yo yo yo search it!

Saturday, November 08, 2008

the 1950s and 60s all over again

except it's 2008 and our president elect's name is barack obama. isn't it NON american to tell children they can't talk about their new president? perhaps those that deemed kids can't talk about our president elect are radical terrorists who are NOT part of 'real' america. what do YOU think?

Mississippi students told not to say Obama's name

David Edwards and Muriel Kane
A controversy has erupted at a Mississippi junior high school over allegations that a bus driver and a coach threatened students with punishment for saying Barack Obama's name.

The incidents became public when outraged parents called the studios of WAPT news in Pearl, Miss. Some said their children were threatened by a bus driver with being written up and taken to the principal's office, others that their children were told by a girls' basketball coach they would be suspended.

Reginald Simpson, a student at Pearl Junior High, explained that when students on the bus started saying, "Obama is our president," the bus driver told them she didn't want to hear his name. One kid said, "This is history woman," and according to Simpson, "She pulled over and kicked me and the kid off the bus." They were left waiting at the high school and later taken to their own school............

since i can't stop

crying any damn way might as well go all the way.



found via larisa at at-largely

you can find poodles

and other types of dogs that don't shed, at the pound. you just have to keep on looking (i know the grrrls are anxious)

man, i am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO loving this man



(found via america blog)

the nutmeg grater: improper?

the nutmeg grater: improper?

i just read about this a day or two ago

i had no idea it was going on. WHAT A STROKE OF GENIUS for edward norton and what a stroke of luck for HBO


Edward Norton’s Obama Documentary Gets A Hollywood Ending


Long before President-elect Barack Obama had even made up his mind to run for the highest office in the land, Edward Norton and his Class 5 Films production company were already documenting the Senator’s life. The 39-year-old actor said that he became inspired by Obama’s 2004 speech at the National Democratic Convention and felt inspired to capture someone from his generation — and not his parent’s — inspiring so many and rising in leadership.

“At the time, he was the new senator from Illinois,” Norton told Variety earlier this year. “None of us had voted for him or contributed to his campaigns. None of us was saying, ‘I want to back this guy for president.’ It was more this generational experience, of seeing someone we felt represented us in a very unique and fresh way, and the desire to explore what would happen to the first person our age who staked a claim to national leadership.”

Since 2006 — starting with Obama’s trip to Africa — Norton and his team have had the cameras rolling every step of the way. The whole project was kept fairly secret — since neither the campaign nor Norton wanted it to fuel any criticism of Obama’s ‘celebrity’. Last month, Norton spoke briefly about the project to the Vancouver Sun saying, “We’re making a historical record, not something to play a role in the election. So we have an agreement with [the campaign] that we won’t talk about this, or publicize it until the election is over. I can’t talk about access [but] it’s a fascinating thing to document.”...........


Ed Norton, HBO and the making of President Obama


It used to be that America had to wait for Theodore White's The Making of the President books to get the backstage story of the presidential campaigns -- his most memorable being the 1960 saga of John F. Kennedy's rise to power.

Today, it is the documentary filmmaker with access to the candidate who tells that vital story. And if anyone was wondering who that filmmaker was going to be for this epic election, the answer was given yesterday by HBO's documentary maven Sheila Nevins with the announcement that her premium cable channel had reached agreement with actor Edward Norton's production company, Class 5 Films, to air a documentary that has been in production since 2006.

According to HBO's release, directors Amy Rice and Alicia Sams had "unprecedented and exclusive access to the senator and his campaign." In addition to documenting "Obama's historic rise," the film will be "examine American politics and culture through the prism of his candidacy."

According to Norton, who approached Obama and his staff several months before the senator announced his candidacy for president: "Senator Obama's history making race for the White House has given our film a perfect framework to explore the pulse of the country at this vital moment in our history. We believe this film will capture a tipping point in American history when a new generation of leadership emerged and old prejudices were finally vaulted over."

The project was started in 2006 by Rice, a cinematographer who had co-directed the documentary From Ashes. She was inspired by Obama's speech at the 2004 Democratic convention, she says. When Norton's company agreed to produce, Sams was brought in as co-director. Rice and Sams had worked together on a series of short films about public schools in New York city...........

Friday, November 07, 2008

i'm with sarah (haskins, NOT the other one)

on this. NO ONE really gives a flying yoo hoo about the 'ladies' on the view (well i sure as shite don't)





Target Women: The View

the male sarevil?

sure seems that way to me


Italy's Berlusconi hails "suntanned" Obama


MOSCOW (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi gave an enthusiastic, if unconventional, welcome on Thursday to the election of Barack Obama, citing among his attributes youth, good looks and a "suntan."

Speaking at a joint news conference with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in Moscow, the 72-year-old media tycoon also said Obama's election to the White House had been "hailed by world public opinion as the arrival of a messiah."

"I will try to help relations between Russia and the United States where a new generation has come to power, and I don't see problems for Medvedev to establish good relations with Obama who is also handsome, young and suntanned," he said.

Berlusconi, who himself sports a year-round tan, is famed in diplomatic circles for making sometimes inappropriate quips.

On his first meeting with Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen in 2002, Berlusconi complimented him with the words: "Rasmussen is not only a great colleague, he's also the best-looking prime minister in Europe."

He added: "He's so good looking, I'm even thinking of introducing him to my wife."........

well i'll tell you,

i'm HOWLING (out loud) at nora's article. this is WAY too funny for 2:03 am

Thinking About Bill


Nora Ephron


As I listened to Sarah Palin's recent phone call with "Nicolas Sarkozy," I couldn't help thinking about Bill Kristol.

I think about Bill Kristol far too much. I almost never used to. Before he began writing his Monday column in the New York Times, I rarely saw him on television. Whenever I did, I was mostly mesmerized by his uncanny resemblance to Bob Woodward (whom he no longer resembles) and his incredibly self-satisfied, smug, smirky demeanor. It was my theory that his need to please the Republican White House -- a need that seemed to trump his alleged intellect and even the factual evidence on hand -- must stem from some unresolved issues with his father, the famous Irving Kristol, one of the first neo-conservatives. But I didn't dwell on it, because I saw so little of him. And in any case, I truly couldn't stand him. I just couldn't stand him........

yes, imagine people actually having human emotions

so, how long do you guys sit shiva? (i SO love jon stewart). this is one hell of a great segment



the daily show

Jon Stewart to Fox host: 'You and Shep...have your moments'
David Edwards and Muriel Kane
When Fox News's Chris Wallace appeared on the Daily Show on Wednesday, Jon Stewart was prepared with footage to confront him on Fox's unrepentant Obama-bashing. However, Wallace revealed himself to be fully aware of Fox's biases and even admitted he had been moved by Barack Obama's election.

Wallace began by announcing that when Karl Rove brought cookies in the shape of a Fox News screen to the set on election night, he had handed two to Wallace, saying, "This one, specifically, give to Jon Stewart."

Stewart took the cookie nervously, as if wondering whether it might explode in his hands. When Wallace insisted that he eat it on the spot, Stewart responded solemnly, "Let me tell you something. ... Let me tell you while I eat it. Karl Rove can't hurt me any more.".....

this is a story

about a black man in the white house. no, it's NOT about barack obama. it's about gene (eugene) allen. it's about mr allen and a those that came before him and those that will come after him. it's about a man simply doing his job. it's about a man who had NOT missed a day of work in 34 years. it's about a man who, when he started his current job, couldn't use the same rest room (in virginia) as that of a white man.

please read this story. it's about much more than a man in a kitchen.


A Butler Well Served by This Election


For 34 Years, Eugene Allen Carried White House Trays With Pride. Now There's Even More Reason to Carry Himself That Way.

Washington Post Staff Writer
For more than three decades Eugene Allen worked in the White House, a black man unknown to the headlines. During some of those years, harsh segregation laws lay upon the land.

He trekked home every night, his wife, Helene, keeping him out of her kitchen.

At the White House, he worked closer to the dirty dishes than to the large desk in the Oval Office. Helene didn't care; she just beamed with pride.

President Truman called him Gene.

President Ford liked to talk golf with him.

He saw eight presidential administrations come and go, often working six days a week. "I never missed a day of work," Allen says.

His is a story from the back pages of history. A figure in the tiniest of print. The man in the kitchen.........








Thursday, November 06, 2008

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm


PIE!

(Photo: an Obama pie sent in by an Ohio reader whose sister-in-law baked it for an election party tonight.)

from the daily dish andrew sullivan

kind of hard to start denying it

when you actually have a video

remember the LAST time this happened (killing civilians LOTS OF THEM) the military denied it and denied it and denied it until someone dug up pictures and videos of the horror





Karzai says air strike kills 40 in Afghanistan


KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Wednesday an air strike by coalition forces earlier this week killed some 40 civilians and wounded about 28 in Kandahar province.

Karzai called on U.S. President-elect Barack Obama to make it his priority to stop the killing of civilians.

Scores of Afghans have been killed in U.S. air strikes this year, leading to resentment against the presence of foreign troops and a rift between Karzai and his Western backers.

The air strike took place on Monday in the Shah Wali Kot district in the southern Taliban heartland of Kandahar province.

"By bombing Afghanistan, the war against terrorism cannot be won," Karzai told a news conference................


U.S. Airstrike Reported to Hit Afghan Wedding

By ABDUL WAHEED WAFA and MARK MCDONALD
KABUL, Afghanistan — Tensions between American forces and the Afghan government over civilian casualties from coalition airstrikes spiked again on Wednesday with a report by Afghan officials that a missile from a United States aircraft had killed 40 civilians and wounded 28 others at a wedding party in the southern province of Kandahar.

Afghan officials said casualties from the airstrike, on Monday, included women and children. The United States military command said it was conducting an urgent investigation with the Afghan Interior Ministry. Although the command’s statement made no mention of a missile strike or any death toll, it appeared to acknowledge the possibility that noncombatants had been killed.

“Though facts are unclear at this point, we take very seriously our responsibility to protect the people of Afghanistan and to avoid circumstances where noncombatant civilians are placed at risk,” the command said. “If innocent people were killed in this operation, we apologize and express our condolences to the families and people of Afghanistan.”..............

aren't you glad HER finger isn't going to be on the button?

how many countries ARE in north america? how the hell hard is that to answer? a five year old can answer that.

how the hell did she get elected governor of ANYWHERE if she thought africa is ONE COUNTRY (ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. )

i STILL can't believe how many millions voted for this box of rocks. she's dangerously ignorant


Fox News: Palin Thought Africa Was a Country, Not a Continent


Carl Cameron talking to Bill O'Reilly just now on Fox reveals that McCain aides were truly "shocked" at the "gaps in knowledge" Sarah Palin displayed once they were stuck with her. He said that, in the most startling shortcoming, she actually didn't "understand that Africa was not just a country, but a continent." This led, among other things, to her asking how, in that case, South Africa could be a separate country. She also could not name all of the countries in North America, he said, not even the NAFTA partners. And she did not know many of the basics of civics and local/state/national duties. O'Reilly pooh-poohed all of this.

But the "gaps" explain, Cameron said, why tensions erupted as McCain aides were truly alarmed by all of this -- yet Palin wanted to speak out freely. So in the closing week or so, they reveal, she took to yelling and screaming at aides over her press clippings, even "tossing papers" around. She was so out of touch she actually refused coaching before the Katie Couric interviews, then yelled at staffers for not preparing her better or warning her off the interviews. "Temper tantrums," etc. Then there were the clothes bills and greeting McCain aides in a bath towel...................


lest you forget about this

steamin' pile

as you can see, i HAVE NOT forgotten. i've followed her career and this gives me GREAT joy

Voters give short molester's judge the boot



LINCOLN — Cheyenne County District Court Judge Kristine Cecava of Sidney, Neb., who touched off a national debate by sentencing a 5-foot-1, 100-pound child molester to probation, has been voted off the bench.
Cecava is the eighth judge to be removed by voters since Nebraska adopted its judicial selection plan in the early 1960s.

She sparked controversy in 2006 when she sentenced Richard Thompson to 10 years of intensive supervised probation and commented that she feared for his safety in prison because of his size.

Court staff said Cecava was presiding over a trial Wednesday and could not be reached for comment.

In Nebraska, the governor appoints judges, but voters periodically consider whether they should be retained in office. Cecava was turned out Tuesday by a 52 percent to 48 percent vote..............

Sidney, Neb. judge voted out of office
Associated Press

SIDNEY, Neb. (AP) - A judge criticized for sentencing a 5-foot-1 sex offender to probation has been voted out of office.

About 63% of the voters in Cheyenne County District Judge Kristine Cecava's jurisdiction agreed she should be removed from office.

Cecava's 2006 sentence of Richard Thompson prompted local and national criticism because she cited Thompson's height when sentencing him to 10 years of probation for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl.

Thompson could have been sentenced to 10 years in prison..............

Wednesday, November 05, 2008

i started off my life - in the hood

yes, i lived in what is now a neighborhood that is all black. i'm not black. i don't pretend to be. i also don't pretend to understand what is IS like to be a person of color.

i know a FEW things. i know what it's like to be discriminated against because of the genitalia you were born with. i know what it's like to be discriminated against because of your weight. i know what it's like to be discriminated against because of your spiritual beliefs or lack thereof. i know what it's like to be discriminated against because of your outward appearance (different than weight. i'm talking choice of clothing, jewelry and makeup). yes, i know these things. i don't know what it would be like to have a skin color other than my own on top of all of that.

if you don't think we're a prejudiced and racist society, look at what happened during this very campaign with SOME people (turns out they don't make up 1/2 of the voting public though. praise the goddess). we DO profile. we DO cross the street when we see a black man. (turns out we even invent loads o' crimes involving that ever enigmatic 6'4" big black man). is there a crack starting to form in the shell of the united states? (a GOOD crack. one that opens an egg of understanding, compassion, hope, joy, sharing, education)

if i feel like i do (see a post or two ago where i describe how i feel) and i'm white, i can't even imagine how i'd feel if i was a person of color. and hey whoopi i yelled out MY window too

Whoopi Goldberg: We Have Finally Become Part of the Fabric of the United States of America


A moment about history.

Tonight as I watched the numbers come in, I was cautiously optimistic that there would be a big change — but I wasn’t fully convinced. And then I called my mom, and the numbers kept changing and moving forward, and I said to her, “Ma, did you ever in your life think you would see this day?” And she said emphatically, “No. I never thought I’d live to see this day.” And it surprised me because my mom is the most optimistic person that I know and it never occurred to me that this was something she was hoping for. Not just because it was a black candidate, but because it meant that anything was again possible in the United States of America.

I’m being black about his, I’m celebrating in my heart and I have screamed out of my window. I realized that for probably the first time in my life, in thinking about myself as an American, it occurred to me that this is really our arrival in the country that said everything was possible. We have finally become part of the fabric of the United States of America. This is just strictly speaking as a black person. It would be very difficult not to talk about the thrill of that part of it because 160 years have gone by and we have finally come to the place where we are ready for leaders and ready to look at leaders as men and women and perhaps not by their color. But it is the first time it has happened so folks should not be surprised that black folks are really, really happy about this. .................

i've been thinking about this song for days now

it's just been on my mind. i can't think of any song more fitting. it was written for a purpose. it was written for a purpose back then, but it's the SAME purpose right now.

i haven't stopped crying since i left the voting booth yesterday morning. i had the foresight to ask to work from home yesterday, but like the giant dope i am, i did NOT have the foresight to ask to work from home today as well. people kept asking me (at work) if i was all right. they asked because i had not spoken a single word (unusual. VERY unusual). if they approached me and i looked at them, i just started crying again. i can't stop. i've never felt like this before. something is bubbling up from the very depths of my soul. hope? is that what it is?

my sister tells me her middle child 'k' who is in her early 20s was kick ass for obama. it's sort of shocking. only in that i never thought of her as political in any way shape or form. she made her boyfriend register to vote AND vote. he's considerably older than she AND he has never registered to vote or voted before. she made her older sister vote and she made her younger brother vote. i'm wellin' with pride about that. if you knew her you'd be just as blown away as i am. really









and just in case you didn't know why sam cooke wrote and sang this song ......

Sam Cooke's Swan Song of Protest

let the joyous news be spread



(thought this clip was brilliant. found via americablog)

yes we did

President-elect Barack Obama's remarks in Chicago

Text of Democrat Barack Obama's speech in Chicago after winning the presidential election, as transcribed by CQ Transcriptions:

___

OBAMA: Hello, Chicago.

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference.

It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.

We are, and always will be, the United States of America.

It's the answer that led those who've been told for so long by so many to be cynical and fearful and doubtful about what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.

It's been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this date in this election at this defining moment change has come to America.

A little bit earlier this evening, I received an extraordinarily gracious call from Senator McCain.

Senator McCain fought long and hard in this campaign. And he's fought even longer and harder for the country that he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine. We are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader.

I congratulate him; I congratulate Governor Palin for all that they've achieved. And I look forward to working with them to renew this nation's promise in the months ahead.

I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart, and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton ... and rode with on the train home to Delaware, the vice president-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.

And I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last 16 years ... the rock of our family, the love of my life, the nation's next first lady ... Michelle Obama.

Sasha and Malia ... I love you both more than you can imagine. And you have earned the new puppy that's coming with us ...to the new White House.

And while she's no longer with us, I know my grandmother's watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight. I know that my debt to them is beyond measure.

To my sister Maya, my sister Alma, all my other brothers and sisters, thank you so much for all the support that you've given me. I am grateful to them.

And to my campaign manager, David Plouffe ... the unsung hero of this campaign, who built the best — the best political campaign, I think, in the history of the United States of America.

To my chief strategist David Axelrod ... who's been a partner with me every step of the way.

To the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics ... you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what you've sacrificed to get it done.

But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to. It belongs to you. It belongs to you.

I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didn't start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington. It began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston. It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give $5 and $10 and $20 to the cause.

It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generation's apathy ... who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep.

It drew strength from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on doors of perfect strangers, and from the millions of Americans who volunteered and organized and proved that more than two centuries later a government of the people, by the people, and for the people has not perished from the Earth.

This is your victory.

And I know you didn't do this just to win an election. And I know you didn't do it for me.

You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime — two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century.

Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us.

There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after the children fall asleep and wonder how they'll make the mortgage or pay their doctors' bills or save enough for their child's college education.

There's new energy to harness, new jobs to be created, new schools to build, and threats to meet, alliances to repair.

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there.

I promise you, we as a people will get there.

AUDIENCE: Yes we can! Yes we can! Yes we can!

OBAMA: There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who won't agree with every decision or policy I make as president. And we know the government can't solve every problem.

But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And, above all, I will ask you to join in the work of remaking this nation, the only way it's been done in America for 221 years — block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.

What began 21 months ago in the depths of winter cannot end on this autumn night.

This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.

It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.

So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other.

Let us remember that, if this financial crisis taught us anything, it's that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers.

In this country, we rise or fall as one nation, as one people. Let's resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long.

Let's remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House, a party founded on the values of self-reliance and individual liberty and national unity.

Those are values that we all share. And while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress.

As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, we are not enemies but friends. Though passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection.

And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn, I may not have won your vote tonight, but I hear your voices. I need your help. And I will be your president, too.

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of the world, our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand.

To those — to those who would tear the world down: We will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security: We support you. And to all those who have wondered if America's beacon still burns as bright: Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope.

That's the true genius of America: that America can change. Our union can be perfected. What we've already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one that's on my mind tonight's about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. She's a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing: Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldn't vote for two reasons — because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that she's seen throughout her century in America — the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we can't, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when women's voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs, a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

AUDIENCE: Yes we can.

OBAMA: When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

AUDIENCE: Yes we can.

OBAMA: She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that We Shall Overcome. Yes we can.

AUDIENCE: Yes we can.

OBAMA: A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination.

And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change.

Yes we can.

AUDIENCE: Yes we can.

OBAMA: America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves — if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment.

This is our time, to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth, that, out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope. And where we are met with cynicism and doubts and those who tell us that we can't, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people: Yes, we can.

Thank you. God bless you. And may God bless the United States of America.

yes WE DID


President Elect Barack Obama. (Photo: AP)

Tuesday, November 04, 2008

i just voted

and babies, IT'S A MESS OUT THERE


i have never seen it SO crowded at 6 am. it took me 36 minutes total. i have NEVER been more than the 3rd person to vote. EVER. until today that is

you know what you have to do today

DO IT

fgm

i've written about it before and will continue to do so until it is eradicated from the face of the earth (i'm NOT a fan of male circumcision either by the way. however, that is USUALLY done in a hospital. no, not always. however, MOST of the time it does NOT horribly mutilate and disfigure the person as does female genital mutilation)

asylum must be granted for these people. the ones who migrate to the us are few. we can open our doors to them. we must also help to educate other countries on the effects of this horror. it MUST stop


Area Immigrants With Wounds That Won't Heal

Mutilated Women Seek Asylum in U.S.


Washington Post Staff Writer

The women's stories all begin with a searing childhood memory they cannot describe without weeping.

The stories stretch back to villages in North and West Africa, where tribal traditions include various rites to protect family honor. For generations, mothers there have passed on the practice of genital circumcision to their daughters, believing it will make them respectable and chaste for marriage.

The stories leap to present-day America, where foreign-born victims of forced circumcision have been allowed to apply for political asylum since a landmark immigration ruling in 1996, but where, in the past year, some immigration courts have been trying to narrow the grounds on which they can receive legal sanctuary.

Only a few hundred women have sought or won such asylum claims. A handful live quietly in the Washington area, working in hospitals and offices and beauty salons. All carry deep physical and mental wounds. Five agreed to be interviewed, but none was willing to be identified. No one at their jobs or in their neighborhoods knows their secret. In court documents, they are referred to as "A-T" or "H-M." Yet they live in fear that a distant, smothering culture can reach out and harm them again..........

i was lucky enough to have


discovered her when i was quite young. so she's been with me for a while. yma i don't care if you were an inca princess or amy camus from the bronx. you could SING





yma sumac


'Peruvian Songbird' Yma Sumac dies

....................When asked a question about legendary French singer Edith Piaf in a 2007 AP interview, comedian John Stewart quipped: "She's no Yma Sumac.".......................

Monday, November 03, 2008

one DOES have to retain

one's sense of humor




found via crooks and liars

a little bit of monday humor

well i think it's funny. unfortunately, it wasn't meant to BE funny (just so you know, one of the bumper stickers on my car says 'focus on your OWN damn family')

as the kids say, this dude is whack (dobson)


Focus On the Family Foresees Unrestricted Porn with Obama Presidency
by Theresa "Darklady" Reed

The few adult industry professionals still wondering who to vote for in Tuesday’s presidential election might take a tip from anti-porn evangelical bully boy Focus on the Family, which assures an anxious electorate that an Obama presidency could well bring about a host of liberal evils, including the fact that “porn will be available practically everywhere with no restrictions.”

While those who prefer to traffic in content that features consenting adults likely won’t be pleased with an utterly “no restrictions” industry, if what James Dodson’s mouthpiece says is true, it will certainly be a welcome change for those who create within the erotic landscape.

n Focus on the Family’s hypothetical, futuristic “Letter from 2012 in Obama’s America,” the organization attempts to whip up the fear within its base by insisting that a future under a president Obama “could” see an end to the world as they wish to know it.

Among the litany of terrors the organization hysterically lists as likely are same-sex marriage in all 50 states, a socially liberal Supreme Court, the disbanding of the Boy Scouts, “compulsory training in varieties of gender identification in Grade 1,” the eradication of religious adoption agencies, the banishment of religious programming as illegal “hate speech,” the liberal poisonings of home school educations, gays serving openly in the military, the assurance of abortion rights, the forced participation in abortions by medical providers who are morally opposed to them – and the end of all obscenity laws...........

the buzzflash winner of the wings of justice award

is ohio secretary of state jennifer brunner. i had NO idea the shite she had to and continues to have to wade through. i personally want to thank her for being a PATRIOT

can someone 'splain to me why republicans want to stop people from voting? isn't it PATRIOTIC to vote? isn't it AMERICAN to vote?

now what would make them want 'true americans' NOT to vote???? hmmmmmm i wonder


Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner Wins This Week's Wings of Justice for Protecting Buckeye Votes

WINGS OF JUSTICE

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner

Obviously, we at BuzzFlash are hesitant to give out awards for simply doing one's job. But when you're a secretary of state trying to protect voters' rights in a swing state like Ohio, doing your job will cost you.

So it has been for Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner. She has recently gotten death threats and the Secretary of State's Web site was hacked last week. Her office was even sent a package covered with threatening messages and containing a mysterious white powder. Not to mention that this is the same subject matter that got eight U.S. attorneys fired in 2006.

Brunner has had her priorities straight from the start. The motto emblazoned on the top of her campaign site says it all: "Participation is the fullest measure of democracy."

She's brought courage to the post ever since she was elected. As soon as she entered office, she commissioned the EVEREST report, in the wake of the electoral misdeeds of her infamous predecessor J. Kenneth Blackwell. The report found widespread equipment problems and security failures.

More than just pointing out seemingly intractable problems, she suggested solutions. She pushed for an all-paper ballot election, but the legislature denied her that. Instead, she's providing more paper ballots this election year, so that some voters who feel uncomfortable using voting machines have the option of paper. She secured the legal use of absentee ballots without an "excuse," allowing many to vote early.

Last month, Ohio Republicans filed a lawsuit in a last-ditch effort to subvert voter rights, objecting to same-day early voting. They wanted to close the window during which Ohio voters could both register and vote in the same stop.

They were unsuccessful in that bid, so others started asking for the records of people who took advantage of the window, which was decried as voter intimidation. That request was withdrawn, but the filer instead said that Brunner would have to check registrants against state motor vehicle records and social security numbers, a notoriously inaccurate database. Such checks have been called both unnecessary and fraught with problems which might disqualify legal voters. Brunner stood up to that one, too, and the Supreme Court ruled in her favor............

raise your hand if you think

joe the plumber is the new anna nicole smith

Sunday, November 02, 2008

free speech?

or horseshite lies? lies lies lies. it's one thing to express your thoughts and views. it's totally another to spread horrid vicious lies. can't these dudes be sued? i hope the answer is YES

i don't care if people like barack obama or NOT. what i care about is them making shite up. not just little shite either, but big dangerous untruths


Cunningham alleged that "Obama wants to gas the Jews"


During the October 30 broadcast of his Cincinnati-based radio show, Bill Cunningham asked "Randy Furman," a fictional Jewish character voiced by fellow WLW-AM host Scott Sloan: "Did you hear about this [Columbia University professor of Middle East studies Rashid] Khalidi tape where [Sen. Barack] Obama is toasting a guy who wants to gas and fry Jews? ... This Obama guy loves the PLO [Palestinian Liberation Organization]. Can't you figure that out?" Cunningham later added, "Jews for [Sen. John] McCain because Obama wants to gas the Jews, like the PLO wants to gas the Jews, like the Nazis gassed the Jews. You got Obama introducing Arab terrorists, and the L.A. Times won't release the story."

Echoing McCain's reported October 29 statement that "if there was a tape of John McCain in a neo-Nazi outfit ... I think the treatment of the issue would be slightly different," Cunningham stated earlier in the show: "I guess the L.A. Times still has that tape on Khalidi, and they don't release it because it's injurious to the interest of Obama. Can you imagine if the media had a tape of maybe John McCain at a Ku Klux Klan rally or at an abortion-clinic benefit and he's standing there toasting the guy who bombed the abortion clinic, and the L.A. Times wouldn't release it?"

The New York Times profiled Khalidi in an October 30 article. The profile quoted Rabbi J. Rolando Matalon of Congregation B'nai Jeshurun, who "said he has known Mr. Khalidi for years," stating of Khalidi: "In no way has he ever indicated that he favors the destruction or disappearance of Israel. ... He has always been consistently in favor of dialogue and common ground." The article also reported that Khalidi "has denied working for" the PLO...............

someone is scary

and a giant oozing asshole, but it ISN'T barack obama

once again i am so very sorry i don't believe in hell because i DO believe several people should be burning in it (figuratively NOT literally. i'm not shirely nagel)

can everyone say ebenezer or mr grinch? they're KIDS for goddess' sake you giant pile o' steamin' shite

McCain supporter turns away children of Obama supporters during trick-or-treat
Diane Sweet
A Metro-Detroit Michigan woman refused to give candy on Halloween to children of Barack Obama supporters.

Shirley Nagel of Grosse Pointe Farms gave out treats Friday evening, but only to those who share her support of John McCain and running mate Sarah Palin.

Fox 2 News reports a sign posted outside Nagel's house, about 12 miles west of Detroit, served notice to all trick-or-treaters. It read: "No handouts for Obama supporters, liars, tricksters or kids of supporters."...........