Remember Star Trek episode where two people were trying to kill each other because they were the same colors but on opposite sides?

Remember how that episode ended?

Anyone else getting tired of this insanity and thinking we ought to get out of the way and let them have at it?

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I so enjoy your excellent reporting throughout the year. I hope someday to see you become a regular guest on MSNBC. Your common sense, research and journalistic integrity is second to none.

I won't be back till Monday so Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Note on the comment about democracy in certain states: Here in Wisconsin, we "reformed" democracy starting with the Thompson administration in the 1980s. We have essentially liberated citizens from the burdens of decision-making. Government is run by the same people regardless of who is technically elected to office. Sometimes the people get upset and protest. Government and media lets them get it out of their systems (as long as they behave), they have their protest, thump their chests, and we all get back to work. No matter how an election turns out, the agenda remains the same. So, eventually people grow up and concede that we don't have democracy here in Wisconsin, and there's nothing we can do about it.

Now that we have spent weeks going after Susan Rice, it's time to spend weeks going after John McCain, Lindsey Graham and the like. If all the people who have been spouting about Susan Rice can get weeks of coverage, those same news outlets should be giving weeks of coverage to rebuilding her reputation and bringing theirs down. You can't simply spend weeks slandering someone and then when the facts come out and she is completely cleared you walk away without saying a thing. She has committed the vast majority of her life to public service and along that road has had many significant achievements, but because of this one slander and how much time it got, this is the thing she's most known for. The people who were engaged in the slander before the facts were out deserve to be brought down to the level they were trying to bring Susan Rice down to. This isn't slander, it's fact and deserved. Their character, their judgment and their smarts should now be called to question for weeks on end.

The only reason the Susan Rice argument got as much coverage as it did, is because elected Republicans went out and made it news. The reason these baseless arguments reach outside of the conservative propaganda machine is because actual elected Republicans keep pressing the argument until mainstream media covers it. As much as I hate this, it is the 24/7 network news reality we live in and if elected Democrats don't go out and press support for Susan Rice the news will move on, and this slanderous disgrace will fade away from coverage without ever undoing the damage done and bringing justice to those responsible for this disgrace. This is just one example, but if we learned anything from the rise of the tea party after the 2008 victory, it was that we had to stay awake and keep pressing the argument on every issue. If the progressive grassroots, pundits and journalists are staying awake and fighting every day, we need Democrats in Congress, Presidential spokespeople and the President himself to do the same. No matter how much we fight for these issues, mainstream media will not cover them unless elected officials go on the offensive forcing coverage.

One of the things I hated about the Bush administration was that I had to watch White House spokespersons 24/7 on every news network. As much as I hated it, they were really good at it. One of the things I was so looking forward to after eight years of this hell, was the same 24/7 coverage from Pres. Obama’s spokespeople. I'm still waiting for this.

One of the biggest problems elected Democrats have had is they don't step up to the mic. There's plenty of progressive pundits, journalists and grass-roots individuals who are fighting every day to win these arguments. What's missing are actual Congressional leaders and Presidential spokespeople working to fight the same arguments that Congressional Republicans make across-the-board on mainstream TV everyday. Not only do we need them to counter arguments but we need them to start arguments, because everyone knows the best defense is an aggressive offense.

In support of what others have said on this blog, why should we care what's going on in the Middle East? Quit covering it!

It produces nothing in the way of goods that we want or need (we're almost independent of world oil, and what we do need, we can get from more civilized regions, like West Africa). The only service it produces that are of any concern to us is Terrorists. Who needs them?

Simple ME policy: Kill terrorists anywhere, if they threaten the US; treat everyone with diplomatic courtesy. That's all, and that's enough.

Look, these tribes have been killing each other and demolishing their cities for over 5,000 years. If they insist on living like that, there's nothing we can do, after 5,000 years! Just walk away, and put our resources into south, southeast, and east Asia where we have a compelling national interest.

Joe Palca's report from JPL yesterday has me thinking about this mysterious Christmas present under the tree that we can't open until December.

Anyway, if TRMS is interested in reviving a science geek segment, I have a question about the capabilities of the Mars Curiosity Rover. It is widely speculated that Curiosity discovered some sort of organic chemicals, and the main question is whether they are pre biotic or post biotic chemicals.

As any science geek knows, people should not confuse the common meaning of "organic/inorganic" with discussions of organic chemicals. "Organic" chemicals are complex compounds with carbon in them- that's all. Many can be created in space with absolutely no prior contact with living organisms.

What only a few science geeks know is that these non biologically created compounds can be so complex that their chemical structures resemble those of coal and petroleum. Last year, in the Journal Nature, astronomers from the University of Hong Kong reported startling results. Some stars are prodigious factories of extremely complex organic molecules even though they are created under near vacuum conditions. Said Dr. Sun Kwok, "Theoretically, this is impossible, but observationally we can see it happening."

Which brings us to the news reported out of JPL yesterday. Certainly it is not responsible science journalism to engage in wild speculation, but some foundational questions about Rover capabilities are fair and useful background. The question is, if you handed the SAM package of instruments a coal molecule, would it understand it was coal, or would it only be able to give tell us about constituent parts? If so what are some examples of complex component parts? Would it be able to detect the sort of chemicals that Kwok discovered, and is it able to distinguish between abiotically generated and those from biological activity?

Ok, maybe that is too geek for TRMS, but dang.

It would be cool even if Curiousity confirmed that complex abiotic organics were everywhere on the surface.

It IS an open thread....and DEMOCRATS absolutely SUCK...consider it an open thread.

I've been reading headlines that say McCain is going after Rice because he is a sexist or a bigot, but it might be much simpler--revenge on Rice herself. As another blog shown, back in 2008, Rice was the one who pointed out McCain's inconsistencies on Iraq:

'Remember when then Republican presidential candidate McCain told us that we should not have a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, because “we are succeeding.”It was at that time, in 2008, that Susan Rice, as Obama’s senior foreign policy adviser, sent reporters to a conflicting McCain statement from 2004, wherein he admitted that if the sovereign Iraqi government asked us to leave, we would have to abide.' (from politicususa)

All of the discussion of the attacks on Ambassador to the United Nations Rice are treating the surface of the question and not looking at the possible tactical benefits to Republicans of Ambassador Rice's not being nominated to serve as Secretary of State. The most likely alternative candidate to Ambassador Rice is Senator Kerry of Massachusetts. The Republicans have a man whom they believe to be a winning senatorial candidate waiting in the wings should Senator Kerry become Secretary of State, a man who did ally himself in some measure with John McCain. If, in the course of events one can make Obama seem a racist and extract some additional vengeance from Susan Rice while getting public attention and helping your party get a Senate seat, what more could an aging politician hope for. - A perverse thought: perhaps one should encourage the President to reward the all too vocal Republicans by nominating John Huntsman to serve as Secretary of State - he would be competent and Republican (albeit one the right wing of his party would like to forget).

There may be peace yet but some how it seems to me that Teapublicans want it to escalate. Weapons of war is very profitable and they must be used in order to make more. I wonder if they now come with expiration dates on them. Best used by 12/21/2012 or prices will rise.

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Seems like Hamas is willing to call any outcome a win. They were doing their best to egg Israel into a ground invasion, and now that it looks like that may have been averted, they still call it a "victory". You can see why they keep instigating these skirmishes. If Israel invades, they can spin it as a humanitarian crisis for international sympathy, and if they don't, they can spin it as intimidating the mighty Israel army into backing down from the fight. Neither outcome seems likely to change the status quo, though.

I think there's an applicable saying that goes something like "An eye for an eye eventually just leaves everybody blind."

I know this is off topic, please excuse me.

Ezra Klein did a piece on the filibuster and the filibuster reform movement last night. I have never yelled so loud at a television.

Why do right thinking liberals BOTCH this particular discussion EVERY freaking time?

You put up charts of how often the filibuster is being employed, never acknowledging that the chart mixes up real filibusters and fake filibusters. A real filibuster is a temporary and PAINFUL delaying tactic. A fake filibuster is a permanent and PainLESS for the minority of 41 Senators, act of OBSTRUCTION. It gives the minority dominance over the majority of 59 senators.

Keep the real filibuster! We must rid ourselves of the FAKE filibuster, and that starts by refusing to discuss the two as if they are the same thing.

Rachel had an unfortunately silly contest to rename the fake filibuster last year, and she settled on the "TARANTINO" because it Kills Bills. After choosing that NAME for the fake filibuster she has failed to make use of it. What was the point of the renaming if you aren't going to use it?

Really! Ezra should have been told to call the fake filibuster the "Tarantino" to highlight that the fake filibuster is the problem, and not the real filibuster.

My choice for the renaming? FUFINO. Filibuster In Name Only.

We have got to get serious about this, stop conflating the two.

They are already making excuses for not eliminating the FUFINO now, because the House is still in the Republican majority, so the minority in the Senate won't be a problem this time. This is a nonsensical position to take. Keep the real filibuster, rid us of the FUFINO.

We need to understand that the Middle East needs to become an irrelevant sideshow for 21st century America. All that matters is our relationship with the BRIC and Asian Pacific rim countries. We need to tell the Israelis to solve their security problems with a comprehensive two state solution. The United States needs to invest $3 trillion in its infrastructure just to start to catch up with the Asian and European countries we must compete against. We constantly underestimate how much we are behind in green energy, bullet trains, and state of the art infrastructure such as high capacity broad band access.

We need to get off of foreign oil, especially OPEC oil. We have spent $7.3 trillion on keeping an aircraft carrier in the Persian Gulf from 1976 to 2007. The Iraq and Afghanistan wars will cost us $4 trillion long term. We subsidize a gallon of fuel from $11 to $15 per gallon once the environmental, health, and military costs are all added up. The non-OECD countries, mostly Asia, consumed more oil than the OECD countries for the first time this year. We need to leave oil before oil leaves us.

Happy Thanksgiving for all of you.

So tell me again, why did Obama make this trip? On a list of top 5 priorities isn't the economy more important right now? What did he accomplish on this trip?