Cracks in the Ice

Yes. Get a good strong Liberal in his seat. A born leader.

I was looking forward to the stoush between Dodd and Peter Schiff, it’s not to be now.

Democrats Dropping Out Of 2010 Elections
==========================================

Democratic Sens. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut and Byron Dorgan of North Dakota won’t seek re-election this fall, party officials say, bringing to four the number of open Senate seats Democrats must defend to protect their majority.

Adding to the party’s woes: officials said Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter planned to announce Wednesday that he won’t run for a second term in November, according to two Democrats with knowledge of Ritter’s decision.

The moves come at the start of an election year that’s shaping up to be challenging one for lawmakers of all political stripes, and particularly for Democrats. Anti-incumbent sentiment is rippling through the electorate, a majority of the country says it’ on the wrong track, and the party in power typically gets blamed for the nation’s troubles.

Dodd, 66, a five-term senator whose popularity in Connecticut has tumbled since his failed 2008 presidential bid and who has faced criticism over allegations he got a favorable deal on a mortgage, was expected to disclose his decision Wednesday, according to two Democratic officials with knowledge of his plans. They spoke only on condition of anonymity ahead of Dodd’s announcement.

Colorado is a bit closer. My hope is they get a STRONG candidate up in each case. That will make it easier.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/06/democrats-dropping-out-of-2010-elections_n_412693.html

Worst RNC cash flow in a decade.
=======================

A 2009 spending spree has left the Republican National Committee (RNC) with its worst election-year cash flow this decade.

The largest GOP party committee has $8.7 million in the bank heading into an election year with 37 governors’ races, a dozen major Senate contests, dozens more in the House and an all-important redistricting cycle on the horizon.
aid one RNC official: “It is very troubling, and the thing is, most people don’t understand this. But it is really troubling.”

The RNC had $22.8 million in cash and no debt when Michael Steele was elected chairman at the end of January, but has since seen its cash on hand drop to less than $9 million at the end of November.

Over the previous five months, while governors’ battles were being waged in New Jersey and Virginia, the committee saw its cash reserves drop by a full $15 million. Through November, the committee spent more than $90 million last year, which is nearly $20 million more than the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

“They’re spending money at 2002 levels when they are not raising money at those levels,” said a GOP operative. “That kind of thing worked when RNC was awash in money, but you can’t do that in this environment.”

This certainly won’t help the Republicans in 2010 along with more retirements than the Democrats. The polls do not take any of this information into account.
http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/74507-worst-rnc-cash-flow-in-a-decade

GOP Vulnerabilities May Help Dems Hang On To 60 Senate Seats

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/01/will-the-dems-lose-their-60-seat-edge-not-necessarily—-gop-could-lose-seats-too.php?ref=fpa

Interesting statistics. I don’t know how accurate his “figures from reliable sources are” but they do not seem to be out landish for the number of attacks carried out.
The CIA and its drones (UAVs not agents) have carried out 44 missile attacks on targets and succeeded in killing only “five key Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders”, plus in excess of 700 civilians, which averages just over 15 civvies per strike.

One curveball agent with a beltpak, nails 7 CIA and one Jordanian top intel officer in one sitting.

Over the course of the past year, US drones have fired missiles into the tribal areas of western Pakistan 44 times–more than twice the number of strikes carried out during the last year of the Bush administration. Citing statistics compiled by Pakistani government officials, Dawn reports that these missile strikes succeeded in killing only “five key Al Qaeda and Taliban leaders,” while their so-called collateral damage included the lives of 708 innocent civilians.

“For each Al Qaeda and Taliban terrorist killed by US drones, 140 innocent Pakistanis also had to die,” the newspaper reports. “Over 90 per cent of those killed in the deadly missile strikes were civilians, claim authorities.”

http://www.opednews.com/articles/US-drone-missiles-slaughte-by-Bill-van-Auken-100106-866.html

EC
I remember quite a while back you said Baz maybe should be taking with Tali and becoming “mates”.
You may turn out to be the Ticster Prophet for 2009.
After spending trillions smashing Iraq to bits Unca Sam looks like he has now teamed up with the Ex Baddies.

US forges alliance with Saddam Hussein officers to fight al-Qaeda

American counter-terrorism specialists and Saddam Hussein’s former intelligence officers have forged an unlikely alliance in Yemen to tackle al-Qaeda

http://www.opednews.com/populum/linkframe.php?linkid=104409

Season 3….
send it.
Just finished 2 and gagging for more.

113 gaffhook I suspect that one is put up by someone trying to have the missiles discontinued.

Presidential Approval and the Midterm Elections
Public Opinion Strategies, a Republican polling firm, looks at how presidential approval affected mid-term House losses for the President’s party in every mid-term election since 1962.

“The results were staggering. If the President’s approval rating was 60% or higher, the President’s party picked up an average of 1 seat. If the approval rating was between 50 and 59%, the average loss was 12 seats. Finally, if the President’s approval rating was below 50%, the average loss was 41 seats (one seat more than the 40 seats GOPers need to win back control of the House).”
http://politicalwire.com

The Republicans will not win back control of the House. They will likely pick up somewhere between 12 to 18 seats in the House and 2 or 3 in the Senate. The risks to the Democrats are only in conservative areas of the country.

Reseach 2000 on Daily Kos armed with the information provided by the Republican strategist at 121 certainly disagree David.

http://www.dailykos.com

Still five months from the real campaign, although expect to see positive initiatives launched early this year.

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/nedas-death-was-faked-says-iran-state-tv/story-fn3dxity-1225817249118

See? Iran is a peaceful nation. The evil British were the murderers of Neda.

Yeah, nasty evil Britisher’s. Must have been Blair. 😈

Neither is Leibermans seat. He’s in massive trouble.

Chris B,

Florida was one of my picks for the Democrats – if Rubio wins the Republican primary.

Jen, since you’re all “Wired”-up and fangin’ for future episodes, this might be the right time going forward for you to get square with me for inadvertently revealing significant plot developments in The West Wing way back when…….and you were about half way through.

The thing is, The Wire is a must-see, especially after unabashed imprimaturs from smart people like paddy and Hussey. And I was tres impressed from the couple of quick clips I’ve caught of it on youtube. But havn’t started on the DVD-set yet because life, like a good debt collector, keeps getting in the way.
They say vengeance is a dish best served cold. Your window of opportunity to do a spoiler is a bay one. 🙂

So next time you’ve got the irrrots…… fire away. Payback time.
This is not a time to let sleeping Barneys lie, Jen. No Ma’am.
http://blog.reidreport.com/uploaded_images/bush-barney-734330.jpg

However……. we shall be square and I shall be free of my filthy, rotten Rock Chopper GUILT!!

Tragic explanatory footnote: (my fate was sealed by Sister Mary Oliver at a tender age when she got her seasoned penguin claws on to the levers of my limbic system. Been damaged psycho-spiritual goods ever since) 🙁

Thanks, gaffy. Most days the toonies are a hoot to assemble. To get a guernsey at Ticster Central a toony has to have either captioned or visual humour, or wit. The best, like Bors and Toles and Oliphant can combine both in every second or third cartoon. A formidable strike rate, but they have their stinkers too.

http://www.truthdig.com/cartoon/item/i_dont_have_the_constitution_for_it_20100106/

Jan 8: The Valued Employee
http://news.yahoo.com/comics/the-quigmans

http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoon/display.cfm/80390

EC, of course. Presumably Cat or yourself can work out my email address. Just need the shipping details.

If only that fucktard Joey was up for reelection this year.
By the look of the recent poll on him he would surely crash and burn. You would have to be in the pits when the potus polls more with the oppos than you do with your supposed party.

“It all adds up to a 25% approval rating with 67% of his constituents giving him bad marks,” the study concludes. “Barack Obama’s approval rating with Connecticut Republicans is higher than Lieberman’s with the state’s Democrats.”

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/07/liebermans-approval-ratin_n_414666.html

143 gaffhook Yeah, two polls, one from either side of politics saying a similar thing.

This is absolutely AWESOME!! You’ve just go to see it!
******************************************
Everyone is good at something. These people just happen to be good at failing — sometimes on a massive scale. But make no mistake: failing this hard is a talent and one we feel is worth celebrating.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/07/best-fails-of-2009-video_n_414549.html

Thanks for that, Ghostie. Despite a few sourpusses in the comments section, Lamont should give a real shake to CT gub race in “Year 12”. Can’t see analysts like Firedoglaker, Jane Hamscher and Marcie “M.T” Wheeler going into bat for Neddy Boy if he was a bent heel.

Righto, Jen, your nocturnal “tabula rasa” routine sounds most efficatious. Emailing El Huss wif me particulars right away. Can’t wait to get a little Wire in my blood 👿

And keep an eye out for people who put the bite on you till the weather breaks……………..after dusk. 🙂

——————————oOo———————————–

Hope Has Left the Building:

“Before Van Jones was thrown under the bus, Obama promised to create five million green jobs in plug-in hybrids, weatherization, renewable energy, biofuels and clean coal. Biofuels and clean coal? Okay, maybe it’s a good thing this promise was snuffed. But as Naomi Klein points out, between the stimulus, the auto bailout and the Wall Street rescue, Obama had the leverage and political capital to fund mass transit and a smart electrical grid, restructure government-owned automakers to focus on green technology and force bailed out banks to fund industrial restructuring and green infrastructure. Instead, we get a White House vegetable garden the size of a New York apartment.”

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/01/08-9

The Man Who Mistook His Limbs For Branches offers his unique take on the Kurt Weil classic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DSiD5CQ_Uk&NR=1

It’s amazing how some people have given up the fight for change at the first sign of a little flesh wound. Taking their toys and going home. This is a long term battle to change the world. Fundies and rednecks aren’t giving up. They might be stupid. But they are in the fight for the long haul to keep their ideology, as stupid as it might be. If you want to go back to the Bush era. Then sit at home and do nothing. They won’t.

Chris, you wouldn’t read about it!
Now a spritely yet forgetful eighty-one, Jane is glad she kept her Radio-head memorabilia…….if only she could rightly recollect where she stashed the darn thing.
http://blog.makezine.com/upload/2008/07/retro_thingamahat/retroThingamaHat72808.jpg

God’s Waiting Room Just Grew A Little Fresher………

Telstra are now gonna rent out the below surrounds first, as grey nomad camping sites. When joint gets really popular, the money-sucking animals will convert it into an upscale Geri Joint because it will improve telstra’s quarterly figures. This arrangement is value added because the old farts will become fortified with the “background” radiation and stay alive longer and be able to afford the extortionate residency and “short-time” rates.
http://images.google.com.au/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b3/Cell_phone_tower_disguised_2008.jpg&imgrefurl=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cell_phone_tower_disguised_2008.jpg&usg=__A3_9X7f5rd1M_yypdej4GvImRhI=&h=2448&w=3264&sz=3950&hl=en&start=59&tbnid=I__YHXNl7AtljM:&tbnh=113&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcell%2Bphone%2Btowers%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DN%26start%3D54

“The American Way of Life will not be compromised”…gWb.
http://www.schallstailgate.com/BeerHatGuy2.jpg

Chris at 153;
Reckon that thus-freaken-far Obi has faild to live up to much of his hype and many of his weaselly promises. None of us are buffered from the gobal consequences of inaction on GW. He dropped the biosphere badly on that one, comrade.
People are going to need a real reason to schlep their hopeful asses to the polls (or computers) and support the grassroots organisers this time .

Wonder if the Boss is gonna step up to the plate for The Kid next time round the hustings. His opening comments are rather revealing, even though the clip was made sometime during the reign of the Imbecile.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yuc4BI5NWU&feature=related

If North Koreans had a sense of nu-ku-lar humour……..maybe those “Cracks in the Ice” would widen and proliferate into peace floes.
The current Ice Station Zebra shit is SO yesterday. The common foe now stands out like dog’s balls on a canary. It’s GW guys and its concommitant catatrophes in the making. We are all aboard the same boat and our Pale Blue space-craft is not the ark of the government. 🙂

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DUzRJfAc-HU&feature=PlayList&p=6EB5BC02039291C9&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=40

———————————-

gaffy, Great Britain likewise wishes GOPper Steele all the best.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l_3-23zAWM&feature=related

Portugal’s parliament approves same-sex marriage.
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/01/08/portugal-marriage/

I suppose I had better put a link up. 😆
http://politicalwire.com

Chris, if they get Chris Mathews to do their pre election gigs it will be a romp in for the dems.

Todd Harris, GOP Strategist, DECIMATED By Chris Matthews (VIDEO)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/06/todd-harris-gop-strategist-decimated-chris-matthews_n_414205.html

Former, whatever he was, of the Iraq Government has launched an indictment to prosecute Tony Blair for war crimes.
The indictment has been lodged in Italy.
Hopefully it causes a few orifice spasms in Rattus.

http://www.studiolegaleinternazionale.com/blogHome2.php

A man walked into the doctors and said “Doctor I’ve got a cricket ball stuck up my bum”. Dr said, “howzat”? The man said,”don’t you start.”

France considers tax on search engines.
==========================================

The French government is considering taxing search engines such as Google and Yahoo and internet service providers as a way to support the production of music, films and journalism in the digital age.

A report commissioned by the country’s culture ministry issued this week proposed a tax on online advertising that could then be put toward subsidies or vouchers for artistic and other cultural works.

Great idea. Would provide a regular income for the ABC to expand everything.
http://euobserver.com/9/29228

The way to fix the senate problems is to win a bigger vote and replace Blue Dogs in primaries. David “But those who wish to make the perfect the enemy of the good may well end up foisting the bad on the rest of us.” Spot on David.

CFA (Country Fire Authority) gets very frustrated at the attitudes taken by some people to bushfire safety. Read the last four paragraphs of the following story…
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/01/10/2789132.htm
There is more on the CFA’s Facebook group.

Chris B at 171,

Replacing Blue Dogs is not the answer. Blue Dogs are Blue Dogs because they win in conservative districts. It is highly unlikely that a progressive can win in such a district. Thus, replacing a Blue Dog with a progessive will just see the Republicans pick up the seat.

Ignore conservative Democrat seats. What needs to be done is for progressive Democrats to go after ever single *moderate* Republican district.

Given that moderate Republicans only rarely vote for Democrat proposals – how many Republicans voted for the healthcare bill in the Senate? how many Republicans voted for the bailout? – replacing them with progressive Democrats means that the progressives gain votes.

That is a strategy that might win the Senate for progressives.

But I am sanguine that that will happen this cycle. The Democrats, your optimism notwithstanding, will have a net loss this year.

Three Very Different Polls for Massachusetts senate
====================================

Nate Silver looks closely at the three most recent Massachusetts polls — Rasmussen has Coakley leading by nine points, the Boston Globe has her ahead by 15 points and PPP has Brown up by one point — and concludes: “All of the polls have positives and negatives. And any of them could be right.”

“This probably won’t be a very satisfying answer to those of you who come to me looking for some kind of certitude. But part of being a good forecaster is knowing when to make a bold forecast and knowing when to proceed with more caution; the Massachusetts race calls for a heavy dose of the latter.”

Mark Blumenthal: “Do we have a clear picture today of who will win on January 19 and by how much? Probably not, but we do have a sense of the dynamics that will ultimately determine the outcome.”

http://politicalwire.com

What Happened to the Grassroots Obama Movement?
Laura Flanders Grit TV a good discussion, although they seem to be discussing two different things the OFA which is controlled by the DCC and the independent groups.

180 Bit of an error at the start. Sorry about that.

This is not a tree. Photographs of trees that are cellphone towers.

The Daily Beast

Blackwater Wants $1 Billion to Train the New Afghan Police Force
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/01/10-0

They should include this video in their submission.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYqBsBmGHjw

David at 170 (on Obi and GW):

Gouldie, I expected more than motherhood statements, non-binding agreements of the ilk, “yes, darling, of course I’ll still love you in the morning”, and wafflespeak from President Barack Hussein Obama on GW as the global bake-off, catalysed by executive inertia, continues unabated.

Some genuine leadership on GW would have been a nice. He could have gone to COP-15 and said:

“ unless we get a fix in the mix pronto, all of you muthas and your progeny are gonna righteously fry”. Maybe toned down a bit so as not so offend chuch-goin’ folk, but delivered with oomph nevertheless”

But he squibbed it!
——————————————–

http://www.truthdig.com/cartoon/item/reid_carefully_20100110/

On The Mushrooming Of Junior:

My grandson, like every little kid that age, has a quality of eager and vulnerable innocence, innocent even of the names of things. That innocence radiates out of him, presses outward from under his skin like a manna of joy, a nutritious balm of trust and hope potent enough, one would think, to penetrate the cynical armor of even the most shriveled heart. That radiance is innocent of the names of the objects that reflect it — innocent of categories, classifications, prejudices and euphemism, innocent of the sorrow of plastic, the corrosion of television, and the betrayal of war. This innocent light is particulated by awe and the purity of color. When he reaches his small hand up and rubs my prickly beard, it’s pure sensation for him. He has no words to describe it to himself. He puts his fingers in my mouth, his buzzing mind yet uninhabited words for teeth, tongue, and mucus membrane. But he knows this is where naming begins.
What are we to think of those who are slyly anticipating stealing that radiance, co-opting it with the titillations of advertising, infecting it with fear, and addicting it to violence and cynicism? What are we to think of people who define patriotism as profit? Who, in a few years, would lie to my grandson to enlist him to murder those who stand in the way of that profit. What are their core values? Do they want to name the beast for my grandson, look it in the eye, or do they prefer to be the beast — I mean, benefactor?

“We have slain innocence
let history begin
– Alicia Ostriker, interlude: the song of Joshua”

Website of the above author follows. Suggest click The Portraits, left column hp, for some concise “makes” on prime-cut Sep victualiers of veraciity aka disseminators of truth s opposed to truthiness.
Bunch of commie kids in Cuba have got cards, which have the story of the truthsters on one side and their photo on the other, like baseball cards, which the Red kids haggle after and swap on the Havana waterefront as they checki out the action. None of them can figure why Elvis was not included in the set. An easy amble down the promenage, Cuban teenage bodgies do Tony Montana shtick outside Café Scarface. Gauntanameros coo.
http://www.americanswhotellthetruth.org/

Well dear ticsters…..I wish I could say I’d been on holidays…..
But the truth is *much* worse. 🙁
Churning between ISP’s can leave you without an Internet connection for……………………..DAYS!!!! (gasp!)
Oh the horror!!!! But never mind.
Thanks to my sparkling new 50 gig superfast 1.5 mps connection…
I can now even watch the ABfrigginC Iview thingy. TaDa!!!!
Even better, I can now use VOIP!!!
Meanwhile…Firstdog’s first day back at work seems to have been rather fraught. 👿
http://media.crikey.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/Desk.jpg

175 David Gould 80% of people would have no idea what sort of person is in their seat. Its only the hard core political people that know. That is why in Australia people like Pete Steedman and Peter Milton were able to get up in conservative areas. In the USA the have less idea than in Australia. If you are a redneck in Alabama everyone in the Democrats is a commie no matter how moderate.

Egypt tombs suggest pyramids not built by slaves

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100110/sc_nm/us_egypt_antiquities_tombs

Chris B,

But elections are not won with the 80 per cent who never change their vote. It is those who *do* change their vote who matter.

This is why Democrats who sell their right-wing credentials can win in conservative districts and why Republicans who sell their moderate credentials can win in moderate districts.

For those unhappy with Obama’s efforts on climate change, I recommend this:

http://climateprogress.org/2010/01/11/obama-energy-climate-one-year-in-office/#more-17309

Chris B,

Axelrod lays out the Democratic election strategy:

http://www.nationaljournal.com/njonline/no_20100111_1501.php

He has some good things there – he agrees with you on making it about the Republicans. And he sees the importance of again mobilising the base.