America the Beautiful
Judy Garland

Judy had originally conceived an Americana tribute to the recently assassinated JFK. The network balked thinking that it was too political at the time. She was able to sneak in Battle Hymn of the Republic at the end of the show following his death, then performed an entire program of patriotic material later in the season. Her performance of these two anthems are perhaps among the greatest moments in television.

From the YouTube comments:

How many big stars would come out today on stage with smudged makeup, wearing dingy clothes, having just done a vaudeville’style comedy routine. The stars of yesteryear weren’t afraid to get dirty…and to actually work at entertaining. Today, it’s all red carpets and personal assistants and contract clauses for evian water and fresh fruit.

DALLAS Hundreds of people marked the anniversary of the 1963 assassination of President John F. Kennedy today examining the place from which investigators say the fatal bullet was fired.

About 200 people were navigating through the Sixth-Floor Museum in Dallas around midday, examining exhibits and artifacts on the 43rd anniversary of the 35th U-S president’s death.

Investigators say Lee Harvey Oswald was at a sixth-floor window of what was then the Texas School Book Depository building when he fired the shots that killed Kennedy and wounded Texas Governor John Connally.

Also in the museum today — covered with a black cloth — is the piano on which John Lennon composed the 1970s peace anthem “Imagine.” The piano is there for a photo shoot later today. The photo will be featured in an exhibition celebrating peace.

More here

I’ll tell ya what…..I just watched Batiste on the Chris Matthews show, and they might as well bring in some crackhead off the street as well a talk to him. He makes NO sense at all. He’s still referring to 9/11 in relation to Iraq. The man is out of his mind. The smirk on his face is…… just too fucking weird. The guy is fucked up.

Democrats who won control of the U.S. House of Representatives largely because of voter discontent with Iraq said on Tuesday they will hold a forum next month to examine options in the unpopular war.

“The war in Iraq is one of the most critical issues confronting our nation, and the American people have clearly called for a new direction,” said Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat set to lead the House as its first woman speaker when the new 110th Congress convenes in January.

Pelosi said House Democrats would hold a forum on the Iraq war on December 5 with retired Major Gen. John Batiste, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke and former U.S. national security advisor Zbigniew Brezinski.

More here

Neither Democrats nor Republicans are prepared to say a word in opposition to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s decision to add far-right Knesset member Avigdor Lieberman and his Yisrael Beiteinu party to Israel’s governing coalition.

Instead, Democrats are shoring up their pro-Israel bona fides. They are strikingly anxious because of a courageous new book by President Jimmy Carter that hit American bookstores in mid-November, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid. It is an extraordinarily bold–and apt–title.

Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, among others, forcefully criticized the book. “It is wrong,” she declared, “to suggest that the Jewish people would support a government in Israel or anywhere else that institutionalizes ethnically based oppression, and Democrats reject that allegation vigorously.”

Full article at the Nation

You can buy Jimmy Carter’s book, Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid here

H/T to Bro for this post

Harper’s Weekly
November 20, 1869

Speaker-to-be Nancy Pelosi, who stumbled badly last week when she publicly backed the failed candidacy of Rep. John Murtha for majority leader, could be headed for another political tumble if she presses ahead with long’standing plans to elevate Rep. Alcee Hastings, a senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, to the panel’s chairmanship.

A Democratic aide says Pelosi has not decided who she will name as chairman of the intelligence panel, but that she was leaning against the current top Democrat, Rep. Jane Harman. Her preferred nominee has long been Hastings, but like Murtha he has his own ethically challenged history. And while the broad outlines of that past are well known, the grimy specifics are only now emerging.

[...] Harman has been under investigation by the Justice Department over her links to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and whether they made a deal, in part, to have AIPAC supporters lobby Pelosi to keep Harman on as the Democrats’ top member of the committee.

continue the TIME article

“We do not respect your son. We do not respect what he’s doing all over the world.”

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates

Former President George H.W. Bush took on Arab critics of his son Tuesday during a testy exchange at a leadership conference in the capital of this U.S. ally.

“My son is an honest man,” Bush told members of the audience harshly criticized the current U.S. leader’s foreign policy.

The oil-rich Persian Gulf used to be safe territory for former President Bush, who brought Arab leaders together in a coalition that drove Saddam Hussein’s troops from Kuwait in 1991. But gratitude for the elder Bush, who served as president from 1989-93, was overshadowed at the conference by hostility toward his son, whose invasion of Iraq and support for Israel are deeply unpopular in the region.

“We do not respect your son. We do not respect what he’s doing all over the world,” a woman in the audience bluntly told Bush after his speech.

Bush, 82, appeared stunned as others in the audience whooped and whistled in approval.

A college student told Bush his belief that U.S. wars were aimed at opening markets for American companies and said globalization was contrived for America’s benefit at the expense of the rest of the world. Bush was having none of it.

“I think that’s weird and it’s nuts,” Bush said. “To suggest that everything we do is because we’re hungry for money, I think that’s crazy. I think you need to go back to school.”

continue reading

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From the website of HillCountryGirl:

PRICK IN ‘NAM

Well, well, some 30+ years AFTER the Vietnam War ended, Dubya finally gets his ass over there. Yup, the Dai’ is going to the ‘Nam. Which, BTW, is PRICK in Vietnamese. I googled it. Hence, Dai’. Or Buoi. Or Cu. Or Cac. All mean PRICK.

Being the *cough* brilliant and sensitive man he is, I predict he will strut off Air Force One and wave to the crowd like some, uh, war HERO. No way in hell he would allow something as profound as SHAME or GUILT overshadow his triumphant FIRST TRIP to Vietnam. We can just pray and hope and pray some more he doesn’t have a flashback (no worries, no PTSD there) to the last G8 Summit and give a Vietnamese dignitary a frigging MASSAGE. Or say something along these lines.

(It gets better! Read the rest HERE)

Excellent post, HCG! Bush

Received an email this morning containing the following, and wanted to pass it on.

Worcester Wreath marks 2006 with expansion of the Arlington Wreath Project

Worcester Wreath enlists the aid of Civil Air Patrol to help spread new national campaign. Wreaths Across America ready to honor America’s vets in over 230 state and national cemeteries, and veteran monuments.

Our Mission: Remember - Honor - and Teach

Remember the fallen;
Honor those who serve;
Teach our children the value of freedom.

2006 will mark the 15th anniversary of holiday wreaths being sent from the State of Maine to Arlington National Cemetery. Each year the folks at Worcester Wreath Company make and decorate wreaths that will adorn over 5000 headstones of our Nation’s fallen heroes - in what has become an annual event coordinated with the Cemetery Administration and the Maine State Society.

Row after row of bleached white stones, with evergreen wreaths and red bows - it is a stirring image to commemorate those who made the ultimate sacrifice for our country.

What started over 15 years ago, as one’s man’s dream to honor Veterans with Maine wreaths for the holidays, has become an annual event cherished by many. Humbled with a new understanding about the impact the Arlington Wreath Project has made, not only in honoring the dead, but recognizing the sacrifices of the living, Morrill Worcester - President of Worcester Wreath Company committed himself to doing more, by reaching out across the country.

More at the Wreaths Across America website