Saturday Open Thread

Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” is a Christmas holiday song originally sung by Darlene Love and included on the 1963 Christmas compilation album, A Christmas Gift for You from Philles Records. The song was written by Ellie Greenwich and Jeff Barry along with Phil Spector, with the intentions of being sung by Ronnie Spector of The Ronettes. According to Darlene Love, Ronnie Spector was not able to put as much emotion into the song as needed. Instead, Love was brought into the studio to record the song which became a big success over time and one of Darlene Love’s signature tunes.

In December 2010, Rolling Stone magazine ranked “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” first on its list of The Greatest Rock and Roll Christmas Songs, saying that “nobody can match Love’s emotion and sheer vocal power.”

About SouthernGirl2

A Native Texan who adores baby kittens, loves horses, rodeos, pomegranates, & collect Eagles. Enjoys politics, games shows, & dancing to all types of music. Loves discussing and learning about different cultures. A Phi Theta Kappa lifetime member with a passion for Social & Civil Justice.
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63 Responses to Saturday Open Thread

  1. Jay and Haley Christmas photo

    Haley & Jay

  2. rikyrah says:

    Because of Peanut, I watch a lot of kid’s tv.

    I can see how the right-wingers are going crazy watching kids tv – the world has changed all around them.

    What are some of Peanut’s favorites?

    Dora the Explorer-Latino
    Diego – Latino
    Ni Hao, Kai Lan – Chinese
    SuperWhy, Where the Princess is a cute little Black girl
    And Doc McStuffins – a little Black girl who is the doctor for sick toys.

  3. rikyrah says:

    Something that made me do a doubletake.

    As I got off the bus to go get to work, what do I see at the bus stop?

    An advertisement for Burberry with a beautiful chocolate Sista with long dreadlocks.

    I was like…Burberry?

    inch by inch, the world is expanding.

  4. rikyrah says:

    Beginning this Sun at 8pm & 11pm EST/PST, Soledad O’Brien’s Black in America series goes deep inside colorism within our community. Black gets abstract – the One Drop Rule and the Paper Bag Test both get deconstructed

  5. rikyrah says:

    found at TOD in the comments:

    utaustinliberal
    December 8, 2012 at 4:29 pm
    So disappointed in so called supporters of Pres. Obama on Twitter. Ezra Klein – who called the jobs report wrong by the way. He said it would be horrible….ummm….Derp much? – with his stupid unnamed sources says Pres. Obama is going to cave to the republicans, give them everything they want, and raise the Medicare eligibility age and what do some so called supporters do based on this lack of evidence, based on nothing by Pres. Obama, based on nothing by the administration? They begin freaking out and sending shouty tweets to Pres. Obama. “How dare you cave to the GOP?” “How dare you raise the Medicare eligibility age?” “What the hell was the election about?”

    Time and time again so called supporters fall victim to these ridiculous postings by “journalists” aka carnival barkers. It wasn’t quite two weeks ago they were threatening hellfire and brimstone because “journalists” (*cough cough* Ed Schultz) claimed Pres. Obama was going to “cave” on making the top 2% pay higher taxes. You’d think that someone who won two elections despite all the odds, successfully got through more legislation (a lot of them historic) than countless numbers of his predecessors, would be trusted to do the right thing and not continuously have his fairness bona fides, his smarts, and his intelligence questioned.

    • Ametia says:

      Ezra, Ed & nem can’t face the fact that the BLACK PREZ is way SMARTER, SAVVY, COOL, & TOGETHER than they are.

      Let’s see PBO=WHITE HOUSE

      EZRA & NEM= SITTING BEHIND DESK SHARING OPINIONS

  6. rikyrah says:

    sorry this is so late:

    MEDIA ALERT:

    Please tune in tonight at HGTV!

    1. At 7PM ET: White House Christmas: Through the Years

    http://www.hgtv.com/white-house-christmas-through-the-years/white-house-christmas-through-the-years/index.html

    2. At 8PM ET: White House Christmas 2012

    Description:
    Follow along with Genevieve Gorder on an exclusive behind-the-scenes look at how the White House is prepared for this year’s holiday season. From concept to reveal, the First Lady talks about how each room is transformed to reflect her meaningful theme. From the official Christmas tree in the Blue Room, to the iconic gingerbread replica of the White House, watch as designers, staff and more than 100 volunteers bring the theme to life for the First Family, and America. Your holidays can’t start without this must-see event!

    http://www.hgtv.com/white-house-christmas-2012/white-house-christmas-2012/index.html

  7. rikyrah says:

    What happens next in Michigan
    By Laura Conaway

    Sat Dec 8, 2012 4:34 PM EST

    With sudden support from Republican Governor Rick Snyder, Republicans in the Michigan legislature have been speeding through a package to severely weaken unions in that state. The pace at which the bills are moving through the lame-duck session is almost unbelievable. That it’s happening in the birthplace of the modern American labor union is almost unfathomable.

    The legislature next takes up the so-called Right to Work measures, which essentially ban union shops, on Tuesday. Today opponents of Right to Work gathered at the UAW hall, picture above, for training in how to “protest peacefully and stand together” — a long tradition in Michigan labor. State officials are expecting a crowd of thousands next week at the Capitol in Lansing. Eclectablog reports that the union supporters will find that conservative groups have already reserved the Capitol steps for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, after which the chambers adjourn.

    Activists are also making calls from a phone-bank against the bills at the AFL/CIO office in Lansing. Meanwhile, a judge has urged state police to keep the Capitol building open to protesters if at all possible. The closure of the building last Thursday, during the first votes, has prompted suits over the state’s Open Meetings law.

    Right to Work legislation has moved through so quickly that one Republican lawmaker voter against it because, he said, “We literally weren’t given the legislation to read until minutes before voting.” From experience with Right to Work in other states, conservatives and liberals agree that the rule is catastrophic for unions, with significant cuts in membership, and lower wages and benefits. As Stephen Henderson writes in the Detroit Free Press:

    http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2012/12/08/15780553-what-happens-next-in-michigan?lite

  8. rikyrah says:

    Immigration Reform Is Back on the Agenda

    Thanks to the election, it’s now in the interests of both Democrats and Republicans to tackle the issue.

    President Obama’s reelection doesn’t guarantee a breakthrough in the long stalemate over immigration reform. But it did instantly invert the debate.

    Since the collapse of a bipartisan immigration-reform effort in 2007, Democrats have divided over the issue while Republicans have remained in lockstep, particularly in opposition to any plan that included a pathway to citizenship for the estimated 11 million people in the U.S. illegally. Now it’s the reverse. Democrats are talking confidently about forcing the issue in 2013, while Republicans are fracturing. For the first time since George W. Bush’s presidency, a genuine debate over immigration is emerging within the GOP, with advocates of comprehensive reform regaining their voices at events like a potentially landmark conference this week in Washington.

    Until the November election, Republican reform advocates had spent the previous six years as besieged as the survivors in The Walking Dead. In 2006, 23 Senate Republicans joined a bipartisan majority to pass legislation backed by Bush that toughened border enforcement, created a guest-worker program, and established a path to citizenship for those here illegally. But the effort died when House Republicans shelved it and Bush acquiesced.

    In 2007, the Senate coalition unraveled amid centrifugal pressure, partly from the left but mostly from the populist right. Ever since, conservatives have waged an unrelenting counterrevolution against Republicans supporting anything that could be tagged as “amnesty.” These trends reached an apex (or nadir) this year, as GOP standard-bearer Mitt Romney embraced “self-deportation” and the Republican platform called for denying all federal higher-education funds to states that provided in-state tuition to the children of undocumented immigrants—a policy that would have meant no more Pell Grants for any Anglo kids in Texas

    .

    The presidential-election results have forced the GOP to question this fever. Romney won as much of the white vote (59 percent) as George H.W. Bush did in 1988 when he captured 426 Electoral College votes. But Romney won only 206 electoral votes, less than half of Bush’s total. Romney faced cavernous deficits among not only Latinos but also Asians, an outcome that suggests that many new Americans heard “self-deportation” as a call for them to pack their bags. “It didn’t just affect Hispanics,” said Jennifer Korn, executive director of the Hispanic Leadership Network, a Republican Latino group.

    ……………………………………………………………………………………….

    National Review is correct that a pathway to legalization doesn’t guarantee Republicans big gains with Hispanic voters. Most Latinos prefer more government activism than Republicans are offering. And years of resisting action on immigration has left the GOP without any entirely good options. If the party blocks comprehensive reform, it risks further alienating Hispanics. If it acquiesces, it allows President Obama to sign historic legislation that could further cement their loyalty. One path leaves the GOP standing in the schoolhouse door; the other casts Obama as Lyndon Johnson, achieving a 21st-century counterpart to the Civil Rights Act.

    http://www.nationaljournal.com/columns/political-connections/immigration-reform-is-back-on-the-agenda-20121206

  9. rikyrah says:

    Where the press failed in 2012

    Posted by Jonathan Bernstein on December 7, 2012 at 4:37 pm

    Today’s must-read is Dan Froomkin’s interview with political scientists Tom Mann and Norm Ornstein about what they call the great uncovered story of 2012: “the radical right-wing, off-the-rails lurch of the Republican Party, both in terms of its agenda and its relationship to the truth.” Or, more specifically, what happened to Mann and Ornstein once they spoke about Republicans.

    That is, after decades of carefully building a reputation for serious and scholarly expertise, Mann and Ornstein were basically blackballed by the press. Well, not quite; they were, instead, reclassified. They were no longer serious and scholarly neutral arbiters, but were suddenly treated by the press as Democratic shills.

    And that’s the problem. Because the conventions of the press do not allow neutral observers to conclude what, to many political scientists, is an inescapable truth: There’s something seriously wrong with the Republican Party.

    Note that this has nothing at all to do with policy positions. The issue isn’t that Republicans are “too” conservative, whatever that might mean. It’s that the party, and to a startling degree the conservative movement generally, has failed to develop reality-based policy proposals; has decided in many cases that compromise itself is against its principles; and has (in the case of the Romney/Ryan campaign) repeatedly violated norms about lying in campaigns.

    As Mann and Ornstein point out, there’s nothing equivalent about the parties on these things right now. Mann says, “The mainstream press really has such a difficult time trying to cope with asymmetry between the two parties’ agendas and connections to facts and truth.”

    It’s not just a 2012 campaign story. It’s a continuing story — as indicated by the renewed Republican belief that it’s appropriate to threaten to default the nation (by refusing to raise the debt limit) in order to get their way on budget questions.

    Yes, it’s difficult for the press to cope with this situation. But if it insists at all times on considering both parties equally responsible (or equally irresponsible), then it is simply missing the real story. Even worse: To find out a lot of the basic story, readers in 2012 were forced to turn to the Democratic-oriented partisan press, which did tell the story that Mann and Ornstein were telling . . . but of course added quite a bit of partisan slant.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2012/12/07/where-the-press-failed/

  10. rikyrah says:

    Framing the debate: Why Republicans are losing

    Over at the New York Post, John Podhoretz captures the zeitgeist. A trend has emerged: Republicans spend about 90 percent of their time defending the least popular 10 percent of their policies

    A couple recent examples:

    … Rather than talking about defending the right to life, Republicans spent an inordinate amount of time in 2012 talking about whether a woman who was raped should be allowed to have an abortion. (I say inordinate, not because this is a trivial issue — it’s not — but because the primary goal of most pro-lifers is to prevent the use of abortion as birth control. This is a peripheral issue for most pro-lifers.)

    … Rather than talking about cutting spending — or even cutting taxes for the middle class! — Republicans spend most of their time defending the rich from tax hikes.

    Democrats have brilliantly outmaneuvered Republicans into a position where they are spending the vast majority of their time defending (what seems to many like) the indefensible.

    Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/12/07/framing-the-debate/#ixzz2EV8I5hsE

  11. Smartypants: Why Ezra Klein is wrong

    http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2012/12/why-ezra-klein-is-wrong.html?spref=tw

    I happen to think that Ezra Klein often provides valuable information at his blog that is worth reading. But yesterday he did something really dumb…he made a prediction about what the so-called “fiscal cliff” deal will look like.

    Talk to smart folks in Washington, and here’s what they think will happen: The final tax deal will raise rates a bit, giving Democrats a win, but not all the way back to 39.6 percent, giving Republicans a win. That won’t raise enough revenue on its own, so it will be combined with some policy to cap tax deductions, perhaps at $25,000 or $50,000, with a substantial phase-in and an exemption for charitable contributions.

    And of course, that prediction set off the expected rounds of pre-emptive poutrage.

    We have no way of knowing who those “smart folks in Washington” are that Klein talked to. But I – for one – have to question their intelligence. That’s because there is NO WAY that this is the sum total of a deal.

  12. Obama To ‘Begin An All Out Drive For Comprehensive Immigration Reform’ In January

    http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/12/08/1305581/obama-to-begin-an-all-out-drive-for-comprehensive-immigration-reform-in-january/?mobile=nc

    President Obama will “begin an all-out drive for comprehensive immigration reform, including seeking a path to citizenship for 11 million illegal immigrants,” after Congress addresses the fiscal cliff, the Los Angeles Times reports. The revelation comes just as a top Hispanic Democrat, Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), is calling on Obama to step-up his involvement on the issue and engage in discussions with lawmakers.

    The Obama administration’s “social media blitz” will start in January and is expected “to tap the same organizations and unions that helped get a record number of Latino voters to reelect the president.” Cabinet secretaries and lawmakers from both parties are already holding initial meetings to iron out the details of the proposal:

  13. rikyrah says:

    Jon Chait’s Miserable Endorsement of Raising the Medicare Eligibility Age

    By: David Dayen Friday December 7, 2012 7:04 am

    Since Jon Chait has never met a concession he didn’t like, he comes out with an endorsement of raising the Medicare eligibility age as part of a long-term deficit deal. So his cover for what is universally regarded as a terrible idea surely led deficit scolds seeking to use the problem to weaken the safety net to give each other high-fives.

    Let’s look at Chait’s reasoning. I would probably start with the fact that he’s not 64 or 65. My parents are, and until my dad reached Medicare in November, they were paying $2,500 a month on the private market for health insurance. So I’ll be happy to provide him with their phone number so he can tell them how it’s “tolerable” for them to spend two years more than they expected doing that.

    But soft! Here are his actual reasons. One, Democrats have to accept concessions (that’s always a good strategic place from which to begin a negotiation!), and the scolds seem to like raising the eligibility age. So let’s give ‘em what they want. This is a bizarrely content-free assertion. The phrase “If Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles wanted you to jump off the Brooklyn Bridge, would you do it?” springs to mind. Second, he thinks that Republicans will somehow forget that this only raises $100 billion, at most, over 10 years, and will then drop any demands to hit a particular number in the negotiations.

    Then there’s this bit of folly:

    What’s more, raising the Medicare retirement age would help strengthen the fight to preserve the Affordable Care Act […] The political basis for the right’s opposition to universal health insurance has always been that the uninsured are politically disorganized and weak. But a side effect of raising the Medicare retirement age would be that a large cohort of 65- and 66-year-olds would suddenly find themselves needing the Affordable Care Act to buy their health insurance. Which is to say, Republicans attacking the Affordable Care Act would no longer be attacking the usual band of very poor or desperate people they can afford to ignore but a significant chunk of middle-class voters who have grown accustomed to the assumption that they will be able to afford health care. Strengthening the political coalition for universal coverage seems like a helpful side benefit — possibly even one conservatives come to regret, and liberals, to feel relief they accepted.

    This is cynical, to say the least. It’s also completely wrong. The one thing we know will be a side effect of increasing the Medicare eligibility age is that insurance premiums will skyrocket. It will make Medicare more expensive because they lose relatively healthy 65 and 66 year-olds from their risk pool, and it will make private insurance more expensive because they add relatively sick 65 and 66 year-olds to their risk pool. Insurers hate the idea for just this reason. As a result, everyone’s premiums will rise, and cost-shifting will ensue from the government to its citizens.

    People with busy lives don’t differentiate between what provisions in health care can be attributed to the Affordable Care Act and what provisions come from a fiscal deal. They’ll just know that the ACA got implemented in 2014, and as a result their insurance rates jumped. It’s maybe the worst strategic plan in the world to raise the Medicare age to bolster support for the Affordable Care Act by raising how much everyone has to spend on health insurance, particularly those who don’t get subsidies, the same “significant chunk of middle-class voters who have grown accustomed to the assumption that they will be able to afford health care.”

    http://news.firedoglake.com/2012/12/07/jon-chaits-miserable-endorsement-of-raising-the-medicare-eligibility-age/

  14. rikyrah says:

    Well, anyone from Chicago will understand.

    My sister and I took Peanut to see Santa Claus at Macy’s State Street(it’s still hard for me not to say Marshall Field’s). Got in right before the crazy rush – only took us 20 minutes. Best pictures ever for her with Santa. ( she has not been cooperative in past years).

    After Santa Claus we then had lunch at the Walnut Room – yes, we all had a chicken pot pie. It was good to do this, as Mama had done with me and my sisters. She loved the 2 and a half story tall XMas tree.

    • Rikyrah, so beautiful. I’m sure Mama was smiling down on you all still carrying out the tradition. Peanut will cherish these moments. And I’ll bet those pics were beautiful!

    • Ametia says:

      I get it, with the Macy’s Marshall Field thingy. What a treasure for you to spend time with Peanut. Your heart must have been soaring with warm memories of your mom.

    • Rikyrah…I’ve been thinking about your chicken pot pie ever since you mentioned it and I just had to have some. :)

      mmmmm…

  15. Breaking news: Cowboys defensive lineman, Josh Brent, charged with intoxication manslaughter in accident that killed teammate.

    dallasne.ws/XD2kgX

  16. Hey, Chicas!

    In 08, Didn’t Cuomo make a comment about PBO ‘ Shucking and Jiving’? Uh huh!

  17. Ametia says:

    Bill Clinton: US ambassador to Ireland? Rumors catch fire.

    Bill Clinton loves Ireland, and Ireland loves him, but fresh Beltway rumors are suggesting that he might even like to be the US ambassador to the Emerald Isle. Is Dublin big enough for Bill?

    By Howard LaFranchi, Staff writer / December 7, 2012

    SNIP
    Those stoking the rumor fires note that Clinton can probably get just about anything he wants from a grateful Mr. Obama.

    Those fires roared with new kindling when Clinton’s wife, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, sidestepped an opportunity to douse the rumors while on a stop of her own this week in – where else, Ireland.
    SNIP

    http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Foreign-Policy/2012/1207/Bill-Clinton-US-ambassador-to-Ireland-Rumors-catch-fire

  18. Ametia says:

    December 08, 2012 9:52 AM
    Supreme Court to Decide the Fate of Marriage in America

    In its wisdom, the Supreme Court yesterday decided to hear two cases that will determine the shape of marriage in America — who, by mutual consent, gets to marry the person of his or choosing, with the full benefits and obligations of that legal status, and who does not. One case is a challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act, and the other, a challenge to the California law, passed by voter referendum, known as Proposition 8.

    Being a person of suspicious nature, and having covered the right wing of American politics for decades, I confess to some trepidation at the prospect of the high court, in its current wing-nut-majority composition, taking up these cases in tandem.

    Apologists for DOMA, such as President Bill Clinton, who signed it into law, like to downplay its reach, and spin it in a folksy, states’ rights kind of a way. In 2004, Clinton explained it to me this way:

    “[W]hen I signed the Defense of Marriage Act, all it did was to say it’s still a question of state law…,” Clinton continued. “That’s the way America’s always been.”

    http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/

    Yes; we’ve seen what the Clintons can and will do in politics. NO MORE CLINTONS IN THE WHITE HOUSE. I STAND FIRM ON THIS .

  19. Nelson Mandela admitted to hospital for tests

    http://cbsn.ws/YNVerD

  20. Why some liberals aren’t on board with Andrew Cuomo (and how it could matter)

    http://wapo.st/UjkqNW

  21. Ametia says:

    FLOTUS & POTUS to interview with Barbara WA WA, again…..SIGH When is this witch going to retire and let other women at ABC get a crack at interviewing our First family?

    Obama, First Lady Will Do Interview With Barbara Walters
    Pema Levy – 10:12 AM EST, Saturday December 8, 2012

    President Obama and first lady Michelle Obama will do a joint interview with ABC News’ Barbara Walters, the network announced Saturday. This will be the fourth time the first couple sits down with Walters for a holiday interview. It will air Friday, Dec. 14, at 10 p.m. ET.

    http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/obama-first-lady-will-do-interview-with-barbara

  22. Ametia says:

    And here we go. Surely Tomasky can’t believe that Hillary is our only hope after President Obama leaves office.

    Michael Tomasky: Why Hillary Clinton Must Run for President in 2016
    by Michael Tomasky Dec 8, 2012 4:45 AM EST

    Is it too early to talk about 2016? Of course it is. It’s preposterous. So I’m not talking about 2016. Instead, I’m talking about something much bigger: I’m talking, let us say, about the great march of history, the ineluctable links of causality, the tempora and the mores, the old mole working both underground and above. And in this context, this context of keeping history moving forward, Hillary Clinton has not just the chance to run in 2016. She has the obligation to do so.

    Her party, and her country, will need her then, to consolidate gains and prevent the backsliding that the backsliders just can’t wait to commence. In other words, if the next four years go the way I suspect they might, it will be of the most fundamental importance that the Democrats hold the White House thereafter, and the burden of so ensuring falls squarely on the shoulders of Hugh Rodham’s rebellious daughter.

    The Obama years look like they may end up a huge success for progressives. Which is why they’ll need to ensure that Hillary wins the White House in 2016.

    http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/12/08/michael-tomasky-why-hillary-clinton-must-run-for-president-in-2016.html?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=cheatsheet_morning&cid=newsletter%3Bemail%3Bcheatsheet_morning&utm_term=Cheat%20Sheet

  23. RFK Jr: Fox News Has Divided Country In A Way Not Seen Since Civil War

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/07/robert-f-kennedy-jr-fox-news_n_2261043.html#comments

    Robert F. Kennedy Jr told HuffPost Live host Josh Zepps in an interview Friday that he believes conservative media outlets such as Fox News are damaging the country.

    Asked how he thought things have changed in the political landscape, Kennedy pointed to “big money” and “the right wing control of the American media, starting with Fox News” as hurtful to collaboration between differing political interests.

  24. The snow’s coming down
    I’m watching it fall
    Lots of people around
    Baby please come home


  25. Who’s behind this?

    Rice under fire from left as Kerry’s name won’t go away

    It’s not just Benghazi anymore.

    One of the most controversial energy projects in the nation also has become a flash point in the drama surrounding who may become the next secretary of state – and it’s coming from the left instead of the right.

    Back on Nov. 28, “OnEarth,” published by the Natural Resources Defense Council, dug into U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice’s financial disclosures and found that she and her husband have a stake in TransCanada, the company pushing for the Keystone XL Pipeline to be built.

  26. I saw it a mile away. Not surprsied at all. Welcome to the Party, Charlie Crist!

    Charlie Crist signs papers to become Democrat — at the White House

    http://www.tampabay.com/blogs/the-buzz-florida-politics/content/charlie-crist-signs-papers-become-democrat-white-house

    It was just a matter of time.

    Charlie Crist, Florida’s former Republican governor who relished the tough-on-crime nickname “Chain Gang Charlie” and used to describe himself variously as a “Ronald Reagan Republican” and “Jeb Bush Republican,” on Friday signed papers to become a registered Democrat.

    He did so Friday evening during a Christmas reception at the White House, where President Barack Obama greeted the news with a fist bump for the man who had a higher profile campaigning for Obama’s re-election this year than any Florida Democrat.

  27. While you were sleeping Charlie Crist became a Democrat!

    Twitter

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