Blissful Blogs

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A Very Quick Housekeeping Note

2013 on TOD – note (‘Even’) Amk has 18,656 TOD friends in India

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Updated, didn’t want flippin’ Ireland last on the mini-list:

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It’s been a gobsmacking journey so far, we’re now closing in on a ridiculous 22 million hits – all of them down to me, needless to say, the mindboggling increase in traffic absolutely nothing to do with UT, LL, LP, Zizi and the rest of the gang.

(True, the post stats suggest otherwise, but: hush now).

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Any way, with this very lovely traffic has come a whole bunch of new visitors, several in the last few days, which is fantastic – but please understand that in an attempt to keep out the trolls – and they are many – your comments won’t appear here automatically if you’re a first time visitor.

Have a look here to see how you can comment.

Best advice: sign in with your Twitter account – but if you don’t have one, check that link.

If your account is @BarackObama, you’re good.

Now, chat away – and thank you all, you human cheesy puffs.

Rise and Shine: The Week in Images (And a Word or Two)

@petesouza: President Obama inside a Ford truck following his speech in KC

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Today:

5:0 EDT: President Obama delivers remarks at a memorial for victims of the Navy Yard shooting; First Lady Michelle Obama also attends

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Monday * Tuesday * Wednesday * Thursday * Friday * Saturday

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Monday

@PeteSouza: Lisa Monaco briefs Pres Obama on the shootings today at the Wash Navy Yard

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When will it be enough? – by Liberal Librarian

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President Obama receives an update on the Washington Navy Yard shootings investigation from FBI Director James Comey, left, and Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr. in the Oval Office (Pete Souza)

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Tuesday

by Jacqueline OBoomer

There sits a building, painted white
It glimmers in the bright sunlight
Built by strong, dark hands, without a choice
Built to house a leader, so we’d all have a voice

There sits a building, painted white
It shimmers in the soft twilight
Shadowing strong, dark hands taking their rest
Ghosts of our democracy, who gave it their best

There sits a building, painted white
It dims its lights, overnight
Built by slaves, who also served inside
Where none thought they should ever reside

There sits a building, painted white
We tip our hats to it, day and night
Built by slaves, who’d hang their heads to pray
A man with strong, dark hands would live there someday

There sits a building, painted white
I dare to say it is still quite the sight
For a still young country, yet to fully repent
But now shining light on why their knees were bent

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Today POTUS called Pauline Beck to tell her the home care rule has been finalized—in 07’ he took a walk in her shoes http://t.co/Jq0tuYSXiX

— Valerie Jarrett (@vj44) September 17, 2013

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Wednesday

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Inside the Oval Office: President Obama meets with the @BGCA_Clubs 2013 Youth of the Year finalists —> pic.twitter.com/yw4EqDrCj0

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) September 18, 2013

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More adventures in our failed media experiment: Part 1,382 – by Liberal Librarian

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Thank You For Visiting, Africa!

Love this, lots of visitors to TOD from Africa in the last week.

Still not a single visitor from, most notably, Greenland, though. 😦

A Shiny New Blog Roll

Morning/afternoon/evening all.

You might possibly have spotted – and you might not – a shiny new blog roll link in the sidebar on the right. It’s still a work in progress, but I just thought it might be handier to have a dedicated page of links to sites we love, rather than having them half way down the page in the sidebar.

Any way, just wanted to ask you all if you have any suggestions for links I should add to the list? Non-Firebagger sites, needless to say, and whatever other newsie places you think are worth including.

Thank you!

Meanwhile, ginormous thanks to UT, LL and LovelyPlains for their splendiferous posts today.

Now, chat away.

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PS This is incredible…..

 

The World We Share

* Visitors to the blog in the last 30 days *

I always smile when I get beautiful messages/emails from ‘non-Americans’ who visit here and apologize for their English – more often than not, their English is considerably better than mine.

I’ve got a whole bunch of these emails the last few days – and I promise I will get around to replying to them all when this craziness is over.

Almost all say they just lurk here and don’t comment, mainly because they think their English isn’t good enough. Now, that’s crazy.

But they all say the same: they are wishing President Obama all the very best, and are praying – to whatever higher power they worship – for his success tonight.

I’m not, for a minute, claiming everyone on the list above is a PBO supporter, but I suspect most of them are – because they know how catastrophic a Romney presidency would be for the world we share.

So, to all those citizens of the world who have got in touch: thank you so much.

Your good wishes are hugely appreciated.

Hey, Hello World!

Blog stats – crikey: hello Trinidad, Netherlands, Egypt, Spain, Switzerland (say hi to Mitt’s bank accounts) and Nigeria, and all those minor countries at the top of the list.

The Universe for Obama!

This Blog Needs You!

Morning/afternoon/evening everyone.

I keep meaning to say that if any of the regulars here ever want something posted on the blog (ie on the ‘front page’, not just in the comments), please let me know – I’m always completely thrilled to get your contributions (and it gives me a delightful break from hearing the sound of my own voice….. zzzzzzz).

The only rule – needless to say – is that it has to be PBO-related. It can’t, for example, be 500 words on how majestic cheesy puffs are….

…. which they are …

….. or are how glorious a sporty legend Wayne Rooney is……

…. which he is – especially after his hair started magically re-growing:

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… and it can’t be libelous – eg you can’t say that Cenk Uygur is a fraudulent piece of shit making a living from being a ‘progressive’ fake, when he’s never actually strayed from his extreme right-wing Republican roots and remains the loathsome turd that he always was and continues to do his damndest to persuade liberals not to support PBO.

We can’t have that class of defamation here.

So, if you have something PBO-related that you want to say, contact me – immediately.

Oh, another thing!

If any of you are up for getting involved in helping run the blog between now and November, I will welcome your assistance with a hug so tight you’ll most probably pass out.

I’ll be able to look after things most days, but there’ll be a few days here and there – due to work or traveling – when it will be tricky, so if you have any interest in helping out please email me at:

theobamadiary@gmail.com

This request is not, alas, open to Willard supporters – I don’t want the blog supporting the individual mandate one day, and opposing it the next. Supporting a woman’s right to choose one day, and opposing it the next. Supporting immigration reform one day, and opposing it the next. Supporting gun control one day, and opposing it the next…….. You get the drift.

Thanks everyone 😉

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Coming up:

Tuesday: The President will be at Camp David.

Wednesday: The President returns to Washington and, with the First Lady, will celebrate the Fourth of July by hosting members of the military and their families for an Independence Day celebration with a barbeque, concert and a view of fireworks on the South Lawn. Staff and their families from throughout the Administration will also attend this event for the concert and fireworks viewing.

Thursday and Friday: The President will travel to Ohio and Pennsylvania for a campaign bus tour.

on cloud nine

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You unfortunate people must dread when the blog hits the next million because it usually means you being pinned against a wall and threatened, in a particularly menacing kind of way, unless you mark the occasion by donating $$s to Obama/Biden 2012…. when $$s are in short enough supply and you donate already.

But …… and it’s a HUGE but ….. if you can – and if you’d like – maybe you could donate $9 today, just to kick-start our all-night celebrations? (UTAustinLiberal will bring the champagne later, and amk has promised tasty treats. VC will sing, but don’t let that put you off).

Anyone who donates more than $9 will get a photo of Newt in his mankini sent to them by email.

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This is the link

Again, if I show up as a lady called Barb, or as an employee of a chap in Alabama, that’s not me (I’ve never even been to Alabama) …. the gremlins are still playing with my OFA account, they’re probably Willard supporters.

Absolutely no worries if you can’t donate right now, or if you already donate to another fundraiser – the $$s are all going to the same place.

Nine million thanks everyone 😉

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PS I am actually being a bit presumptuous – we’re only on 8,995,887 hits as we speak, and it could be that we won’t hit 9 million until Malia is being sworn in as President. But just in case we hit the mark in the next hour or three…..

help?

A gazillion thanks to those of you who contacted me recently about a ‘troll’ in our midst, you know who you are – thank you again. The troll won’t be back.

We should be honored, there’s been a pretty major attempt in the last few weeks by trolls (of the Tea and Firebagger variety) to get on the site – they post really smart stuff like:

“I just love President Obama, he’s amazing …. but a right wing friend of mine just emailed me stuff that suggests he’s an America-hating (Fox link), muslin, communist (Fox link), Nazi, socialist (Fox link), evil, satanic (Fox link), fascist who eats white babies (Fox link) and spits them out on the floor, like they’re chewed tobacco – and Michelle is like totally a KGB spy! (Fox link) Please help me reply to my friend with the truth.”

Seriously trolls, you gotta do waaaaaaay better than that.

We’ll get lots more of this cringeworthy crap in the months ahead, so because I don’t have the chance to read all the comments every day, I’d really appreciate if you helped me out by alerting me to this silliness:

So, please email me at theobamadiary@gmail.com if you think you spot one of these creatures.

It usually takes me (at least) a week to reply, but bear with me – I’ll get there in the end!

I just want to keep this blog free of nasty nutjobs, so if you can help ….  thank you 😉