Memorial Day Open Thread [5.27.13]

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Memorial Day has come to be a day when we are all urged to remember those armed services members who have served and who are currently serving the country. This is important and I hope we all have some time to reflect on the sacrifices made by these men and women on our behalf.
Late Night Video — Know Your Food

Late Night Video — Know Your Food

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This is a xTed Talk (approx. 8.5 mins long) featuring an 11-year old who has figured out how conglomerate-produced food isn't exactly the healthiest choice. Since we're close to the point where locally grown food will be getting plentiful, this guy has good advice:

President Obama and the Guantanamo Heckler

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Hecklers of speeches -- especially major ones -- aren't new. A public disruption of a speaker is meant as an attempt to embarrass the speaker and get attention for the heckler and the heckler's cause. Yesterday, Medea Benjamin of Code Pink attended the President's speech at the National Defense University at Ft. McNair yesterday and proceeded to heckle him 3 times during the speech. The video below (approx 8 minutes long and I apologize for the commercial) shows that segment of the President's speech. I couldn't hear everything she said, but it seems clear to me that she was calling for the immediate release of some number of the Gitmo prisoners. While the President was proposing a new plan to close Gitmo. What is fascinating to me about this clip is the President's reaction to Ms. Benjamin's interruptions. Not only did he appear to be listening to her, but he validated her concerns (or some of them) as important and worth listening to. I can't imagine GWB managing this kind of respect towards someone yelling at him, and whoever was yelling at him would have been immediately hustled away from the event -- not given two more times to disrupt. I haven't had a chance to see the entire speech to know what exactly the President said, so I'm not here agreeing or disagreeing with what he proposed yesterday. But I am pretty proud of the way he handled this:

Thursday Open Thread [5.23.13]

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This is both hysterical funny and hysterical crazy (not to mention headache inducing):
That's why you saw the House of Representatives pass my [Michelle Bachmann's] bill, the full repeal of Obamacare last week, and that's why I have renewed confidence that we can see this bill pass in the Senate and I think the President will ultimately be forced to repudiate his own signature piece of legislation because the American people will demand it. And I think before his second term is over, we're going to see a miracle before our eyes, I believe God is going to answer our prayers and we'll be freed from the yoke of Obamacare. I believe that's going to happen and we saw step one last week with the repeal of Obamacare in the House. We have two more steps. We serve a mighty God and I believe it can happen.
Yah, Michelle, you keep telling yourself that. Methinks you will be disappointed in your God quite soon, as the repeal bill will never be heard in the Senate and even if it did, it will be defeated.
Upcoming Events: Happy Birthday, Mr. President….

Upcoming Events: Happy Birthday, Mr. President….

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This sounds like a cool panel to check out. The Delaware Americans for Democratic Action (ADA) and the National Committee to Preserve Social Security & Medicare (NCPSSM) are co-hosting an event on the former President's birthday as a tribute to President John F. Kennedy, who strengthened Social Security, fought for the establishment of Medicare, and advocated for closing the same corporate tax loopholes that corporations still abuse to this day. The speakers will be Wilmington Mayor Dennis P. Williams, retired Delaware Social Security executive Tom Tobin, NCPSSM Grassroots National Director Ernie Powell, and businessman Andrew Groff, and Jon “Bowzer” Bauman, former lead singer of the famous Sha Na Na, will sing Happy Birthday to the President, hopefully not in the Marilyn Monroe style.