Before we start, let's take a brief moment to remember CityLightsLover and her mom, and surround them both in the light and warmth of healing and peace and good wishes.
O our Father, the Sky, hear us
and make us strong.
O our Mother, the Earth, hear us
and give us support.
O Spirit of the East,
send us your Wisdom.
O Spirit of the South,
may we tread your path of life.
O Spirit of the West,
may we always be ready for the long journey.
O Spirit of the North, purify us
with your cleansing winds.
-- Sioux prayer
All shall be well,
and all shall be well,
and all manner of thing shall be well.
-- Dame Julian of Norwich, 14th century mystic
Can't say that I can match up to the high standards traditionally set by our Hostess With The Mostest, but I'll give it the old college try (oh, wait, I never finished college…).
A few notable births for today, and none of them worthy of "The Cake"! (which is good because I don't have that in my files yet):
Bob Uecker turns 75 today. A career .200 batter (for those of you not into baseball, that's just a shade below mediocre), he's made a bigger mark in the broadcasting field, as well as acting stints in movies like Major League and the TV show Mr. Belvedere, plus numerous Miller Lite commercials:
Today is also the 61st birthday of David Strathairn, stage and screen actor familiar to many as Edward R. Murrow in the movie Good Night and Good Luck, for which he was nominated for an Academy Award:
And last but by no means least, a very happy and funny birthday to Ellen DeGeneres who turns 52 today. Here she is dancing with a "special friend" (those were happier times):
Okay, let's Countdown!
#5: Busted AKA Phone Booked
A bunch of folks (including the dude who tried to "expose" ACORN by posing as a pimp) got arrested for some funny business at Sen. Mary Landrieu's Louisiana offices. James O'Keefe claims this is just a new form of journalsm; Richard Wolffe ain't buying. Keith isn't sure this is exactly a Watergate redux -- but that just started out as a "3rd rate burglary" too. 31 Republican Congressmen honored O'Keefe after the whole ACORN bit -- will they continue to stand behind him now that he's potentially a felon? Considering some of the folks they hang out with, I don't see why not. Jonathan Turley thinks these guys are in a heck of a lot of trouble -- 10 years and $250K fine minimum, but it may not stop there. There's also a chance prosecutors will cut a deal with one of the defendants; I'd love to know how far up the line the "chain of command" goes on this. O'Keefe is enough of a lone wolf to come up with this on his own, but when it comes to the Republicans I hope the prosecutors leave no stone unturned. Oh, and the network news shows aren't touching this story -- is there a young Woodward and Bernstein out there, or is investigative journalism as dead as dead-tree publishing seems to be?
COMMENT: Obama's finally responding -- unfortunately it's to the Republicans' desires, not to the Democrats or the majority of voters. (Let's see exactly what comes out in the speech before we start the vilifying, but I'm not exactly filled with the Audacity of Hope right now.)
#4 Icy Reception AKA Mr. Freeze
Word of a spending freeze sends joy in the hearts of Wall Street, but disgust in the hearts of many economic experts. John McCain and Evan Bayh (oh, I'm sure CLL is thrilled with that pairing) are proposing a spending freeze combined with a ban on earmarks until the deficit is eliminated…remind me again what political party was responsible for the deficit in the first place? Obama criticized the idea of a spending freeze during the Presidential debates -- is this a case of "I was against them before I was for them"? Robert Reich says that deficit reduction is a good thing in certain circumstances, but this isn't the time. Obama needs to stand his ground and say why deficit spending is necessary right now, with people out of work; we need to reframe debate in the right way. Reich's saying what Krugman and a bunch of other economists have said: the stimulus wasn't big enough; we'd be in a lot worse shape if we hadn't had that stimulus, but it didn't go far enough. Obama needs to come out and say that he's not just bailing out Wall Street, but also Main Street as well.
Craig Crawford's website is raising money for Shelterbox, but you can avoid the extra click and make your donation right here at Daily Kos. Current Daily Kos count: 108 boxes and rising!
ODDBALL: Madame Tussaud's has immortalized the First Couple in wax. China has a display made entirely of chocolate; hopefully the melamine was optional.
#3 Foreign Influence AKA Free Speech Isn't Free
Democrats begin the process to get the genie that SCOTUS released last week back in the bottle, by drafting legislation to ban foreign-owned companies from donating to US campaigns. Howard Feinman says that it makes sense, because influencing elections should be for Americans. (And as a personal aside, there are FEC rules that prohibit non-US citizens from donating to US campaigns, so this should be a no-brainer; expect a lot of whining from the Republicans in that case.) Feinman shoots down the argument that "well, unions can do the same thing"; unions don't have the profit stream of huge corporations (looking at the amount the spouse pays in union dues each month, I can say definitely "Damn straight, Howard!").
COMMENT: Wall Street Journal's Joe Queenan weighs in on the Leno/O'Brien kerfluffle, comparing Leno to Hitler and "it's enough to make Josef Stalin blush." Mr. Godwin, please pick up the white courtesy phone...
WPITW: Limbaugh criticizes anti-Semitism, then joins the anti-Semites, then denies it. Uh, Rush, flip-flopping doesn't count as aerobic exercise. Nancy Graceless tries to keep her deposition for a trial from being videotaped. Bill O'Reilly regains the top spot by suggesting Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid be kidnapped, and in the case of Nancy Pelosi, waterboarded. And this was in an unguarded moment amongst "friends." Might be nice if he got a little "visit" from the Secret Service, the way he sends "FOX Security" against his imagined threats.
More BREAKING NEWS in the Landrieu office case; one of the suspects was picked up in a car a few blocks away with a "listening device" that could pick up transmissions. The plot thickens.
#1 What A Drag
Italian art authorities want to dig up Leonardo DaVinci's remains to see if the Mona Lisa may have actually been a self-portrait. Forensic specialist Mary Manheim believes that it would be very difficult to make the comparison, considering you're going from a 3 dimensional skull to a 2 dimensional painting, and also assuming there's enough DNA to prove that it's DaVinci they're digging up. Obviously some folks in Italy have waaay too much time on their hands.
Tomorrow is the State of the Union address; likely there'll be several liveblogs on the site. Thanks for putting up with me as host for the evening, and hope CLL and her mom are doing well.