Who are you & what have you done to my Obama?

Dear President Obama,

Afghanistan is just about the most remote, difficult to access part of the world there is. Which is why it costs $400 to get ONE GALLON of gas there, and almost $1 million a year for EVERY SOLDIER we send there.

Of all the reasons not to send more troops, and there are a lot, the cost of the war is one of the most important.

That's why I urge you to stop sending more troops to Afghanistan, and instead develop a clear plan for bringing everyone home as quickly as possible.

I voted for you, but as Keith Olbermann said on his "Special Commentary" about the Afghan War tonight (11/30/09), "Mr. President, my patience ebbs"...

This is YOUR MOMENT, PLEASE don't cave in out of fear. DO THE RIGHT THING, and the right thing CANNOT BE ESCALATION.

If you escalate this war, then surely, in history's eyes, you have more than merely inherited it, it becomes YOUR WAR to win, and there is NO WAY TO WIN this war.

It will be your Vietnam, and your entire Presidency will be forever mired by it.

I have been biting my tongue, being patient, believing that as things shook down after the financial crisis, you would start being that charismatic figure that you were on the campaign trail.

I hoped that every decision you made would be a good one, a righteous one, a fair and honest one…but you are not the President I thought you'd be.

I sat silent as I saw you keep bellicose Republicans in office, and appoint other Republicans to high positions. I kept quiet, when you did not bring any troops home from Iraq, or while you dodged speaking about and defending Gay Rights, while you appointed known liars and cheaters to your Cabinet and other high positions on your staff. I waited for the REAL OBAMA to emerge, so I did nothing when you did not close Guantanamo, or when you decided against trying Bush and his cronies for their heinous war crimes that have been responsible for 100s of thousands of deaths. And I have done nothing while witnessing many other disappointing acts that make me wonder if I have not been duped by you.

It saddens me to witness you being less than what we had all hoped you'd be. The entire population of the world is holding its breath, hoping you will be different, hoping you will choose diplomacy over aggression, and NOT ESCALATE BUT INSTEAD END OUR INVOLVEMENT IN THIS WAR. JUST GET OUT. Full Stop.

I'm sure, in your heart, you know that escalation CAN'T BE RIGHT.

Please, get a grip, come to your senses, be MAGNIFICENT, DON'T BE a COWARD.

That is the only thing I can figure, they've scared you into acting against your own best interests, as well as your base. That must be it...ah, well, politics as usual.

I guess it was too much to HOPE for…a President doing the right thing.

Is saddens me to say this, President Obama, but I fear you've gone wrong.

Sincerely,

TARA THRALLS

This started out as a Form Letter you can sign on TrueMajority's web site, but I got a bit carried away, and decided to post it here as well...

Things I Wonder About - When Streetlights Die...

STREET LIGHTS - I've seen them poof out on several occasions, but who changes them, and when they change them, do they do it in the stealth of the night? Have you ever seen someone changing a street light? Do they use a big ladder with a platform at the top?

Email Me, Call Me, Follow Me, Friend Me, Tweet Me

Skype Me, Check out my YouTube, Read My Blog, iReport Me, See My Stuff....

Is it just me, or is it getting hard to fit all the ways we can be contacted, emailed, phoned, skyped, followed, friended, read, watched, etc., etc. onto one tiny 2" x 3" business card?

Am I alone, or do you find it a bit embarrassing, too, when you put your signature at the bottom of an email, and it seems to go on longer than the email itself?

As coincidence would have it, while I was writing this, I had CNN on in the background, and this is what came up on the screen.



Whack!

I mean, look at poor Don Lemon! Doesn't it seem a tad bit overkill? He's drowning in his contact information!

Pretty soon, his photo will just be a teeny tiny postage stamp up in the corner! Sorry, Don, that's all the space we had left!

I've been designing a business card for my new about to be launched photography site, but I just can't figure out how I'm going to fit so many ways to contact me onto one wee business card, along with a graphic!

Here's my latest signature (I know, ridiculous)

Follow me: twitter.com/tarathralls
Friend me: Facebook.com/tarathralls
Read me: http://bit.ly/tt-blog
Watch my music videos: http://bit.ly/tt-videos
Watch my other videos: vimeo.com/tarathralls
View my photography: tarathralls.etsy.com
Buy my stuff: psychedelictara.etsy.com
Buy more stuff: tiedyes.com
email me: tarathralls@gmail.com
call me: 555-555-5555

Okay, obviously that's not my real phone number, but the rest is all real, and I'm sure you get the idea...and this isn't even my complete list!

So, tell me, how long is yours, and does it kinda embarrass you, too??

Things I Learned Today 11-21-09

1. Today I learned you can fall asleep in front of your computer, and burn a key on the keyboard with a burning ash. I think that's what happened….I'm not sure, I was asleep.

2. The guy in Twilight looks a lot like Andy, the drummer from O Children.

3. Today I learned about the TAPI alliance, and why we're REALLY in Afghanistan (Spoiler Alert: It's about the OIL, duh!)...just Google TAPI.

4. The Senate is going to vote on whether to DISCUSS the Health Care Bill on the floor of the Senate, not to pass or reject the bill, this is just on whether to TALK about it or not….and they're having a helluva time getting the 60 votes they need….

5. Penelope Cruz was born and raised in Spain.

6. Today I learned that Russia has the largest quantity of oil reserves in the world, and Turkmenistan, a country you probably haven't heard much about, has the second largest amount of oil reserves.

Dana Perino - are you kidding me?

Okay, what the fuck? As the Daily Kos' headline reads: "WTF? Obama Appoints Bush Press Secty. Dana Perino to Broadcast Board w/Updates".

This is just too mind-boggling to even comprehend!

I was sickened to learn that on Wednesday, Obama quietly appointed Bush loyalist, and smarmy liar, former Bush Press Secretary, Dana Perino to the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG).

This 9-member "bi-partisan" (not NON-partisan) board governs ALL government sponsored, non-military international broadcasting outlets such as (get THIS)! Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, Radio Liberty, Radio Free Asia, Radio and TV Marti and the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, such as Alhurra. There can be no more than four members of any one party, plus the Secretary of State on the "bi-partisan" panel.

The Hill also reported that the appointment came at the "urging" of Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell (R-KY). AGAIN, WTF??

Dems have the majority, why does Obama keep capitulating? Does he have no allegiance to the party and the voters who elected him? How much longer can this dipping into the Republican pool for government officials go on (i.e. Bushie, Robert Gates is still in office, a year later)?

After leaving the Bush Administration post, Perino went on to work at Burson-Marsteller, one of the largest public relations firms in the world. Now, make sure you're sitting for this - one of Burson Marsteller's clients is Blackwater USA!!

Please see this article and read a transcript of Perino's responses to a NY Times article, regarding whether the Bush Administration used torture, in which she basically says "We Don't Torture" - I won't, or can't provide proof, but I KNOW we don't torture, because (get this) "We follow the law"

http://bit.ly/perino-appt

As the Daily Kos suggests, "Get rid of Perino. Make a fuss. We don't need a torture apologist on the government's broadcasting board."

But what can we expect, with appointees like Rahm Emanuel and Robert Gates in office?

Seems that Rahm will do anything to advance the Obama agenda, but who does this appointment really help, beside Perino, and McConnell's team?

There was no binding clause in the wording of the law, that suggests that Obama even had to appoint a fourth Republican - he could have chosen an Independent - the law only specifies no more than four from any one party be appointed, aside from the Secretary of State.

And Obama certainly didn't have to choose Perino, a choice which will stick in the craw of any knowledgeable Democrat who has been following politics for even just a few short years.

Perrino smacks of dishonor, culpability, and a desire to save her own scalp, and her former boss's scalp, uberalles. Choosing Perino can't possibly appease the base, she is well-hated for WHO SHE IS. What was Obama thinking? His only criteria was that he couldn't appoint another Democrat, that's it. So why did he make Perino his choice?

I'll tell you why - because of some under-handed, dirty dealing that went on behind the curtain, that's why!

Transparency in the Obama administration, my ass. It's still the SAME OLD, SAME OLD.

We're still in Iraq. We're still in Afghanistan. DOMA still exists. Gays still don't have equal rights. New Orleans is still a mess. Vets aren't being cared for and are homeless in record numbers. HCR has turned into a tool for mandating that over 40 million who can't afford health care will now have to get it.

Yes, there have been some changes since Obama took office, but not enough for me, my friend…not near enough.

I'm starting to lose ALL faith in Obama at this point. What were we thinking? An honest politician? It's an oxymoron.

The very implication of the word suggests to me that a Politician is a person who can be bought for the highest price from any bidder that wants their allegiance.

I hear that the Senate has to approve all appointments to this board.

They say, choose your battles. Well, should we put their feet to the fire on this one, or just accept it, and decide that this battle is too small, in the scope of this giant war we are fighting for justice in our own country, for us to waste our energy trying to reverse this decision?

Well, I won't march about it, but I certainly have enough anger and energy to write to my Senator about it, do you?

Things I Learned Today

1. Today I learned that Oprah is gonna announce tomorrow that she is stopping her show after two more years. Really? TWO MORE YEARS? Let it go, girl…have mercy on us all!

2. Today I learned that a much beloved doggie Mascot for the University of Georgia died. That's not the interesting part - the dog was only 4 years old, and he died of Heart Troubles! THAT'S disturbing - young dogs can contract Heart Disease???

3. Today I learned that Dakota Fanning likes to play evil characters - like Jane in Twilight - "they're more fun" she told Jay Leno….but she's scared of big spiders.

4. Today I learned that 11 Democratic Senators are putting together a "Share the Sacrifice" bill…to help offset the cost of the Afghanistan War, that nobody wants to continue! Democracy, woop.

5. Today I learned that Richard Avedon was a genius. No, really.

6. Today I learned that in London two Twilight Fans got into an actual fight over the last Twilight poster and one of them ended up in the hospital. (this might just be a joke, not sure...how reliable is Jimmy Fallon?)

6. Today I learned that even great photographers have to click BEFORE the moment, in order to CAPTURE the moment.

7. Today I learned that one of my buttons is featured in an Etsy Treasury called "Button your lip!" Yippee!

Stephen Colbert "Infinitely Modest" & Singing in Korean!

Remembering this from 2007....worth repeating!

The Colbert Report	Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
He's Singing in Korean
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full Episodes Political Humor U.S. Speedskating

What IS Chris Matthews' PROBLEM?

Chris Matthews went bananas on a guest yesterday over the way this guest (and just about everyone ELSE in the English-speaking world BESIDES Chris Matthews) pronounces Dick Cheney's last name.

Every single time Matthews mentions Cheney he pronounces it CHEE-KNEE, and then inserts a footnote "*that's the way HE actually pronounces it, 'CHEE-KNEE', you know." Every time.

Yesterday, on Hardball, he savagely attacked Republican Strategist, Todd Harris, for the way he (and 99.9% of the world) pronounced Cheney.

I tried to find a video clip, but I only found a transcript:

HARRIS: I think Kay Bailey Hutchison is a conservative who can actually get things done in Texas. And, you know, Chris, your good friend Dick Cheney is actually in Texas as we speak right now endorsing Kay Bailey Hutchison...

MATTHEWS: Yes.

HARRIS: ... because he knows that, you know, when you put aside all the rhetoric and all the bombast, there are some things that need to happen here in Texas to move the state forward.

MATTHEWS: Yes.

HARRIS: And Kay Bailey Hutchison can get it done.

But let me talk about that picture.

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS: Why do you mispronounce—why do you mis—Steve—I mean, Todd, why do you mispronounce Cheney‘s name, on purpose or what?

(LAUGHTER)

HARRIS: You know...

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS: His name is Cheney. (**note - here Matthews pronounced it CHEE-KNEE)

HARRIS: Yes, I know that. Well, I know that you pronounce it that way.

MATTHEWS: But why do you call him Cheney? Why do you call him Cheney? (**note - here Matthews pronounced it CHAY-KNEE)

HARRIS: Why do you call him Cheney? (**note - here HARRIS pronounced it CHEE-KNEE)!

(LAUGHTER)

MATTHEWS: It‘s his name.

(LAUGHTER)

HARRIS: Yes. No. Well, I‘m not sure that...

(CROSSTALK)

MATTHEWS: I don‘t understand why you go with the—you‘re going with some sort of other pronunciation.

My conclusion - Chris has gone seriously wrong.

He's lost it. Big time.

Too many elections, too many politicians, he's fuming over how a man's name is pronounced? He's not losing it over the fact that this very man took us into two unnecessary wars, bankrupted our country, allowed for torture, and our military women to be raped, ruined our reputation throughout the globe, shot his friend in the face, etc., etc.....no, that's not what Chris is ranting about.

He's upset at the way people are mis-pronouncing the monster's damn name.

I'm telling you, Chris has lost it. For real.

Just out - PandaEyes New Videocastx3 - RAD!

There's some amazing videos on this newly released 3rd Videocast from PandaEyes.

She has a very relaxed VJ style, as well as really good taste in videos:

50 minutes of videos, with your host Alyssa PandaEyes.

Featuring videos by

KAS Product, Models, The Human League, Soft Cell with Clint Ruin, Cabaret Voltaire, Yes No Maybe, Yacht, Hurts, The Boys Next Door

As well as a Live Interview with These Are Powers

Genres of Post-Punk, Coldwave, Darkwave, New Wave, Dance

Check it out!

Panda Eyes Videocast x3 from Alyssa Thralls on Vimeo.

Praise Be the Tweet - Step Hen Fry Speaks

Okay, this is truly hilarious. Whether you tweet or not, you should enjoy Stephen Fry's take on life in 2034!

13 Things to Do on Twitter Besides Tweet

Condensed for Printing from an original post on Mashable

August 21st, 2009 | by Barb Dybwad

1. SHARE FILES

FileSocial files smaller than 50 MB

FileTwt. to send a person-to-person file privately, check out (sign up for an account on the site to enable private file-sharing up to 20 MB) but they don’t use OAuth for authentication.

2. TWEET YOUR BUSINESS CARD

twtBizCard, electronic business card by sending an @reply with the hashtag #twtBizCard.

When you sign up, the service will pull in the data from your Twitter profile as starter information, and you can add other details to customize your card.

3. SHARE MUSIC

(see 10 Ways to Share Music on Twitter).

Blip.fm is very much like Twitter but specifically for music, and can integrate with your Twitter account to share what tracks you’re listening to or “blipping.”

Songza, a very easy to use music search engine that lets you easily tweet any track you’re listening to by clicking the song name and selecting the “Share: Twitter this” option.

4. SHARE IMAGES

a goodly number of options available for image sharing

Twitpic

others by SMS, email and more

Flickr added Twitter posting earlier this summer

5. SHARE VIDEO

share video on Twitter as well. From TwitVid.io to Tweetube

TwitVid.com and 12seconds.TV are also on this list. The latter perhaps obviously limits you to only 12 seconds’ worth of video, but it meshes well with the spirit of Twitter’s 140 character homage to brevity.

6. RAISE MONEY

Twitpay is out in front of the microtransaction platform

Facebook is looking to get in on it

Wi-Fi startup SkyBlox, used Twitpay to raise a portion of their funding via Twitter.

7. LOBBY FOR HEALTH CARE REFORM

Tweet Your Senator, a feature of the President’s website that mashes up Twitter with Google Maps to help you send a message to your Senator about healthcare reform legislation.

8. SCREENCAST

One-stop-shop to whip up a quick screencast and distribute it on Twitter. Check out Screenr, a screencast tool with seamless Twitter integration.

You have 5 minutes to record your videos including the ability to pause and restart, and you can preview the screencast before sending it out.

9. PLAY GAMES

Twitter-based game Spymaster can be addictive if you play it

comprehensive Complete guide to Spymaster.

some of these other alternatives for getting your Twitter game on

10. SOCIAL BOOKMARKING

Fleck Lite, a simple bookmarklet-based tool that will both generate a shortened URL based on the page you’re sharing and archive the collection of links you’ve shared for later reference

11. READ OTHERS TWEETS

cTwittLike

12. START A PETITION

Looking to change the world

Check out several startups helping you start petitions on Twitter, from Act.ly to Twitition and more.

13. FIND A JOB

check out Mashable's guide to landing your next paycheck via Twitter.

TweetMyJobs

What else can you use Twitter for besides Mashable's daily dosages of pointless babble?

Stewart, the Master, reveals Hannity's Bachmann lie

Nobody can put someone in their place like Jon Stewart. Here's he is, masterfully mocking Hannity for trying to pass Glenn Beck's 9-12 rally footage off as from Michele Bachmann's recent rally.

My cheeks hurt from laughing! Elmo & Rosita on Jimmy Fallon

Happy Birthday Sesame Street!

Here's a hilarious interview of Elmo & Rosita (11/9/09), introducing the 40th Anniversary Book this week, on Jimmy Fallon.

And here's the original pilot - 41 years ago!

I have proof that the Pope is watching "V"...

Here's Contessa Brewer reporting that the Pope has been watching "V", and realized that he had to take a stance on this alien thing...

Well, that's a relief...

Get Your Rosaries Out of Our Ovaries!

SUBJECT: STOP STUPAK! Contact your reps

Here's a very easy to use and thorough List of

Senator's Contact Info

Dear President Obama (and all of you other "Duly Elected Officials"):

I'm getting pretty PO'd right about now.

Abortion, again? REALLY?

They snuck WHAT into the bill?

They have somehow passed an amendment that makes it illegal for a woman to buy an abortion privately, with her own money, or they will cut off funding to her Insurance Company?

Huh? Isn't that basically the same as making abortion illegal???

How did they pull this off?

Somehow a handful of pesky Conservadems, are dictating what goes in and out of bills? Why does this mini-group get to decide for the masses? Simple...Mr. Prez wants to get re-elected.

It all comes down to keeping their jobs.

In your heart of hearts you know that these politicians aren't voting the will of their constituents unless it happens to coincide with their own loftier plans - reelection.

Let's face it, nobody wants their gravy train to get de-railed.

Who wouldn't like a job where you get to work ridiculously short hours, decide your own salary, as well as your vacation(s) schedule, AND you get paid a huge pension every year 'til death, after leaving the job?

Yup, it's all about the Benjamins.

So we have to let the Grinches know that THEY WILL LOSE THEIR PRECIOUS JOBS if they keep the Stupak Amendment in the bill.

How about we WRITE to our SENATORS?

How about we BOMBARD our SENATORS?

TELL THEM STUPAK MUST BE STOPPED!

Conservadems be DAMNED!

KEEP YOUR DAMN LAWS OFF OUR BODIES!

I thought Obama was gonna stand up for Women's Rights!

and I thought Obama was gonna get us out of Iraq ASAP

I also thought Obama was gonna close Gitmo

and I even thought Obama might ACTUALLY bring about that "CHANGE WE CAN BELIEVE IN."

But there was always this wee little voice whispering inside my head saying, "…in truth, if he's a Harvard Grad, with all his fancy editing skills, shouldn't he have known...

it should have read...

'Change IN WHICH we can believe'?"