And thank God someone is praying for Alan Colmes too.
Republicans are going to spontaneously combust one day soon: well said by Rachel Maddow and John Stewart.
I have never been a fan of Tom Friedman and I find the vehicle chosen for this column kind of childish. Obama doesn’t need any help writing speeches, Tom.
And a good gift that keeps on giving. Another walk off by the Yankees, this time in the 11th. Mark Teixiera does the honors but not before A-Rod ties it up in the bottom of the 9th to take it into extra innings.
He was flawed and he suffered for it, but not enough for a lot of people who hated his family and his politics. The fact he was privileged and fought for the little guy left the haters with their only ammunition being a tragic mistake that he asked forgiveness for.
It would be nice if we could all try to be a bit more human and celebrate the fact that he was on the right side of so many moral issues (Civil Rights, Sanctions against apartheid, banning arms to Pinochet, and denouncing Vietnam and Iraq wars). And not to mention the fact that he had been championing universal health care long before it was fashionable. He didn’t have to do any of this, he could of sailed around the Cape all day if he wanted to. He could have slunk back to a quiet private life and never dealt with his demons. He ran for President and lost, he returned to public life and fought the good fight. Thanks Senator Kennedy for all your hard work. Rest in Peace.
We don’t have TV at our Patagonia house so we invited ourselves to the house of some Americans that spend 5 months a year in Junin fishing and relaxing. They have DirectTV. It ended up to be quite the celebration.
The food theme was American..BBQ chicken, pigs in a blanket, hamburgers, potato salad, apple pie, brownies, beer for the grown-ups and milk for the kids. Lunch was great but the event was the real treat. And while I am not hung up on all the pomp and circumstance, it is impressive to see power pass in peace. I just wish I hadn’t had to listen to CNN and their crew of talking heads go on at nauseaum about nothing. I am quite proud of our country, of our first family and the fact that the world is forever changed with the election of this “improbable” man.
Loved the clothes, Michelle. I will keep my eye on you.
Most who know me would describe me as relaxed, laidback, unflappable or in my husband’s opinion, sleep-walking. I am in reality, anal and neurotic about a few things. There needs to be the appearance of order, it doesn’t have to be real, but I want it to look nice and neat and have continuity. Its has been months since I have written and I cant pretend tons of stuff hasn’t happened but I also don’t want to get bogged down in a ponderous blog entry about lots of unrelated events, hence bullet points!
• I am still soaking up the beauty of a democrat being in the White House again, Yeah!!!
• Had a big birthday party for GM and two friends at new house… Was successful in that a lot of booze was consumed, several lambs and suckling pigs eaten and we were up until 7:00 AM. Although, GM I think is right when he says when you stay up that late, nothing really compelling is happening, you are just staying up for the sake of staying up. (more…)
Ann Nixon Cooper, daughter of a slave, a hot 106 years old!
I think I am also tired. With opposing day light savings now, New York is 3 hours earlier. I was up with my 12 year old and husband until 4:00 this morning watching the returns. I had a 6:45 am wake up to get the politically un-insane (too young) to school. I have tried to go back to sleep but I cant, I just might be too excited, but in a zombie sleep-deprived way.
There is so much to say, about how the night unfolded, the stupid news coverage (we hooked up our sling box), Obama’s acceptance speech, and the crowds all over the country, erupting when he won. It was reminiscent of a Argentine national team win here! But its all been said.
I cant stop thinking about older African Americans, who remember a time when they might not have been able to vote, they lived segregated lives and had to endure a racist government….it must just be overwhelming.
I was so focused on getting Bush out, and someone else in that would undo this mess. I don’t think I ever saw Obama’s skin color, or how we as a nation, voting for him, wanting him to be our President, would forever change our culture. My 12 year old, even now doesn’t experience race the way I did/do. He just doesn’t see the limitations or feel fear about other people’s race. But imagine the babies born tomorrow…. The world has changed.
Well granted, he didnt say anything positive about Obama, but God bless him. It makes you realize how effective Bill can be and this is the most powerful argument against casting a McCain/Palin vote.
I really need a break from the world and all the bad news. It would also help if this election was over and won already. I am feeling confident that it will be won by Obama and the progressives. If only we could fast forward to November 5th and this never-ending electoral process would be over (the Founding Fathers werent perfect) and maybe there would be some clarity in the financial situation. Here is some suggested reading that really hasnt helped my state of mind. Maybe it will help you.
He might be little but Robert Reich gets the big picture
It takes a lot to offend me. I worked on a trading desk full of misogynistic males for nearly a decade. And as charming as they could be, they could be pigs. But now I am really pissed off.
Did you really think that you could pull me into your cynical, mean world by running with a woman? You thought that the fact she had XX chromosomes would be enough for me to throw away all my hopes for my country and family so a/any woman could be in the executive branch of the federal government. Did you think that’s why so many women where so committed to Hillary Clinton, just because she is a women? Your are an idiot. I am not going to vote for a women who is a creationist, anti-choice and was a mayor of a 6,000 person town 18 months ago. Say so long to you one semi-legitimate argument against a Obama presidency, experience .
In reality, I was not your pander target, but I get what you were up to. What were you thinking? I guess you weren’t. You were just really desperate. Hell, if you want to pander to me, don’t insult my intelligence, appeal to my sense of manly beauty. How about George Clooney, Johnny Depp or Paul Newman of 40 years ago….
It’s so great being the most popular kid in the class. Everyone loves America. We know how to treat our friends and piss off our enemies. I don’t think our reputation could be much worse. Maybe, soon they will have less reason to hate us, not that we are proactively doing anything about it.
Our ally in Iraq, Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, has publicly rejected The U.S.’s proposed terms of our continued occupation of Iraq once the UN mandate expires in December. The initial terms were aggressive allowing the American troops to establish 50 permanent bases, soldiers and private contractors to serve with immunity, the US to operate militarily at will, and to use the airspace as if it was our own. Apparently, the State Department was led/led us to believe that Maliki would advocate this U.S. security pact and convince the current Iraqi government, made up of chaotic factions, to sign off on it. So either he was blowing smoke or he was naive enough to think that he would be able sell this bill of goods to all the different volatile pieces that make up Iraq today. Not surprisingly, he got a lot of flack from his own government, and Moktadar al-Sadr this past week took large, mostly peaceful crowds to the streets in protest. So under what appears to be a lot of political pressure, today the Prime Minister said in no uncertain terms:
The Iraqi demands are unacceptable to the Americans, and the American demands are unacceptable to the Iraqis, and the result is that we have reached an impasse…..The Iraqis will not consent to an agreement that infringes their sovereignty.
Iraq resists Washington’s demand to have a free hand in undertaking military operations without cooperation with the Iraqi government…We can not give permission to the American forces’ independent right to arrest Iraqis or execute operations against terrorism. We can not allow them to use the Iraqi skies and waters at all times.
So how is this apparent impasse, good news for us as a nation? Well, it could mean two things. It could be the beginning of a negotiation that will result in a security pact that Obama will inherit and our own Congress didn’t have a voice in. I think that could be problematic, OR it could be the beginning of the end. What if these splinter groups that are fighting against each other, become united in their desire to get the U.S. occupying forces out. What if they KICK US OUT?!?! They ask us to leave…Maybe this wouldn’t be such a bad thing. We leave and we stop both the literal and figurative bleeding. This allows us to get back to the business of stabilizing Afghanistan and fighting the good fight. Will we leave if asked?? That is a whole other post, but in the meantime a girl can dream cant she???
Iraqi government statistics state that there are 5 million orphan Iraqi children (35% of all children).
Since Tuesday, I have been reading a lot of post game analysis of the primaries, the speeches from Tuesday and the aftermath. There is a lot of speculation on the battle ahead against McCain, the VP selection and how do we get Hillary’s most rabid supporters to support Obama. But I will let the better writers and experts tell you. Here is the best of the best giving you a look at whats happened and what is ahead.
Frank Rich this Sunday says it better than anyone could.
Andrew Sullivan, who was never a fan of Hillary, has a few kind words and some hard truths.
How did you find my blog? I figured you more of a Politico or Salon reader, not a obscure personal blog that for the time being is obsessing on the Democratic Primary. Be sure to leave a comment.
I admire you. To be honest, I am an Obama supporter but I do admire you. In any other year, you would have been my candidate. But I drank the kool-aid. Not all kool-aid is Jim Jones bad . The kind I drank is the good kind, no calories, multi-fruit and with electrolytes.
I know you thought you were going to win. Everyone thought this was your year. But you got out-campaigned. In hindsight I think you would agree that the big money-focused, top down approach did not work so well. There was sexism (and racism), but that is not why you lost. You lost because someone else got more votes and more delegates. Don’t try to make the arithmetic argument. Your math is screwy. My 12 year old sees its flawed logic. You have lost.
Please suspend, end or concede your campaign, you can call it whatever you want. Sure, lets do Puerto Rico (cause the road to the White House goes through PR) and of course South Dakota and Montana need to vote. The RBC will probably seat 1/2 the Florida delegates, which is what you were asking for just a few weeks ago. But the goal posts moved for you and the only way you are going to get all the delegates you want is if you take it to the Convention. You know, it might not even matter if they seat them all if the super delegates continue to go to Obama. But anywhoo, taking it to the convention is not good for the party or good for the November outcome.
Now, you need to vote on June 4th, its your own private election. You need to vote whether or not to do the right thing for the party and your country, or very likely ensure a John McCain presidency. Please let it go. Let me really admire you again and drop out. And don’t forget to leave a comment.
ooxx e
PS Do you like the photo I chose. I think you look beautiful here…
Yes, its Tuesday and there are some primaries going on (Kentucky/Clinton and Oregon/Obama). No surprises tonight. Clinton wins the third leg in the Appalachian triple crown (West Virginia, Kentucky, Pennsylvania) in another blowout. The hillbillies hard working white people in these states wont vote for Obama. Oregon looks good for Obama but I wont stay up until midnight Buenos Aires time for the mail-in ballots to be counted. But this obvious outcome doesn’t keep me from checking the political blogs, streaming Rachael Maddow, and ignoring the blah blah of CNN’s”best political team on television”. I have a disease. Does my predilection for posting cute animals make me more sympathetic or pathetic?
First the Good. He is a good guy and a courageous guy. Just watch his video, it says it all. There are ways to support his legal defense effort or just send him an email and say “right on”.
Now the Bad.
Kathleen Parker. She is bad. Somehow her syndicated column gets picked up at the WaPo on occasion. She is a bigot or stupid or both, cant tell. I am getting use to the idea that there are still people that feel this way, but I am having a hard time believing that a paper that has the legacy it has, is paying her for this crap. (more…)
I guess I just fell off a turnip truck or something..Its is just hard for me to believe that there are still people that believe this way. It made me cry.
Up today is West Virginia. Hillary Clinton is supposed to win buy tons… Its not exactly his demographic. White, working class with limited education. So I guess that makes him an elitist..or Appalachian America is a bit racist??? Its a good thing no one reads this blog because I am sure it this decisive remark is not politically correct…but true. AND it does bother me that there are people that wont vote for him because he is African America. This Washington Post article was especially depressing to read.
I am so ready for this to be over.. I am so sick all the parsing and projecting and predicting. All that matters is how many people vote for who on November 4, 2008. I need a time travel machine, pronto.
I am ashamed to say that my lack of writing has little to do with my very complicated life of multiple children, a retail concern to be managed and grown, and big logistical issues to resolve concerning our living situation here in Argentina. My lack of blog entries has everything to do with my compulsive, obsessive, maniacal, entirely unhealthy myopic focus on the democratic primary elections in the US. Because we have only regular cable television that affords me only CNN international Asia edition (don’t have any idea why), all my information, news and opinion comes from the Internet and the 12 or so blogs/news portals I get 85% of my information from. While I am reading blogs, I am simultaneously streaming progressive talk shows and on occasion, a Yankees game. If I am just listening to the radio, I play spider solitaire. (more…)
Made it back to Buenos Aires yesterday and was welcomed by water damage and spotty electrical coverage in the house. Yea! But my enthusiasm for this day cant be squashed by our continuing and epic infrastructure issues.
Today is Super Tuesday and I voted as a Democrat Abroad. I voted online and I printed my ballot to prove it! I have to say it is not as satisfactory as going to the High School auditorium, check in with an ID, proudly indicate my party affiliation, have problems closing the curtains, flip the lever and receive a “I voted” sticker for my efforts. But it is done and now I can sit back and make myself nuts manically visiting blogs and news sites. I did consider taking Henry with me to a DemsAbroad get together and watch the returns from a bar tonight, but given the now 3-6 hour time difference (California polls wouldn’t close until 2:00 am my time) I am thinking not such a good idea given the responsible parent that I am. Tonight would be a good night to have more than local basic cable but will have to be happy with what my laptop offers.
I am feeling a lot less in exile these days. But my blog is still a mess of political and personal thoughts along with experiences of living in Argentina. While I can't promise, I will try to balance talk about my kids with something more universally relevant. And sorry if salty talk is offensive but I was a derivatives trader in another life and it cant be helped.
