I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

((( to all the East Coast ))) worried about all of you, and so glad President Obama is on the job.

thanks Sunflowers.....very welcome reading materials. 

Chickadee, I'm glad you checked in, DH and I were talking about cruise ships being out in this and I thought of you and was concerned.

Thinking of all of you on the East Coast, and those getting hit by the storm even though you're not on the coast.

I'm another one that is very reassured that President Obama is in office during this crisis.

Thanks, Mods for fixing the formatting.

Lindasa -- love that cartoon.  Miss-steps going with the desperate candidate with his JEEP information to Ohioans.  They are not buying it.  But then, there are a lot of lies they haven't bought.  Electoral votes will tell that story.

Jackie

off to work, see you when I get home tonight.

Glad to hear about your neighbour RR.

I have been getting discouraged by looking at various right wing articles where it seems to be OK to simply and physically discard any papers that interrupt their thought processes, where it is intellectually possible to deny the clear reality that Romney and company are on the way to removing Roe v Wade,  where viral selection of poll data is cause to deride Democrats and cheer Republicans and where making up an issue based on rumour and innuendo is justification for claiming a cover up and calling the President all sorts of names. Just waiting for the claim that somehow this storm or its aftereffects are Obama's fault.

Hi Friends,

I made it home about 1 a.m. last night.  OMG .. it was the travel day from hell.  My flights were cancelled all along the way and I was rerouted all over the U.S.

We had very high winds and sleet when I got into Greensboro. The little puddle jumper I was on was bouncing all over the place.  I was scared!  The wind is blowing like crazy right now, but so far the snow hasn't started coming down.

I miss my grandsons so much .. cried when I had to leave them.  We had a wonderful time together.

Oh guess who I saw in O'Hare last night .. just walking through the terminal ... Newt Gingrich.  Could have knocked me over!  He's much taller in person and better looking.  I couldn't stop staring at him.

Glad to be home .. but so very tired today.

hugs,

Bren

OMG Bren, what a story! So glad you are home safe! (((BREN)))

And to think I unignored to get a "page not found." Phasers back on.

Glad you made it home Bren--heard a number of reports on NPR this am about people who just ended up renting cars to get out of chicago or new york.

We had a voting party at our house last night--just DH and I and the kids. The downside about paper voting at home is you can't do the big march to the polls with the kids like we used to do.  We would walk to our polling place with the kids so they could see all the people voting and I think it made an impression.

So DH and I sat everyone down at the table to discuss issues and why we vote and how in some countries people can't vote and how less than 100 years ago, I wouldn't have been able to vote nor my daughter and how when they original handed out the right to vote it didn't mean everyone, it meant white guys with property.  Then we went through all the papers and information and ballot measures and colored in the dots.  I will mail my ballot today or stop at the drop box and stuff it in.

I think we will be having more political discussions at our house---realized last night that the next presidential election, Oldest will be voting!

eta: meningitis, derivatives, whats the real difference?  money at stake so the risk is worth it.

Pain is inevitable. Suffering is optional.

Oh my itinerary change....we were supposed to arrive in Jamaica the same day as then Tropical Storm Sandy. The Caymans were also in the path. So our itinerary took us safely to Key West and then skirted due west to the Mexican coast and a stop in Costa Maya, which was great fun and then Cozumel, which I found less appealing then I thought I might. However the ship has everything so all you have to do is go back onboard and enjoy. Not supposed to get in hot water when you are on Xeloda but the hot tubs were a rare pleasure! Haven't submerged my body in water in years and it felt lovely.

Chick, I saw your pictures on the Stage IV forum. You and your family look so happy! And that food, WOW!

Another day, another whopper from Mittens:

How do you know when your lie is so big it won’t be allowed to stand? Maybe it’s when President Clinton said yesterday that Jeep has called Romney’s claim “the biggest load of bull in the world.” Maybe it’s when Vice President Biden asks if you have any shame. Or maybe it’s when the CEO of a major corporation takes to newspapers repeatedly to correct you in no uncertain terms, even though they know they risk alienating the frothing Republican base.

Chrysler isn’t taking Mitt Romney’s lies about Jeep moving production to China lying down. Just to be sure everyone has it right, Chrysler CEO Sergio Marchionne has written a letter published in the Detroit News restating the truth for those who have difficulties with reality.

Sadly for Mitt Romney, Chrysler’s side of reality is backed up by numbers and it tells of huge success – another fact Romney wants to pretend isn’t happening.

I feel obliged to unambiguously restate our position: Jeep production will not be moved from the United States to China.

North American production is critical to achieving our goal of selling 800,000 Jeep vehicles by 2014. In fact, U.S. production of our Jeep models has nearly tripled (it is expected to be up 185%) since 2009 in order to keep up with global demand.

Marchionne goes on to rub salt in the wound by pointing out how their success (thank you President Obama) has added jobs and will continue to do so, “With the increase in demand for our vehicles, especially Jeep branded vehicles, we have added more than 11,200 U.S. jobs since 2009. Plants producing Jeep branded vehicles alone have seen the number of people invested in the success of the Jeep brand grow to more than 9,300 hourly jobs from 4,700. This will increase by an additional 1,100 as the Liberty successor, which will be produced in Toledo, is introduced for global distribution in the second quarter of 2013.”

Oh Linda -



You know that Marchionne is in on this vast left-wing conspiracy to ship jobs overseas. Of course he'll say that they aren't sending jobs to China! That's exactly how you know that they ARE.

Welcome back Chickadee!!



What IS that delightful pile o'food???

For the chocoholics, like ME!

Lewing, you KNOW the rules only apply to "you people." Regressives are exempt because they are SPECIAL. I do wish we could put out glue traps, though. Easier to collect and dispose of.



Chickadee, your food porn is wonderful! I'm a chocoholic myself!



Susan Eisenhower, Dwight Eisenhower's granddaughter, endorses Barack Obama for the second time:



"Why I Am Endorsing President Barack Obama

OCTOBER 29, 2012



by Susan Eisenhower

Four years ago, I left the Republican Party of which I was a lifelong member and became an independent. Not long after, I supported Barack Obama in the 2008 election for president. I made this decision determined to look at the issues not as a Republican or a Democrat, but as an American.



It is through that lens that I consider my choice in the 2012 election. Like many other voters who crossed party lines to vote for Barack Obama in the last election, I have watched the 2012 campaign carefully and listened closely to what the candidates have said. I believe that President Obama should be re-elected.



Very few American presidents have been truly prepared to assume that job. Four years ago, Obama, a relatively inexperienced public servant, became the 44th President of the United States during one of the most difficult times our country has faced. The nation’s economy was on the brink of collapse. Our image overseas was tarnished, and our military was bogged down in two unpopular wars. I supported Obama then because I thought that he was unflappable. I saw him as a man with a keen intellect and a cool analytical head. I believed he would also be able to inspire those who had suffered most from a recession unparalleled since the Great Depression. In doing so, I reasoned, he would go a long way towards reuniting a nation deeply divided.



Obama was elected and took office, building on a number of stabilization programs initiated by the Bush administration. He took many other vital steps that reestablished our economic footing, including saving America’s automobile industry.



In the last four years, and despite the global downturn, America has come back from the brink. While pain is still being felt in far too many sectors of the economy, from a macroeconomic standpoint the situation in the United States is better than it is among our allies. According to the International Monetary Fund, today the United States is poised for 3 percent growth, which would make our economy the strongest of the other richest economies, including Canada and Germany. Other influential studies, cited in a recent column by Fareed Zakaria, show that debt in the U.S. financial sector, relative to GDP, has declined to levels not seen since before the 2000 bubble. And consumer confidence is now at its highest levels since September 2007. The housing market is also slowly coming back. While there is still an enormous amount to do to assure a recovery, the president deserves credit for a steady hand during this dangerous and unpredictable time.



In the last four years, President Obama has also had to contend with a rapidly changing international environment. He ended the war in Iraq, was the first Democratic president to ratify an arms control treaty with the Russian Federation, and rallied global leaders to put nuclear security at the top of the international agenda. The Obama Administration has also been responsible for decimating the top leadership of al-Qaeda and introducing biting sanctions on Iran. Today the president has significant experience in managing foreign relations, experience that GOP candidate Mitt Romney and his running mate, Paul Ryan, do not have.



As a result of this campaign I am more confused than ever about what Mitt Romney stands for. I know little of his core beliefs, if he even has any. No one seems to agree on what they are, and that’s why I do not want to take a chance on finding out.



Given Romney’s shifting positions, he can only be judged by the people with whom he surrounds himself. Many of them espouse yesterday’s thinking on national defense and security, female/family reproductive rights, and the interplay of government and independent private enterprise. In this context, Barack Obama represents the future, not that past. His emphasis on education is an example of the importance he places on preparing rising generations to assume their places as innovators and entrepreneurs, workers and doers, and responsible citizens and leaders. He recognizes, as many of us do, that access to opportunities must be open to every American, regardless of race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic status. This is not an entitlement, but a sound investment in the future.



Barack Obama’s record as president has not been perfect, and there have been frustrations for all of us during this time. Nevertheless, I believe that he deserves four more years in the White House. If the voters on November 6 give him that chance, we should expect and demand, if necessary, that members of both parties work closely with him to find a way to avert the “fiscal cliff” and other pressing and possibly destabilizing problems.



As I said in 2008 and will say again: “Unless we squarely face our challenges as Americans—together– we risk losing the priceless heritage bestowed on us by the sweat and the sacrifice of our forbearers. If we do not pull together, we could lose the America that has been an inspiration to the world.” "