Tag: Open Thread

Thanksgiving Marathon Open Thread

HarlequinNarrowThis essay is less necessary today than it will be for the rest of the weekend because there is so much ‘special event’ programming between the parade and football, but TV schedulers have this horrible habit on holidays of using ‘Marathons’ to cover their essential laziness and lack of imagination.

Nobody knows lazy like I do and let me tell you what a Marathon is- it’s fighting Persians all day long to save democracy and western civilization and then running 26+ miles to Athens to shout “Nike!” and die.

Without a shoe endorsement contract no less.

Some networks are running their normal schedules, as we are attempting here at DocuDharma, and I give them credit for that as there is nothing better than vegging out all day watching something you like, but nothing worse than getting stuck with 24 hours of A Christmas Story (not that I don’t like Jean Shepard, but after umpty upm years of it even my Dad who is a huge fan is getting tired of Darrin McGavin).

But for the purposes of this essay we’ll be concentrating on the lazy ones and I’ll try to identify the stuff I think doesn’t suck.

Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

Now with World and U.S. News.  56 Story Final.

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Obama to head to Copenhagen with climate pledge

by Shaun Tandon, AFP

57 mins ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) – President Barack Obama will head to next month’s Copenhagen climate summit armed with the first concrete US offer to cut carbon emissions, officials said Wednesday, reviving hopes the closely watched meeting will succeed.

The White House said Obama would offer to cut US emissions by 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020 — less than calls by the European Union, Japan and UN scientists but the first numbers on the table by the world’s largest economy.

“The president going to Copenhagen will give positive momentum to the negotiations and we think will enhance the prospects for success,” Carol Browner, Obama’s top aide on climate policy, told reporters.

Wednesday Morning Science Supplement

Wednesday Morning Science Supplement is an Open Thread

36 Story Final.

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Obama, Singh boost hopes of climate deal

AFP

2 hrs 24 mins ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) – US President Barack Obama sought to boost hopes of a landmark deal at the Copenhagen climate summit, as a new report showed the crisis facing the planet is deeper than previously thought.

Obama, hosting India’s leader at the White House a week after visiting top global polluter China, said recent progress meant the world was “one step closer to a successful outcome in Copenhagen.”

Countries must “reach a strong operational agreement that will confront the threat of climate change while serving as a stepping-stone to a legally binding treaty,” he told a press conference with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

Now with World and U.S. News.  54 Story Final.

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Philippines declares emergency as massacre toll hits 46

AFP

1 hr 18 mins ago

SANIAG, Philippines (AFP) – The Philippines declared a state of emergency in parts of the volatile south on Tuesday as anger spiralled over a savage political massacre that left at least 46 people dead.

Police on Mindanao island pulled bullet-riddled bodies from shallow graves after gunmen allegedly hired by a local political chief abducted then shot dead a group of politicians from a rival clan and accompanying journalists.

As thousands of troops fanned out across the ultra-tense Maguindanao province on Mindanao, President Gloria Arroyo declared a state of emergency for the area that would allow curfews and road checkpoints to be imposed.

Dreams Interrupted

It doesn’t take much….. one of my former Florida friends posted a FB link to his flickr batch of Vizcaya photos.  sigh. I’ve got work to do!! If I had time, I’d write some dreamy wandering rambles, but… oh well.

Dream on. Open Thread.

This wonderful image is from a promotional website not my friend’s pic … but I love this photo of the Stone Barge at Vizcaya. I could sit there all day. You have to imagine the heat and the sea salt smells and sounds of seagulls. Drift away.

Vizcya Stone ship detail

On a practical level, Vizcaya’s Stone Barge acts as a breakwater against tidal surges.

On an artistic level, the limestone sculpture extends the art and architecture of the main house and gardens beyond the shoreline and into the waters of Biscayne Bay.

Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

Now with U.S. News.  49 Story Final.

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 US to present emissions target at Copenhagen

by Andrew Gully, AFP

49 mins ago

WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States will present an emissions target at upcoming UN climate change talks in Copenhagen, a senior official said Monday, as President Barack Obama mulled whether to attend the conference.

The official refused to be drawn on what that target would be but indicated that Obama would announce it in the next few days along with a decision on whether he will fly to the Danish capital to give added impetus to proceedings.

Sixty-five leaders, including from Germany, France and Brazil, have already committed to participating in the meeting, which seeks a global treaty on tackling climate change to replace the Kyoto Protocol.

What is it like to have a free press instead of a veal pen?

Leaked documents reveal No 10 cover-up over Iraq invasion

Richard Norton-Taylor, guardian.co.uk

Sunday 22 November 2009 20.43 GMT

  • Inquiry to hear how Blair hid true intentions for war
  • Military ‘ill-prepared’ for aftermath of invasion

Military commanders are expected to tell the inquiry into the Iraq war, which opens on Tuesday, that the invasion was ill-conceived and that preparations were sabotaged by Tony Blair’s government’s attempts to mislead the public.

They were so shocked by the lack of preparation for the aftermath of the invasion that they believe members of the British and US governments at the time could be prosecuted for war crimes by breaching the duty outlined in the Geneva convention to safeguard civilians in a conflict, the Guardian has been told.

The lengths the Blair government took to conceal the invasion plan and the extent of military commanders’ anger at what they call the government’s “appalling” failures emerged as Sir John Chilcot, the inquiry’s chairman, promised to produce a “full and insightful” account of how Britain was drawn into the conflict.

h/t Chris in Paris & Americablog

“Oh for a pen of living fire.  A tongue of flame.  An arm of steel.

To rouse the people’s slumbering ire, and teach the tyrant’s heart to feel.”


Whitfield, James M.How Long.

Weekend News Digest

Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread

31 Story Final.

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Setting Afghan exit date defeatist: defense panel

by Michel Comte, AFP

Sat Nov 21, 3:58 pm ET

HALIFAX, Canada (AFP) – Despite fierce public pressure to end the war in Afghanistan eight years on, politicians and experts on Saturday decried calls for setting an exit date they say would embolden the Taliban.

“History shows us that if you set dates for when you’re going to leave, the enemy waits until you leave,” US Senator John McCain said at the Halifax International Defense Forum in easternmost Canada.

“I think benchmarks are important,” he said. “But if we set a date for when we are going to withdraw, I don’t want to go, if we are going to set a date so that the Taliban and others can just sit back and wait until we leave.”

Weekend News Digest

Weekend News Digest is an Open Thread

Now with World and U.S. News.  34 Story Final.

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Sri Lanka ‘to free all war-displaced civilians’

by Ishara Kodikara, AFP

Sat Nov 21, 10:40 am ET

VAVUNIYA, Sri Lanka (AFP) – Sri Lanka said Saturday it would grant free movement to the remaining war-displaced civilians held in internment camps, meeting a key demand of the international community.

The government also reiterated it would complete the resettlement of civilians by the end of January.

“We will allow complete freedom of movement,” senior presidential adviser Basil Rajapakse told inmates of the Manik Farm complex, the main facility housing displaced civilians.

Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

Now with World and U.S. News.  63 Story Final.

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Bombers kill 23 in Afghanistan

by Mohammad Reza, AFP

1 hr 25 mins ago

HERAT, Afghanistan (AFP) – Bomb attacks on Friday killed 23 people in Afghanistan, a deadly start to President Hamid Karzai’s second term that underscored spiralling insecurity nine years into the US-led war.

The attacks brought to 35 the number of people killed since Karzai was sworn in for another five years on Thursday, pledging to try to bring peace to the nation and take over security from foreign forces in five years.

A suicide bomber on a motorcycle struck the capital of the southwestern province of Farah, killing 15 people near the governor’s home.

Morning Whine (Open Thread)

Good morning, campers!

whine Pictures, Images and Photos

With all much due respect to Robyn’s now retired Morning Muse series, I may just have to fill the void here with a morning … something.  My mornings tend to be extremely hectic until I get the brats kids out the door, then it takes me a little while to unwind. I’ll make my cyber rounds but meanwhile, I’ll designate a little space for your random whine, rant, or pause….

here.

.

Perhaps some soothing music will help…

Afternoon Edition

Afternoon Edition is an Open Thread

Now with World and U.S. News.  61 Story Final.

From Yahoo News Top Stories

1 Karzai sworn in, vows to fight corruption

by Lynne O’Donnell, AFP

1 hr 5 mins ago

KABUL (AFP) – Afghan President Hamid Karzai was sworn in for a second term on Thursday and vowed to combat corruption, bring security and reach out to political rivals, under Western pressure to restore legitimacy.

Karzai took the oath of office as the US-led war stretches into a ninth year, leaving record numbers of soldiers and civilians dead and with Taliban control extending deeper into the country after an election mired in fraud.

In a wide-ranging speech, he promised action on the worst problems that preoccupy his Western backers, who are weary after pouring more than 100,000 troops and billions of dollars of aid into Afghanistan with little in return.

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