Why Obama voted for FISA

That's all.

I just thought our friend Deb had coined such a useful political phrase that it deserved to be repeated.

 ANTI-OBAMA WHITE WOMEN DEMOCRATS.

 Draw your own conclusion about the thought process behind that.

Peace Be With You And Yours

In case you are not aware, there is something happening in the GLTB media that is both disturbing and hard to prove except for those who see it themselves.

Links to major gay/lesbian publications that had once questioned Senator Obamas commitment to our civil rights are conducting a purge of negative information, following the decision by certain powerful individuals that the GLTB community must drop its objections, and stop asking hard questions of the presumptive nominee.

Links to major GLTB publications that once displayed negative information about the Senators true stance on gay and lesbian issues, are being altered or deleted all together.

I can't post a link, it would be pointless as now most that I have used in my research have been altered and now contain positive information instead.

The links went dead for several days and are now working again, but the original material has been removed and replaced with positive material or in some cases quotes from Senator Obama that were negative toward the GLTB community have been removed from the original text.

There is only one way to know if I am making this up or telling the truth. If you had links that you used for research and source, check them, out again. If they led to major GLTB publications, many of them will have been altered to favor the Senator.

It appears to be limited for now to publications where the management considers itself to speak for us and it is spreading. Check it out and then speak out. We have to let the world know.

I could care less what most of you think of this. Too many on this site have shown themselves to be homophobic and every one of them I have encountered has claimed to support Senator Obama.

Not only the democratic party, but the GLTB community is divided over Senator Obama and I for one wiill not let a compliant gay media distort reality and claim that we are united...we are not.

Check it out for yourself and you will soon understand the censorship and lies of the Obama campaign quickly become a way of life for anyone who wishing to stay in the  "great leaders" good graces.

Jackie Lee McIntosh Jr.

 Gay and Proud and FREE.

I don't know what is giving me a better headache right now the brain freeze from my one scoop of Ice Cream I am allowed a week or the bickering I read on this blog. Come on where is the civility at? 

It is pretty much agreed that as Democrats we all believe in, value, support and defend "Civli Rights" and "Civil Liberties"  then why is it so difficult for people that believe in a Civil Society governed by equal protection, fairness and yes "Civii Rights" and "Civil Liberties" to be "Civil" towards each other is it just rhetoric? or do we practice what we preach?

 Just a thought anyway.

Peace to you and yours 

.         ...good god, people have different opinions?      

Call the thought police!

I have to go to supper but listen to this the link will be in the comments

R - E -S - P - E - C - T

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kkgQHcdlZU

Sorry true believers it ain't happening this is from the Chicago Daily Observer since there is no other reputable group reporting on this non-existent move.

DNC Headquarters at 233 N. Michigan, Chicago IL, 60601

 Occasionally, I think it is bats to have maps associated with stories, some of which have nearly no geographic significance (those show up at 307 N. Michigan, the host of the Chicago Daily Observer, by the way). However, there are many stories where the location is a key to the story, such as this one from the Washington Post announcing that the Democratic National Committee Headquarters is moving to Chicago. Chicago is a big place, so drilling down a bit we find that the DNC Headquarters will be somewhere in the Loop.

Politico thinks the headquarters will be somewhere ”near Barack Obama’s Headquarters”. I just called the DNC in Washington DC, where a bored (and boring) phone answerer told me that they only had a P.O. Box, no street address for the DNC Headquarters. Our pals over at Everyblock have 50 Restaurant inspections near DNC Chicago Headquarters, (where surprisingly Sbarro passed), a case of credit card fraud, and a couple of reports of Block 37 being a mess, but no signs of the DNC Headquarters moving to Chicago.

So, to set it straight, I called the DNC Headquarters in Chicago, where I was 1/2 informed that the DNC will be co-located at Sen. Obama’s campaign headquarters. She wouldn’t tell me where that is at, but I have edited news from at least 100 releases from Sen. Obama, all coming from….233 N. Michigan (look at the map on the left for a flag of the location of 233 N. Michigan)

Yes, 233 N. Michigan, site of 2 Illinois Center the 1972 Dirk Lohan Skyscraper with amenities such as Banking, Conferencing Facility, Fitness Center, Food Service, Hotel, Property Manager on Site is the home of the DNC Headquarters in Chicago. It is a very pleasant building and I am sure the DNC employees will appreciate the short trip to Sbarro’s in the foodcourt.

Searching for DNC Headquarters (and variants) on the Tribune Website draws a blank, as does the Sun-Times so this probably is not a event worth covering for our tireless local media, as the R Kelley trial still has some life in it and there are a lot of photos of Cub’s/Sox fans to look at.

Caring for a loved one in the final days of life is something many of us will experience.

It some ways it can be rewarding. An opportunity to say what needs to be said, to share meaningful moments and (in my case) to learn about family history and renew a connection that had become lessened by my focus on "other" things.

It can also be emotionally draining and place demands on resources that had not been expected. There is a need in a our society to focus attention and reasources on our elderly citizens, both toward the daily trials of being "old" in America and on the specific needs of the terminally ill and the families that must and should support their seniors.

My grandmother is dying and has now slipped into a quiet sleep. She has lived a long and rewarding life and having spent the last two weeks caring for her, I have come to understand that she had more to share than time would allow.

I would like to share with you the last memory my grandmother was able to share with me. The final understanding of how important it is to listen and not to assume.

It had been a diffcult night, for grandma and for the family. She had slowly drifted away, gradually losing touch with the world around her. She no longer recognized the people she mosted loved and the things she said seemed disconnected to any reality. We knew it was coming, but it was still devastating to see and hearbreaking to realize that the time for sharing and talking and learning from her had ended.

She was talking, a lot, but it seemed to make no sense and it had taken its toll on my mother and the other family members involved in caring for her. I had taken it upon myself to relieve them and sit with grandma.

I took her hand and knelt beside.

"I'll be okay when I see those geese fly over again," she said, her voice weak and hoarse, " my life will be right again when I see those geese." 

I stroked her hand and tried to reassure her that everything would be okay.

"when will the geese fly south?" she asked,"I need to see those geese."

"It won't be for a couple of months" I said believing as my other family members had that this was just part of the dementia.

She let out a sound that I can only describe as pain and began to cry softly. 

"I need to see those geese, I won't be okay unless I see those geese one more time."

It went on for some time and seemed to have taken an air of desperation when she looked me in the eye and taught me one final lesson.

"The first time your pappy held my hand, we stood and watched a flock of geese flying south for the winter."

"You don't have to say anything," she said,"we can just hold hands and wait for those geese to fly south one more time.

Eventually she drifted off to sleep. I stayed there holding her hand and I cried.

Grandma had not been confused, she had known what she was saying and if no-one had been there at that moment, we would have never known, we would never have learned and that precious memory would have been lost. It will probably be the last and the greatest gift that she has ever shared with me.

She has given so much, and suffered so much, but here in the final moments of awarness, she had managed to impart something I will always carry in my heart.

The memory of my grandparents, young and in love, holding hands on a cool fall evening, watching as a flock of geese flew overhead, going south for the winter.

antiwarblog.com
July 20, 2008 in News by Eric Garris

This coverage was the lead story on KRON Channel 4’s evening news. The main speaker is Marc Joffe, a local libertarian supporter of Antiwar.com.

Update: Here is an additional report from Janet Weil of CODEPINK:

-----Original Message-----

From: GetFISAright-Discussion@googlegroups.com [mailto:GetFISAright-Discussion@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of jawboneblues

Sent: Tuesday, July 22, 2008 6:22 PM

To: Get FISA Right Discussion

Subject: [GFR-Discussion] The two GFR democratic platform planks

Hi, all,

The two Get FISA Right Group planks have been posted as 'Civil Rights' Planks on the MixedInk site at http://www.mixedink.com/netrootsplatform/index.php#a3

which is hosting the Netroots Political Platform project.  If people can not attend a Democratic Platform meeting this week, taking part in shaping the Democratic Party Platform through this web- based site would be a great way to participate. The various planks can be browsed, rated, and reworked.

I think that the Get FISA Right group did a great job with our proposed planks. I would encourage everyone to set up an account (yes - another one!) at the MixedInk site and rate our proposals up!

Lee N / jawboneblues

http://groups.google.com/group/GetFISAright-Discussion?hl=en

By Marta W. Aldrich
July 22, 2008 | PORTLAND, Ore. (UMNS)
http://tinyurl.com/6b8nxq <http://tinyurl.com/6b8nxq>

Standing before an assembly that would elect two bishops, the Rev. Frank Wulf shared his problem as a candidate for one of the top clergy positions in The United Methodist Church.

"The problem is that I come as a gay man, and I know where our church stands on the issue of same-sex orientation," Wulf said in his candidacy address before the Western Jurisdictional Conference, which represents United Methodists in the western United States, Guam and other U.S. territories in the Pacific.

Obama pledges to push Israel-Palestinian peace talks

AMMAN (Reuters) - U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama pledged on Tuesday to work to reach a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians from his first day in office but said it would be difficult.

"The Israeli government is unsettled. The Palestinians are divided between Fatah and Hamas. And so it's difficult for either side to make the bold move that would bring about peace," Obama told reporters in Amman before visiting Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who faces a corruption probe that could force him from office, and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who lost his hold on the Gaza Strip to Hamas Islamists a year ago, launched peace talks last November.

They set the goal of reaching a statehood agreement before U.S. President George W. Bush leaves office in January, but disputes over Jewish settlement building and violence on both sides have marred the negotiations.

"My goal is to make sure that we work, starting from the minute I'm sworn into office, to try to find some breakthroughs," Obama said, adding that it was unrealistic to expect a U.S. president to "suddenly snap his fingers and bring about peace".

Obama attracted attention in June when he told a pro-Israeli lobby group that Jerusalem must remain Israel's undivided capital -- only to amend his stance to say the issue should be negotiated by all parties.

Obama, who has sought to reach out to Jewish voters, said the United States would remain a "strong friend" of Israel regardless of who wins the upcoming election.

(Editing by Samia Nakhoul)

"Golden Girls" star Estelle Getty dies at 84

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Emmy-winning actress Estelle Getty, best known as a wise-cracking octogenarian on the popular 1980s and '90s sitcom "The Golden Girls," died on Tuesday. She was 84.

Getty, who spent four decades toiling in show business before winning fame and critical recognition as Bea Arthur's sassy, 80-year-old mother on the hit show, had been suffering from dementia.

"As of 5:35 this morning surrounded by her family in her Hollywood Hills home, Estelle Getty passed away peacefully in her sleep of natural causes," her longtime manager, Alan Siegel, said in a statement.

"Her family and close friends thank everyone for being so loving and supportive of Estelle in her last few years," Siegel said.

Born Estelle Scher in New York City in 1923, Getty wanted to be an entertainer from an early age, despite her small size and the initial objections of her Polish immigrant parents.

She got her start as a comic at resorts in New York state's Catskill mountains and pursued her dream as an actress in regional theater and off-Broadway productions while raising two sons and working office jobs to make ends meet.

She won a breakthrough role in a production of "Torch Song Trilogy" that brought her to the attention of Hollywood. She was ultimately cast as the oldest of four female retirees living together on "Golden Girls" even though she was slightly younger than her screen daughter.

Getty won two Emmys for her role as Sophia Petrillo on the show.

(Reporting by Dan Whitcomb; Editing by Eric Beech)

Nissan to test electric cars in Tennessee

By Kevin Krolicki

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - Nissan Motor Co has formed a partnership with Tennessee to study the infrastructure needed to support the roll-out of electric cars starting in 2011, Nissan Chief Executive Carlos Ghosn said on Tuesday.

"We are forming a partnership with the state of Tennessee to promote zero-emission mobility," Ghosn said at the opening of the Japanese automaker's new headquarters in Nashville.

The tie-up will include the Tennessee Valley Authority, a federally controlled utility that ranks as the nation's largest, supplying electricity to residents in seven states.

Nissan, which trails Japanese rivals Toyota Motor Corp and Honda Motor Co in hybrid technology, has made it a priority to become a leader in the still emerging market for fully electric vehicles.

By 2010, Nissan plans to start testing an all-new electric car being developed in Japan. It is aiming for global sales of the still-unnamed, battery-powered car by 2012.

Tennessee Gov. Phil Bredesen said state agencies would look at how to support Nissan's electric car development efforts, including the possibility of setting up charging stations.

The partnership is one of several between automakers, electric power utilities and government agencies. Ford Motor Co and General Motors Corp both have tie-ups with the utility industry to cooperate in electric vehicle development.

Ghosn signed a similar deal earlier this month with Portugal that would create a national recharging network. Nissan and its French alliance partner Renault SA also have similar tie-ups with Israel and Denmark. 

Lonesome George may end bachelor days on Galapagos

By Alonso Soto

QUITO (Reuters) - After decades of solitude, "Lonesome George" may finally save his species of Galapagos giant tortoise from extinction, his keepers said on Monday.

George, a Pinta island tortoise who has shown little interest in reproducing during 36 years in captivity, stunned his keepers by mating with one of his two female companions of a similar species of Galapagos tortoise.

Park rangers found a nest with several eggs in George's pen and placed three in incubators. It will take about four months to know whether the eggs bear George's offspring.

"Even if these three eggs are fertile and the born tortoises survive it will take several (genetic) generations to think of having a Pinta purebred ... even centuries," the park said in a statement.

After trying almost everything from artificial insemination to having George watch younger males mate, his keepers had nearly lost hope. At 60 to 90 years old, George is in his sexual prime and should be able to reproduce.

Scientists found a distant relative of George on another island last year, sparking hopes of another male for mating with some Pinta genes.

The visual differences of tortoises from different islands were among the features of the Galapagos that helped British naturalist Charles Darwin formulate his theory of evolution.

George, considered by many the world's rarest creature and a conservation icon, was thought to be the last of his kind after fishermen and pirates slaughtered his species for food 

By Mary Milliken

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Rita Boyadjian wishes she were in a better mood to celebrate the weddings of fellow gay friends after California began legally marrying same-sex couples last month.

But her partner of six years is a German woman whose U.S. student visa runs out soon. Even if they were to legally marry in California, Margot (not her real name) could not stay in the United States because the federal government does not recognize same-sex marriage for immigration purposes.

This month the well-to-do couple and their nine-month-old baby will move to Germany so they can stay together.

"It's a little bittersweet, I have to be honest," said Boyadjian, 38, a first-generation American who owns a Hollywood entertainment marketing company.

"I am very happy for my friends and I do know a lot of people who are getting married this summer ... but I am sad that while the celebrations are going on, I have to leave."

Gay rights activists estimate that 40,000 binational gay and lesbian couples in the United States are caught in the same legal limbo. A solution, they say, is years away.

When California's Supreme Court struck down a ban on gay marriage in May, becoming the second state after Massachusetts to allow same-sex nuptials, Boyadjian said she was inundated with congratulatory calls from friends believing the couple's problems were solved.

But the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services confirms that nothing changes with the California court's ruling.

By Joanne Morrison

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The trouble that began last summer in the financial markets raised the likelihood of a U.S. recession, but for America's middle class, the downturn has been under way for many years, experts plan to tell a congressional panel on Wednesday.

Hit with higher gasoline prices, declining home values, rising health-care costs and little or no income growth since 2007, the outlook for those in the middle class and those with even lower incomes is dire.

"In the post-war period, the country grew together. Now we are growing apart," said Kristen Lewis of the American Human Development Project, in testimony prepared for delivery on Wednesday to the congressional Joint Economic Committee.

A report showing the growing disparity in wealth in the United States was released recently by the American Human Development Project, a nonprofit project whose major backers include Oxfam America and the Rockefeller Foundation.

Citing Census Bureau data, Lewis told the Joint Economic Committee that in 2006, the average annual income in the top quintile of U.S households stood at $168,170 -- nearly 15 times the average income of $11,352 a year in the lowest quintile.

The richest 20 percent in the country earned more than half of the nation's total income.

"The American meritocracy, the foundation of the American Dream, is at risk. Social mobility is now less fluid in the United States than in other affluent nations," she said.

The top 1 percent of U.S. households possess a third of America's wealth and the bottom 60 percent only 4.2 percent, according to Lewis. 

Huge oil trading loss sinks energy trader SemGroup

By Robert Campbell

NEW YORK (Reuters) - SemGroup LP declared bankruptcy on Tuesday after $3.2 billion in oil trading losses torpedoed the formerly 12th-largest private U.S. company.

The Tulsa-based company racked up the massive losses as oil prices ran up record gains, undercutting short crude futures positions SemGroup bought to hedge against its 500,000 barrel-per-day trading business.

To meet obligations, SemGroup plans to sell off oil and natural gas gathering, transportation, and storage assets worth an estimated $6.14 billion that were purchased in a whirlwind of acquisitions since it was founded in 2000.

"We have determined that the best way to maximize value for our creditors is to undertake a sales process that will transition our valuable businesses to well-established companies," Terry Ronan, SemGroup's acting chief executive, said in a statement.

SemGroup took a $2.4 billion loss on July 16 after it transferred its New York Mercantile Exchange oil futures trading account to Barclays Plc, converting what they called "loss contingencies" into an actual loss.

Included in the NYMEX loss was $290 million owed to SemGroup by a trading company owned by co-founder and former chief executive Thomas Kivisto, who was placed on administrative leave on July 17.

Securities legislation limits publicly traded company executives from extensive dealings with their firms, but experts said privately held companies have more flexibility.

"They can't do anything illegal. But there is no particular disclosure to anyone apart from any contractual agreements that they may have with investors," said Kenneth Froewiss, a professor of finance at New York University.

http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSN2227689520080722