don't know enough about Attorney General Tom Corbett to form an opinion. For all the other candidates, the 'don't know enough' number ranges from 72 to 88 percent," said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. "That edge in name recognition is an obvious plus for Corbett. But what is interesting is that the other candidates have not been making much progress, either in trial heats against Corbett, or in greatly improving their name recognition."

In the five-way race for the Democratic nomination for Governor, Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato leads the field with 14 percent of the vote while none of the others crack double-digits. Most voters, 59 percent, are undecided.

"All of the candidates are so unknown to most Democrats that it is anyone's guess what will happen," said Brown. "One thing is for sure; with five months until the May 18, 2010 primary, none of the candidates is even close to separating themselves from the pack."

There is still a long row to hoe...

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Going From Rogue To Incognito

Groan:

The gossip Web site TMZ snapped photos of the former Alaska governor vacationing in Hawaii earlier this week in which Palin is shown with a McCain campaign visor with black marker covering the ex-presidential candidate's name.

The Web site declared the hat a "frontal attack on Sen. John McCain," but Palin told Politico she was merely trying to "be incognito" while vacationing in Hawaii.

"I am so sorry if people took this silly incident the wrong way," Palin said in a statement to the Web site. "I adore John McCain, support him 100 percent and will do everything I can to support his reelection. As everyone knows, I was honored and proud to run with him. And Todd and I were with him in D.C. just a week ago. So much for trying to be incognito."

Okay, so I wouldn't normally post something as trite as this, but it got me to thinking about Sarah Palin's intelligence.

You see, the way I figure things, the Palins are not hurting for money. Not in the least. Sarah's book-deal alone is worth millions.

So, why the marker-on-the-hat routine? Is Palin really trying to say that she was going 'incognito' by re-using a McCain campaign hat? Why not buy something at the gift shop in the hotel if you are that concerned about it?

I'm on the fence. Part of me thinks that she was slighting McCain by doing this, but the other half of my brain thinks, 'Yeah, she really didn't think this one through'.

Thoughts?

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Waiting For My Check...

I'm patiently waiting:

[Vice President Joe Biden] will announce the 18 projects that will receive federal funding totaling $182 million, as part of a total package of $2 billion in grants and loans that the government will award over the next three months. The Internet money is part of $7.2 billion in stimulus money that is supposed to go toward encouraging more Americans to use broadband.

Much of the money will go to rural areas, where it has been more difficult for residents to get high-speed Internet access.

Okay, so I'm probably not in the right place for this program, seeing as how I'm typing this post via broadband. But a guy can dream about reduced rates on his (obnoxiously expensive) Verizon bill, right?

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Mark Sanford Will Not Be Impeached

Rather, he will likely just get the figurative slap-on-the-wrists (as most politicians do):

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has escaped impeachment threats.

The Judiciary Committee of the South Carolina state House dropped impeachment charges against the scandal plagued governor on Wednesday, choosing instead to approve a measure censuring the governor. That measure will now go to a vote by the entire state House.

If I lived in South Carolina, I would be sooo pissed.

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Americans Opposed To Closing Guantanamo

According to a Gallup survey, many Americans don't want to close Gitmo or transfer it's "guests" to U.S. prisons. The meat:

Americans remain opposed to closing the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba and moving some of the terrorist suspects being held there to U.S. prisons: 30% favor such actions, while 64% do not. These attitudes could present a significant roadblock for President Obama at a time when he seeks congressional approval to move terrorist suspects from Guantanamo to a converted state prison in northwestern Illinois.

President Obama signed an executive order after his inauguration that called for the closing of Guantanamo, and he recently reiterated his commitment to doing this in his West Point speech on Afghanistan. The plans announced this week represent the first concrete effort to follow through on his promise, but occur in the context of continuing opposition from the American public. About two-thirds of Americans in the Nov. 20-22 poll oppose such a move, virtually the same as measured last May.

I'm not really surprised by the continued opposition to this idea. What seems odd to me is that there has been no real change in that opposition since earlier this year. One would think that public opinion might shift one way or the other in a seven-to-eight month time span.

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Pawlenty On The Trail

T-Paw is not wasting any time getting started with a (possible) 2012 presidential run:

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty heads to the presidential proving ground of New Hampshire Wednesday. The potential 2012 GOP presidential candidate is scheduled to be the featured speaker at a fundraiser in Concord for New Hampshire State Senate Republicans.

Pawlenty is expected to speak about the need to rein in Washington spending, a source close to the two-term governor tells CNN. The governor will plug his record of balancing state budgets without raising taxes, and his health care track record in Minnesota. Pawlenty will also continue his recent attacks on the Senate Democratic health care bill.

Pawlenty, who's not well know in New Hampshire, will also use his appearance to introduce them to his personal story of growing up in a blue-collar town, and talk about the importance of reaching out beyond the core GOP base to expand the party.

Not all that surprising, given his other recent maneuvers.

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Sunshine State Update

According to the newest Rasmussen Reports survey, Governor Charlie Crist and Marco Rubio are in a dead heat for the Republican nomination in the 2010 Florida Senatorial race. The news is all bad for Charlie Crist:

Crist’s support has fallen from 53% in August to 49% in October. Rasmussen Reports noted at the time, “The fact that Crist has fallen below 50% in a primary against a lesser known opponent suggests potential vulnerability.”

Rubio’s name recognition has grown in recent months and he is now viewed Very Favorably by 34% of Likely Primary Voters. That’s up from 18% in August. As his name recognition increased, Rubio’s support in the polls has jumped from 31% in August to 43% today.

Crist, well known throughout the state, has seen his ratings go in the opposite direction. Just 19% now have a Very Favorable opinion of him, a figure that represents a double digit decline since August.

Crist needs to pull out all of the stops if he wants to win his party's nomination. Exit question: when will McCain head to Florida to stomp for Crist?

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Microsoft And The Google Are Rising

...and continuing to take over the planet while poor lil' Yahoo! continues to flounder:

Google, of course, remains the runaway leader and there are no signs that its market share will do anything other than keep inching up. It went from 65 percent in May to 65.6 in November, according to data released by comScore to analysts late on Tuesday.

No. 3 Bing rose from 8 percent in May to 10.3 percent in November, a two-year high for Microsoft, whose previous search engine, Live Search, had been on a prolonged slide. The rise, fueled in part by a costly marketing campaign and rebates through its Cashback program, has been slow but steady, which is no doubt seen as good news up in Redmond. (In an apparent effort to keep up its forward momentum, Microsoft released a Bing iPhone application late on Tuesday.)

Things are not so bright for No. 2 Yahoo. Its share in May, 20.1 percent, has eroded steadily to 17.5 percent. At recent conference, chief executive Carol Bartz attributed some of the losses to toolbar distribution deals with the likes of Acer or HP that are ending. But her words didn’t seem have had a soothing effect on analysts.

Yahoo’s “17.5 percent November search share represents its lowest level ever…again,” wrote Ben Schachter, an analyst with Broadpoint AmTech. “Although the company will likely point to the lingering effect of less profitable distribution deals rolling off, initial user adjustment to the new homepage, Bing’s cash-back offers, and its own internal data which indicated a different trend last month, there is no getting around the fact that the market share trend for Yahoo is absolutely awful.”

Yahoo! needs to come up with something like Chrome or Bing to reinvent itself. Otherwise we will continue to see a steady decline in Yahoo!'s market share until is completely disappears.

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Donald Duck Wants Your Money

Paying taxes is patriotic, remember? Matthew Yglesias has some poignant commentary to add:

[T]he cartoon does drive home the basic points that war costs money and things that cost money require taxes. Taxes were a hard sell then and they’re a hard sell now. But the way the sale was made in ‘43 was to convince people that the war was worth the cost. These days, politicians seem to feel that the public would refuse to pay for the war if asked plainly. So instead of asking, they try to obscure the cost. It’s not really a tenable situation.

Not tenable indeed.

I don't like taxes as much as the next guy. I'd love it if Americans gave money to their government on a voluntary basis only. But, let's face facts here folks: if that were the case, the U.S. government would have ZERO dollars.

No money for military.
No money for infrastructure.
No money for emergency aid.

Although, I suppose that one could argue that this example is really not much different than our current economic situation, no?

Head nod: TYWKIWDBI

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Hard Wuerk

-M.Wuerker, Wuerking Drawings

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Joe Lieberman, Republican?

Hrrmmm...

(CNN) -- Independent Sen. Joe Lieberman, a former Democrat who sits with Democratic caucus, said Tuesday that he would not rule out running for re-election in 2012 as a Republican.

Lieberman angered his colleagues in the Democratic caucus this week by threatening to torpedo health care legislation if it contains a government-run public health insurance or an expansion of Medicare.

Lieberman said he wasn't sure which party, if any, he would represent in his next election.

"I like being an independent, so that's definitely a possibility," the Connecticut senator said. "But I'd say all options are open."

He called running as a Republican "unlikely" but added that he wouldn't "foreclose any possibility."

"I've reached the stage in my career where I'm not measuring every step I take based on how it's going to affect the next election," Lieberman said. "I think if you do that, you end up compromising the quality of your service."

I doubt it. I suppose that anything can happen, but my hunch is that Senator Lieberman likes being the Guy-In-The-Middle. He gets to have leverage with both political parties -- regardless of which is in power. He's got his proverbial cake... and he's eating it too!

I think we'll see him run as an independent again when his current term is over. Although I must say that I admire his comment about not making decision based on 'how it's going to affect the next election'. I wish more (all?) politicians would take that stance...

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Sarah Palin Strikes Back!

Sarah Palin hits back at California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's comments yesterday:

Why is Governor Schwarzenegger pushing for the same sorts of policies in Copenhagen that have helped drive his state into record deficits and unemployment? Perhaps he will recall that I live in our nation’s only Arctic state and that I was among the first governors to create a sub-cabinet to deal specifically with climate change. While I and all Alaskans witness the impacts of changes in weather patterns firsthand, I have repeatedly said that we can’t primarily blame man’s activities for those changes. And while I did look for practical responses to those changes, what I didn’t do was hamstring Alaska’s job creators with burdensome regulations so that I could act “greener than thou” when talking to reporters.

REPUBLICAN RUMBLE!

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Guitar Hero: Christmas

Rock on kid. Rock on.

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Quote Of The Day

"At a time when the international community has offered Iran opportunities to begin to build trust and confidence, Iran's missile tests only undermine Iran's claims of peaceful intentions. Such actions will increase the seriousness and resolve of the international community to hold Iran accountable for its continued defiance of its international obligations on its nuclear program." -Mike Hammer, National Security Council Spokesman, reacting to Iran's missile tests earlier today.

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Back Where We Started

Kind of. Health care a la Chuck Todd & company:

Now that the eventual Senate health-care bill won’t contain anything resembling a public option -- even the Medicare “buy-in” compromise -- it’s worth noting that we’ve now come full circle back to Max Baucus’ Senate Finance bill.

Funny. All that time and energy wasted. Was there ever really any chance of a public option -- mandated or not?

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Evangelist Oral Roberts, Dead At 91

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Evangelist Oral Roberts, who became one of America's most successful and controversial television preacher with claims of faith healing and unusual money-raising tactics, died on Tuesday at the age of 91.

Oral Roberts Ministries published a tribute to Roberts on its website and news reports said that he died in Newport Beach, California, of complications from pneumonia.

Roberts, a preacher's son, started out putting on charismatic revival meetings in tents. He later took his ministry to radio and then to television, a path taken by other fiery evangelists such as Pat Robertson and Billy Graham.

He based his organization in Tulsa, Oklahoma, centered around Oral Roberts University, which he said he founded in 1963 on a command from God.

Hailing from Oklahoma, Roberts had Native American roots through his mother's side of the family, a heritage he took pride in.

Educated at Oklahoma Baptist and Phillips University, Roberts quit his pastorate at a Pentecostal church in 1947 to pursue a more fervent evangelical ministry.

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An Idiot's Guide To Google Wave

Because if you are like me -- you'll need this. Nutshell:

Wave is a revolutionary new way to keep in contact with people and collaborate on documents and could completely replace email.

The theory is that email (which has been with us for over four decades, believe it or not) is beginning to look a little antiquated, especially when we could be using the features of Web 2.0 with 'waves'.

On that basis, Google plans to release this new system under an open source licence [sic], so that other developers and companies can create their own wave services, and eventually help everyone to replace their current email solutions.

What exactly are these 'waves' that you're talking about?

A wave is best compared to a conversation in an instant messenger, but in the case of a wave, you can chat to yourself or to a whole group of people.

Each wave contains a subwave called a 'wavelet', which focuses on a particular aspect of the main wave, and can be manipulated in much the same way. This means one wave can branch out into a number of other waves, but keep all the original associations.

This may not sound like a killer feature from the outset, but if you subscribe to a mailing list or want to bracket multiple wavelets within the same project wave, then this is a much more elegant solution.

Vast was gracious enough to get me an invite (thanks Vast!), but I have to admit that I have been experiencing some trepidation about actually getting started. This 'Idiot's Guide' makes things seem a little better...

Is anyone else out there using Google Wave? Thoughts?

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