After the hoopla of winning the election, and a lot of wonk-talk about the cabinet posts, I was so greatful to read this today:
WASHINGTON — President-elect Obama’s advisers are quietly crafting a proposal to ship dozens, if not hundreds, of imprisoned terrorism suspects to the United States to face criminal trials
I think that closing Gitmo as one of his firsts acts in office will send a strong message to the world, and americans at home, that morality is back on the table as an important american value.
NOTE: Pre-emptive anti-snark statement… I know the witch has many sisters and that Glinda herself has been known to cohort with lobbyists, but give a munchkin a chance to party a bit. ; )
[I]n a tense exchange with Representative Henry A. Waxman, the California Democrat who is chairman of the committee, Mr. Greenspan conceded a more serious flaw in his own philosophy that unfettered free markets sit at the root of a superior economy.
“I made a mistake in presuming that the self-interests of organizations, specifically banks and others, were such as that they were best capable of protecting their own shareholders and their equity in the firms,” Mr. Greenspan said.
Referring to his free-market ideology, Mr. Greenspan added: “I have found a flaw. I don’t know how significant or permanent it is. But I have been very distressed by that fact.”
Mr. Waxman pressed the former Fed chair to clarify his words. “In other words, you found that your view of the world, your ideology, was not right, it was not working,” Mr. Waxman said.
“Absolutely, precisely,” Mr. Greenspan replied. “You know, that’s precisely the reason I was shocked, because I have been going for 40 years or more with very considerable evidence that it was working exceptionally well.”
I’m shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here!
I found this post in the comments section of an ABC News Political Radar posting about Joe Biden speaking in Seattle. It’s instructive to me to read what some Americans “think” is going on in the world:
IRAQ is won, NATO is in Afghanistan (not just the US), no terrorism on US soil since 9/11, Financial crisis caused by Democrats and Socialist policy now fixed by bipartisan effort, my business has gone from $5M in 2002 to $92M in 2008, 401K invested in government bonds so no loss at all. From my perspective, Obama can only make a mess of things.
My favorite part is “no terrorism on US soil since 9/11.” The fact that the Republicans presided over the worst terrorist attack against the US in modern times is a benefit to them? Nice.
You know the country has reached a cultural high when high school cheerleaders are staging mock executions at pep rallies. Maybe Sarah Palin can hire them to perform at her hate rallies?
Mountainous countryside near Maelifellssandur, Myrdalsjökull Region, Iceland. Once the young lava fields of Iceland cool down, life begins anew little by little. Ice, wind and water flatten and carve out shapes to begin with, then, during the summer, bacteria, lichen and fungi prepare the soil for plants, in particular mosses which adapt to an environment which remains difficult. These plants colonise the most favourable sites and terrain little by little, forming a new ecosystem.
Each photo has a link to the Google satallite photo of the location. The link for the above image is here.
I found this post in the comments section of an 
