Off for the homestead, bbl

but got the "removal" panel--just cancelled

http://eatapyzch.blogspot.com/

And saying that if something important comes along someone will tell him about

Dana Milbank does not read blogs...we don't read Milbank. Video.

The Turkmen gas deal....why send more troops into Afghan?  Is the *war on terror* now moot? 

I wonder what Obama will say about this..

KO - discussion about energy policy, McC attacks and BO's response.   Pundit thinks BO should have come back swinging and angry and explained to the public that McC is lying...that gas prices will not go down next year.  BO's response was "too professorial."

50% of the public actually believes that gas prices will go down next year and are buying into McC's lies.

This kind of thing needs to be stopped by BO..in its tracks.  A soft pleasant response is not going to win him the election, especially with the polls running so close.  Remember how we all were so dismayed by Kerry's seeming inability to hit back?  He just wasn't a fighter. I hope we're not seeing the same thing here.

Maybe instead of policy and issue discussions, the repugs are going to focus on constant attacks on BO, figuring he won't fight back and the people will be gulled into choosing the wrong person....again.

Ammanpour's "Buddhist Warriors" Sat and Sun.  Have I posted this enuf?  :-)

"too professorial" may have been "too much like a professor." I know the word professor was in it but I may not have remembered it correctly verbatim.

Friends Say She Had to Choose: Go to Prison or Work as an Informant

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5442615&page=1

http://www.abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5442615&page=1

puddle, the t-shirt she's wearing stands for SUPERBABY!  She such a trooper and so cute.

The pot issue is just one reason OR has to get rid of Sen. Gordon.  He doesn't even believe in medical mar. and wants it banned.

There have been only Twelve times in history when the 'F' word was considered acceptable for us



They are as follows:


12. 'What the @#$% do you mean, we are Sinking?'
-- Capt. E.J. Smith of RMS Titanic, 19 12





11. 'What the @#$% was that!?'
-- Mayor of Hiroshima , 1945



10. 'Where did all those @#$%ing Indians come from?'
-- Custer, 1877




9. 'Any @#$%ing idiot could understand that.'
-- Einstein, 1938


8. 'It does so @#$%ing look like her!'
-- Picasso, 1926


7. 'How the @#$% did you work that out?'
-- Pythagoras, 126 BC


6. 'You want WHAT on the @#$%ing ceiling?'
Michelangelo, 1566!



5. 'Where the @#$% am I?'
-- Amelia Earhart, 1937



4. 'Scattered @#$%ing showers, my ass!'
Noah, 4314 BC




3. 'Aw c'mon. Who the @#$% is going to find out?'
Bill Clinton, 1998



2. 'What do you mean there is no< /font> @%#*ing key to my ankle bracelet?'
Martha Stewart, 2005


And a drum roll please..... .....!


1. 'Geez, I didn't think they'd get this
@%#*^ing mad.'
Saddam Hussein, 2003

more top 10 humor from  Letterman. I hope this works.

test...

hey dave, you still around???

Oh and puddle, putting the thread announcement in all caps is a smashing idea.

Yeah, LOL is right!  I can be such a dolt. Or is it doltess?

I have a story to share of my day, been a long one, moved my dad from the hospital to nursing home, plus the Obama speech, and then get home to find a missed severe weather with a tree down on a fence.

The story involves me being named "coach" for a little boy with a make a wish and a basketball determined to a little hoops with barry.

We had will call tickets so had to wait in two lines, the ticket line, and security metal dectector.

Guy shows up same time as me with a small boy and a regulation basketball about as big as he was. So I knelt down and asked whether he was looking for a game of pickup? Dad says "want to join the team" so I played along "sure".
Dad says "want to be coach", "you bet", so he reaches into his pocket and hand me a ticket. so I get down with the boy and start talking about keeping contact with your man playing defense so you can box out for the rebound, his dad says he kind of likes to shoot, anyway these tickets are for a game with Obama.

(more)

story continued.

Just then our State AG showed up,in the ticket line, with him our former Party Chair and his son, who was just the size of the boy when his Dad ran for Congress. so here is the boy with the basketball and a wish, a father who had talked to a State Rep who said it would happen, a staffer with the back stage passes, and a Public Servant with the juice to make it happen, about five hurdles later.

I asked Tom Miller (the AG) if he could help out, and explained that promises had been made, but maybe all the details hadn't been worked out, so we had to make a little effort to make this happen.(don't forget I accepted the job of coach so now was in this up to my ears). So I went off to find the person in charge, Tom pulled rank a little and took the kid in tow to the reserved seating where Obama would come in and said he see what he could do. 

meanwhile I got into the venue, found a seat next to the tube blowing in the cold air(it was hot today) with my son, and then took off to see if the child's wish had made the official timeline. When I talked to the staffer running the whole show, realized it wasn't on the minute by minute, so talked to the Secret Service agent in charge of the rope line to explain the child with a basketball. Meanwhile Tom Miller was entering his seating just ahead of Obama taking the stage so no resolution to our little problem but three people were working on it, and Tom had been backstage.

Barack Obama gave a great speech. and then answered questions. (more about that later)

My son shook Obama's hand as proud dad was filming, handed his copy of The Audacity of Hope to the trailing Secret Service agent for signing, and the two of us went about helping a crew of twenty volunteers pick up the folding chairs. When I saw Tom Miller still with the boy and Obama gone off the stage, I got back into coach mode and went over to the boy. Finding out it was still not a done deal.

at this point I was glad of my past experience with these kind of events, and knew Obama was backstage with his best supporters, was taking a break, staff hadn't yet made any promises, because the plane heading for the next event had to leave more or less on time give or take a minute, and the basketball was a big request, but was sure if Barack was asked would say yes, just had to come to his attention

Having the State Attorney General with his hand on your shoulder helps. I was feeling pretty good the "coach" was going to send the kid in.  

We here at the blog know what standing with families in trying times is all about. There are a lot of good people in the world. Cedar Rapids after the flood is a city full of people in need. and here in the end of July we don't know if Obama will end up being our next President, but plenty of people think his chances are good, so the demands and requests on the man's time are growing expotentially. and here we are a little gang with hope and a kid with a basketball and a wish.

time actually was slipping away, I was finally starting to get nervous, a top aide brought out the signed books (meaning Barack was finished with his meetings, had just signed the books, and was at the end of the schedule) so I made my plea, Tom echoed it, the boy looks at the ceiling, mom reasures him and dad shrugs, like it will be OK, when a woman I had not seen before (and looked really in charge)came to open up the barrier, and escorted the boy and his basketball behind the curtain.

I had a good day.

Thanks Tom Miller, Eric Tabor, and Barack Obama for making a wish come true. and thanks dad for naming me "coach", that was as good a team as I've been on in a while. and to the un-named woman at the end of the story on the Obama team who was in fact the one who made the key shot, my gratitude.

What a gorgeous (and gorgeously told) story...thank you.

somebody needs to give floridagal up front the link to the open thread here

...trying to return to sleep and heard a noise.  Went to investigate-turned light on screened porch. Found three robbers lol adult (I think) raccoons eating the mean cat's food, poor mean cat huddled in her hiding place -- must keep pet door closed at night and food inside I guess...

...resembles this one today in that there are main blog posts. I tried to login (no problem) and comment (no dice). No comments allowed. At all.

Puddle guess I'm not the only insomniac here.  Good evening or good morning!

I'm so thankful that you are who you are.  some folks would have looked at that little boy and just shrugged their shoulders.  others might have payed lip service and agreed to be 'coach' and then gone their seperate way as the line moved on.  many would have spoken to a few local leaders to see what might be done and left it in their hands to make it happen and moved on to the event.

our Phil stayed with it to the end and this one small thing, this one act of kindness spread from person to person to make this happen - that's remarkable.  it heroic, it's everyman making his small gift to the world, every day in small ways.  and those 'small ways' are what make our world a better place, every day, one day at a time.

make a wish - as long as there's a Phil around, it might come true.

if you have time/energy this morning (after fixing that fence!!) I would love to see a main post of your story. 

bbl - hope the cows didn't get out!!

WASHINGTON -- A top U.S. biodefense researcher apparently committed suicide just as the Justice Department was about to file criminal charges against him in the anthrax mailings that traumatized the nation in the weeks following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to a published report.