"... I make this look good." - Will Smith in "Men in Black"

Michelle wearing a mantilla (correct protocol for meeting the Pope).



Laura Bush doing the same (but she does look very nice, too).

Our guy just hasn't been able to kick the habit. I'm glad he's honest and open about it -- goodness knows I can empathize with nicotine addiction. Given the pressures he's constantly under, I'm astonished that he's been able to make any progress at all in quitting. He's a person of considerably more will power than I am.

Not that it's important information, but just for my own curiosity, I'll assume that by "95% cured" he means he's eliminated 95% of the cigarettes he used to smoke, lets say per month. To guestimate how many he still smokes in a month, you'd have to know his former rate of smoking. I recall Michelle saying during the early primaries that he smoked about 3 cigarettes per day. The very rough math, then:

3 x 30 days = 90 cigs per month

90 x .05 = 4.5 cigs per month

My POV might be biased, but I just don't see 4.5 cigarettes a month as problem smoking. As long as it's not around the kids or anyone else who doesn't want the 2nd hand smoke, I wish the media would get off his back. We all have our vices, some of us more indulgent than others (*raises guilty hand*), but he's villainized because his occasional habit is currently the most unpopular legal one. If a person drank 4.5 drinks per month, they would be labled as a "very light" drinker and no one would say boo about it.

It appears that his goal is still to quit entirely and I wholeheartedly support him in this. But it may take time, and even if it never quite happens, I salute the 95% restraint he's already accomplished.

X-posted to my LJ

President Barack Obama hugs Debby Smith, 53, from Appalachia, Va., after she asks him about her health care during a town hall meeting at the Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Va., Wednesday, July 1, 2009.

Its truly refreshing to have a president with a heart, there are still details needed to be worked out but at least plans are on the table, there is a great 20 min vid in the second link.

More: HERE and HERE which includes a vid.

Can I run this by you?

Did you see Vice President Biden's email last week, sharing personal health care stories from supporters across the country? Well, the stories have been read millions of times, and the reaction is an overwhelming, "Wow -- we've got to get to work."

It's not surprising -- these stories show the human face of the health care debate and inspire us all to act.

So here's our latest idea: Putting our supporters in coast-to-coast television and online ads, telling their own stories, in their own voice. It could be a breakthrough moment in this debate, when millions of Americans realize how urgent reform really is.

But recording and nationally broadcasting these stories won't be cheap. We can only go forward if you're ready to chip in. So what do you say -- should we do it?

Yes. I think this is a great idea, and I'm ready to contribute so it can happen.

No, I'm not ready to contribute to this plan.

How big could this be? Many experts believe health care reform was defeated in the early 90's by the infamous "Harry and Louise" ads. They featured actors sitting around a fake kitchen table, pretending to be a family that was frightened by reform.

So just imagine if this time around, the debate is shaped by real people, looking us in the eye, telling their actual story, and asking for our help to fix this broken system.

Phony stories helped defeat health care reform in the past. But this time, real stories could be the reason we win.

If enough Organizing for America supporters say yes and then donate the resources we need to pull it off, we'll start filming and distribution right away. So what do you say?

Thanks, as always, for making it all possible.

Mitch

Mitch Stewart
Director
Organizing for America

People across the United States are sharing their personal stories with Barack Obama's repurposed campaign arm, Organizing For America, to tell the world about the failures of the U.S. health care system. Some people say they would almost rather die than deal with it.

Joan in Washington, D.C. wrote that she fears she and her husband will be homeless if he can't find a job, and that she is "uninsurable" because of cancer.

"Maybe I should wish for the cancer to kill me sooner -- it might be a better option," Joan wrote. "I am terrified."

Jackie in Logan, N.D., wrote that she cried when she was hospitalized in January out of fear for the bills -- even though she has health insurance.

"I told my husband that perhaps I should just go home and wait to die," Jackie wrote, "as it would be cheaper to be cremated, than to have to exist dealing with the debt of surviving."

Brad of Granite City, IL, wrote that "I may die any day because Health Insurance isn't available to me."

"For profit healthcare killed my wife," wrote John of Nashville, Tenn.

These notes are just a few of "hundreds of thousands" of stories submitted, according to an official with Organizing for America. The site, called "Health Care Stories for America," was launched last week as a counterbalance to claims that the administration's agenda for health care reform will create a government-run bureaucracy that will make you wait in line for a doctor. As many of the stories on the OFA site demonstrate, the current system kind of sucks already.

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Labor Secretary Hilda Solis issued a warning letter to departmental employees late last week, after posters celebrating Gay Pride Month hanging in 35 department elevators since June 22 have been either defaced or removed altogether.

In an e-mail message sent to the entire department, Ms. Solis, who helped found the House of Representative’s Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Caucus when she was in Congress, said she was outraged by the behavior.

“It appears, however, that some members of the Labor Department team have a different view, as it has come to my attention that most of the posters have been continually defaced or removed,” Ms. Solis wrote. “On several occasions, even the poster frames have been torn completely off the elevator walls.”

“I do not believe these actions represent the majority of our employees, so I refuse to let this situation define us.

The posters will stay up throughout the month and will be replaced immediately if they are damaged or removed, according to the letter.

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Speech on LGBT rights:

WATCH

Obama Issues Signing Statement On War Spending Bill

On Friday, President Obama signed a new war spending bill into law, but "not without taking a page from his predecessor and ignoring a few elements in the legislation," the Hill reports.

Obama included a five-paragraph signing statement with the bill, including a final paragraph that outlined his objections to at least four areas of the bill.

President George W. Bush was heavily criticized for his use of signing statements, declaring he'd ignore some elements of legislation by invoking presidential prerogative.

The Obama administration announced in the statement it would disregard provisions of the legislation that, among other things, would compel the Obama administration to pressure the World Bank to strengthen labor and environmental standards and require the Treasury department to report to Congress on the activities of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF).

read the full statement

White House Drafts Executive Order To Allow Indefinite Detention of Terror Suspects

UPDATE: White House Denies Indefinite Detention Order

Older article below:

The Obama administration, fearing a battle with Congress that could stall plans to close Guantanamo, has drafted an executive order that would reassert presidential authority to incarcerate terrorism suspects indefinitely, according to three senior government officials with knowledge of White House deliberations.

Such an order would embrace claims by former president George W. Bush that certain people can be detained without trial for long periods under the laws of war. Obama advisers are concerned that bypassing Congress could place the president on weaker footing before the courts and anger key supporters, the officials said.

After months of internal debate over how to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, White House officials are growing increasingly worried that reaching quick agreement with Congress on a new detention system may prove impossible. Several officials said there is concern in the White House that the administration may not be able to close the facility by the president's January deadline.

White House spokesman Ben LaBolt did not directly respond to questions about an executive order but said the administration would address the cases of Guantanamo detainees in a manner "consistent with the national security interests of the United States and the interests of justice."

One administration official suggested the White House was already trying to build support for an executive order.

"Civil liberties groups have encouraged the administration, that if a prolonged detention system were to be sought, to do it through executive order," the official said. Such an order could be rescinded and would not block later efforts to write legislation, but civil liberties groups generally oppose long-term detention, arguing that detainees should either be prosecuted or released.

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WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is taking heat from some gays and lesbians for not fulfilling campaign pledges. He's also taking their cash.

Gay rights activists have complained that Obama has not followed through on his promises to repeal a law banning their open service in the military, to do away with a federal marriage law or to champion their causes from the White House. During his first five months, he's taken incremental steps that have little real effect and left some people feeling betrayed.

But he still felt comfortable sending Vice President Joe Biden to a Democratic National Committee fundraiser Thursday evening with gay and lesbian donors.

"I hope you don't doubt the president's commitment," Biden said during a 20-minute address at the gathering. Assuring donors and other guests that Obama would keep the nation focused on "the unfinished business of true equality for all our people," the vice president said, "I don't blame you for your impatience."

Some gay donors had called for a boycott after Obama's Justice Department, in a court filing, compared gay marriages to incest.

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Gibbs gets tanked at the White House Luau by an AP and CBS reporter



( more )

Go ahead. Call me myopic. Accuse me of having a one-track mind.

When I heard about the latest escapades of another "pro-family values/pro-sanctity-of-marriage" Republican, South Carolina governor, Mark Sanford, as he flew down to Argentina to cry on his mistress's shoulder, I couldn't help but wonder if I am on the same dictionary page with these people where the definition of "family" & "sanctity" are concerned.

I will never understand how these people who pay such wonderful lip-service to their holy vows, how much they love the wives on whom they have broken said holy vows, and then ask forgiveness once they've been caught, can justify seeing themselves as somehow more deserving of a legal recognition of their "commitment" to the person they purport to love than I am. If this is their idea of "sanctity" than I personally don't want anything to do with their version of it, anyway.

I will admit that it is not only Republicans who oppose equal marriage rights for same-sex couples; I know there are some Democrats who do, too...but, without fail, the loudest voices leading the charge to deny ANY SORT OF LEGAL RECOGNITION AT ALL to same-sex couples at all (even the separate-but-unequal option of civil unions) are of the Elephant Party.

I know that I am, once again, preaching to the choir, but don't they just practically salivate whilst quoting the Good Book in propping up their homophobia?

Well, I've got a good verse for them, from Matthew 7:3, to wit:

And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

Of course, it may be difficult to read that passage with an entire forest stuck in your retina!

WASHINGTON — Lawyers for President Obama are quietly drafting first-of-their kind guidelines barring workplace discrimination against transgender federal employees, officials said Tuesday.

The guidelines will be in an updated federal handbook for managers and supervisors to be distributed and posted online in the next couple of months, and they could also be included in other materials for managers. They will list transgender people — those who identify their gender differently from the information on their birth certificates — as among several groups protected by antidiscrimination laws.

Though transgender men and women are not believed to make up more than a fraction of a percent of the federal work force, their inclusion in the discrimination guidelines is seen as a breakthrough by transgender and gay rights advocates.

“The president is making a very clear statement that transgender people won’t be discriminated against,” said Mara Keisling, the executive director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, a group that has been talking with the White House about the new provisions.

The provisions will help give transgender workers avenues within the federal government to protest a job action as discriminatory, though Ms. Keisling added, “There is also a very important symbolic value to that, from our point of view.”

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A good summary of the history between our two nations and why there is still bad blood. Also, why Obama, rhetorically, has the correct approach.

WATCH

by Sen. Dick Durbin, Sen. Charles E. Schumer, and Sen. Patrick Leahy

Nearly 50 million Americans -- one-in-six of our fellow citizens -- lack health insurance. And even those families lucky enough to have health insurance have seen their premiums triple in the past decade, now paying an average of $16,000 per year and rising rapidly.

In short, America's health care system is in a crisis, and it's time to do something about it.

Congress is currently working on new reform legislation that will make quality health care available and affordable for all Americans. But we know the forces of the status quo will battle us every step of the way.

So we're asking for your help, today, to get this critical legislation passed.

Please sign our online petition at www.CitizensForAPublicOption.com today -- and circulate it to your friends -- and show your support of Congress' work to reform America's health care system now!

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If you really care about this issue, please post this on your own journals and send the petition to your friends. This is critical.


And here's a petition you can sign at Obama for America: President Obama's health care petition

John Hodgman, who gave the keynote address at the White House Radio and Television Correspondents' Dinner Friday night praising President Obama as the first Nerd-in-Chief, appeared on Countdown tonight to discuss his speech and if Obama can heal end the age-old conflict between nerds and jocks.

Olbermann asked the question on everyone's mind: is Obama a nerdy-jock or a jockey-nerd? Hodgman thinks "he crosses the streams, to drop a Ghostbusters reference."

watch the interview

As advocates for gays and lesbians intensify their criticism of the White House, President Obama has invited some of their leaders to an East Room reception next Monday to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion, the 1969 Greenwich Village demonstrations that gave birth to the modern gay rights movement.

The White House has not publicized the reception, and officials did not respond to e-mail requests for comment. But gay leaders from here and around the country said they had received either telephone calls from the White House or written invitations to the event, and were told Mr. Obama is expected to speak.

Some said it would take more than a reception to change their view that Mr. Obama has not been aggressive enough in pursuing gay rights. As a candidate, Mr. Obama campaigned to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, the federal law barring gay marriage, and ‘’don’t ask don’t tell,’’ the military policy that bars gays and lesbians from serving openly. But advocates have accused him of dragging his feet.

“What’s going to change the way the community is feeling is seeing the introduction of a bill to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, repeal ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,’’ said Jennifer Chrisler, executive director of the Family Equality Council, a Boston-based advocacy group, referring to two policies Mr. Obama pledged to overturn. She said gay rights advocates want to see “a president who is fulfilling the promises he made on the campaign trail.’’

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President Obama's Father's Day Events

includes: visiting Year Up, Fatherhood Town Hall, South Lawn Remarks, and Grilling with Bobby Flay.

The 65th RTCA Dinner

Includes: Obama as highlight speaker, Sweet Honey in the Rock, a Jib Jab Video, and John Hodgman talking about nerds.

"He's Barack Obama" Jib Jab Video at JibJab.com

Hilarity ensues.

Obama is rightly ignoring the calls from both the right as well as within his own administration to take a stronger stand on the situation in Iran. These pleas -- such as from Sen. John McCain, Rep. Mike Pence, Paul Wolfowitz, or Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden, as reported in the New York Times Thursday -- merely reflect the stale American solipsism that's to blame for our sundered image abroad in years past. Obama has made notable progress in polishing the previous administration's tarnish, but a single slip-up at the wrong moment could reverse it all in a second.

If Obama were to speak out and side with Mousavi in the current Iranian uprising, it would transform a legitimate, organic popular movement into a GOP teabag party. As many may recall, the conservative teabag movement in April was an embarrassing flop. Though it donned the mask of a grassroots uprising, it was quickly revealed to be naught but astro-turf (fake grassroots) -- carefully orchestrated by conservative corporate lobbyists, Fox News and even the Republican Party. The result was that nobody took the "popular movement" seriously, regardless of its scale, prevalence, message or sincerity.

Those who wish for Obama to adopt a stronger tone seem to be under the delusion that everyone doesn't already know exactly where he stands. Beyond being mistakenly impetuous, explicitly choosing a side in the current conflict without knowing who will emerge on top offers no possible benefit. Though the Iranian regime already blames the West, the Iranian people are not stupid. They know full well how to spot propaganda. And fortunately, as reflected by the Supreme Leader's Friday prayer today, Europe is taking the brunt of the blame, especially the United Kingdom.

This bodes well for Obama's position. And as Suzanne Maloney of the Brookings Institution has noted, this is as it should be, considering that Europe actually has a presence in Tehran, as opposed to the US who cut off all relations in 1979. Putting the United States on the front-line would play directly into the propagandists' hands -- the propagandists who still control the levers of power in the Islamic Republic, I might add.

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I got an email at work today that the person who sent it labeled, Friday "Pick Me Up". While the email really has nothing to do with President Obama, per se, it reminds me of (one of the) things this President represents in my mind: sometimes we have to stand & fight, and even jump (believe me, you'll understand when you read below the cut) for what is right even when (or ESPECIALLY WHEN), to quote Spiro T. Agnew (which I rarely do), "the nattering nabobs of negativism" are in full throat.

Hope it gives you a "Friday Pick Me Up", too!

( If you're feelin' froggy, jump... )

This is a hilarious digital artwork I found on deviantArt. haha.


O-Force:Obama by ~Lysol-Jones on deviantART

interesting stuff...

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama, under growing criticism for not seeking to end the ban on openly gay men and women in the military, is extending benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees. Obama plans to announce his decision on Wednesday in the Oval Office, a White House official said Tuesday. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the president hadn't yet signed the presidential memorandum.

The official said Obama would release more details on Wednesday.

The decision is a political nod to a reliably Democratic voting bloc that in recent weeks has grown frustrated with the White House's slow movement on their priorities.

Several powerful gay fundraisers withdrew their support from a June 25 Democratic National Committee event where Vice President Joe Biden is expected to speak. Their exit came in response to a June 12 Justice Department brief that defended the Defense of Marriage Act, a prime target for gay and lesbian criticism. Justice lawyers argued that the law allowed states to reject marriages performed in other states or countries that defy their own standards.

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The news today has definitely been one heck of a ride...

You're friendly neighbourhood lesbian again.

Marriage Equality Florida is marching in the Stonewall Pride Parade. Join us and help organize more people to fight for our marriage equality.
http://eqlmarriagefl.blogspot.com/2009/06/details-for-parade.html

Details for Stonewall Pride Parade
Date: Sunday, June 21, 2009
Time: 6:00pm - 9:00pm
Location: Ft Lauderdale High West Parking Lot
City/Town: Wilton Manors, FL
Phone: 954-703-0691
Email: ithesiren@hotmail.com

PLEASE RSVP! Either at the FaceBook page, by phone or by e-mail. You can text me too.

We can have up to 35 people march in the parade, if you're interested in marching please RSVP and I will send you more details.

You must be there no later than 6pm!

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=90647344382

Right now we've only got Three People.

Obama blocks list of visitors to White House
Taking Bush's position, administration denies msnbc.com request for logs

By Bill Dedman
Investigative reporter
msnbc.com
updated 1 hour, 43 minutes ago

The Obama administration is fighting to block access to names of visitors to the White House, taking up the Bush administration argument that a president doesn't have to reveal who comes calling to influence policy decisions.

Despite President Barack Obama's pledge to introduce a new era of transparency to Washington, and despite two rulings by a federal judge that the records are public, the Secret Service has denied msnbc.com's request for the names of all White House visitors from Jan. 20 to the present. It also denied a narrower request by the nonpartisan watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, which sought logs of visits by executives of coal companies.

Updated: CREW says it filed suit Tuesday against the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Secret Service.

"We are deeply disappointed," said CREW attorney Anne L. Weismann, "that the Obama administration is following the same anti-transparency policy as the Bush administration when it comes to White House visitor records. Refusing to let the public know who visits the White House is not the action of a pro-transparency, pro-accountability administration."

Groups that advocate open government have argued that it's vital to know the names of White House visitors, who may have an outsized influence on policy matters.

The visitor logs have been released in only a few isolated cases, most notably records of visits by lobbyist Jack Abramoff to the Bush White House, and in the "filegate" investigation of the Clinton White House. Only the Bush and Obama administrations are known to have made an argument in court that the visitor logs should be private.

The rest of the story here: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31373407/ns/politics-white_house

The Obama administration, which came to office promising to protect gay rights but so far has not done much, actually struck a blow for the other side last week. It submitted a disturbing brief in support of the Defense of Marriage Act, which is the law that protects the right of states to not recognize same-sex marriages and denies same-sex married couples federal benefits. The administration needs a new direction on gay rights.

A gay couple married under California law is challenging the act in federal court. In its brief, the Justice Department argues that the couple lack legal standing to do so. It goes on to contend that even if they have standing, the case should be dismissed on the merits.

The brief insists it is reasonable for states to favor heterosexual marriages because they are the “traditional and universally recognized form of marriage.” In arguing that other states do not have to recognize same-sex marriages under the Constitution’s “full faith and credit” clause, the Justice Department cites decades-old cases ruling that states do not have to recognize marriages between cousins or an uncle and a niece.

These are comparisons that understandably rankle many gay people. In a letter to President Obama on Monday, Joe Solmonese, president of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay rights organization, said, “I cannot overstate the pain that we feel as human beings and as families when we read an argument, presented in federal court, implying that our own marriages have no more constitutional standing than incestuous ones.”

The brief also maintains that the Defense of Marriage Act represents a “cautious policy of federal neutrality” — an odd assertion since the law clearly discriminates against gay couples. Under the act, same-sex married couples who pay their taxes are ineligible for the sort of federal benefits — such as Social Security survivors’ payments and joint tax returns — that heterosexual married couples receive.

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Also, this is on the heels of:

Gay Bias Killings In US Highest Since 1999: Advocacy Group

NEW YORK — The number of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people killed in bias-motivated incidents increased by 28 percent in 2008 compared to a year ago, according to a national coalition of advocacy groups.

Last year's 29 killings was the highest recorded by the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs since 1999, when it documented the same number of slayings, according to a report released Tuesday by the coalition.

"What we're also seeing, more disturbingly, is the increase in the severity of violence," said Sharon Stapel, executive director of the New York City Anti-Violence Project, which coordinates coalition.

Stapel theorized that at least some of last year's violence was backlash against issues that arose during the during the presidential campaign. She cited debates about same-sex marriage, the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, and federal legislation that would ban employment discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity as possible flash points.

"The more visibility there is the more likely we're going to see backlash, and that's exactly what we see here," Stapel said.

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I am sure that anyone who has ready anything at all that I've ever written on the interweb knows that my "thing"--my "bailiwick"--my "soap box" issue--almost always have to deal with GLTBQI rights & Religion & quite often both at the same time, but listening so much lately as the politicians of every stripe who will have a hand, one way or another, in determining how we make health care more affordable & more accessible to ALL Americans, I can't help but think that all these talking heads from all walks of life & all kinds of ideas about how to fix this mess ALREADY HAVE HEALTH CARE.

I know that a huge issue like universal health care needs to be carefully thought out & put together in some sort of sensible way, but I wonder sometimes how pressing an issue it is on a day-to-day basis if you & your family already have the health care that over 50 million of our fellow citizens can't afford and don't have access to.

I'm pretty sure that most of these folks certainly don't have to hope & pray that neither they nor anyone the love or care about gets hurt or sick until the government decides to the right thing.

That thought just hit me today. Some of them want to argue & complain & call it "socialized medicine", but--at the end of the day--they & their families can go to their doctor if they get sick or hurt & they can have their prescriptions filled without giving it a second thought.

It's easy to argue technicalities & feel as if there is no need to rush into anything right now when you got yours.

Some of us, though, must keep on waiting...and hoping & praying that we won't need to use the benefits that we don't have anyway.

To me, that's just sad & it's wrong.

I'm no expert on anything & I will tell you that I do not have the answer to this huge problem, but I do know that the answer most certainly is NOT more of the same.

It's what got us in this mess in the first place.

That's my story & I'm stickin' to it!

Clarence

8:05 PM ET -- The students' plea to Obama: don't accept these results. I've tried really hard while live-blogging not to post huge blocks of text, I know they can get tedious. But I had to put something up about the interview that aired just now on CNN with one of the network's Tehran-based journalists Samson Desta (I'll replace with video as soon as they post it).

Before I get to what he said, a quick note of thanks to the brave journalists like Desta who are still in the streets trying to get information to us. We've reported on more journalist beatings over the last two days than I can remember, and one camera technician for a German news station has gone completely missing. So thank you.

Now, onto the substance. Desta offered some detailed first-hand insight into the brutal, indiscriminate violence taking place on the ground in Iran. In the section below, he describes the scene at the protests he went to AFTER he had already been personally beaten by police earlier in the day...

Next, Desta was asked whether he believed, in the face of such violence, the students and reformists would continue demonstrating. His answer was notable:

Well, you know, these people we saw today were very, very passionate about being heard. They wanted to make sure their votes were counted. They wanted to make sure their voices were being heard, and that's what they were telling me throughout the day. They kept saying we want change, and because of that, we voted for Mousavi. We did not vote for Ahmadinejad, and they do believe that they have cheated, and a number of them said to me, look, you know, they may quell the protests today but we will be back and we will fight for our votes. This is what I've been hearing today.

Finally, I want to highlight this point made by Desta, which I think is distinct from the debate over whether the Obama administration should be more vocal right now. According to Desta, the plea from students to President Obama was simple: do not accept the results of the election.

Just one additional thing, this is very interesting. A number of students came up to me today and said that they want to appeal to President Obama. They said, 'is he going to accept this result? Because if he does, then we are doomed.' So I heard a lot about appeals to Obama and the international community today from university students.

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A senior Obama administration official who did not want to be identified or quoted explained that the president was deeply conscious of appearing not to favor any side in the election. Officials had ruled out calling for a recount or a revote out of a concern for undermining the Iranian opposition. The official said it was important to have a policy toward Iran that advanced the administration's desire for liberalization and human rights in Iran, not one that merely vented American outrage at Ahmadinejad.


If and when Obama speaks about the violence in Iran over the coming days, the official predicted, he will emphasize the need for respecting human rights in Iran and for Iranians to reach their own solution. Potential multilateral efforts at calling attention to electoral improprieties and the resulting violence were said to be on the radar of U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice. No administration official mentioned recognizing the legitimacy of Ahmadinejad's proclaimed victory at this point as a policy option under consideration, in keeping with Biden's call for further "analysis" about the true election result, despite the fact that the European Union's presidency, currently held by the Czech Republic, recognized Ahmadinejad as the victor despite noting "irregularities" in the vote.

Howard Dean is leading a fight to pressure congress to keep the public option in the health care bill they create and vote on. Through his organization, DFA (Democracy for America), he's trying to get public support either through monetary donations or signing an online petition or both. DFA is hoping to get 500,000 signatures to send to congress.

If you would like to sign or donate go to this website: http://standwithdrdean.com/

Thanks.

Small group protests defense secretary's address to UW grads

Story Published: Jun 13, 2009 at 5:04 PM PDT

Story Updated: Jun 13, 2009 at 5:19 PM PDT
By Ray Lane

SEATTLE -- The Pentagon's top man had top billing at Saturday afternoon's graduation ceremonies at the University of Washington.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates delivered the commencement address, and not everyone was thrilled about it.

Gates delivered a well-received speech, with a little humor thrown in, but there were protesters who tried their best to shine a negative spotlight on his appearance here.

In the middle of the UW campus -- debate and protest -- not only about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but specifically about the man in charge of leading those wars.

A small, vocal group that targeted Gates, calling him the "architect of murder."

"As a UW graduating senior, Robert Gates does not represent what this university should be and can be," said student Shemon Salam. "In fact, he represents the worst of our society."

For the thousands of students, their families and friends who filed into Husky Stadium, many of them did not appreciate the ruckus, or simply ignored it.

"I think it's disrespectful for the whole event," said parent Kim Blane. "That's not what we're here for. We're here about the graduates and how hard they've worked and to with them well going into the future."

Rest of story here: http://www.komonews.com/news/local/48007052.html

---

"architect of murder"? I was kinda surprised about the ruckus over Secretary Gates coming to Seattle...I've always thought he was pretty reasonable actually and he came pretty late after all the damage Donald Rumsfeld had caused. If it were Rumsfeld himself, then i'd definitely understand the uproar. I wonder if these same people have this much anger toward Obama over keeping him in the position of Sec. of Defense.

I know this may be technically off-subject, but since we have a President now who actually BELIEVES in science, I thought it might be a fun distraction.

I personally got a mini-science lesson AND A SMILE out of this. For me, that's a rarity...

:-)

Never underestimate the power of a woman or the influence of the media. In Tehran, the local press has already dubbed Zahra Rahnavard "the Iranian Michelle Obama." Rahnavard, a 64-year-old political scientist and sculptress who heads a university, has made an impact on Iranian politics. If Iran finally opens up to the world and buries the axe with America, she may even deserve some of the credit.

Rahnavard is not running for office in Iran's presidential election. The clerics who screen potential candidates have eliminated all women. But she is nevertheless one of the most powerful campaigners in this important election and the most valuable asset of the leading opposition candidate, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who is her husband.

In a country where the wives of politicians are traditionally invisible, she is seen everywhere at her husband's side, often addressing campaign rallies herself. At a recent meeting in Tehran she told the crowd, "We must change the laws that do not give women equal treatment." The audience, many of them young women, chanted "Rahnavard, Rahnavard! Equality between men and women!"

Women were at the forefront of the Islamic Revolution that toppled the Shah of Iran in 1979. They voluntarily put on the head scarves and all-enveloping black chadors as a symbol of opposition to the old regime. Now, three decades later, young women pull back their scarves and, like Rahnavard, use cosmetics and bright colored materials. She has won over women and young people by denouncing the police campaigns against "immodestly" dressed women and the arrests of feminist campaigners under the current administration of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is better known in the West as a serial holocaust denier.

Her husband, who is also an accomplished artist as well as an architect, was an early revolutionary who became prime minister during the 1980-88 war between Iran and Iraq and has now mellowed into pragmatism. Like his wife, Mousavi seeks to reconcile the values of the Islamic Revolution with openness to the modern world. He favors dialogue with the Obama administration and negotiations over Iran's nuclear program.

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WASHINGTON — The Senate struck a historic blow against smoking in America Thursday, voting overwhelmingly to give regulators new power to limit nicotine in the cigarettes that kill nearly a half-million people a year, to drastically curtail ads that glorify tobacco and to ban flavored products aimed at spreading the habit to young people.

President Barack Obama, who has spoken of his own struggle to quit smoking, said he was eager to sign the legislation, and the House planned a vote for Friday. Cigarette foes said the measure would not only cut deaths but reduce the $100 billion in annual health care costs linked to tobacco.

Fierce opposition by the industry and tobacco-state lawmakers had prevented passage for years, along with veto threats by the George W. Bush White House. In the end, the nation's biggest tobacco company supported the measure, though rivals suggested that was because it could lock in Philip Morris' share of the market.

Cigarette smoking kills about 400,000 people in the United States every year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 45 million U.S. adults are smokers, though the prevalence has fallen since the U.S. surgeon general's warning 45 years ago that tobacco causes lung cancer.

The legislation, one of the most dramatic anti-smoking initiatives since the surgeon general's report, would give the Food and Drug Administration authority to regulate the content, marketing and advertising of cigarettes and other tobacco products.

"This legislation represents the strongest action Congress has ever taken to reduce tobacco use, the leading preventable cause of death in the United States," declared Matthew Myers, president of Campaign for Tobacco-free Kids.

The 79-17 Senate vote sent the measure back to the House, which in April passed a similar but not identical version. House acceptance of the Senate bill would send it directly to Obama, who said Thursday that final passage "will make history by giving the scientists and medical experts at the FDA the power to take sensible steps."

"At any given moment, millions are struggling with their habit or worrying about loved ones who smoke," said Obama.

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At the bustling Pi pizza restaurant in St. Louis, the staff has come up with a new mantra: "It's just pizza!"

Just pizza, and yet still, they marvel, customers are happy to wait well upward of two hours at peak time for a table. That is, ever since news came out that Barack Obama loved this pizza so much during a campaign stop, the owners were invited to recreate it in the White House ovens.

"We tell them it'll be two to four hours, and they say, OK!" says owner Chris Sommers, who traveled on his own dime to prepare the presidential meal in April. "This has been our own private stimulus package."

Pizza from St. Louis, pancakes from Pittsburgh. A juicy burger or a chili half-smoke in D.C., soul food in Chicago. Our new president eats something and the world wants to eat it, too. We've always cared about the words that emerge from a president's lips, but has there ever been such attention to the food that enters them?

"Well, White House cookbooks have always been popular — but no, there's never been this flood of interest before," says Eddie Gehman Kohan, editor of the "Obama Foodorama" blog (subject matter self-explanatory.) She sees a fusion of two potent forces: An escalating interest in food and food policy, and enormous curiosity in anything Obama.

And all this interest may have even more to do with Michelle than Barack. Some polls have shown the first lady is even more popular than her husband, and for all the focus on her fashions and her biceps, she's made food a prime area of interest — especially with her new White House kitchen garden.

"She's brought new and much needed attention to critical food issues," says Kohan. "She's also really raised awareness by describing her family's own journey through bad food habits and into a healthier lifestyle."

Indeed, foodies have no doubt that it was Michelle who chose Blue Hill, a pricey but understated New York restaurant that champions locally grown produce, for the couple's much-discussed "Date Night" at the end of May.

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