I've gotten waylaid by a number of projects and stories over the last 24 or more. With my apologies, here's an Open Thread during which I hope you'll be the blog for now in my absence.

Speaking of "24", I've been meaning to write something of late, as a public service to inform its many wingnut fans that it is a television show. You can easily tell the difference between 24 and Reality because 24 appears only on a television screen. Whereas Reality is that thing that which is seen occurring everywhere else. If they bother to look. Just sayin'. Discuss.

Back very soon...

Does this guy despise democracy or what?

Unbelievable.

(Feel free to use this item as an Open Thread for tonight's speech, as I may not be able to blog it...but we'll see. RAW STORY has the complete text of the speech. Will leave this on top for now.)

POST-SPEECH UPDATE:

BUSH: "[W]e must expect more Iraqi and American casualties."

And so we ask again, as we did on Sunday: How many more casualties are expected due to Bush's escalation of the War?

The White House/Pentagon undoubtedly have made estimates in the course of their planning, right? If so, what are the numbers? How much of our blood (Barb's and Jenna's not included) is Bush willing to spend on the gamble which nobody but he, McCain, Lieberman, and possibly Barney (though I doubt it) are in favor of? The People and the Congress have the right to know. They need to demand it.

If no such estimate of a surge or fall in the body count has been made while considering this plan, the White House has been impeachably delinquent. So, is any Congress member or media type out there, other than me, going to ask that question?

If you accidentally forgot to spend a few dollars on gifts for loved ones, please feel free to donate a few of them to your friendly neighborhood BRAD BLOG. We could use the help, as I have been woefully delinquent at fund raising over the past many months.

DONATE HERE or really help my holidays be merrier by signing up for a monthly subscription, of any amount, by using the blue form on the right of this page.

Beyond that, consider this an Open Thread for the stragglers who haven't scrammed (I would be one of them, even as I've been busy with all manners of things all day which have kept me from blogging as I had hoped).

I may not be able to post at all today/tonight (though I reserve the right to contradict myself at a moment's notice.) So feel free to cover what you think the world needs to know about today in comments here. I'll be back soon (though I reserve the right to contradict that too.)

Other than that...What are you thankful for this weekend? Consider it an open thread...

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

Well, here it is!

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

I'm working on a few things but none of them will be ready to be posted soon.

So go ahead. Be the blog.

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

Well, OK ... I'm not really a King ... but I would like to see another open thread!

{So... poof! He made it so. --99}

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

I have been so busy (doing nothing) that I didn't even notice how long --- and how far down the page --- the most recent open thread is. Ah, life!

Fortunately, Agent 99 sent me a gentle reminder that it's about time for a new one --- and a great pic to get us started.

Guest Blogged by Winter Patriot

Still breathless after my appearance on the Peter B. Collins show
I might not be able to write much over the next day or two
The most recent open thread is a few days old
And it's not getting any younger
So ... here you go:

It's Open Thread Blogging At Its Best

Down By The BRAD BLOG
Down by the sea
On the green and yellow blog, baby
That's where I'll be ...

Oops! I almost forgot: I've got something musical for you to read. It's from the New York Times and the headline is kind of preposterous, but it's worth reading anyway. You can find it here ... or if that doesn't work, click here.

PS: I've got one more cold photo for you, here.

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

... and I sure hope somebody comes along and starts one!

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

In just a month and a day it'll be the 11th of September. That's an important date, somehow. Our friends at Raw Story had an item up the other day that said 30% of all Americans don't know what year we're talking about when we refer to "September 11th".

Maybe they're thinking of 1973, when a coup-d'etat, backed by Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger and some of their CIA friends, caused the death of Salvador Allende and wiped out the democratically elected government of Chile.

Or maybe they're thinking about some other year. I don't know.

How about you? What are you thinking about today?

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

I'm working on a bunch of new things but most of them aren't ready yet. Oh well.

Your turn.

Guest blogged by Winter Patriot

Lord, we don't need another mountain,
There are mountains and hillsides enough to climb
There are oceans and rivers enough to cross,
Enough to last till the end of time.

A hat tip to Burt Bacharach, and Hal David, and I hereby declare this thread OPEN!

[And a hat tip to "middleworld" for making us check. --99]