Mediaite: …. it’s probably impossible to have a military homecoming video that isn’t wonderful, but this one’s a little different. In it, the returning soldier is greeted by his enormous dog who welcomes him with all the excitement one would normally expect from the more human members of the family.
… the family describes the video like so: “After a long 9 months apart, our dog, Emmitt Thunderpaws, is REALLY HAPPY to see his favorite person again! He smelled him in the house and then ran outside to greet him. Dogs are awesome :)”
IOL: US First Lady Michelle Obama met South Africa’s first black president Nelson Mandela at his home Tuesday, in a rare visit with the ageing icon whose legacy frames much of her journey here.
The meeting with the 92-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner was discreetly arranged after Obama and her daughters visited archives chronicling some of his 27 years as a political prisoner.
At the Mandela Foundation, his wife Graca Machel guided Obama, her mother, and her daughters Malia and Sasha through an exhibit of his personal photographs and journals, in which he meticulously drafted letters but also kept more mundane notes on his weight and daily routine.
“After leaving here, she proceeded to make a brief courtesy call on former president Mandela,” said Achmat Dangor, the head of the foundation, calling the first lady “a lovely woman without any airs”.
Their visit added to the symbolism surrounding Obama’s journey, with America’s first black family in the White House meeting South Africa’s first black president. President Barack Obama has called the anti-apartheid struggle his first political cause, and US officials say he has had periodic telephone contact with Mandela, who led the struggle against white-minority rule. The two men met in 2006 when then-senator Obama toured Africa. A simple cell-phone picture of that meeting is now in Mandela’s office, aides to the first lady said.
Mandela welcomed her entire family into his home, including a niece and nephew travelling with them. Such visits are increasingly rare. Mandela, who turns 92 next month, has received few guests since he was hospitalised with an acute respiratory infection in January.
Mandela’s legacy in the battle for South African democracy defines much of Obama’s visit. After leaving his home in the leafy Houghton neighbourhood, they travelled to the Apartheid Museum, which chronicles the rise and fall of white rule.
Ireland’s World Boxing Champion Katie Taylor meets President Obama and First Lady Michelle in Dublin, May 23 – the photo appeared on the front page of the Irish Independent on Wednesday and was scanned and posted here
Collegekay: “When I met him last Feb., 2010, I was holding to his hand not letting go — SS told me to let go (but he was still holding to me. I was melting)”
President Barack Obama greets at the front door of the Oval Office the student finalists of the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE) National Youth Entrepreneurship Challenge, Oct. 12, 2010. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
The Obama Diary 
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