Good Speech In Berlin

I am sure Obama's Berlin speech played well.  The One disses Martin Luther King and other famous black Amwericans as well as the good people of the great city of Berlin while misoverestimating his One-ness, as noted below, but waddya expect - the New Politics is still run by old-style politicians prone to exaggeration.

I have not checked the reviews of Obama's speech, but having read it but I am backing Kevin Drum on his criticism of Byron York.

Obama also wants the Germans to man up in Afghanistan and the world to support the new Iraqi government after he cuts and runs - great, if he can pull it off.  [The Tigerhawk wishes him good luck with that].

Otherwise, the speech is lofty and aspirational and I am sure it went over fabulously.  Personally I could have done with a bit less on the global warming (how about "none"?  Does none work for you?) but realistically, a lib talking in German is bound to turn Green.

Oh, yes - I blanched when he played the race card in the third paragraph:

I know that I don't look like the Americans who've previously spoken in this great city. The journey that led me here is improbable. My mother was born in the heartland of America, but my father grew up herding goats in Kenya. His father -- my grandfather -- was a cook, a domestic servant to the British.

Oh, please.  Well, that line killed 'em at the 2004 convention, so I guess he was bound to use it again.  But he is there as a citizen, not a President - have no black Americans spoken in Berlin?  What, is Berlin insufficiently cosmopolitan, or is it just not friendly to black Americans?

They seem friendly enough - Martin Luther King went there in 1964 at the invitation of the mayor, and surely he spoke:

In September 1964 King and Abernathy went to West Berlin at Mayor Willy Brandt's invitation, where King received an honorary doctorate from the Evangelical Theological College. The two civil rights leaders then went to Rome for an audience with Pope Paul VI.

Presidential candidate Jesse Jackson spoke in Berlin in November 1983:

The Rev. Jesse Jackson stood on a makeshift wooden platform overlooking the Berlin wall today and called upon President Reagan to meet with Yuri V. Andropov, the Soviet leader, to seek an agreement limiting nuclear weapons in Europe.

The Chicago-based civil rights leader, carrying his unconventional, officially undeclared campaign for the Democratic Presidential nomination to this symbolic city, did not issue any of the ringing denunications of the Berlin wall and Communism that have become almost a ritual for visiting American politicians.

Rather, at the conclusion of a walking tour through the run-down Kreuzberg neighborhood, which hugs the concrete barrier, Mr. Jackson called the wall ''a monument to a crisis in communication that has caused so much pain to so many people.''

Well, If Jackson weren't all talk Obama would surely have remembered him.

Paul Robeson certainly performed in Berlin and the Paul Robeson Archive was established at the Berlin Academy of Arts while he was still alive - he didn't deliver a speech?  Colin Powell made it to Berlin.  Cond Rice made it twice (at least) but do meetings and press conferences count?

Hmm.  I bet Obama is misoverestimating his One-ness.  Hard to believe.

I DISAGREE BITTERLY WITH ANN ALTHOUSE:

I guess we're not supposed to think about how Obama wanted and still wants to give up on the Iraq war. Surely, if he'd been there in 1948, he would have said the Berlin airlift is hopeless.

No, no, no, no, no.  Nyet!

Not hopeless at all.  He would have said the Berlin airlift was a distraction.

Comments

[kim]

I wonder if he is put out that the Pope didn't invite him for an audience without preconditions.
===========================

[kim]

He would have called the airlift to Berlin a quackmire; all those winged beasts ducking the menacing barrels of the anti-aircraft guns. The Wascal!
======================================

[centralcal]

I wonder if the whold European portion of this trip isn't a major distraction for The One and his mighty Presidential ambitions. His polling is hardly soaring as high as his ego.

[centralcal]

whold = whole

[Elliott]

Good Speech

Nice and short. Leaves more time for drinking.

[Ann]

I agree with Charles Krauthammer who said something like:

There was so much wind in that speech it could run J.T. Pickens wind farm for a year.

[hit and run]

Condi or Colin haven't spoken in Germany?

By the way, Obama interview with Brian Williams.

Let me know how it ends.

I won't watch.

[Rocco]

I know my country has not perfected itself. At times, we've struggled to keep the promise of liberty and equality for all of our people. We've made our share of mistakes, and there are times when our actions around the world have not lived up to our best intentions.

Well I sure feel better now that he's apologized to Germany for my sins as an American.

[PeterUK]

Obama said that " The walls between Christian,Muslims and Jews".So it's OK for the boys to go on whacking Buddhists ?

[Soylent Red]

McCain should point out to the Obamessiah that the main front in the political campaign is in the United States.

Europe is a distraction.

I think that would be a magnificent soundbite.

[Ann]

**T. Boone Pickens**

[bgates]

Distraction, nothing. The Berlin Airlift was an outrageous stunt which brought hundreds of thousands of tons across Europe in the most carbon-intensive, militaristic manner possible in order to preserve an outmoded, demonstrably unsustainable population level in West Berlin against the clearly expressed wishes of the sovereign state of the German Democratic Republic, its neighbors in Poland, and our allies the Russians. I'm aghast Obama didn't apologize for it.

[bgates]

of tons **of coal**
damn, ruined a perfectly good rant.

[centralcal]

Dean Barnett at Weekly Standard Blog highlights this from a KOS commenter about the speech:

“This was a bad idea. I'd be all happy about it--if it were happening the second week of November and Barack was the President-elect, but there is something wrong with this in the middle of the election. It's over-anxious and getting out way too far ahead of ourselves."

According to Dean, several of the commenters thought along this vein.

[PeterUK]

"of tons **of coal**
damn, ruined a perfectly good rant."

Not at all.

[Rick Ballard]

Kim,

B16 just returned from Australia. I'm sure he would make time to counsel Obama against continuing his support of infanticide though. Think of all the time it would save for all the archbishops in the US who are working on their fall pastoral messages. Explaining the meaning of "anathema" and relating it to a prohibition against voting for a particular candidate is tiring work.

[Rocco]

I would have posted that in German but I'm American and know only one language.

[PeterUK]

Beside the Obameister wouldn't think in specifics.He's a strictly a "Hand picked,dew fresh,morning picked baby button mushroom "man.
Barrack Heil Obama,Bringing a whole new meaning to the word vacuous.

[BobS]

I hate to self promote but here goes: How did a well established rock band end up performing for free in front of an Obama appearance in Berlin?

[PeterUK]

"I would have posted that in German but I'm American and know only one language."

The Obameister will change that.

[BobS]

The Decemberists did a warm-up for Obama in May, and had no other events scheduled on the official site. How is it that a band - whom cancelled its Euro dates in the fall of 2007, suddenly appear for a FREE concert in Berlin?

[PeterUK]

What a photo opportunity,the Victory Column Berlin Obama gets the salute right.

[BobS]

Did they get there on their own dime or were they assisted by the Obama campaign?

[tina]

Isn't Barak embarrassed that he went to Germany and had to give his speech in English; why didn't he deliver it in German? What, a different standard for him than for us little people?

This is the moment! Watching recaps and I'm having a hard time not throwing up.

[PeterUK]

As many WWII era Americans need to see Obama apologising to the Germans.Should work wonders on the Jewish vote.

[tina]

Question for legal beagles here:

Germany paid for part of this trip/sermon/campaign rally. Obama has sent out a fund raising letter talking about his speech. Is it legal for him to split the cost of a campaign visit with a foreign government?

[Elliott]

Off topic, Andrew Giuliani sues Duke.

[Schornick]

I hear Obama blew off the troops in Germany. Too busy shopping and pandering to the foreigners to waste his time on any American service people.

He did say that the Europeans needed to do more in Afghanistan. Iraq on the other hand... he has no problem abandoning at all.

[tina]

Can you refresh my memory? Didn't Obama vote AGAINST funding for the troops in both Iraq AND Afghanistan? So he wants Europeans to do more after having voted to defund the mission?

[Porchlight]

Telling use of "ourselves" in that Kos commenter's remark. Trust the Obamabots to project themselves into their Savior's campaign. Same goes for the use of "Barack" which is really common among his fans. Can you imagine a similar use of "John" on righty blogs?

[clarice]

tina, non-citizens are forbidden to contribute to federal election campaigns. (Though in an amazing bit of undersight (copyrighted description) Congress did not ban foreign contributors to 527s.

OTOH candidate visits anywhere result in increased municipal costs for security , clean up, etc and no one considers that a contribution--certainly the same view should prevail on these expenditures. If Berlin is dumb enough to toss away money like this, I don't care.

[tina]

Thanks Clarice. I knew I would get a good solid answer on this board.

And I agree with respect to the Germans being dumb enough to throw away their money on this.

Interesting side note: Apparently Christianne Amanpour reported that the Germans were disappointed by and large; they were hoping for a "redeemer" (her word) and oops...didn't happen.

[Porchlight]

Did they get there on their own dime or were they assisted by the Obama campaign?

BobS, I'd say it is just possible they got there on their own dime (they're reasonably successful and maybe they love Obama just that much) but it's also possible the campaign paid their expenses. Or they were paid by another third party donor. I don't know how the campaign financing laws work wrt whether performances count as campaign contributions or not. If the Obama campaign did pay their way but didn't actually pay them a fee, is that a no-no?

[Steve White]

Afghanistan is the liberals' 'good war' -- that is, they'd better support it or they're good as finished on Election Day.

I have the nagging sense that President Obama won't support the war in Afghanistan nearly as much as Senator Obama does. Might interfere with the funds needed for universal health care and that civilian defense structure.

[bgates]

Can you imagine a similar use of "John" on righty blogs?
"John", no; to be fair, "Dubya", yes.

[bgates]

There was also a great South Park featuring "Hill-Dog".

[A Panglossian]

Way off-topic, but I think I've located Rick's wayward brother:

Nathan Ballard, a spokesman for San Francisco's mayor, said city officials were wrong to shield undocumented, juvenile felons from federal immigration authorities.

Ok, so he's not completely off-base with the current statement of policy.

[BobS]

Porchlight: Thats one point I was getting at...the legal nature. But why would the Obama campaign hide it? Perhaps its why Amanpour detected ambivalence in the Berlin crowd...so many were there for the free concert.

Still, the abrupt appearance by a US band in Berlin is interesting. Especially in light the band made no mention of it in their web site

[clarice]

http://newsbusters.org/blogs/mark-finkelstein/2008/07/24/wilson-waxes-wexler-matthews-double-team>Short and sweet take down of O and Wexler and Matthews

[centralcal]

OH, HAPPY DAY!

I think the Magical Mystery Tour is a real bust . . . a lot of dollars spent, but no tangible return.

[centralcal]

And another thing, what is with Frank Luntz and his own Obama-mania.

Words that work. Just words. Just empty words of nothingness, Frank!

Gack.

[BobS]

Would someone like to comment on the big deal Beckel was making about how far Obama is up over J-Mc with Hispanic voters? The numbers aren't much different than they were for Bush as its < 5%?

[centralcal]

Bravo, Heather Wilson! Bravo!

Left Chrissy and the Waxman tax dodger absolutely speechless!

[RichatUF]

Berlin picked up half the tab on the putsch revival.

In re: the Decemberists. I'll stick with what I said before (and got stomped on) since "The Decemberists" are a corporate entity they are violating campaign finance laws-wrt corporations donating directly to a candidate-by performing at his rallys. They were worried enough at the Portland rally that the fliers only included their individual names and didn't include the band name. I'm not sure if they sold any merchandise at the Portland rally (or the Berlin rally) so they might have a work around-ie not compensated. However they are performing the copyrighted work of "The Decemberists" as members of the corporate entity to increase attendance at the rallys, therefore increasing exposure and fundraising, so it could be seen as an in kind contribution.

Too longwinded. The FEC is out at Ocean City MD if you need them because BHO made sure they wouldn't be a problem for this election.

[Eyes without a face, got no human grace....]

Obama sounded sick. I got that he had to do the speech to get where he is. McCain was eating German sausages like Bratwurst or something, so, like; did Obama help with the German car thing or was he destroying them as we all asked for them?

The Pope? Go around and say your sorry allot 'cause it's lucifer. Same thing over and over.

Afghanistan. He knew.

Germans should participate more in Afghanistan? Who do you think crashed all their helicopters? Maybe Obama himself was staring through their heads before they hit the ground.

[MarkJ]

Best of all, Obama Lightwalker pulled off another miracle and fed the entire crowd with two loaves of pumpernickel and five bratwursts!

Is there nothing Obama can't do?

[Soylent Red]

RUF:

Wouldn't a performance be a donation in kind. Like doing pro bono work?

Just a thought. Lucifer probably put it in my head.

[centralcal]

Okay, sorry to be repetitive, but wake up people. I posted this on the "Better Rebuttals..." thread. Now HotAir is also highlighting it. From The New Republic . . .

"Reporters who have covered Obama’s biography or his problems with certain voter blocs have been challenged the most aggressively. “They’re terrified of people poking around Obama’s life,” one reporter says. “The whole Obama narrative is built around this narrative that Obama and David Axelrod built, and, like all stories, it’s not entirely true. So they have to be protective of the crown jewels.” Another reporter notes that, during the last year, Obama’s old friends and Harvard classmates were requested not to talk to the press without permission."

What is not explained is why, exactly, "they" are terrified of "people" poking around Obama's life."

Terrified? Really! Of what, exactly?

[fdcol63]

Obama in Berlin gags me like a bolemic binge.

[BobS]

Thank you, Rich. I noticed that about the May appearance in that they just used their individual names. But if the Obama campaign compenated for their appearance in any way, would there be a violation?

I suppose I'm overly investeion in this. However I believe that there was some coordination between The Decemberists and the campaign and that the campaign banked on them attacting a crowd. There's nothing wrong with this although the Obama campaign never said anything about the band being there.

[tina]

He ventured forth to bring light to the world

The anointed one's pilgrimage to the Holy Land is a miracle in action - and a blessing to all his faithful followers.....

Must read laugh out loud funny stuff.

LUN

[Jane]

Donald Sensing gives some interesting feedback on the Israeli visit.

LUN

[Elliott]

Here's my headline: Sprog sprach prog clack.

[RichatUF]

BobS-

But if the Obama campaign compenated for their appearance in any way, would there be a violation?

That line item would be >100k and should have been disclosed either in the May or June expense report-and it would be illegal for them to give them a steep discount, though they might have a exclusive deal for open air rallys.

A bit of background, they play the Soviet National Anthem and have a song titled "Valerie Plame". I don't recall if they made the 527's college concert circuit in the 04 season, but think they did.

You might want to check Davids Medienkritik (an American ex-pat over in Germany) and drop a comment to see how the rally and entertainment were promoted and he could check it out.

[PeterUK]

RichatUF,

As individual members of the Decemberists(WETFTA) will be contracted to a management Agency company and a record company and would need permission to perform.
Now they might give their services free,but,the road crew,sound engineers,instrument techs,maybe lighting and wardrobe, etc would have to be paid.Then there would be minders and dogsbodies,drivers,limos and coaches.It all mounts up.Who paid for it?

[RichatUF]

ooops...

and it would be illegal for them to give them a steep discount, though they might have a exclusive deal for open air rallys

It would be illegal for "The Decemberists" to give the Obama campaign a steep discount. However "The Decemberists" might have locked in an exclusive deal for all the big open air rallys. Take a look at the 2007 expense statements and check on their individual names.

[Elliott]

A list of known knowns in this campaign: Obama loves doing town halls, he loves visiting with the troops, and he loves America.

[RichatUF]

PeterUK-

Now they might give their services free,but,the road crew,sound engineers,instrument techs,maybe lighting and wardrobe, etc would have to be paid.Then there would be minders and dogsbodies,drivers,limos and coaches.It all mounts up.Who paid for it?

And you forgot the hookers, blow, booze-Alexrod has a history you know. Thats it, Obama bailed on going to K-town because he wanted to hang with the band.

I would think that the Obama Campaign would be able to bury quite a bit on "Rally Set Up Charges".

[BobS]

Well, its probably not worth persuing at any rate. Like the Obama BC thing.

[MikeS]

Heather Wilson brought up an interesting point about Obama's good ideas, such as taking nuclear missiles off hair trigger alert. It was a great idea when we did it 20 years ago.

Obama has mentioned some other ideas that seem to have merit. He thinks it might be a good idea to work together with European countries to try to persuade Iran to give up nuclear enrichment.
Obama also thinks it would be a good idea to leave a residual force in Iraq, even though the war is over.

He has an idea to defend Israel in spite of the fact that they've built was between Muslims and Jews.

I think I'll start making a list of Obama's good ideas.

[MikeS]

I just thought of another of Obama's good ideas. He wants to work out an agreement with Russia to reduce both our country's nuclear weapons. I don't know why President Bush hasn't thought of that.

[MikeS]

***they've built walls***

[BobS]

MikeS: Theyre called Obama's Metooisms. Its out of the Clinton Playbook

[RichatUF]

BobS-

I'm not trying to discourage. It would be interesting to figure out how his campaign and a "progressive band" would be able to outright break the law or at least bend it enough to avoid criminal sanction. And you're the first person I've seen point out that the same band that played for him in Portland played for him in Berlin.

I just know how to make heads-or-tails out of the arrangement or how to make a complaint. larwyn should be passing through so leave a link to here or have one the commentors here that has her email drop her a line re: Obama Campaign Finance Violations: Berlin Rally and The Decemberists...never know who might pick it up.

[GMax]

He wants an undivided Jerusalem, except it has walls but he wants to tear down walls. I am confused? How is this eloquent? Its bafflegab only a PhD in Psycology could truly appreciate.

[RichatUF]

just don'tknow how

[bad]

GMax

Unless you one lives in a certain area in Manhattan one lacks the sophistication and learnedness to get the cerebral gist of Obamametaphors. (Andrea Mitchell knows what I mean)

[BobS]

Thanks, Rich....I guess I'll just ask lawryn next time...I have no EM...

[bad]

GMax

My previous post didn't come out the way I intended. It was inartful. TM distracted me and the cat allowed some overheated rhetoric to creep into my comment...

[Danube of Thought]

I, for one, have tuned this clown and his media cheering section out. I will simply wait until November and vote against him, and hope that enough of my countrymen will have discovered his essential fraudulence to do the same. If they don't, I can surely live with that, although I think things will get much tougher on a lot of people who aren't as well equipped as I am to deal with further adversities.

I have spent most of Obama's extremely weird media/foreign lovefest watching, via Tivo, "Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery," and various sports offerings. (The flick is pretty good if you watch it ten minutes at a time.)

Time to hunker down. These folks have gone insane.

[GMax]

You are building walls now Bad. That will not be allowed in the collective.

[Jane]

In the end, after reflecting on the lofty rhetoric, I have reached the same conclusion I generally reach about the Messiah.

The speech was a lot of empty rhetoric by an empty suit.

[bgates]

they play the Soviet National Anthem and have a song titled "Valerie Plame"
I'd like to think somewhere some defender of the Plame version of events hears of that pairing and is disturbed enough to reexamine some things.

[BobS]

Geeeeez.....can you imagine what would happen if the Obama campaign actually did bankroll the bands trip? I just cant see anyway a band of this level was able to get themselves and all their gear across an ocean on their own. Maybe a Soros 527, but its still smells.

[Larry]

Posted by: clarice | July 24, 2008 at 09:01 PM Great link, Clarice. I don't know much about Wilson, but I'm a proud USAFA ring-knocker over this piece.

O T: GMax, check LUN re solar power satellites.

[bad]

BOLD Prediction: If Obama becomes POTUS, folks will yearn for Dubya speak.

[hit and run]

Especially Iraqis.

[Ann]

I had forgotten about this (from Powerline on July 14):

"Worst of all, far from being committed to victory in Afghanistan, Obama voted to cut off all funding for all of our military efforts in Afghanistan on May 24, 2007 (H.R. 2206, CQ Vote #181), thereby seeking to bring about defeat there as well as in Iraq. His current effort to portray himself as a wolf in sheep’s clothing on Afghanistan is a complete fraud."

[Bill in AZ]

Is Heather Wilson on the VP short list? That was nice to see.

MikeS I think I'll start making a list of Obama's good ideas.

I've been working on that list for quite a while now...
1)
2)
3)

[narciso]

As if the PC3 hasn't been doing the same thing over the last 4-5 years; re Iran. Of course, Russia is supporting Iran's nuclear
program; which will likely turn at least some of those weapons over to the Chechens.
and their grudges last 500 hundred years tops (beside Shia never work with Sunnis)Putin has all but promised to nuke the Czech
Republic for putting the ABM radars, to intercept those Shahab successors, the ones that won't be photoshopped. Of course, the Persian bomb, will impose a new risk premium
on Middle East oil, and a likely arms race among Sunni states, like Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Sudan. It's arguable how the North Koreans whose grasp seem to have extended to Al Quiam in Syria; benefited from more than 30 years of Soviet and Chinese investment at Yong byon and feeder plants.

The almost unchallenged premise behind Putin's Russia, is comical, if wasn't so tragic. It's like all the cliches and inuendos leveled at the Bushes were true, That would be Russia. Where journalists are muzzled, either by financial strangulation
'star chamber courts'or 'lead poisoning'
in the cases of Politskaya and Stairova. He is a security bureacrat, whose cadres (silovkis) are like minded figures, their major exports, at this time are oil and armaments. They've used the monopoly over the former, to extort their neighbors into acquiescing to their schemes. They've been waging a war of choice in a Moslem region, for twice as long as the Iraq War; which did encourage. There'is even some ground to consider that the triggering event for the
last war, was 'self inflicted' (Ryazan)
a backlash that led not only to September 11th, but to the Nord Ost (Kennedy Center)
and the Beslan #4 school massacre. Yet only fiction is beginning to outline the situation; Dan Silva's "Russia Rules' and Ted Bell's upcoming czar.

[BobS]

Geeeeez.....can you imagine what would happen if the Obama campaign actually did bankroll the bands trip? I just cant see anyway a band of this level was able to get themselves and all their gear across an ocean on their own. Maybe a Soros 527, but its still smells.

[GMax]

Sorry if it depends on NASA to get it there cheap, and solar cells being able to produce electricity at 8 to 10 cents a kilowatt, I think this is simple a current pipedream. NASA is a nightmare these days, nothing is on time or under budget, if it ever was.

And I have priced solar roof systems and the payback period is so long, I dont consider it to be a viable alternative for me at this time. Of course I intend to move in about 5 years time. But if it were truly viable, a payback in that timeframe should be acheivable.

[Sharon]

what a wonderful thread. Not a single obamamaniac to ruin my enjoyment of reading the musings of like minded,intelligent conservatives who have the ability to process information ignoring the salubrious adoration of the MSM.

[Ann]

Uh, uh, are, uh, uh, uh, um. That's -- that's a bunch -- so -- so let me tick these off. Deh... Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, um, uh. So the issue is not a perception that, uh... Weh, weh, let me put it this way. Uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, uh, We're -- we're trying to -- you know, we've got a bipartisan group here and -- and -- and, uh, uh, uh, uh, um, uh, uh, uh.

I totally agree, bad :)

[RichatUF]

BobS-

Found this about the Berlin rally. Seems they had some local groups and a British dj.

Haven't found anything about the Decemberists playing

[bad]

Ann

When President Bush gives a speech no one has to sit around, parsing the thing to death, trying to figure out what he said. Agree or disagree, one doesn't need a code book to guess at content.

[Ann]

Bad,

The sad thing is we only have President George Bush for six more months. After that it's "My friend" or "This is the Moment". Sheesh, I wish we could all go on that cruise to cheer each other up.

[Sue]

I heard today that estimates were going to be around 500,000 people at the Berlin campaign rally. I'm seeing 200,000 in stories around the net. If so, he fell short of the projected numbers again.

[Porchlight]

You are so right, bad and Ann. The most unlikely people will find themselves missing George W. Bush in the next four years.

[Lesley]

There's a photo up on Drudge that shows a large Obama balloon (as in hot air) behind the speaker's podium.

I'm not watching television this summer and I'm on dial-up so its next to impossible to watch any video on my computer, thus, this photo was the first I'd seen of the O! balloon.

Geez, imagine your job on the Obama campaign is the designated O! balloon guy. I'd hate to have to lug that thing around and launch it every time the MessiahO! opens his mouth. Although I suppose a balloon is cheaper than angels and archangels and all the company of heaven to laud and magnify His HolyO! Name. That crowd would probably demand union scale.

ht/Tintoretto Paradise

[Ann]

This is a LOL Moment. We have all heard that Obama is going to make us work, right. Well, if you want a ticket to Invesco Field at Mile High you will be asked to get to work for the privilege of witnessing the historic event live: Price for Obama tickets? Activism

[RichatUF]

Also one more thing re: Obamapalooza. The poster for the event was crisp and wondered if Axelrod's firm had any German clients?

I remember a fuss during the primaries about someone working for the Red Witch while also having an English contract...

[Ann]

Lesley,

There were actually two balloons. (Don't take a sip of anything right now!)....

"Two giant Obama balloons very close to the top of the Victory Tower, proving the Rev. Jackson still has not succeeded in removing the nuts of The Messiah." -Rush Limbaugh

[hit and run]

From your activism link, Ann:

"We're going to ask those 80,000 people in that stadium to march out of there and go with very specific instructions and goals to register millions of new voters," Hildebrand said.

Wonder if they'll play "Just as I Am" for the altar call?

Or will they turn to page 294 of the hymnal?

[bgates]

Sharon - you can make every thread like this thread (if you have Firefox).

[Lesley]

Ann

TWO BALLOONS???!!!!

That's even better! Go balloons, indeed.

You know, this campaign (conversation) doesn't help my blood pressure (kids). I've adopted the "DOT Plan for Saner Living" and have just completed Dumas's six volume series on Jefferson and, next, I'm on to Gibbon's History of the Decline and Fall, etc. which has been sitting on my bookshelf, gathering dust, for twenty years. Dangnabbit, I'm going to get through this blasted election cycle accomplishing something positive come hellO! or high waterO!

[Ann]

Hit,
There will be definite Daily Prayer Orders and Praises to Sing.

[clarice]

Very good, Hit--I thought Barack of Ages wasn't bad either.

You just stay away from power tools and keep going to church and I'll rest a lot easier.
Niters all.

[Sue]

Barack of Ages. Awesome!

[Ann]

Go balloons, indeed...LOL Lesley.

Hit,

I Just realized you had a link in your post. You crack me up!
" Barack of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;" :) :)