I am quite nervous for this one actually. What happens next in the world in terms of some of the most difficult and dangerous issues that the entire globe is facing are deeply rooted in the Middle East. And the Egyptians and millions of Arabs throughout the region have unbeliviably high expectations for this speech and visit.
From VOA; Mohamed Mahdi Akef, sho heads Egypt's largest opposition group, the Muslim Brotherhood is skeptical. "We welcome Obama and welcome whoever comes to Egypt, but deep inside me I feel that President Obama has inherited from his predecessors a very heavy legacy," he said.
The killing and displacement of Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan and Palestine as well as Washington's support for Israel constitute that legacy, says Akef.
For now, he is not looking for action. He wants to hear Mr. Obama's vision. "The Arab and Muslim world expect from him that his perceptions are compatible with general civilized principles, that he does not accept injustice, oppression, dictatorship, corruption and tyranny in any part of the world," he said.
This isn't about oratory or even general diplomacy. People are looking to Obama to change the course of history. Ok, that's not too much pressure. I hope it is talking to a lot of good people.
If you haven't watched the talks posted over at TED and you have time- I would recommend browsing and watching them. Amazing stuff. I always come away from watching the videos feeling like I've really learned something new.
Today over at TED they posted the Talk that Michelle Obama gave at the London Girls school. That was unusual for them as they normally post talks given and recorded at their own or other large conferences.
So, why did they post it? (and why should you watch it?)
Today's TEDTalk is unusual. It wasn't recorded at a conference, but at a public event. And it features America's first lady, Michelle Obama, who's never been to a TED conference. What happened here?
Well, first of all, TED is strictly nonpartisan. In fact, we tend to stay away from politics altogether. But our mission is "ideas worth spreading" -- and this talk features an idea that absolutely belongs in that category. Michelle Obama visited a girls' school in London during her recent trip to the UK, and issued a passionate, personal plea for the students to take education seriously. It's hardly a new idea. But we felt that the way it was expressed was eloquent and inspiring -- and well worth a slot here at TED.com, especially considering that young adults are the fastest growing section of our audience. From the TEDblog
These thoughts may indeed not be new, but they certainly are Ideas Worth Spreading.
As a new DNC member I am now beginning to get useful info, talking points, press releases and updates- I am certainly happy and proud to share them with you!
DNC May 26, 2009 SPECIAL EDITION
President Obama Nominates Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court “…What Sonia will bring to the Court, then, is not only the knowledge and experience acquired over a course of a brilliant legal career, but the wisdom accumulated from an inspiring life's journey.” - President Barack Obama
Today, President Obama announced his nomination of Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. Sotomayor’s intellectual acumen and practical experience at all levels of the American judicial system, coupled with her stirring personal story, make her an outstanding choice. If confirmed, she would be the Court’s third woman to serve and its first Hispanic. Sotomayor would also bring more federal judicial experience to the Supreme Court than any justice in the last 100 years. Watch a video message from President Obama about his historic choice here: http://my.barackobama.com/sotomayor
Background: – Sotomayor was raised in a public housing project in the South Bronx, steps from Yankee Stadium. – Sotomayor’s parents moved to New York from Puerto Rico during World War II. – Sotomayor’s father died when Sotomayor was only nine, leaving her mother, a nurse, to raise her and her brother, Juan.
Education: – Graduated from Cardinal Spellman High School in the Bronx. – Graduated second in her class at Princeton University in 1976. – Graduated from Yale Law School, where she served as an editor of the Yale Law Journal, in 1979.
Experience: Sotomayor’s career in the American judicial system has spanned three decades. She has worked at nearly every level of America’s judicial system -- as a big city prosecutor, a corporate litigator, a federal district court judge and as a federal judge on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. – Sotomayor worked as an Assistant District Attorney under the legendary Robert M. Morgenthau, where she prosecuted dozens of violent crimes. – Sotomayor worked in private practice as a corporate litigator, where most of her clients were corporations involved in international business. Sotomayor was involved in all facets of commercial work including real estate, employment, banking and contracts. Her practice also had significant concentration in intellectual property law, including trademark, copyright and unfair competition issues. – Sotomayor was appointed a federal district judge by President George H.W. Bush in 1991. She was confirmed unanimously by the Senate to become the first Hispanic to serve in New York’s federal district court. – In 1995, Sotomayor won praise from baseball fans everywhere when she issued an injunction against Major League Baseball owners, effectively ending the baseball strike. Many people say Sotomayor saved baseball. – Sotomayor was appointed by President Clinton to U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in 1997. She was also the first Latina to serve on that court, and has participated in over 300 panel decisions and authored more than 400 published opinions.
Bottom Line:
Judge Sonia Sotomayor is one of the most qualified and experienced candidates to ever be nominated to serve on the Supreme Court. A fearless jurist, she is widely admired for her sophisticated grasp of legal doctrine. Sotomayor’s inspirational story, in combination with her mastery of the law, her commitment to our constitutional traditions and her keen understanding of how the law affects the daily reality of people’s lives, makes her an outstanding and historic choice.
I think these speeches have extra importance because they speak directly to our future. Our future leaders, future decision makers are the audience. Obama has been using these speeches as a chance to talk to them, and to all of us of where we can go, where we should go, and where we should not go as a nation.
I am still looking for the transcript for this one. If you see it, send a link in the thread.
I think this speech was not the finest of the 3 but maybe one of the most important of them all. Especially considering the last 8 years, and what we face going forward. Would love to hear your thoughts.
My mom is pro-life, not in an extremist way- but she is deeply against abortion. In her case I think it came largely from not being able to have a second baby- and feeling that disappointment increase as other people who found it easier to get pregnant make different decisions. I am as deeply committed to pro-choice. My body, my decision. Your body, your decision end of story.
The Obama Notre Dame speech is still being talked over and people finally seem ready to seek some middle ground.
Though recent Gallup polls noting that more people now call themselves pro-life than pro-choice are grabbing headlines, the reality is that abortion is not a burning political issue for most. What the poll clarifies is that there are vast differences between being personally pro-life and supporting so-called pro-life government policies. That same poll showed that the vast majority of voters, 76 percent, believe that abortion should remain legal.- Newsday
The above piece goes on to discuss that though the President's approach is not new it is being heard in a new way and that more and more people are seeking a better way forward. More and more people do not see these issues as political any more and a lot of the Republican support for their focus on wedge issues is fading fast.
Look at the gay marriage laws being passed. Look at the thunderous applause at Notre Dame.
Even my mom, who was an Obama supporter- I think can see the sensible necessity of making this an issue between a woman and her doctor (and religious community if she chooses.) The actual political issue is to honestly legislate ways to help decrease unwanted pregnancy. (better sex ed, better access to birth control, better access to support services if you do decide to have a baby but you have limited means)
I know loads of folks on the left are pissed as hell about tribunals and torture. I am too. But after years of being a patient escort and Planned Parenthood, after years of working on keeping old white men from telling me what to do with my body-- I am celebrating this new more productive atmosphere around this long-believed to be impossible situation. By Obama saying that the two sides will not come to agreement BUT can still work together- And by many people seemingl hearing that message in a real way- I have renewed hope. (yes that word again)
Sarah Palin is going to visit the upstate NY city where I grew up! Poor Auburn.
Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin will help a central New York city celebrate 50 years of Alaskan statehood. Auburn officials say Palin will take part in their inaugural Founders Day celebration on June 6. Alaska and Auburn are linked through William Seward, who lived in Auburn and was secretary of state under Presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson. Seward negotiated the deal to buy Alaska from Russia in 1867 for $7.2 million.
I have some nice early childhood memories there. Great place, too much snow. (And after Sarah's visit-- too much BS too.)
This is now officially my all time favorite cover with Michelle.
and with good catch copy too...
She's beaten back criticism and caricature to become the most watched First Lady in a generation. An intimate look at how Michelle Obama is changing the White House--and America--forever
Sorry, time is really short, but I wanted to pass on Bunny's note and ask for your support. Many thanks to unbossed:
I wrote to you last week that I would be testifying before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform because I believe that all employees should be protected from retaliation for reporting waste, fraud, and abuse. I did not expect that within hours of my testimony I would be subject to additional retaliation. At 6:23 p.m. I was forwarded an email written by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Chief of Staff stating that from now on, all testimony before Congress must be pre-approved by the Army Corps and that all oral testimony must conform to the approved written testimony.
I am shocked by this blatant violation of the First Amendment. I said nothing improper during my testimony, I simply told the truth. I was testifying on my own time while I was on unpaid leave. I appeared at the invitation of Congress, to explain what happened when I reported improprieties surrounding the awarding of contracts to Halliburton-KBR just prior to the invasion of Iraq. The restriction imposed upon my right and the right of other federal employees to testify before Congress in our personal capacity free from restrain and censorship must stop NOW!
The newest attempt to silence me is the kind of retaliation that frightens government employees. Federal employees have no protection when up against powerful special interests, who can intimidate and prevent federal employees from enforcing the law. This is why Securities and Exchange Commission employees are afraid to police Wall Street. This is why Food and Drug Administration employees are afraid to police powerful pharmaceutical companies. This is why food safety inspectors are afraid to police powerful agri-business.
Its time to fight back when federal employees are forced to submit to censorship and are blocked from exercising their constitutional right to "petition Congress for redress of grievances.
1: "Every American should demand immediate passage of H.R. 1507."
This law protects all federal workers who testify to Congress and gives us our day in court. It is the only way to stop overt and subtle censorship of federal employees. We need the government to work for us - not powerful special interests. Congress and the American people deserve to know the truth! Federal workers do their best to protect the health, safety, and welfare of all Americans and it is time that they are protected when federal employees are retaliated for doing their job.
2. Send this new letter to Congress and President Obama. And please pass it on to as many people as possible - your friends, family, co-workers, churches, unions, and civic groups need to know what's going on and how they can help.
3. Call Rajesh De at the Department of Justice Office of Legal Policy (202-307-3024) and convince him that the administration needs to keep its campaign promises of supporting jury trials for all federal whistleblowers by backing H.R. 1507.
4. Call your Congressperson, visit your Congressperson's local office, and do whatever else you can to show Congress and the President that we will no longer tolerate censorship. Please let us know what you are doing to help.
Smart move, Sarah. She has the cleverness at least to know she can't write and has a pretty poor grasp of the English language. And the Palin team is smart getting the news out there that she will have a professional collaborator.
After last week’s announcement that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin would pen a memoir to set the record straight about her personal and political life, HarperCollins revealed Thursday that WORLD Magazine Features Editor Lynn Vincent has been signed on as Palin’s collaborator. The book, not yet titled, will be co-published by HarperCollins imprint Harper
I am kind of disappointed that we don't get the fun of seeing if she could really write. I doubt she can sustain a few paragraphs of clarity.
When are we going to start counting these kinds of books as campaign spending, anyway.
While the pundits, villagers and Dick Cheney fear monger and wring their hands about Guantanamo-- "Where will we put them?" "No prison can or will hold these dangerous terrorists." 'No one wants these prisoners in their neighborhood."
Well-- in fact;
One Montana town has already come forward and offered to house 100 of the detainees in their prison.
Earlier this month, Hardin’s town council voted unanimously to offer the US government a deal: Send Hardin the detainees that most foreign countries and other cities the US are afraid to take.
“Why not us?” [Greg Smith, Hardin's economic development director] asks. “They’ve got to go somewhere.” He dismisses security concerns over housing inmates former Bush administration officials famously described as “the worst of the worst”. “We have some very hardened criminals in our own country that have committed some heinous crimes, and they are in communities all across this country,” Smith argues. [...]
He estimates at least 100 new jobs would come from filling the prison, a real boost to this small, beleaguered community.
Hardin, stepping up to both restore the rule of law and create jobs and justice. Hold the detainees on US soil and begin the actual process of court proceedings. Stop hiding behind all the scary fear headlines and mystery.
The notes from President Obama's speech at the commencement ceremony at Notre Dame
Remarks of President Barack Obama Notre Dame Commencement Sunday, May 17, 2009
Notre Dame, Indiana
Thank you, Father Jenkins for that generous introduction. You are doing an outstanding job as president of this fine institution, and your continued and courageous commitment to honest, thoughtful dialogue is an inspiration to us all.
Good afternoon Father Hesburgh, Notre Dame trustees, faculty, family, friends, and the class of 2009. I am honored to be here today, and grateful to all of you for allowing me to be part of your graduation.
I want to thank you for this honorary degree. I know it has not been without controversy. I don’t know if you’re aware of this, but these honorary degrees are apparently pretty hard to come by. So far I’m only 1 for 2 as President. Father Hesburgh is 150 for 150. I guess that’s better. Father Ted, after the ceremony, maybe you can give me some pointers on how to boost my average.
I also want to congratulate the class of 2009 for all your accomplishments. And since this is Notre Dame, I mean both in the classroom and in the competitive arena. We all know about this university’s proud and storied football team, but I also hear that Notre Dame holds the largest outdoor 5-on-5 basketball tournament in the world – Bookstore Basketball.
Now this excites me. I want to congratulate the winners of this year’s tournament, a team by the name of “Hallelujah Holla Back.” Well done. Though I have to say, I am personally disappointed that the “Barack O’Ballers” didn’t pull it out. Next year, if you need a 6’2” forward with a decent jumper, you know where I live.
Every one of you should be proud of what you have achieved at this institution. One hundred and sixty three classes of Notre Dame graduates have sat where you are today. Some were here during years that simply rolled into the next without much notice or fanfare – periods of relative peace and prosperity that required little by way of sacrifice or struggle.
You, however, are not getting off that easy. Your class has come of age at a moment of great consequence for our nation and the world – a rare inflection point in history where the size and scope of the challenges before us require that we remake our world to renew its promise; that we align our deepest values and commitments to the demands of a new age. It is a privilege and a responsibility afforded to few generations – and a task that you are now called to fulfill.
This is the generation that must find a path back to prosperity and decide how we respond to a global economy that left millions behind even before this crisis hit – an economy where greed and short-term thinking were too often rewarded at the expense of fairness, and diligence, and an honest day’s work.
We must decide how to save God’s creation from a changing climate that threatens to destroy it. We must seek peace at a time when there are those who will stop at nothing to do us harm, and when weapons in the hands of a few can destroy the many. And we must find a way to reconcile our ever-shrinking world with its ever-growing diversity – diversity of thought, of culture, and of belief.
In short, we must find a way to live together as one human family.
It is this last challenge that I’d like to talk about today. For the major threats we face in the 21st century – whether it’s global recession or violent extremism; the spread of nuclear weapons or pandemic disease – do not discriminate. They do not recognize borders. They do not see color. They do not target specific ethnic groups.
Moreover, no one person, or religion, or nation can meet these challenges alone. Our very survival has never required greater cooperation and understanding among all people from all places than at this moment in history.
Unfortunately, finding that common ground – recognizing that our fates are tied up, as Dr. King said, in a “single garment of destiny” – is not easy. Part of the problem, of course, lies in the imperfections of man – our selfishness, our pride, our stubbornness, our acquisitiveness, our insecurities, our egos; all the cruelties large and small that those of us in the Christian tradition understand to be rooted in original sin. We too often seek advantage over others. We cling to outworn prejudice and fear those who are unfamiliar. Too many of us view life only through the lens of immediate self-interest and crass materialism; in which the world is necessarily a zero-sum game. The strong too often dominate the weak, and too many of those with wealth and with power find all manner of justification for their own privilege in the face of poverty and injustice. And so, for all our technology and scientific advances, we see around the globe violence and want and strife that would seem sadly familiar to those in ancient times.
We know these things; and hopefully one of the benefits of the wonderful education you have received is that you have had time to consider these wrongs in the world, and grown determined, each in your own way, to right them. And yet, one of the vexing things for those of us interested in promoting greater understanding and cooperation among people is the discovery that even bringing together persons of good will, men and women of principle and purpose, can be difficult.
The soldier and the lawyer may both love this country with equal passion, and yet reach very different conclusions on the specific steps needed to protect us from harm. The gay activist and the evangelical pastor may both deplore the ravages of HIV/AIDS, but find themselves unable to bridge the cultural divide that might unite their efforts. Those who speak out against stem cell research may be rooted in admirable conviction about the sacredness of life, but so are the parents of a child with juvenile diabetes who are convinced that their son’s or daughter’s hardships can be relieved.
The question, then, is how do we work through these conflicts? Is it possible for us to join hands in common effort? As citizens of a vibrant and varied democracy, how do we engage in vigorous debate? How does each of us remain firm in our principles, and fight for what we consider right, without demonizing those with just as strongly held convictions on the other side?
Nowhere do these questions come up more powerfully than on the issue of abortion.
As I considered the controversy surrounding my visit here, I was reminded of an encounter I had during my Senate campaign, one that I describe in a book I wrote called The Audacity of Hope. A few days after I won the Democratic nomination, I received an email from a doctor who told me that while he voted for me in the primary, he had a serious concern that might prevent him from voting for me in the general election. He described himself as a Christian who was strongly pro-life, but that’s not what was preventing him from voting for me.
What bothered the doctor was an entry that my campaign staff had posted on my website – an entry that said I would fight “right-wing ideologues who want to take away a woman’s right to choose.” The doctor said that he had assumed I was a reasonable person, but that if I truly believed that every pro-life individual was simply an ideologue who wanted to inflict suffering on women, then I was not very reasonable. He wrote, “I do not ask at this point that you oppose abortion, only that you speak about this issue in fair-minded words.”
Fair-minded words.
After I read the doctor’s letter, I wrote back to him and thanked him. I didn’t change my position, but I did tell my staff to change the words on my website. And I said a prayer that night that I might extend the same presumption of good faith to others that the doctor had extended to me. Because when we do that – when we open our hearts and our minds to those who may not think like we do or believe what we do – that’s when we discover at least the possibility of common ground.
That’s when we begin to say, “Maybe we won’t agree on abortion, but we can still agree that this is a heart-wrenching decision for any woman to make, with both moral and spiritual dimensions.
So let’s work together to reduce the number of women seeking abortions by reducing unintended pregnancies, and making adoption more available, and providing care and support for women who do carry their child to term. Let’s honor the conscience of those who disagree with abortion, and draft a sensible conscience clause, and make sure that all of our health care policies are grounded in clear ethics and sound science, as well as respect for the equality of women.”
Understand – I do not suggest that the debate surrounding abortion can or should go away. No matter how much we may want to fudge it – indeed, while we know that the views of most Americans on the subject are complex and even contradictory – the fact is that at some level, the views of the two camps are irreconcilable. Each side will continue to make its case to the public with passion and conviction. But surely we can do so without reducing those with differing views to caricature.
Open hearts. Open minds. Fair-minded words.
It’s a way of life that has always been the Notre Dame tradition. Father Hesburgh has long spoken of this institution as both a lighthouse and a crossroads. The lighthouse that stands apart, shining with the wisdom of the Catholic tradition, while the crossroads is where “…differences of culture and religion and conviction can co-exist with friendship, civility, hospitality, and especially love.” And I want to join him and Father Jenkins in saying how inspired I am by the maturity and responsibility with which this class has approached the debate surrounding today’s ceremony.
This tradition of cooperation and understanding is one that I learned in my own life many years ago – also with the help of the Catholic Church.
I was not raised in a particularly religious household, but my mother instilled in me a sense of service and empathy that eventually led me to become a community organizer after I graduated college. A group of Catholic churches in Chicago helped fund an organization known as the Developing Communities Project, and we worked to lift up South Side neighborhoods that had been devastated when the local steel plant closed.
It was quite an eclectic crew. Catholic and Protestant churches. Jewish and African-American organizers. Working-class black and white and Hispanic residents. All of us with different experiences. All of us with different beliefs. But all of us learned to work side by side because all of us saw in these neighborhoods other human beings who needed our help – to find jobs and improve schools. We were bound together in the service of others.
And something else happened during the time I spent in those neighborhoods. Perhaps because the church folks I worked with were so welcoming and understanding; perhaps because they invited me to their services and sang with me from their hymnals; perhaps because I witnessed all of the good works their faith inspired them to perform, I found myself drawn – not just to work with the church, but to be in the church. It was through this service that I was brought to Christ.
At the time, Cardinal Joseph Bernardin was the Archbishop of Chicago. For those of you too young to have known him, he was a kind and good and wise man. A saintly man. I can still remember him speaking at one of the first organizing meetings I attended on the South Side. He stood as both a lighthouse and a crossroads – unafraid to speak his mind on moral issues ranging from poverty, AIDS, and abortion to the death penalty and nuclear war. And yet, he was congenial and gentle in his persuasion, always trying to bring people together; always trying to find common ground. Just before he died, a reporter asked Cardinal Bernardin about this approach to his ministry. And he said, “You can’t really get on with preaching the Gospel until you’ve touched minds and hearts.”
My heart and mind were touched by the words and deeds of the men and women I worked alongside with in Chicago. And I’d like to think that we touched the hearts and minds of the neighborhood families whose lives we helped change. For this, I believe, is our highest calling.
You are about to enter the next phase of your life at a time of great uncertainty. You will be called upon to help restore a free market that is also fair to all who are willing to work; to seek new sources of energy that can save our planet; to give future generations the same chance that you had to receive an extraordinary education. And whether as a person drawn to public service, or someone who simply insists on being an active citizen, you will be exposed to more opinions and ideas broadcast through more means of communications than have ever existed before. You will hear talking heads scream on cable, read blogs that claim definitive knowledge, and watch politicians pretend to know what they’re talking about. Occasionally, you may also have the great fortune of seeing important issues debated by well-intentioned, brilliant minds. In fact, I suspect that many of you will be among those bright stars.
In this world of competing claims about what is right and what is true, have confidence in the values with which you’ve been raised and educated. Be unafraid to speak your mind when those values are at stake. Hold firm to your faith and allow it to guide you on your journey. Stand as a lighthouse.
But remember too that the ultimate irony of faith is that it necessarily admits doubt. It is the belief in things not seen. It is beyond our capacity as human beings to know with certainty what God has planned for us or what He asks of us, and those of us who believe must trust that His wisdom is greater than our own.
This doubt should not push us away from our faith. But it should humble us. It should temper our passions, and cause us to be wary of self-righteousness. It should compel us to remain open, and curious, and eager to continue the moral and spiritual debate that began for so many of you within the walls of Notre Dame. And within our vast democracy, this doubt should remind us to persuade through reason, through an appeal whenever we can to universal rather than parochial principles, and most of all through an abiding example of good works, charity, kindness, and service that moves hearts and minds.
For if there is one law that we can be most certain of, it is the law that binds people of all faiths and no faith together. It is no coincidence that it exists in Christianity and Judaism; in Islam and Hinduism; in Buddhism and humanism. It is, of course, the Golden Rule – the call to treat one another as we wish to be treated. The call to love. To serve. To do what we can to make a difference in the lives of those with whom we share the same brief moment on this Earth.
So many of you at Notre Dame – by the last count, upwards of 80% -- have lived this law of love through the service you’ve performed at schools and hospitals; international relief agencies and local charities. That is incredibly impressive, and a powerful testament to this institution. Now you must carry the tradition forward. Make it a way of life. Because when you serve, it doesn’t just improve your community, it makes you a part of your community. It breaks down walls. It fosters cooperation. And when that happens – when people set aside their differences to work in common effort toward a common good; when they struggle together, and sacrifice together, and learn from one another – all things are possible.
After all, I stand here today, as President and as an African-American, on the 55th anniversary of the day that the Supreme Court handed down the decision in Brown v. the Board of Education. Brown was of course the first major step in dismantling the “separate but equal” doctrine, but it would take a number of years and a nationwide movement to fully realize the dream of civil rights for all of God’s children. There were freedom rides and lunch counters and Billy clubs, and there was also a Civil Rights Commission appointed by President Eisenhower. It was the twelve resolutions recommended by this commission that would ultimately become law in the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
There were six members of the commission. It included five whites and one African-American; Democrats and Republicans; two Southern governors, the dean of a Southern law school, a Midwestern university president, and your own Father Ted Hesburgh, President of Notre Dame. They worked for two years, and at times, President Eisenhower had to intervene personally since no hotel or restaurant in the South would serve the black and white members of the commission together. Finally, when they reached an impasse in Louisiana, Father Ted flew them all to Notre Dame’s retreat in Land O’Lakes, Wisconsin, where they eventually overcame their differences and hammered out a final deal.
Years later, President Eisenhower asked Father Ted how on Earth he was able to broker an agreement between men of such different backgrounds and beliefs. And Father Ted simply said that during their first dinner in Wisconsin, they discovered that they were all fishermen. And so he quickly readied a boat for a twilight trip out on the lake. They fished, and they talked, and they changed the course of history.
I will not pretend that the challenges we face will be easy, or that the answers will come quickly, or that all our differences and divisions will fade happily away. Life is not that simple. It never has been.
But as you leave here today, remember the lessons of Cardinal Bernardin, of Father Hesburgh, of movements for change both large and small. Remember that each of us, endowed with the dignity possessed by all children of God, has the grace to recognize ourselves in one another; to understand that we all seek the same love of family and the same fulfillment of a life well-lived. Remember that in the end, we are all fishermen.
If nothing else, that knowledge should give us faith that through our collective labor, and God’s providence, and our willingness to shoulder each other’s burdens, America will continue on its precious journey towards that more perfect union. Congratulations on your graduation, may God Bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.
my question is, doesn't that mean she plagiarized her friend. She wrote word for word what she thought a friend said, again without giving credit or listing a source.
We spent all day yesterday at Tokyo Barcamp, which we helped organize and promote. If you've never been to a barcamp I can't recommend them enough. It is an unconference and is really like living in a wiki all day where you can share presentations, make changes to the format and network with the community all guided and determined by the people who show up and, in our case, a small group of steering committee members.
One of the best presentations, in my opinion, was this great one on Japanese geek culture by wonder woman, Fumi Yamazaki. see below.
You could search the whole teevee wasteland and not find a more visually perfect metaphor for why we need a Truth and Retribution Committee to open a whole separate suite of hearings on why our media is so toxically top-heavy with swine: the one guy who has the facts -- David Waldman -- outnumbered, shunted off to a CNN webcast, and literally girded on three sides by the three sock puppets bleating the three eternally favorite flavors of wingnut denialism:
1. Fake outrage over some trivial aspect of a horrendous story (whining like a titty baby over the fucking choice of metaphor.)
2. You hateses the troopses you Liberal troop hater!
3. You are some fringe nut, out of step with Real Murricans (Our slanted polls show that no one cares!)
Waldman does a terrific job, but it underscores just how much of a train wreck our media has become that when faced with the job of comprehending and analyzing what is potentially the most important new information about the Iraq War in years, the best they can manage is stuff it into a webcast of bobble-head Hollywood Squares.
It’s one thing to change the policy, it’s an entirely different thing to say you are going to go after the lawyers of the past administration,” Cheney said. “It’s outrageous.”
“I don’t think we should just roll over when the new administration accuses us of using torture,” he added. “I don’t believe it was torture.- Dick Cheney
Newsflash, you fucking ghoul: your beliefs don't supercede the law. -WaterTiger
While the pundits and bobble heads wring their hands over the failing newspapers and shrinking tv audience-- The netroots are growing and supporting our own. Investigative journalism is not dead- It is just breaking free of the clutches of the corporate media. GO MARCY!
This announcement and request for funds from FDL;
Today, the Sidney Hillman Foundation announced that Marcy Wheeler received the prestigious Hillman Award for her investigative work:
Just last month, Marcy Wheeler made the front page of the New York Times after she became the first person to notice that a newly-released Justice Department memo revealed that Khalid Sheik Mohammed had been waterboarded 183 times in one month. Last year, Wheeler’s groundbreaking investigative work on the CIA leak case also made the front page of the Times. Her early and powerful reporting about malfeasance by Attorney General Alberto Gonzales helped to propel him out of the Bush administrations. And her live blogging from the Scooter Libby trial in 2007 is widely regarded as one of the seminal moments in online journalism. Wheeler also produced outstanding coverage of the American auto industry crisis. Combining her background in the industry with a deep commitment to American workers, her depth of analysis was unrivaled.
Other recipients include Jane Mayer for her book The Dark Side, and New York Times journalist Steve Greenhouse.
Any donation you make today will be matched by NOI up to $5000, so for every $1 you give, the Marcy fund will get $2. So, if you were thinking of a good way to congratulate Marcy on her award and support her ability to keep doing what she's doing, donating today will do double duty.
I am extremely conflicted about the plans for Afghanistan. I know the arguments on both sides- as I have been equally shouted down from folks embracing each opinion. And I know arbitrary deadlines are not helpful and can be hurtful. But when vets stand up in support of something like the McGovern bill coming up-- I am conflicted.
Should we escalate? Should we leave? What about Pakistan? What do all the various choices look like?
WASHINGTON / Boston.com -- Representative James McGovern of Massachusetts, who has launched the only effort in the US House to oppose President Obama's plans for the Afghan war, received an unexpected boost of support today from a group of Afghan and Iraqi war veterans, who raced around Capitol Hill lobbying for his bill.
Congress is expected on Thursday to swiftly approve the $94.2 billion war funding bill, which would support the 21,000 additional combat troops and military trainers that Obama plans to deploy. But McGovern's bill, which he plans to file Thursday, would require the Pentagon to come up with an exit strategy by the end of the year.
The veterans, who are part of a small but growing group of Americans who oppose the Afghan war, traveled to Washington this week, shadowed by the Brave New Foundation, a California-based nonprofit film company that produces social justice documentaries and has launched a campaign called Rethink Afghanistan.
Realizing that it could not stop the supplemental, the group focused instead on getting more support for McGovern's bill.
"Without an exit strategy, then the mission is doomed to fail," said Jake Diliberto, who fought in Afghanistan in 2001 as a Marine. Diliberto, who said he is now getting his master's degree in ethics from Fuller Seminary in Pasadena, Calif., said that he strongly believed in the mission, but that the US presence has grown extremely unpopular among Afghans, as civilian casualties have increased.
I think we certainly had a window, after 9/11 in our efforts in Afghanastan-- to really make a difference there and in the region. But I am deeply afraid that our window closed long ago. And what I really fear is that I don't think anyone really knows what the best choice is at this point.
Tom P has a good post over at Kos about this: nothing much to add, just trying to help spread the word:
The public gave Wells Fargo $25 billion in bailout funds, but rather than investing that money in American jobs by keeping credit flowing, Wells Fargo is cutting the cord. 1,000 workers at Hartmarx, the Chicago-based apparel company that makes President Obama's suits, may lose their jobs if Wells Fargo forces the company to liquidate. Two of the bidders on the manufacturer have said that they see the value in continuing the production of top quality suits and will keep the plant open and a third bidder wants to liquidate. Guess which one Wells Fargo is leaning towards? Please co-sign a letter to Wells Fargo CEO John Stumpf asking him to save the jobs at Hartmax. Workers United Will deliver it and let us know how it went. You can sign here: http://seiuworkers.bluestatedigital.com/page/s/hartmarx
Actually, I will say one thing: I will always love the folks in purple: they were stalwart supporters of Gov. Dean's run for the presidency. I remember phone-banking in Iowa besides 2 absolutely massive guys in their SEIU jackets (it was cold, yo!). Lovely people who, like my Dad (a meatpacking butcher all his life) knew the value of labor.
I blame it on Aristophanes at Sadly No: he did one of these that's oddly hypnotic and not safe for work, and I remembered I had a beta thingie for this site. So, as I'm too tired to do anything meaningful after 15 hours of work, I fired it up.
Yeah, I know, I'm mildly obsessed with Michael Steele's awfulness. He's just so archetypical, somehow. Or like something I pulled out of a Tarot deck after a long and really bad trip...
Members of the Stanford community nail a petition on the University President's door protesting the presence of Condoleezza Rice on the faculty and demanding prosecution for war crimes.
Last weekend, 150 activist alumni and present Stanford students targeted Condoleezza Rice for authorizing torture and misleading Americans into the illegal Iraq War.
"We the undersigned students, faculty, staff, alumni, and other concerned members of the Stanford community, believe that high officials of the U.S. Government, including our former Provost, current Political Science Professor, and Hoover Institution Senior Fellow, Condoleezza Rice, should be held accountable for any serious violations of the Law (included ratified treaties, statutes, and/or the U.S. Constitution) through investigation and, if the facts warrant, prosecution, by appropriate legal authorities.
h/t Christine Democrat Abroad from France and Huffpo.
Just read Jeff Sessions' little conspiracy theory over on the Huffpo:
Sessions told the Times that Obama's plan is to "diminish employment and diminish stock prices." By doing so, Obama "intended to inflict damage and hardship on the free enterprise system, if not to kill it" as part of a "divide and conquer" strategy to consolidate power.
The Times then follows with another understated gem: "Polls offer little evidence that Americans are prepared to accept those arguments."
Um, hey guys? (and you are mostly guys). Here's the thing. I know you feel aggrieved, and jealous, and unsure, and just plain old ignorant. You're out in a wilderness with no reliable signposts. And yet your bellowing continues. I know you feel as if the press is yours to use at will. But, the more you talk, the worse you look and the more your twisted conservacooties flake off on the sane people, the less they like it.
So my advice (not that you'll take it: I'm the 'wrong' demographic for you to take me seriously) is to hush. Sit down. Be still. I won't even suggest looking in the mirror - that might be too much. Just sit quietly for a while.
It's just about the only thing you haven't tried...
We don't torture. Not any more, not ever again. so STFU.
Ford on Chris Matthews;
So in this sense I think having the conversation about what happened and about whether or not, at Guantanamo Bay, and I'm not as outraged as some are about it, because as much as I think some of those techniques were enhanced and might have risen to a level of torture, you have to remember when this was occurring. This was 2002, 2003. The country was in a different place and a different space. And if you were to say to me as an American, put aside my partisanship, that we have an opportunity to gain information that would prevent the destruction of an American city, to prevent killings in American cities, and we have to use certain techniques, I'm one of those Americans who would have voted a certain way, Chris, in that poll, and said it might have been torture, but I'm not as outraged.
This is the guy who did the keynote for the DNC convention in 2000. This is supposedly a Democrat. And once again, this is another one of these weak willed pols proporting to know what the American people think.
I thought Wanda had it so right at the dinner the other night. Even if you got good intell- which I doubt-- the way you use it does not make up for breaking the law to get it. Period. Or we become the terrorists.
It's ok because we were scared? that's your excuse?
UGH, I am getting sick and tired of mealy mouthed dems in the house getting in the way.
WASHINGTON WSJ -- When President Barack Obama signed an executive order in January to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, by year's end, Democrats and antiwar activists cheered.
Now that the White House is preparing to implement the shutdown, some Democrats are challenging the administration, demanding details of how it would be carried out before offering the necessary funds.
Lawmakers are concerned about what would happen to the roughly 245 current Guantanamo inmates, many considered hardened terrorists -- in particular, what congressional districts they would land in.
In a war-spending bill that otherwise gave the administration even more money than it wanted, Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee this past week removed $80 million Mr. Obama had requested to wind down operations at Guantanamo.
OF COURSE there is going to be a plan that is what he needs the 80 billion for....Sure, they give Bush and Cheney, and Paulsen for that matter, blank check after blank check since 2006 -- But now they want a plan. I've got a plan for you. Close the damn place down. Now.
Because of my basic loathing for the corp. media (accept Rachel Maddow) I have grown to truly dread the White House Correspondents dinner. I don't think that will actually change much under Obama. It is forced and fake, and it gives people like wolf blitzer delusions of grandeur.
The lead in to this first one under Obama has been fairly quiet. I heard that Palin was invited- by Fox- of course. BUT found out today- she's not going but sending her husband instead. What? Todd Palin, still on the national stage, rubbing elbows with the media. Oh great.
From Palin's spokesperson;
Todd Palin will take her place at the White House Correspondents Dinner in Washington, D.C., as a guest of Fox News. Todd Palin will also fill in at an Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute event Friday in New York that had the governor as featured guest.
The governor’s office has been saying that Palin might not go on the trip. She said today she’s decided to stay in Alaska because of the severity of the flooding in the Interior. I think they should both stay home, but the President and the nation are not so lucky.
This is a quote from a magazine interview in April with CBS Sports golf analyst David Feherty;
[I]f you gave any U.S. soldier a gun with two bullets in it, and he found himself in an elevator with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and Osama bin Laden, there's a good chance that Nancy Pelosi would get shot twice, and Harry Reid and bin Laden would be strangled to death.
This guy is out of control. What and unbelievably obnoxious and irresponsible thing to say in print. inciting to violence, slandering men and women in the military. He's the unbalanced one, not our troops. VetVoice has the story and response here.
This guy needs to be fired, and I encourage you to tell CBS so. You can also contact some of the CBS advertisers and tell them how you feel. You can see who advertises with them by clicking through the ad gallery here.
I will admit this is only peripherally related to poltics, but, darnit, I love these guys. Their bizarre, insightful sketches formed such a big part of my becoming the genteely warped person I am today. The Pythons helped me to see how absurd the world is and that the smart folks celebrate it.
Arlen Specter has been promoting a new website - www.SpecterForTheCure.com - which appears to be an effort to raise money for medical research. It turns out that the donations solicited by the website do not go to medical research - the donations go to Specter's re-election fund.
There are calls to demand that he inform the public about the total raised and agree to actually donate the money to cancer research. sheesh.
We all know that Mr. Undisclosed Location did not conduct himself in what could be called a classy manner while in office. He had other priorities than serving the American people.
But, now, suddenly, relieved of the obligation to look even vaguely mensch-like, here's Dick scrambling around, getting in front of friendly hosts to try to turn public/government opinion his way:
Cheney also aired disturbed feelings about the calls for the prosecutions of Bush administration officials over torture.
“I’ve never heard of such a thing,” he said. “And talk about putting a wet blanket on anybody in government’s willingness to be bold in their recommendations and so forth. Just forget that.”
He warned that such action would have future consequences.
“Anybody who sees that kind of thing happen is going to pull their head in, and they’ll be reluctant to take responsibility for anything," he said, adding, "I hear this talk that there is going to be some kind of foreign prosecution of our guys, I just think that’s abhorrent, and I think they ought to do everything they can to fight that.”
The Sept. 11, 2001 attacks happened when you and george were in office. So, you didn't 'protect the American people' - since that is your main stated interest and the only way that you define your job, you were a horrific failure. Stop trying to make it seem like it happened on President Clinton's watch, and was not a failure of your own administration. We are not that stupid, and you do not get a pass.
And, in this bit of bloviation, what you're saying is that 'Anybody', meaning our military and the other organizations who are tasked with protecting America, any of those people will ignore our laws, throw common sense out the window, and run in fear to the very worst and most useless methods, making their own colleagues' lives in the field even more dangerous. You're saying that our military and the FBI and the CIA are a bunch of unAmerican cowards.
And you're expecting that the majority of the American people will go along with this assertion?
We are already starting to see the deeper, more subtle, more profound changes starting to happen. The things I dreamed of when I was working out in the hard slog during the primary and general next year to get our new POTUS in the White House.
A spokesperson for Focus on the Family, a top religious right group, tells me that his organization has no problem with GOP Senator Jeff Sessions‘ claim today that he’s open to a Supreme Court nominee with “gay tendencies.”
The spokesperson confirms the group won’t oppose a gay SCOTUS nominee over sexual orientation. from the Plum Line
Could it be that some of the far right are afraid to be seen as vocally anti-gay right now? Not all conservatives are on point though as Senator Thune had this to say;
I know the administration is being pushed, but I think it would be a bridge too far right now,” said GOP Chief Deputy Whip John Thune. “It seems to me this first pick is going to be a kind of important one, and my hope is that he'll play it a little more down the middle. A lot of people would react very negatively.
Two of the women on the reported short list are lesbians and there might be one or more men being considered who are gay. This really should be an interesting couple of months.
But the Focus on the Family statement really was a surprise. What is going on there? The fact that we are even discussing this and that the GOP seems conflicted on the issue is a real change though it is not yet clear where this is headed. hmmmmm
Almost 1/4th of all homeowners in the usa are drowning in debt. Property values are still plummeting and many many many people owe more now than their house would ever be worth. These are not sub prime or risky homes only, 1/4th of all homes. This also affects tons of people who took out second mortgages, made improvements, refinanced. 1/4th are struggling and in over their heads.
May 6 (Bloomberg) -- A growing number of U.S. homeowners owe more than their properties are worth after prices extended their two-year decline in the first quarter, Zillow.com said.
About 21.8 percent of all owners were underwater as of March 31, the Seattle-based real estate data service said in a report today. At the end of the fourth quarter, 17.6 percent of homeowners owed more than their original mortgage, while 14.3 percent had negative equity three months earlier.
Property values dropped 14 percent from a year earlier in the first quarter...
And in this climate the congress voted against the cram down legislation, they voted against homeowners facing foreclosure. It eludes me. I know banking, money, campaigns. But if we don't take care of each other what kind of country are we? What kind of country will we be?
So the National Council for a New America kicked off it's traveling circus this week, in some kind of pizza restaurant. (if you didn't see John Stewart's coverage of the event you should go watch now!) The opening team included Jeb Bush, Eric Cantor and Mitt(ens) Romney. Suspiciously absent was the gun toting, right wing mom with the family full of sex, drug and robbery scandals-- Gov. Sarah Palin. But thank goodness they fixed that now!
After days of speculation as to why the party’s former vice presidential candidate was absent from the GOP rebranding effort, U.S. Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., announced Gov. Sarah Palin, R-Alaska, is now part of the national campaign to remake the party Ronald Reagan built.
“I am pleased to announce that Gov. Palin has joined the National Council for a New America’s panel of experts,” Mr. Cantor said. “When NCNA was announced last week, we spoke about a dynamic organization that worked to constantly bring in new people and innovative ideas. The launch of the National Council was just the first step in a growing effort to engage the American people in a candid discussion as we work to overcome our shared challenges with common-sense ideas, building a stronger nation along the way.- Joe Murray, The Philadelphia Bulletin
Joe met with Al, and afterward this was his statement;
The election process and recount in Minnesota have lived up to the state's reputation for organization, transparency, and bipartisanship. The officials have been meticulous and every ruling has been unanimous.
While Senator Amy Klobuchar is one of the hardest working members of the United States Senate, Minnesotans deserve their full representation.
Once the Minnesota Supreme Court has issued its final ruling in this case, the President and I look forward to working with Mr. Franken on building an economy for the 21st century.
I seriously hope they end this thing very soon. Exhausting is what this is. By the way-- I think Franken has been very very smart, keeping a low-ish profile and respecting the process while Coleman and the GOP (and recently GOP- Specter) Flap their gums.
A little interesting news from the world of University Publishing. According to sources at Duke;
Though Barack Obama’s mother died in 1995, but she’s finally getting published. Duke University Press announced yesterday that they will publish Ann Dunham’s dissertation, Surviving Against the Odds: Village Industry in Indonesia.
The president’s half-sister wrote the foreword and commented on the book’s posthumous publication:
[I’m] delighted that our mother’s book is being published, and I am grateful to Duke University for making this dream of hers come true. My hope is that this book will be read by those who come to love the particularities of its world and who also see the myriad potential application of its ideas and methods to other worlds.
So there is faux outrage from the fauxnews media about Michelle Obama's expensive sneakers ($540)-- Apparently the media find her choice of footwear in bad taste during the recession and at a volunteering event.
Let’s just say that watching David Gregory try to “take on” Arlen Specter “Russert-style” (Read a quote. Arch an eyebrow. Say “Well…” Read another quote.) on “Meet the Press”was like watching a baby duck trying to suckle a pine tree.
And that the visually ill-advised decision to pair Republican Joe “Buck” Scarborough and Republican Ed “Ratso” Gillespie together to talk about the future of the GOP...
...lead to some indelibly hilarious “Midday Cowboy” mental images being burned into your humble scrivener’s head (click pic for Scary Large.)
Although their final moments together in the NBC Green Room talking about how desperately weak and vulnerable the GOP really is (no embeddable clip available) --
Image: Vicky53 There's a new search engine in town, called Wolfram Alpha. Apparently, this about-to-be-launched internet tool is capable of actually, 'intelligently' answering search queries. here's more:
Wolfram Alpha will not only give a straight answer to questions such as "how high is Mount Everest?", but it will also produce a neat page of related information – all properly sourced – such as geographical location and nearby towns, and other mountains, complete with graphs and charts. The real innovation, however, is in its ability to work things out "on the fly", according to its British inventor, Dr Stephen Wolfram. If you ask it to compare the height of Mount Everest to the length of the Golden Gate Bridge, it will tell you. Or ask what the weather was like in London on the day John F Kennedy was assassinated, it will cross-check and provide the answer. Ask it about D sharp major, it will play the scale. Type in "10 flips for four heads" and it will guess that you need to know the probability of coin-tossing. If you want to know when the next solar eclipse over Chicago is, or the exact current location of the International Space Station, it can work it out...The engine, which will be free to use, works by drawing on the knowledge on the internet, as well as private databases. Dr Wolfram said he expected that about 1,000 people would be needed to keep its databases updated with the latest discoveries and information....
Suppose American independents/right leaners who were being bombarded by those idiotic chain emails with 'Obama's the Manchurian candidate' or 'they want to take away your guns'* or the other stupidity had a place to ask questions online that helped them think their way through the answer...something like a critical thinking tool? Of course, there are lots of folks whose worldview doesn't include the idea that they aren't thinking critically...but for those who are persuadable, couldn't this be a help? If Wolfram Alpha works as advertised, I do hope it begins to take on an impartiality that authoritarian people feel they can trust (unlike the dopey, obvious and oblivious conservapedia). Facts having a liberal bias**, etc.
*and this could be helpful for our left leaning conspiracy theorists as well... **of course, a lot depends on who those 10000 'experts' are...
What in the name of reason goes on in Michael Steele's head? Seriously. I admit to being a bit of a snob about being Black: we've been struggling for so long that it has given us a hypersensitivity to the elite's hypocrisy about 'free' markets and economic fundamentals. Our history has enabled us to be uniquely nuanced re: American societal myths and reality. Of course, every culture has depth, that quality of being able to examine life from a number of different viewpoints - we don't have a monopoly on it, but we do have a view. I think the struggle helped us to sharpen our understanding of -and appreciation for- the stuff that really matters...
And then there's Michael Steele. (There's Alan Keyes, too, but he's a specimen for another post.)
So what does Michael believe that the nonsense he spouts is going to get him? Where is his personal upside? I don't think it's money - I'm sure power is part of the goal. But what kind of power is it when it absolutely requires you to leave your self-respect and your knowledge of history at the door?...
While the Swine Flu issue takes up the airwaves I am thrilled to see Moveon continuing the much needed focus on tortures and the people who authorized torture. This new ad they are running is great. Please go sign the petition. And I know times are tough- but any donation you can send to support this effort would truly be money well spent.
This combined with Condie's slip up yesterday saying that the President directly authorized waterboarding... if we can keep our focus it should be a good summer to bring some of these folks to justice.
I personally have been endowed by a bemused creator (random or planned) with amplitude to spare. In fact, there are a host of areas in my corporeal being that I feel could use some good old-fashioned whittling. However, I am scared to death of needles, doctors, hospitals, medical consultations, and anything that sounds even vaguely like a diagnosis. And there are few words to describe the depth of my personal contempt for the word 'elective' when followed by 'surgery'. But that's just me.
So, in my intermittent quest for enhanced pulchritude, I am limited to that which can be done more or less naturally. Diet. Exercise. Paying attention to food. I've had friends with the opposite complaint, and I've counseled them accordingly: the natural way is best, I opine.
I cannot, in all honesty, say that this solution ever came to mind:
RODRIGUEZ: But don't the judges look at proportion when they're judging the swimsuits? Wouldn't she have a better chance of winning if she were more proportioned? LEWIS: Well, of course she does. But there's plenty of ways of getting to more proportion without doing breast implants. RODRIGUEZ: Well, but if... LEWIS: Many of the girls use chicken cutlets. RODRIGUEZ: ... if you have a flat chest, what are you supposed to do? LEWIS: You use chicken cutlets. You use tape. You use anything that you can to enhance the line. There's lots of tricks of the trade. It's just a matter of whether or not you want to go to that next level.
Enhance the line?! What about drawing the line!! To what level does he refer? Who did this first? What does it feel like (ewwwww). Do you tape the cutlets into position? What if there is sliding? How much time before nature takes its course? Are the cutlets dual use, and fair game for a post-competition snack?
On second thought, some things are better left unknown...
