15 Comments

1. AZrider  •  Dec 1, 2008 @6:37 pm
   

   Here in Arizona, weather is great, as it almost always is this time of year. My outdoor thermometer reads 83 degrees.

   But politically, we’re losing a very popular Democratic governor, and getting a Republican one who is sure to move the state back toward the dark ages. And there are a lot of grumpy McCain supporters around here. Then the fact that the economy of Arizona is dependent upon housing growth, and foreclosures are up about 1000%, makes for something of a downer.

   So, we go outside, enjoy the weather, but locally, it’s kinda bleak –especially as our 401Ks get Bush’d.

2. Lynne  •  Dec 1, 2008 @6:48 pm
   

   Isn’t it amazing? What is wrong with people? Gah.

3. Linkmeister  •  Dec 1, 2008 @7:29 pm
   

   It’s in the 80s during the day, dropping into the 70s at night in Hawai’i (that’s sweater weather). The North Shore surf is down from last week, when it was running 8′-12′.

4. Mark Adams  •  Dec 1, 2008 @7:30 pm
   

   I kinda suspected when the PUMA thing started, now I’m convinced that a lot of our fellow travelers are a bit (to be kind) eccentric. No?

   It’s not like we elected Dennis Kunicich, geez. And we never will. Unlike the idiots on the right, the left is much more reasonable about things — which means the extremists on both sides are properly dealt with, listened to, but never allowed to run the show. When the Dems were on the outs, they moved to the center (ala the DLC and Bill Clinton). The right is the wilderness and promising to move even more to the extreme — idiots.

   No doubt the amazing relief I feel with the end of the neo-incompetents has a lot to do with my opinion that there’s not one damn thing wrong with any of Obama’s moves thus far — and he’s proven he’s a lot smarter than everybody so the nay-sayers should just chill.

   Think about this. Remember all those goofballs who swore that not picking Hillary as VP was the worst thing ever, dooming us to 4 years of McCain ? Compared to SecSt., VP is just dull and she’d have been bored and her talents wasted. Obama just gave the Clintons the world. How cool is that? The US SecSt is more influential and prestigious than even UN SecGen. What a great job!

   Will she someday move up to POTUS? Who knows? Will she be a better SecSt. than even Bill had in Albright — you betcha!

5. buckyblue  •  Dec 1, 2008 @9:22 pm
   

   Eight inches of snow last night, after last year’s winter it’s awfully early to have to worry about this stuff. Usually in B-U-Tful Wisconsin we can make it to Christmas without a big one, even moderate temps (40’s) but not this time around. It’ll be on the ground until Easter. YUCK. But then again, in Obamaville, all things are sunny, warm and all of the children are above average.

6. justme  •  Dec 1, 2008 @9:55 pm
   

   AZrider(a harley rider maybe????) or linkmeister…can my cussing parrot and I come live with you where it is warm???I am in Iowa with ice and snow and I don’t know how to drive in it… now I know how Iowa became a blue state…we friggin froze!!!!I went out for a scooter ride on the 23rd of Nov and wore so many layers of clothes I could hardly kick my leg over the seat….With all the extra weight of the clothes I got tired walking to the garage to get the bike out..Still I feel like I got one over on old man winter by sneaking out for a ride so late in the season; then he got me back UGH …Even the bird was annoyed when he looked out and saw all of that white stuff. His reaction pretty much sums up how we feel about winter at my place He said “YOU SUCK!!!!!” Gotta love a smart bird!

   Off topic but have you heard about our cookies here in Des Moines??? Well, the Obama family has put Des Moines on the map and made us famous for cookies made at a local joint.They enjoy them so much they have ordered them and the local joint has gained so much attention they went from selling a few hundred cookies a day to selling a few thousand! “Obama cookies”are all the rage at trendy holiday parties and get togethers
   so blahhhhh(sticks out tongue) we have cookies and YOU don’t ! HA! Obama likes us better than you cause we serve better snacks!! The rest of you better step up!

7. Linkmeister  •  Dec 2, 2008 @2:05 am
   

   justme, it would be novel to have a guest who brought along a parrot. As I type it’s begun pouring buckets, so maybe you should reconsider.

8. moonbat  •  Dec 2, 2008 @2:26 am
   

   Just another crappy day in Southern California – sunny, with temps in the 70s and 80s, with enough infrequent rains lately to reduce the fire hazard. The sun is going into its usual winter glare – its angle is low for the next few months, and so the light is sharp and glinting. Just came back from the beach tonight. I feel blessed to be here. Looking forward to my back-east alma mater, Penn State, destroying USC in the Rose Bowl.

   Am reading and absorbing Don Miguel Ruiz’ Beyond Fear. Into the Toltecs these days.

9. Bonnie  •  Dec 2, 2008 @4:39 am
   

   Something good happened to this country when Obama was elected President and all you get is whine, whine, whine from some people who are never happy if something good happens. I, for one, am very happy. And, compared to the despair I have been in the past 8 years, I almost feel 40 again. I think everything Obama has done so far shows he will be every thing we asked for and more. If the whiners would be ignored by the press, every one could bask in these moments of hope and happiness.

10. Chief  •  Dec 2, 2008 @7:25 am
    

    Books ? ? Here is what I’ve read in the last six months:

    Dov Freiberg – To Survive Sobibor

    James Bamford – The Shadow Factory

    Benazir Bhutto – Reconciliation

    Doris Kearns Goodwin – Team of Rivals

    Phillipe Sands – Torture Team

    Ron Suskind – The Way of the World

    Glenn Greenwald – Great American Hypocrites

    Robert Baer – See No Evil

    Valerie Plame-Wilson – Fair Game

    Bart Ehrman – Misquoting Jesus

11. goatherd  •  Dec 2, 2008 @10:44 am
    

    Here in the NC piedmont it has been freezing at night, but tolerably warm during the day. It’s supposed to get into the 50’s for a couple of days. Today will be a nice sunny day if I can judge by the morning.

    I’ll be laid up until the 10th of January or so. The bright side is that I don’t have to feel guilty if I spend a good part of the day reading.

    In the last three weeks I have read Thomas Cahill’s “Hinges of History” series. They are addictive. I especially liked he one on the ancient greeks. (“Sailing the Wine Dark Sea”)

    I am about halfway through “Foucault’s Pendulum” which has been fun. I don’t know where I’ll go from there.

12. tonto  •  Dec 2, 2008 @12:00 pm
    

    I agree with much of the ‘clear-headedness’ exhibited by Barbara and many other bloggers about not judging Obama until he actually begins to govern but one thing that concerns me a bit? Remember, at the beginning of the Bush days, when the president held that press conference introducing Powell as his pick for SOS? And he joked about how it “would be easier if this were a dictatorship, (heh, heh) as long as I’m the dictator”? I was immediately (as I’m sure were others) horrified by that remark as it revealed how this man planned to govern and I was amazed that more people weren’t really and truly alarmed by it. One remark that Obama made that gave me pause was in a campaign commercial where, when speaking to a ‘townhall’ audience,he said, “So I’m not worried about CEO’s, I’m not worried about corporate lobbyists, I’m not worried about the drug companies or the oil companies or the insurance companies……” Sorry; though I still do have high hopes that Obama will at least try and institute fundamental change, this remark worried me. If he really doesn’t think that addressing this (and other) fundamental rots in our system isn’t important, I worry that we won’t get the change he promised. That said, I’m still willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

13. tonto  •  Dec 2, 2008 @12:03 pm
    

    and it’s a guh-guh-gorgeous day here in Southern California! (even for “equal-protection” challenged homos like me)

14. idlemind  •  Dec 2, 2008 @4:45 pm
    

    Unfortunately, moonbat, whatever its beneficial effect on the fire danger, that “occasional rain” has been pushed South from its usual destination this time of year and the Sierra snowpack is near record lows — a pattern that seems destined to continue. Hope that Californians are ready to replace their lawns with rock gardens…

15. Joe the Pilot  •  Dec 3, 2008 @1:39 am
    

    I read Sarah Vowell’s “The Wordy Shipmates” recently. I highly recommend it.

    Sarah was hilarious on Letterman:
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JMYo0v93RFM

    Weather today was “CAVU” (Clear All-quadrants, Visibility Unlimited) but forecast for tonight is “WOXOF” (Weather Obscured Zero Visibility and Fog).