Thank You!

Holy smokes, what a very lovely thing the post below was to wake up to!

Huuuuuuuuuuuuuuuge thank yous to the incredibly awesome UT, who now even speaks Irish, the one-of-a-kind poet that is VC, and the cake-maker supreme Meta – and to you all for the completely beautiful comments that made me go all blushy.

UT is doing today’s R&S while I have a cheesy puff birthday breakfast, but I’ll be in and out all day to make sure you’re behaving. Huh.

Love ya all!!!!

PS Seriously, I can’t believe I’m 21!

A Whole Bunch of Thank Yous

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So, I wake up this morning and there’s a perfect post from Lovely Plains (@DaRiverZkind) ….. and then I come back after a bit and there’s another perfect one from Amk (@amk4obama), despite him being Amk …… and after that Liberal Librarian (@Lib_Librarian) pops up with his usual dollop of brilliance, despite him being a Chelsea supporter.

And then I check my email and there are a bunch more people saying ‘I’m ready to go!’

So, I’m thinking: you people – yes, YOU people! – are ridiculously lovely. And wonderful. And gorgeous. And magnificent. And ….  okay, okay, I’ll stop.

I’m not going to gush here, and publicly embarrass people, and get all mushy about what blissful human beings you are, and….

But you are all BLISSFUL human beings!

Lovely Plains, Amk and Liberal Librarian – thank you so much for today.

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I’ll be back, in, eh, full swing, on Sunday morning – and the timing has absolutely NOTHING to do with it being St Patrick’s Day and all that tacky, silly, stupid nonsense that you will never, ever, see here

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(Some day, when I’ve recovered, I will tell you about my ordeal with this song on the 2009 Inauguration Day)

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Until then, I’ll be asking our awesome noobies to do their very wonderful thing.

Meanwhile…..

Love ya.

Thank you!

Okay, just got back to my email after a few hours and found a bunch of very lovely people willing to help out with the site – I honestly cannot thank you enough. I will get around to replying to everyone and setting something up in the next day or two, we need to get this blog back to work!

Again, thank you to everyone for being so kind, I just needed a bit of a break to rinse the hate out of my hair and recharge!

Love ya all – chat away.

‘thank you’

Distriction.com: Stephon stood just a few feet away from Barack Obama. The president, busy shaking hands, looked right at him. “It was like he was waiting for me to say something,” he said later.

So the 26-year-old Prince George’s Community College student took his cue and spoke to President Obama in his first language: American Sign Language. “I am proud of you,” Stephon signed. The president, almost involuntary, instinctively, immediately signed back.

“Thank you,” Obama replied.

This is one of those moments that humanize the office of the presidency…..

Stephon: “The moment I will never forget was when he looked at me. He gave me a chance to talk to him. It was like he was waiting for me to say something. I took the moment and signed “I am proud of you,” and his response was “Thank u” in sign language back! Oh my gosh! I was like wow! He understood me after I said I was proud of him. It was so amazing…I was just speechless. Right after he thanked me, he smiled at another deaf lady who signed “I love you.” When I shook his hand it did not feel like he was superior to me. He was just a humble man. I am just impressed by him and know that he will have my vote and he will win second term without a doubt. Yeah, I feel safe to have him for another term.”

More here

Visit Stephon’s YouTube channel here

Thank you Meta

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Thanks again Meta

a word from diane

From Diane (from this comment):

Hi TODers,

I have been a daily lurker here for a long time. So long in fact that I feel that I know most of you. I never had any intentions to actually post a message, but something has been rolling around in my brain for several days and I can’t shake it.

I have been deeply disturbed by the book trashing Michelle Obama. I KNOW that FLOTUS is a strong and confident woman, and I am sure she considers the source and has moved on. However, I put myself in her shoes and I am sure some of these lies must sting. She has worked her heart out for all of us for three years, not counting the grueling campaign to the WH. Is it too much to ask to be treated with respect she has earned and certainly deserves?

So in honor of her, and to assure her that I have her back and that she has my respect and love, I am donating money to the campaign in increments of $24.00 from now on. This $24.00 is the same number of minutes that Jodi Kanter actually spent at the WH. I am planning to send a different friend a card with each $24 donation explaining that this is my personal monetary message of support for the first lady. I will ask each friend to also send a $24 donation and refrain from buying the book (the approximate value of a hard cover book).

I am hoping that other people will also do the same. For each $24 donation Michelle will know that there are many who have her back, and are taking the money Jodi Kantor thought to received and sending it were it truly belongs. Imagine the impact if suddenly $24 donations started pouring in from woman who also encouraged their friends to do the same. It is just a thought and I am doing it, but for some reason I felt I had to share this to see if others here felt the same.

Now that I have gotten that off of my mind, I just want to say how much I love this place and all of you. I may not post again, but I am learning loads from you and I am always here reading your news.

happy thanksgiving

Hope you and your loved ones have a perfect day tomorrow

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President Barack Obama makes Thanksgiving Day phone calls to U.S. troops from the Oval Office, Nov. 24, 2011 (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

rise and shine

President Obama walks toward Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base, Oct. 24. The President is heading on a three-day trip to the West Coast

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Reuters: President Barack Obama this week will announce a series of actions to help the economy that will not require congressional approval, including an initiative to make it easier for homeowners to refinance their mortgages, according to a White House official.

…. The first of the initiatives will be unveiled during Obama’s three-day trip to western states beginning Monday. He will discuss the changes in mortgage rules at a stop in Nevada, which has one of the hardest-hit housing markets in the country.

The Obama administration has been working with the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to find ways to make it easier for borrowers to switch to cheaper loans even if they have little to no equity in their homes.

…. In Denver Wednesday, Obama will announce a student loan initiative.

“The only way we can truly attack our economic challenges is with bold, bipartisan action in Congress,” White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer told The New York Times. “The president will continue to pressure Congressional Republicans to put country before party and pass the American Jobs Act, but he believes we cannot wait, so he will act where they won’t.”

Full article here

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Steve Benen: It’s been about five months since the White House took the extraordinary step of unveiling President Obama’s long-form birth certificate, ending the “Birther” conspiracy theory once and for all. With the questions answered, unhinged conservatives were forced to move on to other areas of nonsense.

Well, most of them, anyway:

New comments by Rick Perry in Parade magazine have revived the issue of whether the Texas governor believes that President Obama was born in the United States.

…..I suspect all of this should, in fact, be taken at face value – he had dinner with a nutty conspiracy theorist; they chatted about Trump’s silly ideas; Perry found the nonsense persuasive; and when asked about it, the governor said what he was thinking.

There’s no 11-dimensional chess here; Perry just isn’t terribly bright.

Full post here

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GOPolitico: President Barack Obama has a few very funny people on his side. Will Ferrell was honored with the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor at the Kennedy Center on Sunday night, and many of the comedians on the red carpet had nothing but good things to say about the president.

Ferrell said that he “most definitely” wants Obama to win another term …. he told POLITICO that Obama has faced some unprecedented challenges. “Every president has a hard job but I think his is times ten,” Ferrell said, adding that he likes that Obama “thinks before he speaks.”

…. Obama is doing a “great job,” said Tim Meadows, another former “SNL” cast member. “It’s easy for white liberals to turn their backs on Obama,” he said, complaining that many people who used to support the president have jumped ship. “I don’t like how people are so wishy-washy,” he said.

Not in the wishy-washy category: Comedian Jack Black.  “There’s a lot of haters out there, but I’m not one of them,” he said, declaring: “Obama all the way.”

Thanks Tulips & Donna Dem

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Irish Central: I think now would be an appropriate time to say thank you to President Barack Obama.

In comparison to his immediate predecessor his success in bringing the world’s most wanted terrorists and dictators to justice has been nothing short of remarkable.

….. Obama has rid the world of the scourge of Osama bin Laden, Anwar al-Awlaki and Moammar Qaddafi. And all of this was accomplished within six months: if Obama were a Republican, they’d be commissioning bronze statues by now.

You know they won’t say it now or ever, so let’s say it for them: thank you President Obama for making the world and the United States safer.

Full post here

Thank you globalcitizenlinda

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Dallas News: As Mitt Romney campaigns for the White House, his Mexican cousins and supporters in this Mormon community would like to weigh in on some of the most contentious issues of the campaign: immigration, border security and religion.

Romney has more than 20 distant relatives going back three generations and a legion of supporters living in this region where his father, George, was born – a sanctuary colony in the northern state of Chihuahua originally established by polygamists from Utah led by Mitt Romney’s great-grandfather Miles Park Romney. Mitt Romney has never set foot in the region, his relatives say, but they are closely following the campaign for the Republican nomination, sometimes a bit uncomfortably.

For one thing, Romney has said that, if elected, he’d deport illegal immigrants within 90 days, build a border fence and have enough guards to secure it … These are positions with which the Romneys south of the border don’t entirely agree.

“Let’s get real. Sealing the border is a joke, it’s senseless,” said Brandon Romney, 33, a chili farmer and the local football coach….

…. Cousin Michael Romney … is “pretty sure” he will support Mitt Romney but wants to first understand his economic plan and vision for Mexico. “I don’t really understand what his policy is,” he said. “Addressing illegal immigration and Mexico have to be top priorities.”

….Mitt Romney, as the son of an American born in Mexico, is entitled to dual citizenship under Mexican law.

…. “I certainly hope his father’s Mexican background would be a positive sign for better relations and a deeper understanding of issues between the United States and Mexico,” said Jeffrey Jones, a Mormon and former Mexican senator. “I’m disappointed that we haven’t seen that side of Mitt Romney. We need solutions by working together because the United States needs Mexico very seriously and Mexico needs the United States badly.”

Full article here

Thank you proudmemberofglobalzero

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Just found a YouTube video of Patrick Murphy’s appearance on Hardball last week (my video wasn’t great) – worth listening to him again:

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iVillage

Thanks Meta

change

US veteran Vicki Wagner waits for the President outside a Los Angeles fundraiser event holding a sign thanking him for the lifting of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy, September 26

libya, wednesday

Thank you Kasai

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NowLebanon: The apparent downfall of Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi will be an enormous foreign policy victory and vindication for US President Barack Obama.

His campaign of a limited military engagement in Libya, along with NATO and the Gulf Cooperation Council states, was never popular. From the outset it was attacked on all sides as either too much or too little, misguided and unlikely to succeed. It was even said that the intervention would cost more lives in Libya than it would save and harm rather than promote the interests of the United States.

Now it seems certain that Obama can justifiably claim to have made the right decision. He can add Qaddafi’s scalp to that of slain Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. Unless Libya degenerates into total anarchy over the next 12 months, Obama will be virtually untouchable on foreign policy issues….

The limited engagement in Libya also looks like powerful prima facie evidence that Obama’s approach of emphasizing multilateral alliances, proceeding cautiously and balancing interests with values produces better results than the aggressive and ideological unilateralism of the George W. Bush administration…..

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President Barack Obama talks on the phone with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, in Chilmark, Mass., Aug. 23. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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Joel Rubin: President Obama’s critics are on the verge of witnessing a third major Obama success in the Arab world in 2011.

First, longtime Egyptian strongman Hosni Mubarak was deposed after Obama refused to support him against the Egyptian people at the moment of truth.

Second, Osama bin Laden, America’s archenemy #1, was killed by Navy Seals on direct orders from Obama in a risky cross-border raid into Pakistan.

And now, Muammar Qadhafi is about to be knocked out of power by an international coalition in which Obama ensured that the U.S. played a leading team role.

It’s time for Obama’s neoconservative critics to acknowledge his leadership success on foreign policy, especially on Libya.

Why? Because Obama has done what his most ardent foreign policy critics have failed to do: he has ushered in a new era in the Arab world by supporting its organic democracy movements while also aggressively pursuing terrorists. This is foreign policy leadership, Obama style, and it works for American national security.

Why? Because unlike his harshest critics, Obama actually understands that you don’t promote democracy by invading other countries….

Why? Because the United States accomplished these successes and advanced our countries’ interests without either losing one American life or getting entangled in another Middle Eastern quagmire.

…. Obama’s leadership on Libya was aggressive, but unlike theirs, which called for American boots on the ground, was smart, realistic, and patient. A touch of humility and an understanding of the proper usage of American power is what is making this policy work and now the Libyan rebels, when finished, will own their victory.

There will certainly be tough days ahead for Libya; the dust is not yet settled on this drama. But it is clear that the rebels are in charge, that we are not stuck in a quagmire, and that the Arab revolutions will continue – all with the U.S. as an ally.

This is true leadership, Obama style, and it’s time for his critics to acknowledge his – and our – success.

Full post here (warning, it’s GOPolitico)

thank you!

Hey you lovely people – thank you so much for helping the blog reach its Obama/Biden 2012 fundraising target at barackobama.com – massively MASSIVELY appreciated! There are so many grassroots fundraising pages over there, just imagine what they’re raising when you combine the totals. It’s completely fantastic.

Rather than upping the target again, I’ve decided just to simplify things and direct anyone who wants to donate to Obama/Biden 2012 to the main donation page at barackobama.com (here) – I’ve update the link in the right sidebar, click the logo and it’ll take you there.

Thank you again everyone – sounds to me like you’re fired up and ready to go 😉