Thank you to Karen for passing this along from BFA...
Light a candle for Kimmy and family here.
And yep a doody I'm in labor! hehe Its only stage one, this can go on for hours (or not!! And thank you!!
Thought we needed a new thread, but I need to keep it simple because I'm busy.
Meet Zombie Renee. I kept thinking that I feel zombie-like for the past few days, so last night I tried to make a Zombie Renee sim.
She got better.
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It's an open thread. You know what to do...
For anyone who would like a chuckle, this is kind of fun…
The Deadly Follies of Stick Figure Warning-Man and Family
I got a kick out of that because Daughter in Ohio has talked about how unfair it is that bad things keep happening to that poor guy. She said she was going to write a story where nice things happen to him. Like people give him presents and bake cakes for him…
Oscar's comics, if he posts them, will be here.
New design by Demetrius
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Good Afternoon, Bloggers! Just got this email from Teri Mills, our marvelous Deaniac National Nurse, and since we need a Friday Thread, here it is.
I don't know if it's kosher to put a donation appeal on the front page, so apologies if it isn't.
We sure do need a focus on healthcare in this country, though!
Reminds me of how Teri used to do a Friday morning post at BBB each week. I'm in process of asking my Rep., Peter Welch, to co-sponsor the National Nurse legislation this year, just as Bernie Sanders did last year!
XOXOXXX ~ listener
The National Nursing Network Org. is officially a PAC, 501 C-4, and we are urgently seeking donations to help us to travel to Washington DC this coming March. Contributions are not tax deductible so that we may continue our lobbying efforts.
For a 20 dollar donation (that can be made on line at www.nationalnurse.org ) we will include a certificate in your honor in a packet to be delivered to your US Representative and will send you a copy of this as well.
Interested in writing a check to support this cause? Email teri@nationalnurse.info for how to do this.
This is a grassroots campaign and we truly count on supporters such as yourself to help to keep the momentum going to establish an Office of the National Nurse.
Thanks for your ongoing support, and I look forward to hearing from you.
Best,
Teri
www.nationalnurse.org
Thank you to everyone who shared jokes when I asked for some in yesterday's thread. If you missed that thread, you can find it here.
I've devoted much of my time today to adding keywords, teasers, and descriptions to things we already had up at Cafe Press. At the recent Valentine's Day prep chat, the representative from CP was saying, again, how important it is to use all of these opportunities to make a site "rich in content for search engines". That does tend to be the one area we kind of forget about, so I'm working on it because it needs to be done. It will pay off in the long run.
Why do I feel like I'm trying to convince myself to eat my vegetables? Really, this is even more boring that what had me zombified yesterday.
Since I was working on the Valentine's Day stuff, I revisited a page I did a while ago, and followed the link to the Unfortunate Valentines at Cap'n Wacky's Boatload of Love. They do seem to have added some new ones since I was last there. Not all of them are winners, but a number of them made me laugh out loud. Here's one of them...
Nothing quite says "I love you" like leaving a permanent mark on the skin of your valentine by holding metal over an open flame until it's so hot that it will leave a scar when pressed, hissing, into the flesh.And, I haven't gotten around to checking it out yet, but apparently there are Unfortunate Cards for other holidays/occasions as well.
Also, I'm a bit concerned that the lad may be in love with a cow.
floridagal posted this in the comments late last night...
Click
I am just beginning to realize what a horrible job Howard Dean took on in getting the state parties back on track. This was at The Next Hurrah, and he had to literally get some out of bankruptcy. 12 apparently. I know Florida was in debt big time.
You know the drill--talk amongst yourselves.
If anyone is wondering about puddle and Peter, there are a couple new posts today at puddle's blog.
In the past few days I've been directing you to Firedoglake for their coverage of the Scooter Libby trial. Do check out that blog for up to date discussion of the trail--Pachacutec is liveblogging jury selection in the comments.
But I wanted to point out this post by Jane Hamsher, for anyone who might have missed it.
As someone who has devoted years to building this blog around coverage of the CIA leak investigation, it's going to be really rough to sit on the sidelines for the first two weeks while Marcy, Christy, Pach and others cover the trial in person. I've been working for months now to obtain a press pass and set up the "Plame House" in Washington DC as a central place for bloggers to stay and share information amongst ourselves as we cover the trial. When I received (with the help of Arianna Huffington and Rachel Sklar of the Huffington Post) the only press pass awarded to a blogger to be in the actual courtroom, I was blown away. And as you might well imagine, it would have to be something pretty serious to keep me away for even a moment.Sorry for kind of a long excerpt, but I realize a number of people here are not familiar with Firedoglake. A number of Dean people do post there, and it's the closest I've been able to find to the fast paced political discussion we used to have at BFA. And I'm not really in a writing state of mind at the moment, don't have enough charge in my brain cells to do a good job distilling this down. But I wanted to include enough to give you all a sense of who Jane is and why I wanted to make a candle page for her.
In mid-December I was diagnosed with breast cancer for the third time. It's a bit more serious this time and treatment is going to have to be more extensive. I owe a huge debt of thanks to all the folks on the blog who have stepped in and allowed me time to investigate treatment options with many physicians and make an informed decision on that front. In addition to regulars like Christy, Pach and TRex who have taken over many of my duties, I also need to express my thanks to commenters like Scarecrow, Looseheadprop, Peterr, Hugh and Oilfieldguy who have done incredible work posting so that I could take this time off. Guest posters like Taylor Marsh, Swopa, Steve Gilliard, Watertiger, Howie Klein and others have also pitched in, and no amount of words can thank the incredible RGB, our site administrator, who has taken it upon himself to coordinate all these disparate elements on the fly. It's been a daunting task and he has managed it spectacularly.
On Thursday I go in for surgery at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica. My surgeons are Dr. Armando Giuliano, with whom I've been down this road before, and Dr. Jay Orringer, who comes highly recommended by both friends and his own superb work. Thanks to the time that all of those who contribute to this blog have afforded me to investigate all my options, I feel really confident in my choice of treatments. Right now I'm writing from John Amato's house, the Crooks & Liars bat cave, where I'll be recouping. The emotional support that bloggers like John, Digby, Arianna, and of course Pach, TRex and the amazing Christy have given to me during this time — well, there just are no words to express.
Crooks and Liars has some of the video of last night's Daily Show...
During her appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee last week, Condoleezza Rice was challenged by Senator Boxer for not having a personal stake in the war because she doesn't have any immediate family in the military. Seeing that bringing a child into Condi's life may finally make her realize the human cost of war, Jon Stewart decides to take one for the team and tries to serenade the distinguished Dr. Rice with some intellectual pickup lines. Hilarity ensues.It *was* funny! (Click)
Hello Everyone:
This is Dar. It's been awhile since my last post/confession, but I'm glad to be back.
Although we honored Dr. Martin Luther King yesterday, his actual birthdate is January 16th, and today I'm proud to announce the launch of our new site DemocracyInteractive.com (formerly DemocracyChat.com). The site, as our tagline conveys, is "a real-time free speech forum." We decided to dedicate the site and our very first frontpage to Dr. King because he exemplified the true power of free speech.
I was born and grew up in Selma, Alabama around the time of the Civil Rights Movement, and now live in Montgomery, Alabama, so Dr. King is very much a part of my life and history. My grandparents, who could not vote without the threat of harassment, job loss or worse, had pictures and paintings of Dr. King around our house like a member of our family. In many ways, he's a member of all our families.
Dr. King possessed the rare conviction to stand for what was right when he had every reason not to do so. For starters, he had 4 little children, his home was firebombed, he was almost fatally stabbed, and too many other incidents to name, but he remained steadfast. Today, we have a man in office who stands for the wrong things, with no consequences, and thinks that's real conviction. Dr. King stood up for what was right despite the consequences. That, more than anything, is what makes him great.
It's not brought out enough, but one of Dr. King's most passionate stands was against the war in Vietnam. I truly believe that if Dr. King were here with us today he be standing against us sending more of our men and women into another bloody quagmire. He would be standing for those held without trial for years and he would be standing against a government that seeks to spy on and deny the rights of its citizens .
So, we dedicate our site to Dr. King and others, before and since, who've had the courage to stand for democracy.
I invite my fellow members of the Howard-Empowered community to join us at DemocracyInteractive to chat about the issues of the day, and to have some fun. If you haven't already, sign up, login and express your free speech today.
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Dar has a post about Martin Luther King in draft, but has asked me to hold off on posting it until around noonish. So, in the meantime, here's an open thread. And a picture of a snow cat, courtesy of listener.
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Just a reminder that jury selection for the Scooter Libby trial begins tomorrow.
Bloggers at Firdoglake have been following the case, and will be liveblogging as the trial progresses.
By the way, completely unrelated, but I just found Oscar's MLK Day post at Underground Railroad.
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Many friends and colleagues have asked me about my trip to Washington for the election and swearing-in of Nancy Pelosi. I thought you might like my impressions. This weekend I spoke to newly elected speakers of state legislatures at a conference at the University of Virginia. There I met the three other women speakers, all of them Democrats; Barbara Buckley of Nevada, Terie Norelli of New Hampshire and Margaret Kelliher of Minnesota. It was interesting to exchange notes and hear about the challenges their states face. They too are thrilled that a woman is taking the reins of the Congress with the intent to guide a change in direction for the country.
Gaye
Notes from January 4, 2007:
Last week I attended the election of Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives. The election of a woman to the most powerful legislative post in the nation is an historic moment. I was seated in the gallery above the floor of the House near the section labeled in gold letters, “The Ladies’ Gallery.” I sat between a Silicon Valley entrepreneur and Maggie Fox, the wife of a three term congressman from Boulder Colorado, Mark Udall. Maggie’s sixteen year old daughter was sitting with Congressman Udall. Other children and grandchildren sat with members of congress as well.
Vermont’s newly elected congressman, Peter Welch, was below and perhaps ten rows in front of us. The clerk called the roll in alphabetical order, each member naming their candidate, Pelosi or Republican John Boehner. The Californians would embellish their vote with, “voting from the home state of the most honorable new Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.” The Baltimore members would chime in “Nancy D’Alesandro Pelosi,” with emphasis on the name of Pelosi’s father, the former Baltimore mayor. One member voted with the intonation of an accomplished preacher, “in the name of equal rights, justice and for the love of Jesus, Nancy Pelosi.” Several members voted “in the name of all the children and grandchildren” in their specific district. During the hour it took to get to the U’s and the W’s Maggie pointed out various current congressional leaders such as Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and former Speakers Tom Foley and Dennis Hastert, as well as celebrities in the galleries, such as Martin Sheen, Tony Bennett and Howard Dean.
Some in the gallery were sporting a lapel button where Pelosi’s face had been substituted for the face of Rosie the Riveter, a substitution that was more flattering than the same move a Vermont health care advocacy group had made with my face two years ago. The well known World War II poster has become a symbol for women stepping into roles of power.
The tone of the day appeared uncharacteristically gracious for Washington politics. Both Republican leader Boehner and Speaker Pelosi spoke of working together in the name of serving all Americans, not just their political parties. In her remarks the day before, Pelosi had spoken about making decisions with the prosperity of future generations in mind, a theme the Vermont legislature has also articulated.
As she accepted the gavel from Congressman Boehner, Speaker Pelosi invited children to come up to the podium. As she gave her remarks, two boys, perhaps ages 7 and 10, stood by her right arm. The younger boy kept picking up the gavel and twirling it around like a pinwheel. The older boy would reach around from behind to stabilize the gavel. After a few minutes the younger boy would resume the twirling only to be reminded by his older side-kick to put it down. Eventually Speaker Pelosi put her right hand down and gently but firmly took control of the gavel and placed it on the podium, without missing a beat in her speech.
I was struck by the familiarity of this barely discernable move. She could have been engaging in any of the multi-tasking that she has undoubtedly done as a parent of five children born within six years. Except this time she was delivering an address to the people of the United States about her vision for our country, and all the while establishing a limit to how much “fiddling around” she was going to tolerate from these boys.
After the vote and the speeches, we left the gallery to get in a “line” (it was a mob, not a line) of family members of new members of Congress waiting for a picture with Speaker Pelosi at a “private swearing in.” There was nothing private about it. It was total chaos. Eventually our group was called in as the family ahead of us finished up. We moved into place, Speaker Pelosi and Peter Welch holding the Welch family bible while about fifty cameras clicked and whirled.
As we turned to leave, Peter introduced her to me as the Speaker of the Vermont House. She held out her hand, and said, “Ah, Madam Speaker” and, fairly star-struck, I said the same in return and we shook hands and held them together for the cameras. In a few seconds the Welch entourage was swept into the adjoining atrium. It was the next group’s turn to hold hands with history.
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This and that before I head off to church...
An article about yesterday's inauguration...
With a soothing cadence instructed by his years as a counselor and Methodist minister, Strickland stoked that optimism, holding forth the promise that he will enable a "raw hope ready to be put to purpose" against the cynicism that has scarred Ohio government with corruption and hastened the state’s economic decline.Text of the inaugural address
