We have just entered the beginning of a new era!!!

Let your light shine.

Welcome to the world of the new consciousness.

Obama supports the (R)evolution

wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

This is an exciting time for America, and for the world watching!

Finally we can say goodbye to BushCo, and ring in a new administration, with hope and promise.

Barack Obama President.
as Diablo said - Wow!
love,
~ Kate

Hello Bonnie, Richard, Diablo, Kate and everyone.

Heartfelt congratulations on the election victory of Barack Obama in your country from the Netherlands, but also from whole Europe.

Everywhere here in our part of the globe many people have celebrated this victory.

Indeed, a new era has begun. Wow :)

Enjoy this exciting feeling and I wish you a wonderful first new day.

Cheers!

Mieke

So, it finally is! Congratulations America.
Now for the tough stuff. We the world must not let this man down, thick or thin. Y'hear me, Diablo ;)

May our God go with us.

Even our Gordon is stirring, I do believe!

CONGRATULATIONS OBAMA !!!
& Thank You America

~ R ~
Sri Lanka

hi kate, heartphone, president barack obama! damn!

too bad the loyal misguided amigos find themselves on the wrong side of history...

and what a party it was at the Ranch last nite! damn! i have not seen so many tears from so many grown people at the same time...for the first african/american prez! whoa!

And what did President Barack Obama amongst others say in his speech:

'I know that there will be many people who do not agree with some of the decisions I will make, but I will especially listen to those that do not agree with me'

Well, if these aren't true words of a very special constructive community worker :)

YObama

humility and confidence

A new era has indeed begun. My rowboat was rocking last night from the waves of everyone around the world.

This moment is the beginning of exciting things to come, created by the people just as a new kind of leader has been created by the people. Obama is just the the expression of a shift in the masses and one that I like.

There is a new sense of equality in the air. To see Jesse Jackson's face last night and the struggle of so many centuries, just evaporate into a celebration.........it still is moving me to my soul today. Every time I think about his face and the faces of so many last night, I am moved deeply with a sense of a new time for everyone.

Cool stuff, lets see what else we can create together.

peace comes from peace humility and confidence......and embracing those who disagree with us

derek

Races Yet To Be Called

Most of these are pending provisional / absentee ballots.

PRESIDENTIAL

Indiana: Obama leads by 23,000 votes.

North Carolina: Obama leads by 12,000 votes.

Missouri: McCain leads by 6,000 votes.

U.S. SENATE

We're currently at 56 seats with Sanders and Lieberman. We need a clean sweep in Alaska, Georgia, Minnesota and Oregon to win.

Alaska: With 99% of precincts reported, Ted Stevens (R) leads Mark Begich (D) by 3500 votes.

There are reportedly over 60,000 absentee ballots filed, so no one has called it yet.

Georgia: Saxby Chambliss (R) leads Jim Martin (D) 50-46. However, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports that over 600,000 early votes have not been counted. Martin led handily in early voting, so it's highly likely that Chambliss will end up below 50% and this will go to a runoff.

Minnesota: Norm Coleman leads by less than 600 votes now. All outstanding ballots will matter, and there's the possibility of a recount as well.

Oregon: Gordon Smith (R) leads Jeff Merkley (D) by 15,000 votes with 75% of precincts reporting. Not looking good.

(& 9 House seats yet to be called)

When asked if they feel that they should appeal to the center or appeal to the base, Republicans answered that they should adopt a strategy to "grow the base".

That's right. I say "Grow the base" by demonstrating an even stronger tendency toward psychosis.

Because if there isn't anything a Democrat hates running against more, it's a platform based squarely on mental derangement.

Pass out the kool-aid.

I just am wondering what everyone will be saying four years from now. All this elation and excitement. If Intentblog is still on the 'net four years from now it will be interesting to see reactions to the election then...just wondering.

Congratulations to Obama...I noticed the regions in which he drew the majority of votes as well as the regions to where he did poorly. He has a tough road to hoe now, so good luck!

Hundreds of thousands of people gathered live to hear Obama's acceptance speech. Were you swept up by the response? Did it sing to you? I was and it did. A song popped into consciousness marking the vibration: "There's a kind of hush all over the world tonight...all over the world...it's the sound of (USA) falling in love." People held that space quietly, gently. These were precious moments, sacred moments -- of pure enchantment.

Trish~~

scary palin will be a distant, fading memory and the butt of trial pursuit in future...so glad to see the ass end of her as she flies north...eeeuuuuhhhhh.....

Hi Trish,
I did listen to Barack Obama give an amazing speech last night ... it seemed to me ... more than a speech, and the words that went out to not only Americans, but millions around the world ...
Shows me that Unity is at the core of our
being.

It was a moment to remember, and we will need this in the months and years ahead as America recovers from the last 8 years of failed policies and poor judgement from the Bush administration.

It is a celebration for Freedom too
(imo)
:-)

love,
~ Kate

the republican party, says the a caption, has an identity problem..they have been reduced to name-calling, sleaze and slander...being spewed by its main hate mongers...rush limpbag, shame hanmenotty and bile orileme...

if they keep working up a sweat everyday while spillin' their vile...they could drop dead from sudden medical conditions...and i don't mean the rotten gasses that an amigo stills in his big burrow after eating chilli beans....eeeeuuuuhhhhh.......

Diablo! You are just so cute.

afternoon everyone,

well, I am still feeling good about this historic electtion.....it is making me smile...a lot...we did good my fellow Americans....we did good.

now, I would feel a lot better if Prop 8 was voted down....but, as of yet....I have only heard that it was close...haven't really read any news yet....but have no fear sooner or later, in this Nation, that is grounded in law, they will have to give homosexuals the same rights they give heterosexuals......simply, because it is against the law to discrminiate....based on religion or sex or race....truly it is that simple.....mud heads...

Ya know, it is like a weight has been lifted...our man is In. What, I, really like, about Barak Obama, is, the fact, that, he studied and taught Constitutional Law.....a man after my own heart....I love our Constitution...I am deeply grateful to it's authors....

yep....things are looking good on the political scene...

oh well I think I'll go browse and do some reading....later...ruth

So it turns out that when Plumber Joe was a child, he was on welfare, not once, but twice, and he credits it with helping his family ultimately lead a middle-class life style. He defends having received welfare by saying that he's subsequently paid into the system.

In other words, well-designed taxpayer-funded social assistance programs are fine because ultimately they will pay for themselves.

Suddenly we have Joe The Reasonable, right? Well, not exactly. Plumber Joe has got something of a tax dodging problem. In the end, he's just another typical Republican hypocrite:

Joe The Welfare King Anti-Redistributor Hypocrite

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7x0YyLDono

Obama wins North Carolina

AP has called it, making it Obama 364, McCain 162, with Missouri and a single Nebraska EV still undecided (McCain leads both by the narrowest of margins with provisional and other outstanding ballots still being counted).

Congratulations North Carolina. You look great in Blue.

O yeah!

i predicted a month ago that
it will be...

'bama 364 and decrepit 174..so if missourri (11) goes repoop..well....damn!

mac-is-not-back has 163 not 162...

Dear Diablo, I've decided what you need is a Mother Goddess to comfort you and a beautiful dakini to bewitch you.

I'm going to start apprenticing right away since no one else here is telling me what to do, and apparently the above have neglected you.

(Having obtained this difficult to obtain, free and endowed human body, it would be a cause of regret to fritter life away.-Buddhism) So, I just can't sit around with my thumb up my nose, well not for too long anyway.

#24...dude(ette)..u sound like a liquid stuff we sell at the Love Ranch...whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.......

john macpain insulted the intelligence of the ameriacan by palling around with a joe no-body and by allowing barracuda to embrace joe six pack, joe this and joe that and every joe blow in the land....not bery wise ole grumpy granpa...

amigos...listen up...

"Sarah Palin spent "tens of thousands" more than the quoted $150,000 on clothes for the Republican campaign, met McCain aides in her hotel room dressed in nothing but a towel, and did not know Africa was a continent, according to new reports.

Fox news has reported that Mrs Palin did not understand that Africa was a continent, not a country, and did not know what countries were in the North American Free Trade Agreement." quote.

You are quite the court jester Diablo; but what should we expect from:

Diablo!

Har har

God bless my friend

BREAKING: Michelle Obama to be Named First Lady
by inclusiveheart @dkos

Just in from the Obama Transition Team: It has been confirmed that Michelle Obama will be named the First Lady in Barack Obama's Administration.

Conservatives asked to comment on the pick were almost all angry arguing that after Obama's choice of Rahm Emmanuel, long time friend and close advisor, as Chief of Staff this decision to keep Michelle Obama on as First Lady is proof positive that Obama is going back on his promise of a unity government.

Joe Scarborough and Mika Brezinzski on Morning Joe were in complete distress.

Joe said sourly, "You know, she will be the most liberal First Lady in the White House in eight years."

Mika responded by lamenting, "I think he should have picked Sarah Palin for this position. She's a mother, she is a stylish dresser, and she is a conservative. If Obama was really committed to bringing this country together he would have picked Palin to be the First Lady."

Rush Limbaugh went further arguing that Obama should go even deeper and replace not only Michelle, but also the kids. He said, "You know he should name Sarah Palin to the post of First Lady and ask Jenna and Barbara Bush to stick around as the kids. Michelle and her children are the most liberal First Family members that have been in the White House in eight years."

Tony Perkins of the American Family Council weighed in saying that "Obama should divorce Michelle for the good of the country."

The Fox and Friends team of commenters still unable to get past their sinister reading of the fist bump offered not only Sarah Palin but also Liddy Dole who has recently become available as "better" choices for the post of First Lady.

Joe Lieberman discussing his current predicament in the Senate with Don Imus seemed open to Imus' idea that he apply for the job of First Lady. Both agreed that Obama's choice of Joe Biden, a Democrat, as Vice President showed Barack Obama to be a rabid partisan. Joe went on to say that he was "very disappointed" that Barack Obama did not support John McCain, who Lieberman described as "the Greatest American Hero", in the Presidential contest arguing that had he done so "he would have shown himself to be trully bipartisan not to mention patriotic".

Sean Hannity believes that Obama needs to go much farther to establish a unity goverment by divorcing Michelle, declaring himself a Republican, naming Karl Rove as his Chief of Staff, naming Dick Cheney as his First Lady, making David Addington his Secretary of State and firing Joe Biden and replacing him with Sarah Palin.

Mitch McConnell said he wasn't really sure what Obama should do with Michelle, but that he was "very troubled" by her announcement that she would focus her work as First Lady on military families.

On the question of whether or not Michelle Obama should be allowed to stay on as the First Lady, Tom Brokaw would only say that his mother would not vote for her.

The question now remains whether or not the Obama camp will feel the pressure to make adjustments to the First Family in order to placate these important critics.

afteroon everyon,

there is a run on guns...people downright terrifed that they may have to wait a few more days for that ID check on their license instead of being able to pack it instantaneously, and, frightened that, that, assult rife they have been eyeing for awhile might not be available to them when they figure they may need it.....ahh such a touching story below....filled with urgent fear by those shot gun loving folks who think Obama desires to deny them their.....guns.....

read below

When 10-year-old Austin Smith heard Barack Obama had been elected president, he had one question: Does this mean I won't get a new gun for Christmas?

That brought his mother, the camouflage-clad Rachel Smith, to Bob Moates Sports Shop on Thursday, where she was picking out that special 20-gauge shotgun — one of at least five weapons she plans to buy before Obama takes office in January.

Like Smith, gun enthusiasts nationwide are stocking up on firearms out of fears that the combination of an Obama administration and a Democrat-dominated Congress will result in tough new gun laws.

"I think they're going to really try to crack down on guns and make it harder for people to try to purchase them," said Smith, 32, who taught all five of her children — ages 4 to 10 — to shoot because the family relies on game for food.

Last month, as an Obama win looked increasingly inevitable, there were 62,000 more background checks for gun purchases than in October 2007, a 25 percent increase. And they were up about 8 percent for the year as of Oct. 26, according to the FBI.

No data was available for gun purchases this week, but gun shops from suburban Virginia to the Rockies report record sales since Tuesday's election.

"They're scared to death of losing their rights," said David Hancock, manager of Bob Moates, where sales have nearly doubled in the past week and are up 15 percent for the year. On Election Day, salespeople were called in on their day off because of the crowd.

Obama has said he respects Americans' Second Amendment right to bear arms, but that he favors "common sense" gun laws. Gun rights advocates interpret that as meaning he'll at least enact curbs on ownership of assault and concealed weapons.

As a U.S. Senator, Obama voted to leave gun-makers and dealers open to lawsuits; and as an Illinois state legislator, he supported a ban on semiautomatic weapons and tighter restrictions on all firearms.

Gun advocates take some solace in the current makeup of the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled 5-4 this summer to strike down the District of Columbia's 32-year ban on handguns. For now, gun rights supporters hold a narrow edge on the court, but Obama could appoint justices who would swing it the other way.

Franklin Gun Shop outside Nashville, Tenn., sold more than 70 guns on Tuesday, making it the biggest sales day since the shop opened eight years ago. Guns & Gear in Cheyenne, Wyo., also set a one-day sales record on Tuesday, only to break that mark on Wednesday.

Stewart Wallin, owner of Get Some Guns in the Salt Lake City suburb of Murray, Utah, said he sold nine assault weapons the day after Obama was elected. That same day, the gun store Cheaper Than Dirt! in Fort Worth, Texas, sold $101,000 worth of merchandise, shattering its single-day sales record, store owner DeWayne Irwin said.

One Georgia gun shop advertised an "Obama sale" on an outdoor sign, but the owner took it down after people complained that the shop appeared to be issuing a call to violence against the country's first black leader.

The president of a Montana gun manufacturer stepped down last month after word that he supported Obama led to calls for a boycott of the company.

While Wayne LaPierre, executive vice president of the National Rifle Association, attributes some of the sales boom to the tanking economy, he thinks the Democratic sweep is the top reason why guns are suddenly a hot commodity.

"I don't think he'll be able to stand up to that anti-Second Amendment wing of the Democratic party that's just been spoiling for chance to ban America's guns," LaPierre said of Obama.

During the campaign, the NRA warned that Obama would be the "most antigun president in American history." And while Vice President-elect Joe Biden owns shotguns, he has supported a ban on assault weapons and has said private sellers at gun shows should be required to perform background checks.

But Mark Tushnet, a Harvard Law School professor who has written a book about the gun debate, said new firearms regulations will be a low priority for an Obama administration and Democratic Congress facing a global economic crisis and two wars.

"Maybe the gun-show loophole will be closed, but not much else," he said in an e-mail. "I'd be surprised, for example, if Congress enacted a new assault gun ban."

Paul Helmke, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, said his organization will continue to press for what he calls "sensible" restrictions — background checks at gun shows, a ban on military-style assault weapons and cracking down on illegal gun trade. He believes he has the backing of the new administration on those issues, but any fears of a broader crackdown are unfounded.

"The one thing that they agree strongly with us on is that it's too easy for dangerous people to get guns in this country," Helmke said. "I guess if you're a dangerous person you might want to run out there and buy some more, but otherwise you should be OK."

Associated Press writers Lara Jakes Jordan in Washington, Angela K. Brown in Fort Worth, Texas, Kate Brumback in Marietta, Ga., Joe Edwards in Nashville, Tenn., Don Mitchell in Denver, Matt Joyce in Cheyenne, Wyo., and Paul Foy in Salt Lake City contributed to this report.
Hosted by Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

ruth

tush limpbag is the biggest, vilest, stinkiest, fattest hate mongering loser in the country...they should get his big fat ass off the air and send him to Jenny Craig's to learn what to stuff in his bottomless pie hole...shame on this ugly deusche!

joe lieberman is a disgrace!

are feeling withdrawal syndrome now that the campaigns are ova?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/07/ted-turner-talks-marriage_n_142295.html

Just read that Ted Turner is considering getting re-married to Jane Fonda.

Ted, if you're out there, you were an imbecile for letting a woman like that go in the first place.

Diablo, your syndomes are my syndromes. In fact I can't punch my way out of this paper bag I'm in. Just sweep me to the door and I'll crawl the rest of the way.

afternoon everyone,

I love the show Entourge on HBO. Jeremy Piven's character is a hollywood agent who is so obnoxious, foul mouthed, funny, but with a razor sharp mind and an ego that devours all in it's path....he also is a faithful husband and a very loving father....he has his soft side....it is said that this character is based on a real life agent named Ari Emanuel....one of Rahm Emanuels two brothers....it seems that Rahm is also known for his great lanuage skills which can come more from the gutter while Obama's come from inspiration....

anyway...Rham is an interesting pick for his chief of Staff....it seems, at least, on the surface, he is the total opposite of Barak Obama in personality and style, you wonder....has Barak Obama chosen his "pit bull" to do his biting? If Rahm is anything like the character that Jermey Piven plays, then, Barak Obama, I see, also has an appreciation for the....obnoxious, the foul mouthed, the funny...with a wit and intelligence that cuts like a razor and leaves one bleeding long before you have even realized you have been cut.....in picking Rahm Emanuel as his Chief of Staff Barak Obama has exposed a bit more of himself......

below is an article I came across ...it is interesting...

If you hire a shark, does that make you a shark? If you send in an enforcer, are you, de facto, an enforcer, too?

President-elect Barack Obama, practitioner of consensus and preacher of civility, made a singular statement by choosing Rep. Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff, the first hire of the new administration.

» Click to enlarge image

Sun-Times columnist Carol Marin

"Brilliant, hardworking, in some ways he may be a good yin to Obama's yang. But I was very surprised because he has a very different personality type from those around Obama," longtime Chicago political consultant Kitty Kurth said by phone Thursday.

"I had first met Rahm after the '88 presidential campaign, on Mayor Daley's '89 mayoral race. He was always brilliant but a complete hardball player. The first six or seven times I met him, he never remembered who I was. . . . I never had anything he needed, so he didn't need to know who I was."

There are a million stories about the 49-year-old, profane, pirouetting, ballet-trained Emanuel.

Whether it's ripping up contributions of political donors who lacked the good survival sense to write a bigger check, or mailing a dead fish to express his extreme displeasure or repeatedly stabbing a steak knife into a table to punctuate a list of Democratic politicians he was putting on a "dead" list, Rahm Emanuel mastered hardball long before Chris Matthews peddled it on TV.

Would Emanuel be displeased by the above description?

Nope. He revels in the legend.

But he's nobody's caricature, either.

Friends from childhood include Wendy Cohen, a senior policy adviser for the Illinois attorney general, who remembers when the Emanuel clan bought the house across the street in the affluent suburb of Wilmette in the late 1960s.

"I have a memory of when they moved in, the dog ran away and the three boys" -- Rahm, Ari and Ezekiel -- fanned out like "roadrunners . . . feudal lords . . . they were loud and warm with hearts of gold," Cohen said.

That kind of affection may not be shared by members of Congress, Republican or Democrat, who have felt Emanuel's razor-sharp elbows in their ribs.

That kind of trust may not exist in the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago after they saw how Emanuel reacted to their indictment of Donald Tomczak, a boss hog of the city's Water Department. It was Tomczak, under orders from higher-ups in Mayor Daley's office, who dispatched an army of city patronage workers to guarantee Emanuel would win his first political race in 2002 for Congress. It was a close race and their help sealed the deal.

Emanuel, whose grasp of detail is second to none, condemned the corruption when the indictment was announced but improbably claimed to be clueless and even more improbably certified that Daley couldn't possibly have known, either.

As much as he understands the "old politics," Rahm Emanuel is a standard bearer of the "new." Responsible for engineering the current Democratic majority in Congress, Emanuel is so feared and respected that he amazingly was given a dispensation by his colleagues for "hiding under the desk" during the primary, endorsing neither of his friends, Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama.

"That speaks volumes about his political skills," said Illinois state Sen. Jeffrey Schoenberg, who has known him for years.

But what does hiring Rahmbo now say about Obama?

It says that the incoming president's message may be delivered with a velvet glove but it covers an iron hand. That the organization he has created, relentless in its message control, ruthless in rebuking those who challenge it -- just ask WGN Radio's Milt Rosenberg -- brings Rahm Emanuel to the dance because consensus goes only so far, civility has distinct limits, and time is fast running out to staunch the bleeding of this country's profound crises.

If you hire an enforcer, are you, de facto, an enforcer, too? Yes.

afternoon everyone, ruth

oh, just wanted to add that this line in the article, "That the organization he has created, relentless in its message control, ruthless in rebuking those who challenge it -- just ask WGN Radio's Milt Rosenberg "..............

If the author of this piece thinks that what the Obama campaign did to Milt Rosenberg was ruthless in it's rebuking then she is totally making a mountain out of a glob of dirt but it does make the story more intriguing......they sent protesting e-mails......lots of them....god, what a crazy ruthless control freaky thing to do for a political campaign.....

ruth

Obama's designated a--hole

Even a poetic president needs a ruthless deal maker to help execute his agenda. Enter Rahm Emanuel -- aka "Rahmbo" -- the legendary Democratic operator.

By Mike Madden, Salon

Nov. 7, 2008 | WASHINGTON -- For one brief moment over the summer, it seemed as if Barack Obama was ready to start throwing his weight around, the way a man who would soon be president of the United States -- even if it wasn't assured at the time -- is entitled to do. On the Senate floor during a vote in June, he spotted Joe Lieberman, who had just conducted yet another conference call organized by John McCain's campaign. Doing his best LBJ impersonation, Obama dragged Lieberman over to a corner, then backed him up against the wall and lectured him on his advocacy for the Republicans.*[1]

That one story stands out because during the rest of the 2008 campaign and all its twists, it's hard to find another example of Obama acting aggressive toward anyone. His new White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, doesn't exactly have that problem.

Emanuel -- or, as he's universally known around D.C. and Chicago, Rahm, or sometimes "Rahmbo" -- comes into the new gig with a well-earned reputation as one of Washington's toughest operators. The guy's favorite word is "fuck" and its many variations; he's a brilliant, if ruthless, tactician who helped put House Democrats in control two years ago, then moved up in leadership and helped keep them there this week.*[2]

By putting Emanuel in charge of his administration's day-to-day operations, Obama could be getting the best of both worlds: The new White House will still be a place filled with hope, change and all the other idealistic slogans and animating principles that helped him win the election. But lurking inside the West Wing, the new president will have a hatchet man ready to destroy anyone who gets in the way (and enjoy doing it).

As a management theory, it's a variation on "good cop, bad cop," an approach that the music industry actually may have pioneered. The idea is that artists (or, in Obama's case, politicians) who may be creative geniuses sometimes need some help making sure the world outside the studio doesn't roll over them. They need, as the theory puts it in language that could have been borrowed from Emanuel, a designated asshole. Prototypes for this model from the music world include people like Irving Azoff, who has managed the Eagles, Seal, Van Halen and Neil Diamond (and who famously said, "I never met an asshole in the record business I didn't like"); Peter Grant, the force behind Led Zeppelin; and Allen Klein, who managed acts like the Rolling Stones, Sam Cooke and the Beatles (and ended up in litigation with some of them). Emanuel -- whose younger brother Ari is the Hollywood superagent whom "Entourage" writers based Jeremy Piven's character Ari Gold on (reportedly prompting Rahm to tell his brother he liked the TV version better) -- is surely familiar with the concept.*[3]

That's not to say Obama is the political world's equivalent of some naive folk singer who just signed his first record deal; he did, after all, come up in Chicago politics, and at any rate, you don't make it to the Oval Office if you don't know how to get people to do what you want them to do. But after eight years of the Bush administration, the country may not be quite ready yet for President Obama to be the one starting the knife fights around town.

So that's where Rahm comes in. Actually, in his case, "knife fights" may be particularly apt. One of the founding myths of the Legend of Rahm is of a night at Doe's, a divey steakhouse in Little Rock, Ark., shortly after Bill Clinton was elected in 1992. Emanuel had worked on the campaign, and would soon move into the White House as political director. Some Clintonistas were sitting around at dinner, griping about all the people who had betrayed the new president. But Emanuel wasn't satisfied just to whine about them. (After all, he races triathlons, marathons apparently being insufficiently challenging.) So he grabbed his steak knife and started plunging it into the table, yelling, "Dead! Dead!" as he rattled off the names of the new administration's enemies.

After six years in the Clinton administration, where he had a hand in both politics and policy, Emanuel worked as an investment banker for a while (another nice low-key kind of job), earning millions. But by 2004, he was back in the political game, winning a House seat from Chicago. Two years later, he was running the House campaign operation, raising far more money than Democrats had done in recent years and helping the party win 30 seats that fall.

Some of the stories about Emanuel, and the details of his life, seem almost too perfect -- except that they are so universally known, and so clearly fit his personality, that they're completely believable. He volunteered in the Israeli military during the first Gulf War in 1991 (and only afterward showed up in the Clinton campaign's war room). He's said to have mailed a rotting fish to a former colleague, and to have cursed out Howard Dean over holding back funding for the 2006 elections. He told Fortune magazine's Nina Easton that he trash-talked President Bush about his mountain biking, trying to goad him into stepping it up to a triathlon and telling Bush he could wear water wings for the swimming segment if he needed them.*[4] In the Capitol, he charges through hallways like somebody's life depends on him getting wherever he's going; just before the House approved the Wall Street bailout last month, I spotted him shoving his way through a reception on his way to a meeting and tried to go ask him how the vote was looking, but I couldn't keep up with him.

Yet, for someone as hyper and profane as Emanuel, people who've worked with him seem to love him. "The thing about Rahm that will be great for the administration is he doesn't settle with just good or just great," said Jennifer Crider, a former adviser to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi who now works for the DCCC. "He wants it to be outstanding and the best it can be. He pushes and he pushes and he pushes, and he makes the people around him better than they ever thought they could be."

Of course, that's what House Democrats say now, while they're still enjoying the last few days of Rahm being firmly ensconced on their side. Even though Obama plans to work closely with the leadership on the Hill, a time will come next year when the White House clashes with Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid over something. And when it does, everyone in Congress will know exactly what they're in for.

*1. Obama Confronts Lieberman On McCain Advocacy, Tone, on Senate Floor

June 05, 2008
http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/06/obama-confronts.html

*2.The legend of Rahm

Was Rahm Emanuel the reason the Democrats took back the House in the 2006 election? A Chicago reporter makes the case.
May 08, 2008
http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2007/05/08/rahm_emanuel/

*3The Enforcer

Rep. Rahm Emanuel is leading the Democratic charge to retake the House next year. Will his old-school combativeness rub off on his more timid colleagues?
Oct 20, 2005
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/8091986/the_enforcer/print

*4. Rahm Emanuel, Pitbull politician

He's a killler strategist and nonstop fundraiser, with a style one ally likens to a "toothache." Meet the Chicago Congressman who's one of the big reasons the Democrats have a shot to retake the house.
September 25 2006
http://money.cnn.com/2006/09/17/magazines/fortune/politics.fortune/index.htm

Hilarious. Here's newly elected Senator Obama roasting Rahm at a 2005 charity fund raiser for Citizens United for Research in Epilepsy(CURE). This 3 year old video gives some insight to their history and relationship. Corny stuff, but nice delivery and a few good one-liners mixed in.

(Via HuffPo) "Recently, CSPAN rebroadcast a roast from 2005 where Barack Obama takes on his future White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel. Discussed are Rahm's past with ballet and the accident in which Rahm lost his middle finger, a loss that Obama said essentially rendered Rahm mute."

WATCH
http://youtube.com/watch?v=cdphzxz64BY
(8 min.)

C-Span has video of the entire roast also featuring Hillary Clinton and Chris Dodd if anyone's interested. It's almost 2 hours long:

http://www.c-span.org/search.aspx?For=roast

i've been dreaming a lot lately
both when awake and asleep
the seas are calm
and the cosmos alive
stars line up
people stand in crowds
around the world
and the light
that we hunger for
that we have hungered for
the dark the we have shunned
we can embrace

i drift on tides
created by light
star dust rowboat
i journey through oceans
dark sticky space
glowing with
ancient embers
our ancestors
we can embrace

i reach from my bow
and touch
my finger sends ripples

peace comes from peace

derek

word is...big ole flabs is bery bery depressed at this hour and has gone into hiding in his dog house...he can't believe that the strange barracuda and her sidekick mac-is-not-back got booted so hard in the ass last tuesday and out a site for four long yrs ...hehe...whoahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaawhaaaaaaa!

Hey Diablo
What's up?
So do you like pumpkin pie or pecan pie better for Thanksgiving?
I prefer pecan pie. I refuse to learn how to make it so it doesn't spoil the magic.
Although I do try to bake Kolache's every year about this time. It's kind of a tradition. This year my god child will be home to help. Yo. If you would like I can send you a couple dozen.

derek

yo doodooman...i'm sure most here will agree u are a gentle giant and a sweet pussycat...damn! all the best dude!

Emperor..u are most welcome at the Ranch~ just ask for D and drinks will be on the house all nite! damn!

hi there Derek & Diablo,
It is a really nice cool evening, I had to wear a pullover tonight on my walk!
The air is so refreshing,
and after this week
I am really feeling excited and hopeful for
the U. S. of A. and the new president-elect.

Time for a sip of hot ...
chocolate
;-)
~ Kate

From your smile of nowhere
I am getting a message
Inside there is a message

It's understood
But I cannot read it
My mind full of ignorance-shock

Wait, but, but...
There is a strong part of me asking
Moving and asking nothing special

I am turning my back
For a time-of-the-deep
For silent-osmose of me

Coming from you in silence
Yes, coming from you...

NY Times on (Intentblog's well-known) Pollster Pundit Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com:

This Math Whiz Called It for Obama Months Ago
November 9, 2008

At 9:46 p.m., blogging on his site FiveThirtyEight.com, Nate Silver called the presidential election for Barack Obama. The television networks followed suit about an hour and 15 minutes later after most polls in Western states closed.

Of course, Mr. Silver had a head start: he had forecast that Senator Obama would beat Senator John McCain back in March.

In an election season of unlikely outcomes, Mr. Silver, 30, is perhaps the most unlikely media star to emerge. A baseball statistician who began analyzing political polls only last year, he introduced his site, FiveThirtyEight.com, in March, where he used his own formula to predict federal and state results and run Election Day possibilities based on a host of factors.

[...]

Mr. Silver has also become an in-demand analyst, appearing on MSNBC, CNN, “The Colbert Report” and Fox News.

[...]

Mr. Silver has believed in numbers the way authors believe in words, as capable of expression and provocation, since he was young.

[...]

He graduated from the University of Chicago in 2000, and was working for (and bored by) the accounting firm KPMG when he began messing around with baseball statistics.

...

He built a predictive system called Pecota around that, and sold it to Baseball Prospectus, a statistical organization, in 2002, staying on as a writer and consultant for the company. For the 2007 season, he correctly predicted the White Sox would lose 90 games. And for the season that just concluded, he predicted the longtime basement-dwelling Tampa Bay Rays would be a top team.

[...]

Late last year, Mr. Silver, an Obama supporter, became frustrated with how primary poll results were being reported, and how sloppy polls and rigorous polls were given the same attention.

“What you heard on television was, Hillary was inevitable, she’s up 20 points,” he said. “She’s up 20 points because people had heard of her. They hadn’t heard of Obama.”

Mr. Silver posted his speculations on the liberal Web site DailyKos.com, and earned attention when he projected Senator Obama would win 833 Super Tuesday delegates, which was within about a dozen of the actual vote estimates.

[...]

In March, he introduced FiveThirtyEight.com, and it quickly became a go-to site for readers whose interest in raw numbers had grown after the close (and miscalled) elections in 2000 and 2004. As his reputation grew online — there’s a Facebook group called “There’s a 97.3 Percent Chance That Nate Silver Is Totally My Boyfriend” — the mainstream media he disparaged for sloppy reporting came calling.

Political predictions are “big this year because of Nate Silver,” said Sam Wang, who runs the rival site Princeton Election Consortium. “He loves discussing the details of the data, and his commentary is quite good. He’s made this hobby mainstream.”

[...]

Between his live TV appearances on election night, Mr. Silver updated his model and determined around 8 p.m., after New Hampshire went to Senator Obama, that Senator McCain had no way of winning. By the end of the night, Mr. Silver had predicted the popular vote within one percentage point, predicted 49 of 50 states’ results correctly, and predicted all of the resolved Senate races correctly.

[...]

One thing Mr. Silver cannot predict: what happens now. He suspects that Nov. 4 was the height of his popularity, and that producers will not be phoning as frequently any time soon. Publishers have been calling about a book, and he will continue with FiveThirtyEight, using it to predict Congressional votes during the Obama administration — if anyone cares.

“That’s the paradox,” he said. “You would think that you elect this guy and you want him to effect change, and then he gets elected, and people don’t care about bills being passed.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/business/media/10silver.html

A must read from Paul Krugman: If you expect Obama to be FDR, best to look at the failures as well as the triumphs of the New Deal.

Franklin Delano Obama?
By Paul Krugman
Published: November 10, 2008

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/10/opinion/10krugman.html

afternoon all,

well, it has been eight long years of very bad leadership under this President Bush an it looks like we have found a least one perspective where the Nation is not divided but in fact tends to have a majority agreement on....go figure...The "Greeat Divider President" has united us fellow Americans in this..........below......

A new national poll suggests that President Bush is the most unpopular president since approval ratings were first created more than six decades ago. Seventy-six percent of those questioned disapprove of how Bush is handling his job. "Bush is now more unpopular than Richard Nixon was when he resigned from office during Watergate with a 66 percent disapproval rating," said CNN polling director Keating Holland.

Wow......pretty much what I and a lot of other Americans figured his leadership would amount to when we didn't vote for him in 2000 and in 2004.....

well President Bush and Vice President Cheney...happy trails, but don't let the door hit you on the way out......ruth

WOW did you see that!!!!!
WOW did you feel it?

Today has been a strange day, no?
Did you feel it?

Have you scream it?
Were you saying your contradiction, made USa?

Once and twice, we passed the Zone
For a minute or two

Many were jumping out, jumping in
Scatching, croSSing the surface...

for the women in the audience, Jab Se Tere Naina from Saawariya...

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

(or click my name)

Shaan, whose soft voice sings this, won the 2008 Filmfare Award for best male playback singer.

the actor is Ranbir Kapoor, one of Raj Kapoor's many grandkids in the biz. other than his obviously great body (lats! obliques!) and fantastic dance skills (which you'll need to watch the film to appreciate fully), he needs to season a bit (too young and unproved, matlab shallow, unless that was how he was directed -- haven't seen him in anything else).

translation? use your imagination.

and so good night for another day or ten,
with love to all,
h

dear jean,
All my days have been kind of strange since kindalooney yoga practise started last spring.

yours,

Ref. 44. Yo baby D let us just keep it green all night long!

O yeah!

Peace

the emperor was drunk!

another fiddled while his city burned...i hear? yo!

hi kate, the nature girl! damn!

hi heather...how are u? damn...girl!

the circle of discontent

They say to recognize yourself is the first step to changing. I don't think, however, that recognition and characteristic metamorphosis take place simultaneously...

I am plagued with persistent discontent. When I am traveling, I wish I was home. When I am home, I wish I was away. It seems like there is a better alternative to every second of life and I am, somehow, missing it by doing something else. There is always something which can be better. If it is cold, it can be warmer, hunger could be satisfaction, a busy schedule can be a relaxed day, an ill body can be healthy. And when any one of these are the way they should be, the mind automatically finds something else which can be fixed. Every day is an unending journey of dissatisfaction and discomfort. I don't remember any point in life that did not feel like this, except for these millisecond moments that occur without control. A millisecond of complete happiness and peace, until the cells in my brain begin work again, shuffling through millions of problems which exist, or have existed or could exist. I've reached a stage in life where this cycle is becoming unlivable and it needs to just stop. For once, I want to believe entirely and completely, with my mind and soul that everything in life is perfectly fine and nothing could be better or more satisfactory than this moment, every moment. There should be no longing for the past, which only a few moments ago was the unhappy present. There should be no longing for a future which does not exist as of yet. Life should be NOW and now should only be happiness and gratefulness. As a caterpillar awaits the moment of its transformation into the butterfly which is free. I await my transformation of freedom from expectations, disappointments and discontent.

both peace and difficulties can be embraced and loved for the transformations they unleash
(the caterpillar sleeps first, then strains inside the cocoon, then bursts forth)

Dear Burcidi,

Lots of 'shoulds' in your post. What would happen if there were no 'shoulds' in life?

Oh Yeah....Change we can believe in!!

Change as in ...one Chicago thug politician (Obama) bringing on board another Chicago thug politician (Rahm) who served at the behest of slick willie!!

Change as in Podesta...who served at the behest of....you guessed it...slick willie....

Oh yeah.....Nobama....he be all about change. (a little ebonics for you there.)

We're changing....we have no idea what we're changing to...but by God we're changing....Brokaw says, "we don't know who obama is." Newsweek says, "we don't know who obama is." Deepak says, "he's the fourth jesus, he walks on water, he turns water into wine, he calms the raging storm in my soul..."

Hehehehehe....you jokers just elected another joker......

Whambam....down goes the first amendment....

crash....there goes the second amendment....

and on and on....'course some of you like the Chavez model of governance....

Happy veterans day.....thanks lefties...for giving us this loser who will snatch defeat from the jaws of victory....

:)

Last night, I was walking
The air was fresh-cold but confortable

You were in my mind
Mind-walking together

So calm it was
So slow-sugar

The final picture was spectacular
Like a pure ancestral-scene

The moon, surrounded by light-clouds
In slow-motion too, it was

Witch of fire, you are
For Sure, you, on commun-roadS, Strange the Sensation iS

Seek the root-Symbol of this feeling
Seek with firmness and inner-trust

Until your ended-quest, not a word
Seek like Snakes-Subtility

I'll be the first to be happy, to listen to you
Around a table, head to head, this symbol sit between us...

Skinny,

You're obviously a bitter douche who, and I'd smear your face in dog excrement if given the chance.

Bullet-Meditation
Unimaginable full-proof
Me heart is a natural-killer

Are you in
In this intellect fragil Peace-Group?
Where is your wild Green-Force power?

Please, stop automatic-words recitations
Incantation of a new-form
For young and weak-minds

You, now you
GET OUT and see
Get this bullet and medidate on it...

morning eveyone,

skinny writes, "Happy veterans day.....thanks lefties...for giving us this loser who will snatch defeat from the jaws of victory...."

First, skin.....your velcome:)))

Second, snatch defeat from the jaws of victory???? from Hannity's lips to skinny's pen....

but, we lefties, have a motto to always be kind to those with who stutter delusional sputter... it is kind of the enlightened thing to do...

change is gonna come......heheheheheheheheh....

skinny is loving American's new President....he just can't stop talking about him....heheheheheheheh....

Personally I would like Barak Obama to just go for it....change whatever his little lefty heart desires withing his power.....but, Barak Obama ain't me....he is so much nicer .....me....well, give me four years and this would be the most lefty liberal feminist bitching Nation to flaunt it's stuff ever seen....

so, you, best be happy, skinny, you, got a sane, not, so, in your face Democrat...as Barak Obama....things could be a lot worse for you republican conservatives or whatever you call yurselves....you are getting off easy with President-elect Obama....you gonna have the best four years of your life!!!!and you can take that to the bank....because the bank just got some of that bailout money....

oh well....change is gonna come.....change is the name of the game....to change or not to change....hey brother, can you spare some change....the winds of change are a blowin today....change, change, change....heheheheheh

have a great day and spend some of that extra change..there is more coming your way, ruth

Awwww...Chris...dat's not nice....to even think that...as for doing it....bring a lot of help!! :)

Kinda fun watching the commander in chief give veterans day talk today.....couldn't help but wonder, what are the troops gonna be thinking about the new 'panderer in chief'?

just musings from a bitter douche!!

Oh the weather outside is frightful...but Barack is so delightful....

Feel another song coming on....maybe I can do better than the 'Barack the magic Negro' one....

more to come....

have a splendid, capitalistic day....theyr'e gonna be few and far between before long....

:)

PS Ruthie baby....he has Rahm to do his dirty work while he puts forth that 'vacuous' smile and looks innnocent..... gonna be a fun ride....Palin Romney 2012!!

Why does Chris sound like Diablo . . .

Why Norm brother Rahm is an UberZionist we thought you would be proud!

Yea . . .

Yeah i tend to gree with ruth's writing there Norm . . .; I am betting your economic bracket is going to be none too adversely affected by Obama. And least the dem's may show they give a care bout us lil people instead of just guaranteeing CEO payouts to the airline industry (we have "saved" this literal flying glory of bad business numerous times), Ford, Chevrolet, AIG, Lehman, etc., as the very bottom of the trough is about to fall off at any moment . . .:

Amtrak for goodness sake. AMTRAK survives purely off public dole, and they are our only continental train system in America for passenger transport. Government subsidized capitalism in all of it's glory! Perhaps the trucking company you have worked for has once been governmentally assisted to simply stay afloat . . ., hmmm, yeah, perhaps even eh . . .

:)

Yet if we were truly loving Americans we all would use public transport daily instead of putting two hundred million cars on the road!

A two-edged sword in the mouth of the One coning forth from the fiery breath of our Lord!

he

God bless

And of course Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and here we go, "Government, banks aim to stem foreclosures":

"The Federal Housing Finance Agency, which seized control of the two mortgage finance companies in September, scheduled a press conference for 2 p.m. EST. Scheduled to attend were officials from the Treasury Department, Wells Fargo & Co., the Department of Housing and Urban Development and Hope Now, an alliance of mortgage companies organized by the Bush administration last year."

What in the heck is "Hope Now, an alliance of mortgage companies organized by Bush . . ."; capitalism, har har har!

peace

hey skinny, you write, "...Palin Romney 2012!!

Palin has her "republican god" working on that...she gots a taste of the power and she hungers for more....I don't know if Romney would like running with an attention getter like Palin, he doesn't primp those good looks for nuttin.....hehhehehehehehe.....

2012 is an eternity away....thank goodness

ruth

skinny asks, "couldn't help but wonder, what are the troops gonna be thinking about the new 'panderer in chief'?"

hmmmm, this is too easy....they will probably be thinking he will, in the least, let the troops come home when their tour of duty is up instead of holding them over and working them to death, on the cheap....like Bush does.....

just a thought....ruth

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2008/11/11/opinion/1194832614436/op-ed-women-in-combat.html

this is very interesting. the women's courage, dutifulness and thoughtfulness make their stories quite moving.

This is for Norm:

Obama Transition Team Adopts Ethics Rules
By BRIAN KNOWLTON
Published: November 11, 2008

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/12/washington/12transition.html

(or click my name)

full paste, because this is super news...

- - - - - -

"WASHINGTON -- A top adviser to President-elect Barack Obama said Tuesday that the transition team would raise about $7 million to cover its costs, supplementing $5 million in government funds, but would reject donations from lobbyists or corporations and rely instead on the same of small donors who helped propel the Democrat to victory.

"“We’ll raise all that money from individuals,” said John D. Podesta, who is a co-chairman of Mr. Obama’s transition team. “There’s a $5,000 limit on those contributions.”

"In his remarks to a packed briefing room in the temporary transition offices here, Mr. Podesta, a former of chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, seemed intent on striking a tone of brisk efficiency and in advertising what he insisted would be historically high standards.

"Under the rules announced by Mr. Podesta, federal lobbyists will not be allowed to raise money for the transition, nor continue lobbying while working in the transition. In addition, he said that someone who became a lobbyist after being involved in the transition would be prohibited from lobbying the administration on related matters for 12 months.

"“These are the strictest ethics rules ever applied,” he said.

"Mr. Podesta also vowed that the new administration would move “very aggressively and very rapidly” to address the country’s energy challenges, shifting American factories and consumers toward cleaner sources of power while creating more jobs.

"Mr. Obama’s first priority was “to stabilize the economy and put America back to work,” he said.

"Reiterating what Mr. Obama said at a news conference last week, Mr. Podesta said that if Congress did not pass an economic stimulus package in a lame-duck session next week that was announced on Tuesday, it would be “the first item of business after he is inaugurated.”

"He confirmed reports that the transition team was reviewing options for closing the detention camp at Guantánamo Bay, but provided no details.

"Mr. Podesta also said that Mr. Obama had no plans to meet with any of the world leaders coming to Washington this weekend to take part in a financial summit meeting — “either here or in Chicago,” where Mr. Obama is spending most of his time for now.

"He described a brisk pace for some transition actions, noting, for example, that fact-finding teams would review more than 100 agencies and commissions starting next week to aid in decisions on budget, personnel and policy.

"He said that Mr. Obama wanted to expand on the practice of some presidents of selecting one cabinet member from the opposition party, but that whoever was chosen, it was rare for any cabinet members to be named before December.

"“At a moment when we face the most serious challenges of a lifetime,” said Mr. Podesta, referring to the ailing economy. “President-elect Obama wants to assure that we hit the ground running on Jan. 20, because we don’t have a moment to lose.”

"While new administrations almost always promise to hew to strict ethical standards, Mr. Podesta’s language was particularly strong as he promised “the strictest, most far-reaching ethics rules of any transition team in history.”

"He said about 450 people would be hired to undertake the work of preparing for the new administration, promising a transition “that is efficient, that is organized, that is bipartisan, and more open and transparent than others before.”"

OK....here's the deal....

The stuff above is what I fear will happen under an Obama administration....But I write what I write mostly to get a rise out of you guys...it kinda works! Chris gets downright snarky! I love it...

However....My new President is going to be Barack Obama. I don't like that, but I respect that choice.

As a conservative American it worries me, that we will have an erosion of freedom that will make the patriot act look like recess.

As an American, it worries me that he is going to be so far in over his head, that he won't know strait up....I've not drunk the koolaid....I've not succumbed to the charm, even though I recognize it.

I hope he is a blazing success. I hope that in 4 years I'm looking for Heather to congratulate her. I hope that he can turn the economy around. I hope he can de-nuke the world. I hope he can do these things without totally breaking the economy...

I hope....

See guys....way before I'm a Republican, I'm an American. I don't consider it 'measles' as our brilliant Gotham pointed out a couple years ago, to have a nationalistic fervor.

So....yeah, I'll continue poking and prodding. I'll probably even make up another song. Yep , for now I still think he's an empty suit...I think some of his past associations are disgraceful. For the most part....I think we're in trouble........

I hope I'm wrong....I'll gladly concede that I am...

:)

PS....if he turns water to Wild Turkey...I'm on board!!!

hey skinny,

we hear your fears but let's get real.....he can't possibly be anymore of an empty suit than the current President turned out to be, so relax.

:) evening, ruth