Remove the wrapper from the turkey before cooking

The US-Iran-Iraq-Israeli-Syrian War:

At a not-for-quotation pre-speech briefing on Jan. 10, George W. Bush and his top national security aides unnerved network anchors and other senior news executives with suggestions that a major confrontation with Iran is looming.

Commenting about the briefing on MSNBC after Bush's nationwide address, NBC's Washington bureau chief Tim Russert said "there's a strong sense in the upper echelons of the White House that Iran is going to surface relatively quickly as a major issue - in the country and the world - in a very acute way."

Russert and NBC anchor Brian Williams depicted this White House emphasis on Iran as the biggest surprise from the briefing as Bush stepped into the meeting to speak passionately about why he is determined to prevail in the Middle East.

"The President's inference was this: that an entire region would blow up from the inside, the core being Iraq, from the inside out," Williams said, paraphrasing Bush.

I watched this on MSNBC Wednesday night. While the men were serious and little freaked out by the briefing, I doubt it's had much impact on them. When the conversation got to this point:

MSNBC's Chris Matthews then interjected, "And it could be the rationale for going into Iran at some point."

Russert paused for a few seconds before responding, "It's going to be very interesting to watch that issue and we have to cover it very, very carefully and very exhaustively."

I laugh out loud. It was not a happy laugh. The 4th Estate has done a seriously piss-poor job for the past six years. I have no faith, no hope, in that changing.

So, Bush's actions and rhetoric over the past several weeks continue to mesh with a scenario for a wider regional war - a possibility that now mainstream journalists, such as Tim Russert, are beginning to take seriously.

Don't count on it Mr. Parry.

See the Professor's take on the attack of the US Embassy in Athens. And expect this to happen with more frequency folks.

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There is hope for this sorry-assed country afterall: Bush's approval rating hits new low.

Public approval of Congress has edged up a bit now that Democrats are back in control, but it's still nothing to write home about. Approval for the way Congress is handling its job rose to 32 percent in the latest AP-Ipsos poll, up from a meager 27 percent a month earlier. That puts Congress on par with President Bush, whose 32 percent approval rating represents a new low for him in AP-Ipsos polling.

Will you put impeachment back on the table now, Ms. Pelosi?

Oh, and while you're at it, Ms. Pelosi, do something about this wonderful economy Mr. Bush has given us:

Study: 744,000 Are Homeless in US:

"In the last 12 to 18 months, the homeless population has essentially exploded in Philadelphia," said Marsha Cohen, executive director of the Homeless Advocacy Project, which provides free legal services to the homeless in Philadelphia. "We are seeing big increases in singles and families, both on the street and attempting to enter the homeless system."

"It's a whole influx of new people, and that's the really scary part," Cohen said.

Please take a look at Homeless & Crisis Assistance, at Charity.com; it's a list of charities which provide help to the homeless. Give if you can.


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Alaska stargazers excited about comet:

NASA astronomer Tony Phillips says Comet McNaught is the brightest comet visible from Earth in 30 years. It is six times brighter than Hale-Bopp in 1997, and 100 times brighter than Halley's Comet when it appeared in 1986, Phillips told The Associated Press on Thursday.

"It will remain a spectacular comet for weeks, perhaps months, in the Southern Hemisphere," Phillips said. "It could emerge as the brightest comet in recorded history."

Cool! Actually, COLD! 40 degrees below zero. It's information like that that keeps in me in New England. One of these days I'll get to Alaska, just not in January.

So This is Christmas

Senator Tim Johnson Is in Critical Condition

A Republican appointee would create a 50-50 tie, and allow the GOP to retain Senate control.

This is what the media is talking about. I'm thinking about his family. Dad's not much past that age and after two ocular strokes this year, well... let's just say I feel worse for that family than I do for the US.

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Judge Upholds Detainee Rights Terror Law

"This is the first time in the history of this country that a court has held that a man may be held by our government in a place where no law applies," said Barbara Olshansky, an attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, which has handled many detainee cases.

Bush got what he wanted for Christmas.

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Sudan dismisses Darfur 'threats'

However, the BBC's correspondent says that, while Mr Natsios said the talks had been productive, there is still no sign that Sudan's government will agree to a UN force.

There is a growing sense of frustration and urgency in Washington over the situation in Darfur, he says.

I'm not quite clear on what a No-Fly Zone or naval blockade would do to ease the horrendous situation in Darfur. George Clooney is in Eqypt appealing for help after trying to talk the Chinese into backing the UN plan to send in more troops - which Sudan would consider a threat to it's sovereignty and therefore is unwilling to accept. I wish him and everyone else trying to end this disaster well and hope they succeed soon. You can read more about Sudan, Darfur and the nightmare there on the BBC site: Sudan: A Nation Divided.

AmeriCares
Disasters Emergency Committee
Heifer International
Medecins Sans Frontieres
Oxfam

RIP Louis Riel

Will you watch?

No.

Man, this is just sick. Please do not watch “If I Did It, Here’s How It Happened” or enrich that scumbag by buying his book. Please.

Back then O.J. denied everything. Now, I guess, he’ll tell us how he terrified her, beat her, sliced her until rivulets of blood streamed past the bougainvillea outside their Brentwood home. We’ll tune in. Then he, Fox, Regan, and all those advertisers will cash in on the blood of the woman who saw it all coming.

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Being George's poodle isn't working out too well for Tony: Sympathetic Labour Pains: Tony Blair's Post-Election Panic Attack

But the turning of the water was no miracle, no divine judgment on the leader whose fateful partnership with George W. Bush is producing - week after week, month after month, year after year - fresh cause for future mourning. The color came from the thousands of fake poppies tossed into the fountain in what The Observer called "a spontaneous act of remembrance": an offering of the ubiquitous charity emblems worn by most of the population in the week leading up to the memorials.

In any case, Tony Blair never saw the vision of blood in the Square; he was in Hyde Park, with the Queen and other worthies, conducting formal ceremonies where no free action or unscripted word from the public was allowed to intrude. These offices of the dead were a fitting end to a week which saw Blair and his ministers launch a massive new fearmongering campaign, promising a "generation" of terror, war and tyrannical security measures in a "long and deep struggle" against his own nation's Muslim minority.

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Molly bids farewell to Rumsfeld.

And the beybey Jebus smiles.

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USDA Eliminates 'Hunger'

“very low food security.”

America's Second Harvest

Foodshare, Bloomfield, CT

Island Harvest, Mineola, Long Island

The Greater Boston Food Bank, Boston, MA

Food Bank for New York City, Bronx, New York

Connecticut Food Bank, New Haven, CT

Yorkville Common Pantry, New York, New York

I found some of the list above using Charity Navigator and the criteria was "hunger" and I sorted it by highest to lowest rating - giving me a list of 192 hunger related charities across the United States. Please do the same for your own locale and give what you can.

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If you don't know who Louis Riel is, look it up.