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Saturday Night Leftovers

By SusanUnPC on November 24, 2007 at 9:28 PM in Current Affairs

MONDAY NIGHT UPDATE: Keith Olbermann just played this video of Kevin Rudd, the new Aussie PM. I dare you to watch it.

ORIGINAL SAT. NIGHT POST: I do so love leftover turkey, sliced and reheated, and artisan bread dressed with cranberry sauce and cream cheese (or mayonnaise), and heavy shakes of coarse-ground pepper and salt. What are your favorite holiday leftovers? Hopefully, there’s some pie left too! — probably not in HoosierHoop’s house though, sigh. On to serious matters now:

Kasparov Beaten and Detained: “Riot police on Saturday detained opposition protesters, including former chess champion Garry Kasparov, after an anti-Kremlin rally of a few thousand people in Moscow. Kasparov was forced to the ground and beaten, his assistant Marina Litvinovich said in a telephone interview from outside the police station where he was being held. …” READ ALL.

Howard’s End: Michelle Malkin has (unwittingly) said it best: “All Americans should mark the end of his tenure with gratitude.” We are grateful, Michelle. We are. To the Australian people for ridding us of that blowhard who sent Australian soldiers to Iraq, admired Bush, attacked Democratic presidential candidates with his outrageous, pernicious claim that Al Qaeda would celebrate a Democratic victory, particularly an Obama victory.

20071124_ruddkevin.jpgThe new PM, Kevin Rudd, is a “bookish” diplomat who knows the world and can speak in Mandarin when he goes to China for talks (heard that last evening on BBC World News America / BBCAmerica channel). (The Guardian notes that he will be an atypical, Tony Blair-type Labor leader, …

… and the UK’s Telegraph calls him “nerdy and relentlessly determined.” The ENS reveals that he is criticized by environmental groups.)

We shall see about Rudd, won’t we. His Tony Blair style gives me pause. I prefer the Gordon Brown model.

I also heard that Howard lost by betraying one of his core constituencies — the working-class families who’d always voted for him but were hit hard by his economic policies that favored large corporatioins at their devastating expense, largely because of rising interest rates. Glenn Greenwald has more: “Good riddance to John Howard.” (“it is worth celebrating Howard’s defeat in light of how pernicious a presence he was, as one of the very few remaining world leaders who loyally supported the worst and most war-loving aspects of the Bush/Cheney foreign policy. …”)

Something on TV Besides Football: This should be good viewing on BookTV.org (aired weekends and holidays on C-Span2):

Saturday at 9:00 PM, Sunday at 6:00 PM, Sunday at 9:00 PM, Monday at 12:00 AM, and Monday at 3:00 AM
After Words: Rick Atkinson author of “The Day of Battle: The War in Sicily and Italy, 1943-1944″ interviewed by Patrick O’Donnell

Here’s an ad about Atkinson’s books that I featured in the ad column here recently:

“Atkinson surpasses his Pulitzer-winning An Army at Dawn in this empathetic, perceptive analysis of the second stage in the U.S. Army’s grassroots development from well-intentioned amateurs to the most formidable fighting force of World War II.”)

  • Montag

    In 1975 the Australian Labor Party Prime Minister, I believe his name was Hawke, was removed in a Constitutional Coup by the Queen’s Representative. Even though Hawke had been elected by the people the QR simply said, “You’re out!” and that was it. Supposedly Hawke had offended Henry Kissinger and so he simply had to go. It was Chile in 1973 all over again, but without the armed violence and bloodshed. It was still quite shocking, though. How dare the voters act so irresponsibly by selecting a man so inconvenient to Kissinger? The nerve!

    • http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

      What a story, Montag. What a story … it underscores the impression I got during the in-depth report on BBC World News America — that Australia will maintain its good relationships with the U.S.

      Bush will no doubt miss the coarse Howard, but I’m getting a sense that he won’t be all that upset with Rudd. From the A.P.:

      Few in Rudd’s team have any federal government experience. They include a former rock star — one-time Midnight Oil singer Peter Garrett — and a number of former union officials.
      Rudd has more experience in foreign policy than any other area of government, and was expected to adopt a nuanced, non-confrontational approach to diplomacy. He sent “greetings … to our great friend and ally the United States” in his victory speech.
      The Bush administration congratulated Rudd.
      “The United States and Australia have long been strong partners and allies and the president looks forward to working with this new government to continue our historic relationship,” said White House spokeswoman Emily Lawrimore.
      The White House also applauded Howard’s time in office.

      Bloomberg:

      A fluent Mandarin speaker, Rudd has promised closer ties with Asia and to pull Australian troops out of Iraq. Some 64 percent of voters opposed the nation’s 1,600 soldiers serving in Iraq, according to a Newspoll survey on Oct. 3. Rudd will keep the 900 personnel in Afghanistan.

  • http://www.food4humanity.org HoosierHoops

    Kasparov Beaten and Detained..
    I’m sorry but this story bothers me more than most..
    It is probably of little concern to most in the big picture but Kasparov is kind of a hero to me..
    Not only a world class chess player and a Russian Hero but a man willing to stand up to the man and risk his life for democracy..
    A little background…And this is only for you chess geeks out there
    Kasparov perfected a fluid chess defense and sharp attacking lines in chess..maybe one of our greatest chess masters of ALL TIME.
    There are some things that google will never help you out to do..and chess is one of those things..When I was a young teenager i loved chess.
    I memeorized every move from bobby fishers book ‘my 25 greatest games.’
    By the time I was 16 i knew that chess was way beyond me but to this day i love it.. ( in fact check out the new on-line shredder11 super computer web chess game..we humans have no chance)
    As a human..you have no chance of beating a computer with a french defense or checkmating anyone with a Ray Lopez, a Stonewall, a queens gambit or anything else..the moves for the last 100 years have been programmed and inputed. You and I have no chance..
    But a genius will take the computer to a place it has never been before and beat it on virgin ground.
    Man vs. Machine. There are more opening moves in chess than all the grains of sand in all the beaches in the world..
    Yet, This Russian gov’t has beaten this man amoung men..
    This is why i hate politics sometimes…We think politics is so easy, so clear, so black and white..
    and yet a double rook sacafice wins the day..
    I have followed Kasparov for many years now and realized that although many know not of his struggle for freedom for Russia..This man will sacafice all for his countrymen..He is a hero..To me..
    It is the pawns that in the end..carry the day..

    • http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

      Did u catch him on BookTV in the last week or so?

      What have you heard about his status? I just searched Google News, and it looks like he’s still in jail.

      It is great he has spoken out so much. Did you see Olbermann’s report about the women bridge players who spoke out, and the punishment they may receive? (I saved the NYT stories and editorial about it — I’m just stunned that the punishment is so severe. Their little protest was very tasteful, and it was based on their considerable time overseas where they have SEEN the effect that the Bush administration has had on people’s feelings about the U.S., and it troubled them greatly. )

      • http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

        It occurred to me I haven’t heard more about the women players — one of whom is Russian-born — so looked that up at Google News. Hooray!

        WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US women’s bridge team will not be suspended for making an anti-Bush statement during an international competition last month, the game’s US federation said Tuesday, ending a crisis in the normally sedate world of bridge.

        “The US Bridge Federation and the players on the US Venice Cup world championship bridge team… have resolved all issues relating to events that occurred at the closing ceremony of the 2007 World Bridge Championship in Shanghai,” the federation said in a statement posted on its website.

        “The US Bridge Federation board has dismissed all charges against the players on the Venice Cup team,” the statement said.

        The women’s team, made up of six players and team captain Gail Greenberg, held up a sign that read “We did not vote for Bush” when they collected their gold medals at the world championships in China.

        Their action drew applause and approval from the crowd — and the wrath of the USBF, which threatened them with a year’s suspension from competition, which would have deprived many of the women of their source of income.
        The statement announcing that the crisis had been resolved was signed by all six players on the victorious women’s team, but not by Greenberg, the team captain.

        According to Greenberg, she was told by telephone in the early hours of Tuesday morning that the USBF has dismissed all charges against the six women, provided the players do not make similar statements in future.

        “I wasn’t going to say, at 2:00 am, to put my name to it, and when I got a copy of the agreement, I saw it was also contingent on none of the parties taking legal action in future against the other,” she told AFP by phone.
        “I have this fear within me that the moment I sign this and the USBF no longer has any fear of being sued, they would be able to write and say what they wanted about us for this ‘unpatriotic’ thing we did,” she said.

        “The people who felt strongly about what we did and said things like ‘no punishment is too great’ aren’t going to disappear from the face of the earth,” she said.

        One of the players who signed the agreement, Russian-born Irina Levitina, said she was relieved the crisis has been resolved.

        “All bridge players should be happy this is over,” she told AFP.

        … ALL

        Hope Keith does a follow-up report. One of HIS arguments was that, if the group didn’t allow free speech, then they shouldn’t have the right to claim that they represent the United States at world competitive events.

        P.S. Bridge is a tougher game than chess, hard as that is to believe. One example that bridge geniuses use to make that argument is that children can learn, and become very good, at chess. But no child can play bridge well. Teenagers can begin to become good players, college students moreso … but it takes a fully-mature brain of immense analytical and mathematical skill to play at a world-class level.

        • http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

          Testing to see if I can post an image in the comments:

          bridgespan.jpg

          • http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

            yes! If you click on the thumbnail, you can see the full image, which is too wide for the comment area.

            P.S. Those women are SO brilliant. They’ve all played world-class bridge for years and years. It’s too bad more young American girls never hear about what they achieved. (Used to be that bridge was a popular pastime / maybe it just requires too much thinking for people these days? But a lot of people play it poorly and don’t even know it — they just love the social aspect of the game, and that’s cool too. But even the social appeal hasn’t kept bridge as popular. Wonder why.)

        • http://www.food4humanity.org HoosierHoops

          P.S. Bridge is a tougher game than chess, hard as that is to believe

          yep..that’s hard to believe..True or not I cannot say..but in the unofficial Hoopsters poll with a + or – 3% variation among respondants.. 98.99% of all surveyed claimed that chess is the much harder game. ( and no, you can’t see my survey..cause it doesn’t really exist. ) :)
          The problem with bridge or poker or any other game is that there is an element of chance involved.. the turn of a card, the roll of the dice.. the element of just pure luck..all that exists in all other games but chess..
          You can counter and tell me that hoopster..you couldn’t learn bridge if your life depended on it..and you’d be right..
          Hope all is well with you Susan..

          • http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

            The sole element of chance in tournament bridge is what your opponents do — just as in chess what your opponent may do. That’s the element of chance in any competitive game.

            To all competitive tournament players — and most particularly world-class players like these women — there is ZERO chance involved.

            That is because of how competitive bridge results are scored – entirely differently than some parlor version of bridge.

            Have you ever watched or participated in a competitive bridge tournament? How you play each hand is scored in comparison with how other teams play the same hand.

            • http://www.food4humanity.org HoosierHoops

              I couldn’t learn bridge in a 100 years..
              I’ve never seen bridge play in a competive settings..
              But as a child my parents played bridge with thier friends..I’d run into the smoke filled living room holding my breathe..grab as many chex-mix and candy snacks as humanly possible and run like the wind..
              So you might say i really liked bridge back then…

  • Taters

    Well at least he isn’t a vehement global warming denier like Howard was.

    And apparently this endeared him to his constituents..

    Indeed, so little is known about Rudd that when it was revealed last August that he briefly visited a New York strip club, but was too drunk to remember the details, his approval rating went up and Australians were relieved to know that he doesn’t work all the time.blockquote>

    During the campaign Rudd pinned hopes of Labor’s revival on promises to improve hospitals and education – turning schools into ‘digital’ classrooms with a computer for every student – and to scrap controversial labour laws.

    Rudd is expected to hit the ground running on issues such as climate change, marking his first weeks in power by ratifying the Kyoto protocol and heading Australia’s delegation to the United Nations climate change conference in Bali. His attendance will signify a huge shift in Australia’s attitude towards environmental issues, overturning Howard’s boycott of the protocol.
    Rudd has also promised to bring back Australia’s 550 combat troops from Iraq in a phased withdrawal, although his foreign policy, which includes maintaining troops in Afghanistan, is not expected to change fundamentally.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/australia/story/0,,2216594,00.html

    • http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

      Yes, that’s really good. And Australia has serious environmental issues … hard to believe that its koalas may become extinct in the wild soon.

  • Mr.Murder

    Quite an item.

    Most of the Bushco. types worldwide have poised their countries on the precipice of decline to the point whoever takes over will get all of the blame…

    It’s almost as if the GOP doesn’t plan on winning with the slew of clowns they’ve enrolled for the POTUS race. Just people who can capture certain voters to develop voting cores from(Paul, Rudy, Romney) but nobody with overall cahones.

    They can’t wait to blame others for the recession underway and the major underlying items that will extend it into the coming decade.

    Peak oil, robbed treasury, outsourcing, infrastructure decline, climate change and health crises.

    Somewhere around all of that will come the blame game on terra as well. A policy of eradication will only inspire more, containment coupled with engagement is what’s called for. Response control and discipline is far more valued in that sector than action hero one liners will ever be.

    Much hangs in the balance, the venture capital of the true business caliphate and its associated war/oil platform clientele still holds major market sway. There’s a way around that also, but everyone knows big money is what it is, and no measure will impede its solvency or sovereignty.

  • http://noquarterusa.net/blog/ Leslie

    Good riddance to Howard! But electoral defeat should be the least of his Bushie punishments, along with all the other Bushies, for lying and war crimes.

  • Kathleen

    I am a big fan of Thanksgiving leftovers also. Nothing like a turkey sandwich on good bread with mayo, craberries and some greens. One of my favorite new dishes at Thanksgiving is a cold salad of pomegrante , mandarin orange, and chopped up mint. With a side dish of blue cheese or feta. The sweet/salt combination.

    Susan, Leslie and Larry. Not much in the progressive blogosphere about the upcoming Middle east conference. Read in the NYT’s that Syria would not sign on unless the Golan Heights issue was put on the agenda. The way I understand it Condi or whoever who is charge of setting up the agenda said Syria could bring up anything they wanted, but the issue of the Golan Heights was not listed as an agenda item.

    I am visiting two of my daughters in Boulder Colorado and former Attorney General John Ashcroft will be speaking on the campus of Univ of Colorado on Tuesday, and I will ask a question. I have several in mind do you folks have any suggesstion?

    I am going to ask about the event in the hospital( I listened to James Comey’s testimony before I believe it was the Senate Intelligence committee when Gonzales and Card came into his hospital room to get him to sign on to the continuance of the warrantless surveillance program.

    What are your suggesstions?

    • http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

      Kathleen, please have a friend/relative with you to transcribe both your question and the answer you get … we can’t wait to hear! Don’t have an idea for you / what you’ve got in mind sounds great. Maybe you could sneak in a trap? “Why did President Bush send Gonzales and Card to your hospital room?”

      Also: Did it ever get straightened out which program it was? Were Senate/House Intel members ever brief on that program?

      • Kathleen

        Susan I became addicted to asking questions in the MSM just after the 2000 Supreme Court Judicial coup/Presidential selection. My first call in to a radio show was on Talk of the Nation in 2000. I was so fucking tired of how lame the MSM seemed to be with their lack of digging in. I have since been able to ask quesitons of hundreds of important folks like Brezainski, Mcnamara, El Baradei, Ritter, Zinni, Albright, Carter etc on shows like the Diane Rehm show , Talk of the Nation etc. I became obsessed for a while .

        One thing I can say is that we do have a system that provides opportunities to participate, question and protest. Many Americans just seem to complacent to attempt to participate. My rant is exhaust the system before you bitch and complain. If we do not use this system the system gets used in a very negative and destructive way. We all sure know that.

        Like your question simple and clear. Also great question about just what program was it?

        Another question I want to ask but will only ask one maybe two.

        I would really like to know if Ashcroft thinks the Bush administration is an example of true conservatism. Hell I was deeply concerned when I heard Scott Ritter, General Zinni, Iaea’s ElBaradei, Brezinski and others questioning this administrations agenda? But when I heard Former Secretary of the Treasury Paul Oneil, Pat Buchanan, Robert McNamara, John Dean, Kevin Phillips and others questioning them my alarm bells were constantly turned on.

      • Kathleen

        Would really like to ask his wife questions. She was in the room. I believe she called James Comey and Mueller.

        How about this for a funny question?

        Why do you think your wife stuck out her tongue at Gonzales and Card as they left the room? I read somwhere that she did this.

        Or how about…Why was it, what was in this program that if Bush trumped Comey’s decision (with your full support) that had you, Comey, Mueller and others so willing to resign if Bush pushed the program forward?

        Have to decide which questions are the most interesting and critical to hopefully have answered.

        • TeakwoodKite

          To answer that one; You must consider why they they went around the chief of station. Maybe because they did not contractors running the show?

        • http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

          And you’ll want to phrase it so that the audience will know what you’re talking about. .. well, most should. We hope.

    • TeakwoodKite

      As an American what was the worst decision you made as AG?

      • Kathleen

        Good one. Hopefully I will be able to convince my daughters or a few friends to ask questions.

        • http://thumbsnap.com/v/78mn2yFc.jpg 1Watt

          How about—When you received warnings of hijackings in early 2001, what steps did you take other than stop flying commercial airlines?

  • http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

    OT / from a mailing list I’m on:

    What Do Conservatives Spend Their Time Thinking About?

    One answer is provided by Conservapedia’s most viewed list:

    1. Main Page‎ [1,897,388]
    2. Homosexuality‎ [1,488,013]
    3. Homosexuality and Hepatitis‎ [516,193]
    4. Homosexuality and Promiscuity‎ [416,767]
    5. Homosexuality and Parasites‎ [387,438]
    6. Homosexuality and Gonorrhea‎ [328,045]
    7. Homosexuality and Domestic Violence‎ [325,547]
    8. Gay Bowel Syndrome‎ [314,076]
    9. Homosexuality and Syphilis‎ [262,015]
    10. Homosexuality and Mental Health‎ [249,14]

    I’d like to add something witty, but really, what is there to say after that? Especially since I can barely stop laughing.

    Ian Welsh November 21, 2007 – 3:00pm

    http://agonist.org/ian_welsh/20071120/what_do_conservatives_spend_their_time_thinking_about

    • http://noquarterusa.net/blog/ Leslie

      Homosexuality and gay immigrants
      Homosexuality and stem cell research
      Homosexuality and the liberal media

  • mudcat

    Ashcroft AND his wife better come clean on this.

    • http://noquarterusa.net/blog/ Leslie

      Ha, ha, ha, ha. :)

      • mudcat

        If not, they’ll burn in hell, according to their beliefs.

  • Mr.Murder

    What’s it like to lose an election to a dead man?

    j/k

    More important questions remain.

    Ask him about NSA warrantless spying BEFORE 9/11.

    That’s of major importance.
    If he’s willing to say his decision to stop flying commercial planes before 9-11 was a matter of convenience, he’d certainly forego any disclosure concerns. He’s certainly allow the entirety of his notes and comments surrounding the time that decision tookplace to clear FOIA, no?

  • Jesus Reyes

    Kasparov is a NED/USAID/Open Society creation and a Neo-con shill.

    He plays very well in the western corporate media, which of course, is his purpose.

    The Yeltsin pillage days are gone forever.

  • PrchrLady

    I agree with Mr. M… I want to know what he knew about the spying on US citizens prior to 911. Also, I just read an article on Ashcroft’s companay getting contracts for him to make a 52 MIllion dollar profit… ask him why it is ok to profit off of others sickness and misery. If there is no law on the books that he thinks pertains, I can site a few of God’s laws which would apply. http://www.nj.com/starledger/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-12/1195537982212840.xml&coll=1

    • mudcat

      Start with “usury is a sin” according to the bible.

  • Thinker

    First up Montag it was the Gough Whittlam government that was disolved in 1975 by Kerr “the kerr” who was Governor General who blamed the Queen.

    Frazer came in as caretaker from the opposition and this allowed Hawke “the hack” entry when the people spoke. Hawke was certainly no intellectual unlike Gough Whittlam, whose famous exit as Prime Minister echos around most Uni halls even today, “God may well save the Queen, but nothing will save the Governor General”

    Howard’s exit is significant. First, he was a Bush poodle who pandered to his every whim, ignoring the people all the while. The defeat was significant in as much as the Australian ecconomy is strong and why change something that ain’t broken. It is heartening that the people saw beyond that. Howard took every opportunity through his stooge ‘shock jocks’ to inform his people how great and important and wonderful he was. He was rewarded admirably. He is the first Australia Prime Minister since 1926 to fail to get re-ellected as a member of Parliament.

    As we say, in our local town, “make sure the door doesn’t hit you in the ass on the way out”.

    Blair’s gone, Howard’s gone and then there was……

  • http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

    Just added an update re Kevin Rudd. It’s a YouTube video that Olbermann played tonight. Leave it to him to find it.

  • http://www.food4humanity.org hoosierhoops

    Diamonds are a girl’s best friend:
    Credit: Dailygalaxy.com

    Like an episode out of the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics has announced the discovery of a mass of crystallized carbon formerly known as star BPM 37093, now known as the biggest diamond in the galaxy, fifty light years away from Earth in the constellation Centaurus.

    The star, named “Lucy” after the Beatles song, “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds,” is estimated to be 2,500 miles across and weighs approximately 10 billion-trillion-trillion-carats – a one, followed by 34 zeros. Travis Metcalfe, an astronomer from the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and leader of the team who discovered the gem, says “You would need a jeweler’s loupe the size of the sun to grade this diamond..