Apparently, Wanting is Far More Pleasurable Than Having, After All

The Politico’s Carol Lee:

HONOLULU – The media glare, the constant security appendage and the sheer production that has become a morning jog or a hankering for an ice cream cone – it’s been closing in on Barack Obama for some time.

Now the president-elect appears increasingly conscious of the confines of his new position, bristling at the routine demands of press coverage and beginning to chafe at boundaries that are only going to get smaller.

Obama even took the unusual step Friday morning of leaving behind the pool of reporters assigned to follow him, taking his daughters to a nearby water park without them. It was a breach of longstanding protocol between presidents (or presidents-elect) and the media, that a gaggle of reporters representing television, print and wire services is with his motorcade at all times.

Less than a month ago, Obama didn't seem to mind the press so much. (Culled from Seattle Times)

Poor baby.

Interesting, though. I mean, isn’t this the same peson who chafed at not being able to bring the willing press megaphone along with him on his visit with the trops at Walter Reed? So upset was he that he couldn’t being them along, that he canceled the trip.

Now that he’s got the power he used them to get, he doesn’t want the press around anymore? Perhaps the reasons behind Obama’s reluctance to deal with the press now, may have something to do with the various corruption investigations that have popped up since the beginning of last month, Richardson,  Blagojevich, and the rest of the Chicago crowd… etc, etc, etc…

You’ll forgive me if I’m not very sympathetic. I’ve just watched this nation’s press prostitute itself for the purpose of giving Obama a ride into power on their backs.  His objections to them now, particularly given the questions they’re asking, and he’s avoiding,  seem suspect at least.

A fool and his money are soon parted.      One Steve McDougal and  San Francisco, both the city and the airport, have concocted a plan for the gullible travers to give away his money, Michael Cabanatuan, San Francisoc Chronicle:

Environmentally conscious travelers flying out of San Francisco International Airport will soon be able to assuage their guilt and minimize the impact of their air travel by buying certified carbon offsets at airport kiosks.

[…]

 “We’d like people to stop and consider the impacts of flying,” said Steve McDougal, executive vice president for 3Degrees, a San Francisco firm that sells renewable-energy and carbon-reduction investments and is teaming up with the airport and the city on the project. “Obviously, people need to fly sometimes. No one expects them to stop, but they should consider taking steps to

One thing is sure about a slick salesman, whatever he is selling, he is sure that you need it.   McDougal sells supposed carbon offsets.    So bank of the fact that McDougal is going to say that you need carbon offsets.

This about the only thing that Blind Man Paterson has not proposed to balance the New York State budget.

Michelle is sure thata Mrs Pelosi would approve,    That Mrs. Pelosi would approve of the selling.   Not that she has any plans to actually buy any carbon offsets.

It goes without saying that if your mother had considered you a choice and not a person, you would not be posting to blogs.   Maha, Mahablog, writes:

I’m beginning to think that movement conservatism is, at base, a kind of psychological-sexual dysfunction. You know these guys are terrified of women’s sexuality. They’d have us women in burqas and condone stoning of rape victims if they could get away with it. They’d deny that, but in fact, what is the difference between denying a rape victim reproductive rights and stoning her for unchastity? It’s a difference purely in degree, not in kind, rooted in the same twisted views of women and sexuality

For the math challenged, the difference between stoning a rape victim, and not having an abortion is two lives.   The stoning kills two real live human beings.

As for putting the womenfolk in burqas, well it all depends.   Elizabeth I don’t want in a burqa.   On the other paw, do they have a burqa large enough for Rosie O’Donnel?   Ringling Brothers might.   If so put Ms O’D9nnel in it:    Look I might be a male chauvanist sexist pig, but unlike the governor of New York, I am not blind.

[S]he has no experience, no consistent voting record, and no views of her own. I suspect Governor Paterson is wondering how he’s going to wriggle out of selecting someone so embarrassingly unsuited for office. It doesn’t really sound so great to declare, “Well she’s rich and nice and has powerful relatives.” But the sad truth is, this is all she has going for her

Jennifer Rubin, Commenary, on Mrs. Schloosberg.

Granted that RCA is a brand that doesn’t mean what it once did. These days, the name is owned by Thompson, who sells consumer goods under the name. Good they’re keeping it alive, and they’re to be commended for that. But frankly, the magic isn’t what it was.

Back in the day, though, they were the premiere line of all things electronic.
One of my favorite times in radio was working on vintage RCA broadcasting gear, including the mighty 5000 watt BTA-5G installed in the 50’s at what was WSAY. A touchy beast, and took 20 minutes to warm up, and perhaps another 10 to wind up to full power…. but when treated well, it responded with a sound few of the new boxes out today would ever give you. The station was at the time a commercial operation. These days, the thing is owned by the local ‘public’ broadcaster, WXXI.  But here’s the old beast, now, along with the new main transmitter, a Harris MW5 put in in the early 80’s. To me, this place was home for nearly 5 years. (BBCT: Fybush)

I even had an RCA CB radio, in the day… a Co-Pilot SSB mobile…and the thing was a screamer….

Those days are long behind the name, now, alas… but still, it’s kinda sad to see the RCA dome fall. My guess is the name will continue it’s long slow fade.

GAZA CITY —(New York Times) The Israeli Air Force on Saturday launched a massive attack on Hamas targets throughout Gaza in retaliation for the recent heavy rocket fire from the area, hitting mostly security headquarters, training compounds and weapons storage facilities…

Wait a sec. Retaliation for WHAT rocket attacks? Why is it we never hear of such attacks by Hamas, except in reference to what the Israelis are retaliating against?

Why is it the Dinosaur news never bothers to report the number of rocket attacks Israel endures, daily? Why is it that the first report from the region most Americans see invariably, is Israel taking action to protect itself, and not the hundreds of occasions when she does nothing, and endures the attacks in the interests of peace in the region?

Could there be an anti-Israel bias in the reporting?

Nah….Couldn’t be, could there?

(CNN) — President-elect Barack Obama visited military personnel and their families enjoying Christmas dinner at a Marine Corps base in Hawaii Thursday during his holiday vacation.

Obama went to Marine Corps Base Hawaii Kaneohe Bay on Oahu where he mingled with Marines and sailors. Obama and the troops also had a traditional dinner including turkey, roast beef, ham and trimmings.

Wasn’t it just a short time ago we heard the left complaining loudly about these kind of visits from President Bush to the troops?  Forgive me, but it doesn’t seem to me to be a massive sacrifice on his part to be visiting the troops on Christmas that are lucky enough to be stationed in Hawaii.  Given his history, I can only conclude this is at best a half hearted effort with the troops with the larger concern being his image with the voters.

Sister Toldja concurs:

It’s gonna take a lot more than “symbolic gestures” like visiting troops in Hawaii over the Christmas holidays, and playing basketball with them in Afghanistan on a trip designed to highlight your “foreign policy creds.” Barack Obama repeatedly and routinely denigrated the mission in Iraq, not just as a US Senator, but as a candidate for Commander in Chief of the armed forces. Whether or not he meant to demean the sacrifices of our troops, that’s exactly what he – and anyone else – did who either said or implied that they were making the ultimate sacrifice for a “lie” … that their deaths were “wasted” deaths. That’s what he did when he noted over the summer that, even knowing the successes that the surge would have brought to the table – including the sharp downturn in violence – that he still would have voted against the surge.

Agreement.  And the fact of the matter is, that until such time as he reverses that stance, these little symbolic gestures are all that; all symbolism, no substance.  Rather like Obama and his resume, heretofore. 

Since they’re releasing pictures of the event, it is relatively easy to figure out why Obama actually went through with this particular event, as opposed to canceling it at the last minute as he did with an event at Walter Reed; He was able to bring the press and their cameras, this time. 

Not an auspicious start. 

I doubt it was Mrs. Schlossberg’s intent, but Caroline Kennedy has admited her lack of qualifications to be senator,  Larry Neumeister, Associated Press

Caroline Kennedy told The Associated Press in an interview Friday that she knows she will have to work twice as hard as others if she is picked for the U.S. Senate

The 51-year-old daughter of President John F. Kennedy said she realized she will have to prove herself because of her famous background and her lack of political experience

If the there is anything for which senators are not noted, it actually showing up and working.    Then as with the average United States Senator, Mrs.  Schlossberg is also noted for not showing up for work.    It will be impossible for Mrs. Schloosberg to work twice as hard as other senators,when she barely shows up for work at all,  Glenn Thrush, Politico:

During the two years Caroline Kennedy worked as a fundraiser and goodwill ambassador for New York City schools Chancellor Joel Klein, co-workers would frequently drift by her workspace for a glimpse of the department’s most famous $1-a-year employee.

As often as not, they were greeted by an empty chair.

“I’d get it all the time – ‘Why isn’t Caroline at her desk?'” said a person who worked closely with Kennedy, who ran the Department of Education division that oversaw public-private partnerships from 2002 to 2004.

It is certainly fair to associate the Kennedy Clan with hard drinking and partying hard.   However actual hard work is an alien concept to a Kennedy.    For one, it would require sobriety.

Addendum:

Allah Pundit, Hot Air, notes the same problems:

No, sorry, that’s not fair. Remember when she had that job with the NYC Department of Education that she, um, never showed up to?

Allah notes this quote from Mrs. Schlossberg:

“Many people remember that spirit that President Kennedy summoned forth,” she said. “Many people look to me as somebody who embodies that sense of possibility. I’m not saying that I am anything like him, I’m just saying there’s a spirit that I think I’ve grown up with that is something that means a tremendous amount to me.” 

Before  Mrs. Schlossberg invokes  the administration of her father, she ought to take time to actually study it.    The best thing that can be said about the Kennedy administration is that the nation somehow survived it.    Kennedy gave us the Bay of Pigs, the Cuban Missile Crisis and the military escalation in Vietnam.

Then speaking of Kennedy spirit, hase the Kennedy clans ever had any spirit which did not come in a bottle?    We already have one drunk Kennedy in the Senate.

I had one left over…

A house near Casa de Bit

He’s back:

Alaska (ChattahBox) – The annual feature ‘Snowzilla’ has once again appeared in Anchorage, Alaska, after a cease and desist order attempted to ban the 25 foot snow man last year.
Billy Powers and his seven children have built Snowzilla for the last several years, and what started as an impressive 10 foot Frosty has grown each Christmas, causing neighbors to complain, and Powers to be ordered to discontinue the project

Hat tip:  Gabriel Malor, Ace of Spades.

I am conflicted.  While I respect the wishes of the neighbors, but there such seems the mayor could find a way to accomadate a local tradtion.

Eartha Kitt, we hear by way of the AFP, has passed on:

NEW YORK (AFP) — Eartha Kitt, the versatile US singer and actress whose sultry voice and sensuality made her an international star with a career spanning six decades, died Thursday at age 81, her friend and publicist said.

Kitt, who won two Emmy television awards and was nominated for two Tony awards and two Grammy awards, died at 2:15 pm (1915 GMT) of colon cancer, Andrew Freedman told AFP. She was being treated at New York Presbyterian Hospital and resided in the state of Connecticut.

One of the originals, that lady.

She did “CatWoman” for the original Batman series, and was doing voice work for Disney films there for a while, too. A versitle entertainer to say the least.

Picture of the de-dressing:

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – A man dressed as Santa Claus showed up at a Christmas Eve party at a suburban Los Angeles house and opened fire with a handgun, killing three people and wounding two, police said on Thursday.

The only suspect in Wednesday night’s shooting in Covina, California, Bruce Jeffrey Pardo, 45, later committed suicide and his body was found at a relative’s house in nearby Sylmar, police said.

Sounds of the upliftting, New York Times:

(Listen)AGHDAD – The Cardinal Emmanuel-Karim Delly, patriarch of the Chaldean Catholic Church, led a Christmas morning mass today at the Virgin Mary convent church in Baghdad’s Karada neighborhood.

The cardinal compared the situation in Iraq to the situation at Jesus’s birth: “Aren’t our hearts as cruel as the hearts of the people of Bethlehem at that time?”

Hope tempered by reality.

Michael C. Moynihan, Reason Online,  suggests that Kwanzaa is virtually dead:

In the days leading up the Christmas, one couldn’t help but notice that references to Kwanzaa, the decades-old African-American holiday that captured so many dull minds during the Great Culture Wars of the 1990s, were almost nonexistent. Kwanzaa, an Afrocentric celebration of black self-reliance (or something) that so spooked the “war on Christmas” types, has largely disappeared. Back in the day, its champions and critics alike thought it could potentially replace Christmas in the very Christian African-American community.

If Moynihan is correct, will anybody, outside the media, miss it, and will the meiia ever let go of their cherished myth of Kwanzaa?      I say no to both.

James Joyner, Outside the Beltway:

Or, perhaps, it was just a fad and, like pet rocks, mood rings, and disco, the novelty wore off.

A fad, or just an artificial holiday without much, if any, reason?     Christmas might be diverse in the many different origins of its traditions, but nothing in Christmas excludes black Christians from celebrating.    I mean it wasn’t like Baby Jesus was born as the savior for only those of the palor of Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg.

I suggest that the meanings of Christmas are so many and so varied that anybody ought to able to find their own personal meaning in Christmas.    This is not to suggest that Linus was somehow wrong, but only that he did not find the one, only and exclusive meaning of the holiday.

In the mean time, you truly put off by the religious aspects of Christmas, there is always Festivus.  To one and all a happy Boxing Day Eve.

Brit Hume exits the stage the same way in entered it, with class, video:

Hat tip: Jammie Wearing Fool.