Chat On

Night Owl Chat: The Neil Young Conversion

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So, I never liked Neil Young. Not that I knew a whole lot about his music, but when I shared a room with my older sister in my lickel days, she placed a large poster of him over my bed, on my sacred side of the room, and I resented his hairy head thereafter.

The Week in Toons

Chat Away

On This Day: President Barack Obama greets the crowd after arriving for a campaign stop at Loudoun County High School in Leesburg, Virginia, Aug. 2, 2012

‘Do Palestinians Really Exist?’ / ‘Jewish People Disinherited of Pity’

Dean Obeidallah (Daily Beast): Do Palestinians Really Exist?

We’re not all terrorists, we’re not “cockroaches,” and we’re certainly not an “invented” people. What you don’t know about Palestinians.

Palestine. My late father, Abdul Musa Obeidallah, was born there in the 1930s. When I say Palestine, that’s not a political statement. It’s just a statement of fact. When he was born, there was no state of Israel. There was no Hamas. No PLO. There were just people of different faiths living together on the same small piece of land called Palestine.

….. Most of my Palestinian ancestors lived and died within a few miles of where they were born. That would likely have been my father’s path as well. But as we are all keenly aware, fate had far different plans.

I share this story because I think that lost in the current Gaza conflict is the story of the Palestinians as a people. Instead, they’ve been continually defined as being the “bad” part of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They’ve been broadly labeled as terrorists or seen as acceptable losses. Some Israeli leaders have alleged Palestinians don’t exist, or called them “cockroaches,” “crocodiles,” or a “cancer.”….

….. when I was about 9 years old in the late 1970s, my teacher [in New Jersey] asked about the ethnicity of each student so she could pin it on a map of the world. When she came to me, she was stumped—she didn’t know much about Palestinians, and of course she couldn’t find it on the map since it wasn’t there….

Later that night, I relayed that story to my father and asked him: “Where is Palestine?” He paused for a moment as he gathered his thoughts. He then touched his heart and head and responded: “In here.”….

Full post here

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A couple of articles I thought were worth posting, the one above is as poignant and beautiful as I’ve ever read about Palestine, its history and its people – Obeidallah’s memory of his teacher not being able to find Palestine on the map, and his father’s reaction, beyond heartbreaking.

Rise and Shine: The Week at TOD

@petesouza: Pres Obama talking to a youngster outside Arthur Bryant’s BBQ tonight in KC

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All the week’s White House videos here

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Sunday

Early Bird Chat • • • Rise and Shine: The Week At TOD

10 Years Ago Tonight • • • Chat On: Electric Ladyland

Readout of the President’s Call with PM Netanyahu • • • Chat On

Chat Away: Psychedelic Rock

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Monday

Early Bird Chat • • • Rise and Shine

ObamaCare Works – And Kentucky Is Proof

President Obama Awards the 2013 National Medal of Arts and Humanities

The Fire Next Time • • • The President’s Day • • • A Tweet Or Two

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Tuesday

Early Bird Chat • • • Rise and Shine

First Lady Michelle Obama Presents The Most Important Meal Of The Day

President Obama Delivers a Statement on Ukraine

A Tweet Or Two • • • Chat Away

Welcome to Kansas City, Mr President

Night Owl Chat: What The World Needs Now Is FLASH MOBS

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Early Bird Chat

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MoooOOOooorning – Happy Saturday!