Thank God It's Friday

There an old Oscar Brown Jr. tune, 'Hymn To Friday' (from his 'Between Heaven and Hell' album), a calypso-beat number;

"It's the eagle fly day ... It's my day to get high day ... If you see what I say ... Thank God it's Friday ..."

It may (or may not) have become a bit clearer, why President Obama so eagerly wiped the floor with the PartyofNoicans last Friday, and, perhaps, left Baltimore singing "Hymn to Friday".

It was their GOP House Issues Conference, they extended the invitation to the President, but did not, initially, agree to have it televised.

This, from Steve M, on No More Mister Nice Blog, quoting an NYT article;

Although he and other presidents have addressed opposition caucuses before, they usually close the doors for questions, but this time the White House insisted on letting the news media record the give and take.

Hmmm .. Why would they insist? .. Let's see if we can come up with a reason ...

Ahh! ... It would dominate the news cycle for the rest of the day, perhaps two, or three?

Bingo!

It did, including MSNBC, who preempted Olbermann and Maddow on Friday night, to have them, with Tweety, rerun the event, adding their commentary.

And, what was thrown out on the Friday Night Trash Dump?



Obama's DOJ Clears Torture Memo Authors John Yoo, Jay Bybee of Professional Misconduct

The Truthout post culls from a report in Newsweek, "Holder Under Fire";

try the alleged 9/11 conspirators in New York City and his handling of the Christmas bombing plot suspect. Now the left is going to be upset: an upcoming Justice Department report from its ethics-watchdog unit, the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), clears the Bush administration lawyers who authored the “torture” memos of professional-misconduct allegations.

While the probe is sharply critical of the legal reasoning used to justify waterboarding and other “enhanced” interrogation techniques, NEWSWEEK has learned that a senior Justice official who did the final review of the report softened an earlier OPR finding. Previously, the report concluded that two key authors—Jay Bybee, now a federal appellate court judge, and John Yoo, now a law professor—violated their professional obligations as lawyers when they crafted a crucial 2002 memo approving the use of harsh tactics, say two Justice sources who asked for anonymity discussing an internal matter. But the reviewer, career veteran David Margolis, downgraded that assessment to say they showed “poor judgment,” say the sources. (Under department rules, poor judgment does not constitute professional misconduct.) The shift is significant: the original finding would have triggered a referral to state bar associations for potential disciplinary action—which, in Bybee’s case, could have led to an impeachment inquiry.

Jack Balkin cuts through the crap;

That is, the torture memos were written not to define "torture" with respect to new situations where the statute was unclear; rather they were written to allow the CIA to get around the legal ban on torture, even to the point of arguing that the torture statute would be unconstitutional if applied to persons acting under the direction of the President as commander-in-chief. The torture memos were not a hypothetical lawyer's exercise to guide future conduct. They were written in order to ensure that members of the CIA would never be prosecuted for torture.

Obama can end the recession, personally find every unemployed person a job, perform, himself, medical operations that save lives, but letting the Bush Grindhouse, and their cronies, get off scott free, from their illegal actions and war crimes, he will be wearing that failure, that "not looking in the rearview mirror" like a scarlet letter.

And it doesn't help his obtuseness, when other countries take action, that he doesn't;

International Arrest Warrants Requested

Professor Francis A. Boyle of the University of Illinois College of Law in Champaign, U.S.A. has filed a Complaint with the Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (I.C.C.) in The Hague against U.S. citizens George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, George Tenet, Condoleezza Rice, and Alberto Gonzales (the “Accused”) for their criminal policy and practice of “extraordinary rendition” perpetrated upon about 100 human beings. This term is really their euphemism for the enforced disappearance of persons and their consequent torture. This criminal policy and practice by the Accused constitute Crimes against Humanity in violation of the Rome Statute establishing the I.C.C.

This might mean that these dwarfs, finks, phonies and fraud can't summer in Europe, or attend the Cannes Film Festival, but they are free to roam this country, weigh in on current events, continue their lying, smear the President and, otherwise, enjoy their lives, unfettered with any annoyances, any accountability, for their heinous crimes.

Now, during the State of the Union Address, again in his emasculation of the PartyofNoicans, Obama, as the suddenly naked GOP and Right Wing Freak Show, pointed out, Obama did quite a bit of "Bush Bashing".

He inherited the financial shit train from The Bush Grindhouse.

The Commander Guy, and his cronies, took us from surplus, to trillions-of-dollar in debt.

Obama hasn't been shy of falling back on that, and it surely, pisses off the PartyofNoicans, because it is true, it is fact.

Also, true, and also anchored in a boatload of facts, is the illegal activities, and war crimes, of the previous administration.

Mr. President, you are becoming hypocritical, to single-out the financial mess, but, when it comes to holding your predecessor, his Shadow President, Rumsfield, the two former Crony Generals, Condi Rice, Addington, Libby, Yoo, et all. accountable for the laws they violated, you, suddenly, can only look forward, you can't turn your neck, to look in the rearview mirror.



Glenn Greenwald tackled this, earlier this month, in his "The crime of not "Looking Backward";

Every Obama-justifying excuse for Looking Forward, Not Backwards has been exposed as a sham (recall, for instance, the claim that we couldn't prosecute Bush war crimes because it would ruin bipartisanship and Republicans wouldn't support health care reform). But even if those excuses had been factually accurate, it wouldn't have mattered. There are no legitimate excuses for averting one's eyes from crimes of this magnitude and permitting them to go unexamined and unpunished. The real reason why "Looking Forward, Not Backwards" is so attractive to our political and media elites is precisely because they don't want to face what they enabled and supported. They want to continue to believe that it just involved the quick and necessary waterboarding of three detainees and a few slaps to a handful of the Worst of the Worst. Only a refusal to "Look Backwards" will enable the lies they have been telling (to the world and to themselves) to be sustained. But as Horton's story illustrates, there are real victims and genuine American criminals -- many of them -- and anyone who wants to keep that concealed and protected is, by definition, complicit in those crimes, not only the ones that were committed in the past, but similar ones that almost certainly, as a result of Not Looking Backwards, will be committed in the future.

Yeah, we have a recession, astronomical unemployment, you're on the verge of blowing Healthcare Reform, so many things, all so much piled on the plate.

Ahhh, you probably think that we're going to tell you to get off your ass, and start rounding up these creeps, hauling their "no-bid-contract" asses into court and getting it on with them, right?

Wrong.

Since your so busy, since you have so much on your plate, we have an easier solution.

Let The Hague indict them, and all you have to do is not stand in the way of extraditing over there for trial, say the United States will cooperate, and stand behind whatever decision comes from The Hague.

All in the name of justice, and the rule of law.

Heck, you'll even authorize a gang of U.S. Marshals go out and get them, and, in a rather ironic twist, you can use one of those CIA "Extraordinary Rendition" airplanes, to get them over there.

If you want to put a little lead in the "Hope You Can Believe In' pencil, you'll be able to write your own ticket, as the person that didn't let them get away with it.

Whaddya say, there, Mr. President?

This Date ... On The Garlic

1 February 2009... On The Garlic

Our Ignorant Dolt of the Week ... Dick Armey!

Smokin' Frank Rich Today!


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Exclusive: Edwards Endorses!


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Developing Story! Tancredo: Shut Down Super Bowl; Says Two Black Coaches "Amounts To Segregation"; Appeals To NFL Commissioner To Make Big Game "Color-Blind"; Biden Weighs In, Backs Coaches

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1 February 2006... On The Garlic

Bush Administration To Tap Punxsutawney Phil To Bolster Foreign Policy

Saudi Arabia In Chaos Over Bush Remarks; Millions Pour Into Riyadh To Protest Loss of Kingdom

It's Sheehan; Anti-War Mom Makes Axis of Evil List

Are Pigs Flying?

What a weekend, and it was a Full Moon weekend, so that, in the end, may have something to do with it.

We started off with President Obama, walking into the lions den, to talk with, and then dance on the foreheads, of the PartyofNoicans.

Today, Roger Ailes, the mothernest egg chamber of the vile insects that inhabit the airwaves at Faux News, sitting in on the roundtable, of ABC News' 'This Week'.



I mean, the program also had Barbara Walters sitting in as host/moderator!

Trouble is, Paul Krugman was there, as well, and we'll let Blue Texan, from Firedoglake, take the mic;

I have no idea why Jabba the Ailes decided to appear on “This Week” — but after this beatdown by Krugman, I doubt he’ll be back.



Notice Jabba doesn’t refute Krugman’s charge. He just ignores it, belches up a total non sequitur, then starts spewing Republican talking points. The result? The master propagandist was made to look like an ass on live teevee.

A thing of beauty.

Also, in the same program, he butted heads with Arianna Huffington;

HUFFINGTON: Well, Roger, it's not a question of picking a fight. And aren't you concerned about the language that Glenn Beck is using, which is, after all, inciting the American people? There is a lot of suffering out there, as you know, and when he talks about people being slaughtered, about who is going to be the next in the killing spree...

(CROSSTALK)

AILES: Well, he was talking about Hitler and Stalin slaughtering people. So I think he was probably accurate. Also, I'm a little....

HUFFINGTON: No, no, he was talking about this administration.

AILES: I don't -- I think he speaks English. I don't know, but I mean, I don't misinterpret any of his words. He did say one unfortunate thing, which he apologized for, but that happens in live television. So I don't think it's -- I think if we start going around as the word police in this business, it will be...

HUFFINGTON: It's not about the word police. It's about something deeper. It's about the fact that there is a tradition as the historian Richard Hofstetter said, in American politics, of the paranoid style. And the paranoid style is dangerous when there is real pain out there. I mean, with...

AILES: I agree with you. I read something on your blog that said I looked like J. Edgar Hoover, I had a face like a fist, and I was essentially a malignant tumor...

HUFFINGTON: Well, that's...

AILES: And I thought -- and then it got nasty after that...

HUFFINGTON: ... that was never by anybody that we had...

I suppose, to be fair, we should apologize to malignant tumors, the slanderous analogy to looking like Roger Ailes.

It would be closer to say, he looks more, proverbially speaking, like Joseph Goebbels.



And Krugman's call of Faux News hawking PartyofNoican talking points is on-the-money, as, earlier this month, Newsweek cited ""Roger Ailes is the real head of the GOP";

Politics, like nature, abhors a vacuum—which is why God created Roger Ailes. The president of Fox News is, by default, the closest thing there is to a kingmaker in Anti-Obama America. And that, in turn, makes him the de facto leader of the GOP. In a relentless (and spectacularly successful) hunt for cable ratings, Ailes has given invaluable publicity to the tea partiers, furnished tryout platforms to GOP candidates, and trained a fire hose of populist anger at the president and his allies in Congress. While Beltway Republicans wring their hands or write their tracts, Ailes has worked the countryside, using his feel for Main Street resentment to attract and give voice to this year's angriest—and most powerful—voter-viewers: those who hate the Feds, the Fed, and the Ivy League. It was Ailes who put the "party" in the tea parties by giving them a round-the-clock national stage. Next month Fox will have priority access to the National Tea Party Convention in Nashville.

That prompted John Amato, over on Crooks and Liars, to highlight;

Fox News has almost every Republican presidential candidate for 2012 on its payroll. Are they the Kingmakers?;

Ailes already has been leading the charge to tear down President Obama and has been very successful at that so far. In a year they have changed the political narrative when conservatism and the GOP were in shambles and the country was in meltdown. They were aided by a horrendous economy created by Bush and his conservative cronies of course that Obama inherited. The president has also left his base in the dark too, but FOX News is a real threat to the democratic process in America. PERIOD. I'm not just talking about having a conservative point of view. They created an entire political movement called the tea party movement and not a word from the media about this. Even on TV today, pundits and pols call them a wild card in politics, but that's silly, They make Newt Gingrich look like a moderate republican. When has a media outlet ever turned into an activist organization for one political party and recruited members by sending their hosts on location to do so?

I haven't heard the media complain either that FOX is the only network that has access to the teabagger convention. Once again the Aile's machine chugs along and our country suffers for it as the MSM remains mute.

It's happening, and we have history on this, that we shouldn't ignore.

They're Already Here! You're Next!




Bonus Roger "Mothernest" Ailes Riffs

The Most Biased Name in News

The Lies of Roger Ailes

Fox News Agrees With Letterman; O'Reilly Factor Now Only 40% Fair and Balanced ... New Spots To Reflect Correct Spin; Corporate Orders Review of Hannity & Colmes; Other Programming

Top Ten Cloves: Ways Roger Ailes and Fox News Plans On Ending Its’ Ratings Slump

Roger Ailes Is Slipping ... Blows Wildfire Scoop For New Biz Network

eWar Follow-up: Amazon Blinks!

Holy flip-flop, Batman!

Yesterday, we posted of the budding eWar, between Amazon, Amazon's Kindle and Macmillan Books (and, by extension, all book publishers), with Steve Jobs and his iPad standing (licking his chops) in the shadows.

Today, at 2:22 PST, Amazon blinked;

Dear Customers:

Macmillan, one of the "big six" publishers, has clearly communicated to us that, regardless of our viewpoint, they are committed to switching to an agency model and charging $12.99 to $14.99 for e-book versions of bestsellers and most hardcover releases.

We have expressed our strong disagreement and the seriousness of our disagreement by temporarily ceasing the sale of all Macmillan titles. We want you to know that ultimately, however, we will have to capitulate and accept Macmillan's terms because Macmillan has a monopoly over their own titles, and we will want to offer them to you even at prices we believe are needlessly high for e-books. Amazon customers will at that point decide for themselves whether they believe it's reasonable to pay $14.99 for a bestselling e-book. We don't believe that all of the major publishers will take the same route as Macmillan. And we know for sure that many independent presses and self-published authors will see this as an opportunity to provide attractively priced e-books as an alternative.

Kindle is a business for Amazon, and it is also a mission. We never expected it to be easy!

Thank you for being a customer.

Hmmm ... Seems like today, Jobs gets to smack his lips, now that Amazon has caved.

For now, apparently, Amazon is content to let Macmillan be viewed as a greed-head, as opposed to Amazon, the assholes.

This Date ... On The Garlic

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White House Fiercely Divided; VP Cheney Wants State of Union Address Kept Private

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It's An e-War!

There's still a lot in innings left in this game, to determine, if, when the crush develops, will the cupid-stricken young boy offer to carry his sweetheart's Kindle, iPad, or some other device, to school for her.

In the meantime, an e-War has broken out.



Amazon and Macmillan go to war: readers and writers are the civilian casualties

When I woke this morning at 5AM UK time, I discovered an in-box full of emails from people asking if I knew what was going on with Amazon. My books -- and all books from Macmillan and its many divisions, including Tor, my publisher -- had disappeared from the Amazon webstore in both physical and electronic editions.

The New York Times quotes an industry insider as saying that Amazon pulled these books in retaliation for a demand from Macmillan to raise the price of Kindle books from $10 to $15. Presumably, Amazon perceives the $10 price-tag as a way of encouraging people to buy its Kindle platform, which itself is a kind of roach-motel for books: the license terms and DRM on the books in the Kindle store prohibit you from reading your Kindle books on competing devices. So books check in, but they don't check out.

[snip]

If the NYT's report is true, then this is a case of two corporate giants illustrating neatly exactly why market concentration is bad for the arts:

Read the rest of Cory Doctrow's post, as he also lays out a convenient (for readers and consumers, certainly), solution.

And, settle this thing fast, boys, I have three books I be lookin' to get published.

Back to the e-War, Henry Blodget adds;

Publishers have therefore been pressuring Amazon to raise prices on Kindle books, which Amazon is loathe to do. Amazon is selling Kindle books for $9.99 for two reasons:

• It wants the Kindle to become the ebook standard, and sales volume is critical
• It understands that the idea of selling an ebook for the price of a hardcover book is ridiculous

[snip]

And if Amazon were just an eBook seller, it might have to cave immediately. But it isn't. It's also a huge physical book seller (which, by the way, Apple isn't). So if a publisher gets too uppity, Amazon can just threaten to kick its books right out of the store.

And that appears to be what has happened with Macmillan.

[snip]

Eventually, eBook prices should drop significantly, to reflect the incremental cost of goods sold (zero). This should encourage more book-buying and book reading, as well as a greater volume of sales. In the meantime, however, the publishing industry appears intent on stonewalling. And in that endeavor, it has found a new friend--Steve Jobs.

Yeah, right, Steve Jobs.

Once the heavy-duty fighting starts, undoubtedly, Apple will come out with something, like iRocks, you can throw.

Or, maybe, it will escalate to iDrones.

Bezos, over here ... Jobs, you go over here ...

Let's get ready to rumble!


Bonus eWar Fragments

Paul Miller: Macmillan books gone from Amazon.com, Steve Jobs grins wryly from his throne of golden iPads

John Scalzi: It’s All About Timing

Matt Buchanan: The Apple-Amazon eBook War Begins: Amazon Deletes Macmillan Books

To: All Macmillan authors/illustrators and the literary agent community

Top Ten Cloves: How The Amazon Kindle Can Effect The Legal World

This Date ... On The Garlic

30 January 2009... On The Garlic

Qui couper le fromage?

You Gotta Check This Out!


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The Bob Dole For The New Millennium

The Buzzards Are Picking At Each Other ...

Good Post Alert: Fox News is in for a very rough 2008

Thank You, John Edwards!


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Libby Trial Update - It's Miller Time!


30 January 2006... On The Garlic

Enron Trial May Face Delay, As White House Mulls New Court Appointments

White House Calls Coulter On The Carpet; "Poison" Remarks Force Increase In HSD Budget

Top Ten Cloves: Ways Exxon Will Celebrate Largest Annual Profit Ever For A U.S. Company

My God Can Do Anything

Could it have been anymore lopsided?

First to mind, how do you think The Commander Guy would have fared in something like what went down today?

It would have crashed YouTube, for days, weeks.

Maybe, Wilt Chamberlain, one-on-one, against Willie Shoemaker?



A Mantle-Maris Yankee team, versus the Bad News Bears?

We talk, of course, about THE EVENT, today, in Baltimore, with President Barack Obama taking on the PartyofNoicans, at the GOP House Issues Conference.

Unprecedented, in this country (and how many time did we have to hear about the free-for-alls they have over in England), for a President, to take on the opposition party, in public, on television (which the PartyofNoicans are surely flagellating themselves, like the Pope, for that one), freestyle, question-and-answers, no holds barred.

It's virtually unanimous that Obama cleaned their clocks, holding court, taking their PartyofNoican talking-point-barbs-and-smears-questions and swatting them away, as easily as he would shoo a fly.

Afterall, he was dealing with the dwarfs, finks, phonies and frauds that don't know whether to piss, or wind their watches.



We'll have links below, in case you missed it.

But one thing.

There are calls, all over the board, for this to be done again, make it a regular thing.

Fat Chance.

For, one, Obama put the PartyofNoicans in a box, in the spotlight, called them out, on national television, for their morphing into the PartyofNoicans, so that is going to make things very uncomfortable, moving forward, remaining the obstructionists.

The emperor has no clothes thing.

But, it's an election year, so they will adhere to being the PartyofNoicans, lest they do anything to endanger their thin hopes of vaunting back to their Permanent Majority fantasy.

While it was great theatre today, the PartyofNoicans, egged on by the Flying Monkeys of the Right Wing Freak Show, and growing army of Teabaggers, have a firm, four-year plan to do anything, and everything, to tear down Obama, and the Democrats.

They'll take up Obama, on his Bipartisanship Love-In, but will remain the PartyofNoicans, insisting Obama, and the Dems, accept any and all PartyofNocian proposals, no matter how poorly written, how cheap and ridiculous they may be, and, when Obama and the Dems balk, push back, it's back to the lies and smears on how they want to destroy the country, having the government enslave the planet.

So enjoy the buzz for a day, or two, and then it's back to the SOS.

In the meantime, we'll let Luther Barnes, and the Red Budd Gospel Choir (and, yes, we've used this tune before), sum up the day;

My God Can Do Anything

Bonus Obama Clock-Cleaning Links

Marc Ambinder: Obama's Question Time: An Amazing Moment

Sam Stein: Obama Goes To GOP Lions' Den -- And Mauls The Lions

Steve Benen: MUST SEE TV...

David Corn: Obama and House GOP Bring Question Time to US

Steve M: TIMELY AS YESTERDAY'S HEADLINES

Amanda Terkel: Republicans dismayed by Obama’s strong performance, say it was a ‘mistake’ to let cameras roll

This Date ... On The Garlic

29 January 2009... On The Garlic

Stand


29 January 2008... On The Garlic

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29 January 2006... On The Garlic

Weekend Special - Sautéed Cloves

Smooth Operator

Sorry, Garlic Fans, we're a bit under-the-weather this evening.

We've been battling against a nasty cough/cold thing the past week, and thought, with some meds from the Doc, and mucho rest, we turned the corner and left it behind two-days ago, but it has made a sneaky return today, leaving us less then feeling tip-top ready to dive into the boatload of juicy news.



We will touch on one here, the 33-Ring-Circus happening down in New Orleans, with Flying Monkey, Acorn-Bashing James O'Keefe, and his band of junior Flying Monkeys pulled a "WTF-we're-they-doing" in the offices of Louisiana Senator Mary Landrieu, playing, what else, monkey-business with her phones.

James O'Keefe, as you may remember (or, if you went out on the World Wide Web today, discovered), was the phony pimp who, on the sly, recorded ACORN officials in some convoluted brothel scheme, solely so he could hawk edited footage to Faux News and his mentor, Flying Monkey Andrew Breitbart, bringing the wrath of the Right Wing Freak Show down on ACORN, and, I guess, proving that President Barack Obama is a socialist illegal alien.



In reality, all O'Keefe did was fuck hundreds-of-thousands of poor people, who depended on ACORN for all sorts of assistance and services, but that was just some of that "Compassionate Conservatism" in action.

I'm with Steve M, over on No More Mister Nice blog, that something is stinky fishy here.

Initial reports had these PartyofNoican Nitwits possibly wiretapping Landrieu's phones, but now, the meme is that they were just looking to get evidence, record her staff dissing conservatives trying to call the office, to register their complaints about Landrieu supporting Healthcare Reform.

Say What?



This is like a Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, "Hey gang, let's put on a show", on illegal, cheap steroids.

It smells of a late night, brain fart session of "Duh, what do we do if we get caught?"

Lots more to play out on this, but we do have to throw one out, to this worthy-of-Ignorant-Dolt-status gang.

I think we'll go with the Mongo Santamaria (con the Fania All Stars) version.

Mongo Santamaría - Smooth Operator

This Date ... On The Garlic

28 January 2009... On The Garlic

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We Looked In the DIY Section, But Bob Vila Didn't Have A Handbook On It ...

Hey, Dems, Let'em Veto It! ... Here's All The Ammunition You Need!


28 January 2007... On The Garlic

Weekend Special - Sautéed Cloves

No, Really, I Do Want To Be President ... Really, I Do ... The Results - The Garlic's Weekly Poll

A Cement Pond of Trouble

There have been growing reports, the past few days, on the upcoming Teabagger Convention, a seething unrest that it is turning into a shit train.

A Tea Party convention billed as the coming together of the grass-roots groups that began sprouting up around the country a year ago is unraveling as sponsors and participants pull out to protest its expense and express concerns about “profiteering.”

[snip]

The convention, to be held in Nashville in early February, made a splash by attracting big-name politicians. (Former Gov. Sarah Palin of Alaska is scheduled to deliver the keynote speech.) But some groups have criticized the cost — $549 per ticket and a $9.95 fee, plus hotel and airfare — as out of reach for the average tea partier. And they have balked at Ms. Palin’s speaking fee, which news reports have put at $100,000, a figure that organizers will not confirm or deny.

Interesting ...

After all, so far, all these feces-throwing, flying monkey Teabaggers have had to do, is show up at public spaces, with their own, hand-made, racist, slurring, defaming signs, at rallys supported by Faux News, and other PartyofNoican shadowy operations, and, on-cue, start foaming at the mouth, and make noise.



Boy, these Teabaggers sure don't get around.

Have they never attended a convention before? For work, as members of a trade association, and such?

As a former producer of trade shows, which included managing shows for associations, the fee structure for the Teabagger bash were not so far out-of-line.

And this faux outrage that the producer of the event is going to make a profit?

That's the entire reason for producing a show, whether you are a "For-Profit" entity, or a "Non-Profit" entity!

The producers' hard costs would include the renting of the exhibit space, breakout rooms, large hall/auditorium for keynotes, and dinner, which go in the range of anywhere from .50-cents, to $2, or $3/per square foot (typically, the more space your rent, the lower the cost).

Then there's the decorating company, to manage the logistics of said space, exhibit space booths, setting up, and cleaning, the breakout rooms, servicing the exhibitors, drayage, etc (this could also be done by the hotel, as a package deal). Also, depending what city (and/or venue) you are in, you may be mandated to use Union labor for this work, which adds a bit to bill.

And the hotel, as to per/night cost for attendees, the producer has to book/guarantee, X-number of rooms, to get the lowest rate. The size of the Room Block will determine the fee (and, depending what city you are in, there could be additional fees, surcharges, that cities like to levy, to raise revenue).

The dinner doesn't just magically appear, either.

The producer, based on what they are serving, can, pretty much, plan on a price range of $5-to-$10, per plate, which may, or may not, include beverages, coffee, etc (some halls, that is a separate deal). And, if you are serving alcohol, more fees, and, possibly, a insurance charge with it.



And, it varies, from show-to-show, as to the presenters, speakers, getting paid.

Frequently, it is done via an honorarium, or "corporate gift", but, as we all know, "celebrities" charge.

The bigger the "celebrity", the bigger the fee (we produced a show, where, for just a 15-minute video welcome from Tom Peters, cost us in the neighborhood of $75K).

So the Teabaggers are sagging that Mommy Moose is milking the event for a, reportedly, $100,000-plus.

Surprised?

Why do they think The Wasilla Whiz Kid, abruptly, abdicated her office, to go out and do charity work?

Pretty weak tea, to find out your hero is not much more than a greed-head.

As to getting to the event, some producers may, or may not, work out a deal with a specific airline, to offer a discount, usually done on an "Early-Bird", time-limited basis.

The way to lower the cost for the attendees, is via Sponsorships, everything from Presenting Sponsors, your various levels of "Gold, Silver, Bronze" deals, signage, Registration area, attendee badges, Show Bag (and charging exhibitors to have their items placed in bag), room key/other special deliveries to room, Breakout Room sponsorship, Program Guide advertising, early mailings to attendees, the above-referenced dinner, and, just about anything and everything you can think of, or, that has a flat surface.

Some of these sponsorships cover your hard costs, others are pure profit-makers.

So, while the feces-throwing flying monkey Teabaggers are feeling ripped off, it goes more to their unenlightened view of the real world, which, considering their ideology, doesn't have you falling down in disbelief.

The producer of the event has just done a shitty job in selling it, not knowing his audience.

He's got Beverly Hills dollars in his eyes, while his attendee base is, intellectually, a step, or two, below the Clampetts.

No Claude Raines moment here, of the PartyofNoicans exploiting a situation.

This Date ... On The Garlic

27 January 2009... On The Garlic

Mirror Mirror


27 January 2008... On The Garlic

Bush Fatigue Alert - Monday's SOTU

Neocon Dolphins? ... Say It Ain't So, Flipper!


27 January 2007... On The Garlic

New Liz Cheney Op-Ed!


27 January 2006... On The Garlic

Iraqis Wake-Up To Their 'Dewey Beats Truman' Snafu With Hamas Upset

Disgraced Author Frey Claims Kidnapped and Beaten By Oprah, Staff

Top Ten Cloves: Things Overheard In The Hamas Election Headquarters

Reconciliation, For Dummies

That be you, President Obama, and the entire Democrat Caucus!

You guys have been acting like old ladies, standing on a chair, because a mouse came into the room, all because some bozo PartyofNoican won an election nobody thought he would (and, in fairness, he campaigned, and took victory, without mentioning he was a PartyofNoican), and, suddenly, the sky is falling.



This is what we wrote last week;

However, as to the bigger picture, unless something remarkably uncanny happened, and all kinds of state and federal laws were, suddenly, abrogated, and changed, today, newly-elected Teabagger Senator Scott Brown only won one Senatorial seat, not 18-20, and, unless something else has changed, Brown will come to a dead stop, after he runs-like-the-wind, to get to DC, and join the rest of the PartyofNoicans, in doing nothing

[snip]

What the Dems need to do is, along with growing a few pairs, start governing, start using their majority in Congress, to govern, much as the PartyofNoicans did (when they were known as "Republicans"), during the The Bush Grindhouse years, where they, without a majority, handed The Commander Guy everything he wanted.

Since you seem to be having trouble growing a pair, Paul N. Van de Water and James R. Horney have handed you some, and laid it all out for you today;

Using Reconciliation Process to Enact Health Reform Would Be Fully Consistent With Past Practice

Conclusion

Because rising health care costs represent the single largest cause of the federal government’s long-term budget problems, fundamental health care reform must be part of any budget solution.[15] The foregoing examples indicate that using the budget reconciliation process to enact health reform in 2010 would be consistent with the ways in which Congress has used reconciliation in the past. Many major policy changes, including welfare reform, large tax cuts, and new health programs, have been included in past reconciliation bills. Moreover, if health reform is pursued through the reconciliation process this year, the resulting legislation — unlike the tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 — will need to be designed so it does not add to the deficit. Any legislation also is likely to include provisions, such as an independent Medicare Commission and demonstration projects to identify ways to deliver health care more efficiently, that could lead to further reforms that slow the growth of health-care costs and contribute to longer-term deficit reduction.

Back in the old days (early 70's) on the "Point-Counter" of '60-Minutes', Nicholas von Hoffman called disgraced President Richard Nixon a "dead mouse on America's kitchen floor ... And it was time for Congress to come in and sweep it up ..."

This is your moment, this is what you are there for.

So, climb down off your chairs, grab a broom, sweep away those pesky, minority PartyofNoican mice, and get to work passing legitimate, benefiting-the-citizens-not-the-corporations, Healthcare Reform (and, with a Public Option, or Single-Payer, thank you, very much).

No Wonder He Was So Hunched Over

Holy Cow!

Now we know why Pope John Paul II was so hunched over!

Book: John Paul II used belt to whip himself

Pope John Paul II whipped himself with a belt, even on vacation, and slept on the floor as acts of penitence and to bring him closer to Christian perfection, according to a new book by the Polish prelate spearheading his sainthood case.

[snip]

At a news conference Tuesday, Oder defended John Paul's practice of self-mortification, which some faithful use to remind them of the suffering of Jesus on the cross.

"It's an instrument of Christian perfection," Oder said, responding to questions about how such a practice could be condoned considering Catholic teaching holds that the human body is a gift from God.

In the book, Oder wrote that John Paul frequently denied himself food — especially during the holy season of Lent — and "frequently spent the night on the bare floor," messing up his bed in the morning so he wouldn't draw attention to his act of penitence

Bonus Pope Riffs

Vatican Discounts "Bonfire Pope"; Says Flames "Not Hunched Over Enough" ... Late Pontiff's Bend Was Measured "Religiously"; Never Used Contingency "Roller Skate Gloves"

Top Ten Cloves: Things The Vatican Has Done To Make Good Friday Even Better

Top Ten Cloves: Possible Problems With Suing God

Breaking News! Pontiff In Major Spread, Popemobile Giveaway ... Oprah Lands Pope Benedict XVI For Huge Tell-All Over Muslam Flap ...Either Apology or Conversion To Islam Promised In Teasers; Pontiff Turned Down By CBS News Free Speech

Know Thy Pope

That Is Why You're Overweight

In the event, you're sitting in front of your computer, reading this, while stuffing your face with a donut, or piece of pizza, you, very likely, won't recall reading this, or remember very little of it.



Don't worry, it's not you, it's your brain, and you're in company with an overwhelming amount of people on the planet.

H/T to Juan Cole, for posting this;

Willpower And The 'Slacker' Brain

According to British psychologist Richard Wiseman, 88 percent of all resolutions end in failure. Those are his findings from a 2007 University of Hertfordshire study of more than 3,000 people.

How come so many attempts at willpower lose both their will and their power?

[snip]

It turns out, Jonah explains, that the part of our brain that is most reasonable, rational and do-the-right-thing is easily toppled by the pull of raw sensual appetite, the lure of sweet. Knowing something is the right thing to do takes work — brain work — and our brains aren't always up to that. The experiment, after all, tells us brains can't even hold more than seven numbers at a time. Add five extra digits, and good sense tiptoes out of your head, and in comes the cake. "This helps explain why, after a long day at the office, we're more likely to indulge in a pint of ice cream, or eat one too many slices of leftover pizza," Lehrer writes.

Click the link, and go to the piece, as we didn't snip the fascinating part, the experiment.

And, we have the perfect soundtrack for this, an old gem, from Eddie Harris;

Eddie Harris - That Is Why You're Overweight [1975] [HDTV]

This Date ... On The Garlic

26 January 2009... On The Garlic

Yes, Virginia, Even A Stopped Clock Is More Accurate Than Little Billy Kristol


26 January 2008... On The Garlic

Na-Na, Na-Na-Na ... Obama Wins ... And Gets The Keys To Camelot!


26 January 2007... On The Garlic

Breaking News! Hagel Speech Causes Havoc; Payless Shoes Flooded With Job Seekers, Resumes; Applicants Looking For " The Safe Jobs Senator Hagel Talked About"; Tancredo Offers Threats

Top Ten Cloves: Reason President Bush Is Now Only "The Decision-Maker" And Not "The Decider"


26 January 2006... On The Garlic

Bush Says Palestinian Elections Not Valid; "No Official Purple Fingers Verified

Top Ten Cloves: Reasons Kayne West Posed As Christ For Cover of Rolling Stone Magazine

Breaking! ... Super Bowl In Doubt, As Obama Considers Bailout For Jets

Sources tell The Garlic that, in his State-on-the-Union address Wednesday evening, President Barack Obama will lay out steps to a program that will delay the Super Bowl, scheduled for February 7th, so that a bailout plan for the New York Jets can be worked out.



Obama will cite that the "hopes and dreams" of New York Jets fans are "too big to fail", and that it is imperative for the government to step in, a prevent a complete meltdown.

The Jets lost yesterday, to the Indianapolis Colts, in the AFC Championship game, giving them the berth in the Super Bowl, against the New Orleans Saints, who beat the Minnesota Vikings, in the NFC Championship game.

Additionally, unnamed Administration officials were looking for a "Katrina-Sept 11th Super Bowl", to augment other metaphorical imagery the President will have in his SOTU speech;

"We need to build a bridge, from Namath, to New Orleans, so that the engine of passion, held so dearly by Jets and Saints fans, two cities badly scarred in our recent history, can continue to rumble, to resonate, and be a beacon to our continued economic growth.

Details of the Jets Bailout plan are sketchy, and it is not clear if it will contain oversight, or regulations, limiting bonuses of team executives.

A spokesperson for the NFL indicated the league is in discussions with the Obama White House, and, should the Super Bowl be delayed, the plans would be to continue with celebrity-filled parties, and television programs highlighting Super Bowl commercials.

I Hope This Doesn't Give The Commander Guy Any Ideas

A word, first, on that "rear-view mirror" thing, then, the hijinks

Why, on earth, would you, President Obama, bring in The Commander Guy, to the Haitian Relief Effort?

Is there a Convention Center in Port-au-Prince, filled with desperate people, that you can put him in charge of ignoring?

Will you have him just do a few "fly-overs"?

When Hurricane Katrina hit, I believe, he was delivering a birthday cake to Stumblin' Bumblin' John McCain.

Did you dispatch him to Haiti to deliver cakes?



Did Harold Ford convince you, that it would be good to hear his voice
on this?

Maybe, Mr. President, you need to check out, and look into deeper, the interview of Amy Goodman, with Randall Robinson, to see how boneheaded it is to have him anywhere near this, and how insulting it is to the Haitians.

Heck of a job, there, Obama...

And, on another front, we'll put our bets on this kid, doing way more for Haiti, then Mr. Ek-A-Lec-Tic;

Boy, 7, raises $160,000 for Haiti appeal

He's no Wyclef Jean or George Clooney, but that hasn't stopped seven-year-old Charlie Simpson from raising more than £120,000 ($195,000) for the Haiti earthquake.

Simpson from Fulham, west London had hoped to raise just £500 for UNICEF's earthquake appeal by cycling eight kilometers (five miles)around a local park.

"My name is Charlie Simpson. I want to do a sponsored bike ride for Haiti because there was a big earthquake and loads of people have lost their lives," said Simpson on his JustGiving page, a fundraising site which launched his efforts.

"I want to make some money to buy food, water and tents for everyone in Haiti," he said.

Oh, no, bicycles ...

The Commander Guy might get in his head that "Hey, I can do something like that."

As history goes, no, no he can't

• Bush bruised after bicycle bang
• Bush collides with police officer during bike ride
• Bush bruised in bicycle crash

What's next Obama, have the former Shadow President Cheney take some Haitians out hunting?

NYT Editorial Endorses The Garlic!

This happened a few days ago, and, as always, it's nice when some giant of the MSM gives a nod to The Garlic.

That being, since early last year, we took to referring to the former Republican Party, as the "PartyofNoicans".



Ah, New York Times Editorial, you want to step up front here;

The Party of Nope

Unabashedly feckless, the Republican Party aims to rise from the Congressional minority by brandishing a political agenda of just saying no. As in no to health care reform. (Their new senator-elect from Massachusetts, Scott Brown, ran outright on a promise to be the latest to shoot down health care.) No to global warming repairs; no to real reform of Wall Street; no, in fact, to any act of creative opposition.

[snip]

Sooner or later constituents must wonder how far Republicans can take pure opposition as a political philosophy without offering believable program alternatives. The party should remember how Speaker Newt Gingrich got into a fight with the Clinton White House over the budget and debt limit, and then played a game of political chicken in which he precipitated a government shutdown in 1995. He did not fare well.

Speaking of Newt Gingrich, he's trying to assault the country - again - his big plans, a "new contract", unveiled on the lowly, feces-covered Right Wing Freak Show perch of NewsMax.

And, for all their crowing, about how "we're back", following the election last week, of a man who went to great pains not to identify himself, during the campaign, and his victory speech, as a "Republican", the PartyofNoicans have a long, long way to go;

Only 19% Of Americans Are Happy With The Direction Of The GOP

This, in the vernacular, would be classified, as a "Gimme", or more commonly, a "No-Brainer".

If the Democrats can't capitalize on this, exercise their power, as the majority, and do the right thing, heaven help us.

We've called on him often, Mister Wizard, but we will refrain ...

For now.