Out in the GD forum they are talking about political compass - http://www.democraticunderground.com/100291514

I bet the folks in this group are mostly down in the far left hand corner. It would be very interesting to see this test given nation-wide, as opposed to polls which ask if you are "liberal or conservative". I bet it would be very telling.

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) – With the first five-touchdown game of his NFL career, Aaron Rodgers ensured that the Green Bay Packers' playoff road will go through Lambeau Field.

By Jeffrey Phelps, AP

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers tossed five touchdowns in Green Bay's win over Chicago on Sunday night.

He also made sure the rival Chicago Bears will be spending the playoffs at home.

Rodgers broke a close game wide open by leading three quick scoring drives in the second half, and the Packers beat the Bears 35-21 on Sunday night.

Rodgers noted that he once threw six touchdowns in junior college — also in a rivalry game — but acknowledged this one was a little bit bigger.

"Yeah, this one's pretty special," Rodgers said.

With the win, the Packers (14-1) nailed down the No. 1 seed in the NFC and claimed another round of bragging rights in the NFL's most storied rivalry by knocking the Bears out of the playoff chase.

"We wanted the path to go through Lambeau," Packers coach Mike McCarthy said.

Merry Christmas to all who celebrate -

This is why our fight must be global. There are roughly 1200 billionaires in the world (source - wiki), and they live a global lifestyle. Along with living wherever they choose (which often includes multiple homes), they buy and sell their companies and products on a global level, and use our labor globally. "Proletarians of all countries, unite!" was true in 1848 when Marx wrote it, and even more true now. If we have any hope of fighting back it must be on that scale.

The story that sparked my post this morning -

Billionaire's Daughter Pays Record Sum for NYC Pad
ForbesBy Luisa Kroll | Forbes – 12 hours ago

Former Citigroup chairman Sandy Weill listed his 6,744-sq-ft apartment at 15 Central Park West for an astonishing $88 million in November, promising to donate the proceeds of the sale to charity.

Now comes news that Ekaterina Rybolovleva, the 22-year-old daughter of Russian billionaire Dmitriy Rybolovlev, is buying the condominium. Rybolovleva is currently studying at an undisclosed U.S. university and plans to stay in the apartment when visiting New York. According to a source familiar with the sale, she paid the full asking price of $88 million, setting a record for highest individual transaction in New York City history.

Here is the official statement from her representatives: A company associated with Ekaterina Rybolovleva, daughter of a well-known businessman Dmitriy Rybolovlev, has signed a contract to purchase an apartment at 15 Central Park West, New York. The apartment is a condominium currently owned by the Sanford Weill Family.

Entire article here: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/billionaire-s-daughter-pays-record-sum-for-nyc-pad.html

As far as I know this has not yet been signed, but could be at any moment. Thoughts?


Here's a story from the 14th -

US: Refusal to Veto Detainee Bill A Historic Tragedy for Rights
President Decides to Sign Ill-Conceived National Defense Authorization Act
December 14, 2011

(Washington, DC) – US President Barack Obama’s apparent decision to not veto a defense spending bill that codifies indefinite detention without trial into US law and expands the military’s role in holding terrorism suspects does enormous damage to the rule of law both in the US and abroad, Human Rights Watch said today. The Obama administration had threatened to veto the bill, the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), over detainee provisions, but on December 14, 2011, it issued a statement indicating the president would likely sign the legislation.

“By signing this defense spending bill, President Obama will go down in history as the president who enshrined indefinite detention without trial in US law,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “In the past, Obama has lauded the importance of being on the right side of history, but today he is definitely on the wrong side.”

http://www.hrw.org/news/2011/12/14/us-refusal-veto-detainee-bill-historic-tragedy-rights

Traveling tues - puppy will have to be in Kennel. The kids and puppy had their presents this morning (I'm a good mom - sent the elves an email so we could get this stuff early!) ...



Puppy loved his box of Nylabones, braided bully sticks, and a few other toys, but he especially loved the packaging



New Kong balls that squeak - awesome!


He is 92 lbs as of Thurs - will be 2 in March.


Happy Holidays All!

I wasn't a fan of this guy, but have seen many on the left memorializing him today. He was known as a socialist (Trotskyist) earlier in life, yet wound up supporting the war in Iraq. Thoughts from this group??


Christopher Hitchens, 1949-2011
Polemicist Who Slashed All, Freely, With Wit
By WILLIAM GRIMES
Published: December 16, 2011

Christopher Hitchens, a slashing polemicist in the tradition of Thomas Paine and George Orwell who trained his sights on targets as various as Henry Kissinger, the British monarchy and Mother Teresa, wrote a best-seller attacking religious belief, and dismayed his former comrades on the left by enthusiastically supporting the American-led war in Iraq, died on Thursday in Houston. He was 62.

The cause was pneumonia, a complication of esophageal cancer, Vanity Fair magazine said in announcing the death, at the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center. Mr. Hitchens, who lived in Washington, learned he had cancer while on a publicity tour in 2010 for his memoir, “Hitch-22,” and began writing and, on television, speaking about his illness frequently.

“In whatever kind of a ‘race’ life may be, I have very abruptly become a finalist,” Mr. Hitchens wrote in Vanity Fair, for which he was a contributing editor.

He took pains to emphasize that he had not revised his position on atheism, articulated in his best-selling 2007 book, “God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything,” although he did express amused appreciation at the hope, among some concerned Christians, that he might undergo a late-life conversion.

< snip >

Mr. Hitchens, a British Trotskyite who had lost faith in the Socialist movement, spent much of his life wandering the globe and reporting on the world’s trouble spots for The Nation magazine, the British newsmagazine The New Statesman and other publications.

His work took him to Northern Ireland, Greece, Cyprus, Portugal, Spain and Argentina in the 1970s, generally to shine a light on the evil practices of entrenched dictators or the imperial machinations of the great powers...

Read the entire piece here: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/16/arts/christopher-hitchens-is-dead-at-62-obituary.html?pagewanted=all

Lots of photos here if you like Boat parades: https://picasaweb.google.com/100773826789274168310/KemahTexas50thAnnualChristmasBoatLaneParadeSaturdayDecember102011#

Kemah, TX is on Galveston Bay about 45 min. from my house. It is a big boating and touristy area.

Other than the Horseshoe Falls I've not spent time in Canada. Who has visited here?