I suspect it's evil spirits, or weather, or both.

But ET has got noticeably slower for quite some time now, there's a wait for each page. With Safari under Windows, it's barely quicker. IE brings it up about like Safari.

BT comes up immediately in any of these three browsers.

of course, as soon as i sent the email, i was able to log into the site, without having changed a thing.

It's going to be really funny when the net goes down for a coupla days. Ummm, wrong word, funny.

Skennah Kowa

Overnight low is predicted to be -18C, tomorrow's high might reach -9C... I plan to huddle inside with the cat.

That wandering red thing is the Gulf Stream.  Instead of heading over to Europe it's meandering up along the west coast of Greenland.

dKos diary here.

No one could have predicted

The discussions between Mr. Ford and top Democratic donors reflect the dissatisfaction of some prominent party members with Ms. Gillibrand, who has yet to win over key constituencies, especially in New York City.

The Book of Mormon; Joseph Smith?

Skennah Kowa

The story of workaday men and women rising to greatness is one of America's most cherished myths. As a term, myth is much misunderstood; hearing it, many people take the word to mean "lie," when in fact a myth is a story, a narrative, that explains individual and national realities--how a person or a country came to be, why certain things happen in the course of a life or of history, and what fate may have in store for us. Myths are a peculiar hybrid of truth and falsehood, resentments and ambitions, dreams and dread. We all have personal myths running through our heads, and some chapters would withstand fact checking while others would fail miserably...

Krugman wrote last year in the NYT about Debunking the Reagan Economic Myth.

...the furor over Barack Obama's praise for Ronald Reagan is not, as some think, overblown. The fact is that how we talk about the Reagan era still matters immensely for American politics.

Bill Clinton knew that in 1991, when he began his presidential campaign. "The Reagan-Bush years," he declared, "have exalted private gain over public obligation, special interests over the common good, wealth and fame over work and family. The 1980s ushered in a Gilded Age of greed and selfishness, of irresponsibility and excess, and of neglect."

Contrast that with Mr. Obama's recent statement, in an interview with a Nevada newspaper, that Reagan offered a "sense of dynamism and entrepreneurship that had been missing."

Maybe Mr. Obama was, as his supporters insist, simply praising Reagan's political skills. (I think he was trying to curry favor with a conservative editorial board, which did in fact endorse him.) But where in his remarks was the clear declaration that Reaganomics failed?

For it did fail. The Reagan economy was a one-hit wonder.

Along similar lines, William Blum writes Reagan Didn't End the Cold War.

Ronald Reagan's biggest crimes were the bloody military actions to suppress social and political change in El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Afghanistan, but I'd like to deal here with the media's gushing about Reagan's supposed role in ending the cold war. In actuality, he prolonged it. Here is something I wrote for my book Killing Hope.

It has become conventional wisdom that it was the relentlessly tough anti-communist policies of the Reagan Administration, with its heated-up arms race, that led to the collapse and reformation of the Soviet Union and its satellites. American history books may have already begun to chisel this thesis into marble. The Tories in Great Britain say that Margaret Thatcher and her unflinching policies contributed to the miracle as well. The East Germans were believers too.

When Ronald Reagan visited East Berlin, the people there cheered him and thanked him "for his role in liberating the East". Even many leftist analysts, particularly those of a conspiracy bent, are believers. But this view is not universally held; nor should it be. Long the leading Soviet expert on the United States, Georgi Arbatov, head of the Moscow-based Institute for the Study of the U.S.A. and Canada, wrote his memoirs in 1992. A Los Angeles Times book review by Robert Scheer summed up a portion of it:

Arbatov understood all too well the failings of Soviet totalitarianism in comparison to the economy and politics of the West. It is clear from this candid and nuanced memoir that the movement for change had been developing steadily inside the highest corridors of power ever since the death of Stalin. Arbatov not only provides considerable evidence for the controversial notion that this change would have come about without foreign pressure, he insists that the U.S. military buildup during the Reagan years actually impeded this development.

Stephen Zunes has another take on this at CommonDreams, Don't Credit Reagan for Ending the Cold War.

Perhaps the most dangerous myth regarding the legacy of the late President Ronald Reagan is that he was somehow responsible for the end of the Cold War.

The Soviet Union and its Communist allies in Eastern Europe collapsed primarily because their governments and economies rested upon an inherently unworkable system that would have fallen apart anyway.

Perhaps most recently, we have former White House Press Sec. Dana "what's the Cuban Missile Crisis?" Perino, saying `We did not have a terrorist attack on our country during President Bush's term.'.

Then, you have the whole realms of mythology of how the U.S. is a Christian nation. So, this quick survey only scratches the surface.

grapes of wrath

of mice and men

(steinbeck)

working, by studs terkel.

the good war, ibid.

CH's choice of 'air-conditioned nightmare', spot on.

"Two wrongs don't make a right, but three lefts do." Jim Hightower

Hide it in a hiding place where no one ever goes
Put it in your pantry with your cupcakes
It's a little secret, just the Robinsons' affair
Most of all, you've got to hide it from the kids

Coo, coo, ca-choo, Mrs Robinson
Jesus loves you more than you will know (Wo, wo, wo)
God bless you please, Mrs. Robinson
Heaven holds a place for those who pray
(Hey, hey, hey...hey, hey, hey)

During his interview Mr Robinson was also asked if his financial affairs were under investigation.

In reply he said he had always acted "in the most professional and ethical way."

He also confirmed he had received a letter from the BBC which he said contained no allegations against him but "asked questions which are easily answered."

The BBC Spotlight programme has confirmed it has been investigating matters involving Iris Robinson for some time.

In a statement the BBC added that allegations have been put to the Robinsons and their response is awaited.

there is still a problem that people don't want to vote for Brown, but they don't seem to want the tories. It's very interesting right now. If Brown mutters he might leave after the election, Labour could actually win. But nobody in the labour party wants to step forward and take repsonsibility for what still seels a likely kicking.

A hung parliament looks more likely by the day.

keep to the Fen Causeway

Sorta reminds me of The Evelyn Wood Johnson Foundation, (or whatever), advert on NPR. "Underwriting research to find and cure the root cause of homelessness." One suspects it will be a long and inconclusive quest.

As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."

From Spiegel which has more wind-related statistics.

In the long run, we're all dead. John Maynard Keynes

The Urengoi Pipeline
Prospects for Soviet Leverage
By: John Van Oudenaren

This report examines the implications for Western security of Soviet energy exports to Western Europe. It considers energy as a potential instrument of leverage against Western Europe. It examines the Soviet record in using economic leverage and Soviet motives for promoting large-scale energy exports to the West, and it outlines several scenarios in which the Soviets might embargo exports or otherwise use energy as an instrument of political pressure. It then examines the European side of the relationship. It analyzes Western Europe's vulnerability and likely responses to two kinds of political pressure: (1) a sudden interruption of energy supplies aimed at forcing political concessions, and (2) a more gradual, long-term effort to encourage political accommodation through economic dependence. It concludes that neither of these kinds of pressure is likely to be used successfully by the Soviets, but that Western Europe's energy vulnerability is nonetheless likely to remain a factor in U.S.-West European relations.

Obama seems to have killed more civilians during his first year than Bush did in his first year

Is that a fair comparison looking at the state of the world now and then? and does that include civilian deaths due to the Iraq sanctions?

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.