THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits."
~~Albert Einstein

AND THE PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS

"The Inauguration at Last" by Maria Kalman, in The New York Times:

For the rest of "The Inauguration at Last," click here.

FRIDAY'S LITTLE DOSE OF CUTE

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"We take our bearings, daily, from others. To be sane is, to a great extent, to be sociable."
~~John Updike, 1932-2009

Zztopdog note: R.I.P., Mr. Updike.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"The candle burns not for us, but for all those whom we failed to rescue from prison, who were shot on the way to prison, who were tortured, who were kidnapped, who 'disappeared.' That's what the candle is for."
~~ Peter Benenson, Amnesty International

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"Way too much coffee. But if it weren't for the coffee, I'd have no identifiable personality whatsoever."
~~David Letterman

COFFEE LINKED TO LOWER DEMENTIA RISK

By Nicholas Bakalar, for The New York Times:
"Drinking coffee may do more than just keep you awake. A new study suggests an intriguing potential link to mental health later in life, as well.
"A team of Swedish and Danish researchers tracked coffee consumption in a group of 1,409 middle-age men and women for an average of 21 years. During that time, 61 participants developed dementia, 48 with Alzheimer’s disease.
"After controlling for numerous socioeconomic and health factors, including high cholesterol and high blood pressure, the scientists found that the subjects who had reported drinking three to five cups of coffee daily were 65 percent less likely to have developed dementia, compared with those who drank two cups or less. People who drank more than five cups a day also were at reduced risk of dementia, the researchers said, but there were not enough people in this group to draw statistically significant conclusions.
"Dr. Miia Kivipelto, an associate professor of neurology at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and lead author of the study, does not as yet advocate drinking coffee as a preventive health measure. 'This is an observational study,' she said. 'We have no evidence that for people who are not drinking coffee, taking up drinking will have a protective effect.'
"Dr. Kivipelto and her colleagues suggest several possibilities for why coffee might reduce the risk of dementia later in life. First, earlier studies have linked coffee consumption with a decreased risk of type 2 diabetes, which in turn has been associated with a greater risk of dementia. In animal studies, caffeine has been shown to reduce the formation of amyloid plaques in the brain, one of the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease. Finally, coffee may have an antioxidant effect in the bloodstream, reducing vascular risk factors for dementia.
"Dr. Kivipelto noted that previous studies have shown that coffee drinking may also be linked to a reduced risk of Parkinson’s disease.
"The new study, published this month in The Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease, is unusual in that more than 70 percent of the original group of 2,000 people randomly selected for tracking were available for re-examination 21 years later. The dietary information had been collected at the beginning of the study, which reduced the possibility of errors introduced by people inaccurately recalling their consumption. Still, the authors acknowledge that any self-reported data is subject to inaccuracies."

TAGGED AGAIN

I've been tagged in the ubiquitous 25 Random Things About Yourself. I won't tag anyone with this, but if you'd like to play along, just leave a comment about it here, so we know to check it out.

25 Random Facts about Pam:
1. I am very kind-hearted - probably more than most people realize;
2. I am still, at 56, quite shy;
3. I quit smoking 23 years ago by having major surgery (I highly recommend it);
4. I am seriously anxiety prone;
5. I love to laugh - in fact it comes way too easily in often horribly inappropriate situations;
6. I love all animals, and will do whatever I can to help/protect an animal in need;
7. I often prefer the company of animals to that of people;
8. I can be very stubborn, if the situation warrants;
9. I have a quick temper, but over the years, have learned the benefits of controlling it;
10. I love to read, and am rather picky about what I read;
11. I adore movies, and again, am rather picky about what I'll watch;
12. I like music, but have to be in the mood, and play the appropriate music;
13. I REALLY adore technology - computers, phones, pods, my car; I still say, "Thank god there are smarter people than me in this world, or we would still be writing with coal on a shovel;
14. The book that has affected me like no other is Blindness, by Jose Saramago;
15. I am an only child;
16. But, I'm pretty good at sharing;
17. I love the show 24, but I often get too tense while watching it;
18. I am on my tenth Toyota, a 2008 Prius which is as close to a perfect car as I have ever driven;
19. My partner and I have been together nearly 16 years;
20. My son, daughter-in-law, and their 2 kids are the light of my life;
21. I wish I could see them more often;
22. I am so happy that Barack Obama is our President; I backed him from the start; I don't think I could have taken 4 more years of a Republican presidency;
23. I love coffee, and have been drinking it since I was about 3 (that's the Swede in me!); but I rarely have more than 2 cups per day or I become too jittery;
24. I am hating cold weather much more as I get older, but I still love snow;
25. I moderate a local Freecycle (TM) recycling group because I realy believe in recycling - for ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"Don't wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great."
~~Orison Swett Marden

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"Take a music bath once or twice a week for a few seasons. You will find it is to the soul what a water bath is to the body."
~~Oliver Wendell Holmes

BOHEME

Tagging rears its ugly head again...
It goes like this:
1. Put your iTunes or iPod on shuffle
2. For each question press the next button to get your next answer.
3. You must write that song name down no matter how outrageous is sounds!
4. Tag ? friends who might "enjoy" doing the game as well as the person you got the note from. (I'm not tagging anyone; if you want to do it, go for it!)

IF SOMEONE SAYS, "IS THIS OKAY" you say?
Mother and Child Reunion (Paul Simon)

WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY?
Graceland (Paul Simon)

WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL?
Come Together (The Beatles)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE?
Sweet Painted Lady (Elton John)

WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO?
We Can Work It Out (The Beatles)

WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU?
The Only Living Boy in New York (Simon & Garfunkel)

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT OFTEN?
Bridge Over Troubled Water (Simon & Garfunkel)

WHAT IS 2+2?
Slip Slidin' Away (Paul Simon)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND?
Get Back (The Beatles)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
Super Trouper (ABBA)

WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY?
Sacrifice (Elton John)

WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?
Tiny Dancer (Elton John)

WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE?
A Most Peculiar Man (Simon & Garfunkel)

WHAT DO YOUR PARENTS THINK OF YOU?
Homeless (Paul Simon)

WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING?
Lady Maddona (The Beatles)

WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL?
Further to Fly (Paul Simon)

WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST?
All Around the World or The Myth of Fire (Paul Simon)

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS?
Let It Be (The Beatles)

WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN?
Symphony No. 3 in E-flat major, Op.55 "Eroica" (Beethoven)

HOW WILL YOU DIE?
Train in the Distance (Paul Simon)

WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET?
Sparrow (Simon & Garfulkel)

WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH?
Rocket Man (Elton John)

WHAT MAKES YOU CRY?
Yes I Am (Mellissa Ethridge)

WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED?
So Long Frank Lloyd Wright (Simon & Garfunkel)

WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST?
Grey Seal (Elton John)

DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU?
Roy Rogers (Elton John)

IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE?
The Winner Takes All (ABBA)

WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW?
A Hard Day's Night (The Beatles)

WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS AS?
Boheme (Deep Forest)

THE BEST AMERICAN NON-REQUIRED READING 2008

By Mark Flanigan, Contemporary Literature Guide for About.com:
"The Best American Nonrequired Reading features fiction, nonfiction, journalism, comics, and humor, and is doubtlessly the most eclectic of Houghton Mifflin's Best American series. It grew out of the 826 Valencia project, a writing workshop for teens that Dave Eggers founded in San Francisco's Mission District. 826 Valencia has since evolved into 826 National, with writing workshops springing up around the country, and as in previous years, the pieces chosen for The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2008 were done so by high school student participants of these workshops. And while there's something in this collection for everybody, I found that the selection of fiction was largely overshadowed by the remarkable nonfiction inclusions:J. Malcolm Garcia's "The White Train" is an illicit peak into the lives of a caste of Buenos Aires trash scavengers, the cartoneros, whose existence depends upon the skeletal ghost train upon which they transport their recyclables through the city.Raffi Khatchadourian's "Neptune's Navy" came from The New Yorker, and is a short version of Peter Heller's book, The Whale Warriors, which delves into the adventures of marine activist Paul Watson and the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society as they patrol the icy waters of the southern seas to stop illegal Japanese whaling.
"Veteran fiction writer George Saunders really delivers with a piece of creative journalism entitled 'Bill Clinton, Public Citizen.' Saunders describes a classroom in a hospital in the Dominican Republic where children are playing chaotically prior to the arrival of a special guest. The guest is Bill Clinton, and Saunders fools me into believing that this is a fiction, an alternate world of his imagination, by painting Clinton not as the affable, gregarious figure we're accustomed to seeing, but as grave - dour even. Then he hits me with the punch line: 'If not for the William J. Clinton Foundation, every one of these little kids would be dead or dying soon, since every one of them is HIV positive, and until the foundation intervened, almost no one in the Dominican Republic had access to life-prolonging antiretroviral drugs (ARVs). And for most kids this young, the life expectancy for someone with HIV not on ARVs is five years.' Saunders is part of a press crew following the former president to several developing African nations, where the work of the William J. Clinton foundation has made ARVs affordable and saved the lives of hundreds of thousands of children. The author spotlights the private moments he shares with Clinton, moments when it becomes clear to Saunders, no slouch himself, just what an incredible individual the former president is. At a press dinner, Saunders notes that Clinton does most of the talking, not because he is self-absorbed or prone to pontification, but because Clinton is easily the most interesting person at the table:
" 'Because when Bill Clinton's at your table, you don't really want anyone else talking, and that includes you. When you do talk, you feel stupid. I mean, you are stupid. You are suddenly short of facts and full of intuition. You lack the conversational zing that comes with having once been leader of the free world. Have your previous dinner partners included Gobachev, Mandela, Bono, Liza Hurley, Stephen Jay Gould? Were you instrumental in bringing peace to Ireland? Were your personal foibles broadcast at a cringe-inducing level of detail into every home in America? Did you sign into law the Family and Medical Leave Act, already used by some three million Americans to be with a dying parent or at home after the birth of a child? Do people routinely accuse you and your wife of Macbethian levels of intrigue and ambition, levels that no actual living person is diabolical or efficient enough to attain? Have you ever made a speech to 50,000 people? Do people look at you and think: should have done more in Rwanda? Have you started a foundation that has saved, by even the most conservative estimates, hundreds of thousands of lives and set the stage, through a series of price cuts and the stabilization of markets, for millions more to be saved? Well, right, me neither.'
"The Gene Weingarten article, 'Pearls Before Breakfast,' about violinist Joshua Bell's experiment in the Washington D.C. metro originally ran in The Washington Post and won Weingarten a Pulitzer Prize in Feature Writing. It's brilliant, and along with George Saunder's piece on Clinton, should never appear in something labeled "nonrequired." No, this reading is most certainly required. Everyone should be handed this reading at the door and quizzed upon it before they are allowed to leave.There are other amazing pieces in The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2008. The collection opens with Marjorie Celona's "Y," a heart-breaking short story, and graphic novelist Rutu Modan's "Queen of the Scottish Fairies," a single installment from her http://www.nytimes.com/ comics column, Mixed Emotions, is absolutely brilliant - this from someone who rarely reads graphic novels or comics. And "Cake," a hard-hitting short story from Patrick Tobin on the survival of pain, both emotional and physical, will leave you doubled-over, holding your gut.Pick up a copy of The Best American Nonrequired Reading 2008. As I said above, there's something for everybody, and with the Saunders and Weingarten essays being required anyway, you get an awful lot of bonus for your $14."

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"Once you choose hope, anything's possible."
~~Christopher Reeve

JANUARY 20, 2009 WAS A VERY GOOD DAY

By Bob Edwards, on the BobEdwardsRadio.com blog:
"I am absolutely overwhelmed by everything that took place on Inauguration Day and I say that as an aging cynic. My father was a lowly soldier in city machine politics. I've known from birth how the game is played, how the cards are dealt and how the deal goes down. Working in the news business for more than 40 years, my cynicism has been reinforced every day. I've seen the bright-eyed neophytes shot down, the brainy thinkers steam rolled, the truly needy cast aside with the powerless others. That's the routine of politics--that's the day-to-day reality. But then once in a great while comes a defining moment---the exception to the rule---a moment that gives you a little bit of hope that they're not all charlatans trying to line their pockets and accommodate their rich friends. Rarely---very, very rarely---comes an occasion when the cynic is moved to think there might be another way that we might be governed. I have had that feeling exactly twice. The first time was in 1960, when John F. Kennedy proclaimed that the torch had been passed to a new generation. He was talking about his generation (he was 43) but I felt he was talking about mine (I was 13). JFK made government service cool. He infused service to America with a status that a number of subsequent presidents have shot down. Federal workers have been told for years they are part of a bloated bureaucracy that's a burden on rich people trying to become richer. I think national service got a big lift at Barack Obama's inauguration. I believe that, for the first time since JFK. Obama inspired young people to give some thought to serving their fellow citizens through public service. He has sent a surge of energy into the populace unmatched since January 20, 1960. I was deeply moved by the events of Inauguration Day and I will be happy to unburden myself of decades of cynicism if this feeling lasts another week, a month or a year. I will give Obama time, because no one since FDR has been left with such a big load of crap to deal with. If he screws up, I'll give him the same treatment I've given George W. Bush. But for now, the honeymoon is underway, and who's not in the mood to enjoy a honeymoon? January 20, 2009 was a very good day. Let's hope we have many more like it!"

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"Abortion doesn't belong in the political arena. It's a private right, like many other rights concerning the family."
~~Bella Abzug

OBAMA BACKS 'RIGHT TO CHOOSE' ON ROE ANNIVERSARY

From CNN.com:
"President Obama affirmed his support for a woman's "right to choose" on Thursday, the 36th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that led to the legalization of abortion, as thousands of anti-abortion activists descended on the National Mall to challenge his position.
"Roe v. Wade 'not only protects women's health and reproductive freedom, but stands for a broader principle: that government should not intrude on our most private family matters,' Obama said in a statement.
"The landmark 1973 decision held that a woman's right to abortion was protected by the right to privacy under the Constitution's 14th Amendment, voiding most state laws against abortion at the time."

THOUGHT FOR THE FIRST 100 DAYS

"Welcome back to the fight. This time I know our side will win."
~~Victor Laszlo, Casablanca

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"At long last, HOPE."
~~Zztopdog

EXIT THE BOY KING

By Maureen Doud, Op-Ed Columnist for The New York Times:
"It was the Instant the Earth Stood Still.
"Not since Klaatu landed in a flying saucer on the Ellipse has Washington been so mesmerized by an object whirring through the sky.
"But this one was departing, not arriving.
"As W. ceased to be president, he flew off over the Capitol and across the Mall en route to Andrews Air Force Base, and then back to Texas.
"I’ve seen many presidents come and go, but I’ve never watched a tableau like the one Tuesday, when four million eyes turned heavenward, following the helicopter’s path out of town. Everyone, it seemed, was waving goodbye, with one or two hands, a wave that moved westward down the Mall toward the Lincoln Memorial, and keeping their eyes fixed unwaveringly on that green bird.
"They wanted to make absolutely, positively certain that W. was gone. It was like a physical burden being lifted, like a sigh went up of 'Thank God. Has Cheney’s wheelchair left the building, too?'
"The crowd was exuberant that George Bush was now an ex-president, and 43 himself was jovial 'the way he always is,' according to his last press secretary, Dana Perino.
"It was like a catharsis in Greek drama, with the antagonist plucked out of the scene into the sky, and the protagonist dropping into the scene to magically fix all the problems. Except Barack Obama’s somber mien and restrained oratory conveyed that he’s no divinity and there will be no easy resolution to this plot.
"It was a morning of such enormous emotion and portent — jaw-dropping, Dow-dropping and barrier-dropping — that even the cool new president had to feel daunted to see his blocks-long motorcade and two million hope-besotted faces beaming up at him, dreaming that he can save their shirts.
"The optimism was tempered by pessimism, a vibe of 'Maybe this once-in-a-lifetime guy can do it, but boy, there are a lot of never-in-our-lifetime problems here.'
"Unlike W., Obama is a realist. He knows there is the potential of letting all these blissed-out people down.
"The day had its jittery moments: Teddy Kennedy’s collapse and Robert Byrd’s distraught reaction. There was also that match of the titan smarty-pants — the new Democratic president face to face with the conservative chief justice he voted against.
"First John Roberts had to say, Easy, cowboy, after Mr. Obama jumped the gun on “I” at the start of the oath of office. Then the president, who had obviously been looking over his lines, graciously offered the chief justice a chance to correct his negligent syntax, when he put the 'faithfully' and other words out of place.
"Under the platform, near where I sat, Denzel Washington, Beyoncé, Jay-Z and P. Diddy looked on proudly as the new commander in chief showed he was in command of the script and the country.
"After thanking President Bush 'for his service to our nation,' Mr. Obama executed a high-level version of Stephen Colbert’s share-the-stage smackdown of W. at the White House correspondents’ dinner in 2006.
"With W. looking on, and probably gradually realizing with irritation, as he did with Colbert, who Mr. Obama’s target was — (Is he talking about me? Is 44 saying I messed everything up?) — the newly minted president let him have it: 'As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals,' he said to wild applause (and to Bartlett’s), adding: 'Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience’s sake.' He said America is choosing hope over fear, unity over discord, setting aside 'false promises' and 'childish things.'
"Letting a little air out of the highest hopes about what one man, even 'The One,' can do, he emphasized the word 'our.' He stressed that rebuilding after the wreckage of W. and Cheney will be a shared burden and that 'giving our all to a difficult task' isn’t as bad as it sounds.
"I grew up here, and it was the first time I’ve ever seen the city wholly, happily integrated, with a mood redolent of New York in the weeks after 9/11. The Obamas have made an unprecedented pledge to get involved in the real city that lies beyond the political Oz, and have already started doing so in many ways, including starting the night out at the D.C. Neighborhood Inaugural Ball.
"Downtown was a euphoric pedestrian mall of commerce and communal kindness. The patience that America is extending to Mr. Obama, according to a Times poll, was reflected across the capital, as the cram of people sparked warmth rather than antsiness.
"Strollers laughed as a peddler in a Rasta hat hawked his 'Barack Obama incense.' And revelers stepped up to a spot where you could pick out a colored magic marker and complete posters that began, 'Mr. President, I hope for ...'
"Entries ranged from 'burning less oil' to 'healthcare for all' to 'a cure for cancer”' to this lofty and entirely understandable sentiment: 'a sick inauguration party.' "

JEN'S FAVORITE MOMENT FROM THE INAUGURAL SPEECH

"As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our founding fathers ... our found fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. And so to all the other peoples and governments who are watching today, from the grandest capitals to the small village where my father was born: know that America is a friend of each nation and every man, woman, and child who seeks a future of peace and dignity, and that we are ready to lead once more. "
~~President Barack Obama, in his Inaugural Speech, January 20, 2009

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"We gather because we have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord."
~~President Barack Obama, in his Inaugural Speech, January 20, 2009.

INAUGURAL POEM BY ELIZABETH ALEXANDER

The following is a transcript of the inaugural poem recited by Elizabeth Alexander, as provided by CQ transcriptions:

Praise song for the day.

'Each day we go about our business, walking past each other, catching each others' eyes or not, about to speak or speaking. All about us is noise. All about us is noise and bramble, thorn and din, each one of our ancestors on our tongues. Someone is stitching up a hem, darning a hole in a uniform, patching a tire, repairing the things in need of repair.
"Someone is trying to make music somewhere with a pair of wooden spoons on an oil drum with cello, boom box, harmonica, voice.
"A woman and her son wait for the bus.
"A farmer considers the changing sky; A teacher says, 'Take out your pencils. Begin.'
"We encounter each other in words, words spiny or smooth, whispered or declaimed; words to consider, reconsider.
"We cross dirt roads and highways that mark the will of someone and then others who said, "I need to see what's on the other side; I know there's something better down the road."
"We need to find a place where we are safe; We walk into that which we cannot yet see.
"Say it plain, that many have died for this day. Sing the names of the dead who brought us here, who laid the train tracks, raised the bridges, picked the cotton and the lettuce, built brick by brick the glittering edifices they would then keep clean and work inside of.
"Praise song for struggle; praise song for the day. Praise song for every hand-lettered sign; The figuring it out at kitchen tables.
"Some live by 'Love thy neighbor as thy self.'
"Others by first do no harm, or take no more than you need.
"What if the mightiest word is love, love beyond marital, filial, national. Love that casts a widening pool of light. Love with no need to preempt grievance.
"In today's sharp sparkle, this winter air, anything can be made, any sentence begun.
"On the brink, on the brim, on the cusp -- praise song for walking forward in that light."

THOUGHT FOR INAUGURATION DAY

Today is the day of the promise of Hope for America....

"Yes, our greatness as a nation has depended on individual initiative, on a belief in the free market. But it has also depended on our sense of mutual regard for each other, of mutual responsibility. The idea that everybody has a stake in the country, that we're all in it together and everybody's got a shot at opportunity. Americans know this. We know that government can't solve all our problems - and we don't want it to. But we also know that there are some things we can't do on our own. We know that there are some things we do better together."
~~Barack Obama, in a speech August 7, 2006

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"One... more... day.... 'The end of an error.' "
~~Zztopdog

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"When you know how to laugh and when to look upon things as too absurd to take seriously, the other person is ashamed to carry through - even if he was serious about it."
~~Eleanor Roosevelt

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"Four... more... days...."
~~Zztopdog

HE'S LEAVING. REALLY,

By Gail Collins, an op-ed column for The New York Times:
"I think I speak for the entire nation when I say that the way this transition has been dragging on, even yesterday does not seem like yesterday. And the last time George W. Bush did not factor into our lives feels like around 1066.
"So far, the Bush farewell appearances have not drawn a lot of rave reviews. (Most striking, perhaps, was a critique of that final press conference from Ted Anthony of The Associated Press: 'It all felt strangely intimate and, occasionally, uncomfortable, in the manner of seeing a plumber wearing jeans that ride too low.') A Gallup poll did find that his approval rating had risen slightly since they began, but this was probably due to enthusiasm for the part about his going away.
" 'Sometimes you misunderestimated me,' Bush told the Washington press corps. This is not the first time our president has worried about misunderestimation, so it’s fair to regard this not as a slip of the tongue, but as something the president of the United States thinks is a word. The rhetoric is the one part of the administration we’re surely going to miss. We are about to enter a world in which our commander in chief speaks in full sentences, and I do not know what we’re going to do to divert ourselves on slow days.
"The White House has promised that in his final address, the president will be joined by a small group of everyday American heroes, which means that the only person on stage with a history of failing to perform well in moments of stress will be the main speaker.
"Bush is going to devote some of his time to defending his record, although there has been quite a bit of that already. Over the last few weeks we have learned that he thinks the Katrina response worked out rather well except for one unfortunate photo-op, and that he regards the fact that we invaded another country on the basis of false information as a 'disappointment.' "Since Bush also referred to the disappointments of his White House tenure as 'a minor irritant' it’s perhaps best to think of the weapons of mass destruction debacle as a pimple on the administration’s otherwise rosy complexion.
"If there’s any suspense about the speech it is how many times Bush will use the word 'freedom,' which popped up 27 times in his relatively brief second inaugural. The man who gave us Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Freedom Agenda, the USA Freedom Corps and the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health has so thoroughly debased one of the most profound concepts in our national vocabulary that it’s getting hard to hear it used without remembering Janis Joplin’s line about how freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.
"There are a lot of ways to approach this farewell-speech business. Ronald Reagan started with winning folksiness, then lurched into a warning against big government and a plea to raise a new generation of patriots that knows 'who Jimmy Doolittle was.' Bill Clinton’s sounded very much like a bid for a third term. ('Thirty-five million Americans have used the family leave law ...') On the other hand, anybody listening to it now would surely begin to tear up when Clinton got to the part about how he was leaving the country 'on track to be debt-free' by the end of 2009.
"History does suggest that Bush performs best in venues like this one, in which he has a long lead time and virtually no actual role in preparing the words he is about to say. But still, what could he possibly tell the country that would change anybody’s opinion about the last eight years?
" 'My fellow Americans, before I leave you next week I want you to know that ...
A) 'Although things have gone very wrong, I take comfort in the realization that Dick Cheney was actually in control from the get-go. Honest, I never even knew half the people in the cabinet.'
B) 'Laura and I have come to realize that all things considered, retirement to a mansion in Texas is just totally inappropriate. And so we take our leave to begin a new life as missionaries at a small rescue station in the Gobi desert ...'
C) 'Surprise! This has all actually been a bad dream. It’s really still November of 2000 and tomorrow Al Gore is going to be elected president.'
"Otherwise, the best possible approach for a farewell address might be for Bush to follow his father’s lead and just not give one."

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"Whatever they grow up to be, they are still our children, and one of the most important of all things we can give them is unconditional love. Not a love that depends on anything at all except that they are our children."
~~Rosaleen Dickson

WHAT I WANT FOR YOU AND EVERY CHILD IN AMERICA

A letter to his daughters by President-Elect Barack Obama, on the eve of his inauguration, in Parade Magazine:
"Dear Malia and Sasha:
I know that you've had a lot of fun these last two years on the campaign trail, going to picnics and parades and state fairs, eating all sorts of junk food that your mother and I probably shouldn't have let you have. But I know it hasn't always been easy for you and Mom, and that as excited as you both are about that new puppy, it doesn't make up for all the time that we've been apart. I know how much I've missed these last two years, and today I want to tell you a little more about why I decided to take our family on this journey."

To read the rest of the article, click here.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"Often people attempt to live their lives backwards: they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want so they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then, do what you need to do, in order to have what you want."
~~Margaret Young

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"A country cannot simultaneously prepare and prevent war."
~~Albert Einstein

UNVARNISHED CONCLUSIONS AFTER COVING THE WHITE HOUSE

Review by Gary J. Bass, from Books of the Times:
"Rarely will a president enter office so thoroughly challenged on Day 1 as Mr. Obama. This dazzling and mordantly hilarious book is a history of how we got into this particular ditch. Mr. Sanger, the chief Washington correspondent for The New York Times, drops the strict detachment of a daily reporter and lets rip, delivering a withering indictment of his longtime subject: President George W. Bush’s foreign policy, which he writes 'has left us less admired by our allies, less feared by our enemies and less capable of convincing the rest of the world that our economic and political model is worthy of emulation.' "
"After seven years covering Mr. Bush, Mr. Sanger, a shrewd and insightful strategic thinker, is left stunned by 'the president’s inexplicable resistance, until the final quarter of his term in office, to changing course.' Mr. Bush, he says, saw strategic change and negotiation as signs of weakness. This is a Nixon who never went to China."
"These unvarnished conclusions by Mr. Sanger will of course confirm the perfidy that Karl Rove and Bill O’Reilly presume lies in the black hearts of Times reporters. But Mr. Sanger’s criticism, the product of extraordinarily diligent reporting, is too hawkish to be easily dismissed by conservatives. He believes in putting brute military power behind diplomacy, wants to win the war in Afghanistan and hates the thought of a nuclear-armed Iran and North Korea."
"Unlike other accounts of Mr. Bush’s foreign policy, 'The Inheritance” is not about Iraq but about the crushing opportunity costs paid elsewhere for that quagmire. With America bogged down in Iraq, a rising China has expanded its global influence. Mr. Sanger reports of the peril from unsecured nuclear arsenals: “As the situation in Iraq worsened, the post-9/11 efforts to create a multilayered defense against a domestic W.M.D. attack waned.' "

Zztopdog's note: To read the rest of the article, click here.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"There is no surer mark of the absence of the highest moral and intellectual qualities than a cold reception of excellence."
~~Philip James Bailey

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"There appears to be a deeply embedded uneasiness in our culture about throwing away junk that can be reused. Perhaps, in part, it is guilt about consumption. Perhaps it also feels unnatural. Mother Nature doesn't throw stuff away. Dead trees, birds, beetles and elephants are pretty quickly recycled by the system."
~~William Booth

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"If you just learn a single trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it."
~~Atticus Finch, from To Kill a Mockingbird, from the novel by Harper Lee.

THE B LIST

From The Bob Edward's Show Blog:
Bob talks with film critic David Sterritt about his book The B List: The National Society of Film Critics on the Low-Budget Beauties, Genre-Bending Mavericks, and Cult Classics We Love. They cover the criteria Sterritt used to determine if a movie had "that B movie spirit" and the historic definition of a B movie. They discussed films that most people would not consider B movies, like Oliver Stone's Vietnam epic Platoon - Quentin Tarantino's gritty debut Reservoir Dogs - and Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation, which he shot in between Godfather's 1 and 2.
Then there's Peeping Tom, which ruined British director Michael Powell's career and which Sterritt says HAD to be included in the book. While it shared some taboo themes with Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho and was even released around the same time, Peeping Tom was not accepted by fans or critics.
Four "Film Noirs" are mentioned -- Out of the Past starring Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas, Detour which was made for $20,000, the Mickey Spillane early atomic thriller Kiss Me Deadly and the Bonnie-and-Clyde-like Gun Crazy, which elicited a world-class performance by John Dall, who Sterritt calls "the worst actor in the history of the cosmos...except here."
Horror and science-fiction stories lend themselves very well to the B Movie formula. I Walked with a Zombie is a particular favorite of Sterritt's and he notes that Invasion of the Body Snatchers works both as a cautionary tale against American consumerism and as an allegory for the Red Scare. Though the original filmmakers swear they had no political message to deliver, just a thrilling movie.
David Sterritt is the chairman of the National Society of Film Critics and The B List is the group's third release. The others are The A List about essential classics and The X List about "the movies that turn us on."

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"Our only hope today lies in our ability to recapture the revolutionary spirit and go into a sometimes hostile world declaring eternal hostility to poverty, racism, and militarism."
~~Martin Luther King, Jr.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right."
~~Oprah Winfrey

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"The real winners in life are the people who look at every situation with an expectation that they can make it work or make it better."
~~Barbara Pletcher

CATS KEEP LOST BOY WARM

From UPI, via Cynical-C:
"Argentine police say a destitute 1-year-old boy was kept alive by a colony of stray cats who shared food scraps and kept him warm in the city of Misiones.
"The boy, who had been missing for several days, was found by Police Officer Lorean Lindgvist, The Daily Telegraph reported Saturday. 'The boy was lying at the bottom of a gutter. There were all these cats on top of him licking him because he was really dirty,' Lindgvist said. 'When I walked over, they became really protective and spat at me. They were keeping the boy warm while he slept.' Lindgvist said she noticed scraps of food near the boy and surmised 'the cats knew he was fragile and needed protecting,”' the Telegraph reported, noting doctors said the warmth of the cats saved the boy during freezing nights that could have killed him."

Zztopdog notes: Never underestimate the intelligence and emotions of animals.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"Ancient Egyptians believed that upon death they would be asked two questions and their answers would determine whether they could continue their journey in the afterlife.
"The first question was, 'Did you bring joy?'
"The second was, 'Did you find joy?' "
~~ Leo Buscaglia

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring--it was peace."
~~Milan Kundera

HONORING LEIA, A BEAUTIFUL BOXER GIRL

"He is my other eyes that can see above the clouds; my other ears that hear above the winds. He is the part of me that can reach out into the sea. He has told me a thousand times over that I am his reason for being; by the way he rests against my leg; by the way he thumps his tail at my smallest smile; by the way he shows his hurt when I leave without taking him. (I think it makes him sick with worry when he is not along to care for me.) When I am wrong, he is delighted to forgive. When I am angry, he clowns to make me smile. When I am happy, he is joy unbounded. When I am a fool, he ignores it. When I succeed, he brags. Without him, I am only another man. With him, I am all-powerful. He is loyalty itself. He has taught me the meaning of devotion. With him, I know a secret comfort and a private peace. He has brought me understanding where before I was ignorant. His head on my knee can heal my human hurts. His presence by my side is protection against my fears of dark and unknown things. He has promised to wait for me... whenever... wherever - in case I need him. And I expect I will - as I always have. He is just my dog."
~~Gene Hill

We shall all miss you, sweet Leia Lou (10/20/02 - 01/02/09).

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY

"Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity."
~~Martin Luther King, Jr.

2008 YEAR IN REVIEW - PART 2

By Tom Tomorrow, for the Huffington Post:

THE MOST RIDICULOUS POLITICAL QUOTE OF 2008

From a blog post by Bob Cesca, on the Huffington Post:
"[T]here was one jaw-droppingly ridiculous quote that went almost entirely overlooked, perhaps because it was one of seemingly hundreds of nincompoopish displays of nincompoopery -- all of which were unforgivingly compressed into a dense, rapid-fire three months of political insanity.
"This means only one thing. The quote comes from Governor Sarah Palin.
"As I'm sure you'll recall, Sarah Palin had trouble with things like 'facts' -- specifically and most shamefully, she had no idea what the Vice President of the United States does. I mean, no clue. "Which is fine, I suppose, unless you're actually running to become, you know, the vice president. On several public occasions (I can't even imagine the verbal fumbling during private rehearsals), she was specifically asked to describe the job and I'm reasonably certain she never once got it right. For example: '...a Vice President has a really great job, because no only are they there to support the President agenda, they're like a team member, the team mate to that President. But also, they're in charge of the United States Senate, so if they want to they can really get in there with the Senators and make a lot of good policy changes that will make life better for Brandon and his family and his classroom. And it's a great job and I look forward to having that job.'
"Yeah, it sounds like a great job, if she had been running for Senate Majority Leader, that is.
"And during the vice presidential debate -- the vice presidential debate! -- she was asked to describe the role of the vice president, and this was one of her two answers: 'Well, our founding fathers were very wise there in allowing through the Constitution much flexibility there in the office of the vice president. And we will do what is best for the American people in tapping into that position and ushering in an agenda that is supportive and cooperative with the president's agenda in that position. Yeah, so I do agree with him that we have a lot of flexibility in there, and we'll do what we have to do to administer very appropriately the plans that are needed for this nation.'
"What about that agenda and there also? Cooperative with the president's... whah? And yet the post-debate conventional wisdom was that she somehow nailed it. Mark Halperin gave her a "B" and wrote: '...she succeeded enormously. She had a solid 90 minutes of rapid, confident discourse... didn't leave Tina Fey much to work with.'
"Yeah, she couldn't accurately or coherently describe the job for which she was campaigning, but since she didn't choke on her own tongue, well then, great success! And as for Tina Fey? The vice presidential debate sketch was probably the funniest of the year. Good call, Halperin.
"But that wasn't the worst of it. Here now, The Most Ridiculous Political Quote of the Year, courtesy of Sarah Palin on October 4, 2008:
'Q: One of the things you talked about last night was the flexibility the vice president has-- 'PALIN: Yeah.
'Q: --Uh. What did you mean by that?
'PALIN: Uh. That thankfully our founders were wise enough to say we have this position and it's constitutional -- vice president will be able to be not only the position flexible, but it's gonna be those other duties as assigned by the president. A simple thing.'
"That last sort-of sentence -- 'a simple thing' -- was actually correct, believe it or not. The vice president's job description, according to the Constitution, is an extraordinarily simple thing. Which, consequently, makes it unbelievably difficult to butcher. Like Sarah Palin did. Multiple times. But in this instance, on the FOX News Channel with Carl Cameron, she couldn't even form actual sentences using words that line up to form a coherent thought. In fact, I would love to see the sentence structure for 'vice president will be able to be not only the position flexible.' Position flexible?
"That she wasn't summarily laughed off of the national stage right then and there is a testament to the forgiveness of horny middle-aged white Republican men. Yes, in 2008 the Republicans nominated for vice president a person who on multiple occasions couldn't accurately say: The vice president breaks ties in the Senate, and succeeds the president if he or she is killed or incapacitated. Instead we got something about 'position flexible' and a lot of winking.
"And she's already being championed as a favorite for the Senate in 2010 -- not to mention as a serious contender for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination. This naturally means we'll get to hear more from Sarah Palin for many years to come as a de facto leader of the Republican Party. We can only hope that she'll be asked to describe these jobs many, many times along the way.
"Happy New Year Position Flexible There Also!"
BobCesca

2008 YEAR IN REVIEW - PART 1

By Tom Tommorrow, for the Huffington Post:

THOUGHT FOR NEW YEAR'S DAY

"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day."
~~Edith Lovejoy Pierce