Progress is on the ballot

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Video Highlights from Melania Trump's Convention Speech

(CNN: "Melania Trump's speech plagiarizes parts of Michelle Obama's")

(Melania Trump: “He will never, ever, give up. And, most importantly, he will never, ever, let you down.” Vox: "Did Melania Trump include a Rickroll in the middle of her convention speech?")

The difference

The difference between shouting, "I love women" and showing you love women (and children, and men, and gays, and the poor, and the middle class, and vets, and the elderly, and all races...and everyone) is the difference between the two parties.

If farmers and blacksmiths could win independence from an empire…if immigrants could leave behind everything they knew for a better life on our shores…if women could be dragged to jail for seeking the vote…if a generation could defeat a depression, and define greatness for all time…if a young preacher could lift us to the mountaintop with his righteous dream…and if proud Americans can be who they are and boldly stand at the altar with who they love…then surely, surely we can give everyone in this country a fair chance at that great American Dream.  

Because in the end, more than anything else, that is the story of this country – the story of unwavering hope grounded in unyielding struggle.

Looks like someone's reputation preceded them

Via New York Magazine:


Dominique Strauss-Kahn, President Obama
and First Lady Michelle Obama in 2009.
The caption says this meeting took place during the 2009 G-20, so, yes, Pittsburgh. Maybe those riot troops should have been keeping tabs on DSK instead of the students...
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Shake a tail feather

While the Right Wing media and its followers went bananas over a ridiculously false story that the President's trip to India was going to cost $200 million per day, there is some real and very cute video of the First Lady and the President dancing with some children in India (here and here).

That said, if Obama were to ever actually drop $200 million a day in India, we'd approve, but only if he dropped a large chunk of that at the Silver Jubilee club:


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Yawn - The Trib Spins

One can sometimes see in the tiniest of places an echo of the whole. This week we can see in a slip of an editorial jab, how Richard Mellon Scaife's Tribune-Review editorial page spins, folds and mutilates reality to score a cheap political point.

To whit:

The White House denies it but French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy says Michelle Obama told her that being America's first lady is "hell." "I can't stand it!" she supposedly said, reports London's Daily Mail. Hey, we're sure voters will be happy to ease Mrs. O's pain in 2012.

Does Bruni-Sarkozy really say that? Had they done their homework, the braintrust would have found out a few things - enough to at least taint the credibility of the story.

First the DailyMail:

Michelle Obama thinks being America’s First Lady is ‘hell’, Carla Bruni reveals today in a wildly indiscreet book.

Miss Bruni divulges that Mrs Obama replied when asked about her position as the U.S. president’s wife: ‘Don’t ask! It’s hell. I can’t stand it!’

Details of the private conversation, which took place at the White House during an official visit by Nicolas Sarkozy last March, emerged in Carla And The Ambitious.

The book was written by journalists Michael Darmon and Yves Derai in what they claim is collaboration with Miss Bruni.

Wait. What? They "claim" it's a collaboration? So the book isn't from Bruni-Sarkozy herself? Apparently. The DailyMail again:

The Elysee Palace has denied that the Miss Bruni co-operated with the biography.

So not only does the White House deny the story, the French Government denies it as well.

That's all echoed by this from the AP:

The co-author of a new book about French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy defended his sources Friday amid a media buzz over a passage that cites Michelle Obama as calling life in the White House "hell."

Mrs. Obama's spokeswoman has denied the first lady said such a thing, and a spokesman at the French Embassy in Washington said Bruni-Sarkozy "distances herself completely" from the book, which appeared in French bookstores on Thursday.

The unauthorized book, called "Carla et les ambitieux," or "Carla and the Ambitious Ones," describes the scene of a March dinner at the White House, during which the two first ladies were purported to have had a conversation in English in which they compared notes on their experiences as wives of presidents.

Hmm...she distances herself "completely" from a book that's "unauthorized." Isn't that enough to put the braintrust off the trail? Apparently not, so here's more:

Author Yves Derai stood by the explosive dialogue, insisting it was based on interviews with "reliable sources" — though he declined to name them, in accordance, he said, with his journalistic principles.

Am I missing something here? Does he say that Bruni-Sarkozy said it or not? If he does, I'm not seeing it. Could be the line came from one of his reliable sources.

And then there's this:

Derai acknowledged the French word used in the passage, "enfer," might not precisely correspond directly with the English word "hell."

"I don't know, maybe translated into English, hell is Dante's Inferno where they burn sinners, but in French it's really a rather common expression to say that sometimes it's just 'a real drag,'" Derai explained. He did not say what the original word allegedly pronounced by Mrs. Obama was.

So on top of everything else, we have a translation problem. Was it "hell" or just "a real drag"? Did it even occur at all?

Not that any of this would ever get in the way of Scaife's braintrust trying to score a cheap point. Oh no.

Took me all of 30 minutes to find this stuff out. Did Scaife's braintrust even bother to do their homework on this? If they didn't, then why not? If they did, then why include the jab at all?

And that's the tiniest of places echoing the whole.

Thus endeth the lesson.

Oh Lord!

Billboard near the crash site of Flight 93

Nothing like using the tragedy of Flight 93 to make your political/religious point.

While this is certainly constitutionally-protected speech, if there were, say, Punctuation Police (or Style/Taste Police) heads would roll.

I am cringing now imagining that First Ladies Michelle Obama and Laura Bush might see this on their way to the memorial tomorrow.

And, is it just me or does it look like the plane is landing on the head of Jesus rather than him holding it aloft, which of course if he had, there would be no need for a memorial.

[shudder]

(H/T to A Spork in the Drawer who saw this at Joe.My.God.)
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Action Items for Jordan Miles Police Brutality Case

Something went terribly wrong on January 11th in the predominantly African American neighborhood of Homewood in Pittsburgh.

Teenager Jordan Miles, a violinist and senior Honor student at Pittsburgh's Creative and Performing Arts high school (CAPA), said he was walking that evening from his mother's house to his grandmother's house.

He never made it.

Instead, he ended up at the hospital looking like this:

.....
Jordan Miles account is that he was attacked by three men screaming "Where's the money? Where's the gun? Where's the drugs?" who he only later found out were undercover police officers.

What do the police say? From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (P-G):

According to the police criminal complaint, three officers on undercover patrol on Tioga STreet saw Mr. Miles at 11 p.m. Jan. 11. Seeing a heavy object in his coat and indentifying themselves as police, they ordered him to stop.

Mr. Miles ran and the three officers, suspecting he might have a gun and be under the influence of drugs, shot him with a Taser and struck him with their knees and fists. The complaint said the heavy object in his coat turned out to be a bottle of Mountain Dew.

So, there's some law against carry heavy objects? I must have missed that one. Moreover, Miles says he wasn't even holding Dew (and last time I checked, if he had consumed some, it doesn't leave you in a drug-induced-like state). The police complaint also claims that he was standing against a building while black "as if he was trying to avoid being seen". Obviously, also against some law that I'm unaware of...

According to the P-G:

Jordan Miles, 18, had a hearing scheduled this morning on charges of aggravated assault and resisting arrest for an altercation Jan. 11 with three plain clothes Pittsburgh Police officers, but it was suspended when the officers did not appear. Mr. Miles was going to defend himself from the charges by describing the beating he took from police, which included a tree branch impaling his gums and a chunk of hair pulled from his head, his attorney said today, in addition to repeated blows to his head. [Emphasis added]

Pittsburgh's Office of Municipal Investigations is investigating the incident and Mayor Luke Ravenstahl said he is "very troubled" by Miles' claims of police brutality.

If you're equally disturbed by this story, B-PEP (Black Political Empowerment Project) Black and White Reunion, and CAV (Coalition Against Violence) suggest the following actions you can take:

Action Plan in support of CAPA Honor student Jordan Miles
1. Attend the 9:00 a.m. news conference on Tuesday, January 26, 2010 at the City-County Building, Fifth Floor in front of City Council Chambers.

2. Drop off (in person) letters of protest, with regard to the incident, to the Mayor’s Office.

3. Speak to City Council Members at the 10:00 a.m. January 26, 2010 regularly scheduled City Council hearing.

4. Speak to the City Police Review Board at the 6:00 p.m. hearing in City Council Chambers on January 26, 2010

There's also a Facebook support page for Jordan here.

The story has received national coverage including CNN and The Huffington Post.

It bears repeating what First Lady Michelle Obama said when she visited CAPA last year bringing spouses of the G-20 Summit dignitaries with her:

We're here because I wanted to introduce them to some of America's finest, most creative, most accomplished young people."

Apparently the police could not view Jordan in the same light as our First Lady saw him.
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The President and First Lady Extend Christmas Greetings

WEEKLY ADDRESS: The President and First Lady Extend Christmas Greeting and Express their Gratitude to America’s Servicemen and Women

WASHINGTON – In this week’s address, President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama offered their best Christmas wishes to families across the country, and expressed their gratitude to the men and women of the American military and their families for their service to the country. The First Couple encouraged Americans to visit www.whitehouse.gov to learn how they can show their support to our soldiers and their loved ones.

The full audio of the address is HERE. The video can be viewed online at http://www.whitehouse.gov/

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"Flesh-colored"

Sociological Images notes the problem with describing objects -- such as this dress in an Associated Press article -- as being "flesh-colored":


See the problem now?


Pssst, white skin is not the default. (Although as many comments at SI note, the First Lady's dress is more gold/champagne than the light pinky-peach normally referred to as "flesh-colored"/"nude" so the AP even gets that wrong.)
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G-20 Summit Venues

From the White House Office of the Press Secretary:

Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens:

The President and First Lady look forward to welcoming leaders, their spouses and officials to Pittsburgh at the city’s Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens. After welcoming the leaders and spouses, President Obama and world leaders will remain at the conservatory for a working dinner. Known as “the Green Heart of Pittsburgh,” Phipps’ earth-sheltered Welcome Center was the first LEED-certified building in a public garden. Its newest addition, the Tropical Forest Conservatory, is the world’s most energy efficient conservatory and is the only conservatory powered by a solid oxide fuel cell.

David L. Lawrence Convention Center:

Demonstrating the possibilities presented by employing new and innovative technology to further economic recovery and development, the Pittsburgh Summit will be held at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in downtown Pittsburgh. The facility was the first “green” convention center in the world to be awarded the LEED® Gold Certification by the U.S. Green Building Council for leadership in energy and environmental design.

Rosemont Farm:

The First Lady is looking forward to welcoming and hosting the Pittsburgh Summit spousal program. Following the leaders reception, the program will kick off with a private dinner for spouses at the farm of well known Pittsburgh philanthropist Teresa Heinz. The farm is set in the rolling hills just outside of Pittsburgh and will serve as a beautiful and intimate place for the spouses to gather. Rosemont Farm is a fully working farm where they grow their own fruits and vegetables and raise cows, chickens and produce their own fresh eggs.

Creative & Performing Arts School (“CAPA”):

Stemming from the White House's commitment to and encouragement of arts education for young people, Mrs. Obama will share with her counterparts the outstanding arts education opportunities afforded to the students of Pittsburgh. The group will tour and view a performance at the Pittsburgh CAPA 6-12 school, located in downtown Pittsburgh’s Cultural District. CAPA, a Creative & Performing Arts public magnet school, enrolls more than 800 full time students who major in dance, instrumental music, vocal music, literary arts, theatre and visual arts. CAPA’s vision, “excellence for all in the arts and academic areas,” is supported by their state of the art facilities and the latest technology.

The Andy Warhol Museum:

The Andy Warhol Museum, located on the north shore of Pittsburgh, will be the setting for a luncheon hosted by the First Lady. The Warhol Museum, one of the four Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh, houses the definitive collection of art and archives from the renowned 20th century artist Andy Warhol, who was born and raised in Pittsburgh. The museum is known regionally for being a forum for lively, creative community dialogue, and its staff works with educators, students, and community organizations to encourage and enhance learning through the arts. The museum is also known for bringing the work of Andy Warhol to the world through popular traveling exhibitions, which have been viewed by more than six million people throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, and Asia including 15 of the G-20 nations.
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The Nation Sums It Up.

Here:

The real question about how Barack and Michelle Obama are being received on their Rolling-G-20-Summit/Euro-Tour '09 has nothing to do with how the Europeans treat them, but all about the American mainstream media itself: What infinitesimal nit will they find to pick about the new president's conduct abroad that can be blown up into a two- to three-day pseudo-international incident?

Yea, we're talking the iPod-giving Barack and the Queen-touching Michelle:

The English press made a big deal last month about how Prime Minister Gordon Brown gave Obama a pen mount made from the wood of a 19th century British anti-slaving warship when he visited Washington, and all he got in return was a lousy stack of American DVDs. So when it was learned that the president gave Queen Elizabeth II an iPod, the blogs went into overdrive--AmericanDigest.com dubbed the Obamas "the Clampetts," asking, "Were they born in a barn?"

Turns out the Queen requested the video iPod the president gave her, and he filled it with footage of her American visits and 40 showtunes; he also presented her with a rare songbook signed by Richard Rodgers, the Broadway composer who wrote one of the Queen's fave musicals, "Oklahoma!" But that won't stop the piss-ant dramas. When Gift-gate turned out to be just another murder of Vince Foster, some of the same folks started getting the vapors over Michelle patting the Queen's shoulders during their meet'n'greet. Nobody "touches" the Queen, for chrissakes, they mooned--at least, until Buckingham Palace put out word that there was no violation of protocol, and the Queen thought Michelle was expressing a very natural "affection," which she shares.

And they call it "the liberal media."

Pintek Update

Astute reader AS wrote:

I thought you'd be interested in what I heard last night on the Mike Pintek show.

He devoted at least 15 minutes to Michelle Obama's rear end. He talked about her butt, saying "she's got back." He even had a health expert from UPMC on to talk about the health of people who have big butts. Of course, he played that disgusting "Baby's Got Back" song.

He claimed he was talking about it because a Salon commentator wrote an essay about Michelle Obama's behind. I found the article and he completely misrepresented what the commentary said. The essay was more about a black woman gaining a positive body image now that another black woman is the First Lady.

If he was trying to be funny, he missed the boat. He sounded racist, misogynistic and petty.

I also think UPMC officials should be blushing for allowing one of their experts to participate.

Gee, I don't remember radio talk show hosts commenting about Laura Bush's chest.

For the first time, I called a radio station to complain.

I wasn't listening so I have no way of verifying this. I searched for the Salon.com article and this is what I found. My guess is that it's what Pintek was discussing. If not then does that mean that there are TWO Salon.com articles about the next First Lady's behind?

Questions? Comments? Remarks? Drop me an e-mail.

Pot Meets Kettle

Leave it to a guy to talk about the controversies involved in Ann Coulter's new book and book tour and leave out the most important one: Ann slams Michelle Obama's fashion sense in it:

Coulter wrote, "Her obvious imitation of Jackie O's style - the flipped-under hair, the sleeveless A-line dresses, the short strands of fake pearls - would have been laughable if done by anyone other than a media-designated saint."

OK, I'm kidding of course that this is important. Lord knows we had enough scrutiny of Hillary's pantsuits and cleavage and Palin's wardrobe during the election. But, I do find it amusing that someone who has made a virtual fetish* out of little black cocktail dresses would presume to have any complaint about anyone else's wardrobe.

And, no, I'm not knocking little black dresses. But Annie's reliance on them and the contrast of her very black clothes coupled with her very fair hair and skin has always made me see her as a Robert Longo painting come-to-life which would put Little Annie, style-wise, firmly back in the last century -- along with Jackie O -- not to mention that her own attire is so often "sleeveless A-line dresses."


Barbara by Robert Longo

* See here:




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Michelle Obama Rally This Thursday! UPDATED!!

Thursday, October 16th, 2008

Michelle Obama Rally


Rally at noon, doors open at 11:00 10:30 a.m.

Fitzgerald Field House
Allequippa Street & Darragh Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15261

Soldiers and Sailors Memorial
4141 5th Ave
Pittsburgh, PA 15213


UPDATE: (It's official now, folks!)

Michelle Obama Hosts Change We Need Rally in Pittsburgh

This event is free and open to the public.

Tickets are NOT required but an RSVP is strongly encouraged.

To RSVP, please visit www.PA.BarackObama.com/PittsburghChange

Space is available on a first come first serve basis.

For security reasons, do not bring bags and please limit personal items.

No signs or banners permitted.


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Devastating Anti Obama Ad!

I don't know if his campaign can survive this:


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Democratic Women

Michelle Obama gave a warm, engaging, pitch-perfect speech last night. It built layer by layer to a beautiful close which asked the American people to listen to their hopes instead of their fears and to commit to "building the world as it should be."

Of course as a Democratic woman -- especially as the wife of a Democrat seeking the presidency -- she started out at a deficit.

First, she had to prove that she wasn't a crazy, ball-busting bitch.

We all know that the wives of Republican candidates are God-fearin' women who love their husbands and love their country and have all perfected the Nancy Reagan staring-on-adorably-at-hubby pose along side their spouses (especially if hubby has been caught sharing a bed or bathroom stall with someone other than the little Mrs.).

Whereas, we all know (via Republicans and the MSM) that Democratic wives are CRAZY ASS BITCHES who would soon as castrate you as look at you.

Teresa Heinz Kerry was a CRAZY BITCH who'd say any crazy ol' thing and was a Sugar Mama to her weak husband. Michelle Obama is a CRAZY BITCH and oh-my-god-scary-angry-black-woman who hates her country. And then, there's the ultimate CRAZY BITCH, Hillary Clinton, who killed her lover Vince Foster when she wasn't busy being a crazy lesbian and who just wouldn't go away and die like she was supposed to during the primary (thanks to those on the left who helped promote that wingnut meme).

The corollary to the Democratic Wife CRAZY BITCH Rule is the Democratic Male Presidential Candidate as a WEAK FOREIGN WEIRDO Rule.

Al Gore was so "feminized" according to that leftist rag writer Maureen Dowd, that "he's practically lactating." John Kerry was weak and French for godsakes! Barack is a "anorexic starlet" Paris Hilton celebrity who is even more foreign than Kerry!

They are all too weak and femme to be trusted with this nation's security.

After all, if they were REAL MEN, they wouldn't have such CRAZY BITCH wives. REAL MEN -- like Republican politicians -- know how to treat a woman (you divorce her when she becomes sick/old, call her a cunt and offer her up to a crowd of bikers for their inspection).

Anyhoo, eighty-eight years ago today the 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States was officially ratified and women achieved the right to vote. On the eve of this anniversary, Michelle Obama made reference to that:

"It is because of their will and determination that this week, we celebrate two anniversaries: the 88th anniversary of women winning the right to vote, and the 45th anniversary of that hot summer day when Dr. King lifted our sights and our hearts with his dream for our nation.

I stand here today at the crosscurrents of that history — knowing that my piece of the American dream is a blessing hard won by those who came before me. All of them driven by the same conviction that drove my dad to get up an hour early each day to painstakingly dress himself for work. The same conviction that drives the men and women I've met all across this country..."

Moreover, she graciously remarked on the significance of Hillary Clinton's candidacy:

"People like Hillary Clinton, who put those 18 million cracks in the glass ceiling, so that our daughters — and sons — can dream a little bigger and aim a little higher."

Here's her speech in case you missed it:


Michelle Obama at The Democratic National Convention
by petulant

Text here.

(And, here's the Obama kids with their Dad if you missed that moment.)
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Rejected New Yorker Cover Art

Rejected New Yorker Cover Art:


(Click for larger image)
They do have standards after all!

Welcome Politico readers!
And, New York Daily News readers.

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John McCain Context

This hit the news last night. In light of the right-wing noise machine squawking endlessly over Michelle Obama's comments on being proud of this country, Dan Abrams found a very interesting quote from Senator John McCain.

I didn't really love America until I was deprived of her company.

Flipped over, it says that he didn't love America until he was a POW. He was born in 1936 and became a POW in 1967.

So he didn't love America for the first 31 years of his life??

Dan Abrams dissects the right's noise machine on this. There's a context, he says, to McCain's sentence, one that he doesn't question. Dan Abrams doesn't think McCain ever hated America. However the noise machine, while putting McCain's sentence in context won't extend the same courtesy to Obama. There's really no difference between her utterance and McCain's.

Have a look:

It's fun to watch Jonathan Alter spank the wingnut radio host, by the way.