" And finally, 68 years ago today, a day that will live in infamy."

The number of Pearl survivors and WWII vets may be dwindling, but it's still worth a moment to reflect upon the events of that day and what they meant to an entire generation. The day lives only if we remember not to forget.

Holy Cow, that pathetic Walter Mitty type with the fake hijacking story worked for NASA?!?! First the loony fatal-attraction astronaut who tried to kidnap her boyfriend's girlfriend, now this whackdoodle. What ever happened to the Right Stuff?

The BCS may be a terrible system, but the college football world has now been righted on its proper axis - everyone is looking up at Alabama.
Roll Tide Roll!

* BCS, still a dumb system.

see, that's the problem here: there's no one out there willing to stand up to the BCS bullies. -- John Feinstein, Washington Post

Well, if Boise State, the most entertaining college team to watch over the past several years, beats TCU in the Fiesta Bowl, I'll be getting a Broncos shirt and printing "The REAL national champions" on the back.

I enjoy chances to give self-important stuffed shirts a poke in the eye and a one finger salute.

"[T]he fact of the matter is that the much-derided TARP program has been a big success."

We saved (most) of the banks, but have we actaully fixed the problems that led to TARP in the first place?

December 7th.

The day our Nation was brutally attacked and thrust into WW II.

9/11.... we don't even know where our enemies are!

The 2 events just are not the same.

Yeah, some of us lust to be at war. But today is different.

68 years ago was a world shattering moment.

Can you imagine what would have happened if Midway had gone sour?

Thank god for the code-breakers.

* The White House press secretary encouraged a reporter to "calm down." -- Steve Benen

What's amusing/interesting is that she seems to be an equal opportunity thorn-in-the-side, since she apparently managed to provoke two very disparate press secretaries (McClellan and Gibbs) into the same, 'dentical, response. "When one person tells you you're drunk, you shrug it off. When two people tell you the same thing, you sleep it off" we used to say in Polish.

OTOH... She might just be one hell of a good reporter :)

Most corpses aren't heard from much after seven years, so Osama's silence and his mysterious whereabouts shouldn't be a surprise. The supposedly reputable people in and out of government still treat him as alive is an embarrassment, but actually is just a testimonial to the power of propaganda.

THE MAN IS DEAD!

Without Pearl Harbor America may not have joined the war. Without America in the war the Third Reich would be flourishing today. Can we really say this was an 'infamous' event?

- History is strange and not at all obvious.

Adding Politico to the Pulitzer board strikes me as a mistake.

ya think ?? we would say it a lot less politely - more like " wtf " ?!?!?!?!

If VanderHei is on the Pulitzer board, then I suppose that means Politico won't be up for any Pulitzer Prizes, right? I mean, honestly, I can't envision a scenario where they could, but this virtually seals the deal. I'm just speculating and probably wrong.

SteveT: "Well, if Boise State, the most entertaining college team to watch over the past several years, beats TCU in the Fiesta Bowl, I'll be getting a Broncos shirt and printing "The REAL national champions" on the back."

This is a sore point in our family as my son is a recent Boise State grad, a big fan of the football team, and a former 5-year member of the Blue Thunder marching band (which got him free trips to bowl games). According to my son (and articles I've read), Boise State has been eager to play the best BCS teams, has sent letters to them saying they will play at the other school's home field, etc. and they've gotten NO takers. Which means that Boise State is #1, right?

The BCS is a crock.

Can you imagine what would have happened if Midway had gone sour?

Actually, as the authors of "Shattered Sword" point out, had we lost the Battle of Midway it would have extended the war in the Pacific into 1946. Within 6 months of Midway, the new construction Navy was entering battle, while the Japanese only managed to bring three new major units into commission by 1945. The war in the Pacific was only in doubt by how long it would take the United States to thoroughly destroy Japan, a nation with a GNP that was 15% that of the U.S. As Admiral Yamamoto said after he heard of the successful attack on Pearl Harbor, "I fear we have awakened a sleeping giant and filled him with a terrible resolve."

BTW - my old friend the late Dick Best, the Navy pilot who sank the Akagi at Midway and thereby "won" the battle by turning it around, always said Midway was not as important as it was said to be as far as danger to the US was concerned, though it did mark the high water line of Japan's moment in the sun.

Without Pearl Harbor America may not have joined the war. Without America in the war the Third Reich would be flourishing today. Can we really say this was an 'infamous' event?

Yes. See how easy it is?

If that anarchist hadn't shot McKinley, we wouldn't have had Roosevelt as president and we wouldn't have had the national parks and national forest system we have today. That doesn't make the assassination any less heinous an act.

Whle Pearl Harbor substantially decreased the chances of the Third Reich surviving past 1945, the Soviets and Brits had a decent chance of taking the Germans down without us.

In any event, we'd have been in the war eventually. That decision had already been made in Berlin and Tokyo. The only question was how and when they'd start something, the key factor being whether they thought they could beat us before we were fully re-armed. Neither the Germans nor the Japanese wanted to gamble on the quality of the new American army and navy that was being built in 1941. It wouldn't be ready before 1943, so the Japanese took their shot and the Germans backed them up, as they'd agreed to do.

Joe Paterno is right: The only way to select a national champion is with a playoff system.

Oh and don't forget Dec. 8, the day the japanese attacked the philippines and a day that the legendary dugout doug macarthur bungled badly. Dec. 8th was also the day that my grandfather became a u.s. citizen.

John Fund . . .

So the Senate death march continues. Many Democrats have grave misgivings about making the bill a top priority given the economy. But in the age of bloodthirsty partisan bloggers they dare not be fully candid.

. . . not that hard to understand. His statements are of a piece with Thune's recent comments about Harry Reid and Al Franken, and with most of Maureen Dodd or Chuck Todd's comments about Democrats. A fundamental belief of Villagers is that the Liberals, or people who associate with them, are socially inferior, noisy, emotional children who should never be taken seriously, whose views should never be taken seriously.

John Fund would no more treat a Democrat's obligations to his supporters as "real" than he would take seriously a matron gushing over how brave her poodle is for barking through a window.

Afghanistan is now Obama's War and Obama's abyss!

And you really buy every claim by Bernanke, Steve?

always read the originals:
"I think we're in very good shape," Bernanke said, answering questions following a speech at the Economic Club of Washington. "I do believe we're going to get back all the money, and indeed we'll be showing for the taxpayers fairly significant extra income."
...
Bernanke was referring specifically to Fed programs -- not the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP). The U.S. Treasury will likely lose money on TARP, though the Obama administration is expected to announce soon that losses will be $200 billion less than initially expected.

Steve Benen's "poised to" is derived from Bernanke's belief statement. It's basically a financial speculation about future financial growth. It's an extrapolation of recent favorable trends. I hope he is correct, but should I (or Congress) bet on it?

"We have no idea where in the world Osama bin Laden is."

As mentioned above, I can believe that "we" have no idea where the dead body of OBL is... (My guess is buried underneath tens of meters of rubble, ever since our opening bombing runs on Afghanistan's mountain caves).

"We have no idea where in the world Osama bin Laden is."

Most probably he was allowed to escape Aftanistan the same time that other members of the bin Ladin family were flying out of the US despite an airport lockdown.

, a day that will live in infamy.

actually: "... a date that will live..."

"Medicare buy-in really is on the table."

Well... for 55+ year olds.

This is bad. We don't need more "got mine" votes from older people who's voting patterns are no longer affected by reality.

If we are to expand medicare to cover some more people it ought to be 0-18 year olds.

My republican relatives all love/can't wait for their medicare as the froth and sputter about "Hillary Clinton and Socialism" (real argument put forth by one of them, yes that was the entire sentence). If medicare started at 55 they would get another entire decade insulated from the results of their ridiculous ideology.

Actually, if you watched the video of Robert Gibbs telling April Ryan to 'calm down' he was really condescending and rude. He compared her behavior to that of his 6 year old which is when the rest of the press corps gasped. It was RUDE. If he can't figure out a way to stop her politely maybe he shouldn't be Press Secretary.

"The financial industry bailout is not only poised to be cheaper than expected, but is also poised to add hundreds of billions to the Treasury.

I think the articles actually say that the *Fed* balance sheet will gain hundreds of billions (well, tens of billions). And that the TARP will still be a net loss, for the Treasury, but less of a loss than predicted.

Hey JeffF: some of us 55+ year olds are Democrats, and rooted in reality, ya know... Personally, I'm for single payer for everyone.

Heh, then you aren't the problem. However the problem still exists.

Virtually nobody over 55 is going to change their voting pattern no matter how much they turn out to love socialized medicine.

Socialized medicine named medicare is hugely popular with the over 65 crowd now, yet they are still more opposed to socialized medicine called anything else for any other group than the general population.

Sure, expanding Medicare to cover those 55 and over is great, but why not just make it Medicare for all then?
Under our current system, or a watered down "reform", a lot of folks won't make it to that age, much less 65 or whatever the age limit is now. Or they'll enter Medicare with all sorts of health problems that they wouldn't otherwise have had if they were part of the system from birth.

But I do agree it's good for those 50 somethings who find themselves out of a job and without insurance, and who can't find a decent new job due to the bias against older workers by most employers.

What April Ryan was engaged in is what my kids call "Being messy."

We called it "Trying to start some shit."

Bell of Ball?

Give me a break and grow up.

rRk1,

"Most corpses aren't heard from much after seven years, so Osama's silence and his mysterious whereabouts shouldn't be a surprise."

This must be Dana Perino.

Bin Laden HAS been heard from as well as SEEN numerous times over the past eight years.

He's very much alive and well, much to the consternation of Chimpy Bush, who said:

* "The most important thing is for us to find Osama bin Laden. It is our number one priority and we will not rest until we find him." - 9/13/01

* "I don't know where bin Laden is. I have no idea and really don't care. It's not that important. It's not our priority." - 3/13/02

"BCS, still a dumb system."

Yeah, lucky for the BCS that my Huskers didn't beat Texas last Saturday, they would have had a pretty ugly mess on their hands.

Ah well, Suh for Heisman. Go Big Red.

Please let Inhofe dissappear in Copenhagen, never to be seen again!

I wish Gibbs would tell somebody to STFU so it could be even slightly scandalous instead of this mamby pamby bullshit somebody decided to call "news". I really wish he'd tell that Cheney girl to STFU, hell I'd give him $500.00 to do that!

A minor point, quoting FDR, it is "A date that shall live in infamy."

That doesn't make [insert negative action] any less heinous an act. - Midland.

There are two kinds of history: history driven by violence and history driven by kindness.

At the end of the day, you take your pick. Personally, I prefer the latter; and that choice directly affects the perspective I enjoy on life. We do create the realities we experience by the choices we make, irrespective of our shared historical context.

My point was not to condone barbarous acts, but rather to point to alternative perspectives.

Tarp is a success????? Holy Cow, PT Barnum is alive and well.

From the standpoint of the banks and the monied class, TARP did its job. From the standpoint of the average person, it was just the rich and powerful protecting their interests in the guise of "truckle down" economics at its finest. TARP was a Ponzi scheme designed to route money back to the folks who caused the financial crisis and deserved to lose it. It worked just the way it was designed and the interest group for whom it was to benefit.

The game now that the con job is fait accompli is to misdirect and misrepresent what occurred under the auspices of TARP. Saying that the success of TARP enables TARP money to be used to help create jobs is about as good an explanation of our leaders cynical priorities and their sentiments about representing the public as one could ever find. It's called throwing a bone to the public now that the Big Dogs have been fed.

In case you missed the essence of what went on with TARP, here is a summary. First the government sends billions of dollars to keep the major financial institutions solvent when otherwise their losses on cdo's and derviatives wiped them out. A couple of not so well connected institutions were allowed to go down early, but no ever said these boys in power were nice to all of their ilk. Next the government sends $180 billions of dollars to the bookie bagman AIG so that it can make good on all the otherwise worthless bets. AIG then ponies up its billions of dollars it received from the government back to its major financial institutions so they can turn around and repay the billions of dollars they were loaned by the government while also keeping sizeable profits from their otherwise failed bets.

"And finally, 68 years ago today, a day that will live in infamy."

And an interesting new book by James Bradley, "Imperial Cruise", that traces it all to Teddy Roosevelt's racism, jingoism, and encouragement of Japanese expansionism. T. R. 's face should be chiseled off Mount Rushmore.

An example of the undercurrent of conservative success is the fact that Michael "You've done a hellva job, Brownie" Brown has been appointed to the University of Denver faculty. This university is the alma mater of Marilyn Albright and Condeleza Rice. Brownie's last job was a talk show jock on the convervative blow torch, the voice of the Rockies...38 states and counting...KOA.

Colorado went blue in 2008; but not expected to survive the 2010 republican onslaught...not locally nor in Congressional seats.

There are 120 teams in Div 1A football now right? 10 conferences. 12 teams in each. Winners of the conference titles play in the big bowls in a plus-one system. Has elements of a playoff (championship game) while still making every game count (plus-one would be seeded by ranking).

And an interesting new book by James Bradley, "Imperial Cruise", that traces it all to Teddy Roosevelt's racism, jingoism, and encouragement of Japanese expansionism. T. R. 's face should be chiseled off Mount Rushmore.

Only if you're convinced that the universe orbits around various Americans you love to hate.

I tend to blame the Japanese for their own expansionism. They were grown-ups and all and should take credit or blame for their actions. Kind of flagrantly racist to claim all their sins were Teddy Roosevelt's fault, and ludicrous otherwise to claim that the feeble American military of 1900 could decide the fate of Asia.