American car manufacturers are paying 2/3 more in labor costs than their competitors are, per some GOP Congresscritter from Texas that no one's ever heard of. (David Gregory). Imagine if the health insurance costs for employees and retirees were removed from the equation. Lower labor costs without lowering wages, freeing up money to retool and redesign, go greener...
but, no. Universal health care would be SOCIALISM! so it's better to keep tossing bundles of money at auto industry & keeping our fingers crossed that something will change.
Grrrrrr.

File this one under 'Outstanding Christian Values': Focus on the Family is cutting 202 jobs after pumping over half a million dollars into the Prop 8 campaign. Nice to see that instead of worrying about their employees having jobs right before the holidays, they were stressing out about gay people wanting to get married and love each other. So much for focusing on the family.

http://coloradoindependent.com/15287/after-pumping-money-into-prop-8-focus-on-the-family-announcing-layoffs

Ceu, you sound like a fucking pinko.

And I like it.

Hey! Did you write your Senators yet?? Lieberman vote is TOMORROW!!!!! GO!

Live free, what thread was it you posted your loverly letter on (for the Lieberman thing)?

Also, Again, such as, I have one brand-spankin' new D Senator (the wonderful Kay Hagan has beaten the Wicked Liddy Dole) and one still R senator. Do either of them (both?) get a vote? Or Liddy, for that matter?

DP, check yer email if you haven't.

And where the HELL is Elvis? (gets rolling pin ready)

My Senator IS Lieberman...think he cares about my opinion?
There are a number of high profile Dems who want him punished.
http://www.myleftnutmeg.com/

And, DontPanic, I'm your garden variety fucking pinko - an unapologetic, bleeding heart, leftie, liberal, card-carrying member of the ACLU. And damn proud of it :)

I don't have a TV. Chauncy Gardener has me beat!

Jane - no. It's only the Democratic caucus members who get to vote.

I think I signed like 3 petitions to get Lieberman kicked out. I hope, if nothing else, they take away his chairmanship tomorrow.

Jane - are you sure you brought Elvis back from Russia with you? He may still be face-first in a bottle of vodka.

Tx ceu. Tank ceu. Bless ceu. Atch-ceu!@

EOO (Early Onset Onomatopoeia). Whew.

Ceu, that's why I like it here.

Jane, whomp him for me too. I miss that wonderful stuff that falls off his fingers.

Oh Redflags, you have the innertubes. It's not a truck! It's a series of tubes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EtOoQFa5ug8

DJ Ted Stevens remix.

I'm told that ceu is means sky or heaven in Portuguese. One sister's initials are eau - water in French. I used to think that we could start a business together & call it Water & Sky...but then I couldn't come up with a business to start.

Paddy posted a video as a birthday acknowledgement to Elvis yesterday. Wonder if he saw it.

Is that Byron Dorgan's real hair or does he wear a toup?

ceu:
It's not a toupee, it's just not his real head.

Ceu, was it you who told me her 2nd or 3rd language was English?

I just remember it was someone smart as hell, whoever it was. So a compliment. ;)

Sorry, but when it comes to Bill Clinton, how can a former President of the United States not pass a background check (vis-a-vis the rumors of vetting!)?

Makes me think it's a bunch a hooey.

WTF? Rachel sounds like Arianna Huffington? This does not compute. I finally broke the kid's hand and got the remote and--no Rachel on Rachel? Shit.

Bob...I know you read comments when they say BOOK
(!!!) How can we get a Bobbed book? (signed, that is...)

Whose 2nd or 3rd language?

Shit, Packy. LOL!

Arianna subbing for Rachel. Here comes shallow - she really is an awfully pretty woman. Bill Maher first guest.

Hey kids, help me out here: what animal is Peter Beinart? Bunny? Rat? Elf? WTF is Beinart???

BOOK. (I'm wondering the same thing, Jane. I think he's working on getting a PO box so we don't egg his house on one of our slow nights here).

Damn, he put in on Men in Tights. Ah, I love that movie. But Maher...damn.

Ewwww. I'm just now starting on Countdown. Schuster? And then Ariana (not Rachel)?? If true please alert Will abort mission

Jane:
Peter Beinart is obviously a weasel.

Ceu:

Thanx for the tubes; I almost forgot about them.

http://www.youtube.com/redflags123

But Packy, there has to be something more annoying than a weasel.

I'm feeling a bit bereft...no Sarah-Lou news tonight??

Packy - did they count more votes today? And WTF is taking so damn long? Is this usual??

>>How can we get a Bobbed book? (signed, that is...)

I think I'm going to set up a P.O. box where you can send your copy for signing. I'll let you know when I get it set up.

Jane, mosquito

Hmmm. High pitched, whiny, annoying, sucking, cartoonish...yep, Peter Beinart.

(Ding ding ding! ceu for the win with "Peter Beinart"="mosquito")

ceu: It's unusual, but only because of the extremely high (for Alaska) numbers of early voters. Those votes are counted last.
The balance will be counted tomorrow, and the results could be certified Wednesday.
http://www.adn.com/elections/senate/story/589919.html
Since most of what's left to count come from what are supposed to be strong Begich areas, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that his lead will widen to 1500+, and that Ted Stevens will concede... but conceding any loss (even when found guilty in a criminal trial) isn't in that old bastard's personality profile.

Nate Silver thinks that Begich will win by 3 to 4,000 votes! :)

So....what's the point of early voting if the votes are counted last & not with all the other votes? Why aren't they all counted at once?

Ceu - I really, really hope Nate has this one nailed, too.

Frankly, I don't know why they count as they do. Technically, the early voting is "absentee" in person.
My friend Elwood Foreclift says that's why he always votes on election day rather than early, so his vote will be counted right away.
I usually opt for early, just because it's convenient (I had to be at the gov't. administration building where the polling place was, anyway).
Mark Begich pointed out when he was on Rachel's show last week that because he voted early, his own vote wasn't counted until something like the 12th.
I think the State Div. of Elections was a bit surprised by the number of people that voted early. They know this is being nationally watched, and they don't want to screw it up.

yay for the Nationally Watching. Don't screw it up! We're Nationally watching (I am).

It may be too late - it seems like they've already screwed up by taking for freaking ever to count the votes. Just a perception, based on impatience.
And why does Elwood keep changing his name? :)

I call "Pre-emptive Bush Good Night Doctrine."

Ceu- Additionally, the absentee votes from all over are transported to the central location in Anchorage for counting. Some areas of the state are pretty remote (there is no major highway system throughout most of Alaska). It just takes time.
But 90,000 uncounted votes is an extraordinary amount for a state where 300,113 people cast votes (out of 495,731 registered). I think the Div. of Elections suffered from shock and awe, they've never had to deal with that many early voters before.
A lot of people don't understand how sparsely populated this place is. The entire state population (about 650,000 or so) would only make a mid-sized town down in the rest of America.

Ceu - Elwood is a nickname bestowed on him by his father in law... if you squint just right, and depending on his haircut that month, he kinda looks like Danny Ackroyd's Elwood Blues.
In his current occupation, he sometimes runs a fork lift...

I kinda like it.

Yeah, Alaska's hard to imagine for some of us in northeast. Vermont has about 650K people and you can drive from one end to the other (north to south) in less than 3 hours. In 4 hours, you can drive in 6 different states.
Heck, I used to think it was a hardship to drive 13 miles to the grocery store - in the wilds of PA.

Ceu - Trivia fact: One of my sisters was born in Montpelier. My mom & dad moved from NYC to upstate NY (where my brother & other sister were born) then to Vermont, then to Florida (where I was born), then to AK, where I've lived ever since.