NOTE: NWN returns to publication December 28th.
Please Come Home For Christmas, with the original California
poolside single sleeve from 1978.
Please Come Home For Christmas, the blinking big house Christmas
lights version.
Please Come Home For Christmas, an (arguably) amusing Eagles
retrospective version.
Please Come Home For Christmas, the ranch
house synchronized blinking Christmas lights version.
Please Come Home For Christmas, the beautiful and heartwarming
Hallmark card version.
** HAPPY POLITICALLY CORRECT HOLIDAYS!
As a warm breeze wafts its way through, with all five versions of “Please Come Home For Christmas” playing at once on the trusty Apple laptop — each of them slightly and exquisitely out of synch with one another — I’m reminded that I have had no serious message for this most meaningful time of year.
After at least a minute of deep contemplation, here it is: Always keep your beginner’s mind. In this troubled and frequently dark world, remain open and alive to new and positive possibilities. Except for the really stupid ones.
Merry Christmas!
** NOTE: NWN is on a reduced holiday publishing schedule. That doesn’t mean there won’t be some columns and updates and videos; just not nearly so many. The Forum will of course be open. The relative break is coming sooner rather than later because of the frankly insane presidential campaign schedule, which sees Iowa and New Hampshire within a week of New Year’s Day. For some perspective, when I did first-in-the-nation Iowa for Gary Hart, it was on February 20th.
Two days after Christmas, NWN throttles back up full bore through the February 5th presidential primaries in California and elsewhere.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the new Russia Today channel.
You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti.
While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND U.S. ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Crude oil is trading up in the $97 to $98 per barrel range.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum.
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| Comments (0) |
Nothing like a little holiday black humor, I see.
Hmm …
>Sacramento Solon :
Folks…
I’m sorry. My last post showed a total lack of class. Since I can’t retract it, please accept my apology.
Dec 26, 2007 09:45 AM
Hmm …
>Sacramento Solon :
Folks…
I’m sorry. My last post showed a total lack of class. Since I can’t retract it, please accept my apology.
Dec 26, 2007 09:45 AM
What an unbelieveable story.
A Siberian tiger escapes in the San Francisco Zoo on Christmas Day and starts eating the visitors …
Hold the eggnog!
>Capitol Boy :
I think I’ll visit the San Francisco Zoo. Heheh.
Dec 26, 2007 09:34 AM
Not too much, thanks.
>Sacramento Solon :
Mr. Badley,
Trust you had a good Christmas and didn’t eat or drink too much.
MOTY…Times “Man of the Year”
Dec 26, 2007 09:05 AM
True be the true…and me remarks were in poor taste for which I am sorry.
And have we added a new feature???
What feature?
What feature?
I was given a preview option before posting. Can’t recall ever having had that happen before.
Is politics getting all crazy again or are the politicians keeping quiet another day?
I am hearing that the polls have changed a little bit since Bill went on vacation. I wonder where he is?
I figured out six months ago that there’s something really off with the American Research Group polls.
Sorry, Carole.
I figured out six months ago that there’s something really off with the American Research Group polls.
Sorry, Carole.
They’re not quiet and the mail and TV ads are rolling — with “independent” special interest groups doing hit pieces — but I think most people are tuning it out.
>Jack Aubrey :
Is politics getting all crazy again or are the politicians keeping quiet another day?
Dec 26, 2007 04:05 PM
They’re not quiet and the mail and TV ads are rolling — with “independent” special interest groups doing hit pieces — but I think most people are tuning it out.
>Jack Aubrey :
Is politics getting all crazy again or are the politicians keeping quiet another day?
Dec 26, 2007 04:05 PM
The preview option has been here for over a year.
>Sacramento Solon :
I was given a preview option before posting. Can’t recall ever having had that happen before.
Dec 26, 2007 12:21 PM
Amazing. Think I’ve just realized why my folks called me “Nightlight”…
No sooner had I typed my message when I realized my mistake. Been there and never been used by me.
Oh, well, ever list must have a dimwit. Guess that’ me.
Now, where did I put my drool towel???
Not to worry. Listen to the nice Eagles song and relax.
Thanks…
Just read where the NFL has made Saturday’s Pats/Giants game available to all…not only those who have the NFL network. Both CBS & NBC can simulcast.
Shall now go listen to the Eagles.
Thanks…
Just read where the NFL has made Saturday’s Pats/Giants game available to all…not only those who have the NFL network. Both CBS & NBC can simulcast.
Shall now go listen to the Eagles.
Okay, it is a telephone poll but, I did get excited for about a minute.
Matt Drudge is a tool. He shills for the Clintons to get exclusives from the Clintons. He shills for the Clintons because that who the Republicans want.
I believe the word you are looking for is conduit.
Telephone polls are generally good.
ARG is not.
>carole w :
Okay, it is a telephone poll but, I did get excited for about a minute.
Dec 26, 2007 05:27 PM
Telephone polls are generally good.
ARG is not.
>carole w :
Okay, it is a telephone poll but, I did get excited for about a minute.
Dec 26, 2007 05:27 PM
The Pats, Tom Brady, and Randy Moss all going for huge records Saturday.
>Sacramento Solon :
Thanks…
Just read where the NFL has made Saturday’s Pats/Giants game available to all…not only those who have the NFL network. Both CBS & NBC can simulcast.
Shall now go listen to the Eagles.
Dec 26, 2007 04:59 PM
John MacCain could be strong President for you.
BHUTTO
at least one analyst (Stratfor) sees similarities to Rabin assassination …”The perpetrators knew Bhutto needed to get to her car after the speech, making that a good chokepoint for a strike. She might have been isolated from the crowd while on the stage to give her speech, but she had to pass through the adoring crowd to get to the motorcade. The security team apparently did not secure the entire route required to get to the cars. Had Bhutto been able to get inside her vehicle, she might have survived the strike. In many respects, the attack is similar to the 1995 killing of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was shot after a political rally on the way out to his car”
I was in in a well known Lebanese restaurant here in London when her attack and death was announced. The owner came over to my party badly shaken…he said she had a beautiful home around the corner and came freguently to the restaurant…there was a large screen TV so as we ate we watched the unrest unfold and growing via Al Jazeera… per press reports Mush is holding an emergency meeting now as I write..Kiyani may have no other course but more martial law which will create yet more unrest…gotta run …toodles
BHUTTO
at least one analyst (Stratfor) sees similarities to Rabin assassination …”The perpetrators knew Bhutto needed to get to her car after the speech, making that a good chokepoint for a strike. She might have been isolated from the crowd while on the stage to give her speech, but she had to pass through the adoring crowd to get to the motorcade. The security team apparently did not secure the entire route required to get to the cars. Had Bhutto been able to get inside her vehicle, she might have survived the strike. In many respects, the attack is similar to the 1995 killing of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was shot after a political rally on the way out to his car”
I was in in a well known Lebanese restaurant here in London when her attack and death was announced. The owner came over to my party badly shaken…he said she had a beautiful home around the corner and came freguently to the restaurant…there was a large screen TV so as we ate we watched the unrest unfold and growing via Al Jazeera… per press reports Mush is holding an emergency meeting now as I write..Kiyani may have no other course but more martial law which will create yet more unrest…gotta run …toodles
Terrible, terrible news.
Clearly, not the day for NWN to return to publication. That will come tomorrow. It is very difficult to escape from the political world.
Mr. Bradley,
Could not agree with you more.
Barbara…thanks for your instant report. It’s how I learned of the terrible news.
Your old friend Hugh Hewitt says the assassination of Bhutto is good for Mitt Romney!
What a tool.
That’s a high dive into an empty pool.
That’s a high dive into an empty pool.
Hi, Bill. So a San Francisco federal judge has thrown out that city’s employer mandate because of ERISA and says in his ruling …
http://weblog.signonsandiego.com/weblogs/afb/archives/GGRA%20summry%20judgment%20opinion.pdf
… that not just local governments but state governments can’t impose employer mandates. Do you still think the fact that single-payer wasn’t challenged in the courts a few years ago after the Legislature passed it is more relevant to the question of whether the governor’s and Fabian’s health plan is legal under federal law?
Hi, Ann. I’ll save you the trouble of having to post your usual response by doing it for you.
Ann:
LOL. What a wingnut. He thinks what a federal judge says matters. LOL. What a FlashReport type. LOL.
Merry Christmas, Chris. In case you can’t read, I’m on vacation.
To say that you are an obsessed spinner is to indulge in understatement.
While I’m not paying an enormous amount of attention, and do not know if the SF law is the same as the Cali law, I do know that your characterization of the judge is very incomplete.
He’s a GWB appointee who was head of litigation for one of the biggest corporate law firms in America.
Return to your blog, and enjoy the continuing spirit of Christmas.
Hey, Bill:
Yes, I’m obsessed, but I’m not “spinning” anything. Four times in the past year, federal courts have thrown out employer mandates. In the 33 years since ERISA was adopted, the only local/state employer mandate that was upheld was in the state (Hawaii) which secured a specific congressional exemption. Is this spin? No, it’s a statement of facts.
I knew the fact that Judge White was a Bush appointee would be brought up. How about the Carter appointee who just stepped down as chief judge of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Mary M. Schroeder? In 1980, she wrote the ruling thowing out Hawaii’s employer mandate, which led the state to seek and receive a congressional exemption. That’s not spin. That’s a fact.
Have a Happy New Year. Don’t freeze in Iowa, if you’re going.
Thanks for demonstrating again that you are obsessed, Chris.
Give it a rest.
Thanks for demonstrating again that you are obsessed, Chris.
Give it a rest.
I leave poor Chris alone.
Hugh Hewitt! lol
Chris…
Don’t pick on Ann. She’s part of our family and we protect our family! LOL
As the gray sheep of this cyber family, I must stick up for Chris Reed. His ERISA facts are stubborn things that can’t be wished away or ignored to make a larger point about health care. The over-celebrated, under analyzed health care deal is a clear ERISA violation. In homage to our friend Hemlock, let me repeat — The over-celebrated, under analyzed health care deal is a clear ERISA violation.
When pressed on the question in private, the key Schwarzenegger/Nunez negotiators admit the fatal failing and suggest that a federal exemption that allows Hawaii to have a similar system is the only solution. Of course, the SB 840 single payer solution is also an ERISA violation, one so clear that its author admits the need for a federal exemption.
This politically motivated health care expansion exercise is a cynical attempt to distract Californians from the real issues at hand such as our structural budget deficit, our failing schools and our horrendous prison system. Instead of solving the problems where we have clear authority, our leaders are claiming great credit for a health care solution that will never provide a single Band Aid.
I am willing to bet my last bottle of fine Bordeaux on that outcome.
Great. More spin.
Everyone you disagree with is a monstrously calculating cynic.
Who nonetheless admits the truth to you.
Got it.
Great. More spin.
Everyone you disagree with is a monstrously calculating cynic.
Who nonetheless admits the truth to you.
Got it.
KK,
Your last bottle??? One would hope that you don’t reach the stage of having only one bottle left for a long, long, time.
Incidentally, for those who fall somewhere in between the extremes of either the assassination of Benazir Bhutto and chaos in Pakistan or the “ERISA pre-emption” of a local ordinance in San Francisco being the story of the day, there is a poll in Iowa showing Obama and Huckabee having slivers of leads.
Of course, it was taken on Christmas Day.
What outfit thinks it’s a sane idea to poll over Christmas?
Salvation Army???
Salvation Army???
If Chris Reed is so sure he’s right, what’s he always going on about? He’s already won.
CB,
He came to start a fight and pick on OUR Ann. And he failed to realize, or take into consideration that dear, sweet, Mr. Bradley was trying to get some rest during the holidays and chose this time to jerk his chain. In essence, he was being evil…naughty…and his actions are the kind that shall be remembered next year when he gets fookin coal in his stocking. Yes, they will.