From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…
The Week Ahead:
Monday President Obama gets back to work after spending vacation time in Hawaii. Or as Rush Limbaugh calls it, shoving his anti-mainland agenda down our throats.
Also: Hillary returns
to work this week.
Harry Reid begs Joe Biden to stop pulling aside random groups of Capitol tourists and swearing them in as United States Senators.
Tuesday The December small-business index is announced at 7:30am by the National Federation of Independent Businesses. The announcement raises several questions. Among them: who the hell scheduled this thing for seven freakin' thirty?
Minnesota Viking Chris Kluwe suits up for The Colbert Report and kicks some Stephen butt.
Wednesday Rep. Darrell Issa announces preliminary hearings on the impeachment of President Obama. The official charge: "Something…anything!"
Mitt Romney goes another day without changing his socks because what's the point now?
Thursday The Academy Award nominations are bestowed on those who were best able to use every trick they could think of to convince millions of people to suspend their disbelief in 2012. Odds-on favorite for a nod: Karl Rove.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue gives his annual policy address, starting with a moment of silence for all the innocent billionaire victims of the estate tax increase.
Friday The federal budget for December is released at Treasury. Republicans go ballistic over everything except the $12 billion allocation to establish the first National Emergency Twinkie Reserve.
For yet another week, the climate continues to make good on its promise of delivering change.
Saddle up, Cisco. We ride again. Cheers and Jeers starts below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Monday, January 7, 2013
Note: A quick heads-up about future New England meetups. There's one happening this Saturday in Providence RI, another one Saturday, February 16th in Portsmouth NH, and one March 9th at the Mohegan Sun Casino in CT. See details in Clytemnestra's post. And for all the meetups happening around the country, take a peek in Navajo's post. My kingdom for a teleporter.
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til Inauguration (aka "Freeze Your Butt Off in D.C.") Day: 14
Days 'til the National Pie Day: 16
Normal snowfall for Portland, Maine by this time of the season: 14"
Inches of snow Portland has for the season thus far: 28"
(Source: National Weather Service)
Cost to insurers of natural disasters worldwide in 2011 and last year, respectively: $119 billion / $65 billion
(Source: Munich Re AG)
Increase in auto sales last year vs. 2011, the best showing in 5 years: 13%
Number of NFL playoff wins by Dallas Cowboys coach Tom Landry, who tops the list of winningest playoff coaches: 20
(Source: NFL.com)
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NEW! California Dreamin'!
Brought to you by the 2013 Netroots Nation Convention in San Jose, June 20-23. Since this is our first edition, we'll start nice and basic, courtesy of Awesome America:
California entered the Union: September 9, 1850.
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Origin of Name: Probably derived from a popular Spanish novel published in 1510 which described a fictional island paradise named California --Las Sergas de Esplandián, by Garcia Ordóñez de Montalvo.
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The best view in the United States is at Mount Diablo State Park. From the top of the 3,849 foot summit more of the earth's surface can be seen than any other peak in the world, except Mt. Kilimanjaro in Africa.
The countdown is under way: NN13 starts in
164 days.
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Puppy Pic of the Day: The Lima, Ohio fire department's newly-donated dog oxygen masks are put to good use.
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CHEERS to manic Monday. Some good news for Hillary Clinton and the country today. She's recovered enough from her head injury to get back to work at the State Department. And in other news, the right-wing pundits who claimed she was faking it have not recovered enough from their own head injuries to prevent them from going to work at Fox News.
CHEERS and JEERS to the Mustache of Independence. Three days after being sworn in as Maine's new Senator, Angus King classed up the roundtable on Meet the Press yesterday. Much of what he said made sense, like this:
A King AND a senator?
Pretty neat trick, Angus.
"It's important to talk about what the debt ceiling really is. The debt ceiling has nothing to do with the future. It has to do with the past. The debt ceiling is allowing us to borrow money to pay money that we've already borrowed. It's as if we spend money on our credit card [and] at the end of the month say, "Well, I'm not going to pay it." And that wrecks your credit. And that's really what we're talking about. … And if you look back at 2011 you can see the job numbers dip in the summer of 2011 when we went through that hostage taking."
And he occasionally made me urp my breakfast into my lap:
"Simpson and Bowles are right."
I'll give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he means ideologically. But I'm still sending him the bill to get my jammies dry-cleaned.
Fillmore controlled
the launch codes
for two and a
half years.
CHEERS to the wast of the wascally Whigs. Happy 212th Birthday to #13
Millard Fillmore. During his accidental presidency (thanks to Zachary Taylor's death from coming in contact with Chinese drywall), he sent Commodore Perry to open trade with Japan. He also postponed a civil war by signing the Compromise of 1850, which added California as a free state but also established a fugitive slave law. Oh, and Queen Victoria said he was the most handsome man she'd ever laid eyes on. Immediately after she said it, he unofficially became the first person to run a one-minute mile.
CHEERS to sports shorts. The winners from the weekend pigskin playpens are Houston, Green Bay, Seattle and Baltimore. They'll move up in their quest to be the team that has the distinct honor of being the tyrants whose blood the Patriots will use to water the Tree of Super Bowl XLVII. Meanwhile, there may some good news for hockey fans, as the NHL and the players' union reached a tentative deal. Their fans are guardedly optimistic. Their dentists are ecstatic.
Telephone used during the
first transatlantic phone call.
CHEERS to idle chit-chat. On this date in 1927, the first transatlantic telephone service began between New York and London. A transcript of the inaugural call:
"Hi, Brit!"
"Hi, Yank!"
"Man I so wanna schtupp Calvin Coolidge...he is so hot."
"And when I think of George the Fifth I could just faint in my kippers!"
"I gotta go. My mom says I gotta do my homework."
"Life is dark, brooding and unfair."
"Totally."
What...you were expecting Shakespeare?
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Five years ago in C&J: January 7, 2008
JEERS to the essence of today's GOoPer. Digby watched last night's Fox debate so you didn’t have to. And, as usual, you didn’t miss much:
[I] listened to all of them (except for Ron Paul) enthusiastically sign on to the Bush Doctrine and war without end against the islamofasciterrorists and anybody else who looks at America sideways.
And then the candidates, including the three out of six who are wealthy cancer survivors, all agreed that we have the best health care system in the world, people should buy their own policies and if someone doesn't do that, he shouldn't be allowed to be a free rider.
We also need to round up and jail the criminal illegals and put the rest of them at the back of the line.
Vote Republican: We'll cull the herd.
Moo.
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And just one more…
CHEERS to U.S. Mint'y freshness. I don’t think the trillion-dollar coin, as lovely as it sounds, is going to become a reality anytime soon. But the "America the Beautiful" state quarters collection, which celebrates our national parks (or as Republicans call them, "future oil drilling sites once we get back into power"), continues to weave its spell of numismagic on the nation and our outlying star systems. Here's a sneak peak at this year's lineup---I think you'll agree it's quarterrrrrific:
New Hampshire: White Mountain National Forest
Ohio: Perry’s Victory and International Peace Memorial
Nevada: Great Basin National Park
Maryland: Fort McHenry
South Dakota: Mount Rushmore
The first release will be New Hampshire's on January 28th. It features Mount Chocorua. We hear its brother, Count, is in the cereal biz.
Have a nice Monday. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
He might not be the beneficial addition to a home, but Bill in Portland Maine was designed to do one thing really well: vomit.
---Jonathan Turley
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