According to an administration official, speaking today: "Closing the detention center at Guantanamo is essential to protecting our national security and helping our troops by removing a deadly recruiting tool from the hands of al Qaeda. "Today's announcement is an important step forward as we work to achieve our national security objectives." Another official told CNN that the exact number of Guantanamo's 215 inmates who will be housed in the largely empty, maximum-security prison in the north of the state is "hard to pin down because categories of detainees may shift. "While 100 may be the upper limit, the actual number at well below that (75 or perhaps even less)." The Thomson prison is about 150 west of Chicago, has 1,600 beds and currently houses 144 minimum-security men.
Marbury
says that Sarah Palin subverts the rule that "when politicians do comedy shows you think, you're fine as a politician but please don't try and be entertaining." I've got to agree with him this morning...
OK, so it may not have worked out quite to plan for Michaele and Tareq Salahi. Their reality TV hopes look, if possible, ever more desperate in the light of today’s reports suggesting they’ve been busted trying to settle a $2,000 debt with a fake designer watch. But hey, at least, in the words of White House Party Crashers, they got to “shake their booties with the most powerful people in America!” And newly beefed-up White House security needn’t stop you doing the same, since AddictingGames (the online genius’ behind ‘Tiger Parking Slam’) have just launched this new game based on the Salahi’s exploits. Collect keys and coins, buy a costume, bribe staff and creep past security. Waste whole afternoons in the office, just don't boast about it on facebook... (Hat tip: Top of the Ticket)
So while Sarah Palin was singing odes to Rush Limbaugh, Al Gore penned a poem about climate change which Limbaugh, in turn, called “idiotic”. Make of that what you will… One thin September soon A floating continent disappears In midnight sun Vapors rise as Fever settles on an acid sea Neptune's bones dissolve Snow glides from the mountain Ice fathers floods for a season A hard rain comes quickly Then dirt is parched Kindling is placed in the forest For the lightning's celebration Unknown creatures Take their leave, unmourned Horsemen ready their stirrups Passion seeks heroes and friends The bell of the city On the hill is rung The shepherd cries The hour of choosing has arrived Here are your tools
Thoughts?
 It’s Christmas in Washington DC, but not as we know it.
When Sarah Palin spoke at an exclusive dinner for a group of DC journalists known as the Gridiron Club, the evening ended with a rousing rendition of the 12 Days of Christmas. Spot the difference? On the first day of Christmas, Rush Limbaugh gave to me: A Marxist in a dead tree. On the second day of Christmas, Rush Limbaugh gave to me: Two tea-bag goons. On the third day of Christmas, Rush Limbaugh gave to me: Three hell-no's On the fourth day of Christmas, Rush Limbaugh gave to me: Four bawling Becks On the fifth day of Christmas, Rush Limbaugh gave to me: Five Sarah swoon-ins On the sixth day of Christmas, Rush Limbaugh gave to me: Six health care death squads On the seventh day of Christmas, Rush Limbaugh gave to me: Seven bug-eyed birthers On the eight day of Christmas, Rush Limbaugh gave to me: Eight Cheney boomlets On the ninth day of Christmas, Rush Limbaugh gave to me: Nine ACORN busters On the tenth day of Christmas, Rush Limbaugh gave to me: Ten thundering mossbacks On the eleventh day of Christmas, Rush Limbaugh gave to me: Eleven loony liberals On the twelfth day of Christmas, Rush Limbaugh gave to me: twelve flaming liberals, hunted down in the wild and field dressed, medium well-done, seared on the fatty edges—“
Sarah's climactic solo: "Right next to the mashed potatoes"
What do:
Michele Flournoy, Louisian Governor Bobby Jindal, Jeffrey Katzenberg, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry, Hunter Biden, Jim Steinberg, Jack Lew, Under Secretary of State Bill Burns, the Afghanistan War Tax advocate Representative David Obey, OMB chief Peter Orszag, General Colin Powell, Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell, Ben Rhodes (very cool dude), US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice, Vinod Shah and John Doerr, Amartya Sen, Steven Spielberg, oops -- and I forgot Brian Williams.
have in common?
Answer - they are all guests at the first Obama state dinner.
There's a great piece on who is missing here.
And you might enjoy a post about Lyndon Johnsn's fabulous barbeques which is posted here.
When National Turkey Federation chair Walter Pelletier (aka, the Alan Sugar of the American poultry world), was asked to find a star, he knew there was only one man who could help him - expert bird-handler, Wes Pike. Together, they were going to show that America’s poultry’s got talent. Or, according to the LA Times: raise two well-mannered birds that wouldn't trash a room at the Willard hotel or go ballistic on President Obama during a pardoning ceremony in the White House Rose Garden today.
To find the perfect birds for the President's Thanksgiving ceremony, NTF scouts were sent amongst a flock of 52,000 birds. They were looking, according to the NTF’s commuications person, for the two “most regal” birds, “a turkey that knows when to strut and when to be clam, to gobble at all the right points.” Twenty-two lucky hopefuls were finally moved to a luxury barn of their own, where they were fed a special diet and played “new-age Disney rock” throughout the day to test their nerves for the noise that a Thanksgiving float makes. They were given etiquette lessons – socialising frequently with handlers to see if they could cut it in the heady company of the Presidential family, staff and press that the winning birds would face. They lived the dream. But only two turkeys were ever going to win. And five weeks ago, 20 disappointed finalists were sent home “back into the general population” as Pike put it. At 9:00am yesterday, Courage and Carolina - the two happy winners – made the journey of their lives to Washington DC. 
At the historic Willard Hotel, according to the LA Times, “white pails of feed and two bags of wood chips [were loaded] onto brass luggage carts” and taken to room 326, “a deluxe” (see above). Both birds will be at the famous pardoning ceremony in the Rose Garden but only Courage will receive the official pardon. The real prize of a lifetime? Neither bird will be eaten.
Just in case voters didn't think the Republican Party was ideological enough, the Republican National Committee has set its candidates what one Republican critic dubs a "purity test".
Here it is?
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the Republican National Committee identifies ten (10) key public-policy positions for the 2010 election cycle, which the Republican National Committee expects its public officials and candidates to support:
(1) We support smaller government, smaller national debt, lower deficits and lower taxes by opposing bills like Obama’s “stimulus” bill;
(2) We support market-based health-care reform and oppose Obama-style government-run health care;
(3) We support market-based energy reforms by opposing cap and trade legislation;
(4) We support workers’ right to secret ballot by opposing card check;
(5) We support legal immigration and assimilation into American society by opposing amnesty for illegal immigrants;
(6) We support victory in Iraq and Afghanistan by supporting military-recommended troop surges;
(7) We support containment of Iran and North Korea, particularly effective action to eliminate their nuclear weapons threat;
(8) We support retention of the Defense of Marriage Act;
(9) We support protecting the lives of vulnerable persons by opposing health-care rationing and denial of health care and government funding of abortion; and
(10) We support the right to keep and bear arms by opposing government restrictions on gun ownership;
Did you pass? Hope so, because:
RESOLVED, that a candidate who disagrees with three or more of the above stated public-policy positions of the Republican National Committee, as identified by the voting record, public statements and/or signed questionnaire of the candidate, shall not be eligible for financial support and endorsement by the Republican National Committee.
As Mark Mackinnon correctly argues over on the Daily Beast, the problem with this is not the content of the list, but the fact of it.
The idea that the Republican Party should become narrower and more uniform is eccentric.
 It looked innocuous enough when t-shirts and bumper stickers began to pop up bearing the words ‘Pray For Obama’ and a biblical reference: Psalm 109:8.
Then the psalm started making rapid progress up the Google Trends list and creating a buzz on Twitter too. Now, you can just type 109.8 into Google and read: “Let his days be few; and let another take his office.” Oh. Oh... I see... And then there's the verse immediately following it: “Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.” On twitter, most seem to think it “an excellent prayer for America”. Only a few are wondering about the ethics of "Conservatives praying for Obama's assasination?" “Are we concerned about real hostility towards [President Obama]? Absolutely,” the director of a civil rights movement told the Christian Science Monitor. If they’re just referring to him being out of office, that’s one thing. If they’re referring to him being dead, that’s so offensive.
I'd love to know how many people are driving around with the offensive bumper sticker by accident? UDPATE: Over on Faith Central, Bess Twiston-Davies casts a theological eye over the arguments...
Over on FiveThiryEight, Nate Silver presents ten convincing reasons for why Sarah Palin will run for President in 2012, including: Enthusiasm, the quality of the other candidates, media glee, the flight of moderates from the GOP, the tendency of opposition parties to select extreme candidates against incumbents… It he's right, Nate Silver will be shelling out for a steak dinner. He's not worried though, because: She's trailing in the polls, winning against an incumbent is too much like hard work, the base will root for Huckabee while the centre-right will champion Romney and.. she's already a superstar. Why risk it?
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