Hoopla happening here:

Food court flashmob sings Hallelujah chorus

Feast Day of St. Nicholas

Is this proof that global intelligence communities are more in sync than we give them credit for?

Or that al-Quaida is on another upward curve of learning how to outfox our lax security? This latest threat succeeds because of its utter simplicity, yet it's the same wild animal we're dealing with, and we're merely training it on what our defensive shortcomings are. For us, it's another good-news, bad-news lesson in vigilance and mending the holes in the fence.

Still, how do you fight a war that's ultimately about the enemy's warped ideology whose weapons are anonymous bombs? It doesn't leave us with many palatable options that are also effective. Come to that, it seems that a good deal of the unpalatable ones aren't all that effective, either.



But there is no doubt that, as Chicago Rabbi Brant Rosen points out, "We're all in this together":

Thank you for sharing your thoughts (and links) on this latest terrorist bomb plot, Rabbi Rosen. You are reliably engaged and thoughtful, and it’s a pleasure reading your blog.

The AP story on this event is captivating for its details and chronology. One fact I noted in the story is this: “The addresses on the packages were outdated locations for two Chicago synagogues. The recipients were figures from the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition — historic episodes in which Christians persecuted Muslims.”

This somewhat childish conceit provides a squint of insight into the collective mind of an organization whose scattershot approach to terrorism reveals that destruction is the endgame, regardless of the target.

And you are right to point out that there are political opportunists and professional cynics who will use this latest episode to fuel their own agenda, and that the U.S. seems intractably tone-deaf to its own culpability both in terms of public policy and covert ops.

Still, you rightly conclude regarding this seemingly endless war that we’re all in this together. I’m reminded, too, of this quote: “If you’re not free, I’m not free.”

Blessings and peace to you –- Crimea River

"Tonight marks the end of the American combat mission in Iraq."

Kate --

Tonight marks the end of the American combat mission in Iraq.

As a candidate for this office, I pledged to end this war responsibly. And, as President, that is what I am doing.

Since I became Commander-in-Chief, we've brought home nearly 100,000 U.S. troops. We've closed or turned over to Iraq hundreds of our bases.

As Operation Iraqi Freedom ends, our commitment to a sovereign, stable, and self-reliant Iraq continues. Under Operation New Dawn, a transitional force of U.S. troops will remain to advise and assist Iraqi forces, protect our civilians on the ground, and pursue targeted counterterrorism efforts.

By the end of next year, consistent with our agreement with the Iraqi government, these men and women, too, will come home.

Ending this war is not only in Iraq's interest -- it is in our own. Our nation has paid a huge price to put Iraq's future in the hands of its people. We have sent our men and women in uniform to make enormous sacrifices. We have spent vast resources abroad in the face of several years of recession at home.

We have met our responsibility through the courage and resolve of our women and men in uniform.

In seven years, they confronted a mission as challenging and as complex as any our military has ever been asked to face.

Nearly 1.5 million Americans put their lives on the line. Many returned for multiple tours of duty, far from their loved ones who bore a heroic burden of their own. And most painfully, more than 4,400 Americans have given their lives, fighting for people they never knew, for values that have defined our people for more than two centuries.

What their country asked of them was not small. And what they sacrificed was not easy.

For that, each and every American owes them our heartfelt thanks.

Our promise to them -- to each woman or man who has donned our colors -- is that our country will serve them as faithfully as they have served us. We have already made the largest increase in funding for veterans in decades. So long as I am President, I will do whatever it takes to fulfill that sacred trust.

Tonight, we mark a milestone in our nation's history. Even at a time of great uncertainty for so many Americans, this day and our brave troops remind us that our future is in our own hands and that our best days lie ahead.

Thank you,

President Barack Obama

Wise Willie

The Vatican takes a moral stand on something...

Hubble Hoopla: Happy Birthday!

Ash-ta-hoopla

Western China digging out "with bare hands"

Beehive Hoopla

Eyjafjallajokull Hoopla

♫ I got the Pu-HUH-huh-HUH-huh-huh-li-HIH-hih-HIH-hih-tzer ♪ Bah-LOO-HOOOZE ♫

Poland weeps

Paul Begala's Hallelujah

Wm. Hemmerling

Begala: "The one law Congress can never overturn is the Law of Unintended Consequences. But that's why our Founders challenged us to 'form a more perfect Union,' because true perfection is not possible this side of heaven. Instead, we work to improve, to make progress, to renew."

SAFRA! SAFRA! SAFRA!

Promises kept: Obama signs historic health care reform legislation

And SAFRA isn't far behind...

DHS fails to investigate the deaths of 10 children in 2008

Now, Colorado House panel investigates the DHS. Sorta.

Dear Rep. Kefalas --

I was extremely proud the day you won your House seat in the Colorado Legislature after a long and sustained effort to get there. And I appreciate the time you shared with me in the past few years on behalf of the Rocky Mountain Bullhorn (RIP).

I'm writing to ask you about the current House panel on which you sit to investigate the tragic negligence of the DHS, a story which was exposed (miraculously enough) by the Coloradoan. I read with interest their coverage of yesterday's hearing (although I trust you've read it already).

The Coloradoan story rightly includes this passage, as it speaks for me and every reasonable person who's watching the continuing story unfold:

Lawmakers did not ask Beye who on her staff was responsible for ensuring the reports were finished after the two employees left and did not ask her what role she should have played in ensuring the reports were completed.

I realize that we can get only a flavor of the proceedings from the media's coverage. And I understand first-hand how ridiculously slow the wheels of governmental bureaucracy turn. But, based on what appears to be a softball inquiry into the deaths of ten children, it's not unreasonable to wonder how many more children have to literally lose their lives while Exec. Dir. Karen Beye still maintains her Ritter-appointed post. "Where does the buck lie?" you asked? Figuring out who had what file when is the last question on my list. I'm honestly gobsmacked by your limp rhetoric. If the buck doesn't stop with Beye, what on earth is she still doing in that job?

Look at it this way: Gov. Ritter is a lame-duck governor. Firing Beye (or calling for her resignation, etc.) shows the State, and its most vulnerable citizens who are thrown into the dysfunctional machinery that is the DHS, that the House panel is, indeed, serious about its work. You've heard the saying, "Fish rots from the head down"? No legitimate overhaul of the DHS (a foregone conclusion, surely?) can be contemplated without dumping Beye.

Would that those ten children were shown the gentleness and compassion by the DHS that your panel is now showing Karen Beye. Please don't allow politics to overrule your common sense or integrity. As Mother Jones once said: "Pray for the dead, and fight like hell for the living." I think your duty here is clear. Please show some leadership and act on behalf of the children at risk, and their families who are forced to depend on the DHS to do their jobs.

Sincerely,
-- KT

Breaking the cycle of abuse: Steven Weber's "Desperate Fathers"

My response:

You dug deep for this one, SW -- good on ya.

Growing up in an angry home teaches children to be hyper-vigilant as they try (mostly in vain) to outguess what will make Mom/Dad explode in order to avoid the outsized consequences. BTW, this is excellent training for being able to quickly identify garden-variety crazies in adulthood, but it comes at the cost of being confused and ashamed of one's natural instincts and reactions during the formative years. It's very hard to course-correct for this later in life. There's always some need to fulfill that role of punisher long after the perpetrator departs. And this is a result of far more than yelling, although things tend to start there.

That's why I'm glad for you that you are figuring this out now, and have stepped back to dispassionately recount the histories of the men in your life. Very hard work to recall it, and very admirable to share it. You love your boys and you show them, and that's how you prove that you're your own man and have broken the cycle.

Thanks for the breathtaking mini-memoir, and best of luck. -- KT

Does not stop being funny...

Happy Birthday

Happy National Caffeine Awareness Month!

"State of catastrophe": 8.8 quake hits Chile

Although not the strongest in the country's history, the three-minute long quake was 900 times more powerful than the 7.0 quake that hit Haiti on Jan. 12. Tsunami warnings have gone out across the Pacific Basin.

Once again, the REAL news makes a clean getaway...

Response to HuffPo post:

Yet another example of shoddy journalism, thanks to ABC, and further compounded by HuffPo's fantastic headline. The daugher did not 'call her dad a hero'; she was responding to a loaded, sound-bitey, sensationalistic question by the GMA host: "Is your father a hero?" A simple "no" does nothing for headines or ratings; but a put-upon "yes" spins this story in a new distraction/direction. Had the daughter declared her father a hero in her own words, all this ridiculous hoopla and faux outrage would be justified. Can't we just be outraged that a sick, sick man with an axe to grind against the IRS performed the ultimate act of cowardice and domestic terrorism? That's not enough?? Now we're going after his daughter because she supports her dead dad? Why? At what point do we re-focus on the actual news here?? -- KT

WH concert honors the music of the Civil Rights Era

"It's embarrassing that the world's largest superpower closes from a few feet of snow...The Kremlin must be laughing": D.C. snowstorm

Awesome...

And some more awesome:

Supermoon 2010

Taking the GOP to school...

RIP: Howard Zinn

Read Daniel Ellsberg's tribute on HuffPo here.
Read the NYT's obit here.
Read CNN.com's story which references HZ's remarks about Obama in The Nation. Read their obit, which includes some YouTube clips.
Read Fred Branfman's HuffPo post here.
Read and hear Democracy Now's tribute and Amy Goodman's interview with Noam Chomsky about Howard here.
Listen to my 2003 KRFC interview* with Prof. Zinn here.

*audio-frakked phoner

To hell in a handbasket...

The WaPo also weighs in.

Alec Baldwin's HuffPo post about the Waterkeeper Alliance

EXCERPT:

Bobby Kennedy Jr. will debate the CEO of Massey coal, Don Blankenship, about the destructive effects of coal production and consumption, on Thursday, January 21st (tomorrow) at 6:15 pm, eastern, from the University of Charleston, West Virginia. The program will be carried online at www.wowktv.com, as well as by other local media. You can visit www.ucwv.edu for more information.

###

RIP: Kate McGarrigle

Friday in WTF

Haiti Hit by 7.0 Earthquake, Port-au-Prince in Ruins

More news from Haiti here.

RIP: Miep Gies, friend to Anne Frank family

FROM DEAR ABBY:
NEW YEAR OFFERS EACH OF US THE CHANCE FOR A FRESH START

DEAR READERS: Can you believe it's 2010? It's the 10th anniversary of Y2K. It seems like only yesterday.... But a new year has arrived, bringing with it our chance for a new beginning.

Today is the day we discard destructive old habits for healthy new ones, so with that in mind, I will share Dear Abby's often-requested list of New Year's Resolutions -- which were adapted by my mother, Pauline Phillips, from the original credo of Al-Anon.

JUST FOR TODAY: I will live through this day only. I will not brood about yesterday or obsess about tomorrow. I will not set far-reaching goals or try to overcome all of my problems at once.

I know that I can do something for 24 hours that would overwhelm me if I had to keep it up for a lifetime.

JUST FOR TODAY: I will be happy. I will not dwell on thoughts that depress me. If my mind fills with clouds, I will chase them away and fill it with sunshine.

JUST FOR TODAY: I will accept what is. I will face reality. I will correct those things that I can correct and accept those I cannot.

JUST FOR TODAY: I will improve my mind. I will read something that requires effort, thought and concentration. I will not be a mental loafer.

JUST FOR TODAY: I will make a conscious effort to be agreeable. I will be kind and courteous to those who cross my path, and I'll not speak ill of others. I will improve my appearance, speak softly, and not interrupt when someone else is talking.
Just for today, I will refrain from improving anybody but myself.

JUST FOR TODAY: I will do something positive to improve my health. If I'm a smoker, I'll quit. If I am overweight, I will eat healthfully -- if only just for today. And not only that, I will get off the couch and take a brisk walk, even if it's only around the block.

JUST FOR TODAY: I will gather the courage to do what is right and take responsibility for my own actions.


And now, Dear Readers, I would like to share an item that was sent to me by I.J. Bhatia, a reader who lives in New Delhi, India:

DEAR ABBY:
This year, no resolutions, only some guidelines. The Holy Vedas say,


"Man has subjected himself to thousands of self-inflicted bondages. Wisdom comes to a man who lives according to the true eternal laws of nature."


The prayer of St. Francis (of which there are several versions) contains a powerful message:


"Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
"where there is hatred, let me sow love,
"where there is injury, pardon;
"where there is doubt, faith;
"where there is despair, hope;
"where there is darkness, light;
"and where there is sadness, joy.
"O Divine Master,
"grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console;
"to be understood, as to understand;
"to be loved, as to love;
"for it is in giving that we receive,
"it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
"and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life."


And so, Dear Readers, may this new year bring with it peace and joy to all of you. -- Love, ABBY