Psychologists have a name for adults who still believe in Santa…

Out of this world: Winners of National Geographic competition capture stunning images of nature at its most beautiful

Video surfaces of Ron Paul talking about racist newsletters in 1995, far earlier than he said he knew about them

GOP presidential candidate says he didn’t write reports

( NYDaily)…A blast from the past is blowing a big hole in Ron Paul’s campaign.  A recently surfaced video from 1995 shows the GOP presidential hopeful discussing controversial newsletters that he claimed this week he didn’t even read until about 2001.

The Texas congressman has come under fire in recent days for the newsletters, called Ron Paul’s Political Report, Ron Paul’s Freedom Report and the Ron Paul Survival Report, which went out under his name in the late 1980s and early 1990s during his time in and out of office.  Some contained a series of racist statements, including, “We are constantly told that it is evil to be afraid of black men, it is hardly irrational.”  During the 1992 Los Angeles riots, another read, “Order was only restored in L.A. when it came time for the blacks to pick up their welfare checks.”

Video below the fold.…   (more…)

Oh, Mr. President…you really are too modest.  After all, aren’t you the guy who slowed down the rising of the oceans, and brought about the healing of our planet?  Come on Mr. President, in my book I’ve got you pegged at number one…albeit my list has a different heading.

Deadly series of attacks rock Baghdad…

Dozens killed and many more injured in wave of bombings across Iraqi capital amid rising sectarian tensions.

(Aljazeera)…Dozens of people have been killed and many more wounded in a series of blasts in Baghdad, according to Iraqi police.  At least 63 people died and 176 people were injured in at least 12 bombings across the Iraqi capital on Thursday morning, health ministry sources told Al Jazeera.  But there remained discrepancies amid officials over the fast-changing casualty count.  The wave of bombings come amid renewed fears of sectarian strife following the withdrawal of US troops and a deepening political crisis over an arrest warrant issued for Tariq al-Hashimi, the country’s vice president and most senior Sunni politician.  (more…)

Update:  Quoting Boehnner at his 5:30pm presser, “It may not have been politically the smartest thing in the world to wage this ultimately futile war.”  Understatement.

Update:  Looks like not all Republicans are on board with Boehnner’s plan to pass this quietly via unanimous consent.

Great….the optics couldn’t have been better.  President gives a presser surrounded by an adoring crowd of middle-class taxpayers demanding action, then within the hour, the Republicans cave making it look even weaker than it is.  Is anybody still talking about Keystone anymore?   Oh, and just a thought…what if Boehnner doesn’t have the votes to pass this?  Is he done as Speaker?   But is Boehnner really the one we should be blaming?  It looks to me like Boehnner went out on a limb over this, and Mitch McConnell just cut him off.

(ABCNews)… House Republican leaders have decided to accept a short-term extension of the payroll tax cut, sources told ABC News this afternoon, preventing a hike in taxes just nine days before the tax break expires for 160 million Americans.  (more…)

Listen to the clip below, and I bet you’ll find it oddly mesmerizing.  The Music is “Sugar Plum Fairy” by Tchaikovsky and it’s being played on the “glass harp”, an instrument played by running moistened or chalked fingers around the rim of glasses.  Each glass is tuned to a different pitch , either by grinding the glass to a specified pitch, or by filling the glass with water until the desired pitch is reached.   Close your eyes and listen.   It sounds like you’re listening to a quartet.  Well you are….a quartet of hands.

BREAKING NEWS:  It didn’t take them long…

BAGHDAD (Reuters) – A series of explosions struck Baghdad Thursday, the first apparently coordinated attacks on Iraq’s capital since a crisis erupted between its Shi’ite-led government and Sunni rivals after the withdrawal of the last U.S. troops, police said.   (more…)