PSA: ER Docs Say Don’t Text and Talk July 30, 2008

Found this on NPR.org while hunting for Green resources and found it amusing. After much thought, I think this is the only place I can write about it without raising an eyebrow… Okay, maybe not quite that, but you understand, right? I can’t exactly work this into a hangPROUD article. Yet.

Actually, hold that thought. If I didn’t have a half million other things to right and a mouth ache, maybe I would…

The warning came too late for Barack Obama’s adviser: Don’t walk and text at the same time.

Obama aide Valerie Jarrett fell off a Chicago curb several weeks ago while her thumbs were flying on her Blackberry.

“I didn’t see the sidewalk and I twisted my ankle,” Jarrett said. “It was a nice wake-up call for me to be a lot more careful in the future, because I clearly wasn’t paying attention and I should have.”

Jarrett got off easy and didn’t need medical attention.

…

See the whole thing here.

Cantaloupe is so much better in Italy July 28, 2008

Totally true, by the way. It’s so juicy and plump and richly orange. Oh, and it tastes incredible, by the way. I think all of the perfect cantaloupe I ate alongside my salami and prosciutto and pecorino was really the best fresh food I had in Italy.

What? It’s true.

Anyway, as you can see, I’ve returned from my vacation (and it was fabulous!). I came back to two overflowing inboxes which I have kind of worked through, plus an email from my fave high school teacher and a job-ish offer, both of which were lovely surprises. Work is crazy busy as we’re closing the October issue. I fly to Atlanta for Grandma’s 85th birthday in a few weeks, then I get my wisdom teeth surgically removed from my mouth. I’m a little bitter about it.

Last Friday, I had a minor emergency when I received my accommodation offer from Queen Mary (yay, I have a place to live!). I received it on the 24th, thanks to our vacation and stopped mail. The deadline for returning deposit and signed forms and photos to London was, um, the 25th. Ha. Hahaha. After a very traumatic morning *trying* to call the residence office (Verizon phone operators are asses, in my experience), Mom and I headed over to the bank to wire moneys, and nice bank man (Wayne. Wayne the bank man) faxed over my information. And then they emailed me while I was at work telling me to calm down and that they wouldn’t take my spot away. Happiness.

The Wednesday before was into-the-city day–and that would be New York, not Philadelphia–for a meeting with C&D for HP. I think D is the only adult I know who uses OMG in regular email correspondence. I heart them So, we met with new web people (one of whom was a soldier in Israel. He has lots of stories and is a really, really nice guy and his business is booming since we started with him a few months ago.) and then C&D took me out to lunch at yummy Japanese restaurant in Times Square. It was really nice to be in a restaurant where everyone spoke English well and the service was good. And the water had ice. Yum. D is just like my Mom, btw. Crazy. They both have green drinks every morning. After that, I wandered up and down 5th Ave and then back down towards Penn. Gap on 5th is fabulous. Macys is…really really big.

Saturday, I awoke at ten in the morning, and ten minutes after I came downstairs, I was sent back up to suit up for weeding duty. Two hours later, my legs were aching and caked with dirt. They still hurt, btw.

Sunday was slow and lovely and rainy, and Monday is here (sadness). Tuesday is tomorrow, in case you didn’t know, and that means work and telling Jenn that I have to cut my internship short and, ha, oh yeah, can’t be here for several days. Sorry Jenn. Sadness.

<3

Vacation’s all I ever wanted July 9, 2008

Hey all!

I know it’s not a shock that I won’t be posting, but this time I have a good reason: VACATION! I’m off to London then to Italy until the 21st, but I’ll tell you all about it when I return!

<3<3

The New President Obama–A Summary Of Change From the NYT July 4, 2008

I thought this editorial from the board @ the NYT was a good one, and it voices what I’m thinking, so here it is in brief. You can find the piece here.

We are not shocked when a candidate moves to the center for the general election. But Mr. Obama’s shifts are striking because he was the candidate who proposed to change the face of politics, the man of passionate convictions who did not play old political games.

There are still vital differences between Mr. Obama and Senator John McCain on issues like the war in Iraq, taxes, health care and Supreme Court nominations. We don’t want any “redefining” on these big questions. This country needs change it can believe in.

Red Flag Take Two: Do I sense a trend? July 3, 2008

The following is quoted in an article from the NYT about Obama’s possible refining of his Iraq plan (July 3). Find it here.

Senator Barack Obama said Thursday the United States cannot sustain a long-term military presence in Iraq, but added that he would be open to “refine my policies” about a timeline for withdrawing troops after meeting with American military commanders during a trip to Iraq later this month.

Mr. Obama, whose popularity in the Democratic primary was built upon a sharp opposition to the war and an often-touted 16-month gradual timetable for removing combat troops, dismissed suggestions that he was changing positions in the wake of reductions in violence in Iraq and a general election fight with Senator John McCain.

“I’ve always said that the pace of withdrawal would be dictated by the safety and security of our troops and the need to maintain stability. That assessment has not changed,” he said. “And when I go to Iraq and have a chance to talk to some of the commanders on the ground, I’m sure I’ll have more information and will continue to refine my policies.”….

“My 16-month timeline, if you examine everything that I’ve said, was always premised on making sure that our troops were safe,” he said. “I said that based on the information that we had received from our commanders that one to two brigades a month could be pulled out safely, from a logistical perspective. My guiding approach continues to be that we’ve got to make sure that our troops are safe and that Iraq is stable.”

…

Update | 4:15 p.m.: Republicans seized on Mr. Obama’s remarks, saying he was stepping away from the position he took in the Democratic primary campaign.

“There appears to be no issue that Barack Obama is not willing to reverse himself on for the sake of political expedience,” said Alex Conant, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee. “Obama’s Iraq problem undermines the central premise of his candidacy and shows him to be a typical politician.”

Mr. Obama said such criticism was misguided, saying: “My position has not changed, but keep in mind what that original position was. I’ve always said that I would listen to commanders on the ground.”

Okay, now, this is from Obama’s website, under the “Iraq” page of the “Issues” section, and you can find that here.

Judgment You Can Trust

As a candidate for the United States Senate in 2002, Obama put his political career on the line to oppose going to war in Iraq, and warned of “an occupation of undetermined length, with undetermined costs, and undetermined consequences.” Obama has been a consistent, principled and vocal opponent of the war in Iraq.

• In 2003 and 2004, he spoke out against the war on the campaign trail;
• In 2005, he called for a phased withdrawal of our troops;
• In 2006, he called for a timetable to remove our troops, a political solution within Iraq, and aggressive diplomacy with all of Iraq’s neighbors;
• In January 2007, he introduced legislation in the Senate to remove all of our combat troops from Iraq by March 2008.
• In September 2007, he laid out a detailed plan for how he will end the war as president.

Bringing Our Troops Home

Obama will immediately begin to remove our troops from Iraq. He will remove one to two combat brigades each month, and have all of our combat brigades out of Iraq within 16 months. Obama will make it clear that we will not build any permanent bases in Iraq. He will keep some troops in Iraq to protect our embassy and diplomats; if al Qaeda attempts to build a base within Iraq, he will keep troops in Iraq or elsewhere in the region to carry out targeted strikes on al Qaeda…

Now, I’m pretty sure that the information directly above from Obama’s website is accurate. And I’m pretty sure that the information above says that all of our troops will be out within 16 months. I’m also fairly sure that his Senate record shows how adamant he is about getting our soldiers out of there. All of this makes me wonder if this ‘refining’ bit is him actually considering the issue (don’t get me wrong, I think refining the idea is *much* better than just pulling all of the soldiers out in 16 months no matter what’s going on, and risking destroying everything that so many have fought and died for), or if it’s him leaning towards center.

I was listening to NPR on my way to work, and they were discussing Obama’s possible flip-flopping during the news hour. I feel like I’m sitting back on the sidelines watching and kind of laughing inside because it seems that dear Senator Obama is a politician after all… that must have hit some people pretty hard.

Red Flag and a big Uh Oh for Obama July 3, 2008

Don’t have much time, but in browsing my daily NYT new email, I came across this, and was detached-ly surprised, and imagine that some of my Obama Change supporting friends are…horrified. Can’t wait to ask my uncle what he thinks about this :insert evil face:.

Senator Barack Obama’s decision to support legislation granting legal immunity to telecommunications companies that cooperated with the Bush administration’s program of wiretapping without warrants has led to an intense backlash among some of his most ardent supporters.

Thousands of them are now using the same grass-roots organizing tools previously mastered by the Obama campaign to organize a protest against his decision.

In recent days,  more than 7,000 Obama supporters have organized on a social networking site on Mr. Obama’s own campaign Web site. They are calling on Mr. Obama to reverse his decision to endorse legislation supported by President Bush to expand the government’s domestic spying powers while also providing legal protection to the telecommunication companies that worked with the National Security Agency’s domestic wiretapping program after the Sept. 11 attacks.

During the Democratic primary campaign, Mr. Obama vowed to fight such legislation to update the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA. But he has switched positions, and now supports a compromise hammered out between the White House and the Democratic Congressional leadership. The bill is expected to come to a vote on the Senate floor next Tuesday. That decision, one of a number made by Mr. Obama in recent weeks intended to position him toward the political center as the general election campaign heats up, has brought him into serious conflict for the first time with liberal bloggers and commentators and his young supporters.

…

“The opposition to Obama’s position among his supporters is very widespread,” said Ms. Hamsher, founder of the Web site firedoglake.com. “His promise to filibuster earlier in the year, and the decision to switch on that is seen as a real character problem. I know people who are really very big Obama supporters are very disillusioned.”

(ok, sorry, formatting is screwed up…)

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