Just as Mitt Romney and the Republicans and Right Wing would tell us

Quotes of the day

"If farmers and blacksmiths could win independence from an empire, if immigrants could leave behind everything they knew for a better life on our shores, if women could be dragged to jail for seeking the vote, if a generation could defeat a depression, and define greatness for all time, if a young preacher could lift us to the mountaintop with his righteous dream, and if proud Americans can be who they are and boldly stand at the altar with who they love then surely, surely we can give everyone in this country a fair chance at that great American Dream. Because in the end, more than anything else, that is the story of this country – the story of unwavering hope grounded in unyielding struggle."

--First Lady Michelle Obama at the Democratic National Convention

"We can not afford to hand the reigns of government over to someone who wants to double down on trickle down."

"...since 1961, the Republicans have held the White House 28 years, the Democrats 24. In those 52 years, our economy produced 66 million private sector jobs. What’s the jobs score? Republicans 24 million, Democrats 42 million!

It turns out that advancing equal opportunity and economic empowerment is both morally right and good economics, because discrimination, poverty and ignorance restrict growth, while investments in education, infrastructure and scientific and technological research increase it, creating more good jobs and new wealth for all of us."

"Though I often disagree with Republicans, I never learned to hate them the way the far right that now controls their party seems to hate President Obama and the Democrats."

‎"Remember this, Republican economic policies quadrupled the debt before in the 12 years before I took office and doubled it in the 8 after I left.

--Former President Bill Clinton, last night at the Democratic National Convention

In case you've never been to the White House

I know I haven't (been). A new way to see the White House art:

More outrageous, ignorant hypocrisy from a Republican Congressman

This person, above, is Representative Jim Sensenbrenner. This is the guy, nearly unbelievably, who said First Lady Michelle Bachmann has a "large posterior." To make matters worse, he was quoted saying it at a church event. The stupidity, ignorance and hypocrisy, all, are staggering. Link: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2077779/Michelle-Obama-U-S-politician-Jim-Sensenbrenner-apologises-calling-First-Lady-fat.html

Who'da' thunkit?

Our--black--president toasting the white, billionaire Queen?

I never thought it would happen in my lifetime.

There's hope for humankind yet.

Oprah, by the numbers, to date

PBS showed this today.  I thought it interesting, at least:

48 million viewers 
The estimated number of viewers who watch her show every week in the U.S.

55 million 
Number of books sold since they were selected by Oprah and then discussed and promoted on Oprah's Book Club. That's according to a Fordham University marketing professor who has made an estimate. Of the 70 books she singled out, 59 made it to the USA Today bestseller list. But even the Oprah Effect has its limits: Charles Dickens' novels, "Great Expectations" and "A Tale of Two Cities" peaked at No. 52 on the USA Today bestseller list last year.

25,000 
Emails Oprah receives each week

$2.7 billion 
Her estimated net worth according to Forbes Magazine. She is also the only female African-American billionaire.

No. 3
Forbes ranks Oprah as the third-most-powerful woman in the world, behind only Michelle Obama and Irene Rosenfeld, the chief executive of Kraft.

283 
Types of products given away by Oprah during her "Favorite Things" episodes

276 
Pontiac G6 sedans she gave away to audience members during a September 2004 show, giving rise to the memorable moment: "You get a car! And you get a car! Everybody gets a car!"

$350 million
An estimate of the amount Oprah has reportedly given of her own money to charitable causes. Oprah has raised more than $51 million for charitable organizations through her show, including education. Her charitable organizations are said to be worth $200 million.

$1 million 
What advertisers are paying for a 30-second spot on Oprah finale, matching what a hot prime-time spot costs.

2 million 
Minimum estimated monthly circulation of "O, The Oprah Magazine," which usually features Oprah alone on the cover. She has shared covers twice, once with first lady Michelle Obama and with fellow talk show host Ellen Degeneres.

5 
Hosts of new shows that were propelled to fame in part by Oprah. That counts Suze Orman, Rachael Ray, Dr. Phil, Dr. Mehmet Oz and Nate Berkus.

150 
Countries where the Oprah Winfrey Show is seen.

80 million 
The number of homes that carry her new network, OWN.

300,000
Average number of prime-time viewers who watch OWN at night.

150,000 
Average number of viewers tuning into OWN during the day. This poses the next challenge for the Oprah Effect. Can she lift her fledgling network's numbers?

Link:  http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/05/the-oprah-phenomenon---by-the-numbers.html

A sleeping air traffic controller is the least of our concerns, apparently

From The Washington Post and NPR, just now:

A White House plane carrying Michelle Obama came dangerously close to a 200-ton military cargo jet and had to abort its landing at Andrews Air Force Base on Monday as the result of an air traffic controller’s mistake, according to federal officials familiar with the incident.


First one sleeping air traffic controller, then a few, now this.


Makes you feel safe in the skies, doesn't it?  If the First Lady isn't safe, how would we be?


I wonder how long it took until this person was summarily fired?  Minutes?

Links:  http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/3873VC/S3HGXP/37VQZG/DH4IMT/ZIT5A/RF/h
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/04/19/135551528/report-plane-carrying-first-lady-in-near-miss-at-andrews-airforce-base?ft=1&f=1001
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110419/ap_on_re_us/us_air_controller_movie

Update: But wait! There's more! Much more!

New incident deepens FAA embarrassment

Another beauty from Sarah "The Quitter" Palin

"It's no wonder Michelle Obama is telling everybody you better breastfeed your baby--yeah, you better--because the price of milk is so high right now!"


As long as she doesn't get any national, elected office, I love this woman.


Enjoy your weekend, y'all


Link to original post:  http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/post_leadership/2011/02/palin-breastfeeding-joke-gos-sour.html

Things to notice about this President and his vacations

I think it needs to be pointed out that this President--in sharp contrast to several of the last Presidents, most particularly the last occupant of the White House AND Ronald the Ray-gun--is not taking and does not take the entire month of August off his job so he can vacation. Anyone in the Republican or Tea Parties want to notice that? No, I thought not. And check this out, on several of the First Family's vacations, the President has had his very brief getaways interrupted so he can take care of national business: "Their Memorial Day weekend in Chicago was overtaken by the Gulf oil spill. After the Obamas slept at their Chicago home for the first time in a year, the president got up and left for a daylong Gulf inspection tour. That followed the Obamas' Christmas trip to Hawaii, interrupted repeatedly for briefings and comment on the attempted bombing of a Detroit-bound jet. And it followed last summer's Martha's Vineyard stay, marred by the death of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, whose Boston funeral Obama and his wife, Michelle, attended. Then there was the planned visit to Indonesia, where Obama spent part of his youth. He'd hoped to show his daughters his old haunts. But the trip was scrubbed twice, first in March as health care neared its climax in Congress, then again in June because of the oil spill. It's now expected late this year. So besides passing the first health care reform in this country in about 100 years and putting back in place good financial reform measures to protect the country and lowering taxes on the Middle Class and all the other good things this President has done, accomplished and is doing, could we please give him and the First Family credit for working hard and not slacking? It won't happen but I thought someone should mention it. Have a great weekend, y'all. Link to original post: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100716/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama

President Obama better put an end to this

President Obama stayed in his hotel room last evening in Moscow, instead of having a ceremonial dinner with his hosts in thr Soviet governmnet.

Oops.

First, in Washington here at home, the President and his wife went to New York for dinner and a play.

I think people were surprised and there was some grumbling--particularly by Conservatives, Republicans and the Far Right, of course--but I think the American people gave them a pass. After all, they're human and it's a difficult job, right? I think most people figured they'd earned it.

Then, last month, the President and his wife went out on the town in Paris when they were visiting.

Again, the opinion, overall, was one of mostly acceptance.

But this time? I don't know.

The President and his family stayed in their hotel, instead, for dinner and entertainment.

Uh-oh.

"The first family enjoyed a relaxed evening at the O2 Lounge, the super-chic, super-pricey rooftop club at the new Ritz-Carlton..."

I think the President and First Lady better tone this stuff down, when it comes to the sacrifice of international relations, at minimum.

Mr. Obama's oponents are only too happy to paint a picture of him as someone who spends too much money, puts himself first and ignores the needs of his nation.

I can see it coming now.

And it ain't pretty, Mr. President.


Link:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/08/world/europe/08moscow.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

Hopefully Mrs. Obama will come to Kansas City with this message

It seems First Lady Michelle Obama is a big hit with the Queen of England, the British people and their tabloid newspapers.

Good for her.

Good for us.

And while it's just dandy that Mrs. Obama and the Queen were apparently so struck by each other that they showed outward signs of affection (read: hugged each other?), what's better and more important is what she did later in the day:

"Mrs. Obama visited an all-girls school in North London on Thursday afternoon. She told the 240 girls about growing up on Chicago's South side, and urged them to think of education as 'cool.'"

"'I never cut class. I liked being smart. I liked getting A's,' she said. 'You have everything you need. Everything you need to succeed you already have right here.'"

That is precisely the message that American students--regardless of all color--need, frankly.

And that's what we need in the United States, frankly. Hopefully Mrs. Obama will bring that message of intelligence and studying and discipline back home with her. Children and adults, both, could apply this message. It would be nice to get over our dislike or suspicion of intelligence and the "intelligentsia".

Stupid, for the last 8 years of George W. Bush got us nowhere good.

I hope Mrs. Obama brings that message back home to the United States for the next 4 (or, here's hoping, 8) years.

I hope she brings it here, to the Kansas City, Missouri and Kansas area, too. It would serve her country well.

Link to original story here:
http://enews.earthlink.net/article/top?guid=20090402/49d44650_3426_1335020090402-1940165394

A proud day for America

So our new, young, intelligent and eloquent, African-American (Black) President Obama and his energetic, intelligent and, yes, beautiful wife leave today for Europe and their first big international trip, for the G20 Summit.

It is, truly, a proud day for America, even before anything good happens.