The Eagles Farewell Tour
All She Wants to do is Dance

I’m dancing in the New Year (with one bad knee) in hopes the world will become a better place for all of us. It’s up to us to make it so. High hopes for our new Democratic congress here in the states and like my brother said…..getting a gross of popcorn and new batteries for the remote in the hopes of watching many Republican smack downs on C-Span. Let the investigations begin!!!

Happy New Year to you all. Peace be with you!

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The New York Times has a data base of faces of the fallen U.S. soldiers in Iraq. We talk about the numbers, and try to post names of the fallen on this site often, but the Times has put together the “faces” of the fallen. Check it out. You can search by name or state. It’s very moving to bring faces together with the numbers. 3,000 of them. I’d ask again that everyone call their congress members and insist not only on NO SURGE IN TROOPS, but to get the troops we have there OUT.

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Coffins of U.S. military personnel are offloaded at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware in this undated file photo. The U.S. military death toll in Iraq has reached 3,000 on December 31, 2006, an unwelcome milestone for President George W. Bush who is searching for a way to turn around the unpopular war even if it means sending more troops. The Pentagon tightly restricts publication of photographs of coffins with the remains of U.S. troops and has forbidden journalists from taking pictures at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, the first stop for the bodies of troops being sent home.
REUTERS/HO

Meet the anti-war movement’s newest folk hero: 69-year-old Rosemarie Jackowski, whose arrest during an anti-war protest has made her a cause celebre.

A prosecutor’s plan to retry her for blocking traffic while protesting against the Iraq War is turning the feisty 1.47-metre former schoolteacher into a darling of the dove crowd.

Bloggers have rallied behind her, peaceniks are deluging her with messages of support, and advocates have established a defence fund.

“She’s not a loony toon by any means,” said Andrew Schoerke, 73, a retired US Navy captain who was arrested with her. “She’s a very down to earth, sensible, caring person with some very strong convictions.”

Jackowski was one of a dozen protesters arrested at a March 20, 2003 protest, staged within hours of the start of the United States’ “shock and awe” bombing campaign in Iraq. Carrying a sign that read “Impeach Bush” on one side and listed US “war crimes” on the other, Jackowski refused police orders to get out of the street and was arrested for blocking traffic.

“It was really hard for me to stand there and just hold my sign,” she said in an interview. “I came from a strict ethnic, religious background. I was taught to never ever be disobedient to anyone teacher, parent, policeman. That was my very first act of disobedience to anyone.”

Read more here

The 3,000th U.S. death is prompting more protests…..here. More about upcoming protests here
and here and here

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The year in review: From Pelosi to Pitt, perverts to Paris, Dave Barry offers a last laugh

It was a momentous year, a year of events that will echo in the annals of history the way a dropped plate of calamari echoes in an Italian restaurant with a tile floor. Decades from now, our grandchildren will come to us and say, ”Tell us, Grandpa or Grandma as the case may be, what it was like to be alive in the year that Angelina Jolie, Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Britney Spears and Katie whatshername all had babies, although not necessarily in those combinations.” And we will smile wisely and emit a streamer of drool, because we will be very old and unable to hear them.

And that will be a good thing, because there are many things about 2006 that we will not want to remember. This was the year in which the members of the United States Congress, who do not bother to read the actual bills they pass, spent weeks poring over instant messages sent by a pervert. This was the year in which the vice president of the United States shot a lawyer, which turned out to be totally legal in Texas. This was the year in which there came to be essentially no difference between the treatment of maximum’security-prison inmates and the treatment of commercial-airline passengers.

This was the year in which — as clearly foretold in the Bible as a sign of the Apocalypse — Howie Mandel got a hit TV show.

Also there were many pesky problems left over from 2005 that refused to go away in 2006, including Iraq, immigration, high gas prices, terrorism, global warming, avian flu, Iran, North Korea and Paris Hilton. Future generations are going to look back at this era and ask us how we could have allowed Paris Hilton to happen, and we are not going to have a good answer.

Did anything good happen in 2006? Let me think. No. But before we move on to 2007, let’s take a moment to reflect back on the historic events, real and imaginary, of this historic year, starting with . . .

Continue reading at the MiamiHerald

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U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD: 2988
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation: 12
Total 3000 U.S. Deaths in Iraq

What a way to end the year……..

Source

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Since 2000, private organizations have spent more than $21 million to fly members of Congress around the world. A breakdown of the number of trips and how much was spent by private groups in the past six years:

2000 — 1,018 trips at $2.5 million

2001 — 1,303 trips at $3.8 million

2002 — 781 trips at $2.5 million

2003 — 1,292 trips at $4 million

2004 — 1,171 trips at $3.5 million

2005 — 1,339 trips at $3.6 million

2006 — 546 trips $1.4 million (as of Nov. 30)

Members of Congress reported 157 more gifts of free travel in 2005 that had been previously reported on travel reports due thirty days after a trip was completed. Some trips, such as government funded or political travel, or travel that is unrelated to official duties, do not have to be reported on travel forms. PoliticalMoneyLine has made no attempt to determine if these trips should have been disclosed earlier on travel forms. But many other Members have reported trips from some of the same sponsors on travel forms.

From calls to some Members- offices, it is obvious that there often is confusion inside an office as to who is supposed to be completing and filing the forms. There are also questions about what types of trips need be reported on the forms or in the next year’s financial report.

These 157 free trips were reported by fifty-three Members on the 2006 personal financial disclosure statements covering 2005 activity, however no dollars amounts of the cost of trips are required in those reports. These new free trips have been keyed into our Travel-Privately Paid database. They may be searched by Member name, sponsor name, or location.

Members- privately-paid travel in 2005 totaled $3.6+ million from travel forms. Members privately paid travel in 2006 totals $1.4 million through travel forms filed as of 11/30/06.

The following newly tallied free trips in 2005 involved overseas travel. The traveler, dates, destination, and sponsor, if any, are listed below.

Sen. John McCain, 11/28 to 12/1, London, England, Blackstone Group.
Sen. Jim Bunning, 2/18-21, San Juan, PR, CPA Society of Puerto Rico.
Rep. William Jefferson, 8/5-12, Brazil, Jefferson Committee/City of New Orleans.
Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick, 8/20-27, Nigeria, African World Expo.
Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, 6/7-14, Tel Aviv, Israel, AIPAC.
Rep. Kenny Marchant, 6/2-4, Cabo, Mexico, Southern Nazarene Univ.
Rep. Mike McIntyre, 3/21-25, Edinburgh, Scotland, British Government.
Rep. Charles Rangel, 7/2-7, Singapore, NYC2012 Singapore Delegation.
Rep. Charles Rangel, 8/12-16, Taipei, Taiwan, Democratic Pacific Assembly.
Rep. Charles Rangel, 11/11-13, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, New York Carib News.
Rep. James Sensenbrenner, 5/27-6/3, Sydney, Australia, Heritage Foundation.
Rep. Diane Watson, 3/27-30, Doha, Qatar, Islamic Free market Institute.

Rep. David Scott and spouse, Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones and her sister, Rep. Gregory Meeks and spouse, Rep. Sanford Bishop and spouse, Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick, and Rep. Donald Payne took a free trip to Panama City, Panama, compliments of the Carib News Foundation. Their reports were just filed and one included a letter from the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct indicating that all the sponsors of the trip, not just the Carib News Foundation, should be listed on the Members travel forms. This would include Macy’s, Pfizer, AT&T, Citibank, IBM, American Airlines, Golden Krust Franchises, Jerk Qzine, Panama City, and the Republic of Panama. These were not included on the Members- travel reports.

An October 6, 2006 working copy of the agenda lists AT&T /Macy’s sponsoring the sessions on “Unlocking New Regional Opportunities and Expanding Business Horizons.” AT&T was also listed for a session on “Technology - The Engine of Invention”. Pfizer was listed for sessions on “Health Care - a strong investment and growth center for the economy,” and “Health Care Regional Initiatives.” Citibank was listed for the session on “Regional Economic Collaboration,” and the session on Entrepreneurship - The Next Level.”

Rep. Jim McDermott received a free trip to Amman, Jordan, to meet with Middle Eastern intellectuals and parliamentarians to discuss the peace process. The $4,906 cost was paid by the Arab Community Coalition and Dr. Munther J. Haddadin.

Sen. Harry Reid is planning on a government paid trip to Peru’s ancient city of Machu Picchu right after Christmas. A Reid spokesperson told the Washington Post that Reid, several other Senators and spouses, as well as staff will hear about “critical security and economic issues.”

Source: PoliticalMoneyLine

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One of my New Year’s wishes is for the Israeli/Palestinian conflict to be resolved and for peace and prosperity for the Palestinians and the return of their land. If there is a God…….I wish he’d help these people.

This is from Rami Almeghari who resides in the Gaza Strip and writes for International Middle East Media Center

I am writing this piece with tears falling from my eyes. You know I am a Palestinian, you must know my friends from the West Bank are Palestinians as well. But you also must know, we have never seen each other. You know we are from the same country, but we have not met. And you know we have just talked on the phone.

I hope you know that we have gotten to know each other and become friends over the last couple of years, and you know we have contributed many articles to IMEMC.org. You know that we have smiled, cried and sighed together.

But today, I am crying alone, you know. My friends Saed from Beit Sahour and Jenka (a very good American woman) are leaving for the States, where Jenka is living. The young couple have eventually decided to leave Palestine, seeking a new life with no military occupation, no Apartheid Wall, no checkpoints, no bypass routes, no restrictions on roads.

Saed, Jenka and Rami (Me) have never seen or met each other in person since we began working together for the past couple of years, even though we all live in the same country (Palestine). But unfortunately for our friendship, the young couple are based in the West Bank and I, Rami Almeghari, am based in the Gaza Strip.

Continue reading this story here

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U.S. Deaths Confirmed By The DoD: 2987
Reported U.S. Deaths Pending DoD Confirmation: 12
Total 2999 U.S. Deaths in Iraq

But what are probably 9 out of 10 people googling today? (if our stats are any indication, which I believe they are) Video of Saddam’s hanging. What’s that say about Americans? The European Union thinks the hanging was barbaric and wrong. The Americans can’t wait to see it. Sickening…….

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AP poll: Americans optimistic for 2007

WASHINGTON - The news from Iraq and other national headlines may be grim, but in Greenville, N.C., John Given has a new baby and his first home, and life is good.

So, too, for Sandra Trowbridge in tiny Magnet Cove, Ark. The situation in Iraq makes her feel pessimistic about the state of the nation, but at home, at least, all is well. Even if nothing special has happened to her family, she says, “we still love each other,” and that’s enough.

And so it goes for most Americans. An AP-AOL News Poll finds that while most Americans said 2006 was a bad year for the country, three-fourths thought it had been a good one for them and their families.
…

Looking ahead, optimism reigns.

Source: Nancy Benac, AP Writer - Yahoo! News

AmericaBlog commenter, ‘Paige’, offered the following which might explain all the optimism:
Conservatives Republicans ousted

Have to break this list out now that a New Year begins at midnight and with it, getting rid of the following…

GOODBYE TO:

Donald Rumsfeld: GONE
John Bolton: GONE
Ken Mehlman: GONE
Rick Santorum: GONE
Bill Frist: GONE
George Allen: GONE
Mike DeWine: GONE
Jim Talent: GONE
Lincoln Chafee: GONE
Conrad Burns: GONE
Richard Pombo: GONE
J.D. Hayworth: GONE
Curt Weldon: GONE
Katherine Harris: GONE
Mark Foley: GONE
Henry Hyde: GONE
Don Sherwood: GONE
Kenneth Blackwell: GONE
Porter Goss: GONE
Dusty Foggo: GONE
Jeb Bush: GONE
Tom Delay: INDICTED
Scooter Libby: INDICTED
Duke Cunningham: CONVICTED
Bob Ney: CONVICTED
Jack Abramoff: CONVICTED
Michael Scanlon: CONVICTED
David Safavian: CONVICTED
Claude Allen: CONVICTED
Bryan Doyle: CONVICTED
Frank Figueroa: CONVICTED
Ken Lay: CONVICTED
Jeff Skilling: CONVICTED
Thomas Noe: CONVICTED
Bob Taft: CONVICTED
James Tobin: CONVICTED
Wayne Semprini: CONVICTED
Chuck McGee: CONVICTED
Shaun Hansen: CONVICTED
Ted Haggard: FALLEN HYPOCRITE
Ralph Reed: FALLEN HYPOCRITE/’CHERUB’
Unitary Executive Rule: GONE
Lack of Oversight: GONE
3 Day Work Week: GONE
Karl Rove: GOING SOON

(and farewell to the rest of the Republican Congressmen/women, Governors, State Legislators, Repubs in power who lost their seats and positions of power. You will NOT be missed!! Unfortunately, I’m sure 1/2 of them will show up as Fox News “analysts” in 07)

H/T to Paige for this list!

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Maybe we should spend some time looking for the missing billions of U.S. dollars that were lost in Iraq, and that the Pentagon couldn’t account for. Oh wait……we probably already KNOW where that is.

The dictator is dead, and now the hunt for his illicit fortune is intensifying. Officials from the FBI and US Treasury are focusing their inquiries on £2.2bn of illegal oil profits

Jason Burke
Sunday December 31, 2006
The Observer

American and Iraqi government investigators tracing hundreds of millions of pounds missing from Saddam Hussein’s illicit fortune are hoping to question members of the former dictator’s close family.
Officials from the FBI, the American Treasury and the State Department particularly want to find £2.2bn in illegal profits that Saddam’s regime is alleged to have earned from 2000-2003 from an oil-for-trade pact signed with Syria that was outside the official United Nations administered oil-for-food programme, according to official documents released to a US congressional sub-committee.

State Department and Treasury officials claim that Syria has failed to account properly for more than $500m in Iraqi oil profits. The cash, deposited in Syria’s central bank, was paid to Syrian ‘businessmen’ after Saddam’s fall, sources say. Syrian officials deny the allegations, saying that visits by American officials to Damascus in the autumn of 2003 failed to uncover any evidence of the missing cash apart from $300m that has already been frozen.

More here

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Just how two-faced can people get, you ask? Fox News hasn’t got the room to demand fuck!

At the Capitol, VIP Roll Call Has Many No-Shows

The military band drilled. Wreaths with white roses hung outside the House and Senate chambers. In the Capitol Rotunda rested the black velvet catafalque that once bore the remains of Abraham Lincoln.

Everything was in place for Gerald R. Ford’s state funeral last night — everything, that is, but the statesmen.

President Bush sent his regrets; he was cutting cedar and riding his bike on his ranch in Texas. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and his deputy, Richard Durbin, couldn’t make it, either; they were on a trip to visit Incan ruins. Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi took a pass, too — as did nearly 500 of the 535 members of Congress.

A 6-to-3 majority of the Supreme Court, including Ford’s appointee, John Paul Stevens, ruled against attending. All the nation’s governors were invited; few, if any, came. Apparently only two Cabinet members — Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez — accepted the invite.
…

“Everybody’s got to deal with their own schedule,” Sensenbrenner, who brought his wife and son to the funeral, said of his absent colleagues. But in his minority view, funerals “are important,” he said. “When you’re in an official position, it’s one of the things that’s the right thing to do.”
…

Conservatives were quick to condemn Reid and Durbin, who proceeded with four other senators on a trip to South America, knowing they would miss the rites in Washington. “He’s the incoming Senate majority leader, for crying out loud, and he can’t even show a little bit of respect?” commentator Mike Gallagher demanded on Fox News.

But the disregard was bipartisan. The White House sent out a press release from Crawford, Tex., detailing the logistics of last night’s service, then added an asterisk: “Please note that President George W. Bush will not be attending this event.” He will pay his respects when he comes back to Washington, then go to the other service on Tuesday. Aides pointed out that this was the same thing Bush did for Reagan’s funeral, but Bush had a better excuse that time: He was hosting the G-8 summit of world leaders, not clearing brush on the ranch.

Source: WashingtonPost.com

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WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal investigators are looking at whether Interior Department officials played favorites or took money from companies vying for big oil and gas contracts.

The probe is the latest in a series of investigations into Interior’s handling of $10 billion a year in royalties paid by companies on the $60 billion in oil and gas they produce from leased public lands.

The latest investigations into Interior’s handling of oil royalties were reported Saturday by The New York Times, which cited unidentified officials speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigations were not yet made public.

Those royalties are the federal government’s second-biggest source of revenues, behind only taxes. Other investigations are looking at multibillion-dollar shortfalls in royalty payments.

The Justice Department is investigating the allegations based on the work of the Interior Department’s inspector general’s office, an internal watchdog. Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said his staff were told earlier this month of two related matters that the Interior inspector general’s office referred to the FBI and Justice Department.

Markey said Saturday in a statement given to The Associated Press that it was “beyond the pale” that several Denver-based officials in Interior’s Minerals Management Service may have illegally benefited by acting as paid consultants to some of the oil and gas companies. At issue is whether the officials steered oil-trading contracts to favorite companies.

Read more here

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