Bless the Fendelman Family. They (and others like them) are truly first.

----
Here's a very inspiring photo essay. Don't give up hope.

http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2008/4/...

Whne God Made Me: http://www.neilyoung.com/prairiewind.htm...

Seeing this photo of this woman and her children and reading the comments about her husband in Iraq makes me very sad and furious.  We have been so misled by the current administration.  Our service men and our limited resources are being wasted and squandered.  Where is the protest?  Where is the uproar.  Are we going down with a wimper?

s/b When

tell me again why no impeachment?

51.

seashell :-)
Fri, 04/18/08


…The objective is to beat McCain….
-------------

???..., and that’s it?

I feel Obama is better than this.

I think his objective is to suggest to Americans the new, the different (from PNAC) way ahead for many, many years.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

former

about time we took up that challenge

it was a long downhill slide

we having some steep climbing ahead

I missed what set paine off, been a long, long winter here too. stir crazy would describe my mood.

raining all day and I about went fishing anyway, went to an auction and bought some hay to make up for the late grass instead, getting pretty pricey, buying groceries for 180 that eat 60-70 pounds a day of feed

I am really looking forward to that first hike out to the pasture to round up the cows.

Rezko freed from jail - bond posted, and a whopper one at that

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-rezko-fridayapr19,0,7765635.story

I think Paine was just being honest about how he was feeling about Mike's posts.Years ago they were much more cheerful and positive.  Lately they are more biting and quite rude.  Always has bashed America, which is his right.  After awhile, he has become white noise - bothersome but under the radar and insignificant.

Everyone has their limits.  Paine reached his tonight.  However he feels tomorrow may be different.

I so rarely get a connection for long this will be quick...

Happy belated Birthday to Geri in No VA (4/18)

Paine, you have a message...

lots happening here in Chitown w/ my folks health issues which has kept me here longer than expected :-(

stir krezzy describes it well, Phil

puddle ~ so sad about the plum trees. And egads, I've been thinking 'morels' since you mentioned them the other day :-D

I wasn't concious of the earthquake here but did have bad dreams and woke up around that time, which is most unusual for me to do. Funny, the pet bunny where I'm currently residing was really whacked out last night so mebbe he was trying to warn us something was coming? :-)

&hearts's to all

Kindness is free!

2:52 am est

Denise ♥'s

Make that a second to Thankful's Happy Birthday to Geri !

Wow. I remember her video from the first DeanFest.

And, as always . . . . .

3:35 a.m. - leaving for PA at 5 a.m. to campaign for the next President.

Good morning, everybody

And good traveling, David.  Drive carefully.  I always tell people that when they go on the road.  So far it seems to have worked.  :)

Went to a going away party for one of our town councillors whose husband is leaving on sabatical for six months and she's going along.  lots of people who volunteer their time for little or no recompense.  The council is actually well paid--$1500 a year.  The NH House reps get $100 + mileage.  And still there are 400 of them.

Well. I think I'll pull back the winter mulch today.  The daylillies have shot up four inches and the daffodils have grown right through the  mat of leaves, lifting them up like a too-warm blanket.  And, there's crushed stone to pick off the lawn and put back on the parking area.   

fired up, ready to go!  videos of the march after last night's rally - YES, WE CAN!

http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2008/4/18/22105/1053/399#c399

Pennsylvania is getting the full treatment and they deserve it. Good luck David. I hope our rain doesn't get there for another day.

this looks good - if we can believe in polls, lol!

No area is as important to either candidate as Philadelphia is for Obama. The city is home to nearly one in five -- 771,000 -- of the state's Democratic voters.

The most recent Quinnipiac University poll had him up by 30 points in the city.

http://www.mcall.com/news/local/all-a3-obama-a.6370298apr19,0,3644643.story

yes, David - drive safe and I hope you have a wonderful time!  thank you for all you do.

Printable version

A Russian Soyuz spacecraft has returned to Earth after spending about 11 days at the International Space Station.

The Expedition 16 crew - including South Korea's first astronaut, 29-year-old Yi So-yeon - landed in the Kazakh steppe.

Also on board were Yuri Malenchenko from Russia and American Peggy Whitson.

Ms Whitson now holds the record for the cumulative length of time spent in space by an American at 377 days, the US space agency Nasa has said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You would think ABC might guess that Americans want to know the candidates views on space flight and exploration and science in general, if they want to ask a more obscure question.What someone was doing on an another continent when you were eight but would meet thirty years later seems considerably less relevant than that.

"will George and Charlie ever regain credibility as journalists?" is my question back

Just a pop-in...winter's over here, went straight from winter to summer it seems. So much to do...straightening out the roads after winter's fury, cleaning up my own yard, committee stuff...might as well go fishing...LOL

Paine...hang in there pal...better days are coming.

I'd love to head down to Pa. (brother lives in western Pa.) but saving most of my earned time to run the committee hq this fall. Show em how it's done David!

hi Phil!  my question for ABC's dim-witted duo - if given a second chance, would you run the debate any differently?  I think they're tone deaf to reality and blame the blowback on 'extreme lefties' who don't know what the people want to hear.  and the new vids comparing Step's attitude now to his words when he campaigned for Bill - Hillaryous!

Monica - this streak of warm weather thawed things quickly so I have most of my garden beds cleaned up - my sons and grandkids have helped a lot and that is by far the most fun!  the 2 year olds remembered where the berry patches and bushes are and inspected them closely - they can't wait for the treats!  the 5 yr old remembered that I brought home some 'fossil rocks' I found last fall and went searching for them and has been inspecting them closely - his favorites are of a winged creature which looks a lot like a bumblebee but is the size of a small bird!

slop and mud here today

I'm going to have an "old farmer" moment here and say it reminds me of 1974

stagflation was raging then too

inputs up prices down

a bunch of dairymen will go out of business this year if milk prices don't go up

I hung on by my teeth in those dificult times in the mid seventies, the price of feed had tripled from 1970 to 1974, while the price of milk rose by 50%

I have a lot deeper pockets than I did as a beginning farmer, but many very good established farmers that expanded their herd faster than their feed supply are in a world of hurt

the dairy industry can't just stop hatching chicks and shutting plants like they do with poultry 

and it all comes back to the value of the dollar

worst President ever, even though Obama will get blamed for the higher milk prices sure to come

I've just spent a looooong time on a comment to a KOS diary about HUAC and the similarity in the guilt by association pushed on Obama the other night.

You all know about my tendency to turn things around and what I think about those associated by guilt. What i didn't realize until I started writing is that liberals, people who are self-directed and individually responsible for the consequences of their behavior, are more susceptible to being made to feel guilty than those people, conservatives, who practice obedience in order to avoid being wrong or guilty.  More importantly, the people who acknowlege no guilt--i.e. Republicans in Congress--are able to capitalize on the guilt-ridden Democrats--i.e. people who supported the aggression on Iraq--by using it to intimidate them.

In other words, the Democrats in Congress have been made timid and stymied from taking independent action by their own sense of guilt and the Republicans' ability to "rub it in."

In a sense, the willingness to be subordinate has the result of making Republicans less inhibited when it comes to taking action.  Because they don't have to worry about the consequences, they can be more adventurous.  Conversely, the self-directed person who's cognizant of the consequences of his/her actions for himself and others is less likely to behave rashly.  And, in that sense, the self-directed individual ends up being more socially responsible than the socially directed person.

Which is why the liberal is a more socially useful person.  But, that's a judgment that depends on whether one considers the cause or the effect as the more important or relevant criterion.  If cause is more important, then social control over individual behavior has a higher value. If effect is more important, then self-directed behavior which produces more socially beneficial results is to be preferred.  If you want risky behavior, you want  a conservative, obedience-oriented, community.

Conservative societies do terrible things because they don't practice self-restraint.  Ain't that a kick in the head!? 

Bernie Sanders will be on the Colbert Report this Monday!

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/4/19/34515/9674/545/498796

  And, in that sense, the self-directed individual ends up being more socially responsible than the socially directed person.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It depends on the person giving the orders. When we had a heirarchy of moral leadership (and here I would place Dwight Eisenhower) the country could function either way.

tell me again why no impeachment?  

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

You know Phil......for a country and people that pride themselves on truth, honesty, fair play etc this is one question most of the world asks Im certain................never in a million years should Nixon have gotten off, and the evidence and public opinion aginst Bush is overwhelming...and yet, everyones favourite son here, Obama even said recently and very tip toeish like that impeachment and prosecutioin against Bush should NOT divert away from this country problems..............

Barrack..........its because of Bush this country has one of those headaches..and a doozy..Iraq.

Of course, as Ive profesed, these are politicians..the same ones who wear flag lapel pins, put their hands over their hearts and say the pledge..yet condone killing innocent women and children..let their criminal party leaders go scot free..............thats why i have nerver bought "greatest countyr in the world"....................

BO, IF he wins(he wont) should immediately, with overwhelmin bu i partisn support go after Bush and the lot...to serve as an example...........like the celebrated phrase says "we will never let this happen again".........

And, in that sense, the self-directed individual ends up being more socially responsible than the socially directed person.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That was Martin Luther's premise and Popes haven't ever bought your argument.

Monica

just to say you have made a profound statement, asked an important question, and is why Democrats are hard to organize

can you imagine either Mike or you taking orders lol

I still expect both of you to vote for Obama in November anyway 

Democratic Party delegate allocation rules reflect the difference between self-directed "liberals" versus the winner take all mentality of marching order Republicans.

we should be celebrating these primary contests as the exercises in freedom that they are

Phil, popes wouldn't.  They're the ultimate in demanding obedience.  It's their bread and butter. 

I was reared a Catholic and educated by nuns through college.  Indeed, at one point I wanted to be a nun.  The nuns talked me out of it.  Didn't think I'd fit in.  They were right. LOL

If I'd been in the order, the Bishop of New York would have never gotten away with selling their convent out from under a group of cloistered nuns so the diocese could sell the land for a high rise apartment building and the greater honor and glory of the Catholic Church. LOL 

"liberty" Phil, not "freedom."  Freedom implies a condition of boundedness--ergo the freedmen. 

Catholicism is something I know about.  It was a priest that taught me that virtue could be punished.

Somehow, that's a lesson I keep forgetting.  I was reminded of it again with the imprisonment of Don Siegelman, the former Governor of Alabama.  90% of the black voters of Alabama voted for him.  He must have been doing something right for which he needed to be punished. 

BTW, Phil, my mother discovered early on that I'm really easy to manipulate.  All one has to do is ask nicely.  Fortunately, manipulators have a tendency not to be able to do that for very long.  They make a demand and that's the end of the line.  LOL

if Georgie and Charlie moderated a debate between Lincoln and Douglas....

http://obsidianwings.blogs.com/obsidian_...

Phil - I guess the cows dinner has gone up just like our dinner has gone up. Puddle sad about your plum trees. I'm going to Cocoa today for my grandniece's wedding and will drive right through Joan's town so Joan I will wave :~)

I found an ON topic opera thing to tell you. Today's Met opera (broadcast on NPR stations) is called Satyagraha by Philip Glass a contemporary American composer who has written a lot of film music among other stuff. Anyway the reason Satyagraha is ON TOPIC is that the word is Sanskrit for Gandhi's passive resistance and the 'plot' of the opera sounds like philosophical vignettes perhaps loosely based on Gandhi's life and also MLK. So if this subject interests you, try some of his music at his website and/or tune in to the opera 1:30 - 5:15 ET TODAY Live from the Met. :~)
http://www.philipglass.com/

And since it has occurred to me I have the answer to the question from WUFT FM what composer cut 3 of his violin strings and proceeded to play difficult music with the remaining string? Paganini.

Everyone have a great day and I'll see ya tomorrow Lord willin and the creek don't rise.

Mike, I do resepct your opinion - yet I believe your comments are often more 'bait' than opinion.  today I'm not taking your bait.  off to work in the gardens - have a lovely day, all!  ;)

for seashell....and anyone else interested in the IP issue.  From Ezra Klein.  A new lobbyist group, J Street, representing an alternative to AIPAC....representing a progressive Jewish pov:

Judaism has long been closely associated with the search for social justice and human dignity. In his beautiful essay "No Time For Neutrality," the great Jewish theologian, Abraham Joshua Heschel, wrote, "one of the lessons we have derived from the events of our time is that we cannot dwell at ease under the sun of our civilization, that man is the least harmless of beings …The only safeguard against [such] constant danger is constant vigilance, constant guidance. Such guidance is given to him who lives in the reality of Israel. It is a system in which human relations rest on two basic ideas: The idea of human rights and the idea of human obligations."

The reality of Israel, of course, is more complex. There, relations between Jews and Palestinians are less about glittering ideals and more about terrorism and fences, settlements and mistrust. It would be tough moral terrain to navigate in even favorable circumstances, but for Jews, the political question is often elevated into a religious one. Israel -- or Eretz Yisrael -- animates the prayer books and peppers the Torah. For Jews, its status as a Jewish land has a sacred dimension, adding a further level of complexity to the human hunger for real estate. And so Israel's travails are regularly discussed from the pulpit. To enter a synagogue is to resign yourself to a likely digression from the numinous that will end with a disquisition on the conflict.

Sometimes, the Rabbi's exploration is just, humane, and sensitive. More often, the pull of identity overwhelms the call of the ineffable, and whatever mysticism should exist is shattered as the Rabbi does his or her best to rally the assembled Jewry in defense of their besieged brethren -- and shame those who don't go along. It's an odd feeling, akin to going to the doctor for a check-up and being subjected to an angry lecture on payment rates in the upcoming Medicare law.

#2 from Ezra Klein:

Sitting through such a sermon can be an uncomfortable experience for progressive Jews. Many respond by searching for a synagogue that does not mistake Zionism for Judaism. Others cease going altogether. And as the conversation in many synagogues has drifted rightward, so too has the political center of gravity on the subject. The allies of Israel now include such notables as John Hagee, a radical Christian minister who wants the Jews to occupy the Holy Land so they can be wiped out in a precursor to the apocalypse, and Joe Lieberman, whose two-word plan for Jewish security often seems to be "air strikes." If the pews can seem inhospitable to a progressive, the politics can look downright repulsive.

Final from Ezra Klein: 

"Do they speak for you," J Street asks? It's an interesting pitch, aimed less at activated progressives who labor on this issue than those who long ago turned away because they felt their voice wasted. It's an appeal to all those who walked out of their temple because they couldn't stand the sermon, didn't go back because they were tired of the politics, or have made their peace choking on silence when the issue arises.

Disengagement is an unnatural position for a Jew. Ending his essay, Heschel wrote, "Jewish existence is not only the adherence to particular doctrines and observances but primarily the living in the spiritual order of the Jewish people … it is primarily involvement and anticipation in the covenant and community of Israel." Israel, for Heschel, was the corporeal manifestation of higher ideals -- an unbreakable respect for human rights, and an unyielding sense of obligation to one another's dignity. Those who would dishonor those ideals don't speak for us. Yet their voices control the conversation. As Heschel said, this is no time for neutrality. Even more to the point, it is no time for silence.

New Jewish-American lobby wants to be alternative to AIPAC:

Have a wonderful weekend, folks.

Good morning. It's snowing on our little island and I have to make the trek to the big emerald city today. Yikes! But it's important for my lovely girl - Prom accessories for her gorgeous dress. She's giddy.

Everybody have a great day!

New panhandling technique...

I for one implore the people of Pennsylvania to end this charade.

It is time for the Democratic Party to do everything possible to ensure that we do not face Bush's third term.

Today and Monday, we pick delegates in Virginia to go to our congressional and state conventions.

In Newport News we are alloted 21 Obama delegates and 14 alternates.

I will be heading the caucus and finally have my script ready.

I hope to be one of the delegates.

Kinda of nervous here.

Some of the city's , like Chesapeake have 60 people vying for 20 seats.

We have 27 vying for 21 pledged delegates positions.

Gonna have all the candidates to get up and tell us who they are and what they have done for the local democratic party. Some aren't even committee members but the rules say they can run.

We shall see.

Sent a note to Hillary that I am one of the Moveon members she is dissing. Thanks Hill. The group was formed to help your husband.

linda b...Good luck...the cream always rises to the top.

Fishing wasn't good this morning so time for some yard work...gonna be a shorts day...woot!!! 

Ever the believer in the good in all people, I just sent this to the Clinton campaign :

****************************************************************************** 

I am sadly disappointed with the tone of Senator Clinton's campaign.

Her positions on the issues are very similar to Senator Obama's - and I appreciate both of their concern for working class Americans like myself.

Remarks by Bill Clinton, James Carville, former press secretary George Stephanopolos, and most recently by Senator Clinton herself have made me feel as if Senator Clinton is more interested in winning the nomination than she is in Americans.

I am tired of all the bickering.

I have been conversing for the past two years with many people from across the political spectrum - and now I know that we all share 95% agreement on all the important, substantive issues.

Divisive politics used to be the sole product of Karl Rove, Frank Luntz, etc. I am very sad to have to include the Clinton campaign in with those "win-at-all-costs" people, but that has been the trend throughout this primary season.

Continue in the race if you believe you can win by being positive - otherwise . . . . . . .

Great photos of Obama rally in PA, but the best part is the very last paragraph and then separately this video.

Tom asked me yesterday if I would care to name the 41 Democratic senators who could sustain a filibuster.

Well, with the exception of a few hard right Republicrats like Feinstein, Landrieu, and the Nelsons, I would expect them all onboard given any kind of leadership.

Unfortunately, Harry Reid is not a leader. Were he to call for a filibuster, he has the power to take away committee assignments and seniority from those who refuse, just like McConnell across the aisle.

Bottom line, the Repugs are united and disciplined, the Dems aren't. Back in the day, Democratic senators didn't dare even think about defying LBJ when he was majority leader.

Reid is no LBJ

9:58 am

Hm. Here's the video

http://youtube.com/watch?v=axV796uzNTE

In today's political cesspool, it's the big chunks that rise to the top!

HJ, I agree that the tank needs pumping but hardly something to say of the grassroots workers. The involvement of so many new people to the process is what excites me about Obama...and ones willing to get their hands dirty to purge the tank.