Great article, heres more info...................and FIRST!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7xjjlUbpJ4&feature=related

Sorry Mike but Howard is first and a Christmas Story is a close second.

kudos to Hillary (she's right that the elderly deserve better nursing home treatment):

By CLARK KAUFFMAN • REGISTER STAFF WRITER • December 5, 2007

Sen. Hillary Clinton is urging the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to immediately publish its list of all the poor-performing nursing homes in Iowa and other states.

Responding to a recent Des Moines Register article about the agency's decision to keep secret the identities of more than half the homes on its list of problem care facilities, Clinton said in a statement Tuesday that seniors deserve more information about such care centers.

...

Well, it looks like my ex-governor Mitt Romney is today singing the words from Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's Woodstock ... We are stardust, we are golden
We are caught in the devil's bargain
And we got to get ourselves back to the garden:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/12/05/more_immigrant_woes_for_romney_1196840293/

More immigrant woes for Romney  

GOP candidate fires landscaper after Globe shows continued use of illegal workers

December 5, 2007

This story was reported and written by Maria Cramer and Maria Sacchetti of the Globe staff and correspondent Connie Paige.

Standing on stage at a Republican debate on the Gulf Coast of Florida last week, Mitt Romney repeatedly lashed out at rival Rudy Giuliani for providing sanctuary to illegal immigrants in New York City.

Yet, the next morning, on Thursday, at least two illegal immigrants stepped out of a hulking maroon pickup truck in the driveway of Romney's Belmont house, then proceeded to spend several hours raking leaves, clearing debris from Romney's tennis court, and loading the refuse onto the truck.

In fact, their work was part of a regular pattern. Even after a Globe story in December 2006 highlighted Romney's use of a landscaping company that employs illegal immigrants to tend to his grounds, Romney continued to employ Community Lawn Service With a Heart - until yesterday. The company continued to employ illegal immigrants.

The two workers confirmed in separate interviews with Globe reporters last week that they were in the country without documents.

...

Questioned yesterday afternoon during a campaign swing through New Hampshire about the use of illegal immigrants on his lawn, Romney declined to answer. An aide said he would issue a statement, and Romney, emerging from a Concord restaurant, said, "Did you hear him? We'll give you a statement."

...

Romney's account differs from that of landscape company owner Ricardo Saenz, who said that Romney didn't press the issue of whether his workers were in the country illegally. Asked if the Romney household expressed reservations about rehiring him after last year's story, he said, "Why would they have any problem?"

...

35.

mprov -

I just emailed you.

Phil wrote "John Edwards has addressed [concerns that] divisions used to hold people in poverty . . . . He is a true progressive on that issue and has been for years, and authentic."

Is it the John Edwards who implored presidential candidate John Kerry not to look weak by renouncing his vote to authorize the invasion of Iraq who is authentic, or the John Edwards who regretted his own vote to authorize the invasion as a mistake?  Is John Edwards terrific?

Some fancy foot work.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kujWSIFoe...

burr  !   Iowa

(and I thought it was freaking cold here in Massachusetts now):

http://news.yahoo.com/photo/071203/photos_ts/2007_12_03t124157_450x314_us_usa_politics_iowa

linda -

Thought you might enjoy this :

http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-us&fg=rss&vid=fc8c2d03-4b78-45be-823f-43da6685d8d8&from=im_default

Pretty revealing video on Bush' behaviour as an adult relates back to his childhood as seen as per researchers at Cardiff University..................

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7qOFB4IXA8

*rdorgan, thank you. That was absolutely beautiful. A rescue that seems to be very happy. And what a cutie.

"what's in your wallet?"

in mine, not much:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2007-12-04-poll_N.htm?csp=34

Updated 10h 40m ago

http://www.dailytidings.com/2007/1204/stories/1204_economy.php

and Michael M. Phillips

For months, Dale Albright, a 30-year-old Tampa bankruptcy lawyer, has watched as his clients buckle under mortgage and credit-card debts. After an expensive recent hospital stay, he's worried that a run of bad luck could leave him in financial straits, too.

"I care about bringing our troops home ... and for the most part, I believe as far as domestic terrorism goes, I think we've got that pretty much under control," Albright says. "But the economy really scares me." A longtime Republican, this election he says he's voting Democrat.

With the parties just weeks away from the first presidential nominating contests, economic concerns are seizing a top spot in many voters' minds. Falling housing prices, rising gasoline prices and health-insurance worries are supplanting the war in Iraq and concern over terrorism.

"The middle class already is suffering from falling real incomes, even before this new economic slowdown," says investment banker Roger Altman, an economic adviser to Democratic Sen. Hillary Clinton. "This slowdown suggests the economy, once again, will be the No.1 issue in 2008."

...

13.

Linda -

You're welcome (yep, Knut is cute).

I just got my first heating oil bill for the winter -- 167 gallons at $ 3.40 a gallon.  I'll be expecting to pay $ 800 to $ 1000 more this season than last year (when it was $ 2.50 a gallon).

I'm so happy I can't contain myself - arggggggggggggggggh !

Good morning folks!

Have a cup of coffee and watch the video of Keith Olbermann giving Lou Dobbs some serious sh!t. Excuse the pun. Lou Dobbs got Worst Person in the World.

http://rackjite.com/archives/973-CNN-Lou...!-Olbermann-11-5.html

I'm sure Dobbs who has a gargantuan ego will be livid about this! He's married to a Latina yet he drones on and on about undocumented aliens. It's one of the reasons I can no longer watch his show. He's sickening.

rdorgan - I used to heat my house with fuel oil when I lived in Boston. I had two roommates and we had to forgo so many luxuries (like food!) just to keep warm. I feel for you and so many others this winter.

17.

mary vb -

Thanks. Indeed, I could try to switch to natural gas but the conversion costs are astronomical (and plus gas is not so cheap either).

All I know is that 3 years ago, I was getting oil at $ 1.35 a gallon (so since then, the cost has almost tripled).

I can live like a European (ie. turn the thermostat low), since I was born here in a cold climate in New England.  However, my wife, who came from a warm climate, still has accumulated yet to the cold and thus, needs the setting to be in the 70 to 75 range to keep from shivering.

We have a wood-burning stove that I try to use as often as I can but it only takes some of the chill out.

I can't wait until Spring arrives !

typo - still has accumulated   s/b - still has not acclimated

rae hart
Wed, 12/05/07
12:14 am
 

I don't see how anyone can say Obama was attacking HRC by sticking up for himself and asking her to either put up or shut up. 

Do I trust Bo Novak?  No.  Do I trust HRC?  No.

I think Obama had every right to do what he did.

Obama may have had every right to make a fool of himself by letting Bob Novak incite him to wrongly criticize another candidate, but he didn't have every right to use what he had to have known was a lie from a proven smearmonger and mischief maker to attack. 

Novak's real source was probably Karl Rove. Shame on Obama for either being foolish or unscrupulous enough to attack Hillary for it instead of calling out Novak himself. 

The war and the economy are connected.  I think many Americans convinced themselves that it would be OK to oust Saddam Hussein because he might shut off the oil and cause the price to rise.  That was a selfish thought and not one likely to be verbalized on a regular basis.  Rather, it was probably assumed to be one of those shared interests with the fellow they'd want to have a beer with.  Now, it turns out that their drinking buddy has stiffed them--snuck out the back door and left them with the bill.

It's all pretty much of an embarrassment, you know.  Will people want to talk about it?  I doubt it.  More likely they'll take advantage of the secret ballot--black-ball the fellow and the party he came with.  We should know pretty soon.

I was watching the mark-up of the global warming bill this morning.  Senator Craig has no shame.  He asked a slew of unanswerable questions. Like, how can we be certain what the other nations are going to do?

21.  As I told the lady who called on Obama's behalf, "Washington is a swamp and I don't think Obama knows where all the alligators are yet."

Alligators, btw, do not consider humans to be part of their normal diet.  If humans stay out of their way and don't startle them or get too close the nest of eggs, they are likely to suffer no harm.  The problem with alligators is that they are, for the most part, rather lethargic and lie very still in a patch of sun or shade (depending on how hot or cold they are).  So, incautious humans who don't look where they step run the risk of startling a critter that accellerates at an incredible rate.  Litterally, it's hard to believe that such a mamoth beast can move so fast.  A dog skipping by is likely to be snapped up like a frog catching a fly. 

In any event, it's good to know where the alligators are. 

I just got my first heating oil bill for the winter -- 167 gallons at $ 3.40 a gallon.  I'll be expecting to pay $ 800 to $ 1000 more this season than last year (when it was $ 2.50 a gallon).

Maybe it's finally time to spend that kind of money to retrofit your house to make it more green and efficient?

better yet....... 

Find The Best Way To Save Energy In Your Home 

----- Original Message -----
From: Congressman John Conyers
Sent: Wednesday, December 05, 2007 5:31 AM
Subject: Setting the Record Straight on FISA


Setting the Record Straight on FISA


In recent weeks, there has been lot of conflicting information floating around about efforts by House Democrats to protect the country by adopting rules for intelligence gathering that are both flexible and constitutional. This week, President Bush suggested that my legislative alternative to this summer's hastily-enacted Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) reform, the "Protect America Act," would take away important tools from our intelligence community. He characterized as "obstruction" the skepticism that many of us have about granting amnesty to telecommunications carriers who may have cooperated in warrantless surveillance. I was disappointed that the President did not propose any concrete steps to improve our capabilities or protect our freedoms -- he just repeated his demand for immunity.

This comes close on the heels of a recent controversy concerning the House Democrats' FISA legislation stemming from Joe Klein's column in Time Magazine on November 21st, in which his Republican sources seem to have spun a tale that led Mr. Klein to characterize our efforts as "more than stupid."

I believe that it is time for a comprehensive and detailed response to the President's accusations of obstruction, the misinformation in the Time Magazine column, and the debate over warrantless surveillance. Below is that response. Please let me know what you think, and feel free to pass along to your friends and colleagues.

Joe Klein's recent[1]column deriding the House-passed FISA legislation, along with his subsequent stumbling[2] efforts[3] to clarify its intent, and Time Magazine's[4] failure to publish the protests my Democratic colleagues and I had regarding its many inaccuracies are only the most recent manifestation of disinformation put forth concerning the Bush Administration's warrantless surveillance program and legislative efforts to modify the law. As the lead author, along with Silvestre Reyes, of the RESTORE[5] Act, allow me to set the record straight once and for all.

First, contrary to GOP and media spin, the RESTORE Act does not grant "terrorists the same rights as Americans." Section 105A of the RESTORE Act explicitly provides that foreign-to-foreign communications are totally exempt from FISA – clearly, this exception for foreigners such as members of Al Qaeda does not apply to Americans. In cases involving foreign agents where communications with Americans could be picked up, Section 105B of the legislation provides for liberalized "basket warrant" procedures by which entire terrorist organizations can be surveilled without the need to obtain individual warrants from the FISA court. Again, this new authority is aimed at foreign terrorists, not Americans.

Mr. Klein appears to base much of his criticism of our bill on our use of the term "person" to describe who may be surveilled, based on the suggestion of a Republican "source" that this risks an interpretation that terrorist groups would not be covered. The truth is that under FISA the term person has been clearly defined for almost thirty years to include "any group, entity, association, corporation, or foreign power." It is also notable that both the RESTORE Act, and the Administration's bill passed this summer, contain the exact same language that Mr. Klein questions, yet we've never heard an objection to the Administration's bill on this score.

Second, I must strongly disagree with Mr. Klein's assertion that the Speaker "quashed ... a bipartisan [compromise] effort." As the Chairman of the Committee with principal jurisdiction over FISA, the House Judiciary Committee, I am aware of no effort to prevent bipartisan compromise on this issue. As a matter of fact, last summer, beginning in July, Democrats tirelessly negotiated with Director of National Intelligence (DNI), Mike McConnell, to develop consensus legislation to address the Administration's stated concerns about our intelligence capability.

We addressed every one of the concerns Mr. McConnell raised[6]. He said he needed to clarify that a court order was not required for foreign-to-foreign communications -- our bill did just that. McConnell said he needed an assurance that telecommunications companies would be compelled to assist in gathering of national security information – our bill did that. The DNI said he needed provisions to extend FISA to foreign intelligence in addition to terrorism – the bill did that. He asked us to eliminate the requirement that the FISA Court adjudicate how recurring communications to the United States from foreign targets would be handled – the bill did that. McConnell insisted that basket warrants be structured to allow additional targets to be added after the warrant was initially approved – again, the bill did that. When this legislation was described to DNI McConnell, he acknowledged that "it significantly enhances America's security.''

Yet, suddenly, on the eve of the vote, Director McConnell withdrew his support after consultation with the White House. If the media wanted to identify over-the-top partisanship, they could begin by citing the declaration of David Addington, Vice President Cheney's Chief of Staff, that "We're one bomb away from getting rid of that obnoxious FISA Court," and DNI McConnell's assertion that by merely having an open debate on surveillance, "some Americans are going to die."

Third, the RESTORE Act legislation is badly needed to provide accountability to the Bush Administration's unilateral approach to surveillance. The warrantless surveillance program has been riddled with deceptions that only began to come to light when The New York Times first disclosed the existence of the program in 2005. The program itself appears to directly violate FISA and the Fourth Amendment, as a federal court[7], the non-partisan Congressional Research Service[8], numerous Republican legislators[9], and independent legal scholars[10]have found.

The Administration has also mischaracterized the existence, degree, extent and nature of the program itself as well as how much information it has shared with Congress. For instance, compare the President's speech in 2004[11]with his admission that there was indeed a program of warrantless surveillance[12]. When high-ranking DOJ officials found the program lacking, the White House went to absurd, if not comical lengths, to convince a dangerously ill and hospitalized Attorney General Ashcroft to overrule[13]them. Even today, the Administration continues to obscure its own past misconduct with extravagant claims that the "state secrets" doctrine bars any legal challenges whatsoever - a position that has been rejected by the Court of Appeals[14].

The Administration's hastily enacted legislation, signed this summer, is little better. Instead of being limited to the stated problem of foreign-to-foreign electronic surveillance, it could apply to domestic business records, library files, personal mail, and even searches of our homes[15].

Against that backdrop, it is clear we need a new law with the critical oversight provisions included in the RESTORE Act, such as requiring the Administration to turn over relevant documents to Congress, mandating periodic Inspector General reports, and acknowledging that the Administration is indeed bound by FISA.

Finally, the Administration has yet to explain why offering retroactive immunity to telephone giants who may have participated in an unlawful program is vital to our national security. Under current law, the phone companies can easily avoid liability if they can establish they received either an appropriate court order or legal certification from the Attorney General. Asking Congress to grant legal immunity at a time when the Administration has refused to provide the House of Representatives with relevant legal documents for more than eleven months is not only unreasonable, it is irresponsible.

Civil liberties and national security need not be contradictory policies, rather they are inexorably linked. Perhaps nowhere is this interrelationship more true than in intelligence gathering, where information must be reliable and untainted by abuse to be useful. So when we discuss FISA, the first thing we need to do is drop the partisan rhetoric, and stick to the actual record. Under the RESTORE Act, the intelligence community has the flexibility to intercept communications by foreign terrorists without obtaining individual warrants, and the Court and Congress are given the authority to perform their constitutional oversight roles. The only parties who lose in this process are the terrorists, and those who want the executive branch to have absolute and unreviewable power.

Rather than being, in Mr. Klein's words, "well beyond stupid," the RESTORE Act offers a smart and well balanced approach to updating FISA and reining in the excesses of an unchecked executive branch.

Your Friend,

John Conyers, Jr.

[1] http://www.time.com/time/politics/articl...
[2] http://www.time-blog.com/swampland/2007/...
[3] http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/...
[4] http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2...
[5] http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd...
[6] http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd...
[7] http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/18/washin...
[8] http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/intel/m010506...
[9] http://www.fas.org/irp/congress/2006_hr/...
[10] http://online.wsj.com/public/resources/d...
[11] http://areavoices.com/commonsense/?blog=...
[12] http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/...
[13] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...
[14] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/con...
[15] http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/washin...

* rdorgan
Wed, 12/05/07
9:41 am

___________________________________________________________________________

I would simply point out to your wife the latitude and longitude of Masachusetts.........NE winters are notorious for severe winters......almost wiped out the Pilgrims you know......for me, I beleive in dressing in layers.........if you walk around the house in a bikini and its 20F and sleeting then you will probably get cold................living on love may be another remedy but be careful and even that gets old after awhile I suppose...........exercise always warms up the old bones and muscles..............a cup of hot tea or chicken soup does the trick for me, ovaltine too......theres even a part in 'A Christmas Story" when Ralph reads the secret message sayong 'BE SURE AND DRINK YOUR OVALTINE"............watch warm weather videos, pull the shades to hide the 10" snowdrifts and put up scenes of Hawaii, Fiji, Barbados...................if you can swing it, perhaps a mid winter break to Florida..............an electric blanket, thermal underwear(OK, I know but they go UNDER the clothes).......heating pad, thick socks, slippers, a carpet over your wooden floor..............take up winter sports like cross country skiing, trust me after a couple of hours of that you will be drenched in sweat.........spend time at a friends house where they always keep it warm..........make up any excuse to stay there

As for winter fuel.......hmm, I had the same problem in NH in a mobile home.....I dreaded when that stinkin oil truck pulled up............is your house well insulated? doors? attic? basement? crawlspace?cracks?..seal em up.............you mentioned the wood stove, good though dangerous at times....I think you have alot of woods behind your house, heres your chance to get the old axe and start choppin, warm your bones too..be careful.......I recall an old abandones school bus in the backwoods too..if you have seen Into The Wild" this dude lived in an abandoned school bus in Alaska but he eventually starved to death...........good movie though............

laughter is great medicine they say and it is proven to increase blood flow and therfore body heat.......watch old reruns of I Love Lucy or George Bush speeches.........now, at night body heat should help so like Billy Crystal did in City Slickers 2 "cuddle"....its proven to help and also but a good 'down" comforter.............when siting around the house use blankets alot..........an electric space heater works good too.......stop drinking ice cold beverages.......after cooking a roast, or turkey or anything in the oven leave the oven door open to curculate heat................

If you both are fortubnate to have jobs.....try staying late occasionally just for the free heat, ....switch shifts if possible.......

If I think of anymore ill try and post em.......believe it or not..I have at one time or another used any or each of these methods to stay warm.................cheers

after watching bush's pathetic act on tv yesterday, why is he still in the white house?

seymour hersh was on blitzer yesterday and said that bush told olmert of israel two days before the annapolis act that iran did not have a nuclear program. so bush is lying again.

so why is he still in the white house. there is a stall in gitmo waiting for him.

Many (but not all) power companies will come to your house and do free, or cheap, energy audits.  These tell you things like where to put insulation, or patch cracks around windows.

Snowing today in Northern Virginia.

A good set of sweats and wool socks are a comfortable way to walk around the house.  Also, try to keep the humidity up with a humidifier.  It'll help you feel warmer. 

rd,

Also..put a water heater "blanket" around your water heater........when cold, take a hot bath......if you have a cat or preferably dog..........their fur can insulate you as well as them so have em sit on the couch with you, birds and goldfish forget it..............

Friction........it works!  Temporary fix but what the hell......rub nands together briskly for 25 seconds, but gloves over to keep heat in..........when skin gets raw, stop...........

Electric hair dryer......trust me, on couch with ablanket over you and the hairdryer pumping out beat at full blast you will toasting in a matter of minutes.......I mentioned hot tea or soup earlier, hold glass in hand when it cools a bit, it help watm up cold fingers............

"reigning in the excesses of an unchecked Executive branch"....John Conyers.

Seems to me, if he really wanted to do that he could take to the table the Hr333 Kucinich impeach Cheney bill, and act like he wanted us to believe him. Until he does, he is just part of the string along, get along till election day group. They're not willing to take responsibility for any of the evil between today, when they could act, and the day they think theyll get reelected. we're supposed to close our eyes, relax and enjoy it, because Happy Days will be here again.

Freeman fires back -- SEIU strife continues

The internal politicking of the State Council of the SEIU continues, with Tyrone Freeman, president of the one of the largest local affiliates in the state, firing off a sharply worded response letter to outgoing state council president Sal Rosselli.

The internal leadership battle within the powerful Service Employees International Union, which counts 600,000 members in California, has potential implications for the health care overhaul in California, as the union coalition’s stance on health care is one ostensible reason for the leadership fight. ...full article: http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/cap...

Sitka, Mike and rich -Thanks for the "keep warm" ideas.Some of those are really great (and I will try them).  Many I'm already doing.My wife has her business in the home but it's in the basement so that cuts down on the use of the heat (basement acts as a form of insulation).  Second floor (converted actic) we keep the stairwell door to it shut, since it&%

Sitka, Mike and rich -Thanks for the "keep warm" ideas.Some of those are really great (and I will try them).  Many I'm already doing.My wife has her business in the home but it's in the basement so that cuts down on the use of the heat (basement acts as a form of insulation).  Second floor (converted actic) we keep the stairwell door to it shut, since it's unheated up there.  First floor bedroom is an add on with three walls exposed to the outside, so we just keep that one as the only heated room at bedtime (luckily I have seven-zoned thermostats, one for each room, area of the house).  I'm using electric space-heaters more this year for the rooms that stay notroriously cold even with the oil thermostat way up (like the tiled-bathrooms and the big livingroom that has numerous floor-to-ceiling glass windows (on days not sunny, we keep the curtains in that livingroom pulled closed).It's over a century old house, so trying to make it greener is an extensive project (but it's still cheaper than tearing it down and building a newer, more energy-efficient house).All I know is that if I had not gone on vacation this year, I would have focused more on oil prices and trying to lock in a rate before it shot up to $ 100. a barrel.  I still glad I went to a warmer climate anyways.Oh, well, there's always next year to lock in (hopefully) a lower heating oil price rate.

congrats to you rich, I admire your fortitude.

but.......................new thread. put on some tea and come on over.

yep, new thread that is now some 12 minutes and still loading for me.

These double (or even triple) video link posts are not functional for some of us... but neither is the completely screwed clock, scrambling our conversation.

Simply very poor form, and still being ignored by our fine blog staff. The whole thing has turned me from being a regular here, along with the corrosive forces of Tom, Indy and Fred.

Once we were better than this... some still are, just not here.

rdrorgan -- move to north florida -- the living is cheap and it's about 70 degrees today. Notice I'm not mentioning the summers lol.