Yes!

Rather than add yet another ETA to yesterday's post, here's a new slice of beauty:

An anonymous black man on the “L” in Chicago put his own spin on it when he announced to a car full of strangers: “Rosa Parks sat down. Martin Luther King marched. Barack Obama ran. And my grandchildren will fly.”

History, today!

"This is your victory!" President Obama told us, and he is absolutely right. I am so proud of this country... so proud that people overcame those ridiculous lies and their racist fears to choose a man who stands for hope rather than fear. I literally felt that heart-swelling sensation in my chest. Still do! Yes, I cried when it was announced last night. It was a Great Day, and I'll always remember it.

ETA: A great little blogpost by Christopher Buckley

ETA: Tragically, it was not all good news today. California's Proposition 8 was approved, depriving same-sex couples of the rights that hetero couples enjoy. I can't understand this. The conservative argument against these loving, long-term relationships are based on religious dogma. Aren't we supposed to have a separation of Church and State? How are personal lives any business of the government? There's bad news from FL, AR, and AZ, too.

Portraits of Obama

Callie Shell has been taking photographs of Barack Obama for years. There are some really beautiful shots here, of his family, of the quiet moments between the flashbulbs and confetti. Keep clicking "show more images" - they just get better and better.

Obama clinches the nomination!

Yes! I'm so excited. I didn't think he'd be able to beat Hillary's money. I sure hope we can whip McCain too. Wanna help?

Just voted!

The PA Primary is today. We walked over to the elementary school and cast our votes for Ollama. Matt really hopes he chooses Al Packer* for a running mate. I snapped some evidence of spring on the way back. Actually, except for the ultra-determined road weed, they were all taken in our yard.

*Not a real person. Sorry.

We almost saw Obama

Heather, my superawesome friend from Seattle (she appears many times in the earlier episodes of this blog) came to visit. She arrived Thursday and we (Matt and I) swept her off to South Street for a cheesesteak at Jim's and a brief foray to Rosie's. Then Friday, Heather & I railed into Center City and explored the historical district. We intended to see our next President speak, but upon hearing that 15,000 others would probably be in line ahead of us, we opted out. Betsy Ross house (the flute player was hot), the Liberty Bell, Reading Market, Chinatown... we did it all.

We spent a rolicking half hour with a hand spindler, Ruth, chatting about fiber arts and Scottish history. She had the most adorable puppets made of her handspun. Her extensive fuzzy flock included a rabbit, a sheep, and even the Nessie, who sported fringed eyelids and a tartan kilt. We chatted with another lady who was wheel-spinning linen at the Betsy Ross house. She said we could have her job when we pried it out of her cold, dead hands.

We even hit East Market for some clothes. Yay for fun stuff in bigger sizes! Then Friendly's for dinner (she's never spent time on this coast so I wanted her to taste all the local color). More tomorrow...

Make the Right Choice

I think there's a very good chance that history will look back on this speech much as we look back on Dr. Martin Luther King's I have a Dream speech. I sure hope we have President Obama to lead us forward next year!

The Mother's Day Project

Ann Landre has organized a unique tribute to our troops. Hundreds of crafty girls around the nation are stitching the name of one woman lost in Iraq. The names will be sewn together into totes, which are designed to raise awareness in the general public as they are carried around town.

She says it best:

The [...] purpose of The Mother’s Day Project is to draw attention to the human cost of the Iraq War. While the parameters of the Project focus on women who have lost their lives serving as part of the Coalition forces in Iraq, it is not meant to exclude recognition for others who have lost their lives due to this war. Male soldiers, men, boys, girls, infants and Iraqi women have died in the thousands. They are all worthy and deserving of our attention. They were all part of the universal “us.”

This war, more than any other in my lifetime, has been removed from the collective psyche of our day-to-day lives. What we see, what we know and subsequently, what we feel is tightly controlled. [...] The Mother’s Day Project, in making the losses of war personal, changes forever the sense of disengagement.

She played dirty pool and sent me a woman sharing my name. That really made me cry.

Chief Warrant Officer (CW5) Sharon T. Swartworth, 43, of Virginia was the regimental warrant officer for the Judge Advocate General Office, based at Headquarters Department of the Army, Pentagon. She was on a UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter that was shot down Nov. 7, 2003, in Tikrit, Iraq.

A Great Day

My morning started with Senator John Edwards' conference call. He's lauched a new site to reclaim peace as patriotic.

Then I joined birthday girls Emma & Terri, along with Ginger and Annie, for High Tea at VY&T. We were visited at various points by other wonderful friends, but I am a terrible person so I can't remember all their names. I do recall Tamara, who will apparently be taking my place in the Saturday circle. Terri modeled her newly finished sweater. Emma brought my pound of "mystery mixed breed" roving which had still been pink when I left her place yesterday. She transformed it into the reds I had been trying for. There's a reason people buy her stuff! Bonus: I was magically able to acquire some of that "über-fantastic" SeaSilk.

Alex and Sonja grabbed me and took me to the Everest Kitchen. That's some seriously good food. Then Deb joined us (she writes the blog for VY&T, which contains movie as well as fiber content) and we went to see "28 Weeks Later". Quite the adrenalin surge!

All in all, a really good day. Much better than packing and cleaning. :)

End the war!

Support our troops by getting them home safely. Let Bush know he can't run the world for his own financial ends.

Pic: Army Spec. Danielle Green, 27, a former Notre Dame basketball star, holds her amputated arm June 30, 2004, at the Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington, D.C. Green lost her arm and sustained a serious leg injury during a RPG attack May 25 in Baghdad, Iraq. (AP Photo/ Matt Houston)

Elizabeth Edwards

I got this letter today from John Edwards:

Dear Sharon,

Elizabeth and I are so grateful for your prayers and wishes. Your support means a great deal to us during this difficult time.

Yesterday we found out that Elizabeth's breast cancer is back, but confined mainly to her bones. Although this isn't the news we wanted to hear, we are very optimistic. Having been through many struggles together in the past, we know that the key is to keep your head up, keep moving and be strong. And that's exactly what we intend to do.

Elizabeth and I have been married for nearly 30 years and we will be in this every step of the way together. We will keep a positive attitude and always look for the silver lining—that's what we do.

Although the cancer is no longer curable, it is treatable, and many patients in similar circumstances have lived full, energetic lives. We expect nothing less for Elizabeth. She expects to do all the things next week that she did last week.

Our campaign goes on and it goes on strongly. We are so proud of the campaign we are running—a campaign based on ideas and reaching out to people. This campaign is not about me or Elizabeth—it's about all the people we have met these past few years and people like them all across America and the world—people worried about feeding and clothing their kids; people without health care; people facing hardships overseas.

Both of us are committed to this campaign. We're committed to this cause and we're committed to changing this country we love so much.

Thank you again for your support and for standing with us.

John Edwards


P.S.-- Many of you have asked how to contact our family and the campaign. You can click here to send us a note. Quite a few supporters and friends have already e-mailed and blogged such kind messages. Thank you so much.

Put your money where your mouth is!

Horrified by the quagmire in Iraq?

Frustrated by the healthcare situation?

Angry about corruption in government?

Quit complaining and DO something about it. Give as much as you'd spend taking your sweetie to the movies. or a dinner out. Give more, if you can. And if you've got the time, consider volunteering!

Tomorrow starts today!

We've done it! Thousands of letters of support have flooded in, and Senator John Edwards is running!

He says:
We know what we need to do. Changing our country means:
Providing moral leadership in the world -- starting with Iraq, where we should begin drawing down troops, not escalating the war
Strengthening our middle class and ending the shame of poverty
Guaranteeing health care for every single American
Leading the fight against global warming
Getting America and the world to break our addiction to oil

Today there's an Online Town Hall live from Des Moines, Iowa. Visit JohnEdwards.com to participate. The event begins at 6PM ET / 3PM PT.

See you there!

Oops - he's WHO? And what YOU can do.

Someone screwed up, bigtime. Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert was tapped to speak at the 2006 White House Correspondent's Dinner. They were clearly unfamilar with his work, because the announcer pronounced the "t" in Report. My favorite part is the reaction shots. This is a perfect example of the flaws in our intelligence management: Colbert is one of the smartest enemies this administration faces, and they blindly invited him to their party. The coverup must have been sucessful, though, since this took place in April and it's the first I've heard of it.

My hero, John Edwards, is trying to assess if he has enough support to warrent running for President. He has asked for your emails: PLEASE let him know you are behind him, or are at least willing to give him a chance.

Philly & Edwards (again)

The trip to Philadelphia went very well. I'll deliver more details once they solidify, but Matt was basically offered a great job. Yay! We had a stunning view from our hotel room, and the historical section was terrific. It's good to remember that the revolution was a crazy, treasonous uprising (which partially took place in these rooms!).

In the spirit of rebelling against an unfair goverment, please take the time to check out John Edwards. I sincerely believe he is the one guy who is honest and smart enough to bring the nation back together (red and blue states) and make us ALL proud to be Americans again. He's also charismatic enough to carry the election. PLEASE read his site. Watch his "Behind the Scenes" episodes. Learn about One Corps. He's our best hope. Get behind him and spread the word!

PS: After sending out a letter to many of my friends, I got this from David, a professional pilot:

I was flying Learjets back in 2003 before the Iowa caucuses and was assigned a trip to pick up John. This was before he was picked to be Kerry's running mate. Flew into a small uncontrolled airport east of Des Moines. John met me with a warm handshake and a smile. Very personable.

I wound up flying him to Washington-Dulles that afternoon, then in the evening to Roanoke, VA then finally to Ashville, NC. I remember when we landed in Dulles that he wanted a few minutes to "freshen up" before he went inside the FBO. He pulled out his suitcase, pulled out what looked like a small gift, combed his hair, then finally headed inside. I noticed in his suitcase he was carrying a pair of well-used (in a good way) running shoes and running shorts.

Halfway across the ramp, a little child came running out of the building. John crouched down, arms out wide and caught the little kid in an embrace. One of his. That's where the gift went. Nice guy. Family guy, too. It was a pleasure being his "limo" driver that day and evening.

John Edwards - our next President?

The Senator ran as VP with Kerry back in 2004, but I was so disgusted with politics at that point that I failed to pay attention. Back in college, I was extremely politically active. I attended appearances by both Reagan and Bush Sr. I shook Clinton's hand. I marched, I wrote letters, I recruited other activists. Then I got a job that introduced me more intimately to Capitol Hill. Everyone was so morally putrid, on both sides of the aisle, that I was completely disillusioned. For the past 10 years I've detached myself from the electoral process. I hate to admit it, but I didn't even vote last month.

Then I saw Senator Edwards on the Jon Stewart show a few weeks ago. I was enthralled with his wit and intelligence. More importantly, he was a real person. A genuine human being, not a dissembling mouthpiece. I went to his website and learned a bit more. He came to Seattle today on a book tour. All the proceeds go to Habitat for Humanity and other charities. He talked a bit about his book, then took political questions from the SRO crowd. I just about fell in love with this guy. His honesty and integrity simply shine. He's rekindled my belief. My bull**** detector is pretty finely honed, but it didn't go off once. Sitting in the audience I suddenly realized this must have been how people felt about Kennedy.

I wish I had money to contribute to his campaign. Given our current situation, I will instead volunteer once he declares. And I sure hope he does soon: America desperately needs a leader with his character.

When will it stop?

Our dictator has signed new legislation today. The Supreme Court ruled in June that military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay violated US and international law. No problem! Let's have the Ministry of Justice update the law to suit our current needs, shall we?

The BBC reports that the new law "gives the president the authority to decide which other techniques interrogators can use. The law does not require that detainees be granted legal representation. It also bars non-US citizens from filing habeas corpus petitions challenging their detentions in federal court. [...] There are about 450 detainees at Guantanamo, according to the Bush administration."

Hmmm... I wonder if that number is accurate?

Reuters says "The Military Commissions Act of 2006 sets standards for interrogating suspects, but through a complex set of rules that human rights groups say could allow harsh techniques bordering on torture, such as sleep deprivation and induced hypothermia [...] The new law means Bush can continue a secret CIA program for interrogating terrorism suspects whom he believes have vital information that could thwart a plot against America [...] It establishes military tribunals that would allow some use of evidence obtained by coercion."

Um... HE believes???

This pales in comparison to the rights violations of American citizens here at home. Hey, girl, time to open those eyes!

The Angry Red Lobster of Death

Matt bought this adorable giant lobster for Blackberry and me. She loves to play with ballons: She grabs the string in her mouth and runs through the apartment with them. Here's the funny bit... I don't know if it's the big eyes or what, but the cats are terrified! The two stripey boys are still hiding in the bedroom 24 hrs later. At least it's an improvement from their previous hideout behind the toilet. Thoth is simply too lazy to get that excited, so he's here on the couch with me.

UPDATE: After 36 hrs they were still under the bed. We got worried about dehydration and litter box issues, so we brought the lobster into the bedroom, hoping to chase them out. Unfortunately it just entrenched them deeper. We had to lock the ARLoD in the bathroom for a few more hours before they would come out from under, and it still took a forcible extraction to make them leave the bedroom. Compare that reaction to the bunny's: She took one look, went over to it, and immediately turned her back and began grooming. That's rabbitspeak for "I am so cool and unafraid of you that I can ignore you and clean my feet." She's completely fearless. :) I think it was the eyes that made a difference. Previous ballons were towed by Blackberry and ignored by the boys.

Other amusing livestock stories: Fig learned how to work the lever-type latch for the bedroom. It wasn't long before Blackberry started herding him over there to make him open the door for her. We had to replace it with a round knob, and we have our fingers crossed that he doesn't realize the outside door works the same way.

Oh - that last picture? Sometimes the news actually reports the truth!