Orr Elementary School, Washington DC, September 6 - just look at their faces, how much it means to them.
****
Text of the First Lady’s remarks here
****
First Lady Michelle Obama delivers remarks at an event celebrating the success of her Let’s Move! program and the new statistics showing a decline in obesity rates among young children
****
Left to right: U.S. track and field Olympic champion Allyson Felix, Washington D.C. Public Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson, First Lady Michelle Obama, North America Reebok President Uli Becker and former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal
****
‘OMG! It’s the First Lady!!!’
…. with Shaquille O’Neal
White House.gov
Love those pictures!!!!
Congrats Bob
congrats!
by the way, I hope PBO got to read this letter; may be it was my imagination, but I thought that some of the stuff you mentioned in it were reflected in his Rose Garden speech last weekend (so may be he read it)
Linda, I’m way too reticent to think he read the 29 Aug letter or the one I sent him shortly after his Rose Garden spectacular statement but I suspect many have written him letters expressing similar sentiments and, much more importantly, the message in my letter is something I have no doubt he fully knows.
Thank you
Regret the typo in the 1st sentence, but doubt that the President will ever see the letter. In any case, am posting the corrected version here. If any of you want to use any or all of the letter, as always, please do so and no attribution is required. Thank you and time for some rest which I clearly need!
Dear Mr President,
On 29 August 2013, I wrote you a letter that began:
“You likely are way ahead of me on this, but the situation in Syria seems to present a watershed moment for educating the American people and all of humanity in a profound way. Imagine if we had had Twitter & Youtube on Dec. 8, 1941 and could have begun exposing the mass gassings at Chelmno - the onset of The Holocaust.”
I then requested that you ask the American people:
“What would they have done on 9 Dec 2025 had they known of the mass gassing of the Jews? What do they demand being done, now, to protect other Syrians from being gassed by their government?”
You have now demonstrated to all humanity your values in confronting Assad’s use of sarin to kill his fellow citizens. You have also forced Congress to abide its Constitutional responsibility and take ownership of how America will hold Assad accountable for breaking nearly a century of international law regarding the use of chemical weapons.
Every American must confront their fundamental responsibility to hold any genocidal tyrant accountable. There’s no legitimate denial of The Holocaust just as there’s no legitimate denial of what Assad’s regime did on 21 August 2025 (and, on a smaller scale several times earlier this year).
Given your penchant to teach I have no doubt that Tuesday, prime time, will be when you cogently challenge Americans and all humanity with the historical facts and assign to each of us the task of confronting our shared responsibility in ablating Assad’s ability to use chemical weapons. Humanity cannot afford to fail the test. Americans must score in the 99th percentile.
Thank you,
Bob
Bobfr, whenever I talk to people I have been saying that the world sat on the sideline as Hitler murder over one million Jews, if they had step in sooner that might not have happen. Americans are saying it’s not us, but who knows, today it’s not us, but one day it could be, it could be Israel, or other allies of ours, but other countries, Congress and the people want to sit on the sideline once again.
Bravo, Bob. Your letter is brilliantly stated. Americans have trouble understanding the idea of a “moral imperative.” Laziness, complacency, fear, resentment, suspicion-these aren’t good enough reasons to avoid what must be done if we’re to be fully human.
She can come to my school any day.
Totally gorgeous isn’t she!!! And soooooooooooo much fun!!!
Could not be happier for those young folk - they will never forget it.
:lol:
Still following the launch. Jeez, I thought my wife had a long checklist of things for me to go through.
:lol: Just checked back, the rocket is as mobile as me: not much!
You gave my internal censors quite a test with your tweet.
:lol:
:D :D :D
Ms. Chips, I feel so bless to be living in this moment where President Obama & First Lady Michelle Obama grace us with their presence. And of course the biggest blessing is Ms. Chips. Thank you for all that you do. <3
I’d pay $1million (if I had it) just for a hug from the First Lady, but knowing she’d never accept it makes it all the sweeter.
Thanks for featuring Flotus. We love to see her too!
Yes We Do, vetivera24. I start to say Yes We Can. :)
And every public Flotus event is featured here, vetivera24 - always have been!
Chipsticks, don’t vetivera24 know that if she want to see what FLOTUS is up to all she has to do is come here. FLOTUS gets all the love here, like POTUS do. We are so dam proud of them both.
Any info I want on POTUS or FLOTUS the first place I come is here. Thanks for all you do Chipsticks, and thanks to the others who lend a hand.
Ladies, I must tell you. FLOTUS looks so radiant in these pictures of her with the children at the school. A soul that is truly at peace with itself and the person really enjoys where they are and what they are doing, a special glow emanates from them. IMO, FLOTUS has it.
Totally agree RanMan!!!!
Hi VetiV! I saw your message from last night when I came on board this evening, but it made no sense to answer then. How’s the night shift going so far tonight?
I love My FLOTUS!!! :-D
Yes, Yes, Yes. Love POTUS too.
Yes indeedy!!!!
https://twitter.com/Dudette9t9/status/376174880686759936
Great tweet, Dudette - you may want to edit the Oh to On, delete this one and post the edited version :)
TY Tweet-Warrior! Fixed it!
https://twitter.com/Dudette9t9/status/376178038238502912
Arrgh! Forgot to fix the picture. Okay, third time’s the charm! :roll:
Great tweet Dudette!!!
:-)
And no-one remembers why they were so anti Ms Rice - but everyone sees her now sitting next to PBO at the grownups table. Doesn’t matter what they do - PBO has the perfect answer.
Hahaha.
An historic day, for many reasons, not least of which our dear President has led the Nation out of the travesty known as the #GWB era …
… and did so by taking several major political risks that include saving the US Auto Industry, ending #NEOCON perpetual war, passing major health care legislation, funding advances in renewable energy and much more.
#TrustBarack He’s not driven by polls or greed, he’s driven by DOING GOOD
She is beautiful :-)
Goodness gracious look how tall Shaq is next to FLOTUS and she’s purdy-durn tall, herself!
Looks like the man is 10 feet tall, not 7 ft-sumty-sump’n!
Ha, that’s what I thought Dudette, he’s enoooooooormous!!!
You know, I don’t think FLOTUS feels at all bad for missing out on the spouses’ events at the G20. She is right where she wants to be, and is loved and needed. She just glows when she’s with children. (or her family)
Was there a spouses’ events at the G20 Carolyn?
Yes, I saw a couple of pictures of the spouses being taken to the ballet….that’s the only one I know of. Don’t remember where I saw it….on a line of pictures with a caption. I’ve looked at so many words and pictures since Tuesday…….
This has been a great week. I now have to go to Sweden and St. Petersburg.
Thanks Carolyn! I’m with you, would love to visit St Petersburg, especially, one day.
Yeh, they visited the Russian Ballet Academy — pictures looked pretty cool.
http://www.g20.org/photo/20130905/782440170.html
But I’m with carolyn, FLOTUS was in the right place at the right time. I love her for her choices and the way she represents us all so well.
Thank you Dudette! Thrilled she wasn’t there, really don’t like these ‘spouses’ events.
I know POTUS had to go, he is the President, but I wasn’t so happy about POTUS going to Russia. So I’m glad FLOTUS didn’t go either, beside i imagine getting the girls ready for school was what she had to do.
I tend to agree - these meetings are not meant to be social events. The concept of “spouses events” which were originally called “wives events” were for the days when most countries barred married women (excluding those who lived in poverty) from having jobs outside of the home.
HOWEVER - 2014 G20 is in my home town - and I can think of one leader’s spouse who would be welcomed by everybody in the county :) :)
Thanks for the link Dudette. You are so quick with those things!
Dudette IS quick, isn’t she, Carolyn? My theory is that she has a personal assistant or secretary whose main task is to cue up the links for her, but I haven’t been able to catch him off guard so he’ll reveal himself with a comment.
Nah, none of that. I’ve been all over the G20 website for that last two days, so I knew right where to go.
No magic, just a little bit of muscle memory. :-D
Oh, it’s not just the G20 stuff, Dudette. After all, I remembered that it was you who originally shared the spouses info.
I’m thinking more of the party music, the video or CD of the moment right at your fingertips, I wouldn’t be surprised if I indicated that ‘Mary had a Little Lamb’ was my favourite pop song you’d locate it right away. :lol: :lol:
Ask and ye shall receive! :-D
Stevie Ray Vaughan - Mary Had A Little Lamb
:shock: Never knew such a thing existed! I thought I made it up. Unfortunately it is an instrumental and I never understand those! Music has to have words in order to make sense to me. One of the ironies in our family is that the good Lord sent a musical child my way! Poor child used to spend a lot of time rolling eyes at my musical ignorance.
Thank you, good night, and rest well!
YAY for our gorgeous and sweet FLOTUS. She is so happy involved in the teaching of children. LOVE.
Shaq seems like a decent, sweet guy who likes to build community.
wanted to send a word of appreciation to the NASA team (aka our “big government wonks”).
Nice.
The NASA channel.
Here too Jovie:
http://www.cbsnews.com/liveFeed/widget.shtml
Good West Coast evening Chipsticks & TOD family.
I knew one day this week I was gonna have to really do some work at the office - and today was it! I was able to peek every now and then, but could not comment - IT’S BEEN KILLING ME!!!!!! So here goes…
I’m so proud of my President Obama - the hardest working and most honest human being on this Earth!
FLOTUS is so beautiful inside and out - I wish she would come to my office - I would do some exercise if she came…I really would! :-)
GGaaaaaaaail!!! You still have a job, despite your jiggly shoulders????
They beat all the jiggly out of me today Chipsticks! :-(
Now, I’m re-grouping :lol:
Awwwww, GGail!! Put your feet up, pour a glass of wine, and watch the rocket launch:
http://www.cbsnews.com/liveFeed/widget.shtml
Thanks - but my question posted below - are they taking Snowboy & Assad with them?
Oooooh, what a lovely thought!!
TINA!!! [Inspired by the Tom Hardy/Mad Max photo I posted earlier]
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-202_162-57601752/report-iran-message-orders-iraqi-militias-to-retaliate-if-u.s-strikes-syria/
T - 10 and counting ….
1127 ET launch on schedule :)
Where is this rocket going? Are they taking Snowboy & Assad with them?
The moon, Gail, and thankfully contaminants like Snowboy & Assad are not on the ride :)
Contaminants - I like that description Bob :-)
:D :D
Hi-Five Bob!!! {thwap!} :-D
I just LOVE the looks on the faces of those girls with FLOTUS…….so open, so honest, so admiring, so loving. And, she just exudes joy and love.
T - 4 and counting …. limits checks are go ….
It’s on its way to the moon :)
Watchin’ and listening from NASA’s website — not blocked. Woohoo!!!
Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield Sings David Bowie’s Space Oddity
Total Kewlness!! :-cool:
:cool: :roll:
I am just as excited listening to this launch as I was when I was a young girl and listening to the very first one and watching it on our black & white television. We weren’t so sure if it was real or not :-)
Night, night owls!
Night Chipsticks - love ya!
Night Nerdy-Geeky Queen! :-D
Wait up, Chips! I’m ready to go too. I’m awfully sleepy.
Good Night, everyone! Leaving you with my PTP (point to ponder).
‘”If you don’t have a plan for yourself, you’ll be a part of someone else’s.” ~American proverb
Time for me to blow this popsicle too. See y’all another time! Goodnight Family!
You’re out early tonight, dudette! Enjoy the rest of your evening. :)
Wooooot!!
Dudette, I’d like to pound this sentiment into people’s heads every time I hear them complain about school taxes. One plumber with two little kids said he didn’t know why he had to pay school taxes BEFORE his kids were in school. I almost bit my tongue to keep from saying it was so that we didn’t have more stupid people like him.
I love’s ya all, but I got’s ta go! :-D
For VIC, ICYMI up-thread. :-)
So, this Captain Philips movie with Tom Cruise about the pirate hi-jacking from President Obama’s first term is the second movie about an operation managed by Commander-in-Chief Obama. And it’s a thriller!
Clearly, there will be many more movies triggered by this presidency…
I was so disappointed in the real life Cpt. Philips. After all that PBO did expending our naval resources and personnel to rescue his ass plus invite him into the WH, his TV interviews were appalling. He failed to give Pres Obama any credit. Focused exclusively on his own story of “bravely” asking the pirates to take him with them instead of harm his crew. Said a perfunctory thank you to the navy seals and did his TV rounds.
I was disgusted at the time in 2009, especially since Newt Gingrich, John Bolton & Bill Kristol had been attacking Pres Obama for being weak in not bombing Somalia right away, while the crisis was still fresh. The media piled on with the nonsense about the situation being a critical “foreign policy test” for PBO.
Then as they always do, Gingrich was mid-sentence spewing his diatribe when news broke about the surgical rescue mission and strike at the pirates. The media promptly dropped the story, without ever shaming the GOP barkers.
Yes - Captain Phillips was extremely disappointing for the reasons you said. As soon as I saw him refusing to give credit where credit was due (although, I seem to remember his family thanking the right people), I wrote him off. But, since Tom Hanks (not Tom Cruise *sorry*) is in it, I think it will be a more fair portrayal of events. I think Captain Phillips should be praised for surrendering himself to save his crew, but he’s not the only hero in the thing.
This is just wrong… 8O
https://twitter.com/elizabeth28536/status/376202358666952704/photo/1
Ack! I followed this woman just so I could see that stupid picture of Hillary with her head on top of Wonder Woman’s body. Now I’ve gotta scrub that out of my memory banks. Warn us next time okay? Sheesh!
My sincere apologies. I was in a deep state of shock when I saw this last night. I felt sharing the pain might help. It didn’t…
Reading up on the treaties re chemical weapons use - wonder if any of the GOP members of congress have ever read anything about them - why they were introduced, what happened to the allies in the trenches in WWI etc etc.
We learn history, so we don’t repeat it. The GOP rewrites the history books because they want to repeat it.
ok - not sure if this tweet will post properly. But, I don’t know about the rest of you, but on the way back from international business trips - I’m usually so exhausted, it would never occur to me to think about someone else’s special day. The President did. And he’s leading the world…
https://twitter.com/WestWingReport/statuses/376207237624385536“>September 7, 2013
Wow, he really is so gracious. Even to the jackals who nip at his heels.
He’s a special person - in the best possible way.
I have issues with some of TR’s actions, such as his rash, and blatantly unfair, treatment of Black Soldiers during the 1906 Brownsville, TX affair- or what some history books call the Brownsville riot. On the whole, he was one of the Presidents who was not reticent to make decisions in the interest of the common good.
Love your sense of history, nath, and will spend some time today looking into the Brownsville riot. Thank you - enjoy your Saturday!
What is going on right now is just noise, I think mostly reflecting people’s feelings about Bush, Iraq and WMD that weren’t real. This to shall pass.
President Obama needs a congress he can work with. I got distracted from 2014 by this and Snowden, but no more!
Greg Sargent is thinking out loud with this piece, offering more questions than anything, but I do think people see things differently than congress and the media. Just look at both of PBO’s massive election wins to prove that point.
If Obama heeds Congress on Syria, the Dem base will have his back
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/09/06/if-obama-heeds-congress-on-syria-the-dem-base-will-have-his-back/
In some ways, it’s difficult to understand how PBO would/could put his faith in Congress when all they’ve ever tried to do is undermine him. I know he wanted to strengthen his position and that of the country by promoting a unified voice but not sure what happens if Congress votes not to strike. I don’t think PBO will move forward on his own but who knows? Considering the national security interests, it’s not clear how this will pan out. Will the Dem Party have his back? I don’t know. Sorry to say, I’m losing faith in the sanity of a lot of these people.
“Sorry to say, I’m losing faith in the sanity of a lot of these people.”
Meta, you are not alone! Thankfully our CA members of the Senate, for the most part, have President Obama’s back. The same is true of Leader Nancy Pelosi and my House of Rep. Congresswoman, Susan Davis. But the same isn’t true of many of the “holier than thou” Democrats. Yesterday, two Democratic members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted against the President, and another one voted “present.” This was deeply disappointing for me. If President Obama can’t even count on Democrats to trust and support him how is he going to be able to swing Republicans to support him in trying to send unified position to the world. To be honest, right now I am more disgusted with Democrats in Congress who are back-stabbing the President than I am about some of these predictable idiotic Republicans. I am seriously questioning my loyalty to the Democratic Party. Exactly what’s the use of me loyally supporting Democrats who are quick to join extremist Republicans to frustrate a Democratic President on a major issue with international implications?
Steve Benen
Putting the goalposts firmly in place
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/09/06/20361009-putting-the-goalposts-firmly-in-place?lite
…Instead, let’s try to fully appreciate the rules as they’ve been laid out for the political establishment, because it seems as if the last few days have been devoted to the political establishment and the chattering class planting some goalposts pretty deep.
If congressional Republicans ignore President Obama, it’s evidence of Obama failing. If congressional Republicans ignore their own party’s leaders, it’s still evidence of Obama failing.
If the president bypasses Congress to pursue his national security strategy, he’s dictatorial. If he seeks congressional authorization for his national security strategy, he’s weak and undermining the stature of his office….
….I imagine for many political observers, it’s easy to think of political “wins” and “losses” in a sports context — victories are inherently good and defeats are inherently bad. And if the president goes to Congress seeking authorization for a military strike in Syria, and lawmakers reject the appeal, it would be, by definition, a loss for the president.
But it might simultaneously be a win for democracy that leaves the public with the outcome the American mainstream wants. Voters may well react to news organizations obsessing over “Crushing Presidential Defeat on Capitol Hill,” but I’m not convinced the public would reflexively see it that way.
If Congress balks and the White House honors the vote, most Americans would be pleased, not outraged, right?
Wendy Davis Wins Legal Case Against Texas Republicans’ Racist Gerrymandering
http://www.occupydemocrats.com/wendy-davis-wins-case-against-texas-redistricting/
Yay!
Watch Rachel Maddow Explain Why Iraq War Architects Should Shut Up About Syria
http://www.occupydemocrats.com/watch-rachel-maddow-explain-why-iraq-war-architects-should-shut-up-about-syria/
I absolutely love the first family. I may not always agree with our Prez, but I always trust that he knows what he is doing.
I like this idea. I think it could strength all of these groups
AFL-CIO seeks political alliance with progressive groups
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-0907-afl-cio-convention-20130907,0,1407258.story
….As it kicks off its convention in Los Angeles this weekend, the 12-million-member AFL-CIO says it is aligning itself with progressive groups such as the NAACP, the Sierra Club and the National Council of La Raza to strengthen the left’s political power. The effort aims to create a strong voice within the Democratic Party while at the same time restoring the power of labor in a country increasingly unfriendly to unions…..
The Bush Burden
http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/05/the-bush-burden/
….Blame Bush? Of course, President Obama has to lead; it’s his superpower now, his armies to move, his stage. But the prior president gave every world leader, every member of Congress a reason to keep the dogs of war on a leash. The isolationists in the Republican Party are a direct result of the Bush foreign policy. A war-weary public that can turn an eye from children being gassed — or express doubt that it happened — is another poisoned fruit of the Bush years. And for the nearly 200 members of both houses of Congress who voted on the Iraq war in 2002 and are still in office and facing a vote this month, Bush shadows them like Scrooge’s ghost…..
Oh my goodness! So much catching up to do here in TODville. I have been celebrating the Jewish New Year with my family and it’s been wonderful to be back home with them. To all my fellow MOT O’bots — l’shanah tovah tikatevu — a happy, healthy and sweet new year, and may you be inscribed in the book of life.
I hope this post goes through, WP was not cooperating earlier
BTW, thank you to all you blogtyrants for keeping us posted on the incredible work our fine president is doing. Hardest working man EVER, and the GOP/TP/EMOPROGS can bite it — for all they are worth.
https://twitter.com/mike_jovie131/status/376299887115370496
He should just say to Americans look you don’t want this fine I tried to stop kids being gassed. But you don’t want this, got it.
And out of spite he should also say he’s repealing obamacare bc you don’t want that either.
This is pathetic everybody is scared to death of everything.
Btw France was mad at first that we waited and asked Congress. Bc they provided intel that proves Assad wrongdoing, and now they’re waiting.
Americans are becoming a libertarian nation.
Sadly!
this is fine. PB himself said this is not time-sensitive. We need to be patient with him. We need the world community behind us as best we can. There are issues - thank to the ‘Bush burden’. If Russia doesn’t sign off on a UN resolution, then it must appear that Russia is isolated. This will take time, we need as much evidence as possible.
Patience.
Meanwhile the congress is doing this
http://thehill.com/blogs/global-affairs/middle-east-north-africa/320821-reid-faces-double-digit-democratic-defections-on-syria-strike-resolution
Thoughts?
I think we’re in the midst of the process. I frankly was shocked that Reid was rushing through the vote. We are war-weary and Bush destroyed our credibility and the case, I’m afraid, has to be air tight and that will take time.
I’m not ready to panic. Yet.
Here’s the main problem with the proposed Syrian action. U.S. Intelligence officials say it is “likely” that the Assad regime ordered the attacks but the case is not “airtight”. It seems to me that this case needs to be “airtight”, something more than “likely” before military strikes are launched. And I think another reason why some seem to be reluctant to support—-some early info has now been dismissed as false by U.S. officials, as in Assad’s brother ordered the attacks in Syria. Info is still too hazy for most people.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-direct-link-between-assad-and-gas-attack-elusive-for-us-20130906,0,5962207.story
If this doesn’t go through he’s is weakened and the midterms will be effected.
It was the wrong choice to go to congress.
He made a mistake!
IMO!
I completely agree. One of the aspects that PBO supporters must supply is patience. We need this to be a clear, justified international reaction, even if the dysfunctional Security Council can’t get their act together.
The case needs to be airtight or the political consequences will not be good.
It’s congress that is all tied together here. Cantor feeling enboldened to ask for a balanced budget or no debt ceiling raised.
Republicans will overreach, as usual. Don’t panic, Jovie.
Exactly!!!!! Let’s not get drawn into this defeatist attitude. PBO has got this!!!!
PBO knows what he is doing!!!!!!!!!
Eaaaaaarly Bird Chat!
http://theobamadiary.com/2013/09/07/early-bird-chat-21/