Best wishes to everyone celebrating Christmas and Hanukkah. Our kids get to double dip on both holidays in a play to spread our bets between the two religions of the parents. We have just finished placing the last present under the tree in Chicago. We can now look forward to three hours of sleep before the C-Day invasion. As my gift to you, I have linked a truly inspirational holiday video: Jingle Bells played on microwave ovens below.
I hope that the holidays bring much joy to everyone on this blog (which remains the best hope for peace on Earth). I am very thankful for the community that has formed about this site. We may be a dysfunctional Internet family, but family is family.
Happy Holidays to Everyone and best wishes for the New Year!!!
For the video, click here.
rafflaw,
That is really wonderful news! I’m happy for all of you. That is exciting!! YEAH!!!!
I am a little late getting to the party, but I want to wish everyone on Prof. Turley’s blog a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Happy Festivus and Happy Holidays. I would have responded earlier, but on 12/23, our oldest daughter gave birth to our first grandson, Jack Edward. 8lbs, 23 oz and everyone is healthy and happy. What an exciting day. I wish all of you the joy of the season.
Wow, both sides sound like a bunch of pedagogs preaching to the ignorant unwashed. I’m not sure what’s worse, the rabid close-minded attacks of (some of) the right or the arrogance and elitism of (some of) the left.
Wait, no. I do know.
The party that committed the horrible violations of the constitution and human rights is marginally worse than the party who’s using it for political gain without making any real effort to stop the abuse.
Stop dehumanizing people and treating them as stereotypes and start addressing them as individuals. IF they catch on and respond in kind you might accidently have a conversation.
Ya gotta have some pity for trolls like our marie, bummer, etc. They’re desperate for attention now that the conservative movement is dead. Their lock-step allegience fascist criminals like Bush and Cheney is so very sad to witness. To make matters worse, they’re otherwise out of ideas. All they have left are these pathetic venomous attempts to smear Obama who hasn’t even taken office yet. It’s sooo Rovian, sooo predictable, sooo out of step with where America is going.
bummer wrote:
>Are you going to call Obama names for years like you have done to >Bush?
If President Obama proves to be as totally incometent as Bush, showing the same contempt for or Constitution, the laws of the country, and a disregard for its citizens, yes. Until then, as liberals, we tolerantly and compassionately encourage your continued postings. You guys are always good for a laugh and and an insightful glimpse into the abyss that is the right wing.
Happy Holidays to the JT Family and all who read this blog. Especially so to Marie, who shows she needs something to cheer her up.
Merry Christmas to you and your family, and thanks for the amazing microwave choir. How cool was that!
Have your kids elved themselves yet on Jibjab or elfyourself.com?
bummer 1, December 25, 2008 at 11:57 am
“I notice that all the left wing lunatics are adament that 1) bush transgressed on our Constitutional rights for 8 years by expanding the power of the presdincy and 2) obama will reverse all these transgressions!
Well, he isn’t going to and I want to know WHAT Mr. Turley and the other 2 percenters are going to do about it!
Are you going to call Obama names for years like you have done to Bush”
Great. A Christmas troll.
Well “bummer” (aptly named) you really should do your homework before blathering about Professor Turley’s criticism’s of the Bush administrations “policies” and the same for President Obama’s policies and positions. If you had you’d know that Professor Turley has never called Mr Bush “names” nor has he criticized Mr Bush himself. If you listen to him on Countdown and the Maddow show you’ll see that he criticizes the policy, never the man.
You’d also know that he has likewise criticized President Obama’s policies as well, particularly dealing with constitutional issues.
For example, recently he did a major segment on countdown back when President Obama voted to grant the telecoms immunity (HR 6034 if memory serves me correctly). He dedicated an entire segment on Countdown to voicing his shock and disagreement with the President elect on this vote which struck at the heart of our 4th Amendment protections.
If you’re going to be a Christmas troll, at least be an accurate one.
Week of Dec. 15
For the 20th week out of the last 20, Fox News Channel ranked as one of the top 5 networks in all of cable last week in prime time (Live+SD).
FNC averaged 2,563,000 Total Viewers for 3th place, while CNN was #21 (1,002,000) and MSNBC was #24 (952,000).
In total day, FNC was #5 (1,455,000), CNN #20 (654,000) and MSNBC #26 (501,000).
Thanks JT and what holiday would be complete without the ‘jinglecats’?
Niblet/marie/bummer/other paid lackies,
I’m curious why you are so worried about 2% of the population. Hardly seems worth any of your guy’s time.
I notice that all the left wing lunatics are adament that 1) bush transgressed on our Constitutional rights for 8 years by expanding the power of the presdincy and 2) obama will reverse all these transgressions!
Well, he isn’t going to and I want to know WHAT Mr. Turley and the other 2 percenters are going to do about it!
Are you going to call Obama names for years like you have done to Bush?
marie
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…………..
Cable Ranker: Week of Dec. 15
For the 20th week out of the last 20, Fox News Channel ranked as one of the top 5 networks in all of cable last week in prime time (Live+SD).
FNC averaged 2,563,000 Total Viewers for 3th place, while CNN was #21 (1,002,000) and MSNBC was #24 (952,000).
In total day, FNC was #5 (1,455,000), CNN #20 (654,000) and MSNBC #26 (501,000).
Obama Absolves Himself
December 25, 2008
Barack Obama’s campaign has investigated itself, and has found itself to be beyond reproach. Bernie Madoff can only envy the press relations that allow Obama’s self-exoneration to be reported straight.
The Obama report was done by non other than Greg Craig, who is (unbelievably) about to become Obama’s White House Counsel.
Craig, having interviewed Obama aides Rahm Emanuel, David Axelrod and Valerie Jarrett, along with Obama’s good friend Eric Whitaker, concludes that:
The accounts support your statement on December 11, 2008 that you “have never spoken to the Governor on this subject [or] about these issues,” and that you “had no contact with the Governor’s office.”
That’s reassuring, I guess, but how would Valerie Jarrett, for example, be able to testify that Barack Obama never talked to Rod Blagojevich?
What Craig’s report does show is that Obama’s aides had 6 or 7 conversations with Blagojevich or his staffers about the Senate appointment. They told Craig that in these conversations, they never learned that Illinois’ governor was trying to sell Obama’s Senate seat. That could be true, of course.
For now, though, one question lingers. It has been widely reported that Blagojevich cursed the Obama camp and said that they offered “nothing but appreciation” if he appointed their favored candidate. If he didn’t explore the idea of getting a reward in his or his staff’s conversations with Emanuel and others, then how did Blagojevich know that Obama was offering “nothing but appreciation”?
Perhaps that question will be answered when transcripts of the conversations with Emanuel are made public.
President-elect Obama’s White House Counsel Gregg Craig released an internal review of the transition team’s contacts with the Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich, said no member of Obama’s team had inappropriate contacts in connection with filling the Senate seat.
Craig’s assertions that the transition team was unaware of Blagojevich’s efforts to sell off Obama’s old seat do not correspond to the transcripts of wiretapped conversations released by the FBI two weeks ago in which the governor repeatedly swears and expresses frustration in his attempts to strike a deal on the Senate seat.
Five-page internal report unlikely to lay to rest the scandal that has overshadowed Obama’s presidential transition
Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
more at http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/23/barack-obama-rod-blagojevich-report
Politico: Obama’s Blago report creates more questions than it answers:
Why did Obama confidant Valerie Jarrett communicate with Craig through her lawyer, who the report does not name, and how many conversations did incoming White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel have with Blagojevich?
The report says Emanuel urged Blagojevich to tap Jarrett for the Senate seat during “one or two telephone calls.” But in the next paragraph, it refers to “those early conversations with the governor,” and in a conference call unveiling the report, Craig said Emanuel “had a couple of conversations with the governor.”
Equally unclear is what exactly was reviewed in the report that conclude that nothing inappropriate occurs, and whether there were any transition emails or other records covering the Senate seat selection process.
“We asked each individual who we thought might have had some contact or some communication that would be meaningful” to reconstruct “any contacts or communications, and that would include checking cell phone records or emails, and we inquired about that,” Craig said. He added that “we’ve got the information that is required,” and said he didn’t know of any written communications.
Also, the report revealed that prosecutors interviewed Obama, himself, and did so after he had publicly declared he had been unaware of Blagojevich’s alleged plot to sell off the Senate seat Obama had vacated after winning the presidency, raising questions about why they took the unusual step of interviewing the president-elect, what they asked him and whether he was under oath.
I’m a little curious about that myself. Craig never mentions that, which tends to make me think he wasn’t under oath when Fitzgerald questioned him. Presidents almost never testify under oath (recall what happened to the one who did), and I’d bet that Fitzgerald would have kept to that tradition in any initial interview. Even approaching him for the investigation seems unusual, as Politico notes. It seems that Fitzgerald needed further clarification than Obama’s flat denials, and it would be interesting to know why — and why Team Obama never bothered to mention the interview themselves.
Jennifer Rubin has more questions, but says the real test will be for the media. Will they do their jobs and investigate potential abuses of power — or will they just blithely accept Obama’s assurances that there’s nothing to see here and move on? After all, Obama’s legal counsel surely would have released damaging information if there was any to be found … right?
The test now is really one for the MSM. Will they resume their role as adversarial inquisitor, and insist at each press conference that all questions on the topic be answered? Or will they accept the Obama team’s word as gospel — something they would surely never do for other administrations? There is plenty of work to be done and angles to pursue. After the holidays we’ll find out if the media has any intention of doing any of that.
Sure hope they hurry up and impeach Obama.
And to you and yours!
I must say some of my favorite posters are the pharmacies (a modern form of Pharisees) that log on to plug their stores. The last one appeared to be from Russia. Where do they even get these list of blogs? Where are our Nigerian princes out of luck, just trying to get by over the holiday until the windfall comes, if we could all please help out?
Speaking of wind. Last night was incredible. I saw a hawk defy the laws of gravity on an upper thermal. It just moved with the current, barely turning it’s body, wings motionless, moving so quickly it was hard to follow. Amazing. Further down to earth, smaller birds were literally blown backwards as they tried to advance into the wind.
Finally, we got some astonomical action around here! No sky in sight for too many days. As the sun went down it lit up the puddles in my unshoveled driveway (guilty to slacking on that one). They were glowing! Then the clouds turned orange, looking like mountains and a beautiful planet came out. bright, quiet and stunning!
Good holidays to you, JT.
Merry ChristmaKwanzanakuh JT.