From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE...
BREAKING! The Obamas' first night in the White House:
"What a day!"
"Phew, yeah...what a day!"
"I'm exhausted. Could you get the light, Barack?"
"Yes I can! I will not only get the light, I will shine the light for all Americans and show them the way through the darkness! It is a light that arises from the hopes and dreams of the old and the young, the black and white and yellow and red and brown, the gay and the straight, the rich and the poor! It is a light on whose rays the promise of hope...and opportunity...and achievement...all soar to a distant, brighter future! But it will take all of us, working together in a spirit of shared sacrifice and commitment, to make that light a beacon of progress. And I say to you tonight: This is our moment! This is our bedtime! This..."
"Oh fer god's sake never mind, I'll do it myself..."
[Click!]
Cheers and Jeers starts in There's Moreville... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]
Cheers and Jeers for Thursday, January 22, 2009
Note: This just in from Chief Justice Roberts: "Me car to office ride."
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By the Numbers:
Days 'til Australia Day: 4
Days `til St. Patrick's Day: 54
Drop in U.S. oil-drilling activity since September: -12%
Number of active drilling rigs now, several hundred of which are expected to fall idle soon, according to analysts: 1,790
(Source: Wall Street Journal via The Week)
Average price of a quart of Maine maple syrup last year: $8
Price of a quart now: $14.50
(Source: Maine Sunday Telegram)
Number of Inauguration Day revelers still waiting in D.C. Port-O-Potties for more toilet paper to arrive: 12
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Your Thursday Molly Ivins Moment:
The Reagan administration is genuinely funny, honest it is. From the time we whipped Grenada in a fair fight to the day the old boy dropped off the wreath at Bitburg, this administration has been nothing but laughs. James Watt! Killer trees! Ketchup as a vegetable! Reagan cures the deficit! This is great stuff. You can't make up stuff this good.
---March, 1986
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Puppy Pic of the Day: Nice pup...but I like the pic underneath it better
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CHEERS to a pleasant day at the Mall. Thanks to a damn Tuesday migraine that sent us into a dark room much of the day (thank you, Kossacks, for all the get-well gifts, particularly the air horns and strobe lights), we're a little late with our thoughts on January 20, 2009. So, off we go...
>> First and foremost: Congratulations, Hawaii---you raised a fine young man there. Make more.
>> Given the craziness of the day, it seems appropriate that I---and about a hundred other Maine Democrats---watched the transition of power in a club called "Asylum." The guy sitting next to me suggested that no other country puts on an inaugural show like ours. He got no argument from me (although Antarctica's March of the Penguins comes close).
>> What are the chances that I would be bent down tending to my toe jam at exactly the same moment Rick Warren was speaking? Now I'll never be saved!
>> The crowd---One million? Two million?---was amazing. (Did you see the guy standing third from the left in the 129,000th row? Cute!) Unfortunately all the flapping of the flags will cause a major tsunami in 2067. Damn you, Butterfly Effect!!!
>> Yeah, Obama gave Bush a few well-deserved verbal wedgies in his speech. Some pundits criticized it for not being a home run but, as usual, they're in the minority, given that a USA Today poll shows the public loved it. [sigh] Some things ain't gonna change no matter who's in charge.
>> When it was over, former president Bush boarded helicopter Aretha One, and flew back to the only state where he feels welcome: denial.
>> Ted Kennedy---sporting a smile that rivaled Obama's and a hat like my grandpappy used to wear to work---inconvenienced us all by having a seizure at the Capitol luncheon, which doctors attributed to fatigue caused by a night of breakdance fever. He's fine, and I believe I speak for us all when I say: Bad, Ted! Bad!
>> As of this morning, Vice President Biden hasn't shot any friends in the face.
Oh, we must do this again sometime.
JEERS to Dais do-overs. Yesterday Barack Obama took the oath of office a second time because Chief Justice John Roberts blew it on Tuesday by inserting the words "looka them boobies" into it. Other than the massive invasion of America by China's amphibious fleet and the secession of Montana to Canada, the one-day power vacuum was uneventful. Please go about your business. Xie xie!!
CHEERS to the progressive honor roll. Think Progress has compiled a list of our allies "who stood up to speak truth to power" during the reign of Generalissimo Boosh. Among them...li'l ol' us:
The Netroots: Markos, Atrios, Josh Marshall, Arianna Huffington, FireDogLake, Crooks and Liars, Glenn Greenwald, Andrew Sullivan, and so many of our other blogging comrades in arms who helped forge the path of rational opposition to many of Bush’s failed policies.
Medals of Freedom to you all. Now go give everyone on their list a big smooch. In Jim Webb's case, maybe just a little salute.
CHEERS to choice. The Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision turns 36 today. This week it got a wonderful anniversary gift: at least four more years of being safe, legal and rare. Please, PUMA ladies: don’t thank your new pro-choice president all at once.
CHEERS to the Courage Campaign. They're working to form a strong grassroots movement in California so that overturning Prop8 will be more of a done deal next time around, and they have good news to report from last week's fundraiser, which many in the Kossack community supported with their wallets (thank yuh):
Last week, we asked you to "make the match"---to raise $25,000 to match a $25,000 contribution from Dr. Bill Resnick and Dr. Doug Cordell---to fund Camp Courage events across California that will give marriage equality activists the grassroots training they need to repeal Prop 8.
Not only did you smash the match, raising over $68,000 online in a matter of days, but your generosity inspired our friends at MoveOn.org to support Camp Courage as well, joining SEIU-United Healthcare Workers West and the California Nurses Association as major organizational sponsors of these training events.
Better news: they're now able to add even more Camp Courage training seminars to help educate folks in the state about marriage equality. When you get a sec, stop by and let 'em know where the next one should be held. That sucking sound you hear is the right-wing slowly losing its war on the GLBT community. Dear lord I hope that's what it is. (This is a family blog.)
CHEERS to witnessing history. A lot of water has passed under the bridge since Teddy Roosevelt occupied the White House in 1902, but Ann Nixon Cooper---at 107---has been there to see it flow (including rubbing elbows with a very young Martin Luther King, Jr.) through bad times and bad times and eventually better times and now the best time of her life---the election of Whatsizname:
She said she remembers the days when she couldn't vote and was subjected to racial slurs and injustices. "There was a time when they thought they could just kick us around," she said. "Now, it has changed." ...
This moment in history, she said, marks one of the greatest days of her event-filled life. "I'm most excited about it ... just nothing but the greatest," she said, a wide smile spread across her face. "Our new president means nothing but more freedom as a human being. That's all. That's all it could mean to us. You feel more like a real person."
But we must remember that we're now the "Sacrifice Society," and that goes for Ms. Cooper, too. We expect to see her riveting bridges there in Atlanta and laying track for bullet trains. Wear comfortable shoes, ma'am.
CHEERS to must-inhale TV. Every day people die from booze, smoking and prescription drugs. But it's hard to find anyone who's keeled over as a direct result of smoking pot. And yet it's pot that's still illegal. Tonight CNBC explores the lucrative weed industry in a new special called Marijuana, Inc.:
While it may not be traded on Wall Street any time soon, marijuana has become a booming cash crop. CNBC's Trish Regan goes behind the scenes to explore the inner workings of this secretive industry, focusing on Northern California's "Emerald Triangle," now the marijuana capital of the U.S. In this scenic pocket of America, the pot business, much of it legal under state law, now makes up as much as two-thirds of the local economy.
If we're serious about doing everything we can to goose the economy, legalizing marijuana has to be put on the table. It's a cannabis cash cow, a big bad bud busting with Benjamins, a dynamic doobie dryrolled with dollars, a joint jammed with Jacksons, a... Oh, you get the point? Fine then.
JEERS to maintaining the stupidus quo. NEWS FLASH: Republicans are still crybabies. Film at 11. Sponsored by Huggies.
CHEERS to naked men dipped in gold. The Oscar nominations were announced this morning. Highlights: lots of lovin' for Milk, Benjamin Button, Frost/Nixon and The Reader. Richard Jenkins---a great unsung character actor---gets a nod for The Visitor. And holy cow! The Academy actually gave an actor (Robert Downey, Jr.) a nomination for his role in Tropical Thunder---a comedy!! Biggest surprise: Space Chimps got snubbed. That's gotta hurt.
Update: Full list of nominees here. "Benjamin Button" got the most nods with 13...and 8 for my fave, "Milk." Awesome.
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Five years ago in C&J: January 22, 2004
CHEERS to Howard Dean. Zogby says Guv's post-Iowa-caucus rebel yell didn't have a negative impact "at all" on young voters in New Hampshire, and campaign brought in $600,000 in last three days. Will tonight's debate and Primetime Sawyer interview bring his campaign back to life? Yeaahhhhhh!!!...uh, maybe.
CHEERS to New York Times letter writer Randall Hensley. Points out that Bush's State of the Union speech was missing a few odds `n ends: "Osama bin Laden"; "Israel"; "Palestine"; "fiscal responsibility"; "balanced" or "balanced budget"; "debt"; and "environment." Also no reference to the 503 dead U.S. soldiers. C'mon...how can we deal with that minor stuff when we've got a war on steroids to fight?
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And just one more...
CHEERS to new year, new Obama Girl video. Yeah, she's still got that crush, and in the latest video from Barely Political, she and Barack get unified. Shameful. Let the impeachment hearings begin.
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Oh and just for the helluvit, enjoy a picture that says a thousand words. Floor's open...What are you cheering and jeering about today?
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Today's Shameless C&J Testimonial:
Bill in Portland Maine, Paris Hilton Lead Razzie Nominations
---People magazine
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