Eighteen-year-old Bristol Palin, daughter of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, has given birth to a 7 pound 7 ounce baby boy, Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnston, the first child of Bristol and fiancé Levi Johnston.

I can only guess with a fair degree of scientific certainty what is going through noted and confused blogger A. Sullivan’s mind:

A-HA! Seven pounds! Seven ounces! Yea, though the number seven rules all, for it is the only integer which cannot be divided into the circle of 360! There were seven vowels in the ancient Greek alphabet! Indeed, Seven is the number, and the number is Seven! For there are seven stars in the Big Dipper! A-HA! Seven. The evil number of a great fraud perpetrated on the American voter!

ERGO, Tripp Easton Mitchell Johnson was switched with Trig Paxson Van Palin, and they are interchangeable with the number seven! Neither baby was fathered by Scott Palin or Levi Johnston, for they were sired by Gary Cherone and Sammy Hagar, respectively. As photographic evidence shows, neither child was delivered from Sarah or Bristol Palin. The mother is Madonna, as was foretold by the seven Sephiroth of the Kabbalah.

Another shot of rum, please, and make it a triple. I shall do the gumshoe bit again to free the Palestinians by getting to the bottom of the birthing of Tzipi Livni.

The world is a happier place for all this, yep.

Apparantly this has never happened before, but a few members of the Republican National Committee have called a bizarre, special meeting of the RNC in order to hear the sundry candidates for their chairmanship debate something or other. This was at the behest of North Dakota Republican Party chairman Gary Emineth, who recently disclosed:

“At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what the public thinks; it matters what 168 of us think.”

That’s the 168 members of the Republican National Committee, the Gang of 168. These 168 people control the apparatus of the national Republican Party, and they’ve frankly made a mess of things. (From my home State of Pennsylvania, we have Republican National Committeeman Bob Archer, a Philadelphia candy maker who most recently trashed our party’s Vice Presidential pick, Sarah Palin, in the press.

If Gary Emineth wants to have a policy debate between candidates for an office from which they can neither enact nor effect policy, whatever. It might do us some psychological good to know that the head of the party’s apparatus believes what he should say. That said, I think the main problem is not who runs the apparatus. The problem is the Gang of 168 itself. Once we clean out the attic, we give the new chairman, who will be a conservative, people with whom he can work to build the party and to help elect more conservative Republicans to office at a time when our nation needs them. Badly.

Sure, I support Mr. Emineth’s proposal provided the Gangg of 168 vacate their offices immediately. They are free to seek reelection in well-publicized primary elections. This is the first time I can recall active political competition for the job of RNC Chair; let us take this opportunity to have such a competition for the committee itself. Remember, an off year primary is the perfect time for the grassroots to speak on behalf of their interests and their party.

(I will not here disclose whom I support for the chairmanship of the RNC, as I don’t want to associate him with my two-cents on this matter.)

For Sunday, December 28, 2008

FOX News Sunday (FNS): Host Chris Wallace runs a taped interview with Laura Bush.

This Week (ABC): Host George Stephanopoulos talks to ex-WH chiefs of staff Ken Duberstein and Leon Panetta, then he talks to future White House Press Secretary Robinert Gibbs.

Meet the Press (NBC): Moderator David Gregory talks with that nice Axelrod fellow. Of note, one of his journalists on the roundtable will be the Washington Posts’s Michelle Singletary, who, NFL rumor has it, will be asked to continue coaching the San Francisco 49ers next season.

Face the Nation (CBS): Host Bob Schieffer talks to that nasty Paul Krugman fellow and then to Axelrod. Oh, and Illinois Lt. Governor Pat Quinn, part of the Daley-Blagojevich-Obama-Rahmbo Chicago political machine.

Late Edition (CNN): Host Wolf Blitzer will run a bunch of old interviews of which his producers are proud.

= = = = ==

That is the lineup, and the Sunday Show Review will return to this space next Sunday.

Happy New Year.

Ph’nglui mglw’nafh Atwater R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn.

Secretary of State James Madison was President Thomas Jefferson’s chief advisor and stategist; his biggest effort as secretary was, of course, overseeing the negotiations and ratification of the Lousiana Purchase from Emperor Napoleon’s France in 1803. The man’s memory will have nothing on Hillary.

According to the partisan New York Times, Hillary is already setting herself up to be the most powerful State secretary in the history of our Republic.

As Mrs. Clinton puts together her senior team, [anonymous] officials said, she is also trying to carve out a bigger role for the State Department in economic affairs, where the Treasury has dominated during the Bush years.

The paper reports that she will be “farming out” her increased power to “special envoys” to troubled areas: Afghanistan, India, Iraq, Pakistan, etc. (She ought to send someone to Chicago.)

As evidence that Hillary wants more and more money for her new fiefdom, the paper instructs, Hillary has recruited Jacob Lew to be one of her deputy secretaries. Mr. Lew currently runs hedge funds for Citibank. I don’t suppose they’ll cut Hillary’s rating, though.

Hillary’s rationale for the power and money grab, according to an anonymous advisor through the friendly NYT:

Mrs. Clinton’s push for a more vigorous economic team, one of her advisers said, stems from her conviction that the State Department needs to play a part in the recovery from the global financial crisis. Economic issues also underpin some of the most important diplomatic relationships, notably with China.

Will the United States, through its Department of State, be exporting Obama’s ideology? I suspect, then, that she’s studied the Domino Theory.

Read More →

Republicans are now evidently in their second month of moping, gnashing, and wringing about what went wrong with their Presidential ticket in November. Why – tell me! – WHY did McCain-Palin lose that race to Obama-Biden? McCain pollster Bill McInturff tells us. Well, he tells USA Today’s Paul Bedard, who, in turns, tells us:

Topping McInturff’s list: Obama was the first black presidential nominee and gave his acceptance speech on the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. The GOP convention was almost rained out by a hurricane over New Orleans on Hurricane Katrina’s anniversary. And as the economy collapsed, McCain had to endorse a bailout he never would have backed had he not been running for president. Reason: Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson begged him to. While he thinks playing up Barack Obama’s ties to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright would have worked to hurt the Democrat.

So it was the magical aura/gloss associated with the Obama campaign and it’s National Coming-of-Age back story, and it was Hank Paulson. Did Steve Schmidt or anyone tell John McCain to be John McCain instead of the fellow-who-buys-the-bill-of-goods-from-Hank Paulson? (It was a bill of good when sold to a Republican Presidential candidate, but I don’t know otherwise) .And we find out that McInturff liked McCain’s decision not to exploit the Rev. Wright connection, as that would have been race-baiting and would have “delegitimized his presidency.” (I’d like to have asked him how so, but I’ve moved on.)

No we’re not going to dig this one up and perform another autopsy. I’m more driven to mirthful tears by the demands of those surveyed for ABC News/WashPost.

Read More →

For Sunday, December 21, 2008

FOX News Sunday (FNS): Host Chris Wallace has a recently taped interview with Vice President Dick Cheney.

This Week (ABC): Host George Stephanopoulos has a recently taped interview with Joe Biden.

Meet the Press (NBC): Moderator David Gregory will talk to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, probably taped recently.

Face the Nation (CBS): Host Bob Schieffer will talk to Kerry Kennedy about her hyper-qualified cousin, Carolyn no-Schlossberg. He’ll talk to others about this matter: Representative Thomas Reynolds (R-New York), Geraldine Ferraro, Representative Gary Ackerman (D-New York), and Representative Peter King (R-New York).

Late Edition (CNN): Host Wolf Blitzer talks to Barney Frank, Eric Cantor, Laura Tyson, Carly Fiorina, and his usual cast of thousands.
—–

Unless (or until) events shake things up, I’m beginning my Christmas vacation from these shows. The interviews and retrospectives are interesting and entertaining, but there is little or no news in them.

And if they find the temerity to interview the leader of one of these LGBT groups, with a side of fries. I’ll cover that. That would no doubt be awesome TV, in a perverse way.

Of course, “Rahmbo’s” fingerprints are all over this.

President-elect Barack Obama is a product of Chicago politics, and despite being elevated to the highest political post in the nation, he cannot seem to crawl completely out of that particular gutter. His carefully selected chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, has been operating under the Chicago rules even as he helps Obama plan to bring Chicago’s politics to Washington.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports this AM:

Emanuel talked with the governor in the days following the Nov. 4 election and pressed early on for the appointment of Valerie Jarrett to the post, sources with knowledge of the conversations told the Sun-Times. There was no indication from sources that Emanuel brokered a deal, however.

A source with the Obama camp strongly denied Emanuel spoke with the governor directly about the seat, saying Emanuel only spoke with Blagojevich once recently to say he was taking the chief of staff post.

But sources with knowledge of the investigation said Blagojevich told his aides about the calls with Emanuel and sometimes gave them directions afterward. Sources said that early on, Emanuel pushed for the appointment of Jarrett to the governor and his staff and asked that it be done by a certain date.

And, sources tell the Sun-Times newspaper,” Rahmbo” and his discussions with Governor Blago, or some of them, are caught on Patrick Fitzgerald’s audio tapes.

Read More →

The Bush Administration is finally set to alter regulations to allow doctors and other health care professionals a “right to conscience,” allowing them not to participate in medical procedures, such as abortion and infanticide, which stand opposed to their moral underpinnings.

To wit:

The ‘provider conscience’ rule applies to any procedure performed in a federally funded medical setting that “violate(s) an individual’s conscience,” but it most pointedly singles out abortion. It goes beyond existing laws that bar religious discrimination against workers and protect medical professionals who refuse to perform tasks they find morally repugnant.

It is a rule which protects individual workers from the fascist dictates of the state, and the incoming Administration opposes it and is plotting already to undo it.

This is not all the Obama crew are readying for all of us, born and unborn.

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We have been instructed by Newt to stop talking stop including Obama in the Cook County Political Mafia (Daley-Blago-Obama-”Rahmbo”-etc). We must leave Barack alone and allow him to transcend our lives and vanquish our sufferings.

In a time when America is facing real challenges, Republicans should be working to help the incoming President succeed in meeting them, regardless of his Party.

From now until the inaugural, Republicans should be offering to help the President-elect prepare to take office.

If the man and/or his cronies are corrupt, the tale must be told. The ends do not justify the means, Newt.

Likewise, if the man with his cronies wishes to lead our country down the path which leads to oppression, the story has to be broadcast.

I understand the high road, Newt, and the push for civility, and I back the sentiment in the instances it is deserved and to the extent it deserves. This could be too serious for the sloppy bandaid.

[CAUTION: The vid might contain an indecorous word or two.]

[This is just a parody.]

Rahmbo Number Five

(as rendered by President-elect Barack Hussein Obama)

Bloggers and G-Men,
This is Rahmbo’s number five

Five, four, three, two one,
I might be the President with the Smoking Gun,
From Cook County near the river.
My pals say they want a Senate seat
But I really don’t wanna
Pay-for-play. It’s not in my range,
So I keep telling ‘em it’s all about change.
I like Daley, and Blago, Madigan, and Quinn
And as I continue, the deeper I’m in.
So what can I pay to get my guy?
If Rezko’s squealing, does it mean I’ll fry?
No one’s gonna say I look like dumbo,
I’ll just summon my Rahmbo.

A little bit of Blago in my life
A little bit of Emil Jones by my side
A little bit of Ayers is all I need
A little bit of Daley’s what I see
A little bit of Madigan in the sun
A little bit of Rezko all night long
A little bit of Khalidi battling mange.
A little bit of talk ’bout hope and change

Rahmbo’s number 5!

Talk up and down, obfuscate all around
Beguile the press with your sultry sound
Tap your foot on the ground
Make a promise to the left, fill a post on the right
Axelrod up front, leave Biden behind
Click your heels once and click your heels twice
And if you’re still in Kansas, you ain’t doing it right.

A little bit of Blago in my life
A little bit of Advisor A by my side
A little bit of Senate Candidate 2′is all I need
A little bit of Plaintiff’s what I see
A little bit of Nixon late at night
A little bit of Harding, what a sight!
A little bit of Biden (can’t get mange)
A little bit of talk ’bout hope and change

Rahmbo!
Hey, Rahmbo!
Rahmbo’s number 5 !
(heh heh heh ha)

A little bit of Blago in my life
A little bit of Emil Jones by my side
A little bit of Ayers is all I need
A little bit of Daley’s what I see
A little bit of Madigan in the sun
A little bit of Rezko all night long
A little bit of Khalidi battling mange.
A little bit of talk ’bout hope and change

I see all do
Fall for the lines from a guy like me
Why does Jesse Jr. have to take the dive?
Rahmbo’s Senate Candidate Number 5

Rhambo’s Number Five!

Sunday, December 14, 2008

PREFACE:

On ABC’s This Week, John McCain said that he was the “loyal opposition,” stressing “loyal.” He insisted that now was the time when everyone should “work together” to solve our nation’s problems. No, there was nothing about “stand up and fight.” That was yesterday’s cry.

On FOX News Sunday, Senator Bob Corker still insists that they can deal with the auto industry bailout legislatively, but he said that the President could include the necessary conditions on the TARP money if he so chose. Senator Deb Stabenow blamed the “Republican leadership” and insisted that “only the workers have sacrificed.” Corker said that the UAW wouldn’t deal because, they said, they knew they’d get the money from the White House regardless of what Corker wanted.

Next on FNS, Illinois State House Republican Leader Tom Cross stated the need for a special election to fill the Senate seat left vacant by Obama’s sudden but expected resignation. Abner Mikva was amenable to this if it is what the legislature chose, but he pointed out that it would take time and cost money.

On NBC’s Meet the Press, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan of Chicago said that she was not politically conflicted in this matter because she is the “lawyer for the people of Illinois.” Their Lieutenant Governor, Pat Quinn, said that we should ignore his earlier statement that Blago is both “honest” and “of integrity,” because Blago once threw him out of his administration. Also, he thinks that either he or Blago should appoint a temporary Senator until the real one can be selected by special election, giving an advantage to the appointed Dem.

On CBS’s Face the Nation, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, a Chicago Democrat, told host Bob Schieffer that the term “disability” she’s using in her suit to have Blago (D) removed is not defined only as a physical or mental disability. In his next segment, Senator Bob Corker said his failed Senate compromise bill was to imitate the Chapter 11 process without the stigma of having to declare bankruptcy. Senator Carl Levin intoned that the Chinese auto industry was asking the PRC government for loans. Senator Sherrod Brown emitted a low-pitched buzz and a shrill squeak. Communication, yes, but not as we know it.

On CNN’s Late Edition, I saw host Wolf Blitzer talk to journalists about the Blagojevich (D) situation then turned to Stephen Moore and Gene Sperling. Moore favors the bankruptcy route as it would help the auto industry by forcing real restructuring, while Sperling said that he’s tired of everybody picking on the UAW.

Read More →

Oh, man.

Well, this one is described as being: “Dan Rostenkowski, the son of a ward boss who became a legendary congressman, on why Gov. Blagojevich shouldn’t tar a whole city.”

Dan Rostenkowski begins:

During my career as a public official, I always tried to steer away from the minority of my colleagues who viewed public service as a potential commercial enterprise. They’ve always been there and can be found in state capitols and in Washington.

Oh, man.

For Sunday, December 14, 2008

FOX News Sunday (FNS): Host Chris Wallace talks with Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee and Democrat Senator Debbie Stabenow of Michigan.

This Week (ABC): Host George Stephanopoulos has John McCain.

Meet the Press (NBC): Moderator Tom Brokaw, I think, talks to Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, Mitt Romney, former HP President Carly Fiorina, Wal-Mart President and CEO Lee Scott, and Google CEO Eric Schmidt.

Face the Nation (CBS): Host Bob Schieffer has Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio), Dem Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, Senator Corker, and Attorney General Madigan.

Late Edition (CNN): Host Wolf Blitzer has Senator John Ensign of Nevada and Dem Senator Bob Casey Junior of Pennsylvania. And his cast of thousands.

—–

Corker and Stabenow will argue the Detroit bailout on FNS, and Corker and Levin will do the same on FTN. That is probably what Ensign and Junior Casey will discuss on LE, given Ensign’s role in the measure’s defeat in the Senate, but I don’t know what Junior did besides stand in the corner and drool.

John McCain’s back on TW, and I’m sure Steph will ask him why he has not seemed to do a thing about the auto bailout when he went so far as to suspend his campaign for the financial bailout. (Then again, I doubt Steve Schmidt is still advising the guy.)

For Sherrod Brown on FTN, see my reaction to Junior Casey on FTN.

Lisa Madigan, Illinois’ Attorney General, has been outspoken about Blago getting the hook. She is a Chicago Democrat, so perhaps this is in furtherance of whatever career she wants. (Perhaps she can succeed Junior Daley at the top of the city.)

I’ll catalog these things and post the results Sunday afternoon.

[NOTE: I wrote this story, but Brian beat me to the front page report. I offer it here as a diary, something of a diversion.]

Raise a stein for Franken! The Minnesota Board of Canvassers has voted unanimously to suggest that county boards to count all ballots which Norm Coleman tried to have thrown out as inconclusive to which comedian Al Franken replied, Nuh-huh!” Ballgame over? Raise the Franken stein and drink deeply? Rise and make yourself known, Mr. Senator Alan Stuart Franken? Nope. The Board of Canvassers is technically impotent in this matter. Their “ruling” was more like a “pretty please,” if that.

In Minnesota, the DFL take care of their own.

The decision came after Minnesota Attorney General Lori Swanson (D) recommended their inclusion.

“They followed the rules,” she said of the voters whose ballots were disqualified. “They had their votes rejected through no fault of their own.”

Also Friday, the Board of Canvassers demanded that an vote count from election night from a Minneapolis precinct be used instead of a later hand recount during. (Between the first count and the recount, 133 ballots disappeared.) This move, the Board believes, will also help Franken.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune says Senator Coleman is leading by 192 votes, while Team Franken had decided that Al is winning by five. The Board meets next week to determine the validity of some 4,500 other ballots that have been challenged.

The Minnesota Canvassing Board is chaired by extreme partisan Democrat Secretary of State Mark Ritchie. Members are Chief Justice Eric J. Magnuson of the Minnesota Supreme Court, Associate Justice G. Barry Anderson, Minnesota Supreme Court; Judge Kathleen Gearin, District Court Judge; and Chief Judge, Second Judicial District Judge Edward J. Cleary. Chris Steller of the Minnesota Indpendent liveblogged their meeting this morning. It shows that hyper-partisan Secretary of State Ritchie gung ho for counting the ballots which might lead to his candidate’s victory, while Chief Justice Magnuson takes the rational approach: “I’m uncomfortable with us as board whose job is to review even recommending that election officials take certain actions. I’m uncomfortable directing them to do anything.”

If Secretary of State Ritchie gets his way, we may soon be raisin the stein for Franken. And who knows, perhaps Richie can get around the residency requirement and join Franken as the new U.S. senator from Illinois

When Illinois’ Republican State Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka challenged not-so-popular Dem Governor Rod Blagojevich in 2006, she lost by 10 points. The Illinois electorate so wanted to vote Democrat that they got this — from the Daley, Obama, Rahmbo, Blago Democrat machine — as described in Topinka’s final political ad.

(HT, Chris Cillizza via Hoosier Access.

Mitt Romney’s hometown paper, the Boston Globe, reports that Romney is already moving towards a Presidential run in 2012. You see, Romney opened a PAC, the Free and Strong America political action committee, ostensibly for helping other Republican candidates. Romney has raised $2.1-million for such purposes, said he, but only 12% has been used for such. The rest, the paper reports, has gone to Romney’s upcoming Mitt ‘12 campaign.

Instead, the largest chunk of the money has gone to support Romney’s political ambitions, paying for salaries and consulting fees to over a half-dozen of Romney’s longtime political aides, according to a Globe review of expenditures.

Romney founded the Free and Strong America Committee shortly after dropping out of the 2008 presidential primary. He filled its coffers by telling conservative contributors around the country that their money would be used to support Republican candidates and causes.

According to the Globe analysis, he spent $244,000 on contributions to congressional and other candidates between April and the November elections. He has spent more than twice as much on staff salaries and contracts to hire professional fund-raisers, who are compiling contributor lists that will serve Romney well in a future presidential campaign.

In essence, Romney is financing a political enterprise that he can use to remain a national GOP leader and use as a springboard should he decide to launch another presidential bid for 2012.

That’s what political candidates do, but the Globe attributes nefarious motives and impersonates the rumblings of a Romney Machine.

Read More →

Maybe we could offer to lend them cardboard boxes for shelter.

The Old, Gray Drunk Lady has run out of money and is running out of options to remain solvent:

The New York Times Company plans to borrow up to $225 million against its mid-Manhattan headquarters building, to ease a potential cash flow squeeze as the company grapples with tighter credit and shrinking profits.

[ . . . ]
Standard & Poor’s recently lowered its credit rating on the Times Company below investment grade, and Moody’s Investors Service has said it was considering a similar move. Times Company stock, which has lost more than half its value this year, closed on Friday at $7.64, down 30 cents.

They can save themselves with a promotional campaign: “We Will Keep Our Opinions to Ourselves.” That will get attention, then if they strip all editorial opinion from their hard news items, they might be able to pull something off.

Pinch Sulzberger might have learned that a snide but shoddy product doesn’t sell. Advertisers know this. (But maybe he have Hank Paulson’s cell number. Dodd and Barney won’t demand that Pinch submit plans and lie prostrate with his nose in his well-raked muck.)

December 7, 2008.

PREFACE:

On FOX News Sunday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told host Chris Wallace that she thinks the Mumbai attacks plot might have originated “on Pakistani soil,” but she believes that the government of Pak was not involved. The two countries but now work together in concert with the United States.

Next on FNS, Carl Levin demanded that the execs of the financial corporations be subjected to the same humiliation as is now being doled out onto the bosses of the Big Three. Richard Shelby would have none of that, saying that the Big Three should work to save themselves. But they both agreed that Eric Shinseki was a great choice for the Veterans Affairs post in Obama’s administration, saying that he “spoke truth to power” and “we should have listened to him.”

Over on ABC’s This Week, Rice wouldn’t play a hypothetical game with host George Stephanopoulos involving Saddam, no WMD, better intelligence, and a do-over. UAW President Ron Gettelfinger then told Steph that the UAW was willing to talk.

On NBC’s Meet the Press, moderator Tom Brokaw asked President-elect Obama (PEBHO) to raise lots of taxes, but PEHBO resisted until we’re out of this economic crisis. But he added: “Our economy grows best when the benefits of the economy are more widely spread.”

On CBS’ Face the Nation, Chris Dodd blamed the problems of the Big Three on a “foreclosure crisis” in America, with people losing their homes. He said that if this we about only the Big Three, he would “let them fail in a New York minute.” Jeff Sessions wants the Big Three to go the Chapter 11 Reorganization route, but the two agreed that the leadership of the Big Three ought to be replaced.

And on CNN’s Late Edition, Governor Tim Pawlenty described each of the Big Three auto makers as being in different conditions and in need of different solutions. Ed Rendell reiterated that Janet Napolitano has no life and added that Tim Pawlenty has no life.

(The complete, show-by-show review is beneath the fold.)

Read More →

For Sunday, December 7, 2008

FOX News Sunday (FNS): Host Chris Wallace will talk to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, then he turns to Carl Levin & Richard Shelby about the auto bailout.

This Week (ABC): Host George Stephanopoulos chats with… Condy Rice.

Meet the Press (NBC): Moderator Tom Brokaw talks to the President-elect of the United States, Barack Obama.

Face the Nation (CBS): Host Bob Schieffer listens to Chairman Chris Dodd of the Senate Banking Committee and Senator Jeff Sessions of the Senate Budget Committee.

Late Edition (CNN): Host Wolf Blitzer has Rice, Tim Pawlenty & Ed Rendell, and his usual cast of thousands.

= = = = =

This is Dr. Rice’s week, it seems, and there will be some auto bailout – and it is almost automatic these days – prattle.

And I can almost guarantee you – knock on wood – that we will learn that Wolf Blitzer, Condoleezza Rice, and Tim Pawlenty have no lives.

I’ll have the stuff here on Sunday afternoon. I have no life, either.

The Times of London has for the first time revealed that former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro (deceased) has offered to meet with U.S. President-elect Obama.

“With Obama, talks could happen anywhere he wants,” the former head of the Communist regime wrote in the latest of a series of columns he has published in state-run media since falling ill in 2006.

His remarks follow an offer from his brother, President Raul Castro, to meet Mr Obama “on neutral ground” to try to end the 40 year long conflict between the two countries.

Which means that someone wrote something and put the late Fidel’s name to it.

President Kennedy pulled his ambassador from Havana on January 5th of 1961. In the interim, the Cuban government has not returned the stuff it has confiscated.

While campaigning, expressed a willingness to let Cuba off the hook for its human rights abuses, and Raul Castro has told Obama-friend actor Sean Penn that he wants to meet Obama in Gitmo. The stars may be aligning for the Cuban government finally triumphing over nearly fifty years of U.S. human rights policy. Gee, it’s too bad Fidel didn’t live to see it.

(President-elect Obama, I know it goes against your nature, but please reject this nonsense!)

- And for more on the redoubtable Mr. Penn, see Pejman’s earlier post.