Open Thread

post from Crooks and Liars on 25 November 2010 11:30:16 PM. © Crooks and Liars

cl thanksgiving.jpg

All of us at Crooks and Liars are very grateful to our readers for your terrific support this year. Thank you and Happy Thanksgiving.

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Open Thread and Diary Rescue

post from Daily Kos on 25 November 2010 11:18:05 PM. © Daily Kos

Welcome to Diary Rescue. Tonight's Rangers are HoosierDeb, Louisiana 1976, claude, grog, rexymeterorite, and vcmvo2, with sunspark says whipping up the Thanksgiving feast of delectable diaries.

It's November 25, Thanksgiving Day. I'm thankful that I still have a roof over my head and a steady paycheck. How about you? Think about it as you read through the treasures unearthed by the intrepid and dedicated Rescue Rangers who have volunteered to spend part of their holiday to bring you these unsung gems.

In the Why We Are Thankful category:

Translator lays out what he has to be thankful for in Translator’s Thanksgiving Message 20101124. (claude)

diverdonreed has an extra special reason to celebrate his THANKSGIVING JOY: the California Stem Cell Program--May Continue! (HoosierDeb)

Even during a life-threatening medical emergency, agnostic pauses to give some advice on preventative care in Thanks, you ask? HELL, YES. (grog)

On this holiday GreyHawk presents us with a charming Repost: HawkWife's "The Giving of Thanks: A 'Little Woo' Tale". (Louisiana 1976)

In the Thanksgiving Wishes category:

Stranded Wind

7/11 Thanksgiving

At a heartbreakingly difficult time in her and her family's life, the mom in the middle gives us My Thanksgiving/ Christmas Wish. (Louisiana 1976)

My Scrooge Moment leads to DaveinBremerton's personal epiphany on giving. (claude)

In the Turkeys in the House category:

War on Error

Deficit Hawks, You Lie: Wealthfare vs Social Well-Being

In a detailed piece, Avenging Angel reviews the Hammer's ironic complaints on his guilty verdict in Tom Delay Decries the Criminalization of Politics. Again. (vcmvo2)

In the Dinnertime Accompaniments category:

In an informative piece Steve Masover tells us how some think that Eating Insects would be a good idea. (Louisiana 1976)

In the Wild Turkeys category:

Bob Sloan

Insourcing - Why this Investigative series began...(reposted)

And finally, in the Random Goodies That Count As Dessert category:

leftyparent

Learning Long Division

dsteffen, through the lens of My Christian Heritage, explores the historical realities of separation of church and state. (HoosierDeb)

jotter bring us today's High Impact Diaries: November 24, 2010 and BeninSC will have Top Comments - Thank you, B. Virdot!

Oh, and one more September 13 item:

On this date in 1986, U.S. President Reagan and Attorney Gen. Edwin Meese revealed that profits from secret arms sales to Iran had been diverted to rebels in Nicaragua. National Security Advisor John Poindexter resigned and Oliver North was fired. Republicans immediately blamed the entire affair on the liberal media.

Don't hesitate even for a microsecond to promote your favorite diaries (even your own) in the Open Thread. That's what Open Threads are for. (At least this one.) And have a very Happy Thanksgiving!

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-Rescue

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Late Night: Holiday Movie Season Begins; Whatd
You See

post from Firedoglake on 25 November 2010 11:00:59 PM. © Firedoglake

Did you get to the theater this holiday? Do you have plans to see a movie between now and the end of the year? Do tell here in comments.[...]

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http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/firedoglake/fdl/~3/JxJyPDC9mo0/

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C&L's Late Night Music Club With The Rolling
Stones

post from Crooks and Liars on 25 November 2010 11:00:36 PM. © Crooks and Liars

Genre: The Rolling StonesTitle: Salt Of The Earth
video details and more

It's time for some Stones, my friends. And you also might enjoy a gorgeous concert at our sister site Newstalgia -- Orquesta Sinfonica de la Region de Murcia (OSRM featuring the music of Spanish composers Joaquin Turina and Manuel Moreno-Buendia.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Beggars Banquet

Artist: Rolling Stones Price: $8.49 (As of 11/25/10 01:43 pm details)

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http://crooksandliars.com/jared-shade-reynolds/cls-late-night-music-club-r-0

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President Obama to address nation over pardoning
of turkey

post from AMERICAblog News on 25 November 2010 11:00:34 PM. © AMERICAblog News

Obama Outlines Moral, Philosophical Justifications For Turkey Pardon

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ess-nation-over.html

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"Wall Street’s moneyed elite are breathing
easier again."

post from Daily Kos on 25 November 2010 10:16:05 PM. © Daily Kos

This is a great relief!

Exuberance made a comeback this year at Josh Koplewicz’s annual Halloween party. More than 1,000 people packed into a 6,000-square-foot space at the Good Units night club in Manhattan, a substantially larger crowd than in the last several years. The open bar was sponsored by Russian Standard vodka, and Mr. Koplewicz, an investment analyst at Goldman Sachs, was able to snag a big headliner: the hip-hop star Lil’ Kim, who performed dressed in a black cat costume.

The scene was more extravagant in September, at a 50th birthday party in Hong Kong for Brian Brille, the head of Bank of America Asia Pacific. Mr. Brille, who is well known on the New York social scene, wore a gray Hugh Hefner-esque jacket. Women dressed like Playmates, with feather boas and satin ears, danced behind a pink silk screen.

Two years after the onset of the financial crisis, the stock market is recovering and Wall Street’s moneyed elite are breathing easier again. And this means in some cases they are spending again — at times cautiously, but sometimes with a familiar swagger.

Apparently, the Communist Nazi Socialist Kenyan hasn't succeeded in his nefarious plan to undermine the American Way. The American Way as it should be, for all the important people. Meanwhile, the little people will have to make do with eating cake. Or something.

Extended unemployment insurance put in place to fight the recession prevented the poverty rate from rising to 15.4 percent in 2009, a level unseen since the 1960s, according to the Congressional Budget Office. The government announced in September that that the 2009 poverty rate had risen to 14.3 percent from 13.2 percent the previous year.

Extended unemployment insurance that the Republicans are doing their best to kill. The result of which will be this:

About 2 million long-term jobless workers could lose eligibility for unemployment-insurance payments by the end of the year due to the expiration of federal funding.

A special extended-benefits program that relies on federal funds will start shutting down later this month.

There are no jobs. There will be no unemployment benefits, which may cause record poverty levels. But Wall Street's moneyed elite are breathing easier. Let's celebrate!

Read The Full Article:
http://feeds.dailykos.com/~r/dailykos/index/~3/aVylPNcmk6o/-Wall-Streets-moneyed-
elite-are-breathing-easier-again.

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November 24, 1973 - Only The Turkey Is Relieved.

post from Crooks and Liars on 25 November 2010 10:00:59 PM. © Crooks and Liars

enlarge They both would eventually have something in common.
November 24, 1973 - Only The Turkey Is Relieved.

Click here to view this media
Considering Nixon's actual resignation didn't take place until August of the following year, it seems incredible to imagine how the Watergate scandal would drag out for another nine months before he did.

But this week in November of 1973, ending on the 24th, it was going full blast.

President Nixon: ?People have got to know whether or not their President is a crook. Well I?m not a crook. I?ve earned everything I?ve got?.

Yep, this was the week he said that. And there was also the Energy Crisis to consider, which wasn't going to go away anytime soon. The question of whether to ration gas or hike up the tax was under consideration. Ironically, it would wind up being both after a while.

No winning there. Well, not unless you were an oil company.

Read The Full Article:
http://crooksandliars.com/gordonskene/november-24-1973-only-turkey-relieved

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Happy Thanksgiving: al-Qaeda Is Having Fun With
You

Success comes from provoking a U.S. overreaction. Like a TSA agent's hand on a traveler's genitals and a resultant national freakout. These people, simply put, are fucking with us, and hoping we'll treat them as a Threat To Civilization. Happy[...]

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Mt. Fuji: Picture of the Day

Had a great time in Hakone, Japan where I took this amazing shot of Mt. Fuji.

Years ago, I climbed all night to get the top of this volcano and saw the sun rise. High on the memorable list.

-- Steve Clemons

Read The Full Article:
http://www.thewashingtonnote.com/archives/2010/11/mt_fuji_picture/

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TSA recruiting tool: Pizza box advertisements

Via Village Voice, The Consumerist captures this image of a TSA help wanted ad inside a pizza box:

TSA PIzza Box

Of course, there's nothing wrong with pizza, but if this is really a top recruiting tool for TSA, it perfectly captures our current political dysfunction.

One the one hand, you've got Republicans who want to give these pizza box hires the authority to conduct racial and religious profiling at the airport. On the other, you've got a Democratic administration who wants them to feel your junk. And you know it's not going to be long before Harold Ford comes along with a Third Way and suggests a compromise of combining racial profiling AND junk touching. (Of course, that's really the same thing that the pro-profiling crowd in the GOP wants to see happen.)

Meanwhile, in the obsessive focus on profiling and junk-touching, neither of which is acceptable, nobody is really talking about the real issue: the need to have a public discussion about the level of risk we're willing to tolerate when it comes to commercial air travel, and to then figure out the best way to implement security protocols that achieve that level of risk. And for extra credit, maybe somebody could point out that TSA is the last line of defense: security begins long before passengers arrive at the airport, and if junk-touching or racial profiling are the most important parts of our security regime, we're fucked.