"We the people" tell the government what to do, it doesn't tell us. Our Constitution is a document in which "We the people" tell the government what it is allowed to do. "We the people" are free. Ronald Reagan Farewell Address 1989
As early as Thursday afternoon, the massive rocket will lift off from the base’s Space Launch Complex 6, leaving a thick white plume over the Pacific Ocean as it cuts across the afternoon sky. At 235 feet tall, it’s so large that base officials have studied whether the thunderous blastoff will shatter windows nearby.
“We got the word out to people, so they don’t think it’s an earthquake,” said Lt. Ann K. Blodzinski, an Air Force spokeswoman. “Even if you don’t see it, you’re definitely going to feel it. It’s significantly more powerful than our typical launches at Vandenberg.”
The Air Force has closed nearby locations, such as Jalama Beach County Park, as a precaution. But that won’t stop townspeople from coming out to see the show, said Lompoc Mayor John Linn. The base is the city’s largest employer.
“Everyone will be in their front yards for this one,” he said. “Living here, you get used to launches. But this is different. This is the big kahuna.”
About 10 seconds after the rocket hurtles toward the sky, a sound wave “as loud as a freight train” will sweep over Lompoc, a town of about 43,000, Linn said. “It’ll rattle windows and make dogs bark, that’s for sure.”
Southland residents eager to see the blastoff set for 1:08 p.m. can head to the beaches or the mountains for a glimpse. But it may be difficult to see because it’s a daytime launch.
The Space Launch Complex 6 is known on base as “Slick Six.” The launch pad built in 1969 was once intended to accommodate space shuttle launches, but they remained in Florida. Since then, the launch pad has gone through many renovations. Most recently, Vandenberg spent $100 million on upgrades over three years.
The rocket was built by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Corp. and the Boeing Co. It is the nation’s largest unmanned rocket. Three hydrogen-fueled engines — each roughly the size of a semi-truck — provide 17 million horsepower.
When the engines roar to life Thursday, more than 350 Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne engineers and technicians will be watching. It took them five years to develop and four years to assemble the engines at the company’s sprawling Canoga Park facility, said Steve Bouley, the company’s vice president of launch vehicle and hypersonic systems.
“It’s a very complex product,” he said. Because the launch is closer to home, many Rocketdyne employees will be able to attend the liftoff, Bouley said.
The rocket made its maiden flight in 2004 and is capable of lifting payloads of up to 24 tons into low Earth orbit. All four of the previous Delta IV Heavy launches took place at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.
Although little is known about what exactly the rocket will be lifting into space — because it is classified — analysts say it is probably a high-powered $1-billion spy satellite. Their speculation is based on the customer being identified as the National Reconnaissance Office, the secretive federal umbrella agency that operates spy satellites…
The NRO designs, builds and operates the nation’s reconnaissance satellites. NRO products, provided to an expanding list of customers like the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Department of Defense (DoD), can warn of potential trouble spots around the world, help plan military operations, and monitor the environment.
As part of the 16-member Intelligence Community, the NRO plays a primary role in achieving information superiority for the U.S. Government and Armed Forces.
A DoD agency, the NRO is staffed by DoD and CIA personnel. It is funded through the National Reconnaissance Program, part of the National Foreign Intelligence Program.
Our Vision: Vigilance From Above
Our Mission: Innovative Overhead Intelligence Systems for National Security
In recent years, the NRO has implemented a series of actions declassifying some of its operations. The organization was declassified in September 1992 followed by the location of its headquarters in Chantilly, VA, in 1994. In February 1995, CORONA, a photoreconnaissance program in operation from 1960 to 1972, was declassified and 800,000 CORONA images were transferred to the National Archives and Records Administration. In December 1996, the NRO announced for the first time, in advance, the launch of a reconnaissance satellite.
… “Back in the depth of the woods there was a house. A small wooden house of oak with red curtains and a small garden of white roses surrounding it. In that house lived the lady in white. She chose to move there years ago to escape the materialistic numbness with which the town covered her soul. To escape the prison and feel alive again. With her there was a bird who adapted her house as its own. It was a small red bird with a beautiful voice. She called him ginger because of the red wings it had.
No one knew of the house in the valley and she liked it that way. She lived undisturbed there for many summers until that one day. She awoke with a strange urge. A pull and a strong desire to take a walk to the hill. An invisible hand leaded her out of the house and showed her the path to the hill. It was an urge she couldn’t fight. One to make the journey.
So she took her long satin white cape, covered her long dark hairs and perfect white skin, took one red candle and some matches and left with Ginger closely at her side…
And there it was, the hill. Surrounded by the endless green fields of low grass and creatures of all sorts. Paradise reborn. It was a low hill not too far from the river and on top of it was the shadow. Standing there and waiting for her to finally arrive. Yes that was him. The creature from the dreams, but could it be true. The long days of isolation must be clouding her mind, but yet he was there. She froze right there with excitement.
It was true, it wasn’t just a dream. The creature with eyes of diamonds and shadow of gold stood there and patiently waiting to collect his prize. And that was something she knew all too well for a promise she made that one day. That paradise is not a free gift. A prize must be paid…
Ashley Turton, the wife of a White House aide, died tragically Monday when her car caught fire in her garage. Pat Wingert reports on the mysterious circumstances—and what officials suspect sparked the fire.
Tragedy shook the Washington political community again when D.C. firefighters and police confirmed that a freak accident apparently claimed the life of Ashley Turton, a former top congressional aide and wife of White House legislative liaison Dan Turton. The woman was found dead in her burned-out car in her Capitol Hill garage early Monday.
Based on evidence at the scene, D.C. Fire Department spokesman Pete Piringer said investigators’ “leading theory” is that Turton was trying to maneuver her BMW SUV out of her garage at 5 a.m. and around a car in the driveway when she apparently came into contact with some kind of flammable chemicals or other explosive materials. A workbench was located near the garage opening, he said.
“We’re waiting for lab results,” said Piringer. “It’s possible it was related to something mechanical, some kind of malfunction or it may be that she hit something in the garage, or something like a tricycle got stuck underneath the car.” He said Turton’s air bag did not deploy, indicating that if she did hit something, it was done at low speed. Piringer said that it was only once the fire was out and heavy smoke dissipated that responders could see that there was a body inside the car…
How was former Pentagon official John P. Wheeler III killed? If police know, they aren’t saying.
Two full weeks after Wheeler’s body was spotted tumbling out of a trash hauler into a Wilmington landfill on New Year’s Eve, police and the state Medical Examiner’s Office remain uncharacteristically silent.
Though officials immediately labeled his death a “homicide,” they have refused to providethe cause, nor will they say whether they’re sure how Wheeler died.
Law enforcement’s posture runs contrary to normal Delaware police procedure in homicide cases. Police agencies routinely say how a homicide victim died, even in cases where the crime occurred in a private home rather than a public place like a street shooting, and where no suspect has been arrested or identified.
But with Wheeler, in a case that has drawn national media coverage, silence has reigned.
“At this point in the investigation, we don’t want to release that information,” Newark police spokesman Lt. Mark Farrall said. He would not elaborate.
Video and witness accounts of Wheeler’s behavior in the 48 hours before his body was found show him disoriented, carrying one of his dress shoes, and looking in vain for his car in a Wilmington parking garage blocks from where his vehicle was located.
Hal G. Brown, deputy director of the Delaware Office of the Medical Examiner, said his agency is awaiting the results of toxicology and further forensic studies, which could take weeks. Toxicology testing is routine in all Delaware autopsies, even when the cause of death is known…
Russian spy babe and “James Bond Girl” Anna Chapman failed at real spying while working undercover in the U.S. for her Motherland, but she recently played one on TV. Chapman, fresh off appearing on the cover of the Russian Maxim magazine, skimpily attired in black lingerie brandishing a pistol, starred in a short parody of a Soviet spy film, as part of Channel One’s New Year’s Eve programming. Chapman, a spy who came in from the cold after being booted from the U.S. for spying, arrived into the welcoming arms of her Motherland, eager to help the sexy spy cash in on her notoriety.
Chapman played herself in the sexy parody of the popular Soviet series “Seventeen Moments of Spring,” that features Maxim Isayev, Russian’s answer to James Bond. The expelled spy extolled her Russian viewers to use New Year’s Eve as an opportunity to reveal their hidden feelings of romantic love…
Apparently, her sexy topless Maxim photo shoot and appearance in the spy parody film are all part of a calculated master plan to enter into politics.
“Last month she joined a pro-Putin youth organisation and some observers believe she is preparing to stand for the Russian parliament in elections at the end of this year.”
“In a lengthy chat show appearance on December 30, she met acquaintances from her youth and was even presented with a pet lion as a gift.”…]
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate.
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date.
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimmed;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance, or nature’s changing course untrimmed.
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st.
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
In the wake of the Tucson, Ariz., shooting at an event hosted by Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, talk radio host Rush Limbaugh has been emphatic in his assertion that he and other right-wing political figures in no way contributed to the mindset of suspected gunman Jared Loughner. But an unfortunate billboard advertising Limbaugh’s show has given his critics some ammunition of their own.
A photograph was circulated early this morning of the Tucson billboard, which was located along Interstate 10, just five miles from the Safeway store where a gunman killed six people and injured 13 others, including Giffords.
The text of the ad read “Rush Limbaugh Straight Shooter,” and was accompanied by pictures of stray bullet holes.
The New York-based blogger “copyranter,” who describes himself as an advertising copywriter with 18 years experience, posted the picture from Reddit on his site, noting that the billboard had “actually been there for quite some time” and that it was created by KNST, the Tucson station on which Limbaugh’s program airs.
When contacted by Surge Desk, the man who originally posted the photo to Reddit said that the billboard was taken down on Monday, two days after the shooting rampage.
With debate raging in the country over whether incendiary rhetoric actually leads to violent acts, the discovery of the billboard suddenly took on new meaning, and many people took to Twitter and blogs to express their displeasure.
A listener to radio station CHOZ-FM in St. John’s complained last year that the song includes the word “faggot” in its lyrics and is discriminatory to gays.
The broadcaster argued that the song had been played countless times since its release decades ago and has won music industry awards.
A CBSC panel concluded that the word “faggot,” even if once acceptable, has evolved to become unacceptable in most circumstances.
The panel noted that Money for Nothing would be acceptable for broadcast if suitably edited.
A New York man who says a rat bit his penis during a jail stay may sue county officials, a judge has ruled.
Peter Solomon, who said he later had to endure a course of rabies jabs, says jailers knew the ward in which they placed him was infested with rodents.
He says the jail was negligent and mistreated him because he is black.
Lawyers for Nassau County sought to have the suit dismissed. Among other arguments, its experts said they saw no evidence of serious injury.
Rodent problem disputed
In February 2007, Mr Solomon, a Vietnam veteran who says he has been treated for post-traumatic stress disorder, was jailed in the Nassau County Correctional Center near New York City, pending trial on charges he had menaced his wife.
He was transferred to a medical observation unit amid worries he was mentally ill. In court documents obtained by the BBC, he claims at night a rat “or similar rodent” emerged from a hole in his mattress and bit him on the penis and hand, drawing blood.
Mr Solomon, 54, claimed the county was indifferent to his treatment and failed to protect him from the vermin, and sued for damages.
County officials said they were shielded from lawsuits because they had acted in an official capacity, they were unaware of substantial risks, and they disputed the notion that a rodent problem existed in the jail.
They also noted the wound did not require stitching and argued that his injuries were merely psychological.
“The parties dispute whether the rodent was a mouse or a rat, whether Solomon was bitten or scratched, and the nature and extent of his injuries,” US District Judge Arthur Spatt wrote.
The sun over Greenland has risen two days early, baffling scientists and sparking fears that Arctic icecaps are melting faster than previously thought.
Experts say the sun should have risen over the Arctic nation’s most westerly town, Ilulissat, yesterday, ending a month-and-a-half of winter darkness.
But for the first time in history light began creeping over the horizon at around 1pm on Tuesday – 48 hours ahead of the usual date of 13 January.
The mysterious sunrise has confused scientists, although it is believed the most likely explanation is that it is down to the lower height of melting icecaps allowing the sun’s light to penetrate through earlier.
Thomas Posch, of the Institute for Astronomy of the University of Vienna, said that a local change of the horizon was ‘by far the most obvious explanation’.
He said as the ice sinks, so to does the horizon, creating the illusion that the sun has risen early.
This theory, based on the gradual decline of Greenland’s ice sheet, is backed by recent climate studies.
A report by the World Meteorology Organisation shows that temperatures in Greenland have risen around 3C above average over the last year.
It also reported that December was much warmer than usual with rainfall instead of snow recorded for the first time in Kuujjuaq since records began.
It has even been suggested that the sun’s early appearance could have an astronomical explanation.
But Wolfgang Lenhardt, director of the department of geophysics at the Central Institute for Meteorology in Vienna, scotched this theory.
He said: ‘The constellation of the stars has not changed. If that had happened, there would have been an outcry around the world.
‘The data of the Earth’s axis and Earth’s rotation are monitored continuously and meticulously and we would know if that had happened.’
A mirage is a naturally occurring optical phenomenon in which light rays are bent to produce a displaced image of distant objects or the sky. The word comes to English via the French mirage, from the Latin mirare, meaning “to look at, to wonder at”. This is the same root as for “mirror” and “to admire”. Also, it has its roots in the Arabic mirage.
In contrast to a hallucination, a mirage is a real optical phenomenon which can be captured on camera, since light rays actually are refracted to form the false image at the observer’s location. What the image appears to represent, however, is determined by the interpretive faculties of the human mind. For example, inferior images on land are very easily mistaken for the reflections from a small body of water.
Mirages can be categorized as “inferior” (meaning lower), “superior” (meaning higher) and “Fata Morgana“, one kind of superior mirage consisting of a series of unusually elaborate, vertically-stacked images, which form one rapidly-changing mirage.
The word metaphor derives from the 16th century Old French métaphore, in turn from the Latin metaphora “carrying over”, which is the romanization of the Greek μεταφορά (metaphorá), “transfer”,from μεταφέρω (metaphero), “to carry over”, “to transfer”, itself a compound of μετά (meta), “between” + φέρω (pherō), “to bear”, “to carry”.
Despite President Obama’s speech about healing, shared responsibility and shared pain, conservative pundit Sarah Palin is plastered, unflatteringly, along one San Francisco street (so far).
The posters — found and publisehd by SFist.com — espouse “Enrage them with fear until they feel justified in their violence.”
Granted, Palin has brought even more spotlight on herself with a recent diatribe against “irresponsible journalists.”
Maybe the president’s message stressing the strength of our words and how we use them will stick … like a poster to a wall.
‘Tis the gift to be simple, ’tis the gift to be free,
‘Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gain’d,
To bow and to bend we shan’t be asham’d….
President Obama’s entire remarks, as prepared for delivery:
To the families of those we’ve lost; to all who called them friends; to the students of this university, the public servants gathered tonight, and the people of Tucson and Arizona: I have come here tonight as an American who, like all Americans, kneels to pray with you today, and will stand by you tomorrow.
There is nothing I can say that will fill the sudden hole torn in your hearts. But know this: the hopes of a nation are here tonight. We mourn with you for the fallen. We join you in your grief. And we add our faith to yours that Representative Gabrielle Giffords and the other living victims of this tragedy pull through.
As Scripture tells us:
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.
God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.
On Saturday morning, Gabby, her staff, and many of her constituents gathered outside a supermarket to exercise their right to peaceful assembly and free speech. They were fulfilling a central tenet of the democracy envisioned by our founders – representatives of the people answering to their constituents, so as to carry their concerns to our nation’s capital. Gabby called it “Congress on Your Corner” – just an updated version of government of and by and for the people.
That is the quintessentially American scene that was shattered by a gunman’s bullets. And the six people who lost their lives on Saturday – they too represented what is best in America.
Judge John Roll served our legal system for nearly 40 years. A graduate of this university and its law school, Judge Roll was recommended for the federal bench by John McCain twenty years ago, appointed by President George H.W. Bush, and rose to become Arizona’s chief federal judge. His colleagues described him as the hardest-working judge within the Ninth Circuit. He was on his way back from attending Mass, as he did every day, when he decided to stop by and say hi to his Representative. John is survived by his loving wife, Maureen, his three sons, and his five grandchildren.
George and Dorothy Morris – “Dot” to her friends – were high school sweethearts who got married and had two daughters. They did everything together, traveling the open road in their RV, enjoying what their friends called a 50-year honeymoon. Saturday morning, they went by the Safeway to hear what their Congresswoman had to say. When gunfire rang out, George, a former Marine, instinctively tried to shield his wife. Both were shot. Dot passed away.
A New Jersey native, Phyllis Schneck retired to Tucson to beat the snow. But in the summer, she would return East, where her world revolved around her 3 children, 7 grandchildren, and 2 year-old great-granddaughter. A gifted quilter, she’d often work under her favorite tree, or sometimes sew aprons with the logos of the Jets and the Giants to give out at the church where she volunteered. A Republican, she took a liking to Gabby, and wanted to get to know her better.
Dorwan and Mavy Stoddard grew up in Tucson together – about seventy years ago. They moved apart and started their own respective families, but after both were widowed they found their way back here, to, as one of Mavy’s daughters put it, “be boyfriend and girlfriend again.” When they weren’t out on the road in their motor home, you could find them just up the road, helping folks in need at the Mountain Avenue Church of Christ. A retired construction worker, Dorwan spent his spare time fixing up the church along with their dog, Tux. His final act of selflessness was to dive on top of his wife, sacrificing his life for hers.
Everything Gabe Zimmerman did, he did with passion – but his true passion was people. As Gabby’s outreach director, he made the cares of thousands of her constituents his own, seeing to it that seniors got the Medicare benefits they had earned, that veterans got the medals and care they deserved, that government was working for ordinary folks. He died doing what he loved – talking with people and seeing how he could help. Gabe is survived by his parents, Ross and Emily, his brother, Ben, and his fiancée, Kelly, who he planned to marry next year.
And then there is nine year-old Christina Taylor Green. Christina was an A student, a dancer, a gymnast, and a swimmer. She often proclaimed that she wanted to be the first woman to play in the major leagues, and as the only girl on her Little League team, no one put it past her. She showed an appreciation for life uncommon for a girl her age, and would remind her mother, “We are so blessed. We have the best life.” And she’d pay those blessings back by participating in a charity that helped children who were less fortunate.
Our hearts are broken by their sudden passing. Our hearts are broken – and yet, our hearts also have reason for fullness.
Our hearts are full of hope and thanks for the 13 Americans who survived the shooting, including the congresswoman many of them went to see on Saturday. I have just come from the University Medical Center, just a mile from here, where our friend Gabby courageously fights to recover even as we speak. And I can tell you this – she knows we’re here and she knows we love her and she knows that we will be rooting for her throughout what will be a difficult journey.
And our hearts are full of gratitude for those who saved others. We are grateful for Daniel Hernandez, a volunteer in Gabby’s office who ran through the chaos to minister to his boss, tending to her wounds to keep her alive. We are grateful for the men who tackled the gunman as he stopped to reload. We are grateful for a petite 61 year-old, Patricia Maisch, who wrestled away the killer’s ammunition, undoubtedly saving some lives. And we are grateful for the doctors and nurses and emergency medics who worked wonders to heal those who’d been hurt.
These men and women remind us that heroism is found not only on the fields of battle. They remind us that heroism does not require special training or physical strength. Heroism is here, all around us, in the hearts of so many of our fellow citizens, just waiting to be summoned – as it was on Saturday morning.
Their actions, their selflessness, also pose a challenge to each of us. It raises the question of what, beyond the prayers and expressions of concern, is required of us going forward. How can we honor the fallen? How can we be true to their memory?
You see, when a tragedy like this strikes, it is part of our nature to demand explanations – to try to impose some order on the chaos, and make sense out of that which seems senseless. Already we’ve seen a national conversation commence, not only about the motivations behind these killings, but about everything from the merits of gun safety laws to the adequacy of our mental health systems. Much of this process, of debating what might be done to prevent such tragedies in the future, is an essential ingredient in our exercise of self-government.
But at a time when our discourse has become so sharply polarized – at a time when we are far too eager to lay the blame for all that ails the world at the feet of those who think differently than we do – it’s important for us to pause for a moment and make sure that we are talking with each other in a way that heals, not a way that wounds.
Scripture tells us that there is evil in the world, and that terrible things happen for reasons that defy human understanding. In the words of Job, “when I looked for light, then came darkness.” Bad things happen, and we must guard against simple explanations in the aftermath.
For the truth is that none of us can know exactly what triggered this vicious attack. None of us can know with any certainty what might have stopped those shots from being fired, or what thoughts lurked in the inner recesses of a violent man’s mind.
So yes, we must examine all the facts behind this tragedy. We cannot and will not be passive in the face of such violence. We should be willing to challenge old assumptions in order to lessen the prospects of violence in the future.
But what we can’t do is use this tragedy as one more occasion to turn on one another. As we discuss these issues, let each of us do so with a good dose of humility. Rather than pointing fingers or assigning blame, let us use this occasion to expand our moral imaginations, to listen to each other more carefully, to sharpen our instincts for empathy, and remind ourselves of all the ways our hopes and dreams are bound together.
After all, that’s what most of us do when we lose someone in our family – especially if the loss is unexpected. We’re shaken from our routines, and forced to look inward. We reflect on the past. Did we spend enough time with an aging parent, we wonder. Did we express our gratitude for all the sacrifices they made for us? Did we tell a spouse just how desperately we loved them, not just once in awhile but every single day?
So sudden loss causes us to look backward – but it also forces us to look forward, to reflect on the present and the future, on the manner in which we live our lives and nurture our relationships with those who are still with us. We may ask ourselves if we’ve shown enough kindness and generosity and compassion to the people in our lives. Perhaps we question whether we are doing right by our children, or our community, and whether our priorities are in order. We recognize our own mortality, and are reminded that in the fleeting time we have on this earth, what matters is not wealth, or status, or power, or fame – but rather, how well we have loved, and what small part we have played in bettering the lives of others.
That process of reflection, of making sure we align our values with our actions – that, I believe, is what a tragedy like this requires. For those who were harmed, those who were killed – they are part of our family, an American family 300 million strong. We may not have known them personally, but we surely see ourselves in them. In George and Dot, in Dorwan and Mavy, we sense the abiding love we have for our own husbands, our own wives, our own life partners. Phyllis – she’s our mom or grandma; Gabe our brother or son. In Judge Roll, we recognize not only a man who prized his family and doing his job well, but also a man who embodied America’s fidelity to the law. In Gabby, we see a reflection of our public spiritedness, that desire to participate in that sometimes frustrating, sometimes contentious, but always necessary and never-ending process to form a more perfect union.
And in Christina…in Christina we see all of our children. So curious, so trusting, so energetic and full of magic.
So deserving of our love.
And so deserving of our good example. If this tragedy prompts reflection and debate, as it should, let’s make sure it’s worthy of those we have lost. Let’s make sure it’s not on the usual plane of politics and point scoring and pettiness that drifts away with the next news cycle.
The loss of these wonderful people should make every one of us strive to be better in our private lives – to be better friends and neighbors, co-workers and parents. And if, as has been discussed in recent days, their deaths help usher in more civility in our public discourse, let’s remember that it is not because a simple lack of civility caused this tragedy, but rather because only a more civil and honest public discourse can help us face up to our challenges as a nation, in a way that would make them proud. It should be because we want to live up to the example of public servants like John Roll and Gabby Giffords, who knew first and foremost that we are all Americans, and that we can question each other’s ideas without questioning each other’s love of country, and that our task, working together, is to constantly widen the circle of our concern so that we bequeath the American dream to future generations.
I believe we can be better. Those who died here, those who saved lives here – they help me believe. We may not be able to stop all evil in the world, but I know that how we treat one another is entirely up to us. I believe that for all our imperfections, we are full of decency and goodness, and that the forces that divide us are not as strong as those that unite us.
That’s what I believe, in part because that’s what a child like Christina Taylor Green believed. Imagine: here was a young girl who was just becoming aware of our democracy; just beginning to understand the obligations of citizenship; just starting to glimpse the fact that someday she too might play a part in shaping her nation’s future. She had been elected to her student council; she saw public service as something exciting, something hopeful. She was off to meet her congresswoman, someone she was sure was good and important and might be a role model. She saw all this through the eyes of a child, undimmed by the cynicism or vitriol that we adults all too often just take for granted.
I want us to live up to her expectations. I want our democracy to be as good as she imagined it. All of us – we should do everything we can to make sure this country lives up to our children’s expectations.
Christina was given to us on September 11th, 2001, one of 50 babies born that day to be pictured in a book called “Faces of Hope.” On either side of her photo in that book were simple wishes for a child’s life. “I hope you help those in need,” read one. “I hope you know all of the words to the National Anthem and sing it with your hand over your heart. I hope you jump in rain puddles.”
If there are rain puddles in heaven, Christina is jumping in them today. And here on Earth, we place our hands over our hearts, and commit ourselves as Americans to forging a country that is forever worthy of her gentle, happy spirit.
May God bless and keep those we’ve lost in restful and eternal peace. May He love and watch over the survivors. And may He bless the United States of America.
… It was a very good speech, very well delivered. I was watching it and monitoring twitter at the same time, and saw many judging the speech to be his best since the election. I think I agree with that. I recall being disappointing with Obama’s inaugural speech, and even some of Obama’s biggest supporters have complained that he sometimes seems too detached from his words or surroundings, but this was a speech Obama was very much present too, and it struck the right notes.
Others may wish to debate content vs actions (those fights were already starting on twitter when I left) and some may wonder why he didn’t insert this unifying tone into the last few days of madness, but things have been so over-the-top amid the pundit class since the shooting, I doubt he would have been heard as well as he was tonight. You choose your moments, after all. For now, for tonight, I say give the man his props; it was a very fine speech, and a presidential one.
And the fact is, even if you disagree with every one of a president’s policies, you still want him to be presidential. The country needs that.
The Crowd: I am not a person who likes applause at Mass, and I don’t like it much at memorials, either; the raucous crowd had even some mediafolk (Anderson Cooper comes to mind) expressing doubt about the cheering. I think it was simply the venue. A different venue, something smaller, quieter, more intimate, might have inspired a different sort of reaction from the crowds, but perhaps adrenaline was running some of it.
Obama’s brief bio sketches of the dead were appropriate and warm. He seemed to catch his own emotions as he imagined 9 year-old Christina Taylor Green, puddle-jumping in heaven. I was most moved when he announced that Gabrielle Giffords had, this evening, opened her eyes for the first time, and indicated that she could see, and when he introduced her heroic aide, Daniel Hernandez, and the other ordinary folk who took down the shooter and saved who knows how many lives.
Hernandez was somber throughout the event; the most solemn face there. Obviously he has endured a great trauma; he’ll be especially in my prayers tonight…
“The shirts, which bear the same logo that adorns other items from the event — including press passes, signage and volunteer t-shirts — were placed on many of the seats in the lower sections of the arena when tonight’s capacity crowd walked in…
A person familiar with the event confirmed the university put the event together, and was responsible for t-shirts, tickets, fliers, etc…” Source: TPMDC
“Giffords is in a drug-induced coma in intensive care. Doctors frequently awaken her to check her responsiveness, and she could open her eyes and respond to simple commands Sunday” Jan 9, 2011, 12:40 pm - Source: Tucson Sentinel
…”there were some boos in the hall when Gov. Jan Brewer, a Republican, spoke. Those reactions would have been hard to imagine, say, in the days after the Oklahoma City bombing…” Source: NYT
Democrats on Wednesday criticized House Speaker John Boehner for declining an invitation from President Obama to fly on Air Force One to Arizona for the memorial. I suggest they become familiar with NSPD 51 National Security Presidential Directive 51.
Earlier in the White House press briefing, Mark Knoller of CBS News asked Gibbs, “What did the president think about the pep rally aspect and tone of the event last night?” Gibbs responded that it was part of the grieving process… Obama’s speech lasted 33 minutes 44 seconds and was interrupted for applause 51 times. The tone of the applause at times included shouts and whistles similar to a political rally. Source: CNS News
This is a non-commercial website for personal, research, and educational use only. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for your own purposes beyond the 'fair use' exception, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
Due diligence has been undertaken on each posting providing content (with credit and link) from public domain sources as allowed in accordance with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, as amended, United States Copyright Act, Title 17 of the U.S. Code.
Upon receipt of a notification of claimed infringement, LuckyBogey's Blog will respond expeditiously to remove, or disable access to, the material that is claimed to be infringing or to be the subject of the infringing activity.
For additional DMCA information, please visit the Electronic Frontier Foundation (https://www.eff.org/).
