I’m thinking he will be doing private meetings. Surely there hasn’t been enough time for an official memorial like at Tuscon right? I think it took at least a week before they did one. I’m just guessing though that they will try to have an official one before opening ceremony at Olympics.
I think the privacy is more appropriate, and deeply more supportive. People get so excited around our PBO, this is not about him, it is completely in honor of the families and the slain. God Bless Him.
I agree. It would have been all about him and not the families.
He spoke at the AZ service last year because a member of his political party whom he personally knew was severely injured. Ditto for Senator Ted Kennedy’s memorial.
So now Mark Halperin is concern trolling about the effectiveness of television ads. I am glad to see this. That confirms the President’s ads are working big time, if Halperin is suddenly concerned about whether TV ads work or not.
Nope, nope, sorry Halperin … in a couple of days we go back to asking about those tax returns, that timeline on Bain, the lies to the SEC or to the people of Massachusetts … and we run the ads too. Full press. Forward!
The media and the GOP resent Democrats who fight well and win.
I do not recall much media concern while John Kerry was being swiftboated or when Al Gore was being defined by his opponent or when Shirley Sherrod was being Breitbarted.
Ever since Mitt became the media’s and the GOP’s nominee, they’ve given greater scrutiny to the Bain claims, than they did to the WMD claims that led us to an illegal war against a sovereign country.
Ditto. They do seem that have issues now that the president is fighting back. All was well when Romney lied and spewed constant negative attacks against the president which by the way he continues to do. I’m struck that they don’t seem to take issue with the Romney lies..
Ever since President Obama has taken office, the GOP has created their own version of American history,
and people have started believing them. Well, we remember how it really was under Republican leadership.
Join this campaign, and remind the world how much better we have it now.
A new Senate GOP tax plan released by McConnell and Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch (R), however, raises taxes on nearly 10 times as many Americans by allowing certain tax breaks signed into law by President Obama expire at the end of the year. Putting an end to those three tax breaks — the Child Tax Credit, a tax break on college tuition, and a more generous Earned Income Tax Credit — would raise taxes on 20 million families…
Good afternoon everyone. It is my birthday today, and my wonderful husband bought me an IPAD!!! So I am using it now and loving it! I hope you all have a great day. My hubby is going to make me a steak (filet mignon) dinner, with a carrot cake foe dessert and so
My first glitch, and some bubbly to drink. My prayers go out to the families in CO, and I hope President Obama will help them by just being there for them.
Happy Birthday to you, and welcome to the wonderful world of predictive text spelling entertainment! My entire first reply has been lost, or shown up somewhere else.. I said your husband is a KEEPER! How fun!
It it tremendous fun, stupid, too! But, hey, man against machine. Or whatever! I would be lost without my iPad now, it has changed my life for the simpler! Hauling around my MacBook is a distant memory now, and fading fast!
If you only knew what set up I had before, you’d know how happy I am. My husband is such a great guy and I am so glad to have this IPAD, kinks and all.
Happy Birthday, Betsy. Sounds like you’re having a wonderful day–great present, terrific dinner and a thoughtful husband. Who could ask for anythingmore.
Happy Birthday, Betsy:) What a nice gift you got! Now you too can have the angst of the IPad troubles when the comments get too long here! enjoy your special day, and your nice dinner…..
That he is. He’d told me 2 weeks ago that he didn’t think we could afford it, so I would probably have to wait until Christmas, so it was a complete surprise. Lots of tears and hugs later……
I wonder if there is hope on the horizon for Yahoo! headlines now that Marissa Mayer is the new head of Yahoo!.
“A quick search of OpenSecrets.org shows that Mayer has given in excess of $42,000 to such recipients as Barack Obama, the Democratic National Committee, and Maine Senator Olympia Snowe.”
Oh! I hope you are right. Those headlines are bad enough but what I would really like is for them to clean up the comments. Yahoo comments are some of the most vile I see on the internet and so many people have their email on Yahoo. I must admit this is one of the things I fret about because so many people who are not interested in politics or news use Yahoo. I do hope she makes some changes.
(VIDEO) Mitt Romney’s Olympics Bailed Out by Tax Payers
By Heather
———————————-
We’ve seen the Obama campaign going after Mitt Romney for his time at Bain Capital. I think with the Olympics approaching we’re about to hear more about this story from them very soon. From Up With Chris Hayes: Mitt Romney and federal money for the Olympics:
Up host Chris Hayes and his guests talk to former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson about the federal assistance Mitt Romney sought as head of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.
.
.
As they noted, there are more questions which might be answered by Mitt Romney releasing his tax returns, which it seems more obvious day by day that he is never going to release. Romney seems to love that government “free stuff” when it benefits himself and his business buddies, but not so much for the working class and the poor.
I hope the Sports Illustrated article, “Snow Job,” figures prominently in de-mythologizing Mitt as “savior” of the Olympics. He didn’t save the Olympics. Taxypayers did.
From the article:
“Mitt Romney, SLOC’s president, has acknowledged the U.S. government’s contribution by saying, “We couldn’t have done it without them.”
Can’t help but wonder if there was a bit of pocketing of said ‘federal funds’, perhaps even off shored into someone’s private accounts.. Wouldn’t that be classy?
If I’m not mistaken it’s ‘DM’ as in direct message. Eve in G, When you go to your twitter page there is a head profile to the upper right. If you click on this downward arrow to the immediate right of this ‘head’ a drop down box will appear and at the top of the box you will see ‘Direct Messages’. Click on direct messages and you will get another drop down with ‘NEW MESSAGE’ in the upper right. Click ‘new message’ and you’ll be able to send Christi a direct message that no one else will see (assuming that Christi is following you on Twitter). Type her twitter name in the upper space and your message in the appropriate box.
ps. Bobfr, explained a simpler way to send a DM once before , but I can’t remember the steps. This way works easily enough once you know the steps. 😉
I wonder if all those people cheering for Paterno that night now think like this:
The sins of the father
Updated: July 13, 2012, 6:56 PM ET
By Rick Reilly | ESPN.com
“What a stooge I was.
I talked about Paterno’s “true legacy” in all of this. Here’s his true legacy: Paterno let a child molester go when he could’ve stopped him. He let him go and then lied to cover his sinister tracks. He let a rapist go to save his own recruiting successes and fundraising pitches and big-fish-small-pond hide.”
……….
“What a sap I was.
I hope Penn State loses civil suits until the walls of the accounting office cave in. I hope that Spanier, Schultz and Curley go to prison for perjury. I hope the NCAA gives Penn State the death penalty it most richly deserves. The worst scandal in college football history deserves the worst penalty the NCAA can give. They gave it to SMU for winning without regard for morals. They should give it to Penn State for the same thing. The only difference is, at Penn State they didn’t pay for it with Corvettes. They paid for it with lives.”
……..
“What a chump I was.
I tweeted that, yes, Paterno should be fired, but that he was, overall, “a good and decent man.” I was wrong. Good and decent men don’t do what Paterno did. Good and decent men protect kids, not rapists. And to think Paterno comes from “father” in Italian.
This throws a can of black paint on anything anybody tells me about Paterno from here on in. “No NCAA violations in all those years.” I believe it. He was great at hiding stuff. “He gave $4 million to the library.” In exchange for what? “He cared about kids away from the football field.” No, he didn’t. Not all of them. Not when it really mattered.”
Trying to tie contemporary questions about Romney’s Bain past with an infamous GOP smear campaign is an exercise in false equivalency. “The Swift Boat campaign was completely a lie,” Esquires’ Charles Pierce recently reminded readers. “Nothing the Swifties said about John Kerry was true.” And yet, despite the cavernous gap between the Swift Boat affair and the ongoing Bain story, the comparison continues to gain currency.
.
.
Let’s stipulate this fact going forward: A candidate having his résumé or biography examined during the course of a presidential campaign does not constitute being “swift boated.” Enthusiastic “vetting” of candidates’ backgrounds is a routine aspect of general elections.
The distinguishing feature of a Swift Boat smear campaign, of course, was that virtually every single war-era allegation made against Kerry’s military service proved to be false, leaving the assumption that the entire point of the coordinated, deep-pocketed attack was to purposefully spread as manly lies as possible. And not just small fibs, but truly unconscionable lies about a serviceman’s record during the unpopular Vietnam War.
That’s what being Swift Boated is about. Prior to 2004, modern campaigns had never seen anything like it. And in the two White House campaigns that have unfolded since, nothing has approached the radical brand of prevarication that epitomized the lowly Republican attacks on Kerry.
THis is Brilliant..thx Ladyhawke! Yes..Let’s DO Stipulate that. This NEEDS to be Sent to Toad and Rather!
This is just what Christi was talking about.
This is So TRUE! “That’s what being Swift Boated is about. Prior to 2004, modern campaigns had never seen anything like it. And in the two White House campaigns that have unfolded since, nothing has approached the radical brand of prevarication that epitomized the lowly Republican attacks on Kerry.”
And, now the goprickpundits are sniveling about PObama and his Tough Style Campaign Reveling FACTS about willard and trying to whine that it’s “swiftboating”. Bullshite.
not surprising at all though. The NRA are not really about guns at all, they are of the extreme right and use things like guns to put fear into people for political reasons. They are a terrorist organization.
NRA sends Democrats a message over Holder contempt vote
By Allison Brennan, CNN
——————————————————–
Washington (CNN) — When the National Rifle Association decided to keep track of those House members on both sides of the aisle who voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress last week, it was also sending a message to a number of embattled Democratic congressmen seeking re-election in conservative districts in the fall.
The message: Vote right, or we’ll let your constituents know.
Though some Democrats say the NRA did little to influence their vote, for a handful of those in the House, the message may have been received loud and clear, experts say.
A CNN analysis showed that of the 21 Democrats who voted to hold Holder in civil contempt of Congress last week over documents relating to Operation Fast and Furious, 19 received campaign contributions from the NRA during the last two election cycles.
The most disgusting thing I saw were all those students calling for Paterno and critizing those brave kids that came forward. Now that they know the facts, they are singing a different story. I was deeply disappointed with Franco Harris and other alumni who vouched for Paterno.
He can just sthu as far as I’m concerned….he said that Romney’s position , well reverse position, is the only thing holding him back about supporting him.
Yea nothing else.
The President would sign a bill in a heart beat and he knows it……and he knows the deluge of negative ads in swing states by the NRA if he ever take on this issue NOW with the crazies in Congress, something that has ZERO chance to pass.
Who cares what this man thinks. He will not influence a single vote in New York City. Let him run for a fourth term as a right winger who supported Romney and see how far that gets him in New York.
They are very strict in New York. Plaxcio Burress, the New York Giants receiver, served 20 months in jail for shooting himself in the leg with his own gun in a New York nightclub.
If you don’t believe gun laws are strict in New York City google, “Are gun laws strict in New Yprk City?”. Mayor Bloomberg talks about guns everytime he has an opportunity. I am not defending New York City or Mayor Bloomberg but simply stating a well known fact.
If there are strict gun laws in NY city, it certainly isn’t thanks to the self-serving opportunist Michael Bloomberg…
Here’s a guy who’s done practically nothing positive or extraordinary for the city – except of course using his massive wealth to change the rules of the game to suit his particular purposes to run for a previously non-existent 3rd term as mayor…
This same guy wants us to believe that his infinitely less than stellar 3 term run as mayor of a city somehow qualifies him to critique the hardest working President – while doling out orders and instructions which Bloomberg incidentally couldn’t even pull off on the smallest of scales…
The arrogant grandstanding by the perpetually deluded and self-aggrandizing Michael Bloomberg continues to expose him for the sad, envious, entitled, hollow shit shell he really is…
President Obama’s ascension to the highest office in the land has left many of the previously self-appointed king makers in America’s privileged class completely unhinged…
And the masks and hoods have all come off, as have the claws and daggers…
Michael Bloomberg can be counted on to occasionally indulge and humor his dear black convenient friend Russell Simmons…
But Michael Bloomberg will certainly not abide the incredibly dignified, brilliant, focused, hard working, efficient, extraordinary and all around amazing man who currently occupies the White House…
President Obama can’t possibly help Michael Bloomberg, Donald Trump etc. get over their badly bruised egos and the obvious trauma that comes from having ones world turned upside down…
…when ones sense of the way things ought to be…the ‘right order’ of things is suddenly thrown off…
And the entitled folks like Bloomberg shockingly find themselves on the outside looking in as the smart, cool, evolved President who happens to be of color and not from the inner circle, presides…
There is a lot of money to be made by whatever psychiatrist who can devise a successful treatment program to help with the various forms of Obama Derangement Syndrome…
Bearing in mind however that the particular type that afflicts the Bloomberg’s, Trump’s etc. is an entirely different strain from that which afflicts the pedestrian tea party types like Sarah Palin, Jan Brewer and the illiterate voters in West Virginia, Alabama etc…
The Bloomberg strain is fed and aggravated by rare, rich foods…
Actually, you’re wrong. Bloomberg has done something about gun laws in NY. NY has very very very strict gun laws. They have a program where a lot of people have surrendered their illegally bought guns with no recriminations or arrests. If you bring a gun into NY and don’t follow the very very very strict guidelines; you get arrested, you get thrown in jail, it may show up on your permanent record, and you face a huge fine or you face a trial. This has happened to a lot of people who are gun owners from states with very lax gun laws who don’t take the time to study the gun laws in New York.
That’s not the point. The point is that your premise about Bloomberg was factually incorrect. You and I might not like Bloomberg’s style, but that does not give you license to ascribe wrong assumptions and insinuations about him.
The underlying point is that gun laws are strict in NY. Very strict. That’s a fact.
If it’s the only thing holding him back for supporting Romney, it doesn’t make any sense …So, ban on certain weapons, but no healthcare for millions, privatized Medicaire, tax increase on the poor and middle class……how’s that going to help the millions who will have access to healthcare who have mental issues and who finally will be able to be treated?…it’s not only a question of banning some weapons, it’s a question of helping people with mental issues BEFORE they do something crazy.
And losing your job or tax increase on people who are already struggling can cause a lot of stress, doesn’t help.
That’s Romney’s policies…..so he has no credibility with me if it’s the only thing holding him for supporting the sociopath.
Michael Bloomberg has been doing this dubious song and dance for far too long…
If he actually declared that the gun matter is the only thing holding back his support of Mitt Romney, then Michael Bloomberg has essentially endorsed Romney…
But that should come as no surprise really…
People like Bloomberg never really embraced or supported President Obama…
Michael Bloomberg has always really been about Michael Bloomberg and anything that advances Michael Bloomberg’s personal and political ambitions…
He’s always been a bit careful however not to completely alienate some of the electoral bases he happens to share with President Obama…
But he has never hesitated to pounce every time he senses an opening to attack or express his disdain for President Obama…
President Obama reached out to Michael Bloomberg very early on, and if Bloomberg was an honest broker, well-intentioned or a patriot with integrity, he had so many opportunities to work informally or formally with President Obama…
But Michael Bloomberg has no real interest in re-building or advancing the best of all for America…
He just wants to be president himself but has yet to find a clear path to achieving that in spite of all of his wealth…
Like so many entitled, self -important types, Bloomberg envies and disdains President Obama’s seeming ease with attracting love and support from a diverse and international electorate…
Worse still, President Obama refuses to indulge the Michael Bloomberg’s of the world…
He will reach out, but won’t kiss up or cede control and oversight…
The problem I have with Bloomberg’s approach is that he’s trying to equate PBO and Romney in his “calls” for them to both make statements about their gun policies – knowing fully well that PBO is for stricter gun regulation, whereas Romney (and Mormon Church) is in bed with the NRA. Furthermore, Bloomberg has enough money to be able to offset whatever lobbying the NRA is doing in congress, so why doesn’t he lobby congress the other way if he’s genuinely interested? He could openly throw his support being PBO, and put his money where his mouth is to push PBO to enact tighter regulations. Why is he just sitting on his cash on the sidelines and hurling criticisms?
Both Gun laws an the Person should be looked at, when dividing a legislative bill for gun laws.
The NRA does not help and Bloomberg just jumps on this, as if he is waiting for something like this to happen, all canned responses, ready to go!
Hi’ Chips, please go to White House.Gov. and post that sweet picture of the PBO and little boy. Everyone please go to that site and look at that picture of the little boy who leaned over to kiss PBO,
At least a few more people are writing about what a liar Romney is. Hope it gets to the TV pundits next- but not holding my breath.
We need to spread it far and wide.
“Throughout the election cycle, liberals have been shocked at just how “shameless,” as Kevin Drum put it this week, Mitt Romney’s campaign has been. It’s not just that Romney lies; it’s the quality of the lies, the indifference to any fact-checking, the insistence on continuing to use a lie long after it’s been definitively debunked.
I have a name for it, and an explanation. Call it lazy mendacity.”
Westboro Baptist Church Threatens To ‘Super Picket’ Aurora Prayer Vigil For Batman Shooting Victims
Phelps tweet …….
Hi ho Hi ho, to Colorado we go! #godsenttheshooter! #americaisdoomed! #godisyourenemy! #godkillingyoursoldiers! examiner.com/article/westbo…
22 Jul 12
Almost immediately, members of the community launched a campaign on Reddit and Facebook to form a “wall of love” around the memorial service to block the group from getting close.
A few moments ago, My black Lab was going in and out of the Brush, like I had never seen before. This went on for ten minutes, all of a sudden, 3 Rabbits come scurrying out. She caught the Fourth one, but I forced Her to let it go. She had so much fun, I almost felt like joining Her…
My Dog is Cool!
I know that many posters here complain about the media. Part of our problem is our expectation that media personalities actually have anything beyond self self-interest. They are 1 per centers by income and values and have no integrity. They have always, and will continue to act to protect their class and self interest in ways that deceive the public. Best thing to do is not watch them and stop tormenting yourself. Instead frequent those few online outlets that actually do real journalism. I believe that Mother Jones is one such outlet. Most of my daily news I get through Twitter and links on Twitter as well as those few blog sites that have information I am seeking, such as The People’s View and this site, the occasional column on WaPo or other print media.
“Best thing to do is not watch them and stop tormenting yourself”
With all due respect Bill, I don’t think that is the most responsible thing to do – particularly in an election year, when we KNOW that the media has a vested interest in the outcome of this crucial Presidential election. We need to be fully aware of the distortions and deliberate misinformation disseminated in the media in order to be able to mount swift and aggressive push-back and corrections.
Hello ToD family. I hope all is well with everyone on this blessed Sunday. I have been spending the last few days praying and relaxing. I had to make a very difficult decision and execute it. I have had to place my Mom in a seniors’ home as I can no longer give her the care that she needs. While she never really said much, the house seems so quiet. Cleaning is my therapy so I have been doing a lot of that too.
I am so sorry to hear about the Colorado event and I have kept those families in my prayers. This, at times, can be such a cruel world but there is a silver lining behind every cloud.
Best wishes. I put my mother in an Alzheimer’s Care Center two years. Ago. Today her disease has progressed but she is very happy and tranquil, secure with her skilled caregivers and enjoying the social life and activities of the center.
What a difficult decision you have made. That may be one of the hardest decisions people ever have to make. I’ll pray that she will get the care she needs. You will probably have a very clean house for quite a while, if cleaning is your therapy.
Old age is mean. We visited a dear friend today who had a heart attack in February and last Sunday had a stroke. He is my husband’s age. He will be in therapy for quite a while. We spoke about getting older, and agreed that we don’t like it.
Take good care of yourself. We will all be thinking about you.
trinisamba, sending prayerful thoughts for strength and peace. Is that not one of the hardest things to decide? Next to deciding on the right schools for our children (childcare was a breeze … my mother was living and was our “nanny” at her instigation), the decision to put our Dad in a VA home was very emotional, even though it was the right thing to do and at the time, the only thing. My brother, sister, and I had given a go at trying to take care of him while allowing him to live in his own home and it just got to be too much, especially when he started falling and with neighbors’ help we had to go over and get him up. I know where you are and just know that though it hurts, it is the right thing to do for her. God speed.
thanks daisydem. It was indeed difficult to do and I had been putting it off for more than 18 months. She has fallen several times in the last 2 years and on two occasions fell flat on her face and got cuts on her forehead. The other times she just stayed on the floor as she fell during the early morning hours in her room and stayed there until we heard her when we got up in the morning. The last time was Fathers’ day.
That is so sad …. but when they fall like that and are “dead weight” it takes at least two people usually to pick them up. I remember when my father-in-law started falling (he had Alzheimers); he and his wife lived near my brother-in-law, who had a son who was very willing and able to help them, they also had neighbors they were close to, yet, when he started falling, it was not always at a time when anyone was home due to their jobs, etc. My father-in-law’s wife was in her late 70’s and there was no way she could lift him without help. It tore her heart out, but she had to make that decision to put him in a nursing home.
{{{{{{{{{trinisamba&mama}}}}}}}}}. Sometimes the change can stimulate and do them good, on a temporary basis. Not always, but it may turn out better for her than you expected. God bless you, you are a wonderful daughter!
As difficult as that decision was, I’m sure you have done the right thing for her safety and well being. We all do what we can, and when that becomes too much, the best thing to do, is what you just did for her. Hugs to you…I know that was hard, but you did the right thing.
((((((((((((( May the sweet angels of comfort enter into your space at this time.)))))))))))))
Take each day and each moment with all of the love that you can give back to her with as much joy as you are granted. That is how I tried to get through each day with my precious mother who also had Alzheimers. As she was there in that bed unable to speak to me tore my heart to pieces, but I knew that she would want me to be as strong as possible and make sure that she was treated with love and respect.
So I hugged, bathe her in my own way, made her favorite yams and fed them to her, as well as small chocolate ice cream bars that she could taste. She loved ice cream. I sang to her because she loved music and worked hard to put me through college to get my first degree in music. so I was giving back in a way to her with this precious gift.,I also decorated her room with memories of things about her faith, her music, and her two children. That gave me much peace as I spent that time decorating her space so lovely.
((((((((((((((((((((((((((( Loving thoughts from my heart to your heart)))))))))))))))))))HZ
Thanks Pamela. Thanks Desertflower. Thanks HZ. You guys & gals are simply the BESTEST. You have sent a lot of love and strength my way. I love you all.((((((((((right back at ya))))))))))))))))))
It strikes me today what a difficult dance it is for our President to enter the private grieving space of the Aurora families while the press mob tried to intrude and the cynicism of the pundits throws rocks. But it is an important moment of national unity and appropriate that our President stand with those families, representing the entire country’s support and compassion. And I’m sure he knows that any nuance that can be spun as “political” by the press rabble will certainly be thrown at him. He is up to the job, however, as we well know, and is masterful and empathic in these terrible situations.
Here’s a little positivity for a laid back Sunday.
A little boy leans over to kiss President Barack Obama during the Congressional picnic on the South Lawn of the White House, June 27, 2012 (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
I know! and she’s a young mother too…………what Michele Bachman did was so cruel….her and her psychotic mind have no place in gvt., especially not in the INTELLIGENCE committee!….what a travesty.
She should be taken off every committee she is a part of and be gone in Nov. What she has done to this country is more than a travesty…it’s near treasonous.
Denver tv station just announced that President Obama will be giving some remarks about 7 ET at one of the hospitals. They plan to cover it. Other Denver stations may also and perhaps CBS livestream.
Re: the pic of the little boy leaning over to kiss our President … trying to think of how I can morph into a cute little boy if I ever get the pleasure and honor of meeting our President ….. hmmmm.
Here’s a coment I saw on TPM under the Bloomberg calling for PObama to “man up on gun control”..piece..
“Why doesn’t the little punk put his money where his mouth is? How about funding a PAC with a couple hundred million from this billionaires fortune to counter the NRA?”
The conservative group Americans For Prosperity may have taken a step that eventually forces it to reveal its donor base, which has so far remained anonymous thanks to federal law, according to the Las Vegas Sun.
But after it became involved in a Nevada Senate race last month, a state law could mean the Koch-funded group loses its ability to avail of federal protections against disclosure. Democrats are said to be pressing the issue.
I was asked to re-post this from the last thread. It helped me. I got it from a friend on FB. He is a State Senator here in Colorado.
Love Back Yesterday 4 million coloradans went to work, played football in their front yard, strangers opened doors for each other, people gave blood, offered shelter, served hot meals, held grandkids, played pick up basketball and committed unnumbered acts of kindness and gentleness. One Coloradan dressed up like a villain and believed that by showing up at the site of America’s mythical hero he could slay our actual heroes.
Its true there was no batman sitting in the theatre to fly down and tackle james holmes, as he hoped their might be. He had tactical assault gear covering his whole body ready for America to fight back.
But love is more organized than that, love has cellphones, and ambulances, nurses and doctors, complete strangers and policemen and emergency responders always at the ready, love has nurses who will jump out of bed in the middle of the night and get a family member to watch their child so they can rush to the hospital and save the life of someone they’ve never met, love has first responders who will walk into a Bobbie trapped building to save the lives of neighbors they will never meet. it must be lonely being James Holmes, spending the first part of your life planning alone for an act act that will leave you sitting alone for the rest of your life. For the rest of us, life is crowded, Love is always only 3 numbers and one movie seat away.
We have lived our country’s history as a chapter of wars, and many of those wars we have been blessed to win. we are a team that loves each other and will fight for each other, and if you punch us in the mouth we will fight back.
That is one of our obvious strengths, but it is not our greatest strength. America’s awesome strength to fight is overwhelmed by its irrepressible strength to love. James Holmes took 12 lives last night. Love saved 59 lives. Policemen on the scene in minutes, strangers carrying strangers, nurses and doctors activated all over the city But we didnt stop there, love saved the 700 other people who walked out of the Aurora movie theatre unhurt. But we didnt stop there. Love saved the 5000 who went to see batman all over colorado, and the 1.2 million who saw it all over the country, who walked in and out safely with their friends, arm in arm. but we didnt stop there, love claimed the 4 million other coloradans who went to bed peacefully last night, and who woke up this morning committed to loving each other a little deeper. the awe of last night is not that a man full of hate can take 12 people’s lives, it is that a nation full of love can save 300 million lives every day.
I sat this morning wondering what I could do to help: give blood, support victims, raise money, stop violence, how could we start to fight back?My friends were texting me they had plans to take their kids to batman tonight and now wereafraid to go. Others who were going to play pick up basketball or go out to dinner who were afraid to leave home, who thought they would bunker down in their home and wonder, how do we fight back?the answer is
We love back. We live back. We deepen our commitments to all the unnumbered acts of kindness that make America an unrrendable fabric. We respond by showing that we will play harder, and longer, we will serve more meals, play more games, eat more food, listen to more jazz, go to more movies, give more hugs snd say more thank yous and i love yous than ever before.
So while james Thomas settles into the cell where he will spend the rest of his life, wondering what we will do to fight back, we will love back. We will go to a park this afternoon and play soccer, we will go to the playground and restaurants and movie theatres of our city all weekend and all year.
He should know not only that he failed in his demented attempt to be the villain, but that batman didn’t have to leap off the screen to stop him, because we had a far more organized and powerful force than any superhero could ever have. even the twelve lives that he took, this nation will love so strongly and so deeply that we will ensure they get a lifetime full of love out of a life he tried to cut short. And the 59 lives we took back, will be so overrun with love that they will live their lives feeling blessed every day, and every one who ever meets them will pass on in an instant a love they never knew they earned but we will never let them forget. in a movie theatre in aurora 50 years from now, one of last nights survivors will be waiting in the popcorn line and mention that he was in theatre 9 on that terrible summer night in 2012. And inexplicably, with an arm full of popcorn, a total stranger will reach out and give that old man a huge hug and say, i’m so glad you made it. Love back. We’ve already won.
Reply
Beautifully expressed by that state senator. I noticed something today but didn’t notice I was noticing till it kept happening. We are driving back home to Il. from a fam get-together in Ct.—-in Maumee, Oh. for the night for anyone keeping track 🙂 But I started “noticing” all kinds of kindnesses and smiles and extra courtesies everywhere we interacted with the public today—–at lunch, at rest stops, at gas stations etc. After about 3 or 4 pleasant surprises, I said to mr. dotster, “Wow, people really are nice and friendly today. One woman in the restroom even said she liked my top.” And then I wondered if it was a little bit of that coming together. I think we’re “loving back”.
I know, I watched that interaction live between the police chief and the president who was obviously encouraging him to ride with him and the chief was acting all modest and unassuming that the president wanted his company. I read elsewhere that the chief was effusive in praising the president’s trip to Aurora and how much that would mean to the families of the victims.
So, the spineless House and even the Senate are not calling in any Bankers, to talk to them about the Libor Scandal! But do you know who they are holding a Hearing on?
Geithner!
You have got to be kidding me? The freaking Congress, are trying to pin this on Geithner, but not the Bankers???
I’m watching MSNBC and the prosecutor is certain with the evidence gotten that they will get a conviction. They’re not saying much about what that evidence is, but I will wait to hear further details when the case goes to court.
Thanks UT for keeping us posted with these amazing tweets. They have opened the floodgates and it feels good to let the tears flow. Knowing that President Obama is in Aurora, Colorado meeting with the families and first responders is a tremendous source of comfort to me. President Obama represents all Americans and we are in good hands. He is just good inside.
I was just reading about the young man from my town who was one of the victims in Co. He was 27 and was in the Navy stationed in Aurora. Of course, the family and his friends in the community are devastated. They mentioned that he was always one who stood up for his beliefs. He was involved in the school play The Laramie Project about the Matthew Shepherd murder case. There was some ignorant anger in the community that the school was doing that play and complaint letters were written to local paper. This young man wrote back and defended the decision and the importance of performing this play in this community, how there was still too much hate and lack of understanding and awareness about the abuse endured in the gay community. Devoted time to raising money for cancer research. A sad story of a life cut too short in such a senseless act—–one of many.
Thanks meta…I also posted the same tweet not realizing you had posted it. This is incredibly moving. I’m glad that those families got a chance to meet with our President.
If you check my TL, this tweet has generated some constructive, though sharp-edged dialogue pointed @MikeBloomberg … hopefully, he hasn’t already blocked all of us because he actually has the personal wealth to make an enormous difference if he used a chunk of it to counter the NRA, big time.
@MikeBloomberg how about confronting the NRA the way you did the soda pop industry. Better yet, donate $200+Million to fight the NRA.
It’s a little weird for me since I work in a hospital seeing news crews ans cameras in the hospital rooms with some victims in Colorado. Is it only CNN that’s going into hospital rooms? I’m actually surprised the hosptial(s) allowed it even under the circumstances.
I am not talking about the President speaking. Read what I said. CNN have interviews with victims lying in the hospital rooms in hospital beds. I’m not talking about the ones outside. As I said, I work in a hospitalj and hospitals tend to NOT like camera crews within the walls of the hosptial outside of main lobbies and such. The interviews I’ve seen on CNN literally have Don Lemon siting next to the IV and the victims bedside and that is not normally done in hospitals.
I’m and MD, so I understand all the reasons for your statement, in addition to the fact that you work in a hospital.
That said, one of the consistent pleas has been to bring the focus where it should be – on the victims and their families – and not the shooter and the idiots who blather endlessly about him. In that regard, I think the hospital administration and medical staff are doing something very important from a healing and empathetic perspective in bringing everyone into the lives of these patients. And, I’m sure it was discussed with each patient and family member before any cameras or personnel appeared on the ward.
I agree with you that the hospital most certainly consulted the families, but I wasn’t really “concerned” about it, just making a observation that a co-worker and I in the lab were discussing today.
No surprise to us, is it LOL, that he’s totally engrossed in comforting each and everyone of them. Such a fine person, but then everyone here knows that!!!
Monday Jul. 23, 2012
Previous
Next
2:25 PM
Obama departs San Francisco, California en route Reno, Nevada.
3:10 PM
Obama arrives in Reno, Nevada.
3:35 PM
Obama delivers remarks at the 113th National Convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
5:00 PM
Obama departs Reno, Nevada en route Oakland, California.
5:50 PM
Obama arrives in Oakland, California.
6:20 PM
Obama attends a campaign event at the Scottish Rite Center, Oakland, California.
8:35 PM
Obama delivers remarks at a campaign event.
10:55 PM
Obama delivers remarks at a campaign event.
What the h is wrong with Chuck Todd? Saying that Obama’s ads questioning Bain is “Swift Boating” Romney. Todd is an idiot partisan, does not belong on the public airwaves.
Chuck Todd should be reporting on the fact that Mitt Romney is basing his entire campaign on falsehoods. His very first ad was deceptive and he has been lying non stop since then. If his lips are moving, he is lying. Is this not a concern for Churck Todd? I thought the first principle of journalism was to tell the truth. Mitt Romney has contempt for the media and the voters. Why isn’t Chuck Todd outraged about that? And by the way Chuck if you want to see the swiftboating that Mitt Romney has been doing check out this link:
Reading RNC emails trying to get sympathy votes from the media.
It’s all tactics from the Robney camp. Expect this will be the subject line, for sometime!
I feel you, pinkbunny92. My grandniece (14) from Washington, DC is visiting with me and her auttie this Summer. On Thursday I took her to see the cartoon movie, “Ice Age….” I actually hadn’t been to the movies for six years. The Theater was full of kids of all ages, but especially teenagers, accompanied by their parents. I was really surprised that I actually enjoyed the movie. Then I woke up the next day to the horrible news of what happened at the theater in Aurora, Colorado. I just couldn’t help thinking what would I have done if something happened to my grandniece. How would I face my niece and my sister? The President is right: “Life is very precious.” It’s also not guaranteed. What really matters is the love and care we show our family, friends and neighbors.
This country is truly blessed for having such a strong, humane and caring leader who refuses to be mired into pettiness.
The story of Allie (sp?) & Stephanie (sp?) is remarkable in so many ways and he, once again, demonstrates his brilliance as a leader and his humanity by concluding with that story of courage, persistence, and deep love.
Those remarks were poignant and comforting. Just what the country needed. But I can’t help but think of President Obama’s mother Stanley Ann Dunham right now. She instilled in him the importance of empathy. President Obama has said that what is best in him he owes to his mother. I could not be more proud of our president. He is a remarkable human being.
Notice how well PBO can relate a real story, compassionately and with expression, to all listening. Those who do not think or feel that he should be our CIC has no insight nor morality. Just my opinion, and I stand by that.
For the people in the military, President Obama must be an excellent CIC! He deeply cares for the men and women in uniform. He has ben resolute and disciplined in the military decisions he has made. He cares deeply about the men and women of the armed forces. He has that rare ability of being able to deeply empathize with people in pain, and especially people who have lost their loved ones. I’ve heard him say often that one the most difficult decisions he has faced as president is sending young people to war. For him the men and women in uniform are not just cogs in the military machine. They are sons and daughters, husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, grandchildren and other relatives, and friends and neighbors. I am just so grateful that the Obamas and Bidens have championed the importance of treating the men and women we send to war as part of families. Their hardships and suffering — especially when it comes to loss of life and severe injuries — affects not just them but also their families.
I am not in the military; so President Obama is not my CIC. He is simply my President. I am, however, thankful that he is the kind of President who inspires me to transcend my individual selfishness and realize that all of us are mutually connected. It’s in moments of great tragedies, like this one, that we all need the kind of inspiring and compassionate leadership that President Obama displays.
Beautiful, consoling, uplifting words from President Obama. He is exactly the right person to be speaking those words, brings the very best to every occasion. Husband just said there has never been a president like this, who can speak like that, who is so impressive in every kind of circumstance.
Consoler-in-Chief is so appropriate! This President is always so on point, I believe, because he is always sincere. There is no acting there. I really do believe he feels our pain. This #44th presidency has been a real roller coaster ride to date, with way more bumps that straight stretches, yet President Obama continues to meet each aspect of the ride with grace, calm, compassion, passion, and indeed with a wide range of feelings and actions, than I could have imagined going in. God bless and continue to protect and guide you, Mr. President! You are just what the world needs at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave right now and in the years to come.
That’s because he is a good Person and they know it! Those Families deserve their stories to be told, rather than Bloomberg running on every show.
For real!
I’m so glad our President went to spend time with the people, and let them know they we care America care, and they are in our prayers. So proud this man is our President.
Obama White House.gov
The Obama Diary 
1st?
Yes you are. . .
Good afternoon everyone!
Whoa! Roberta, you have been on fiyah lately, considering you are second to last!
Safe Flight POTUS. My thoughts and prayers are with the families and all the Aurora people.
Shoot, missed the boarding but POTUS is taking off now.
http://www.cbsnews.com/liveFeed/widget.shtml
And he’s up in the air!
I was thinking? What if the President went for a balloon ride? Would it be called Balloon-1?
Balloon-Force 1.
And Wolfe Blitzer and Chuck Todd’s head would explode for sure this time.
Are the plan for the President to speak at a memorial as he did in Tucson or will he be meeting privately instead?
I’m thinking he will be doing private meetings. Surely there hasn’t been enough time for an official memorial like at Tuscon right? I think it took at least a week before they did one. I’m just guessing though that they will try to have an official one before opening ceremony at Olympics.
No he will not be speaking at the service but will be meeting with the families privately.
I think the privacy is more appropriate, and deeply more supportive. People get so excited around our PBO, this is not about him, it is completely in honor of the families and the slain. God Bless Him.
I agree. It would have been all about him and not the families.
He spoke at the AZ service last year because a member of his political party whom he personally knew was severely injured. Ditto for Senator Ted Kennedy’s memorial.
Exactly right.
Now see? This is SPIN-
http://thepage.time.com/2012/07/22/questions-with-no-answers/
This says a lot, actually, of what the GOP is thinking, hoping. Releasing crap to the media, hoping it will go away. It’s all Spin!
From the link:
“And given the inability to drive an earned media negative message, does it make sense to keep at it on the paid TV ad side at this point?”
Read more: http://thepage.time.com/2012/07/22/questions-with-no-answers/#ixzz21NYWOeI3
So now Mark Halperin is concern trolling about the effectiveness of television ads. I am glad to see this. That confirms the President’s ads are working big time, if Halperin is suddenly concerned about whether TV ads work or not.
Right!
Nope, nope, sorry Halperin … in a couple of days we go back to asking about those tax returns, that timeline on Bain, the lies to the SEC or to the people of Massachusetts … and we run the ads too. Full press. Forward!
The media and the GOP resent Democrats who fight well and win.
I do not recall much media concern while John Kerry was being swiftboated or when Al Gore was being defined by his opponent or when Shirley Sherrod was being Breitbarted.
Ever since Mitt became the media’s and the GOP’s nominee, they’ve given greater scrutiny to the Bain claims, than they did to the WMD claims that led us to an illegal war against a sovereign country.
I am not concerned with Mark Halperin’s concern.
Ditto. They do seem that have issues now that the president is fighting back. All was well when Romney lied and spewed constant negative attacks against the president which by the way he continues to do. I’m struck that they don’t seem to take issue with the Romney lies..
Is FLOTUS with POTUS?
No. This trip is also a campaign trip, and she will be making her own campaign appearances at various locations next week.
Ever since President Obama has taken office, the GOP has created their own version of American history,
and people have started believing them. Well, we remember how it really was under Republican leadership.
Join this campaign, and remind the world how much better we have it now.
#Switftruthing #BainMitt …. It’s the 99% way of demonstrating we have very long and detailed memories 🙂
Thank you so much Sonjia for the link to the video and all the RTs!
#ADollarADayToOFA
Love what you are doing Bob. Keep on keeping on it’s working.
Thank you Sonjia … love this video!!
David Gregory asked Michelle Rhee who she thought should be the Republican VP nominee. When did she become a political pundit or is Gregory confused?
Michele Rhee was courted by Governors Scott and Christie to head their Education Departments. She turned them down!
The people ran her out of DC
http://bobcesca.com/blog-archives/2012/07/because-republicans-love-tax-cuts.html
A new Senate GOP tax plan released by McConnell and Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch (R), however, raises taxes on nearly 10 times as many Americans by allowing certain tax breaks signed into law by President Obama expire at the end of the year. Putting an end to those three tax breaks — the Child Tax Credit, a tax break on college tuition, and a more generous Earned Income Tax Credit — would raise taxes on 20 million families…
This certifiable nutbag should be thrown out of congress and stripped of her committee appointments!! She needs to be held accountable!
http://thinkprogress.org/security/2012/07/22/562311/abedin-threat-security-bachmann/
Well, they need to GROW A SPINE or get the hell out of the way!
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2012/07/22/562171/lawmaker-says-her-colleagues-dont-have-the-spine-for-gun-control-legislation/
Good afternoon everyone. It is my birthday today, and my wonderful husband bought me an IPAD!!! So I am using it now and loving it! I hope you all have a great day. My hubby is going to make me a steak (filet mignon) dinner, with a carrot cake foe dessert and so
My first glitch, and some bubbly to drink. My prayers go out to the families in CO, and I hope President Obama will help them by just being there for them.
Happy Birthday Betsy. Your husband sounds like a lovely guy! Enjoy the bubbly!
He is indeed. Thanks.
Awesome! Have fun today!
Thanks Jovie!
Enjoy your new toy, Betsy!! And you b-day dinner sounds delish.
I know! I can’t wait! thanks.
Happy Birthday Betsy and so glad you have an iPad!!! Thank you for all the RTs!!
#SwiftTruthing for a better America …
Thanks so much Bobfr! I love RT. your amazing tweets as you know, now I can do it faster!
Betsy, have a WONDERFUL Birthday!
Thanks so much!
Happy, happy birthday, Betsy! (Nice husband!)
That he is. We have been married for almost 29 years and he can still surprise me :d
Betsy! I’m so excited for you! Everything you just said sounds perfect. Have a wonderful day with your loved ones. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!
Thank you!!!
Happy Birthday to you, and welcome to the wonderful world of predictive text spelling entertainment! My entire first reply has been lost, or shown up somewhere else.. I said your husband is a KEEPER! How fun!
That he is! I have already encountered predictive text 😦 ! I have lots to learn.
It it tremendous fun, stupid, too! But, hey, man against machine. Or whatever! I would be lost without my iPad now, it has changed my life for the simpler! Hauling around my MacBook is a distant memory now, and fading fast!
If you only knew what set up I had before, you’d know how happy I am. My husband is such a great guy and I am so glad to have this IPAD, kinks and all.
Happy Birthday Betsy!!! Enjoy your lovely birthday dinner, dessert and drinks 🙂
Thanks hopefruit2:)
Happy Birthday, Betsy. Sounds like you’re having a wonderful day–great present, terrific dinner and a thoughtful husband. Who could ask for anythingmore.
You are right. I am very blessed.
Happy Birthday Betsy and enjoy your fabulous dinner and your IPad.
Thanks so much. i am enjoying everything!
Betsy, have a very Happy Birthday. Enjoy each moment of your day.HZ
Thank you HZ, hope you are feeling well today.
Happy Birthday Betsy!
Thank you LadyTNT.
Have aWonderful Birthday…Besty… 😀
Thanks prettyfoot.
Happy Birthday, Betsy:) What a nice gift you got! Now you too can have the angst of the IPad troubles when the comments get too long here! enjoy your special day, and your nice dinner…..
we can all share the angst together 🙂 thank you df.
Blessings to you on your birthday, Betsy! Sounds like your husband is an ace at making it special.
That he is. He’d told me 2 weeks ago that he didn’t think we could afford it, so I would probably have to wait until Christmas, so it was a complete surprise. Lots of tears and hugs later……
Happy Birthday Betsy, You have a gooe husband.
Thanks. I am blessed.
President Obama’s Op Ed in AZ paper after Tucson massacre:
http://azstarnet.com/article_011e7118-8951-5206-a878-39bfbc9dc89d.html
h/t to Smartypants for that link….and don’t read the comments. It IS AZ you know….
I wonder if there is hope on the horizon for Yahoo! headlines now that Marissa Mayer is the new head of Yahoo!.
“A quick search of OpenSecrets.org shows that Mayer has given in excess of $42,000 to such recipients as Barack Obama, the Democratic National Committee, and Maine Senator Olympia Snowe.”
http://www.chicagonow.com/publius-forum/2012/07/big-obama-donor-googles-marissa-mayer-to-rake-in-millions-as-new-yahoo-chief/
I am not asking much. Instead of using AP, which has a well-documented GOP bias, just use Reuters or some other wire service for headlines.
Oh! I hope you are right. Those headlines are bad enough but what I would really like is for them to clean up the comments. Yahoo comments are some of the most vile I see on the internet and so many people have their email on Yahoo. I must admit this is one of the things I fret about because so many people who are not interested in politics or news use Yahoo. I do hope she makes some changes.
Has the complete list of names of the poor victims been released yet?
VL, I don’t know if this is complete or not but I found on Google
http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20613875,00.html
Thanks, vc. So tragic.
hose killed in Colorado
Jessica Ghawi, 24, of Denver; aspiring sports journalist
Veronica Moser, 6, whose mother was critically injured
Matt McQuinn, 27, of Denver; technical support provider
Alex Sullivan, 27, of Aurora; worked at Red Robin restaurant
Micayla Medek, 23, of Westminster, Colo.
John Larimer, 27, of Buckley Air Force Base and Crystal Lake, Navy cryptologist
Jesse Childress, 29, of Thornton, Colo., Air Force cyber-systems operator
Gordon W. Cowden, 51
Jonathan T. Blunk, 26
Rebecca Ann Wingo, 32
Alexander C. Teves, 24, earned master’s degree in counseling psychology in June from University of Denver
Alexander J. Boik, 18
http://www.dailyherald.com/article/20120721/news/120729987/
Thanks, meta. So many of them…so young.
(VIDEO) Mitt Romney’s Olympics Bailed Out by Tax Payers
By Heather
———————————-
We’ve seen the Obama campaign going after Mitt Romney for his time at Bain Capital. I think with the Olympics approaching we’re about to hear more about this story from them very soon. From Up With Chris Hayes: Mitt Romney and federal money for the Olympics:
Up host Chris Hayes and his guests talk to former Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson about the federal assistance Mitt Romney sought as head of the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.
.
.
As they noted, there are more questions which might be answered by Mitt Romney releasing his tax returns, which it seems more obvious day by day that he is never going to release. Romney seems to love that government “free stuff” when it benefits himself and his business buddies, but not so much for the working class and the poor.
———————————–
http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/mitt-romneys-olympics-bailed-out-tax-payer
I hope the Sports Illustrated article, “Snow Job,” figures prominently in de-mythologizing Mitt as “savior” of the Olympics. He didn’t save the Olympics. Taxypayers did.
From the article:
“Mitt Romney, SLOC’s president, has acknowledged the U.S. government’s contribution by saying, “We couldn’t have done it without them.”
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1024516/index.htm
That’s Mitt’s round about way of thanking “you people,” the taxpayers.
Can’t help but wonder if there was a bit of pocketing of said ‘federal funds’, perhaps even off shored into someone’s private accounts.. Wouldn’t that be classy?
Hard to imagine why Romney needed SO much more money than any other Olympic games….but he got BILLIONS
@CHRISTIMSL
I’d be glad to help with writing your piece.
Thanks Eve, can you pm me in twitter?
I would love to pm you, except I do not know what pm means:(
I do have a twitter account though.
Private message lol…..I don’t know half of the abbreviations online myself…
What is your name on Twitter?
Huh? are you still here?
If I’m not mistaken it’s ‘DM’ as in direct message. Eve in G, When you go to your twitter page there is a head profile to the upper right. If you click on this downward arrow to the immediate right of this ‘head’ a drop down box will appear and at the top of the box you will see ‘Direct Messages’. Click on direct messages and you will get another drop down with ‘NEW MESSAGE’ in the upper right. Click ‘new message’ and you’ll be able to send Christi a direct message that no one else will see (assuming that Christi is following you on Twitter). Type her twitter name in the upper space and your message in the appropriate box.
ps. Bobfr, explained a simpler way to send a DM once before , but I can’t remember the steps. This way works easily enough once you know the steps. 😉
pm = private message
I wonder if all those people cheering for Paterno that night now think like this:
The sins of the father
Updated: July 13, 2012, 6:56 PM ET
By Rick Reilly | ESPN.com
“What a stooge I was.
I talked about Paterno’s “true legacy” in all of this. Here’s his true legacy: Paterno let a child molester go when he could’ve stopped him. He let him go and then lied to cover his sinister tracks. He let a rapist go to save his own recruiting successes and fundraising pitches and big-fish-small-pond hide.”
……….
“What a sap I was.
I hope Penn State loses civil suits until the walls of the accounting office cave in. I hope that Spanier, Schultz and Curley go to prison for perjury. I hope the NCAA gives Penn State the death penalty it most richly deserves. The worst scandal in college football history deserves the worst penalty the NCAA can give. They gave it to SMU for winning without regard for morals. They should give it to Penn State for the same thing. The only difference is, at Penn State they didn’t pay for it with Corvettes. They paid for it with lives.”
……..
“What a chump I was.
I tweeted that, yes, Paterno should be fired, but that he was, overall, “a good and decent man.” I was wrong. Good and decent men don’t do what Paterno did. Good and decent men protect kids, not rapists. And to think Paterno comes from “father” in Italian.
This throws a can of black paint on anything anybody tells me about Paterno from here on in. “No NCAA violations in all those years.” I believe it. He was great at hiding stuff. “He gave $4 million to the library.” In exchange for what? “He cared about kids away from the football field.” No, he didn’t. Not all of them. Not when it really mattered.”
http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/8162972/joe-paterno-true-legacy
I hope the victims sue the Paterno estate as well…..
It’s Not “Swift Boating” If It’s True
By Media Matters
——————————————-
Trying to tie contemporary questions about Romney’s Bain past with an infamous GOP smear campaign is an exercise in false equivalency. “The Swift Boat campaign was completely a lie,” Esquires’ Charles Pierce recently reminded readers. “Nothing the Swifties said about John Kerry was true.” And yet, despite the cavernous gap between the Swift Boat affair and the ongoing Bain story, the comparison continues to gain currency.
.
.
Let’s stipulate this fact going forward: A candidate having his résumé or biography examined during the course of a presidential campaign does not constitute being “swift boated.” Enthusiastic “vetting” of candidates’ backgrounds is a routine aspect of general elections.
The distinguishing feature of a Swift Boat smear campaign, of course, was that virtually every single war-era allegation made against Kerry’s military service proved to be false, leaving the assumption that the entire point of the coordinated, deep-pocketed attack was to purposefully spread as manly lies as possible. And not just small fibs, but truly unconscionable lies about a serviceman’s record during the unpopular Vietnam War.
That’s what being Swift Boated is about. Prior to 2004, modern campaigns had never seen anything like it. And in the two White House campaigns that have unfolded since, nothing has approached the radical brand of prevarication that epitomized the lowly Republican attacks on Kerry.
———————————–
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/07/17/its-not-swift-boating-if-its-true/187167
THis is Brilliant..thx Ladyhawke! Yes..Let’s DO Stipulate that. This NEEDS to be Sent to Toad and Rather!
This is just what Christi was talking about.
This is So TRUE! “That’s what being Swift Boated is about. Prior to 2004, modern campaigns had never seen anything like it. And in the two White House campaigns that have unfolded since, nothing has approached the radical brand of prevarication that epitomized the lowly Republican attacks on Kerry.”
And, now the goprickpundits are sniveling about PObama and his Tough Style Campaign Reveling FACTS about willard and trying to whine that it’s “swiftboating”. Bullshite.
I saw this comment on HP about all the politicians wetting themselves about gun control.
—
So the tools to shoot me are a right,
but the health care to save me is not ?
—
I didn’t read this last week……there’s so much corruption….man oh man…
EXCLUSIVE: NRA Threatens Senators Who Support Campaign Finance Disclosure
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/07/13/516229/exclusive-nra-threatens-senators-who-support-campaign-finance-disclosure/
It’s worth taking the time to read their letter.
Sick mofos
not surprising at all though. The NRA are not really about guns at all, they are of the extreme right and use things like guns to put fear into people for political reasons. They are a terrorist organization.
NRA sends Democrats a message over Holder contempt vote
By Allison Brennan, CNN
——————————————————–
Washington (CNN) — When the National Rifle Association decided to keep track of those House members on both sides of the aisle who voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress last week, it was also sending a message to a number of embattled Democratic congressmen seeking re-election in conservative districts in the fall.
The message: Vote right, or we’ll let your constituents know.
Though some Democrats say the NRA did little to influence their vote, for a handful of those in the House, the message may have been received loud and clear, experts say.
A CNN analysis showed that of the 21 Democrats who voted to hold Holder in civil contempt of Congress last week over documents relating to Operation Fast and Furious, 19 received campaign contributions from the NRA during the last two election cycles.
——————————————————-
http://www.cnn.com/2012/07/02/politics/contempt-vote-political-survival/index.html
The most disgusting thing I saw were all those students calling for Paterno and critizing those brave kids that came forward. Now that they know the facts, they are singing a different story. I was deeply disappointed with Franco Harris and other alumni who vouched for Paterno.
Vic, wherever you are, I sent you an email
Thanks for the idea Upstater! 😀
Why doesn’t Bloomberg do something in NYC on gun laws! Mr Opportunity himself!
He can just sthu as far as I’m concerned….he said that Romney’s position , well reverse position, is the only thing holding him back about supporting him.
Yea nothing else.
The President would sign a bill in a heart beat and he knows it……and he knows the deluge of negative ads in swing states by the NRA if he ever take on this issue NOW with the crazies in Congress, something that has ZERO chance to pass.
Who cares what this man thinks. He will not influence a single vote in New York City. Let him run for a fourth term as a right winger who supported Romney and see how far that gets him in New York.
Bloomy probably wants to run for a fourth, fifth and sixth term as Mayor of NYC, so he’s looking for an issue.
They are very strict in New York. Plaxcio Burress, the New York Giants receiver, served 20 months in jail for shooting himself in the leg with his own gun in a New York nightclub.
State law!
If you don’t believe gun laws are strict in New York City google, “Are gun laws strict in New Yprk City?”. Mayor Bloomberg talks about guns everytime he has an opportunity. I am not defending New York City or Mayor Bloomberg but simply stating a well known fact.
If there are strict gun laws in NY city, it certainly isn’t thanks to the self-serving opportunist Michael Bloomberg…
Here’s a guy who’s done practically nothing positive or extraordinary for the city – except of course using his massive wealth to change the rules of the game to suit his particular purposes to run for a previously non-existent 3rd term as mayor…
This same guy wants us to believe that his infinitely less than stellar 3 term run as mayor of a city somehow qualifies him to critique the hardest working President – while doling out orders and instructions which Bloomberg incidentally couldn’t even pull off on the smallest of scales…
The arrogant grandstanding by the perpetually deluded and self-aggrandizing Michael Bloomberg continues to expose him for the sad, envious, entitled, hollow shit shell he really is…
President Obama’s ascension to the highest office in the land has left many of the previously self-appointed king makers in America’s privileged class completely unhinged…
And the masks and hoods have all come off, as have the claws and daggers…
Michael Bloomberg can be counted on to occasionally indulge and humor his dear black convenient friend Russell Simmons…
But Michael Bloomberg will certainly not abide the incredibly dignified, brilliant, focused, hard working, efficient, extraordinary and all around amazing man who currently occupies the White House…
President Obama can’t possibly help Michael Bloomberg, Donald Trump etc. get over their badly bruised egos and the obvious trauma that comes from having ones world turned upside down…
…when ones sense of the way things ought to be…the ‘right order’ of things is suddenly thrown off…
And the entitled folks like Bloomberg shockingly find themselves on the outside looking in as the smart, cool, evolved President who happens to be of color and not from the inner circle, presides…
There is a lot of money to be made by whatever psychiatrist who can devise a successful treatment program to help with the various forms of Obama Derangement Syndrome…
Bearing in mind however that the particular type that afflicts the Bloomberg’s, Trump’s etc. is an entirely different strain from that which afflicts the pedestrian tea party types like Sarah Palin, Jan Brewer and the illiterate voters in West Virginia, Alabama etc…
The Bloomberg strain is fed and aggravated by rare, rich foods…
Exactly, all these people who want PBO to do something sit on their rears themselves. They just want the microphone. Ignore th em.
Actually, you’re wrong. Bloomberg has done something about gun laws in NY. NY has very very very strict gun laws. They have a program where a lot of people have surrendered their illegally bought guns with no recriminations or arrests. If you bring a gun into NY and don’t follow the very very very strict guidelines; you get arrested, you get thrown in jail, it may show up on your permanent record, and you face a huge fine or you face a trial. This has happened to a lot of people who are gun owners from states with very lax gun laws who don’t take the time to study the gun laws in New York.
Then vote for Bloomberg then. LOL!
That’s not the point. The point is that your premise about Bloomberg was factually incorrect. You and I might not like Bloomberg’s style, but that does not give you license to ascribe wrong assumptions and insinuations about him.
The underlying point is that gun laws are strict in NY. Very strict. That’s a fact.
If it’s the only thing holding him back for supporting Romney, it doesn’t make any sense …So, ban on certain weapons, but no healthcare for millions, privatized Medicaire, tax increase on the poor and middle class……how’s that going to help the millions who will have access to healthcare who have mental issues and who finally will be able to be treated?…it’s not only a question of banning some weapons, it’s a question of helping people with mental issues BEFORE they do something crazy.
And losing your job or tax increase on people who are already struggling can cause a lot of stress, doesn’t help.
That’s Romney’s policies…..so he has no credibility with me if it’s the only thing holding him for supporting the sociopath.
Precisely Christi…
Michael Bloomberg has been doing this dubious song and dance for far too long…
If he actually declared that the gun matter is the only thing holding back his support of Mitt Romney, then Michael Bloomberg has essentially endorsed Romney…
But that should come as no surprise really…
People like Bloomberg never really embraced or supported President Obama…
Michael Bloomberg has always really been about Michael Bloomberg and anything that advances Michael Bloomberg’s personal and political ambitions…
He’s always been a bit careful however not to completely alienate some of the electoral bases he happens to share with President Obama…
But he has never hesitated to pounce every time he senses an opening to attack or express his disdain for President Obama…
President Obama reached out to Michael Bloomberg very early on, and if Bloomberg was an honest broker, well-intentioned or a patriot with integrity, he had so many opportunities to work informally or formally with President Obama…
But Michael Bloomberg has no real interest in re-building or advancing the best of all for America…
He just wants to be president himself but has yet to find a clear path to achieving that in spite of all of his wealth…
Like so many entitled, self -important types, Bloomberg envies and disdains President Obama’s seeming ease with attracting love and support from a diverse and international electorate…
Worse still, President Obama refuses to indulge the Michael Bloomberg’s of the world…
He will reach out, but won’t kiss up or cede control and oversight…
How dare President Obama not know his place..?
The problem I have with Bloomberg’s approach is that he’s trying to equate PBO and Romney in his “calls” for them to both make statements about their gun policies – knowing fully well that PBO is for stricter gun regulation, whereas Romney (and Mormon Church) is in bed with the NRA. Furthermore, Bloomberg has enough money to be able to offset whatever lobbying the NRA is doing in congress, so why doesn’t he lobby congress the other way if he’s genuinely interested? He could openly throw his support being PBO, and put his money where his mouth is to push PBO to enact tighter regulations. Why is he just sitting on his cash on the sidelines and hurling criticisms?
Both Gun laws an the Person should be looked at, when dividing a legislative bill for gun laws.
The NRA does not help and Bloomberg just jumps on this, as if he is waiting for something like this to happen, all canned responses, ready to go!
I don’t want to hear Bloomberg and his mouth right now. Bloomberg need to shut the heck up.
Thank you, liberal.
Hi’ Chips, please go to White House.Gov. and post that sweet picture of the PBO and little boy. Everyone please go to that site and look at that picture of the little boy who leaned over to kiss PBO,
Chipsticks already posted the picture days ago.
MEDIA MATTERS RADIO INTERVIEWS “STEVE BENEN”
==============================================
Maddow Blog’s Steve Benen Explains How Romney Is Taking His Cues From Fox News
http://mediamatters.org/video/2012/07/21/maddow-blogs-steve-benen-explains-how-romney-is/187271
MEDIA MATTERS RADIO
=========================
Media Matters Radio Illustrates How Fox News Plays Down Questions For Romney Over Bain Capital And Tax Returns
http://mediamatters.org/video/2012/07/21/media-matters-radio-illustrates-how-fox-news-pl/187272
At least a few more people are writing about what a liar Romney is. Hope it gets to the TV pundits next- but not holding my breath.
We need to spread it far and wide.
“Throughout the election cycle, liberals have been shocked at just how “shameless,” as Kevin Drum put it this week, Mitt Romney’s campaign has been. It’s not just that Romney lies; it’s the quality of the lies, the indifference to any fact-checking, the insistence on continuing to use a lie long after it’s been definitively debunked.
I have a name for it, and an explanation. Call it lazy mendacity.”
http://www.salon.com/2012/07/22/mitt_romney_lazy_liar//
Westboro Baptist Church Threatens To ‘Super Picket’ Aurora Prayer Vigil For Batman Shooting Victims
Phelps tweet …….
Hi ho Hi ho, to Colorado we go! #godsenttheshooter! #americaisdoomed! #godisyourenemy! #godkillingyoursoldiers! examiner.com/article/westbo…
22 Jul 12
Almost immediately, members of the community launched a campaign on Reddit and Facebook to form a “wall of love” around the memorial service to block the group from getting close.
—-
Ugh !
A few moments ago, My black Lab was going in and out of the Brush, like I had never seen before. This went on for ten minutes, all of a sudden, 3 Rabbits come scurrying out. She caught the Fourth one, but I forced Her to let it go. She had so much fun, I almost felt like joining Her…
My Dog is Cool!
An OpEd on voting rights from PBO’s lawyer, Bob Bauer:
The fight for early voting in Ohio: Robert F. Bauer
http://www.cleveland.com/opinion/index.ssf/2012/07/the_fight_for_early_voting_in.html
I know that many posters here complain about the media. Part of our problem is our expectation that media personalities actually have anything beyond self self-interest. They are 1 per centers by income and values and have no integrity. They have always, and will continue to act to protect their class and self interest in ways that deceive the public. Best thing to do is not watch them and stop tormenting yourself. Instead frequent those few online outlets that actually do real journalism. I believe that Mother Jones is one such outlet. Most of my daily news I get through Twitter and links on Twitter as well as those few blog sites that have information I am seeking, such as The People’s View and this site, the occasional column on WaPo or other print media.
“Best thing to do is not watch them and stop tormenting yourself”
With all due respect Bill, I don’t think that is the most responsible thing to do – particularly in an election year, when we KNOW that the media has a vested interest in the outcome of this crucial Presidential election. We need to be fully aware of the distortions and deliberate misinformation disseminated in the media in order to be able to mount swift and aggressive push-back and corrections.
Hello ToD family. I hope all is well with everyone on this blessed Sunday. I have been spending the last few days praying and relaxing. I had to make a very difficult decision and execute it. I have had to place my Mom in a seniors’ home as I can no longer give her the care that she needs. While she never really said much, the house seems so quiet. Cleaning is my therapy so I have been doing a lot of that too.
I am so sorry to hear about the Colorado event and I have kept those families in my prayers. This, at times, can be such a cruel world but there is a silver lining behind every cloud.
Best wishes. I put my mother in an Alzheimer’s Care Center two years. Ago. Today her disease has progressed but she is very happy and tranquil, secure with her skilled caregivers and enjoying the social life and activities of the center.
Thanks Bill R. I know she will be well taken care of as I chose a home that is run someone that I have known for more than fifteen years.
What a difficult decision you have made. That may be one of the hardest decisions people ever have to make. I’ll pray that she will get the care she needs. You will probably have a very clean house for quite a while, if cleaning is your therapy.
Old age is mean. We visited a dear friend today who had a heart attack in February and last Sunday had a stroke. He is my husband’s age. He will be in therapy for quite a while. We spoke about getting older, and agreed that we don’t like it.
Take good care of yourself. We will all be thinking about you.
Thanks Carolyn. Actually it has been spotless for the last few days and I am still doing the occasional wipe and sweep. I can’t help myself.
trinisamba, sending prayerful thoughts for strength and peace. Is that not one of the hardest things to decide? Next to deciding on the right schools for our children (childcare was a breeze … my mother was living and was our “nanny” at her instigation), the decision to put our Dad in a VA home was very emotional, even though it was the right thing to do and at the time, the only thing. My brother, sister, and I had given a go at trying to take care of him while allowing him to live in his own home and it just got to be too much, especially when he started falling and with neighbors’ help we had to go over and get him up. I know where you are and just know that though it hurts, it is the right thing to do for her. God speed.
thanks daisydem. It was indeed difficult to do and I had been putting it off for more than 18 months. She has fallen several times in the last 2 years and on two occasions fell flat on her face and got cuts on her forehead. The other times she just stayed on the floor as she fell during the early morning hours in her room and stayed there until we heard her when we got up in the morning. The last time was Fathers’ day.
That is so sad …. but when they fall like that and are “dead weight” it takes at least two people usually to pick them up. I remember when my father-in-law started falling (he had Alzheimers); he and his wife lived near my brother-in-law, who had a son who was very willing and able to help them, they also had neighbors they were close to, yet, when he started falling, it was not always at a time when anyone was home due to their jobs, etc. My father-in-law’s wife was in her late 70’s and there was no way she could lift him without help. It tore her heart out, but she had to make that decision to put him in a nursing home.
{{{{{{{{{trinisamba&mama}}}}}}}}}. Sometimes the change can stimulate and do them good, on a temporary basis. Not always, but it may turn out better for her than you expected. God bless you, you are a wonderful daughter!
As difficult as that decision was, I’m sure you have done the right thing for her safety and well being. We all do what we can, and when that becomes too much, the best thing to do, is what you just did for her. Hugs to you…I know that was hard, but you did the right thing.
((((((((((((( May the sweet angels of comfort enter into your space at this time.)))))))))))))
Take each day and each moment with all of the love that you can give back to her with as much joy as you are granted. That is how I tried to get through each day with my precious mother who also had Alzheimers. As she was there in that bed unable to speak to me tore my heart to pieces, but I knew that she would want me to be as strong as possible and make sure that she was treated with love and respect.
So I hugged, bathe her in my own way, made her favorite yams and fed them to her, as well as small chocolate ice cream bars that she could taste. She loved ice cream. I sang to her because she loved music and worked hard to put me through college to get my first degree in music. so I was giving back in a way to her with this precious gift.,I also decorated her room with memories of things about her faith, her music, and her two children. That gave me much peace as I spent that time decorating her space so lovely.
((((((((((((((((((((((((((( Loving thoughts from my heart to your heart)))))))))))))))))))HZ
Thanks Pamela. Thanks Desertflower. Thanks HZ. You guys & gals are simply the BESTEST. You have sent a lot of love and strength my way. I love you all.((((((((((right back at ya))))))))))))))))))
Hey #TOD family..I just saw this:
I know Phoenix Jones. Have talked a lot with him and he’s one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met.
It strikes me today what a difficult dance it is for our President to enter the private grieving space of the Aurora families while the press mob tried to intrude and the cynicism of the pundits throws rocks. But it is an important moment of national unity and appropriate that our President stand with those families, representing the entire country’s support and compassion. And I’m sure he knows that any nuance that can be spun as “political” by the press rabble will certainly be thrown at him. He is up to the job, however, as we well know, and is masterful and empathic in these terrible situations.
Amen to this.
oops..I meant this:
WOW!!!!!!
Bloomberg will blame the President again!
wow, that is very tragic… So sad…
So, so sad and tragic.My heart aches for that family.
Don’t stats prove that a family member is more likely to be shot and killed than any intruder in homes with guns?
Here’s a little positivity for a laid back Sunday.
A little boy leans over to kiss President Barack Obama during the Congressional picnic on the South Lawn of the White House, June 27, 2012 (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
too cute!
I love this!
Happening Now: Awaiting President Obama’s Arrival: http://media.thedenverchannel.com/livestreampage
That is an awesome livestream. You feel like you’re right there!!
AF1 has landed.
Thanks, JER!! He’s early.
Thanks JER, I’m watching 🙂
Me too, thanks for posting that link.
Why is there a trashbag on the tarmac? Has the president only gotten off the plane?
Yes, he’s already gone in the Beast with the local dignitaries and the Police Chief.
Yes PBO left about 5-7 minutes ago.
I don’t know if this has bee posted by anyone else but Jason Alexander has posted an amazing and powerful rant about gun control.
http://www.salon.com/2012/07/22/jason_alexanders_amazing_gun_rant/
Watching too…i wonder what is in that bag?
laundry?.. 😀
Hey PF58? Did PBO get off the plane already? Just lost the feed, so I guess so…
Anthony Weiner’s wife Huma Abedin getting extra security protection after New Jersey man threatened her
Thank you Michele Bachman, you evil ******
I forgot Huma was married to him. Wow, just wow. She’s been thru a helluva a few years…
I know! and she’s a young mother too…………what Michele Bachman did was so cruel….her and her psychotic mind have no place in gvt., especially not in the INTELLIGENCE committee!….what a travesty.
She should be taken off every committee she is a part of and be gone in Nov. What she has done to this country is more than a travesty…it’s near treasonous.
I do not see how the Republicans can keep her on the Intelligence Committee. It is not safe for the country her having classified information.
SHE’s on the Intelligence Committee? God help us.
It is time for Marcus Bachmann to man up and reel his crazy wife in, if he is man enough to do so.
dang lost the feed……. 😦
Denver tv station just announced that President Obama will be giving some remarks about 7 ET at one of the hospitals. They plan to cover it. Other Denver stations may also and perhaps CBS livestream.
Re: the pic of the little boy leaning over to kiss our President … trying to think of how I can morph into a cute little boy if I ever get the pleasure and honor of meeting our President ….. hmmmm.
From the onboard press gaggle:
Here is that Op-Ed:
http://azstarnet.com/article_011e7118-8951-5206-a878-39bfbc9dc89d.html
Mahalos, meta!
This one…I posted it earlier; http://azstarnet.com/article_011e7118-8951-5206-a878-39bfbc9dc89d.html
Here’s a coment I saw on TPM under the Bloomberg calling for PObama to “man up on gun control”..piece..
“Why doesn’t the little punk put his money where his mouth is? How about funding a PAC with a couple hundred million from this billionaires fortune to counter the NRA?”
His expertise is in banning 32 ounce sodas. Guns, not so much.
True!
Which is the Root of the Terrorizing Crisis in America! Thx BOB..
Absolutely spot on Bob…
Yes! exactly! Defang the NRA, THEN we can have a productive conversation and real legislation about gun control.
Another local livestream link: http://denver.cbslocal.com/live-video/
THIS karma would be SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Sweet!!!!!!!!!!!
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/will-americans-for-prosperity-be-forced-to-reveal?ref=fpb
The conservative group Americans For Prosperity may have taken a step that eventually forces it to reveal its donor base, which has so far remained anonymous thanks to federal law, according to the Las Vegas Sun.
But after it became involved in a Nevada Senate race last month, a state law could mean the Koch-funded group loses its ability to avail of federal protections against disclosure. Democrats are said to be pressing the issue.
May IT BE SO Thx df.
🙂 Welcome, Cha….let’s hope they are forced to do this.
PBO to speak at 7:30 after he has met with families.
So this might explain why prominent Republicans felt no qualms about condemning Michele Bachmann on her Muslim witchunt:
THE STUPID BITCH SIGNED THAT PLEDGE!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Click to access 120111-federalpledgesigners.pdf
Can someone Tweet this list of US House Signers!!!!
Check YOUR elected officials that signed this Norquist pledge!!
http://www.atr.org/taxpayer-protection-pledge
What the heck!!! Please take her off the Intelligence Committee.
I was asked to re-post this from the last thread. It helped me. I got it from a friend on FB. He is a State Senator here in Colorado.
Love Back Yesterday 4 million coloradans went to work, played football in their front yard, strangers opened doors for each other, people gave blood, offered shelter, served hot meals, held grandkids, played pick up basketball and committed unnumbered acts of kindness and gentleness. One Coloradan dressed up like a villain and believed that by showing up at the site of America’s mythical hero he could slay our actual heroes.
Its true there was no batman sitting in the theatre to fly down and tackle james holmes, as he hoped their might be. He had tactical assault gear covering his whole body ready for America to fight back.
But love is more organized than that, love has cellphones, and ambulances, nurses and doctors, complete strangers and policemen and emergency responders always at the ready, love has nurses who will jump out of bed in the middle of the night and get a family member to watch their child so they can rush to the hospital and save the life of someone they’ve never met, love has first responders who will walk into a Bobbie trapped building to save the lives of neighbors they will never meet. it must be lonely being James Holmes, spending the first part of your life planning alone for an act act that will leave you sitting alone for the rest of your life. For the rest of us, life is crowded, Love is always only 3 numbers and one movie seat away.
We have lived our country’s history as a chapter of wars, and many of those wars we have been blessed to win. we are a team that loves each other and will fight for each other, and if you punch us in the mouth we will fight back.
That is one of our obvious strengths, but it is not our greatest strength. America’s awesome strength to fight is overwhelmed by its irrepressible strength to love. James Holmes took 12 lives last night. Love saved 59 lives. Policemen on the scene in minutes, strangers carrying strangers, nurses and doctors activated all over the city But we didnt stop there, love saved the 700 other people who walked out of the Aurora movie theatre unhurt. But we didnt stop there. Love saved the 5000 who went to see batman all over colorado, and the 1.2 million who saw it all over the country, who walked in and out safely with their friends, arm in arm. but we didnt stop there, love claimed the 4 million other coloradans who went to bed peacefully last night, and who woke up this morning committed to loving each other a little deeper. the awe of last night is not that a man full of hate can take 12 people’s lives, it is that a nation full of love can save 300 million lives every day.
I sat this morning wondering what I could do to help: give blood, support victims, raise money, stop violence, how could we start to fight back?My friends were texting me they had plans to take their kids to batman tonight and now wereafraid to go. Others who were going to play pick up basketball or go out to dinner who were afraid to leave home, who thought they would bunker down in their home and wonder, how do we fight back?the answer is
We love back. We live back. We deepen our commitments to all the unnumbered acts of kindness that make America an unrrendable fabric. We respond by showing that we will play harder, and longer, we will serve more meals, play more games, eat more food, listen to more jazz, go to more movies, give more hugs snd say more thank yous and i love yous than ever before.
So while james Thomas settles into the cell where he will spend the rest of his life, wondering what we will do to fight back, we will love back. We will go to a park this afternoon and play soccer, we will go to the playground and restaurants and movie theatres of our city all weekend and all year.
He should know not only that he failed in his demented attempt to be the villain, but that batman didn’t have to leap off the screen to stop him, because we had a far more organized and powerful force than any superhero could ever have. even the twelve lives that he took, this nation will love so strongly and so deeply that we will ensure they get a lifetime full of love out of a life he tried to cut short. And the 59 lives we took back, will be so overrun with love that they will live their lives feeling blessed every day, and every one who ever meets them will pass on in an instant a love they never knew they earned but we will never let them forget. in a movie theatre in aurora 50 years from now, one of last nights survivors will be waiting in the popcorn line and mention that he was in theatre 9 on that terrible summer night in 2012. And inexplicably, with an arm full of popcorn, a total stranger will reach out and give that old man a huge hug and say, i’m so glad you made it. Love back. We’ve already won.
Reply
Incredible.
So beautiful and touching. Thank you for sharing again…and thank you to your dear friend, and your Senator from CO.
That really is Incredibly Poignant…and Helpful!
Thx Cindy~
Beautifully expressed by that state senator. I noticed something today but didn’t notice I was noticing till it kept happening. We are driving back home to Il. from a fam get-together in Ct.—-in Maumee, Oh. for the night for anyone keeping track 🙂 But I started “noticing” all kinds of kindnesses and smiles and extra courtesies everywhere we interacted with the public today—–at lunch, at rest stops, at gas stations etc. After about 3 or 4 pleasant surprises, I said to mr. dotster, “Wow, people really are nice and friendly today. One woman in the restroom even said she liked my top.” And then I wondered if it was a little bit of that coming together. I think we’re “loving back”.
I know you are right. That is what has to happen, and will.
I’m glad you brought it over. It was a much needed reminder to me today to look at the good instead of the bad.
A local report about Obama’s arrival in Denver
http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_21133479/aurora-theater-shooting-president-obama-colorado
Thx edwina..
“There was a light moment when the president encouraged Chief Oates to join in his car, which the chief did after a bit of prodding”
That’s our President..
I know, I watched that interaction live between the police chief and the president who was obviously encouraging him to ride with him and the chief was acting all modest and unassuming that the president wanted his company. I read elsewhere that the chief was effusive in praising the president’s trip to Aurora and how much that would mean to the families of the victims.
So, the spineless House and even the Senate are not calling in any Bankers, to talk to them about the Libor Scandal! But do you know who they are holding a Hearing on?
Geithner!
You have got to be kidding me? The freaking Congress, are trying to pin this on Geithner, but not the Bankers???
🙂 Perfect.
A report from Aurora-
http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Obama-offers-comfort-after-Colorado-shooting-3725920.php
Pres. Obama will speak LIVE in Aurora, CO at 7:30PM ET.
I’m watching MSNBC and the prosecutor is certain with the evidence gotten that they will get a conviction. They’re not saying much about what that evidence is, but I will wait to hear further details when the case goes to court.
Is there a link to the President speaking at 7:30 EST/ That’s about 15 minutes from now…
C-span is covering it.
I know CNN and MSNBC are showing it LIVE.
It’ll be live on CNN television but I am not seeing any links there for computer viewing
WH.gov showing it too..they said 7:35pm
Thanks, df.
http://blog.livenewschat.tv/rockinroosters/
That’s alright. They need him now more than we need to hear him speak.
CNN, MSNBC, and C-SPAN will air Pres. Obama’s remarks LIVE.
C-SPAN has online coverage: http://www.c-span.org/Events/President-Obama-Visits-Family-Members-of-Colorado-Shooting-Victims/10737432541/
Thanks ut for the info and links 🙂
Thanks UT for keeping us posted with these amazing tweets. They have opened the floodgates and it feels good to let the tears flow. Knowing that President Obama is in Aurora, Colorado meeting with the families and first responders is a tremendous source of comfort to me. President Obama represents all Americans and we are in good hands. He is just good inside.
I was just reading about the young man from my town who was one of the victims in Co. He was 27 and was in the Navy stationed in Aurora. Of course, the family and his friends in the community are devastated. They mentioned that he was always one who stood up for his beliefs. He was involved in the school play The Laramie Project about the Matthew Shepherd murder case. There was some ignorant anger in the community that the school was doing that play and complaint letters were written to local paper. This young man wrote back and defended the decision and the importance of performing this play in this community, how there was still too much hate and lack of understanding and awareness about the abuse endured in the gay community. Devoted time to raising money for cancer research. A sad story of a life cut too short in such a senseless act—–one of many.
This is one of the victim’s brother:
Thanks meta…I also posted the same tweet not realizing you had posted it. This is incredibly moving. I’m glad that those families got a chance to meet with our President.
He copies everything the President does.
Soon, he will be Black! You watch?
Jovie, you are a hoot! 🙂
If you check my TL, this tweet has generated some constructive, though sharp-edged dialogue pointed @MikeBloomberg … hopefully, he hasn’t already blocked all of us because he actually has the personal wealth to make an enormous difference if he used a chunk of it to counter the NRA, big time.
Chief sponsor of Arizona’s anti-immigration blames gun control and the people who were shot for the Aurora massacre.
-/
I think this Guy might be Satan!
No, just a bigoted, hate-filled human …
He’s an idiot. No one here listens to Russell Pearce anymore….he is trying to make himself relevant. He’s a sad pathetic creature.
It’s a little weird for me since I work in a hospital seeing news crews ans cameras in the hospital rooms with some victims in Colorado. Is it only CNN that’s going into hospital rooms? I’m actually surprised the hosptial(s) allowed it even under the circumstances.
CNN is there because our President will be giving his remarks directly from the hospital room, so other cameras will be there also.
I am not talking about the President speaking. Read what I said. CNN have interviews with victims lying in the hospital rooms in hospital beds. I’m not talking about the ones outside. As I said, I work in a hospitalj and hospitals tend to NOT like camera crews within the walls of the hosptial outside of main lobbies and such. The interviews I’ve seen on CNN literally have Don Lemon siting next to the IV and the victims bedside and that is not normally done in hospitals.
Good point, that is unusual.
I’m and MD, so I understand all the reasons for your statement, in addition to the fact that you work in a hospital.
That said, one of the consistent pleas has been to bring the focus where it should be – on the victims and their families – and not the shooter and the idiots who blather endlessly about him. In that regard, I think the hospital administration and medical staff are doing something very important from a healing and empathetic perspective in bringing everyone into the lives of these patients. And, I’m sure it was discussed with each patient and family member before any cameras or personnel appeared on the ward.
Thank you for your concern!
I agree with you that the hospital most certainly consulted the families, but I wasn’t really “concerned” about it, just making a observation that a co-worker and I in the lab were discussing today.
Freaking awesome. Pres. Obama is keeping yet another one of is promises. It’s so wonderful to have a leader who does what he says.
Real Amercian’s don’t care about Afghanistan, silly.
Could be a while
No surprise to us, is it LOL, that he’s totally engrossed in comforting each and everyone of them. Such a fine person, but then everyone here knows that!!!
Poor Knoller being inconceivably by a grieving President. WHERE ARE OBAMA’S PRIORITIES?!?! He should be at the media’s beck and call!
WOW. Don’t know how inconceivably worked its way in there.
Poor Knoller being inconvenienced by a grieving President. WHERE ARE OBAMA’S PRIORITIES?!?! He should be at the media’s beck and call!
Monday Jul. 23, 2012
Previous
Next
2:25 PM
Obama departs San Francisco, California en route Reno, Nevada.
3:10 PM
Obama arrives in Reno, Nevada.
3:35 PM
Obama delivers remarks at the 113th National Convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
5:00 PM
Obama departs Reno, Nevada en route Oakland, California.
5:50 PM
Obama arrives in Oakland, California.
6:20 PM
Obama attends a campaign event at the Scottish Rite Center, Oakland, California.
8:35 PM
Obama delivers remarks at a campaign event.
10:55 PM
Obama delivers remarks at a campaign event.
What the h is wrong with Chuck Todd? Saying that Obama’s ads questioning Bain is “Swift Boating” Romney. Todd is an idiot partisan, does not belong on the public airwaves.
Chuck Todd should be reporting on the fact that Mitt Romney is basing his entire campaign on falsehoods. His very first ad was deceptive and he has been lying non stop since then. If his lips are moving, he is lying. Is this not a concern for Churck Todd? I thought the first principle of journalism was to tell the truth. Mitt Romney has contempt for the media and the voters. Why isn’t Chuck Todd outraged about that? And by the way Chuck if you want to see the swiftboating that Mitt Romney has been doing check out this link:
Chronicling Mitt’s Mendacity, Vol. XXVI
http://maddowblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/20/12859512-chronicling-mitts-mendacity-vol-xxvi?lite
UpchuckToad is a slimey waterboy for the gopropaganda machine. I wonder is he thinks he can get away with this FOREVER?
I’ve been #SwiftTruthing upchuck Todd relentlessly …
Reading RNC emails trying to get sympathy votes from the media.
It’s all tactics from the Robney camp. Expect this will be the subject line, for sometime!
Upchuck Toad wants to be Romney’s Press Secretary. Sorry Toad that ain’t happening because Mittens won’t be Presdient.
PBO is coming on in a few…press pool being assembled in room
LOL 😀 😀 😀 😀 And, so true!!!!
Simply brilliant!
Starting on CBS and Cpans
White House Live will stream has been streaming with a waiting message, as well …
White House now live …
watching on ABC, totally about shooter. Yuck.
Now onto the victims, finally.
He’s on
Yes he is – I’m on WH.GOV
On a day of so much sadness, I hug my niece that much closer!
Thank you Mr. President for being so strong for so many…..
I feel you, pinkbunny92. My grandniece (14) from Washington, DC is visiting with me and her auttie this Summer. On Thursday I took her to see the cartoon movie, “Ice Age….” I actually hadn’t been to the movies for six years. The Theater was full of kids of all ages, but especially teenagers, accompanied by their parents. I was really surprised that I actually enjoyed the movie. Then I woke up the next day to the horrible news of what happened at the theater in Aurora, Colorado. I just couldn’t help thinking what would I have done if something happened to my grandniece. How would I face my niece and my sister? The President is right: “Life is very precious.” It’s also not guaranteed. What really matters is the love and care we show our family, friends and neighbors.
This country is truly blessed for having such a strong, humane and caring leader who refuses to be mired into pettiness.
Ok! Now i am crying!! Seriously!
The story of Allie (sp?) & Stephanie (sp?) is remarkable in so many ways and he, once again, demonstrates his brilliance as a leader and his humanity by concluding with that story of courage, persistence, and deep love.
I’m so damned glad he went. Spoken from the heart. I was completely enraptured by Stephanie and her friend’s story. I’m glad he told it.
You got that right! I hope Chips can get that YouTube and make it go viral. It deserves to be told.
Those remarks were poignant and comforting. Just what the country needed. But I can’t help but think of President Obama’s mother Stanley Ann Dunham right now. She instilled in him the importance of empathy. President Obama has said that what is best in him he owes to his mother. I could not be more proud of our president. He is a remarkable human being.
Stanley Dunham, Obama discusses his mother
Notice how well PBO can relate a real story, compassionately and with expression, to all listening. Those who do not think or feel that he should be our CIC has no insight nor morality. Just my opinion, and I stand by that.
For the people in the military, President Obama must be an excellent CIC! He deeply cares for the men and women in uniform. He has ben resolute and disciplined in the military decisions he has made. He cares deeply about the men and women of the armed forces. He has that rare ability of being able to deeply empathize with people in pain, and especially people who have lost their loved ones. I’ve heard him say often that one the most difficult decisions he has faced as president is sending young people to war. For him the men and women in uniform are not just cogs in the military machine. They are sons and daughters, husbands and wives, mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, grandchildren and other relatives, and friends and neighbors. I am just so grateful that the Obamas and Bidens have championed the importance of treating the men and women we send to war as part of families. Their hardships and suffering — especially when it comes to loss of life and severe injuries — affects not just them but also their families.
I am not in the military; so President Obama is not my CIC. He is simply my President. I am, however, thankful that he is the kind of President who inspires me to transcend my individual selfishness and realize that all of us are mutually connected. It’s in moments of great tragedies, like this one, that we all need the kind of inspiring and compassionate leadership that President Obama displays.
Beautiful, consoling, uplifting words from President Obama. He is exactly the right person to be speaking those words, brings the very best to every occasion. Husband just said there has never been a president like this, who can speak like that, who is so impressive in every kind of circumstance.
Consoler-in-Chief is so appropriate! This President is always so on point, I believe, because he is always sincere. There is no acting there. I really do believe he feels our pain. This #44th presidency has been a real roller coaster ride to date, with way more bumps that straight stretches, yet President Obama continues to meet each aspect of the ride with grace, calm, compassion, passion, and indeed with a wide range of feelings and actions, than I could have imagined going in. God bless and continue to protect and guide you, Mr. President! You are just what the world needs at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave right now and in the years to come.
+gazillion.
Everyday I am more thankful that Barack Obama is President of the United States.
Wow, tweets from press expressing emotion at POTUS’ speech.
NBC and CNN:
Reuters:
That’s because he is a good Person and they know it! Those Families deserve their stories to be told, rather than Bloomberg running on every show.
For real!
Exactly. They can’t possibly witness PBO and not see a kind-hearted and deeply empathetic soul.
Yes, Indeed! This is the time to focus on grieving families.
I’m so glad our President went to spend time with the people, and let them know they we care America care, and they are in our prayers. So proud this man is our President.
Damn!!!! 30+Million fine for Penn State!!!
“AliVelshi
JUST IN: CNN has learned Penn State will be fined $30+ million as part of penalties expected to be announced by the NCAA on Mon ”
still not enough….for the cover up
New post everyone:
http://theobamadiary.com/2012/07/22/ali-stephanie/
Transcript-
http://www.politico.com/politico44/whiteboard/2012/7/Obama_in_Colorado_7_22.html