Now we're goin' ta hafta find someone else to mock, donchaknow. No, wait, we have Mark Sanford. We'll be just fine.

No, it's apparently not a joke, what you've all heard. Just think of what we'll be missing; we won't have Sarah to kick around any more. But it just leaves you scratching your head, donnat?

The sudden announcement alone is a surprise, as well as the conflicting reasons. For someone with such ambitions, the ides of "leaving politics altogether" as well as "preparing to campaign in the lower 48" obviously don't gibe.

Josh Marshall, noting the incongruity between the conflicty versions of reality decides that something's a-comin' down the pike at the Alaskan First Fam, and I can't disagree. Because even though logic and reality are folly when assaying politics, that doesn't mean things don't happen for a reason, and that goes triple for sudden things.

Josh also guesses that she may be even more unhinged than the wags thing, but I'm not ready to join that joyous beating up – well, at least not yet, anyway.

Wexler: Settlement freeze would call Arab world’s ‘bluff’

Visiting Israel, Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) tells Herb Keinon of the Jerusalem Post that Israel should agree to a short-term settlement freeze -- and that it's a smart move to call the Arab states' bluff:

"A request for a moratorium or freeze in settlement activity that can be mutually agreed upon by the US and Israel in the next several weeks is a tiny, tiny gesture and down payment to make when you look at potentially what is on the other side of the equation," said Wexler.

On other side of the equation, he said, were 22 Arab countries being urged by the US to take significant steps now towards normalization with Israel.

"I want to call their bluff," Wexler said. "I want to see, if Israel makes substantial movement toward a credible peace process, whether they are willing to do it. And if they are not, better that we should find out five or six months into the process, before Israel is actually asked to compromise any significant position."

How blinded by bigotry does one have to be to say that in public and appear to actually think it's rational???

I am absolutely gobsmacked by the intellectual vacuity necessary to even think that a short-term token effort by one party and a long-term commitment to peace by another party are somehow on equal footing.

This is no different than the ongoing efforts to get European nations to compensate (or return) Jews for lands and properties seized during WWII while steadfastly refusing to even consider compensating (or returning) Arabs for lands and properties seized during the creation of Israel and later during the '67 War. It is a completely one-sided relationship that is being offered. And they wonder why it's not received with open arms!?!?!

I attended the kick-off event at Keen Footware's HQ in The Pearl but I was there to see Senator Merkley. And that's why I didn't bother with a summation of my own. I don't know enough about The Inter Twine and feel it's better left to those who do understand it, like BikePortland.org's Jonathan Maux, to explain.

Look at a topographical map of the region and note where the bulk of the water flows and you'll begin to understand that religion and "terrorism" are merely a smokescreen for official Israeli attachment to the Occupied West Bank and the Golan Heights.

Simple demographic projections combined with fundamental geology demonstrate the unsustainable squeeze Israel is looking at in their own future. But ignore that... Just keep watching the other hand moving the empty shell around the board... that's the hand that you're supposed to be watching, not this hand hiding fundamental motivations that you're not supposed to be paying attention to.

This 14 year old girl clearly has an inner core of steel which nobody had suspected was there. Maybe it's because I'm the father of two daughters that I just wanted to cheer when I read that. I find the whole thing very moving!

From a piece today:

"In the midst of the mourning, there is Bahia. It is a miracle, it is an absolutely extraordinary battle for survival," France's cooperation minister, Alain Joyandet, who flew back with her, said at the airport. "It's an enormous message that she sends to the world ... almost nothing is impossible."

Truly it is a testament to the human spirit and a reminder of the wisdom of MLK's call to judge people on the content of their character rather than on outward appearances.

They're going to charge you a buck at the newsstand/paper box, up twenty-five cents.

Which, of course, means that when it comes to the pape in PDX, you're getting less for more.

Practically indispensable.

(h/t Oregon Media Central, which seesm to be fast becoming the media go-to site around here these days).

This is Michael Scheuer arguing that "the only chance we have as a country right now is" for bin Laden to "detonate a major weapon" in U.S.

In an email to a Washington Post blogger, McCain staffer David Welch wrote: "Purdum did not include quotes from pro-Palin staffers (Mike Goldfarb, Randy Scheunemann have been outspoken in their support) — a clear sign of biased hit piece. If that doesn't convince you, the countless cheap shots and comparison of Palin to Nixon should."

Whereas President Nixon traveled to China at significant political risk and managed to engage the reclusive and pathologically introspective Chinese in a way that nobody from the West had ever managed before him, Sarah Palin would have visited Taiwan and declared that since she could see China from there that therefore she was henceforth some sort of an expert on China.

David Welch couldn't be more right. Sarah Palin is no Richard Nixon. It would take a great deal more than simply sharing his supremely self-righteous arrogance to fill his shoes.

And this is why brilliant legal analysts are saying this decision, when you get right down to it, is actually nine-zip, not 5 to 4, when you look at some of the things that Ginsburg wrote about the mistakes here in not even hearing the case, not even taking the constitutional questions.

We can render it thus:

(5-to-4 decision)+(the minority report thru a lens Conservatively) = (A 9-0 decision) x (Sotomayor is a racist)

It's no wonder the USA hasn't been to the moon since the 1970s.

Being able to say the words "Senator Al Franken of Minnesota" has been tempered somewhat because of bitter, angry Republicans who hate us who made it stall for eight months.

But when you've won, you've won. Republicans ought to know that as well as anyone.

Hazelnut-Lime Butter
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup chopped roasted Hazelnuts
1/2 cup chopped Parsley
1/8 cup chopped Cilantro
3 tsp minced Garlic
3 tbsp Lime juice
Salt & Pepper to taste

This would be divine on a wide variety of things, up to and including toast. It's very, very tasty!

And here's what I ended up with after dividing the roasted Hazelnuts and butter in half for a side jaunt into experimental territory. It was guided in rough terms by a nearly identical experiment several years ago with a friend except then it was blueberries and this time I went with Huckleberry jam.

Huckleberry-Hazelnut Butter
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup chopped roasted Hazelnuts
1/2 cup chopped Parsley
2 1/2 tbsp Huckleberry Jam
1 tbsp Lime juice
Salt & Pepper to taste

On Salmon this one is absolutely to die for. It was easily my favorite of the two on Salmon. Because of the Huckleberries I suspect that it would not be as versatile as the other one. But that's just a hunch which I intend to put to the test.

Lastly a word about roasting Hazelnuts. I personally like to roast them on the slightly dark side. It produces a very coffee-like background taste which is amazingly addictive. If you've never roasted Hazelnuts before I would suggest experimenting by pulling a few out and eating them, noting how long they'd been in the oven until you find what pleases you the most. What I did was set the oven at 300 degrees and roasted them on a cookie sheet for half an hour.

With the Netanyahu administration under new pressure from Washington to clamp down on settlement growth, JTA's Dina Kraft takes an in-depth look at the small minority within the settler movement that is poised to thwart any agreement on West Bank evacuations. Determined to hold onto their land at any cost - including violence against Israel - these radicals are likely to represent the next flash points in the conflict over the West Bank.

Some Jewish settlers turning against Israel
Confident they are following the word of God, a small but vocal and increasingly violent minority within the Jewish settler movement has become the face of radical Jewish nationalism in Israel. Read more »

The view from a West Bank hilltop
JTA visits Havat Gilad, an illegal Jewish settlement outpost in the West Bank slated for evacuation. Residents there say they have no intention of leaving, and they'll fight if necessary. Read more »

Israel wrestles with settler challenge
Bringing radical Jewish settlers under control and enforcing evacuation orders for illegal West Bank outposts has proved a conundrum for successive Israeli governments. Will the new Israeli government be any different? Read more »

Via BlueO: Steve Novick takes an AOI stooge to school on the (ahem) second-lowest business tax rate in the nation, and State Rep. Brian Clem (D-South and East Salem) makes and eloquent case:

The wealthy are indeed drinking your milkshake (chances are, if you're reading this, you aren't wealthy). Whether they mean to or not, they can't keep doing that.

You may as well build your fireplace by knocking bricks out of your foundation.

That'll learn him.

Turns out outsourcing isn't the ideal solution for everything, I'm guessing.

And Today in Type 2 Diabetes: via The State, Mark Sanford's love letters. Quite a romantic, him. Here's a sample:

Two, mutual feelings .... You have a particular grace and calm that I adore. You have a level of sophistication that so fitting with your beauty. I could digress and say that you have the ability to give magnificent gentle kisses, or that I love your tan lines or that I love the curve of your hips, the erotic beauty of you holding yourself (or two magnificent parts of yourself) in the faded glow of the night’s light - but hey, that would be going into sexual details ...

Yeah, don't want to go into sexual details. 'Cos everyone knows Republicans have no sex.

You can read the rest but make sure you load up on insulin and have your barf bag handy.