(The song is ‘Half Light’ by Athlete)
Archive for May 17th, 2011
I had no intention at all of even mentioning today’s vile interview with the hideous Cornel West (if you want to read it, it’s here), but Dorothy just sent me a link to this great response (thanks, too, to Claire):
Melissa Harris-Perry (The Nation): Professor Cornel West is President Obama’s silenced, disregarded, disrespected moral conscience, according to Chris Hedges’s recent column, “The Obama Deception: Why Cornel West went Ballistic.” In a self-aggrandizing, victimology sermon deceptively wrapped in the discourse of prophetic witness, Professor West offers thin criticism of President Obama and stunning insight into the delicate ego of the self-appointed black leadership class that has been largely supplanted in recent years.
West begins with a bit of historical revision. West suggests that the President discarded him without provocation after he offered the Obama for America campaign his loyal service and prayers. But anyone with a casual knowledge of this rift knows it began during the Democratic primary not after the election. It began, not with a puffed up President, but when Cornel West’s “dear brother” Tavis Smiley threw a public tantrum because Senator Obama refused to attend Smiley’s annual State of Black America.
Smiley repeatedly suggested that his forum was the necessary black vetting space for the Democratic nominees. He needed to ask Obama and Clinton tough questions so that black America could get the answers it needed. But black America was doing a fine job making up its own mind in the primaries and didn’t need Smiley’s blessing to determine their own electoral preferences.
Indeed, when Smiley got a chance to hold candidate Clinton “accountable” he spent more time fawning over her than probing about her symbolic or substantive policy stances that impacted black communities. Fiercely loyal to his friend, Professor West chose sides and began to undermine candidate Obama is small and large ways. Candidate Obama ceased calling West back because he was in the middle of a fierce campaign and West’s loyalties were, at best, divided. I suspect candidate Obama did not trust his “dear brother” to keep the campaign secrets and strategies. I also suspect he was not inaccurate in his hesitancy……
Read the full post here
17
May
11
yikes … newt gets glitterized
Meanwhile….
….and:
17
May
11
gremlins update
Thanks to everyone who let me know in the post earlier today (and those who emailed me) if they’d been having problems viewing the site – unfortunately, lots of you have 😦
Because I haven’t made any changes to the lay-out of the site for months I’m mystified by the problem, and I’m not well up enough on these things to figure it out.
It does, though, seem to be a browser issue, although it’s not just an Internet Explorer problem, as I assumed before. WordPress recommends using Firefox, because it’s always having problems with IE, but a few Firefox users are having trouble with the site too. A few of you have also suggested it could be down to issues with anti-virus programs.
I’ve contacted WordPress support to ask for help fixing the problem, so hopefully I’ll hear back from them soon. Thanks for your patience, hang in there!
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The endlessly wise and very, very lovely Bobfr just left this comment/tip:
At the time I was having difficulty with Firefox I switched to Apache and found everything ok. I then exited Firefox, after clearing the cache and browser history, returned, and all was well. So, I do not think it has anything to do with how you have the site configured, Chipsticks, and may have nothing to do with WordPress servers. It’s likely browser issues and when folk have difficulty the first thing they should do is halt and reload their browser application, clear the cache, and then connect to your site.
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Just to let you know, I’m using Firefox version 4.0.1 and Safari version 5.0.5 and I’m having no problems – but I have no clue if that’s useful information!
17
May
11
pure poetry!
The Carlow Nationalist: The imminent arrival of US president Barack Obama has prompted 96-year-old PJ Furey to let his creative juices flow ….he has written a poem in tribute to the US president, honouring his historic visit to Ireland…
Arise you friendly Irish folk, And give a rousing cheer,
For the President of America, And his wife are coming here.
They arrive in Dublin City, On the twenty-third of May,
And thousands will be greeting them, On this historic day.
Then Barack gives a timely speech, And clearly lets us see,
He is the man for creed and clan, For peace and liberty.
And so to Offaly they go, To give a special call,
To visit their ancestor’s place, In dear old Moneygall.
And the people of the village, So faithful and so true,
Will proudly greet them when they call, With a Céad Míle Fáilte too.
They will thank the noble couple, And their good friends one and all,
And wish everyone fond memories, Of their time in Moneygall.
Now young and old in Erin’s isle, Wish Barack and Michelle,
Success in all they undertake, And a very long life as well!
😉
17
May
11
dumb and dumber
Greg Sargent: Takedown of the day: McCain aide Mark Salter, on Rick Santorum’s claim that McCain doesn’t know jack about torture:
“Ron Paul may be the wackiest candidate in the GOP field. But for pure, blind stupidity nobody beats Santorum. In my 20 years in the Senate, I never met a dumber member, which he reminded me of today.”
17
May
11
begich, landrieu, nelson
Greg Sargent: Moments ago, the Dem bid in the Senate to end tax breaks for Big Oil fell short of the 60 need votes, 52-48. The only two Republicans who voted Yes: Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe.
The Dems who opposed it: Mark Begich, Mary Landrieu, and Ben Nelson.
Meanwhile, Senate Dems are circulating video of all the Senate Republicans who once supported ending them:
17
May
11
random round-up
President Barack Obama meets with King Abdullah of Jordan in the Oval Office, May 17, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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Thanks Team Obama
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Completely random old video:
Japan, November, 2010
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Completely random old pic:
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More randomness:
November, 2005
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And from Donna:
😯
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Video Queen Donna is on a roll!
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Hey, I’m just in a random mood 😕
17
May
11
all together now….
President Obama arrives to speak at a reception in honor of Jewish American Heritage Month at the White House, May 17
The Obama Diary 
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