From the excellent archives of the Progressive Review

SEX , CRIME & THE CAPITAL: Sex , crime and politics in Washington DC. A Progressive Review archive

JIC you haven't had enough.

OK, wait, could we maybe just talk this over here?

URGENT - WINTER WEATHER MESSAGE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE TAUNTON MA 1226 PM EST SAT DEC 5 2009 ...FIRST PLOWABLE SNOWFALL OF THE SEASON FOR MUCH OF SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND LATE TODAY AND ESPECIALLY TONIGHT...

link: AccuWeather.com

How is this necessary, really?

We thought what we did mattered...

A Eulogy for Old-School Newsrooms

They were loud, chaotic and politically incorrect. They weren’t very diverse. But they sure were full of journalistic passion--and fun...

link: A Eulogy for Old-School Newsrooms | American Journalism Review

I was proud to be a member of "the shabby tribe of rapscallions and reformists." It was incredibly challenging and difficult work, but also a helluva lot of fun. If you weren't there, you really wouldn't understand; if you were there, you are lucky indeed.

-Paul Knue

Global heat

Copenhagen Mayor Ritt Bjerregaard sent postcards to city hotels warning [climate] summit guests not to patronize Danish sex workers during the upcoming conference. Now, the prostitutes have struck back, offering free sex to anyone who produces one of the warnings.

link: Gropenhagen Conference: Prostitutes Offer Free Climate Summit Sex - SPIEGEL ONLINE - News - International

But who's counting?

There are 68,000 U.S. troops and 42,000 from other countries in Afghanistan. The U.S. Army's recently revised counterinsurgency manual estimates that an all-out counterinsurgency campaign in a country with Afghanistan's population would require about 600,000 troops.

link: Obama plans to send 34,000 more troops to Afghanistan | McClatchy

But not today

In the film, "The Day After Tomorrow," the world gets gripped in ice within the span of just a few weeks. Now research now suggests an eerily similar event might indeed have occurred in the past.

Looking ahead to the future, there is no reason why such a freeze shouldn't happen again...

link: Earth could plunge into sudden ice age - LiveScience- msnbc.com

Before I set out for downtown this morning I checked my weather widget and it was registering 59 degrees and sunny (the sun I could see through the window and yes, I actually looked). Now, early afternoon, the sun's gone but the temp is 62. This must be spring!

But...but...but...

KABUL (Reuters) – The commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan reassured top officials on Thursday that Washington was not planning an early exit, part of a charm offensive to sell President Barack Obama's new strategy on three continents.

link: McChrystal tells Afghans U.S. not leaving yet - Yahoo! News

I can see how "we'll start leaving in 2011" squares with "we're not leaving any time soon," but how does "we're making your war bigger" become a charm campaign?

Obit for 2009 Bears

The 2009 Chicago Bears, a National Football League franchise, have passed away from playoff contention. The Bears are 89 years old.

Future NFL Hall of Fame candidate Brett Favre was on hand in Minneapolis, Minnesota to announce the Bears' time of death, 6:23 p.m. CST. Mr. Favre listed the official cause of death as "537 yards of total offense allowed," but Bears' authorities are still investigating.

link: RIP 2009 Chicago Bears - Leshock Value

Half a baby for you, half a baby for me...

Obama maps exit plan, says NYTimes.

WEST POINT, N.Y. — President Obama announced Tuesday that he would speed 30,000 additional troops to Afghanistan in coming months, but he vowed to start bringing American forces home in the middle of 2011...

link: Obama Adds Troops, but Maps Exit Plan - NYTimes.com

But read down just a little further:

Senior administration officials suggested, however, that any initial withdrawal starting in mid-2011 could be very limited, depending on the military situation at that point.

In fact, withdrawing just one guy in 2011 would would fulfill that wimpy pledge and there was not a word, apparently (I haven't finished reading the speech) about when the so-called withdrawal would end.

In other words, no map at all, or none that I can see. A plan without a plan.

So he's saying there's a plan but not saying what the plan is (the righties would screech about giving away secrets to the enemy), and he's giving McChrystal troops but not all the troops he wanted (the lefties would screech about that, especially since Obama opposed Bush's "surge" in Iraq, or claimed he did). We all go home with half a baby here.

Except Obama. He goes home with his very own whole war.

I'm not sure which one...

...but I think one of those ribbons is for sitting around listening to Presidential speeches.

One-stop shopping for all your election needs

Diebold Inc. (DBD) has sold its money-losing U.S. election-systems business, just seven years after acquiring it amid hopes of rising demand for voting technology upgrades in the wake of the 2000 presidential election fiasco.

Diebold, whose main business is making automated teller machines, said Thursday it sold the voting-machine unit to privately held Election Systems & Software Inc. for $5 million, about one-fifth of what it paid in 2002.

link: ES&S Buys Premier (Diebold) Election Systems, for Near-Monopoly in U.S. Vote Count | Election Defense Alliance

ES&S, a private company, now controls something like 85% of all U.S. vote counting.

Keep your eye on the road

Glance away just for one short txt and you could wind up totaling a Toys "R" Us. They're popping up everywhere, it seems.

Known as “holiday express’’ shops, these stores are about 4,000 square feet, or roughly one-tenth the size of a regular Toys “R’’ Us, and are expected to stay open until mid-January.
-Boston Globe

Drive-by retailing seems to be a holiday trend, this year. Ho ho, and it's still November.