Saturday, September 13, 2008

LOOK WHO WENT TO OREGON!


Watch this space for a report from Nurse Teri!

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No Do-overs, John McCain

There's a good reason why legislators aren't usually promoted into the executive. When people do nothing but write laws and review how they work, they get used to doing things over.

But, when the commander-in-chief sends our sons and daughters off to be killed in a foreign land, there's no undoing that. There's no do-over in Iraq, John McCain.

When one of our cities is allowed to drown and the residents have to flee for their lives, there's no do-over in New Orleans, either, George Bush.

When our children die at an early age from vaccines that aren't properly made, there's no do-over, FDA.

When our foods are infected with salmonella, there's not a do-over there, either.

John McCain has been allowed to do lots of things over--his marriages, his families, his planes, his careers and a host of failed bills. Which should tell us that, no matter how much experience he's got, it's not the kind to fit him to be a chief executive.

Monica Smith

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Friday, September 12, 2008

Separated at birth...?

TotallyLooksLike.com is one of the newer entries to the "I Can Has Cheezburger" family of web sites. We just knew someone would have to submit this one....

sarah palin, alaska, tina fey, snl
see famous look-a-like faces

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fail owned pwned pictures
see more pwn and owned pictures

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Thursday, September 11, 2008

Open thread


Anyone planning to watch the Sarah Palin interview tonight?

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Wednesday, September 10, 2008

The Importance of Toughness- at least to Republicans

One of the most intriguing parts of attending the DNC convention was the time spent on public buses. Traveling from the Motel 6 in the outskirts of Denver, gave us the unique opportunity to be with the locals. Next to my friend and me sat workers with sack lunches, students with backpacks and mothers with grocery bags. When I travel in other towns on vacation, I politely sit quietly and wait for my stop. Covered in Obama/Change buttons, it was obvious we were here for the convention.

We could barely sit down before someone would give us thumbs up or say Go Obama! Some would just shake their head or complain about the detoured bus route because of the convention. It wouldn’t take long to figure out who was a Republican. We discussed healthcare and the pros and cons of universal coverage with a lab tech. When a 20 year-old parroted the republican spin of no experience, we Illinoisans had to tell him of how proud we were of Obama’s accomplishments.

Still on a high following Obama’s speech, we loaded the bus on Friday morning. We sat near the front of the bus because we were unsure of the stop for the Presidential Museum. The bus driver seemed to be compelled to talk. He said he was exhausted because he drove a bus following last night’s events and didn’t finish until 2 AM.

He opened the bus door with his large forearm to let in a man balancing with the cane. He just had to talk about Obama. He prefaced his statements with, “I was raised as a Southern Baptist and my family has always been Republican. But that Bush is a stupid shit!” I knew I had my opening.

He explained that last night the buses were all parked outside the stadium. Loud speakers were placed so those that couldn’t get in could still listen to the convention. So the bus drivers, whether they wanted to or not, had to hear Obama. He admitted that he really hadn’t listened to Obama speak before but had heard some things about him (probably on Hannity’s program). But he added, “I think I like Obama.”

“Guess what the 2 issues are that make me a Republican?” As he waited for my guesses, he told the man with the strong Indian accent that his stop would be 2 more blocks.

“Guns and abortion” I guessed.

“You have one of them right—Abortion and gay marriage.”

“Did you hear Obama say that it’s all our goal to have less abortions?” I added, “Can you believe that there has been more abortions since Bush has been in office than when Clinton was president?”

He braked at the red light and turned and looked at me in disbelief.

I moved on to his second Republican spin point. “As a liberal, I have to admit I wish Obama would say he was for Gay marriage. Did you hear him say that gays should have equal rights under the law?” I added a personal story to give emphasis to Obama’s statement. “My sister’s gay friend was in intensive care in the hospital. The hospital wouldn’t let her gay partner visit because only family members were allowed.”

His mouth opened but recovered to say, “I didn’t know that!”

The driver cranked the large steering wheel to the left as I turned the conversation back to Obama. “What did you like about Obama last night?”

“He is really smart! He had good ideas for America and he talked tough to McCain. Yeah that is what I liked the best. He talked tough to McCain."
______
Out of the mouths of Republicans—everyone wants toughness Obama campaign. Democrats want toughness and even Republicans respect toughness. Time to go to it.

Large Hadron Collider

I still don't quite get what it does, but people seem to be talking about the Large Hadron Collider today, so here's a rap about it.



See also: CERN's Large Hadron Collider started -- are we still here? (updated with video)

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Tuesday, September 09, 2008

Pop or soda?

...or Coke or other? Someone made a map.


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Sunday, September 07, 2008

NURSE TERI'S ADVENTURES IN DENVER

As promised, here is my report from the DNC Convention. I arrived on Tuesday, August 26th. Each day had its own set of highlights, andtoday I met my hostess, a nurse activist, and her husband, 4 year old son and 6 year old daughter. School was just starting and it was a lot of fun to see the first grader routine in action. After settling in and having a lovely dinner, it was off to my first event, Democracy for America's party! Many of you will recognize Jim Dean, a gracious host and leader extraordinaire!! We just missed seeing Representative Jeff Merkley and the Oregon contingent of delegates. Rep. Merkley is running for the US Senate here in Oregon and was in Denver awaiting his big night on the convention stage.
Please check out his website http://jeffmerkley.com for more information about his campaign.



Then it was off to bed for a quick 5 hours of sleep (that would have been more, but I got confused with my time zones, and accidentally set the alarm for 5 am, LOL. For those of you who know me personally, you will recognize my ineptness with numbers.

August 27th proved to be a huge day with a lot of walking. My hostess and I made a dash into downtown Denver, parking the car in Sunken Gardens Park for an afternoon rally. Parking was impossible next to the Pepsi Center, and we needed to head to the Hyatt for a SEIU Nurse Alliance breakfast meeting. It was awesome hearing the great work nurses representing Colorado, Iowa, New York, Washington DC, Oregon, and Wisconsin are doing to improve healthcare access/affordability for all Americans. I was honored to be included at an SEIU healthcare event that featured four governors, many US Senators, members of Congress, and special guests. Below is a picture of me with SEIU President Andy Stern and my hostess.



After the healthcare event, we walked quickly to the park, and set up tables and booths for the healthcare rally. Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky (IL-9) stopped by and had a round table with several dozen nurses. I had an opportunity to share the Office of the National Nurse initiative http://nationalnurse.org with dozens of rally participants and also was interviewed six times for radio stations, newspapers, and journals.



Of course, the highlight of the week was being able to attend Barack Obama's acceptance speech at Mile High Stadium, and they aren't kidding about the mile high part.  We stood in line for over two hours so by the time we reached the stadium, I wasn't paying attention to all the escalators we rode to reach our section.  When we walked out to the seats, and up several more rows, it gave the feeling we were about to fall off a cliff.  Thankfully, I was in between two very understanding nurses who both assured me that I had not wasted my ticket and that eventually I would be able to look forward and down, instead of sideways and up.  One of the best speeches of the night (besides Obama's) was that of Governor Bill Richardson who had the place rocking and rolling almost as much as Cheryl Crow and Stevie Wonder.  



After the end of the convention, all 84,000 of us poured into downtown Denver. It was truly a celebration and I am so grateful I was able to take part.

COMMENTS


QUITE THE VIEW!



Watch this space for Nurse Teri's report from Denver!
(It's in draft, but so are other posts.  Coming soon!)

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Teh cute--it buuuurns!

For some reason, that line popped into my head as I saw the sheer magnitude of cuteness for sale at a local Japanese gift store. Influenced, I guess, by Son's recent interest into leetspeak.

Anyway, I took some pictures...



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