Happy New Year.......
1/ Well - wouldn't this be interesting? An Obama/Clinton ticket in 2012......
y political prediction for 2012 (based on absolutely no inside information): Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden swap places. Biden becomes Secretary of State - a position he's apparently coveted for years. And Hillary Clinton, Vice President.So the Democratic ticket for 2012 is Obama-Clinton.
Why do I say this? Because Obama needs to stir the passions and enthusiasms of a Democratic base that's been disillusioned with his cave-ins to regressive Republicans. Hillary Clinton on the ticket can do that.
2/ The Iowa Republican primary is next week!! Woop woop! Rachael Maddow devoted her opening to this race, with the history of the "frontrunner bubbles" - remember the Donald? He was the leader 9 months ago, then came Perry, Cain, Newt etc etc.....
Most interesting segment [14 minutes], and she devotes dome time to the GOP TV network [Fox] as well, with commentary on who they like and don't like - for example Fox News hates Ron Paul....
If you are interested in politics, you'll like this clip.....
3/ Onion News has their year in review video with some stories you may remember, and also might have missed [actually most of them].....an amusing and quite sarcastic four minutes.......
4/ Iran may or may not be developing nuclear capability, we don't know and neither do the Israelis, but the US war machine is starting to crank out lots of BS, aided by every Republican candidate repeating the BS which then forces Obama to pretend he's tough. The mantra is we have to stop Iran developing nuclear weapons, up to and including military action which suits the military industrial complex, which is missing the money machine that was Iraq.
But there's a problem - Iran has the capability of stopping all oil tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz, which carries Saudi Arabian, Iraqi and the Emirates oil production......oops.....
Watch the oil oligarchs spring into action to dial down the rhetoric.....maybe......good story from the Times.....
WASHINGTON — A senior Iranian official on Tuesday delivered a sharp threat in response to economic sanctions being readied by the United States, saying his country would retaliate against any crackdown by blocking all oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz, a vital artery for transporting about one-fifth of the world’s oil supply.
The declaration by Iran’s first vice president, Mohammad-Reza Rahimi, came as President Obama prepares to sign legislation that, if fully implemented, could substantially reduce Iran’s oil revenue in a bid to deter it from pursuing a nuclear weapons program.
Prior to the latest move, the administration had been laying the groundwork to attempt to cut off Iran from global energy markets without raising the price of gasoline or alienating some of Washington’s closest allies.
Apparently fearful of the expanded sanctions’ possible impact on the already-stressed economy of Iran, the world’s third-largest energy exporter, Mr. Rahimi said, “If they impose sanctions on Iran’s oil exports, then even one drop of oil cannot flow from the Strait of Hormuz,” according to Iran’s official news agency. Iran just began a 10-day naval exercise in the area.
In recent interviews, Obama administration officials have said that the United States has developed a plan to keep the strait open in the event of a crisis. In Hawaii, where President Obama is vacationing, a White House spokesman said there would be no comment on the Iranian threat to close the strait. That seemed in keeping with what administration officials say has been an effort to lower the level of angry exchanges, partly to avoid giving the Iranian government the satisfaction of a response and partly to avoid spooking financial markets.
5/ Another view of the Iran situation, with the author hearing all of the same lies they told about Iraq and how we have to invade another Arab country all over again....."the boys" really want this war with Iran......revenues must be down in the military industrial complex.....
Ever heard of the IAEA? You will soon......read on......
Exclusive: Having apparently learned nothing from the Iraq disaster, many of the same political/media players are reprising their tough-guy roles in a new drama regarding Iran. These retread performances may make another war, with Iran, hard to avoid, writes Robert Parry
By Robert Parry
With the typical backdrop of alarmist propaganda in place, the stage is now set for a new war, this time with Iran. The slightest miscalculation (or provocation) by the United States, Israel or Iran could touch off a violent scenario that will have devastating consequences.
Indeed, even if they want to, the various sides might have trouble backing down enough to defuse today’s explosive situation. After all, the Iranians continue to insist they have no intention of building a nuclear bomb, as much as Israeli and American officials insist that they are.
So, this prospective war with Iran – like the one in Iraq – is likely to come down to intelligence assessments on Iran’s intentions and capabilities. And, as with Iraq’s alleged WMD,the many loud voices claiming that Iran is on pace to build a nuclear bomb are drowning out the relatively few skeptics who think the evidence is thin to invisible.
For instance, the recent report from the International Atomic Energy Agency about Iran’s supposed progress toward a nuclear bomb was widely accepted as gospel truth without any discussion of whether the IAEA is an unbiased and reliable source.
In framing the story in support of the IAEA, the major U.S. newspapers and TV networks ignored documentary evidence that the IAEA’s new director-general was installed with the support of the United States and that he privately indicated to U.S. and Israeli officials that he would help advance their goals regarding Iran.
For instance, the recent report from the International Atomic Energy Agency about Iran’s supposed progress toward a nuclear bomb was widely accepted as gospel truth without any discussion of whether the IAEA is an unbiased and reliable source.
In framing the story in support of the IAEA, the major U.S. newspapers and TV networks ignored documentary evidence that the IAEA’s new director-general was installed with the support of the United States and that he privately indicated to U.S. and Israeli officials that he would help advance their goals regarding Iran.
6/ "The Hunger Games" is a movie coming in March, and it has a real buzz behind it......here's the 2 minute trailer, and it looks pretty good......it's set in one of our possible futures.....
7/ Israel today is an interesting case study of how religious extremists have poisoned a supposedly civilized country - with the result that the Israelis are pushing the US to get tough on Iran [code for war!!] because they have become heavily influenced by the ultra-Orthodox fanatics driving the government way to the right.....here's a story on how there is some pushback to the religious loonies........
BEIT SHEMESH, Israel — The latest battleground in Israel’s struggle over religious extremism covers little more than a square mile of this Jewish city situated between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, and it has the unexpected public face of a blond, bespectacled second-grade girl.
She is Naama Margolese, 8, the daughter of American immigrants who are observant modern Orthodox Jews. An Israeli weekend television program told the story of how Naama had become terrified of walking to her elementary school here after ultra-Orthodox men spit on her, insulted her and called her a prostitute because her modest dress did not adhere exactly to their more rigorous dress code.
The country was outraged. Naama’s picture has appeared on the front pages of all the major Israeli newspapers. While Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted Sunday that “Israel is a democratic, Western, liberal state” and pledged that “the public sphere in Israel will be open and safe for all,” there have been days of confrontation at focal points of friction here.
Ultra-Orthodox men and boys from the most stringent sects have hurled rocks and eggs at the police and journalists, shouting “Nazis” at the security forces and assailing female reporters with epithets like “shikse,” a derogatory Yiddish term for a non-Jewish woman or girl, and “whore.” Jews of varying degrees of orthodoxy and secularity headed to Beit Shemesh on Tuesday evening to join local residents in a protest numbering in the thousands against religious violence and fanaticism.
For many Israelis, this is not a fight over one little girl’s walk to school. It is a struggle that could shape the future character and soul of the country, against ultra-Orthodox zealots who have been increasingly encroaching on the public sphere with their strict interpretation of modesty rules, enforcing gender segregation and the exclusion of women.
The battle has broadened and grown increasingly visible in recent weeks and months. Orthodox male soldiers walked out of a ceremony where female soldiers were singing, adhering to what they consider to be a religious prohibition against hearing a woman’s voice; women have been challenging the seating arrangements on strictly “kosher” buses serving ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods and some inter-city routes, where female passengers are expected to sit at the back.
8/ The "Book Of Mormon" has just been voted the #1 musical of 2011 by just about everybody, so you might appreciate one of the numbers again from this wonderful play - "I Believe", performed live at the Tony awards.
If you listen to the lyrics about what Mormons believe in, and then muse on the fact there are two Mormons [Romney, Huntsman] as Presidential contenders with Romney as the likely candidate, then you too will want your own planet.....
A great song, fabulous performance.....
9/ It's nice to dream sometimes.....and this is the Times list of 41 wonderful places to see in the world in 2012.....[kidding - here's your readymade bucket list]......
10/ Undoubtedly the weirdest band ever, Devo, with a classic video "Whip It" [whip it good!!!!].
Love the hats boys......
11/ Most interesting story about the influx of Brazilian money into South Florida, with the added premise that they have kept the Miami condo market from complete collapse......
MIAMI — Even in a city that has embraced so many waves of Latinos that it is jokingly referred to as the only South American capital in North America, no one group has been as courted and pampered as the Brazilians.
Flush with cash from a booming economy and enamored of luxury, Brazilians are visiting South Florida in droves and spending millions of dollars on vacation condominiums, clothes, jewelry, furniture, cars and art, all of which are much less expensive here than in Brazil.
As a thank-you, Floridians are creating innovative ways to make the Brazilians happy and to encourage them to keep dipping into their wallets. Real estate agents, for example, have cobbled together one-stop-shopping firms that offer interior decorating and concierge services as well as legal advice and visa help. Some agents have even opened offices in Brazil to simplify the process.
Aware that Brazilians will not spend freely unless they feel at home, shopping malls have enticed them by hiring Portuguese-speaking sales clerks to proffer Dolce & Gabbana dresses and Hublot watches. Even Target has posted help-wanted signs in Portuguese.
Brazilian restaurants are also flourishing across Miami, including a popular chain from Brazil — Giraffas — that includes Brazilian cheese bread and special cuts of meat on the menu.
“Hola” and air kisses are still staples here, but “Oi” — a Brazilian greeting — is making noticeable inroads.
“We come to Miami to invest because in my country housing is very expensive,” said Claudio Coppola Di Todaro, a hedge fund investor from São Paulo who recently bought a condominium at Trump Towers in Sunny Isles Beach and another at the Trump SoHo in Manhattan (Brazilians also love New York). “We like Miami to go on vacation a few times a year. Many Brazilians do this now.”
While the United States and Europe continue to grapple with recession, Brazil’s economy gallops forward, powered by exports, a growing manufacturing base and abundant natural resources. Unemployment in October was 5.8 percent, and this week it passed Britain to become the sixth-largest economy in the world
12/ Another Miami story, this one about the strong possibility of casino expansion into downtown Miami by Genting, the giant Malaysian Casino company. Genting isn't listed on the US stock exchange, so there are minimal pesky rules about giving sweeteners to politicians, and our Florida pols love their "donations"....which is why despite strong opposition from Disney and the Orlando theme parks this may get done.....
MIAMI — When the Florida Legislature returns from its holiday recess, it will consider a bill to allow three Las Vegas-style casino resorts to be built in the southern part of the state. Lobbyists for the gambling industry have swarmed Tallahassee, trying to ensure that the bill passes.
But the mere possibility of casino gambling has already had an impact on commercial real estate in Miami-Dade and Broward Counties. The biggest single move came last May when Genting, a casino company based in Malaysia, bought the Miami Herald building, overlooking Biscayne Bay, for $236 million.
Genting released designs of what it hoped to build on the site: an extravaganza called Resorts World Miami, which in addition to a casino could have up to 5,000 guest rooms, 1,000 condominiums, 100 restaurants and luxury shops and a 3.6-acre rooftop lagoon that looks like something from “The Little Mermaid.” The project would cost $3.8 billion, according to Christian Goode, the president of Resorts World Miami. (The bill requires an investment of at least $2 billion per project.)
And last month, the CIM Group, a real estate investment company based in Los Angeles, bought a stake in a partnership that plans to develop Miami Worldcenter, a 21.9-acre mixed-use project in downtown Miami.
The partnership has received master plan zoning approval for a nine-block, 11 million-square-foot development that, according to its news release, “could easily accommodate a gaming component.”
The Miami Worldcenter site is now mostly parking lots and weeds. Plans for that development were announced in 2008, but the project was shelved when the recession hit. Sissy DeMaria, a publicist for Miami Worldcenter Associates, a joint venture between the South Florida-based Falcone Group and Centurion Partners, wrote in an e-mail that — unlike the Genting complex — “the Miami Worldcenter has all of its permits in place and is ‘shovel ready.’ ”
Already, the casino operator Las Vegas Sands has expressed interest in operating a gambling-based resort at Miami Worldcenter, Andy Abboud, the vice president for government affairs for Las Vegas Sands, wrote in an e-mail.
13/ The "Sugar Plum Fairy" played on glasses.......sounds tacky, but it's amazingly good.......2 minutes.....
14/ A movie for Brits, conservatives [small 'c'] and lovers of fine acting - "The Iron Lady" with Meryl Streep......mixed but overall positive review......
The best thing about “The Iron Lady” may be that viewers going into the theater with strong views, pro or con, about its subject, the former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, are likely to emerge in a state of greater ambivalence, even confusion. Those who know or care little about her will also be confused, but for different reasons.
Let’s stick with the first group for the moment. Nearly anyone who was alive and reading newspapers — or listening to English-language pop music — in the Western world in the 1980s probably has an opinion about Mrs. Thatcher. To the ideological right she was a hero, even more than her friend Ronald Reagan, whereas the left saw her as a monster. There may have been some mixed feelings in the middle, but she herself had little use for such wishy-washiness, reserving special scorn for the “wet” and the “wobbly” on her own side.
Nor, if the film is to be believed — and it is, in its way, a credible enough portrait — did she have much patience for the discussion or display of feelings of any kind. When a doctor asks the aging Thatcher (played with brilliant slyness and sly brilliance by Meryl Streep) how she is feeling, he is answered with an impromptu lecture on the over-emotionalism of modern culture and a stout defense of the supreme importance of thinking. Ideas are what matter, she insists, and I suspect that a great many people of various ages and political inclinations would agree.
But it does not seem that Phyllida Lloyd, who directed “The Iron Lady,” and Abi Morgan, who wrote the screenplay, are among them. Though the film pays lip service to Mrs. Thatcher’s analytic intelligence and tactical shrewdness, its focus is on the drama and pathos of her personal life. In her dotage, watched over by professionally cheery minders, she putters about in a haze of half-senile nostalgia, occasionally drawn back into the glory and pain of the past.
And a splendid, rousing trailer......
15/ Lots of new TV coming in January.......pick your favourites from this list.....
On our TIVO will be Downton Abbey [Season 2] - an excellent, wonderful series.......
DOWNTON ABBEY (Jan. 8, PBS) Lovers of high-class soap opera, rejoice: Season 2 of the defending Emmy winner for outstanding mini-series finally arrives. (Though if it’s Season 2, how could it have been a mini-series? Oh, never mind.) The adventures of the Crawley family resume with World War I in full swing; all the major cast members, including Elizabeth McGovern and Maggie Smith, return.
AbFab reunion.......
ABSOLUTELY FABULOUS 20TH ANNIVERSARY SPECIAL (Jan. 8, BBC America) Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley exhume their career-making characters, the Champagne-swilling horrors Edina Monsoon and Patsy Stone, in the first of three new episodes. Jane Horrocks also returns, as the marvelously daft Bubble.
Southland.....an excellent cop show, very gritty and feels real.......
SOUTHLAND (Jan. 17, TNT) This stylized Los Angeles cop show, a leader in the category of best shows no one is watching, returns for its fourth season.
Justified....surprisingly good, even though it's set in Kentucky........
JUSTIFIED (Jan. 17, FX) This Kentucky-fried crime drama begins its third season without its Emmy winner, Margo Martindale, whose supporting role was confined to Season 2. Carla Gugino will try to take up the slack as a woman from the deputy United States marshal Raylan Givens’s past.
Todays video - The amazing LG vacuum.......what a machine.....more power than a Dyson.....eewwwww.........
Todays granddad joke
Have you ever wondered what the difference is between grandmothers and grandfathers? Well, here it is:
There was this loving grandfather who always made a special effort to spend time with his son's family on weekends. Every Saturday morning he would take his 7-year-old granddaughter out for a drive in the car for some
quality time -- just him and his granddaughter.
quality time -- just him and his granddaughter.
One particular Saturday, however, he had a bad cold and really didn't feel like being up at all. He knew his granddaughter always looked forward to their drives and would be disappointed. Luckily, his wife came to the rescue and said that she would take their granddaughter for the drive.
When they returned, the little girl anxiously ran upstairs to see her grandfather who was still in bed. "Well, did you enjoy your ride with grandma?" he asked. "Oh, yes, Papa, it was really great. And guess what!
We didn't see a single asshole, piece of crap, horse's ass, blind bastard, dipshit, Muslim goat humper or son of a bitch anywhere we went!"
Almost brings a tear to your eye, doesn't it?
Todays musings......
1. A day without sunshine is like night.
2. On the other hand, you have different fingers.
3. 42.7 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot.
4. 99 percent of lawyers give the rest a bad name.
5. Remember, half the people you know are below average.
6. He who laughs last, thinks slowest.
7. Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm.
8. The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese.
9. Support bacteria. They're the only culture some people have.
10. A clear conscience is usually the sign of a bad memory.
11. Change is inevitable, except from vending machines.
12. If you think nobody cares, try missing a couple of payments.
13. How many of you believe in psycho-kinesis? Raise my hand.
14. OK, so what's the speed of dark?
15. When everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane.
16. Hard work pays off in the future. Laziness pays off now.
17. How much deeper would the ocean be without sponges?
18. Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.
19. What happens if you get scared half to death, twice?
20. Why do psychics have to ask you your name?
21. Inside every older person is a younger person wondering, 'What the heck happened?'
22. Just remember -- if the world didn't suck, we would all fall off.
23. Light travels faster than sound.. That's why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
24. Life isn't like a box of chocolates; it's more like a jar of jalapenos. What you do today, might burn your ass tomorrow.
