Obama

On New Year’s Day, as Cubans celebrate the 50th anniversary of their Revolution, we in the United States should remember another milestone. January 3rd will be the 47th anniversary of President Eisenhower’s Cold War-era decision to break diplomatic relations with Cuba. Ike might be surprised that a veritable conga line of his successors stood by the policy of trying to overthrow, isolate, or starve Cuba for five decades — even after the Soviet Union ceased to exist and the policy had long since demonstrated its uselessness.

Earlier this week, I asked for your suggestions on what gifts we should give to some of our favorite — and not so favorite — public figures. You responded with a flying sleigh’s worth of great gift ideas. Even Santa’s elves couldn’t have been more industrious. Now it’s time to unwrap the presents.

Dateline: Washington, D.C., Christmas Eve, 2008 I fully admit I would rather be at home now than covering the annual “sit on Santa’s lap” photo-op for politicians, but I seem to have annoyed my editor, so here I am — your intrepid holiday reporter. While I fully admit that I did spike the punch at our annual holiday party, I explain this away in traditional Washington fashion — by stating that I was young and irresponsible when this occurred. Last week, I was much younger and much more irresponsible than I am now. Ahem.

Dateline: Washington, D.C., Christmas Eve, 2008 I fully admit I would rather be at home now than covering the annual “sit on Santa’s lap” photo-op for politicians, but I seem to have annoyed my editor, so here I am — your intrepid holiday reporter. While I fully admit that I did spike the punch at our annual holiday party, I explain this away in traditional Washington fashion — by stating that I was young and irresponsible when this occurred. Last week, I was much younger and much more irresponsible than I am now. Ahem.

Dateline: Washington, D.C., Christmas Eve, 2008 I fully admit I would rather be at home now than covering the annual “sit on Santa’s lap” photo-op for politicians, but I seem to have annoyed my editor, so here I am — your intrepid holiday reporter. While I fully admit that I did spike the punch at our annual holiday party, I explain this away in traditional Washington fashion — by stating that I was young and irresponsible when this occurred. Last week, I was much younger and much more irresponsible than I am now. Ahem.

Dateline: Washington, D.C., Christmas Eve, 2008 I fully admit I would rather be at home now than covering the annual “sit on Santa’s lap” photo-op for politicians, but I seem to have annoyed my editor, so here I am — your intrepid holiday reporter. While I fully admit that I did spike the punch at our annual holiday party, I explain this away in traditional Washington fashion — by stating that I was young and irresponsible when this occurred. Last week, I was much younger and much more irresponsible than I am now. Ahem.

Dateline: Washington, D.C., Christmas Eve, 2008 I fully admit I would rather be at home now than covering the annual “sit on Santa’s lap” photo-op for politicians, but I seem to have annoyed my editor, so here I am — your intrepid holiday reporter. While I fully admit that I did spike the punch at our annual holiday party, I explain this away in traditional Washington fashion — by stating that I was young and irresponsible when this occurred. Last week, I was much younger and much more irresponsible than I am now. Ahem.

A series of racist emails sent out on State of Alaska email accounts have targeted President-elect Barack Obama. In one, the concluding line assessed Obama’s victory and impending move to the White House as: “Another black living in government housing!” According to the Associated Press, three of the racist messages were confirmed by the state’s information technology division after an electronic search of the government’s e-mail system, Administration Commissioner Annette Kreitzer said Wednesday.

By Lindsay Beyerstein, TMC MediaWire blogger. A common thread is emerging in the right wing response to healthcare reform. Its opponents aren’t claiming that public healthcare will be bad. Rather, they are terrified that the new system will be so good that no citizen would buy expensive private insurance–or vote for politicians who wanted to take public insurance away.

The Secret Service has ruled that bloggers must go shoeless when attending political events.