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Friday Night Open Thread

The Winter X Games continue in Aspen tonight. You can watch on ESPN, starting at 9pm ET.

Today's events: Skiing SuperPipe Women's Final, Snowmobile Best Trick, Skiing Big Air, Snowboard SuperPipe Men's Final. More here.

For those of you following other things, here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

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    The X-Games... (5.00 / 1) (#1)
    by MileHi Hawkeye on Fri Jan 29, 2010 at 07:49:51 PM EST
    ...could not have timed this any better.  Sunshine and fresh pow-pow.  

    I'm hoping to do some Super Snowshoeing this weekend myself!

    Not being 23 (sadly), I won't be doing this:

    Simon Dumont is 23 years of age, stands 5'6'' and weighs 145 pounds. He also holds the world QuarterPipe height record jumping 35.5 feet out of a 38-foot QuarterPipe.

    Wow.  That's some frackin' serious air.

    I hope to learn about snowshoeing (none / 0) (#7)
    by nycstray on Fri Jan 29, 2010 at 10:09:43 PM EST
    next winter at the cabin. I think it will be great fun for me and the Dot. They have 'events'/'programs' up there for folks, like walks through Big Trees etc.

    The Dot and I will be keeping our paws on the ground though, lol!~

    Parent

    Not much to learn... (none / 0) (#9)
    by MileHi Hawkeye on Fri Jan 29, 2010 at 10:21:32 PM EST
    ...if you can walk, you can 'shoe.  Going off trail is quite a work-out though.

    Does Dot tolerate snow packed into her paws?  If not, she might like a nice set of dog booties.  

    Parent

    She doesn't seem to mind (none / 0) (#10)
    by nycstray on Fri Jan 29, 2010 at 11:05:43 PM EST
    I walk on the cleared sidewalks and she tracks in the snow banks. Biggest prob is the ice melters, which won't be a prob in the mountains. She would def get booties if needed though :)

    I've done cross country, and actually like it!, and I kinda figured shoeing would be a workout. Dot will get some pulling training also. I think we can find a way to harness (literally!) her energy she gets in the snow with shoeing and some pulling activity (when I get tired or need stuff carried, lol!~)

    Parent

    Was it you who put up the lentil (none / 0) (#13)
    by Militarytracy on Fri Jan 29, 2010 at 11:21:20 PM EST
    recipe the other day?  I can't remember who put it up, but I made a huge batch.  It turned out great but it was too much.  I had it three times and I still had three huge bowls left but the dogs scarfed it down like mad.

    Parent
    Nope, I just added my 2cents :) (none / 0) (#22)
    by nycstray on Sat Jan 30, 2010 at 12:21:52 AM EST
    I've finally learned how to look at recipes and judge how many meals I'll get and how many for the Dot. Getting ready to move will do that. Don't want to freeze or can ;) Dot loves my cooking, especially if they have certain spices/herbs. Dogs are great 'garbage' disposals, lol!~

    Parent
    I did it with the potato (5.00 / 0) (#23)
    by Militarytracy on Sat Jan 30, 2010 at 12:35:56 AM EST
    had some wild rice around here to though so added a bit of that as well.

    Parent
    I've been X-C'ing... (none / 0) (#31)
    by MileHi Hawkeye on Sat Jan 30, 2010 at 10:54:51 AM EST
    ...since the mid-70's.  Back when skis where actually glorified planks of wood and you needed to be a chemical engineer to get the waxing right.

    Sadly, the time has come when the constant falling is getting a little too hard on the various joints and ligaments.  

    Shoeing is the perfect alternative.    

    Parent

    Whatever the intent... (5.00 / 3) (#3)
    by MileHi Hawkeye on Fri Jan 29, 2010 at 08:24:29 PM EST
    ...and whether or not CBS decides to allow this commercial, its nice to see the push-back.  

    Just like the PR firm running for office in MD as a corporation.  

    The progressive PR firm Murray Hill Inc. has announced that it plans to satirically run for Congress in the Republican primary in Maryland's 8th congressional district to protest the Supreme Court's disastrous decision. A press release on its website says that the company wants to "eliminate the middle man" and run for Congress directly, rather than influencing it with corporate dollars:


    I love it (5.00 / 2) (#4)
    by andgarden on Fri Jan 29, 2010 at 08:29:48 PM EST
    Perfect (none / 0) (#6)
    by ruffian on Fri Jan 29, 2010 at 09:36:11 PM EST
    Very funny (none / 0) (#12)
    by Militarytracy on Fri Jan 29, 2010 at 11:19:20 PM EST
    Perception and Reality (5.00 / 1) (#8)
    by Politalkix on Fri Jan 29, 2010 at 10:14:23 PM EST
    Please see link
    "There seems to be little to endear citizens to their legislature or to the president trying to influence it. It's too bad, because even with the wrench thrown in by Republican Scott Brown's election in Massachusetts, this Democratic Congress is on a path to become one of the most productive since the Great Society 89th Congress in 1965-66, and Obama already has the most legislative success of any modern president -- and that includes Ronald Reagan and Lyndon Johnson. The deep dysfunction of our politics may have produced public disdain, but it has also delivered record accomplishment."

    Look's like McChrystal's former XO (5.00 / 1) (#11)
    by Militarytracy on Fri Jan 29, 2010 at 11:17:36 PM EST
    was relieved of his command in Afghanistan and shipped home, his only comment is that he is looking for a lawyer.

    Whoa! (none / 0) (#14)
    by gyrfalcon on Fri Jan 29, 2010 at 11:28:35 PM EST
    What's that about, I wonder?

    Any chance this XO is responsible for some of the things you hold against McChrystal, and/or the role McChrystal played in the cover-up with what happened to Pat Tilman?

    Sounds like something dramatic happened.

    Parent

    I was reading some of the (5.00 / 1) (#15)
    by Militarytracy on Fri Jan 29, 2010 at 11:38:41 PM EST
    mil blogs.  Nobody knows anything, and someone with the 82nd says that it looks like extreme measures are being taken to attempt to keep this under wraps, unknown.  Not likely though at the end of the play.  The people will want to know what the heck went down.  Relieved his Sarg with him too.

    Parent
    Excuse me. You are an officer's wife (5.00 / 1) (#16)
    by oculus on Fri Jan 29, 2010 at 11:42:45 PM EST
    and we all know that counts for nada.  Ask me about that year in Norfolk, for example.  <snk.>

    Parent
    Actually, I suspect the problem stems from (none / 0) (#18)
    by oculus on Fri Jan 29, 2010 at 11:45:30 PM EST
    the wine fountains in the officer's mess.  When I mentioned that perk to a couple of enlisted Navy guys, they had not the slightest idea of what I spoke.  

    Parent
    I know (none / 0) (#19)
    by Militarytracy on Fri Jan 29, 2010 at 11:52:26 PM EST
    My fave teacher always told us all that 20% of the people out there will not like you no matter what you do.  You can't get too worked up about it :)  This comes on the heels of the TomDispatch reporter's story though, secret interrogation sites, civilians saying that people have "disappeared". I read it this morning, and I may be wrong but I thought I read about an alleged incident since Obama took office, someone was taken in a raid and then found dead later on a mile away or something.  Also today I noticed that the military released that they are clamping down on night raids, and we find out that someone was fired...sent home...needs an attorney.  The 82nd says he was relieved of duty with his Master Sarg for poor decisions.  I don't know if his command had anything to do with night raids though.

    Parent
    I went and reread it (5.00 / 2) (#20)
    by Militarytracy on Sat Jan 30, 2010 at 12:07:36 AM EST
    Two people taken, then found later dead with their hands still bound in the plastic cuffs.  The story says it happened in December.

    Parent
    This is on Obama as much as Abu Ghuraib (none / 0) (#27)
    by kidneystones on Sat Jan 30, 2010 at 07:49:08 AM EST
    was on Bush. War is inherently ugly. Most service people I know try their best to play by the rules.

    How much pressure are these officers and troops under to produce results according to a politically driven timetable? The military got less than half the troops requested and had to wait for the few actually committed.

    Factor in a 'surge' in contractors hired by the Obama Pentagon and we've got a recipe for disaster.

    Parent

    This morning the rumor mill (none / 0) (#29)
    by Militarytracy on Sat Jan 30, 2010 at 08:01:09 AM EST
    is mixed.  I don't know if these guys were part of night raids but the relieved Commander is a highly respected member of Special Forces.  I don't know if he is part of spook detail in Afghanistan though and his firing may be about his slide shows.  I don't like spook detail though, it is creepy and makes me feel the need to shower a lot.  They are taking great pains to be professional and follow all the laws and procedures handed down to them from on high (so yes, Obama is directly responsible for atrocities just as much as he is successes) And like it or not, not all civilian stories are steeped in truth but when talk about you is scaring the hell out of the people you are supposed to be keeping safe you have to change something.

    Parent
    Oh SNAP (none / 0) (#30)
    by Militarytracy on Sat Jan 30, 2010 at 08:34:45 AM EST
    The rumor about the slide shows is true.  You'll have to go read this one though without blockquotes from me. It's too ugly and involves reinstating slavery.....

    Parent
    A rumor now (none / 0) (#28)
    by Militarytracy on Sat Jan 30, 2010 at 07:50:32 AM EST
    All of the battalion unit briefings came with a slide show.  The last slide was always something "funny".  According to the rumor the last slide was sometimes racist or sexist though and a senior NCO first brought it to the attention of those delivering the briefing and he/she was brushed off.......so he/she then sent the slides farther up the chain of command. This was released.....

    An investigation found their "actions were of poor judgment which fostered a command climate that was not consistent with our Army values," the spokesman, Lt. Col. Clarence Counts, wrote in an e-mail from Afghanistan in a response to questions. "We are a values-based and professional organization committed to Army values, and this change reflects a continuous commitment to adhere to the highest standards of excellence while maintaining good order and discipline."

    The rumor seems to fit this email nicely.  If so, what a couple of buffoons and power corrupts and all that

    Parent

    Shaun White (none / 0) (#2)
    by Jeralyn on Fri Jan 29, 2010 at 08:17:17 PM EST
    hit a block of ice with his face doing a double twist and just got up and walked away. He'll be doing his final run in 40 minutes.

    For Track & Field fans (none / 0) (#5)
    by CoralGables on Fri Jan 29, 2010 at 08:38:47 PM EST
    ESPN2 is about to show the Wanamaker Mile from the Millrose Games.

    Is it really possible Jit is impossible (none / 0) (#17)
    by oculus on Fri Jan 29, 2010 at 11:43:46 PM EST
    to use GPS in Japan and/or S. Korea?  Source:  ATT.

    Federal DOJ considering action (none / 0) (#21)
    by oculus on Sat Jan 30, 2010 at 12:20:22 AM EST
    re BCS.  Is this the lesson learned from Scott Brown's election?  AP

    Return to normalcy (none / 0) (#25)
    by lentinel on Sat Jan 30, 2010 at 05:11:47 AM EST
    MIAMI -- The United States has suspended its medical evacuations of critically injured Haitian earthquake victims until a dispute over who will pay for their care is settled, military officials said Friday.

    The military flights, usually C-130s carrying Haitians with spinal cord injuries, burns and other serious wounds, ended on Wednesday after Gov. Charlie Crist of Florida formally asked the federal government to shoulder some of the cost of the care.

    We can't divert some of the 800 million we spend each day on the war in Iraq.

    When do we resume the deportations?

    My vote is the (none / 0) (#26)
    by Wile ECoyote on Sat Jan 30, 2010 at 06:30:17 AM EST
    unused stimulus.

    Parent
    Yoo and Bybee (none / 0) (#32)
    by jbindc on Sat Jan 30, 2010 at 11:14:21 AM EST
    Cleared by DoJ for torture memos

    For weeks, the right has heckled Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. for his plans to try the alleged 9/11 conspirators in New York City and his handling of the Christmas bombing plot suspect. Now the left is going to be upset: an upcoming Justice Department report from its ethics-watchdog unit, the Office of Professional Responsibility (OPR), clears the Bush administration lawyers who authored the "torture" memos of professional-misconduct allegations.

    While the probe is sharply critical of the legal reasoning used to justify waterboarding and other "enhanced" interrogation techniques, NEWSWEEK has learned that a senior Justice official who did the final review of the report softened an earlier OPR finding. Previously, the report concluded that two key authors--Jay Bybee, now a federal appellate court judge, and John Yoo, now a law professor--violated their professional obligations as lawyers when they crafted a crucial 2002 memo approving the use of harsh tactics, say two Justice sources who asked for anonymity discussing an internal matter. But the reviewer, career veteran David Margolis, downgraded that assessment to say they showed "poor judgment," say the sources. (Under department rules, poor judgment does not constitute professional misconduct.) The shift is significant: the original finding would have triggered a referral to state bar associations for potential disciplinary action--which, in Bybee's case, could have led to an impeachment inquiry.



    Didn't see any baseball thread on Sports Left (none / 0) (#33)
    by DFLer on Sat Jan 30, 2010 at 01:15:48 PM EST
    ...just want to say that I'm very happy that the Twins signed slugger Jim Thome