Understanding the Polar Vortex

Here's why most of the United States has been in the Deep Freeze this winter:

From the New York Post

“The Big Chill,” NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center post read. “Blistering cold air from the Arctic plunged southward this winter, breaking US temperature records.”
“A persistent pattern of winds spins high above the Arctic in winter. The winds, known as the polar vortex, typically blow in a fairly tight circular formation. But in late December 2013 and early January 2014, the winds loosened and frigid Arctic air spilled farther south than usual, deep into the continental United States.”

NASA Video Explaining the Polar Vortex

Happy Martin Luther King Day!

Today we celebrate Martin Luther King Day, a floating holiday celebrating the great man's birthday on January 15th. Truly one of the most inspiring human beings ever to walk the earth, and a true humanitarian.

Ice Cold Polar Vortex Takes Over America

On the heels of a winter storm named "Hercules" that brought blizzard conditions to the Midwest and New England and caused 16 deaths, we now have a phenomenon called the "Winter Vortex" that could be even more dangerous. Over the next 24 hours the Arctic blast is going to make temperatures plummet to below double digits below zero over the northern states and into the south. Also blizzards are happening again, and several states are under states of emergency just due to ice and cold. Is this extreme weather connected to global warming? Probably, yes. Is there anything we can do about it except bundle up and shake a fist at the sky? No.

US will soon learn meaning of “polar vortex” as record cold descends on Midwest Monday. http://t.co/nHR2UuUopE pic.twitter.com/o1jwgp0uGC

— Jim Roberts (@nycjim) January 4, 2014

From Time Magazine:

Meteorologists attribute the “polar vortex” to freezing air from the North Pole being pushed down to as far as the Gulf Coast of the U.S., the Associated Press reports. In Atlanta, temperatures will be in the mid-20s by Tuesday while a wintry mix of rain and snow are expected in parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia, northern Arkansas, southern Ohio and southwestern Pennsylvania late into Sunday. The cold front will likely freeze large bodies of water, like the Great Lakes, meaning freezing temperatures could last through winter.

While still digging out from current snowfall, another winter storm will drop more snow and ice onto the the central Plains to the Great Lakes states this weekend. The biggest hit areas will include St. Louis, Indianapolis, Detroit, Cleveland and Buffalo.

Great graphic! MT @NWSTallahassee: Wind Chill Watch, Warning, or Advisory in effect for estimated 115 million ppl. pic.twitter.com/jGZmf7Vl8p

— Jim Cantore (@JimCantore) January 5, 2014

Chicago expected to approach all-time low-temperature mark of minus 11; wind chill may hit minus 45 - @chicagotribune http://t.co/wBDTcpbEfy

— Breaking News Storm (@breakingstorm) January 6, 2014

Mandela Memorial: Obama Speaks and Soweto Cheers

Previous Related Posts:
R.I.P. Nelson Mandela - "He Belongs to the Ages
Obama in Africa: Capetown to Tanzania

~~~~~~~~~~~~

President Obama and every other living President except George H.W. Bush attended the Memorial Service for Nelson Mandela in Soweto, South Africa. Speaking in the rain to a packed stadium, President Obama had the crowd fired up and cheering, as he often does in our own country. His was by far the most dynamic speech. Most of the tributes could have been edited intensely and no one would have noticed. However, Mandela's grandchildren were wonderfully poetic!

Click Here for Complete Text of President Obama's Eulogy

Excerpts:

. . . Mandela understood the ties that bind the human spirit. There is a word in South Africa -- Ubuntu -- a word that captures Mandela’s greatest gift: his recognition that we are all bound together in ways that are invisible to the eye; that there is a oneness to humanity; that we achieve ourselves by sharing ourselves with others, and caring for those around us.

We can never know how much of this sense was innate in him, or how much was shaped in a dark and solitary cell. But we remember the gestures, large and small -- introducing his jailers as honored guests at his inauguration; taking a pitch in a Springbok uniform; turning his family’s heartbreak into a call to confront HIV/AIDS -- that revealed the depth of his empathy and his understanding. He not only embodied Ubuntu, he taught millions to find that truth within themselves.

. . . Over 30 years ago, while still a student, I learned of Nelson Mandela and the struggles taking place in this beautiful land, and it stirred something in me. It woke me up to my responsibilities to others and to myself, and it set me on an improbable journey that finds me here today. And while I will always fall short of Madiba’s example, he makes me want to be a better man. He speaks to what’s best inside us.

After this great liberator is laid to rest, and when we have returned to our cities and villages and rejoined our daily routines, let us search for his strength. Let us search for his largeness of spirit somewhere inside of ourselves. And when the night grows dark, when injustice weighs heavy on our hearts, when our best-laid plans seem beyond our reach, let us think of Madiba and the words that brought him comfort within the four walls of his cell: “It matters not how strait the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll, I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.”

What a magnificent soul it was. We will miss him deeply. May God bless the memory of Nelson Mandela. May God bless the people of South Africa.

President Obama's swagger is on 100! pic.twitter.com/9qIfrL7XWN
— 3ChicsPolitico (@3ChicsPolitico) December 10, 2013

World leaders, celebrities, rain - #MandelaMemorial in pictures http://t.co/h7gSuXBhOl pic.twitter.com/YGQqRChVa3
— BBC News (World) (@BBCWorld) December 10, 2013

Chelsea Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Laura Bush, George W. Bush listen to President Barack Obama pic.twitter.com/GY69emFyh0
— 3030 (@jose3030) December 10, 2013

#Obama & #Bush have arrived at the #MandelaMemorial, but it's far from the 1st time #Mandela interacted w/ a #POTUS: pic.twitter.com/j27h246qtC
— Eric Wolfson (@ericwolfson) December 10, 2013

Mandiba's Grandchildren - He Would Be Proud!

Little boy w fist in air---We love you, Madiba! pic.twitter.com/yBqHM34Eq1
— 3ChicsPolitico (@3ChicsPolitico) December 10, 2013

MT @NBCLA: Graca Machel, Mandela’s widow, at #MandelaMemorial. Watch live: http://t.co/v9v2z0g7yG #RememberingMandela pic.twitter.com/qeBBOfAJKc
— PoliticalJones (@PoliticalJones) December 10, 2013

Desmond Tutu at the #MandelaMemorial (with Kofi Annan): pic.twitter.com/YBLE5AJXKc
— Michael Skolnik (@MichaelSkolnik) December 10, 2013

In case you haven't seen it yet - the programme or the #MandelaMemorial pic.twitter.com/RJP8CNxG9X
— Nadia Neophytou (@NadiaNeophytou) December 10, 2013

50 Years Ago ~ the Kennedy Assassination

I was just over 3 years old when President John F. Kennedy was shot, so I barely remember the day. What I do remember is the overwhelming grief that adults expressed even years after it happened when we would see the anniversary in the newspaper or on TV.

So handsome, so gifted, so well-meaning - and much too young to die. At my house we didn't talk about all the conspiracy theories when I was a child - my parents were too grief-stricken - but as I got older, especially at school, we wondered why so many others were shot soon after: Robert Kennedy, Medgar Evers, Martin Luther King. Here in the south there was an feeling of fear that anything could happen at any time, that things had gone too far towards chaos. I was in second grade when M.L. King died, and while I was still too young to fathom the politics, I was ashamed and shocked that the shooting happened in Tennessee. So I have an inkling about how those in Dallas, Texas must have felt then and feel today over the assassination of John Kennedy. Things like this should never happen in our backyards, in the United States.

And yet there are those today who sit around on the internet, on Twitter and Facebook and every forum, seething and screeching and threatening Barack Obama, calling for someone to "stop his tyranny" through any means possible. That horrible type of madness just never goes away it would seem. The John Birch Society of that time has become the Tea Party of today.

What the Tea Party needs to understand is that the death of John F. Kennedy didn't stop progress or change from happening to our country. President Johnson and millions of others carried out the reforms of the Great Society. The Koch Brothers, whose father founded the John Birch Society, may still try to suppress the vote, but minorities and women are voting in ever higher numbers and showed last year that they will stand together for hours at the polling places in the name of Evers and King. We just re-elected Barack Obama, an African-American President. Many old enough to remember the death of John F. Kennedy never thought that day would come, and yet it did.

Peaceful change is the best revenge for all those deaths.

This week Caroline Kennedy became Ambassador to Japan. Standing with her was her son, who looks very much like her father and her late brother, John Kennedy Jr. History changes, and Teddy Kennedy may be gone forever now, but the legacy continues, both of blood and values.

The deaths of great people are not in vain. They inspire us and lead us beyond death.

Modern conservatives would rather drown the middle class & govt than promote widespread opportunity & greatness pic.twitter.com/4NxGFibcQ4

— ProgressiveHelp PhD (@CallOut4) November 23, 2013

Caroline Kennedy sworn in by Secretary Kerry as Ambassador to Japan with her husband and son by her side pic.twitter.com/rN4h1VETjX

— TheObamaDiary.com (@TheObamaDiary) November 12, 2013

President John F. Kennedy and his son, John F. Kennedy Jr., White House, October 1963. #JFK #JFK50 pic.twitter.com/xcu42G1KZb

— Tegan Mathis (@TeganMathis) November 22, 2013

"A man may die, nations may rise and fall, but an idea lives on." -John F. Kennedy, 1963 #JFK https://t.co/2lbA6SRGI3

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) November 22, 2013

See how TIME has covered JFK throughout the last 50 years http://t.co/F47YLapd6o pic.twitter.com/Rxx9AmqRkE

— TIME.com (@TIME) November 22, 2013

Myrlie Evers' Condolence Letter To Jacqueline Kennedy: "I Lost My Husband On June 12th In The Same Way" #JFK #JFK50 pic.twitter.com/znwTHMQ4SS

— Eric Wolfson (@ericwolfson) November 22, 2013

Jacqueline Kennedy at John F. Kennedy’s funeral, Arlington Cemetery, November 25, 1963 #RIPJFK pic.twitter.com/uiOPDefNlF

— Emily Maxwell (@eskizzle) November 22, 2013

50 years ago today, Midland Reporter-Telegram published an "extra" edition: GUNMAN SLAYS JFK: http://t.co/bVyWKuhKIQ pic.twitter.com/qKnDXpzb4C

— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) November 22, 2013

Funeral of John F. Kennedy, 1963 pic.twitter.com/U3KYMh2i7E

— ClassicPics (@History_Pics) October 13, 2013

Some Things Never Change. (BTW, The John Birch Society was cofounded by the #Koch Brothers' dad) #JFK #JFK50 #p2 pic.twitter.com/v6ITZyIf9A

— Eric Wolfson (@ericwolfson) November 22, 2013

Celebrating the Birthday of Naturalist John Muir

John Muir is often called a "Scottish-American" because he was born in Scotland. But he was really an all-American hero, striding across the landscape in search of natural treasures and using his skill as a writer to help preserve the wilderness. He was key to founding our National Park System, especially the great western parks of Yellowstone and Yosemite. He founded the Sierra Club which carries on his great work to this day.

Happy Birthday, John Muir!!! How fitting that his birth is one day before Earth Day.

"The Battle for Conservation will go on endlessly. It is part of the universal warfare between right and wrong."
~ John Muir







From PBS

John Muir was one of the earliest advocates of the national park idea, and its most eloquent spokesman. Born in Dunbar, Scotland, he moved with his family to a Wisconsin farm in 1849. Muir's father, an itinerant Presbyterian minister, treated him harshly and insisted that he memorize the Bible. By age 11, he was able to recite three-quarters of the Old Testament by heart, and all of the New Testament.

Muir studied botany and geology at the University of Wisconsin and had a natural flair for inventions. In 1867, after recovering from a factory accident that left him temporarily blinded for several months, he cut short a promising career in industry to walk from Indiana to Florida, creating botanical sketches on his way. From there he sailed to California and then walked from San Francisco to the Sierra Nevada – the "Range of Light" that would transform his life with his "unconditional surrender" to nature.

After working as a sheepherder in the high country for a season, Muir took a job in the Yosemite Valley in 1869, building a sawmill for James Mason Hutchings. In his free time, he roamed Yosemite, where he developed a scientific theory that the valley had been carved by glaciers. Muir felt a spiritual connection to nature; he believed that mankind is just one part of an interconnected natural world, not its master, and that God is revealed through nature.

. . . he traveled to Alaska's Glacier Bay and Washington's Mount Rainier. His writings brought national attention to two more places that would eventually become national parks.
Muir would also champion protection of the Petrified Forest and the Grand Canyon in Arizona. He was the public voice for setting aside the high country around Yosemite Valley as a national park in 1890, as well as for General Grant and Sequoia national parks.

. . . Muir was a founder and the first president of the Sierra Club; Muir Woods National Monument, a grove of redwoods north of San Francisco, is named in his honor.

Praying for Boston and the Victims after the Marathon Bombing

It's been a horrible 24 hours since the bomb explosions at the Boston Marathon. We've seen nightmarish photographs of fire and smoke in the air, of broken glass, of human blood smeared on the sidewalk. We've read stories of human bodies torn apart by twisted shrapnel, of double amputations, of first responders and hospitals overwhelmed by injuries only seen on the front lines during wartime. All of us wonder what kind of evil coward builds a bomb and plants it beside a group of happy, innocent people, families and children, athletes and tourists, on a beautiful spring day? Who plans out such carnage then steps back to watch the chaos?

I'm very glad that I can't understand the mind who carried out this evil. All Americans are Bostonians now. We are torn apart with grief. We will find out who did this unspeakable act and justice will be served.

What Other Countries Did to Stop Gun Violence

It makes sense for President Obama to study the models of other countries that have dealt with gun violence and stamped it out of their society.  It should give us all hope that there are places in the world where politicians have said "enough" and stood up quickly to the right wing gun lobbyists - in Australia it only took them 12 Days to get going!!!  It's got to happen here in the U.S. because the alternative is chaos and anarchy - and more death. It has to happen now - there's no turning back.


The Finland Approach

Finland's established culture of gun ownership (1.5 million firearms in a country of 5 million people) was called into question after two horrific shooting incidents at schools that took place within a year of each other.
On Nov. 7, 2007, a teenager in Tuusula killed eight people before killing himself at Jokela High School. Just a year later, on Sept. 23, a gunman shot 10 people on the campus of Kauhajoki city's School of Hospitality before turning the gun on himself, according to CNN.
In the wake of the shootings, Finland raised the minimum age for firearm licenses from 15 to 20 for short weapons and to 18 for hunting guns, according to Agence France Presse.
"No one in a country like Finland needs to have a gun at home," said Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja in August 2011, following the rampage by Anders Behring Breivik, in neighboring Norway.

NYT: Australia, Scotland, and Japan

Australia is an excellent example. In 1996, a “pathetic social misfit,” as a judge described the lone gunman, killed 35 people with a spray of bullets from semiautomatic weapons. Within weeks, the Australian government was working on gun reform laws that banned assault weapons and shotguns, tightened licensing and financed gun amnesty and buyback programs.

At the time, the prime minister, John Howard, said, “We do not want the American disease imported into Australia.” The laws have worked. The American Journal of Law and Economics reported in 2010 that firearm homicides in Australia dropped 59 percent between 1995 and 2006. In the 18 years before the 1996 laws, there were 13 gun massacres resulting in 102 deaths, according to Harvard researchers, with none in that category since.

Similarly, after 16 children and their teacher were killed by a gunman in Dunblane, Scotland, in 1996, the British government banned all private ownership of automatic weapons and virtually all handguns. Those changes gave Britain some of the toughest gun control laws in the developed world on top of already strict rules. Hours of exhaustive paperwork are required if anyone wants to own even a shotgun or rifle for hunting. The result has been a decline in murders involving firearms.

. . . In Japan, which has very strict laws, only 11 people killed with guns in 2008, compared with 12,000 deaths by firearms that year in the United States — a huge disparity even accounting for the difference in population.

Slate: The Australian Model after 1996 shooting

At the heart of the push was a massive buyback of more than 600,000 semi-automatic shotguns and rifles, or about one-fifth of all firearms in circulation in Australia. The country’s new gun laws prohibited private sales, required that all weapons be individually registered to their owners, and required that gun buyers present a “genuine reason” for needing each weapon at the time of the purchase. (Self-defense did not count.) In the wake of the tragedy, polls showed public support for these measures at upwards of 90 percent.
What happened next has been the subject of several academic studies. Violent crime and gun-related deaths did not come to an end in Australia, of course. But as the Washington Post’s Wonkblog pointed out in August, homicides by firearm plunged 59 percent between 1995 and 2006, with no corresponding increase in non-firearm-related homicides. The drop in suicides by gun was even steeper: 65 percent. Studies found a close correlation between the sharp declines and the gun buybacks. Robberies involving a firearm also dropped significantly. 

Tulsa, Oklahoma Reporter Explains the Best Route to Canada

CBC Manitoba

On Tuesday, many Americans tweeted about moving to Canada if their candidate didn't win the presidential election. Below is a video of Jeff Brucculeri, a Tulsa, Oklahoma traffic reporter, who takes it one step further by answering the special request with directions to Winnipeg from Tulsa!

Sandy the "Frankenstorm" of the East

It's incredible that a storm can come along so late in the hurricane season and be described as either "The Perfect Storm" (as in the Storm of the Century in 1993) or even worse - "The Frankenstorm" because it is supposed to hit close to Halloween. There's also another "spin" on Sandy (pardon the pun) that it will become a "Hybrid Freak" thanks to an arctic cold front moving across the country that will merge into the tropical low.

All of it spells trouble for New Jersey north into New England next week. 

STATUS: Sandy remains a Category 2 hurricane, as of 10:30 p.m. Thursday
STRENGTH: Maximum sustained winds of 100 mph; 965 mb pressure
LOCATION: Center of the storm is between Cat Island and Eleuthera Island in the Bahamas, 105 miles east of Nassau in the Bahamas, as of 9 p.m. Thursday
SPEED & DIRECTION: Moving north-northwest at 17 mph
Source: National Hurricane Center



From NewJersey.com

. . . the forecast for the storm is highly complex, and has little to no historical comparison, according to David Robinson, the state climatologist at Rutgers University.

“It borders on rare to unprecedented on its potential,” he said. “This is a threat that should be taken seriously. I’m not suggesting people should run right now to the grocery store for your bread and milk, but it needs to be watched closely.”

A myriad of scenarios for how the situation will unfold exists, according to forecast guidance. Were Sandy to track inland just south of or on the New Jersey coast, major coastal flooding, hurricane force winds and torrential rain are all distinct possibilities. A track further to the north, in New England, and the Garden State may be spared some of the more severe impacts. Even the potential for Sandy to move out to sea (while the least likely) can’t be completely discounted at this point.

Because the ceiling of the storm’s impact is so high, forecasters and state officials are urging residents to monitor it closely. The threat of major coastal flooding, inland flooding and wind damage is very much in the realm of possibilities for New Jersey – a threat that should not be taken lightly, regardless of the outcome.

Obama Birth Certificate Button

I just got an ad for this in my email, LOL. It's the perfect pushback against Romney's sudden attack of Birther Mania.

Get Your Own Obama Birther Button for $5

There's really no way to make the conspiracy about President Obama's birth certificate completely go away, so we might as well laugh at it -- and make sure as many people as possible are in on the joke. Get your Obama birth certificate Made in the USA button today.

Shooting at a Sikh Temple in Wisconsin

So sad that there has been another mass shooting in the United States. This one has been classified as an "act of domestic terrorism," but really aren't they all?



NBC News Story  

A gunman opened fire Sunday morning at a Sikh temple outside of Milwaukee, killing six people and wounding at least three others, including a police officer, before being shot to death, authorities said.

. . . It was not immediately clear why local police were classifying the shooting as domestic terrorism. Federal law enforcement officials told NBC News the suspected gunman had no obvious connection to domestic terror or white supremacist groups and apparently was not on any list of suspected terrorists. The suspect was in his early 40s, and while he had an arrest record, it was for minor offenses, one federal official said. A law enforcement official told NBC News the gunman was dressed in a white T-shirt and black tactical-style pants, which had several pockets for holding ammunition magazines. He was armed with a single handgun, the official said. His name was not released but police say they have a tentative ID and were searching his home.

. . . Officials told NBC News the suspect, who served in the U.S. Army, had many tattoos. The suspect had some kind of radical or white supremacist views but, as far as officials said they had heard, he was not in any kind of radical organization. His previous run-ins with law enforcement involved traffic offenses, they said.

From Reuters

Turban-wearing Sikhs are often mistaken for Muslims, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation is overseeing the probe into shootings, Edwards said. "We're treating this as a domestic terrorist incident," he told reporters. Officials had no details about a possible motive.

Milwaukee's Froedtert Hospital said three male victims included one who had been shot in the abdomen, one in the extremities and face, and a third who was hit in the neck. The Oak Creek shooting was the latest in a series of suburban U.S. gun rampages. Organizations fighting gun violence rate Wisconsin's gun safety laws from low to moderate. There are no limits on the number of firearms that can be purchased at one time, nor on the possession or transfer of assault weapons, according to the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence.

. . . The Sikh faith is the fifth-largest in the world, with more than 30 million followers. It includes belief in one God and that the goal of life is to lead an exemplary existence. The temple in Oak Creek, south of Milwaukee, was founded in October 1997 and has a congregation of 350 to 400 people. There are an estimated 500,000 or more Sikhs in the United States. Since the attacks of September 11, 2001 by Islamist militants, Sikhs have sometimes been confused publicly with Muslims because of their turban headdress and beards.

Bill Moyers Slams the NRA

This is profound. I hope people listen, especially in Washington. I've always loved Bill Moyers as a journalkist, and I'm glad he's still around to keep people honest.

One of the guns used by the shooter was an AK47 that was banned in 1994. The NRA saw to it that the ban expired in 2004.
The NRA is the best friend the killer's instinct ever had.
. . . Toys are regulated with greater care and safety concerns than guns.
. . . So why do we always acts so surprised? Violence is our alter-ego. Violence is our alter ego, wired into our Stone Age brains, so intrinsic its toxic eruptions no longer shock, except momentarily when we hear of a mass shooting like this latest in Colorado. But this, too, will pass and the nation of the short attention span quickly finds the next thing to divert us from the hard realities of America in 2012.
. . . The NRA is the enabler of death. Paranoid. Delusional. And as venomous as a scorpion. . . . The National Rifle Association has turned the 2nd Amendment of the Constitution into a cruel Hoax. A cruel and deadly hoax.

~ Bill Moyers via Raw Story

The Dark Knight Massacre in Colorado

Horrible story still unfolding. My prayers are with the families who have lost loved ones. You'd think that people could at least feel safe in a movie theater on a summer's day, one of life's simple pleasures. But evil has a way of taking those away from us, unfortunately. More innocence lost.

Most recent update from MSNBC

The apartment of the suspect, identified as James Holmes, 24, had been booby-trapped with what police described as sophisticated explosives or flammable materials, and officers were trying to determine how to defuse them, Aurora Police Chief Dan Oates said. The area was evacuated, and police were expected to remain on the scene "for hours or days," he said.

Oates initially said 14 people had been killed, but the figure was later revised to 12.

Holmes, a former graduate student in the neuroscience program at University of Colorado medical school, put up no resistance when he was arrested in a parking lot at the theater, police said. They said there was no evidence of other suspects.

"We're pretty confident he acted alone," Officer Frank Fania told TODAY.

The victims, who were being treated in at least six hospitals, included a 6-year-old. A 4-month-old baby also was treated and released. The oldest reported patient is 45.

Story from ABC News

Witnesses in the movie theater said Holmes saw smoke and heard gunshots that they thought were part of the movie until they saw Holmes standing in front of the screen, aftetr entering from an emergency exit. Holmes methodically stalked the aisles of the theater, shooting people at random, as panicked movie-watchers in the packed auditorium tried to escape, witnesses said. "You just smelled smoke and you just kept hearing it, you just heard bam bam bam, non-stop. The gunman never had to reload. Shots just kept going, kept going, kept going," one witness told ABC News. "I'm with coworkers and we're on the floor praying to God we don't get shot, and the gunshots continue on and on, and when the sound finally stopped, we started to get up and people were just bleeding," another theatergoer said. . . . A San Diego woman identifying herself as James Holmes's mother spoke briefly with ABC News this morning. She had awoken unaware of the news of the shooting and had not been contacted by authorities. She immediately expressed concern that her son may have been involved.

Official Statement from President Obama:

THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 20, 2012 Statement by President Barack Obama on the Shooting in Colorado Michelle and I are shocked and saddened by the horrific and tragic shooting in Colorado. Federal and local law enforcement are still responding, and my Administration will do everything that we can to support the people of Aurora in this extraordinarily difficult time. We are committed to bringing whoever was responsible to justice, ensuring the safety of our people, and caring for those who have been wounded. As we do when confronted by moments of darkness and challenge, we must now come together as one American family. All of us must have the people of Aurora in our thoughts and prayers as they confront the loss of family, friends, and neighbors, and we must stand together with them in the challenging hours and days to come.

More remarks by the President in Colorado:

On a day on which he and Republican presidential candidate withdrew negative advertising in Colorado, Obama urged the country to come together, saying it “reminds us of all the ways that we are united as one American family.” “If there was anything to take away from this tragedy it's the reminder that life is very fragile. Our time here is limited and it is precious,” Obama told an audience in Florida. “What matters at the end of the day is not the small things. It's not the trivial things which so often consume us and our daily lives. Ultimately, it's how we treat one another and how we love one another.” The president said he was also heartbroken as a father. “My daughters go to the movies,” he said. “What if Malia and Sasha had been at the theater, as so many of our kids do every day? Michelle and I will be fortunate enough to hug our girls a little tighter tonight and I'm sure you will do the same with your children. “For those parents who may not be so lucky we have to embrace them and let them know we will be there for them as a nation,” he said.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Obama Ad Tackles Romney's Offshore Accounts

This new ad is awesome! How many ordinary Americans know someone with offshore accounts? I would wager about One Percent of us do. ;) And in case you aren't familiar with the Cayman Islands, I've thrown in a video about them. "Service is excellent."

Happy Fourth of July!

Enjoy a relaxing day with lots of good eats and some patriotism!

Nowhere to Run from the Scary Health Care

The other day Marco Rubio was being interviewed about health care and pointed out that Romneycare was different from Obamacare because you could just move away from it.

No, really, he said that.

NYMag: At Least You Can Flee It!

Romney "supported it on the state level. Which means if you didn’t like it in Massachusetts, you could move to another state," Rubio said on Bloomberg Television. "What are people supposed to do? Leave the United States now because of Barack Obama’s brilliant idea to sic the IRS on millions of people?

Now someone has made a hilarious video taking Rubio's idea to a logical conclusion.

Found via Political Carnival

Joe Biden's Moving Speech to Military Families

 

The picture above is from Chattanooga National Cemetery, where my father and mother are buried. My father was a WWII disabled veteran who served in France, Italy, Germany and Austria. He had shrapnel in his leg for which he received a purple heart, but he also contracted multiple sclerosis while training for Pacific duty at Fort Lewis. None of that made life easy for him, but if not for the military my parents would never have met.

Daddy was from Tennessee, Mama was from Kansas. They met when my father was stationed at Fort Dix and ended up on a weekend pass in Abilene. My mother, who had just graduated from high school, worked for the telephone company and it just happened to be their turn to serve coffee and doughnuts for the USO. She was a shy introvert and unsure what to do, so someone pointed to my father who was sitting looking very homesick, sunburned and sad. To her surprise, when she offered him some coffee, he looked up and gave her a dazzling smile and started talking like the extrovert he was. My mother told me she had never met anyone like him. When they got married, the Abilene newspaper called him a "hometown boy" - that's how my father could win people over. After the War, they made a life together in Tennessee, with six children and many grandchildren and great-grandchildren. I miss them both every day, but especially on Memorial Day.

My father was a lifelong Roosevelt Democrat, and so was my mother. I once asked my mother if she voted for Eisenhower in the 50s since he was from the same hometown, and she shook her head adamently - "No," she said, "We voted for Adelaide Stevenson, who was a great man." My father never thought Eisenhower did enough for the military veterans who fought under him, and knew it wasn't an accident that suddenly his military medical pension went through as soon as Kennedy was elected into office. Both my parents despised Nixon and Reagan and saw them as power-hungry because they ran for office so many times. I can only imagine what they would say about Mitt Romney! I think they would be amazed that Obama ever got elected, and I know they would be ready to vote for him again in November.

Their influence on my life is immeasurable. They were survivors of the Great Depression, World War II, and years of raising a large family on the shoestring of Veteran's benefits. But they knew what really mattered, and I like to think they would approve of this blog and the message I'm trying to send to the world. Like them, I don't intend to give up on anything I believe in to please anyone else.

This weekend we have an incredible gift - the speech of Vice President Joe Biden to the 18th Annual TAPPS National Military Survivor Seminar. I think this speech is one of the most moving testaments to the American people and to the American military we will ever have, because he made his own grief personal and shared it with the country. God Bless Him! Did I mention that my father's name was also Joe?

Zimmerman Makes Bail and Gets the Hell out of Florida (because there are scary people with guns who might decide to shoot him - how ironic is that?)

George Zimmerman, accused killer of Trayvon Martin, made bail and now he's probably fled the state of Florida. That's okay - stay alive, George. We want you to stand trial and let the truth of that night come out.
From the AP

Even though authorities can pinpoint Zimmerman's location with a GPS ankle bracelet, that he must wear round the clock, the public may not see him again for some time. Zimmerman has waived his appearance at his upcoming arraignment next month, so he can stay underground if he wants.
"He's doing well, he's very glad to be out, trying to get settled in, still worried about his safety, but, you know, talking to his family and feeling much better than being in" jail, Zimmerman's attorney, Mark O'Mara, said Monday night on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360.
O'Mara declined to say if Zimmerman was in Florida, only saying his client will travel to several locations for his safety.

Other News related to Trayvon Martin:
Florida Case File of George Zimmerman 

Chief Bill Lee Resigns from Sanford Police Dept
But . . .  
Sanford Commission Denies Police Chief's Resignation
Because he has two friends on the Commission who think he is a "hero." 
State Attorney Norm Wolfinger Not Seeking Re-Election He wants to "spend more time with the family" ~ which is public figure code for "I ruined my career by not charging a vigilante in the obvious and stupid murder of a teenage boy armed with iced tea and skittles."

War Against Women or War Between Women?

NBC News quotes Ann Romney saying she received a birthday present from an unlikely source.

"It was my early birthday present for someone to be critical of me as a mother, and that was really a defining moment, and I loved it," Mrs. Romney said.

What gift did she receive that was so warmly welcome? Well, last week a so-called Democratic "strategist" named Hilary Rosen blurted out her view of the Republican candidate's wife:

 "She's never actually worked a day in her life," snarled Rosen.

Oy vey. She displays as much "strategy" as RNC chairman Reince Priebus did when he compared the War on Woman to a War on Caterpillars. They deserve each other, I swear! As a stay-at-home mother for 26 years myself, I've had women say or imply the same snarky thing to me, so immediately I felt sorry for Ann Romney. My first thought was - omg, don't be stupid enough to attack a Mom of Five boys who also has health problems. And especially don't attack the spouse of a Republican candidate if you expect people to leave Michele Obama alone until November!

Many people dislike Rosen anyway because of her work as a corporate shill as CEO of the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Remember the now-defunct downloading website, Napster? This is the woman who filed all the copyright lawsuits against them to run out of business and helped get some really dangerous grandmothers into trouble. In 2003, Hilary sailed out of the RIAA with a cool 2.8 million salary, proving that a one-percenter like Rosen attacking a one-percenter mom like Romney is a case of Pot-Meet-Kettle.

Obama's team distanced themselves as  a mini-war erupted on Twitter. Obama's Senior Advisor, David Axelrod, tweeted that Rosen's remarks were "inappropriate and offensive," while Michele Obama tweeted that "Every mother works hard, and every woman deserves to be respected."

Rosen has been apologizing everywhere, of course, but it's too little too late. We can only hope that she stays as quiet as possible between now and November. Does that sound uncharitable towards a fellow-woman? (And is that an oxymoron?) Well, all I can say is that it's really disheartening that when we had the Republicans on the ropes over their offensive views (Rush and Rick) and actions (red state legislatures) concerning women, someone who calls herself a Democrat goes rogue and attacks another woman for her family values.

There's no doubt that Ann Romney has had plenty of help in raising her children, but so do lots of other women - even Rosen, I bet, because she could also afford maids, nannies, babysitters, whatever. That is not the issue. The issue is that every woman has a choice with what to do with her life, and we should support those choices. I wish Ann Romney would detach herself from the Republicans and stand up for women more, but that's NOT going to happen. Meanwhile her life as a mother has nothing to do with politics.

No one should call Rosen a "strategist" anymore - hear that, CNN? Maybe she and Reince Priebus should go research caterpillars on some far distant island together.