The first television presidential debate: 1960, Nixon - Kennedy.

Tonight Wolf Blitzer moderates the CNN/Tea Party debate.

What are you looking for? Do you anticipate the questions will be formed with the tea party in mind? Do you have reservations about Blitzer’s ability to moderate a debate where grassroots is advertised so prominently?

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Meanwhile, media blames conservatives.

Whoops.

My God!  How little do my countrymen know what precious blessings they are in possession of, and which no other people on earth enjoy!

- Thomas Jefferson

Republican indoctrination, a.k.a. a Fourth of July parade

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Under-appreciated and priceless.

Norman Rockwell - "Two O'Clock Feeding"

Norman Rockwell - "Freedom From Fear"

Norman Rockwell - "You Can Trust Me, Dad." 1917 Life Magazine

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(h/t Mark)

Silky Pony’s mugshot was just released:

From the NYT: “That Weiner, Spitzer, Clinton Look.”

Satellite imagery of some of the Joplin devastation.

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I woke up yesterday morning in a cranky mood. Then I saw the first daytime photos of the devastation in Joplin and was instantly humbled.

This photo, published yesterday, is beautiful.

The caption:

Relief: Maggie Kelley and her husband, Trey Adams hug their dog, Saint, after finding him amid the rubble of her home in Joplin

I’ve discussed this topic a lot all across the country, the wave of women, of mothers in political activism.

Why have so many mothers become so active?

Because motherhood is political.

I have two sons. One day they may hear the call of duty and enlist to fight for our liberty. One day they may be called upon to defend America’s shores. They may decide to enter business or take up a trade. They may decide to have families of their own someday. I want them to have every opportunity available to them and I will stand against that which impedes on their rights. It’s instinctual: my job as a mother is to raise up, nurture, and protect my children, to protect their interests, to protect the interests of my family. In a society where my first line of defense, my husband, has been compromised by the self-victimization of the female sex, I’ve volunteered to go to the front lines of this ideological battle and I do it for my children. I’m not the only one.

It’s unconscionable to me that I would protect my children from running out into a busy street but not protect their right to be free. A month after my oldest was born my husband and I spent an entire morning baby-proofing our house: placing plastic covers on all empty wall sockets, installing cabinet latches, covering all the sharp edges of the tables with adhesive cushions. Why wouldn’t I also rise to install barriers against that which harms my children’s future? We armed our children with the knowledge against “stranger danger,” we taught them how to dial 911 in emergencies, we’ve taught them how to properly handle and not handle firearms. Why wouldn’t I teach my children about their fundamental rights as an American? Their right to free speech, to assemble, the freedom of the press, the freedom from unreasonable search and seizure, the freedom of religion? Their right to pursue happiness but not the expectation that they are owed happiness from their fellow man?

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In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground but the men said to them, “Why do you look for living among the dead? He is not here, he has risen!”
Luke 24: 5

“Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.”
Luke 24:39

He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.”
Mark 16:15

2 Peter 3:18

I got this photo in a text message from a friend. It’s a photo of his friend’s house, and the family was due to close on it this week.

St. Louis isn’t a stranger to storms; by the time you reach adulthood you’ve memorized tornado drills and are used to seeking shelter in your cellar or basement. Several years ago my boys and I huddled in our basement and watched as a tornado roared defiantly in the distance and threw a full-grown tree into our yard.

The city in which I was born and raised barely missed the worst of it; instead the tornado skimmed north-east and tore apart Lambert International Airport (the Mayor says he hopes to see flights at 100% capacity by midweek, but if you’re flying in or out of St. Louis soon, call their airline, not the airport) and communities just north of downtown St. Louis, namely Bridgeton, pictured above.

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