Christmas Hoglets

By Libby

I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday, however you celebrate. I just got back from the family festivities myself and am just getting around to the news.

Everybody loves Obama. He has an 82 percent favorable rating on his handling of the transition. Best numbers of any incoming president in the past three decades.

Nobody likes Bush. The LAT looks at the legacy. Shorter: The arrogant SOB singlehandedly turned us from a major world power into the laughingstock of the planet.

Cabdrollery has a very good tool for tracking how often your Congresslizards voted to enable him to do it.

And this is just great. It's not enough that our local law enforcement is killing people regularly with tasers, now they're about to get a new toy. Pain beam weapons. Some kind of microwave guns that cause "skin pain." If memory serves the Pentagon has been working on this weaponry for some time and it creates a sensation of burning. Like the taser, it's billed as non-lethal but there have been real burn injuries in the testing phase.

On a much brighter note, a A real Christmas miracle story. Family home gets saved by a friend's blog post. Very uplifting. I recommend it.

Dan has his awards for the best music of 2008. Interesting choices.

Rest in peace, Harold Pinter. He was an amazing playwright.

And finally, SoBeale remembers the ghosts of Christmas presents past.

Comments

[Dan]

Hi Libby. Thanks for the link!

Believe it or not I have a degree in theater, so I'm quite familiar with Pinter. The obit says "Intended as an instructive note to actors, the Pinter pause was a space for emphasis and breathing room", but "Pinter pause" is an actual term in the theater. He was an extremely influential playwright and it's sad to hear of his passing.

[Libby]

I think it's sad too Dan and I was surprised by your range of musical tastes. Funny, I had no idea you were so well versed in the creative arts. I've always thought of you as a policy wonk.