"Absolutely we're winning."

"The recent report on retail sales shows a strong beginning to the holiday shopping season across the country. And I encourage you all to go shopping more."
George W. Bush

Mr. Bush, at a press conference yesterday:

Q Mr. President, less than two months ago at the end of one of the bloodiest months in the war, you said, "Absolutely we're winning." Yesterday you said, "We're not winning, we're not losing." Why did you drop your confident assertion about winning?

THE PRESIDENT: My comments -- the first comment was done in this spirit: I believe that we're going to win; I believe that -- and by the way, if I didn't think that, I wouldn't have our troops there. That's what you got to know. We're going to succeed. My comments yesterday reflected the fact that we're not succeeding nearly as fast as I wanted when I said it at the time..."

New Harry Potter book

Rowling reveals final Harry Potter title



By Richard Holt
Telegraph.co.uk

"The wait is over for eager J K Rowling fans as the title of her latest book is revealed as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

It will be the final installment in the hugely popular series of books about the young wizard which have won admirers of all ages."

Read article

Draft Obama TV Ad

Obama is young, he's smart, he appears to seek and heed good advice. George Bush is --- well -- he didn't have a lot of experience either.

What about John Edwards?



(see Charlie Rose show with Barack Obama, Nov. 3o post)

Bush Will Back New Minimum Wage Increase (sort of)

Excerpts from an article on the proposed minimum wage increase that President Bush says he will support. From the Washington Post, December 21, 2006. Read the entire article.

George W. Bush: "I believe we should do it in a way that does not punish the millions of small businesses that are creating most of the new jobs in our country," Bush said during a news conference. "So I support pairing it with targeted tax and regulatory relief to help these small businesses stay competitive and to help keep our economy growing."

Bush cited his support of the proposed increase as proof of his intent to operate in a more bipartisan manner during the remaining two years of his presidency.

Democrats and their supporters in organized labor responded warily to Bush's proposal to link a minimum wage hike to tax breaks for business, saying the increase should be passed on its own merits. Democratic leaders have promised to make increasing the $5.15-per-hour minimum wage one of the first orders of business when the new Congress convenes Jan. 4....

"Let's be clear, given that nearly a decade has passed since the last minimum wage increase, no one can seriously believe that the proposed increase will harm the small-business sector," said Rep. George Miller (D-Calif.), the incoming chairman of the House Education and the Workforce Committee. "A minimum wage increase should not and need not be conditional on other legislation or policy changes."

"America's workers deserve a clean vote on a $7.25 increase, with no strings attached," AFL-CIO President John J. Sweeney said. "Such an increase helps everyone and hurts no one."

White House officials, meanwhile, say they are still working to identify tax cuts they would like to see accompany a minimum wage increase.

When adjusted for inflation, the buying power of the minimum wage has dwindled to its lowest level since 1955, and raising the rate has become a popular issue among voters.

Letter From Young Marine Due to Return to Iraq in April

link to letter

Philip Martin has been a Marine for 2 years. He is in the infantry (a "grunt"), and spent 7 months in the al-Anbar province of Iraq. He went on more than 180 combat patrols in and outside of the city of Fallujah, where he was hit with 2 IEDs (luckily never injured) and was involved in a number of firefights. He is currently stationed in Twentynine Palms, CA, and due to return to Iraq for a second deployment in April 2007. He is 21-years-old.

Why, you may ask, is house cleaning so much fun?

No. I didn't say "not so much fun". I mean it. Fun. I can explain it only as a peaceful time, a time when I have the rare opportunity to get in touch with my inner self. It also has to do with Saturday mornings.

I think I got the cleaning gene from my mother who was always cleaning or cooking or passed out on the floor. Not that kind of passed out. Passed out as in tired from cleaning and needing a break. And she wasn't really passed out. She took naps that way. Whilst dusting the old rocker she might put her head down for a few minutes and catch a few winks. I once came in from playing baseball with my friends to find mom lying on the kitchen floor asleep. I thought she was dead. Scared the hell out me. I was nine.

Cleaning to me means family doing things together. Saturday mornings were always so much fun because my brother, sister, mom and I were together, each with his or her designated chores. All of us working like little beavers. In the summer my mother liked to wash down the front porch and sidewalk, while we dusted and mopped and made beds and such. That was her passion. That and waxing the floor and making gravy.

By noon the job would be done and I'd collect my pay. I got 30 cents and two bus tokens which I used for at least one double feature at a downtown movie theatre, a box of popcorn, soda and milk duds. In my early years I leaned towards westerns with Roy or Gene, Lash LaRue, Whip Wilson, Johnny Mack Brown or Randolph Scott. (I was on stage with Lash LaRue once, but that's a whole other story.)

I suppose what started all this about cleaning was the time of year. The week before Christmas was a big cleaning week at our house. The mill was closed and mom spent a lot of time at home, doing what she loved. Cleaning and baking cakes. The fragrance of Johnson's Wax and melting chocolate lingers in my olfactory memory still. I can close my eyes and see mom stirring batter or grating coconut.

I think the idea of intensive house cleaning at the end of the year has something to do with starting the new year off with a clean slate. Black eyed peas and collard greens for luck, and a clean house, help to make the season bright.

Now, if you'll excuse me I've got some sweeping to do.

Will Corporations Hold the Only Key to the Internet? Net Neutrality? What's That?

Is the internet in danger of being taken over by ATandT and others corporations? What is net neutrality and why is it so important? Will corporations become the gatekeepers to the internet? What would such a takeover mean to your freedom of expression? Watch.
Decide for yourself.

The perfect tree

our perfect tree

Since he was four, my son has been the official Christmas tree chooser in our family.
I don't know how he does it, but he just walks onto the lot and immediately goes to the tree which always proves to be the perfect tree.

Oh, it's full of imperfections and flaws. It's perfect in its imperfections. (Aren't we all) The fact is, once the tree has all the ornaments and lights, it doesn't matter. It's our perfect tree and we love it. And my son, now eleven, has the fun of being the official perfect tree picker of the family. He's also now the official Decorator of the Tree, and my wife and I just sit back and watch. My wife has a little more trouble than I do with kibitzing, because her father had very specific rules as to how one must decorate a Christmas tree. I don't think much fun was had decorating trees when she was a kid.

Our tree may not get its picture in House Beautiful but my son get a great deal of pleasure from picking and decorating it. And we all join him in having fun. I figure it's good practice for life, and decision making as practiced by grownups.

April Winchell is full of the Joy of Christmas

I can't help but love this woman and the irreverent, but relevant way she looks at the world. It's worth clicking right here and flying on over to her website to listen to the grand array of Christmas mp3s she has available for your listening pleasure. All downloadable and FREE. Other goodies too, but you'll have to see for yourself.

Where else on the planet will you have this once in a lifetime opportunity of hearing Christmas Cookies and Holiday Hearts by the inimitable Caroleer Singers?

And that's not all folks! If you click right now you'll get Bubble Tub by Carrie Lanza (Mario's ?) and many, many more.

Don't wait. Click now.

Mr. Jeffries

On my way to work every morning I would pass the house where Mr. Jeffries lived. He was always outside sweeping his sidewalk or sitting on his porch reading the paper. And smoking his pipe. I could always smell the fragrance of burning pipe tobacco a few houses from his. Jack, his beagle was usually close by.

I didn't really know Mr. Jeffries. I knew he drove a city bus before he retired and that his wife had died a few years ago, and that he lived alone, except for Jack, of course. And maybe a cat. My wife said she saw an overweight tabby sleeping on the porch last week. I never saw a cat. Just Jack.

It was always comforting to see Mr. Jeffries every morning. He looked so positive about life. He exuded confidence, well-being and contentment. He'd always smile when I passed and I always said, "Morning, Mr. Jeffries. How are you this morning." He never had to think about it. "The Lord is my Shepherd. I shall not want", he replied. I thought that was a very nice way to put it.