What No Pie-Fighting

At a Chicago fundraiser for Dem. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (IL-09) called "The Ultimate Women's Power Lunch," the featured Guest of Honor and Hillary Clinton supporter Valerie Plame crossed paths with Michelle Obama. Somehow, fireworks failed to break out. Who[...]

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http://firedoglake.com/2008/05/11/what-no-pie-fighting/

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A Better Role for Obama

I think Barack Obama's greatest contribution to America would be as Attorney General in a Hillary Clinton administration.

• He be terrific as head of its civil rights division.
• He'd go after crooked lobbyists and big time corporate offenders.
• He'd have the ability not to charge non-violent drug possessors with mandatory minimum offenses, while pushing Congress to change the law.
• He'd be the best advocate for a congressional end to the unfair disparity in crack-powder cocaine sentences.
• He could refrain from prosecuting federal death penalty cases until an independent commission has established that the death penalty is no longer applied in a racially disparate manner -- and in any case in which DNA evidence does not conclusively prove guilt.

In accordance with his expressed beliefs,

• He'd direct federal prosecutors not to prosecute medical marijuana dispensaries or users in states that have passed medical marijuana laws.
• He'd charge and prosecute suspected terrorists in federal courts, eliminating the need for unfair military commissions.
• He could stay tough on meth labs, an issue he's made a priority.

[More...]

It would be great to have someone other than a career prosecutor as Attorney General. As President, it has been speculated that Obama's choice for AG would be the "tough on crime" Alabama Senator Artur Davis. Davis would be a terrible Attorney General.

Obama could prove his mettle as Attorney General. With the experience he would gain and a strong record of accomplishments while in the position, he'd be a great contender in 2016.

Obama for Attorney General. Sounds great to me.

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What I Found In Family

Do you remember playing dress up and "house" and planning your wedding? Remember playing MASH or some other similar game of chance to pick your perfect spouse? Well the one thing I don't remember was dreaming of single life while in a relationship. Now don't get me wrong, I've always really enjoyed being single. Partly because I like the care free side of things, but also because it's taken me quite a while to get to the place I am now, the place where I am discovering all of the wonderful sides of a relationship with true intimacy. So now that I've discovered more than I knew was possible in terms of love, I found my love a thousand miles away while I sit home and wait and sometimes feel single.

Although we met a two years prior, we were only three months deep in our relationship when he deployed to a place where four hour phone calls and every ten minute texts became an impossibility,  not to mention being held or kissed or whispered to. And considering the lenght of deployment versus the length of our "couplehood" I had every reason to be concerned about the growth and even longevity of our relationship. I mean, there's only so long you can live on "I miss yous".

But then something happened to cement our relationship. It came at a time when I needed it the most and from a place I least expected... his family. I was celebrating Greek Easter with his very large Greek family. I guess this would be a good place to mention that I am not Greek so if you are at all curious what this is like for me I suggest watching the movie, My Big Fat Greek Wedding. Seriously. They really do recycle three names. So there I was experience a whole new world, wishing he was there to explain things to this very Protestant, very lily white, and very non lamb-eating little girl, when we had just come back the last service carrying our Holy Light. The mood was festive as it should be (we were celebrating the ressurection of Christ) and people were laughing and eating and saying Christo Anesti when the phone rang. It was Robby. A hush fell over the whole house. His mom talked first and then passed the phone to me. I swallowed the lump in my throat and took the phone in the other room. He didn't have time to talk. And he was angry. But he called to say Happy Easter. He wouldn't say what happened, he would barely say anything, and I couldn't tell him I was fighting every tear I had. After our unusually short conversation I snuck into the bathroom and splashed some cold water on my face. Nearly composed I made my way to the porch with his mom and his aunts. I only lasted 3 seconds when one of his aunts put out her arm so I could tuck myself under it as she consoled me. That was the final straw. I lost it. And once I started to cry, his aunts started to cry, and when his aunts did, his mom did. And while on the one hand I felt terrible for making them cry, it was one of the most beautiful moments that I have had as we bonded and hurt and felt our own pain and the pain of everyone else.  They told me how brave I was and I thought how brave he was. And right then I knew he wasn't just a part of Easter and a part of them, he had become a part of me. And all of the relational singleness I felt melted away and we became one. One over there and one over here. One.

So even though I never dreamed of learing about love through a twelve month separation and certainly not a war, I am so very happy that I will not find myself waking up from my real life love story.


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http://www.milspousepress.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=660

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Why are our injured soldiers still suffering

Why have the Republicans continued to ignore the problems of our injured troops?

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Robo-Call Voting Group Causing W.V. Confusion

Women’s Voices, Women Vote caused a controversy in North Carolina prior to the primary with their misleading robo-calls that made listeners think that there was still time to register for the primary (there wasn’t) or that there was a problem[...]

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http://mouemagazine.wordpress.com/2008/05/11/robo-call-voting-group-causing-wv-co
nfusion/

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Facts Are Stubborn Things

Pundits ignore facts when they do not fit their narrative. First it was Frank Rich. Now it is Jonathan Alter (via Yglesias selling the nonsense:

It was the "Grandma Primary." Barack Obama lost Pennsylvania mostly because white working-class women over 60 dominated the contest to an astonishing degree, and they backed Hillary Clinton by more than 2-1. The big question is what that means for November. Obama carried men and younger and middle-aged voters, but that wasn't nearly enough.

This is false in every particular. The PA exit polls prove this. Clinton won ALL voters 40-49 by 54-46. She won ALL voters 50-64 by 57-43. these two age groups comprised 56% of the vote in Pennsylvania. Of course Clinton also won all whites 60 and older by 68-32. But she also won all whites 18-29 by 52-48. She also won all whites 30-44 by 58-42.

Jonathan Alter write an entire column that is premised on a gross falsehood. He approvingly quotes Obama saying ""If you look at the numbers, our problem has less to do with white working-class voters [than] with older voters." that is just false. Alter reports it as fact. This is now common from him. It is a shame. He was once a good journalist.

By Big Tent Democrat

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Final Salute

Remember this photo? I'm sure you've seen it a dozen times as it's made it's way around the web. Her name is Katherine Cathey and she's a mother, a mother of a son who never met his father Marine 2nd. Lt. Jim Cathey. Katherine mentions this photo in a video, of which I'll give you the link to in a moment, one you should view.

Recently  NPR's Fresh Air aired an interview with journalist Jim Sheeler who won a Pulitzer Prize for his series about Marine Colonel Steve Beck and the families of the fallen soldiers. Katherine Cathey was one of those families that Col. Beck helped. The interview was called A 'Final Salute' to Fallen Marines and you can read abit at that link, as well as listen to, or you can click here to bring up the NPR player to listen in, it's abit over 31min. long and well worth the listen.

Jim Sheeler followed Beck for a year, writing about the experience in a Pulitzer Prize-winning Rocky Mountain News series Final Salute. Sheeler's new book, Final Salute: A Story of Unfinished Lives, is a continuation of the series.

There's an excerpt of his book at the Fresh Air interview link. This aired on the 30th of last month, I passed it on to a few folks but didn't use it in a posting  untill I caught a video, over at the News Week magazine website a few days ago.

The video is one you should view, it's short but very moving, the link is in the quote below:

Maj. Steve Beck was charged with notifying families that their loved ones wouldn't be coming home from Iraq. How one widow received the news.

Katherine Cathey  is featured in Sheelers book, in the Video she makes this statement: "That's reality, there should be over 4,000 pictures like that that everybody has to look at!".

Once again the the link to the News Week Video

Katherines statement, in the video, is the reality that this country should be living as those who die in it's service are brought home, but these pictures are kept well hidden from an apathedic society that's easily controlled and brought to the fear level, and we seem to like it that way.

We should be viewing the over 4000 pictures of the flag draped coffins, with family members included, 4,075 confirmed as of today from Iraq, and the 499 killed in Afganistan to date.

But what about the hundreds, possibly thousands, of potential deaths that are directly related to these conflicts, suicides, related to physical and mental injuries from these theaters of occupations, unknown causes........................etc., they to, though not counted, should be embraced and remembered in our countries concious!

The physical and mental injuries don't just stop happening when those we send into Wars of Choice return, they continue taking there toll for the years left, not only for those military personal but also their families and those who live in the countries invaded who suffer the most!!

There was also a recent report at Stars and Stripes, Four names added to Vietnam Veterans Memorial

The names of four U.S. servicemembers who died years after they were wounded during the Vietnam War are being added to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial this week.

Stoneworker James Lee holds the paper as Priscilla Mason makes a rubbing of her husband's newly-engraved name on the Wall. Lance Cpl. Raymond C. Mason, wounded in Vietnam in 1968, died of causes related to his wounds in 2006.
See more photos here

"I can't even put it into words," Priscilla Mason, from Riverside, R.I., said after watching Lee at work. "My first reaction was, he's finally home.
"They were able to put him chronologically where he would have been if he had died Feb. 28, 1968, when he was shot. My first thought was, I wonder how many of those names (on panel 41E) did he know.
"I'm sure he feels he's home, too."
Raymond Mason, confined to a wheelchair since he was wounded, died May 28, 2006.

There is a Video at the end of the report as 'Nam Brother Raymond Masons wife Priscilla speaks about him and his and her comfort in bringing him home to 'The Wall'!

And what about those who live in the countries invaded and occupied, we think even less of them than we do our own, some even consider All of them our Enemies, and in todays age some already are or will quickly turn into seeking the retaliation for what we've done.

Among Iraq's Children, Orphans Suffer Most

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The number of Iraqi orphans increased in the last few years due to the war. According to official Iraqi government statistics released in December 2007, the number of Iraqi orphans had reached at least five million over the last three years. Many due to the Sunni-Shia conflict. There are several social organizations caring for a small number of these Iraqi orphans, such as Child Aid International. There are approximately 26 orphanages that Alive in Baghdad has been able to locate around Iraq. Eight orphanages are in Baghdad and another 18 are distributed all over Iraq and generally they accept kids between the age of 6 and 18 years old.

One of the biggest scandals that happened in the history of the Iraq conflict is the one that happened in Al-Hanan orphanage. There were many pictures distributed online and by television of Iraqi orphans lying on the floor naked, with no food for weeks, sick and nearly dying. After this the Iraqi government began to show more attention for the orphans, there were many stories being reported regarding Al-Hanan Orphanage, like sexual abuses and bad treatment of the kids living there.

Al-A'ssal House is one of the rare orphanages that still take care of the young children who have a dead father or who are orphans due to losing both parents. The house has a special method and it's opposed to the toy guns due to Iraq's situation and the reason behind it, which is the constant conflict that Iraq is undergoing. Another organization was also created by this house, and it's called the Sazan organization. This organization is taking in orphans for free, with no payment at all. Also this house employs Iraq widows in order to help the Iraqi women support themselves during the war. Despite all their hard work, this orphanage has not yet received any funding from the Iraqi government or sponsorship by a bigger humanitarian aid organization while other orphanages such as Al-Hanan orphanage received funds from the Iraqi government without oversight.

Ask yourself, as I did,

this orphanage has not yet received any funding from the Iraqi government or sponsorship by a bigger humanitarian aid organization

with all the monies being spent, and the War Profitteers reaping, especially on our Private Merc Army and the rest of the No-Bid Contracts, Why The U.S. Is Not Funding This and Other Orphanages along with So Much More!

There's much more to feelings than title says, 'Final Salute'!

Not only for our Fallen but also for the Innocents who have lost so much and it will continue!!

And thinking of Burma as well!

Happy Mothers Day?

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http://www.milspousepress.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=659

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Explaining Hillary's Tenacity: The Feedback Loop
Hypothesis

We've seen a number of surprising events in this nomination battle.  Hillary beat polling[...]

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FOXNews Sunday Panel: Playing The Name The Veep
Game

 Download | Play  Download | Play (h/t Heather)Where better to get reasonable analysis of the Veep sweepstakes than the GOP Propaganda office...er, FOXNews? As far as FOXNews is concerned (okay, to be fair, pretty much everyone else too), the race is over and now it is time for Obama to pick his running mate. Of [...]

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http://www.crooksandliars.com/2008/05/11/foxnews-sunday-panel-playing-the-name-th
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Why Hillary's Supporters Won't Give Up

Thanks to a TL reader who left this in the comments on the Mother's Day Thread: Ellen Malcolm, founder of Emily's List, has an op-ed in Saturday's Washington Post, Quitters Never Win. A snippet:

It's not surprising that low-income working women are the cornerstone of Hillary's success. Many of these women live on the edge of disaster. A pink slip, a family member's illness, a parent who can no longer live alone, a car that won't start or a mortgage rate that goes up -- all are threats that could devastate the family. And yet these women do what women have done for ages. They put on a confident face, feed their children breakfast and get them off to school. They don't quit. They suck it up and fight back against whatever life throws their way....

....Hillary Clinton certainly has the right to compete till the end. But I believe Hillary also has a responsibility to play the game to its conclusion. For the women of my generation who learned to find and channel their competitiveness, for the working women who never falter in the face of pressure, for the younger women who still believe women can do anything, Hillary is a champion. She's shown us over and over that winners never quit and that quitters never win.

[More...]

We don't have a nominee yet. The media can crown Obama with the title, presumptively or not, but it's not over until one candidate drops out or the vote is taken at the convention in August. With two candidates remaining in the race, the superdelegates can change their mind right up until the August vote. It may not come to that, but so long as we have two candidates, it's a possibility.

For those of you in West Virginia and who know people in West Virginia, turnout matters. The higher the turnout, the greater the message that Democrats are not ready for this race to end.

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