White House Garden

Excellent news: The Obamas have announced that they will be planting an organic garden at the White House.

Today, first lady Michelle Obama will host a groundbreaking for a White House kitchen garden on the South Lawn. She will be joined by students from Bancroft Elementary in Northwest Washington, , whose participation in the project will continue past today, as they help with planting in the coming weeks and harvesting later this year.

The 1,100-square-foot garden will include 55 kinds of vegetables, including peppers, spinach and, yes, arugula. (The selection is a wish list put together by White House chefs.) There will also be berries, herbs and two hives for honey that will be tended by a White House carpenter who is also a beekeeper. The chefs will use the produce to feed the first family, as well as for state dinners and other official events.

The White House will use organic seedlings, as well as organic fertilizers and organic insect repellents. The garden will be near the tennis courts and be visible to passersby on the street. The whole Obama family will be involved in tending the garden, White House spokeswoman Katie McCormick Lelyveld said.

WaPo: Shovel-Ready Project: A White House Garden

One Way to Celebrate the Inauguration

Life: Inauguration
First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy chatting w. her debonaire brother-in-law, actor Peter Lawford, as they stand w. others at JFK's Inaugural Ball. Washington, DC, January 21, 1961, Photographer Paul Schutzer

I'm planning to drive down to my sister's and go to the mall on Inauguration with the other hundreds of thousands of happy Americans. Weather permitting, of course. We've had more winter in six weeks than we get most years. Snow storm, ice storm, snow storm, snow storm, snow storm, ice storm -- now we're scheduled to get snowed under again tonight and tomorrow.

So if the weather prevents me from attending the Inauguration, what will I do? I think I'll follow the example of this elderly South Carolina friend of Michelle Harrell, a professor at Roxbury Community College:

"On Inauguration Day, she's going to get up, put on her best suit, her fur, her panty hose, heels, and gloves, and she's going to sit in her living room and watch the inauguration," Harrell said. "Then she's going to take a nap. After dinner, she'll put on her long formal gown, her makeup and her jewelry, sit in her living room and watch the ball." The old woman told Harrell's sister she could join her -- provided she was properly attired.

Now that's a plan.

Barack and Michele Obama on 60 Minutes

Watch CBS Videos Online

Transcript

We Love Lists

Telegraph (uk): Barack Obama: The 50 facts you might not know

Michelle Obama on Tonight Show

Jay Leno interviews Michelle Obama last night:

Michelle Obama on Ellen

No more posting until tomorrow as I am going offline for 24 hours (A life!)

Not An Actual Magazine Cover

Carton from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer that you will never see on any real magazine cover. Can't make fun of McLame! Hero! Hanoi Hilton!

The New Yorker Jumps The Shark

This is the cover of the New Yorker this week. Thankfully I discontinued my subscription a few years ago, so my money didn't go into making this monstrosity.

It's every rightwing email in one loathesome caricature. Obama as a Muslim, certainly a foreigner, perhaps Osama himself; Michelle Obama as Angela Davis, or a Black Panther, or a member of Osama's bodyguards; the terrorist fistjab (thank you E.D. Hill for that turn of phrase), Osama bin Laden in the picture on the wall, the American flag burning merrily in the fireplace, all set in the Oval Office.

I look forward to their companion cover on McCain. A caricature of him in a pair of Depends underwear, holding out his empty wallet, to his wife encrusted with diamonds, asking for a little more?

A cartoon of McCain depicted as a canary, singing "Vietnam Rules, America Drools" at the Hanoi Hilton?

Or a cartoon showing McCain kicking his first wife and kids to the curb, her cane and their little baseball caps flying, as he holds onto Cindy McCain's miniskirt made of $100 bills?

Or just a naked McCain, from behind, his wrinkled white ass as he screws Uncle Sam (us)?

Hey, it's satire, right, and all's fair in modern journamalism. Wes Clark couldn't tell the truth, that being shot down and held captive don't qualify you to be President. The media attacked him like he'd said John McCain wears a G-string and pasties under his suit. But "journalists" and "publishers" and "the media" can put out complete and utter garbage like this cover and will hide under their handy First Amendment umbrella. Free press! Free press!

How free is a press that, like Chatty Cathy on steroids, regurgitates conservative propaganda every time the string is pulled?

The hitjob piece it illustrates can be read here, but don't miss the soft wet kiss the same writer, Ryan Lizza, wrote about McCain in February in the very same magazine. Or save yourself the time. Shorter Ryan Lizza: Obama bad, McCain good.

Lizza has a long, sad history of advancing right-wing memes, as it was he who named the Democratic plan for withdrawing our troops from Iraq "the slow-bleed plan", a phrase which was eagerly adopted by Fox News and their Republican overlords.

Journalism is dead. Long live the rotting press corpse.

Reading List

Crooks & Liars: Blue America’s Steny Hoyer FISA ad

Whatever happened to Jimmy Carter's solar panels?

Retired 24-year military veteran has to beg for cancer treatments. Sicko.

Read about the media's slobbering affair with John McBush: Loving John McCain

Newsweek sez Obama has a 15 point lead over McCain. Don't get excited; it's still June.

Profiles of Michelle Obama, from high-brow to low: New York Times, Guardian (uk), Telegraph (uk), US Weekly, Wall Street Journal (I put this next to US Weekly for a reason).

And now for something completely different: A 5-minute interview with English striker Kelly Smith.

Two Can Play This Game

CBSNews: Michelle Obama Becomes GOP Target
Politico: Both Parties Are Trying To Define Democratic Candidate's Wife For The General Election

It’s less than a week into the general election campaign, but already Michelle Obama is a Republican target.

Former Secretary of State Lawrence Eagleburger leveled the first blow, introducing Republican John McCain’s wife at a fundraiser this week as someone who is “proud of her country, not just once but always.” Obama wasn’t mentioned by name, but the audience got it.

So, does that mean Cindy McCain was proud of her country while she was getting high taking the drugs she stole from a medical charity? I bet she was proud of her country when she got special treatment from the justice system, which didn't throw her in jail. I can just imagine her thinking, I'm proud to be a rich American, from a country where only the poor go to jail for fraud, forgery and theft!

Go Read

Good news story of the day: the Supreme Court ruled that The Great Writ, the writ of habeas corpus, applies to the Guantanamo Bay prisoners: The Rule of Law Prevailed The prisoners are entitled to challenge their detention in federal court; the Bushies have failed in their attempt to create an extrajudicial SuperMax prison for the world. But it was only a 5-4 decision; our democracy rests on the weary shoulders of 88-year-old Justice John Paul Stephens. Elect Obama, save the Court.

To understand why this is so offensive, you must know that in contemporary jargon, "baby mama" means unwed mother: Fox News calls Michelle Obama "Obama's baby mama"

36-year-old right-wing nutjob Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal keeps getting invited to McCain's house for ribs as a VP candidate. Perhaps he's banished a few spirits while he's there? After all, he's an exorcist! Is Bobby Jindal -- Who May Be On McCain's Veep Shortlist -- An Exorcist?

We all know the corporate media is bought and paid for. And then we see the concrete evidence. David Broder, the supposed "dean of the Washington press corps" is selling his own corpse to speak at coporate events. If they're lucky, he then features their issue in a column. Presstitute. David Broder’s Moonlighting: Post columnist benefits from corporate speaking deals

Oh Happy Day

BBC Photo Gallery: Barack Obama declares victory

Oh Happy Day (from the movie "Sister Act"):


Another "Yes We Can" video, with music from the Pointer Sisters:

Read Liberally

Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., speaks during a primary election night rally in St Paul, Minn., Tuesday, June 3, 2008. Obama claimed the Democratic presidential nomination Tuesday night in a long-time-coming victory speech that minced no words about his opponent in the fall campaign, Republican John McCain.
(AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Democrats have a lot to be proud of today: Brilliant at Breakfast: I am so proud of my party and my country right now

Great photo essay by diarist Al Rodgers at dailykos, including many front page headlines about Obama's win. Kayakbiker has a photo diary of the Obama speech last night in Minnesota.

Atrios sez, quite rightly, it's all about the war. No Iraq, no war, no war vote, no candidate Obama, Clinton wins.

McCain has reversed his position of six months ago and is now fully in favor of illegal spying and untrammeled executive power. He can now be called Multiple Choice McCain, running to be Tyrant King.

Check out this photo. Celebrate!

Michelle Obama on Colbert Report

Michelle Obama: Cool and on message.

Obama's Hoop Roots

Bryant Gumbel interviews Obama on Real Sports:

Inspiration (Updated, below)

It's not just Obama who's out there inspiring voters. Here's an 8 minute snippet of Michelle Obama speaking in Omaha, Nebrasks before the caucases this weekend.



Article from today's Wall Street Journal on Michelle Obama: Michelle Obama Solidifies
Her Role in the Election

Too Delicious Not To Repeat

Soup Cans: Did Maureen Dowd Mistake Journo for Michelle Obama?
NYPost, Page Six:

February 7, 2008 -- A CLAWING cat fight over mistaken identity has broken out between New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd and a writer for the Times of London.

At the core of the mystery: Did Dowd mistake journalist Michelle Henery, who is black, for Michelle Obama? Or did Henery mistake some other redhead for Dowd?

In a column in the London paper this week, Henery wrote that Dowd, "one of my journalistic heroes," came up to her in the press room after the last Hillary Clinton-Barack Obama debate in LA. ". . . She was in my face, smiling warmly, greeting me like a long-lost friend. My mind went into overdrive trying to figure out why the world-renowned, Pulitzer Prize-winning, New York Times uber-columnist . . . was speaking to me. The shock . . . left me momentarily speechless, but in those few seconds Maureen's sweet smile turned into embarrassed confusion and she scampered off."

Henery continued, "The next day I e-mailed a group of American friends, asking whose doppelganger I was. They all agreed: 'She must have thought you were Michelle Obama.'"

Henery, a 1998 Georgetown University grad, added sarcastically: "Of course! I mean, despite her having almost 15 years on me and more than 3 inches in height, not to mention that she should be immediately recognizable having had her face plastered across every newspaper in America for the past three months, we're like twins . . . I wondered how white America was going to elect a black man for president if they could not even tell us apart." She joked: "Maureen, no hard feelings. When you came up to me, I mistook you for Arianna Huffington."

MoDo, that slut, denies all. Stay tuned. Is there any woman in America more deserving of being in an intercontinental factfree catfight than hissing, spitting, venomous MoDo? Mrrrreow.

The queen of mean seems to be winning; the Times of London has removed Michelle Henery's column from its website. I'm sure lawyers are involved.

News Round-Up, Monday, May 21, 2007

flickr

McClatchy (formerly Knight-Ridder) has an important article on the success Karl Rove and his minions have had in suppressing legitimate votes, all in the name of faux voter fraud.

ThinkProgress: TSA Confiscates Congressman’s Last Meal During Food Stamp Challenge Stupid, stupid TSA liquids rules. Did they think Congressman Ryan was going to blow up the plane with a jar of peanut butter? I can't wait until saner minds prevail. The confiscation of liquids is just as stupid as the 15 years that we endured the Lockerbie questions. (Did you pack your own bag? Has your bag been out of your possession at any point? Has anyone unknown to you asked you to carry anything? Arrgh.)

Great anti-war piece in the Chicago Sun-Times: Bring troops home now (hat tip, Suburban Guerrilla)

TalkLeft: Here Come The Detention Camps: Immigration Legislation No wonder George W. Bush supported the new immigration compromise legislation; it lets him build more gulags.

Brilliant at Breakfast: Why can't a First Lady have a career? Michelle Obama has left her job at a Chicago hospital.

Best health care system in the world, my ass: The LA Times reports the heartbreaking story of a woman who was allowed to die writhing in pain in a hospital ER in Los Angeles County. They had told her to leave and call her own doctor in the morning.

The Boston Globe reports on the resuscitation of a (southern hemisphere, really lost) albatross that was found in a field in Maine.

The WaPo discovers left blogtopia; better late to the party than never, I guess.