make the Forbes list of best places in the US to work, but Aggie and Peter and I really like working at home. They're not much help, but they are lots of company. They are also good listeners. While Aggie takes her position as Senior Associate and Director of Security very seriously, I am sure people regard her barking as more of a nuisance than a deterrent. Peter 
for the last month, I haven't been to the grocery. My well-stocked pantry and hoarding of household supplies has finally come in handy! Of course, there is nothing in my refrigerator at this point that could possibly be described as fresh - so Ariela offered to take me to Publix this morning so I could stock up again. Shopping is always fun, but I've never gone to the market with a five-year-old before - so this was an adventure. Baby was already a little hyped up from whatever sugar he consumed with breakfast, but I may have made matters worse by alerting him to the fact that he could get a free cookie from the lady in the bakery. I mean, who says no to a free cookie? I'd also forgotten how unique a child's point of view can be. When we got to the dairy department, I reached for a container of sour cream and as I went to put it in the car, Baby stopped talking mid-joke to shriek: "Taco butter!" and wanted to know why I was buying that. I guess sour cream isn't part of a child's vocabulary, but he knows it's something you put on tacos. I laughed, the guy who was stocking the yogurt section laughed and Baby laughed, too - although I'm not sure he knew why. I also discovered that Baby is a person of vanilla sensibility. Ice cream was on sale - I chose peach because it's summer, I asked him to choose the flavor he wanted to take home and share with his dad and sisters. And do you know what he chose from the plethora of yummy flavors available? Yep, vanilla. Maybe I'm just a choco-holic - and while I don't have anything against vanilla in principle, I would certainly have chosen something more exciting if I were five. When we got back to my house, my sweet friend brought the groceries inside while Baby spun around in my chair and regaled Aggie with a highly embroidered tale of our morning adventure. Thanks to Ariela, I now have lettuce, tomatoes, veggie burgers (on sale!) and peach ice cream. Friends are a good thing!
When I got my new camera, I also tried to find a camera case that would protect the thing without being too big and bulky. I really wanted something I could just slip into my purse or tote bag and everything I saw in the stores or online was either too small or too big with lots of straps and extraneous stuff I didn't want or need. Etsy to the rescue! One day I was just
I just got home from my weekly
off the face of the earth - yet. It's just summer. And it's hot. Really hot and humid - and who feels like doing anything much in that sort of weather? I've been working, reading, clearing out closets, reading a little more, getting rid of stuff I haven't used in forever, reading - and well, you get the picture. Since I finished up reading M.C. Beaton's Agatha Raisin series, I started in on Hamish MacBeth. I've read the first eight - but I'm waiting on the ninth book, which is on its way from a used bookstore somewhere in the UK. Any day now, I keep telling Aggie and Pete. In the meantime, I've been tidying and rearranging stuff. I used to be a mad furniture mover in my previous life (and home). It was much easier with wood and tile floors - not so much with carpet. And I somehow seem to have lost my former ability to move heavy objects single handedly. I am not sure when that happened. At any rate, I now content myself with rearranging stuff: the shelves, the kitchen counter, my desk. Incentive to dust the place every now and then. I was also hoping that messing around with my stuff would be good therapy for writer's block.Not yet - but I am hoping for a breakthrough soon.
A number of us sat around as the fire was built (helped along with the aid of grease) and the brisket was positioned for a good number of gentle smoking hours. 
At some point I roused M. and we went to Lampson Falls. This is something we've done in previous years, and which I planned on properly documenting. Unfortunately I forgot the camera in the car. This is basically what it was like. The big excitement of the excursion was when I accidentally allowed one of my flip flops to float away from me. I accepted it would never be seen again. Then, maybe ten minutes later, a strange swirl of a current boomeranged the flip flop back to our general pool area and M. was the heroine of the day....jumping into the water and swimming further out than either of us usually do to retrieve the dang thing. Seriously. I was very impressed and grateful. It made walking back to the car far more pleasant than it otherwise would have been. On the drive back we saw this bird. 
We arrived just in time for dinner. That brisket and its accompanying sauce, salads and stuffed peppers wrapped in bacon were just the way to end a lovely day. 
Then it was time for charades. A game that I do not consider myself particularly good at, but which I played nonetheless. In fact I managed to successfully get my team to guess a Japanese film name. I wish I could remember exactly what it was so you could then consider whether you would have found an effective way of acting it out. Alas. In any case, here is W. getting her team to guess something. Maybe a bird? 
In between turns the two youngest kids would dance for the crowd. 
T. taking his turn. 
M. being intense and expressive. 
I forget exactly what the circumstance of this was. V. may have disagreed with some word guessed or decision made. Whatever the cause, it was decided that she needed to be sat upon by M. to calm her down. It had the opposite effect. 
V. and I had a nice separate chat about finances, which I'm grateful to her for having with me...even if at this point I still couldn't really tell you what a mutual fund is...a fund made up with bits of stock shares? 
Father and son. A. was very displeased with all the photographing going on, so I didn't take any photos of him. 
Three of the G. bros in various versions of profile. 
Dessert. 
And once charades was concluded, with my team winning, A., C. and I played Catan while a larger group played Trivial Pursuit. 
Then there was the thing with the canoe.
This is what the lake looked like in the morning. 
Sheesh. 
I also couldn't resist the gazpacho, which was nice and creamy, cool and rich. 
Good times.
I like that spiders eat bugs, but I do not care for running into their webs unannounced. I was just thinking about how if I had a kid I would teach him or her to always walk in the woods with a stick. A stick you should be rhythmically be swinging in front of you in order to prevent any full face to web (or scrambling spider!) contact. I find it makes the woods far more enjoyable. 
Mr Ass. whipped up a tasty meal of grilled chicken, some of which were wrapped in shiso leaves from the garden. Fresh corn was also enjoyed. We ended up going to New Hope for a taste of its nightlife. It's strange there. New Hope is this bustling center of such a strange sprawling country-ish area with plenty of relatively affluent (and non affluent) folks gather. You'll see bearded men greying beards, leather jackets and blonde lady friends mount their motorcycles and ride off with a growl. You'll also see equally older men with well dressed girlfriends slide into their fancy convertible sport cars and drive off with a vroom. Also in attendance will be a wide range of other folk. A man in academic gown stalking the streets and reeking of weed. Lesbians - butch and femme and all between- asking others if they can pet their dogs. Dogs, happily panting at the end of leashes enjoying the attention of strangers smoking outside bars. Dudes wearing dress shirts and party jeans with wide shoulders, gelled hair and a hit of fake tanner. Bearded buddies dressed down and shooting the shit. I saw one group of women all of whom were very thin and very very short and tight dresses; the kind of dress with missing sleeves and sexy necklines. They looked great, but I just couldn't understand New Hope as a place where one would want or need to dress up in such a fashion. I think this may be out of touch. 
The next morning I got up earlier than I strictly meant to but had important life errands to run. Mainly taking care of my car's need for changed oil. This was something I had put off for more time than I'd like to discuss. But before I left I did take a little perusal of the garden in daylight/ 
Asparagus jungle. 
The definite highlight of my time at the block party was finally meeting the chickens I knew lived on the block. Months back I noticed two chickens in the alley, calmly pecking at the weeds growing out of the cracked sidewalk/pavement. They didn't seem terribly worried or confused, and since I had no idea where they came from, I simply observed for a while before going on with my day. Now I know from where those chickens escaped, and the chickens' names. This lady is Scarlet. She has an all white friend named Blanche, but Blanche wouldn't stay still enough for photographs.
I got to feed them grapes, which if you hold just a bit above their heads they will jump to get. So. Much. Fun.
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Greek voters dealt a blow to eurozone hopes that Athens will stick to its austerity commitments as parties opposing more cuts, including neo-Nazis, won almost 60-percent support in an election Sunday.
According to updated exit polls, the two main parties suffered heavy losses, with the conservative New Democracy and the left-wing Pasok getting just 32.0 to 34.5 percent between them, down from 77.4 percent at the last polls in 2009.
New Democracy, led by Antonis Samaras, remained the largest party but it fell short of an absolute majority in parliament.
Samaras, as leader of the biggest party, will be tasked with forming a new government by the president, but observers say he will have difficulty forming an administration able to maintain Greece's austerity drive and implement more cuts demanded by the country's creditors.
"We are ready to assume the responsibility of forming a national salvation government with two exclusive goals: to keep the country in the euro and amend the policies of the memorandum," Samaras said late Sunday.
Athens has already committed to finding in June another 11.5 billion euros ($15 billion) in savings in the next two years.
New Democracy obtained about a fifth of support this time, well short of the share needed for an absolute majority in parliament and down from 33.5 percent three years ago.
The other main player Pasok saw its score decimated, polling only 13-14 percent compared to nearly 44 percent in the last elections. The party even looked set to be relegated to third place by the leftist Syriza, which scored 15.5-17.0 percent, more than triple its 4.6 percent of 2009.
"The ruling parties have been struck by an earthquake," shadow foreign minister Panos Panagiotopoulos said on television channel Mega.
Panayotis Petrakis, economics professor at Athens University, expressed hope however that new French president-elect Francois Hollande "would prevent Europe treating us too harshly. There is still a little room for manoeuvre."
Petrakis told AFP that the most likely outcome was another "government of technocrats" headed again by outgoing premier Lucas Papademos, or fresh elections.
Evangelos Venizelos, Pasok leader and the finance minister who negotiated the second bailout, called for a "national unity government" among pro-European parties but admitted this will be "clearly difficult."
Neo-Nazi party Golden Dawn was also set to enter parliament for the first time since the end of the military junta in 1974, with 6.5-7.5 percent, making it the sixth-biggest party in the 300-seat chamber with some 20 lawmakers.
Leader Nikos Michaloliakos said his party would fight against "world usurers" and the "slavery" of an EU-IMF loan agreement he likened to a "dictatorship".
"The time for fear has come," he said.
Independent Greeks, a new right-wing party set up by New Democracy dissident Panos Kammenos, polled around 11 percent to become the fourth-biggest party, followed by the communist KKE on 8.0-9.5 percent.
The Democratic Left, a Europhile new leftist party, notched up 5.5-6.5 percent. In total seven parties were set to enter parliament compared with just five after the last election.
Both Pasok and ND have said they want the "troika" of the European Union, International Monetary Fund and European Central Bank to cut Greece more slack in their two bailout deals worth worth 240 billion euros ($314.0 billion).
But with voters angry at the austerity cuts demanded in response, many of the smaller parties, including possible kingmaker Syriza, want to tear up the agreements.
The communist KKE party want to leave the eurozone and the neo-Nazis say they want to stop servicing Greece's debts, an aim shared by Kammenos who wants to turn to Russia to prop up the country.
"The parties that signed the memorandum (with the EU and the IMF) are now a minority. The public verdict has de-legitimised them," Syriza head Alexis Tsipras said, calling the election a "message of overthrow".
Greece's creditors, not least paymaster-in-chief Germany, the main proponent of austerity before growth, have little appetite to loosen the bailout terms, let alone consider a third rescue.
In ominous comments widely quoted by Greek newspapers on Saturday, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said that if Greece's new government deviated from its commitments, the country would "bear the consequences."
"Membership of the European Union is voluntary," he said in Cologne.
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The Justice Department has made a habit of delving into Google?s acquisitions and business dealings throughout the Obama administration. Now the Federal Trade Commission is looking for a piece of the action.
The agency hired a big-name outside litigator to front its current investigation, and in the background lurks the prospect of a novel tactic that, if successful, would expand the ability of the FTC to prosecute companies that dominate in a particular sector.
A broad antimonopoly case against Google by the FTC would face several key hurdles. Because Google?s products are free to use, it?s going to be tricky to show how end consumers are directly harmed by the company?s development of content that is accessible via its search engines. The company mantra, when asked about whether Google is dominant, is that ?competition is one click away.?
It appears more plausible that a case could be made under Section 5 of the FTC Act, which prohibits ?unfair methods of competition,? a standard that doesn?t specify harm to consumers. FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz is on record as ?strongly? wanting to create standards to pursue Section 5 cases.
Geoffrey Manne, executive director of the International Center for Law and Economics, says that the FTC might be interested in bringing a case under Section 5 because it?s easier to prove.
Some of the complaints surrounding Google?s business practices involve a reduction in consumer choice, which would involve the antimonopoly Section 2 instead. ?If that?s all they have for harm,? Manne said, ?that?s a case that gets dismissed under Section 2. It?s not clear that the same case is dismissed under pure Section 5.?
The FTC could target Google on several fronts. One is the issue of whether Google unfairly manipulates its search results to favor its own services. According to critics, this practice has hobbled niche players in e-commerce sectors in which Google has business interests, including local search, comparison shopping, and travel booking. Companies like Expedia, Trip Advisor, Yelp, WebMD and others claim to have experienced a loss of Web traffic and revenues as a result of this practice.
What's not immediately clear is why Google, which reported upwards of $10 billion in quarterly advertising revenues in its first-quarter SEC filings, would risk the ire of U.S. and foreign regulators in order to spotlight what appear to be relatively minuscule pieces of its business -- the commissions from travel bookings and other online transactions.
Gary Reback, a Silicon Valley antitrust attorney and longtime critic of Google's business practices, calls it "monopoly maintenance." Reback said that Google got into the local information, maps, and travel space in order to steer the flow of Web traffic away from rivals who offer targeted, topic-based search services. "The reason Google goes into verticals is to keep these verticals from eating away at its horizontal search monopoly," he said.
Another prominent critic of Google, Ben Edelman, an assistant professor at Harvard Business School, said that it's Google's practice to "enter a new sector, create an information aggregation platform and use their power over algorithmic search to direct users to their platform, even though Google is typically late to these new sectors.?
Edelman cited Google Maps as an example of the "Google playbook." Edelman noted that when it was introduced there were established competitors like Mapquest, MSN Maps, and Yahoo Maps, but Google's dominant market share "lets Google favor their own services with unlimited free traffic and withhold their traffic from competitors."
Larry Downes, a senior adjunct fellow with the think tank TechFreedom, expects the FTC will take some action, considering all the preliminary saber rattling. ?IBM went through this in the 1980s, Microsoft went through it in the 1990s. It appears now it?s Google?s turn,? he said.
Google is already dealing with a tide of government supervision. Its $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility in August, 2011 -- largely seen as a patent-defense deal -- was approved by DOJ's Antitrust Division but with the caveat that regulators wouldn't be shy about intervening if Google tightened its hold on key mobile-industry patents. Also last year, Google's $700 million purchase of travel software provider ITA (now Google Travel) is subject to a consent decree designed to protect competition in the travel-search sector. Twice, the Justice Department refused to back proposed settlement agreements between Google and the Authors Guild, over Google's practice of scanning books and making them searchable. Going back to 2008, Justice Department objections scuttled a planned advertising venture between Google and Yahoo over anticompetitive concerns.
Now Google faces the prospect of going to court against renowned litigator Beth A. Wilkinson of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison, known as the attorney who delivered key closing arguments in the case against the Oklahoma City bombers in 1995.
What?s in store for Google if it loses a court case? The most dramatic outcome would be the severing of Google?s algorithmic search and search-advertising business from its content and commerce offerings. This was the initial outcome of the antitrust case prosecuted against Microsoft in the late 1990s, although that judgment was overturned by an appeals court. Another drastic remedy would be to put Google?s famed organic search algorithm under government supervision, or require that it be open to competitors.? Less draconian would be remedies installing firm divisions between the search platform and other business divisions in order to guarantee that Google-owned properties aren?t favored in Google search. Alternatively, a settlement could be instituted without a court verdict that offers competitors some guarantee of prominent placement in Google?s search results.
Before the FTC moves, it?s likely that the European Union will release its long-awaited findings on their investigation into Google. Any settlement with the EU could provide some clues as to how the FTC will proceed with its case against Google.
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Chipper Jones was none too happy with Jamie Moyer during Saturday?s game, not after the 49-year-old left-hander accused of him of relaying signs from second base.
The incident took place in the fifth inning, when Moyer stepped off the rubber and said a few words to Chipper at second base. MLB.com has the quotes:
?That was all on Jamie Moyer,? Jones said. ?He woke a sleeping giant tonight. He started chirping and it went all downhill from there. He accused me of relaying a sign down 6-2 with a 3-0 count to Brian McCann. I have never relayed a sign to anyone while I?m on second base.?
Moyer declined to discuss the matter after the game, but Chipper had more to say:
?I don?t know what the problem was,? Jones said. ?I was literally having a conversation with the shortstop [Troy Tulowitzki] when he stepped off and said that. I don?t know why he?s so paranoid. But to be honest with you, every pitch he throws is 78 [mph]. So it?s not like we really have to relay signs.?
The AJC?s David O?Brien tweeted this afternoon that Chipper said Moyer is ?paranoid? about sign stealing because he comes from a team, the Philies, that always does it.
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Staff Sergeant David Thatcher, center, is saluted as he enters the USS Hornet before a news conference to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Tokyo attack by the Doolittle Raiders in Alameda, Calif., Saturday, May 5, 2012. Survivors of a daring World War II aerial bombing of Japan are gathering in Alameda on the 70th anniversary of the attack. The "Doolittle Raiders" have been credited with lifting the nation's spirits after Pearl Harbor. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Staff Sergeant David Thatcher, center, is saluted as he enters the USS Hornet before a news conference to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Tokyo attack by the Doolittle Raiders in Alameda, Calif., Saturday, May 5, 2012. Survivors of a daring World War II aerial bombing of Japan are gathering in Alameda on the 70th anniversary of the attack. The "Doolittle Raiders" have been credited with lifting the nation's spirits after Pearl Harbor. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Lt. Col. Edward Saylor, right, talks with USS Hornet volunteer Roger Felton as they look at an old photograph before a news conference to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Tokyo attack by the Doolittle Raiders on the USS Hornet in Alameda, Calif., Saturday, May 5, 2012. Survivors of a daring World War II aerial bombing of Japan are gathering in Alameda on the 70th anniversary of the attack. The "Doolittle Raiders" have been credited with lifting the nation's spirits after Pearl Harbor. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Major Thomas Griffin, seated at right, shakes hands with Lt. Col. Chu Chen as he enters the USS Hornet before a news conference to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Tokyo attack by the Doolittle Raiders in Alameda, Calif., Saturday, May 5, 2012. Also pictured at left is John Fu. Survivors of a daring World War II aerial bombing of Japan are gathering in Alameda on the 70th anniversary of the attack. The "Doolittle Raiders" have been credited with lifting the nation's spirits after Pearl Harbor. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Staff Sergeant David Thatcher, from left, Major Thomas Griffin, Lt. Col. Edward Saylor, and Jonna Doolittle Hoppes, granddaughter of Gen. Jimmy Doolittle, are shown before a news conference to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Tokyo attack by the Doolittle Raiders in Alameda, Calif., Saturday, May 5, 2012. Survivors of a daring World War II aerial bombing of Japan are gathering in Alameda on the 70th anniversary of the attack. The "Doolittle Raiders" have been credited with lifting the nation's spirits after Pearl Harbor. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
ALAMEDA, Calif. (AP) ? Three of Doolittle's Raiders who helped boost American morale during the early days of World War II recalled the dangers of their bold bombing attack on Japan mainland.
Airman Edward Saylor didn't expect to come back alive when his B-25 set off on the 1942 mission.
"Some of the group thought they'd make it," Saylor said Saturday. "But the odds were so bad."
Saylor and the other 79 Doolittle's Raiders were forced to take off in rainy, windy conditions significantly further from Japan than planned, straining their fuel capacity. None of the 16 planes' pilots had ever taken off from an aircraft carrier before.
Saylor and two other raiders, Maj. Thomas Griffin and Staff Sgt. David Thatcher ? all in their 90s now ? recalled their daring mission and its leader, Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle, at a commemoration Saturday aboard the USS Hornet in Alameda, across the bay from San Francisco.
Their mission has been credited with boosting American spirits at a critical time, less than five months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and with Japan sweeping through the Pacific. The bombing inflicted only scattered damage, but lifted spirits at home while shaking Japan's confidence.
But it did not come without a price.
Three raiders were killed while trying to land in China. Eight were captured by the Japanese, of which three were executed and a fourth died of disease in prison.
The Japanese also killed Chinese villagers suspected of helping many of the airmen escape.
Griffin recalled ditching his plane when it ran out of fuel after the raid and parachuting to the ground in darkness.
"I got out of my airplane by jumping real fast," he said. "It was a long, strange journey to the land down below."
Griffin landed in a tree and clung to it until daybreak.
Saturday's event was held in conjunction with the 70th anniversary of the raiders' April 18, 1942 mission. It also included: Doolittle's granddaughter, Jonna Doolittle Hoppes; two seamen aboard the carrier the raiders left from, the USS Hornet CV-8, Lt. Cmdr. Richard Nowatzki and Lt. j.g. Oral Moore; and a Chinese official who as a teenager helped rescue the raiders, Lt. Col. Chu Chen.
The American airmen remembered Doolittle as a great planner who knew his aircraft and fought alongside them.
Hoppes said her grandfather, who was born in Alameda and died in 1993, was very proud of the men on the mission.
"I grew up with 79 uncles in addition to the ones I really had," she said. "He was just very proud of how they turned out."
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Chipper Jones was none too happy with Jamie Moyer during Saturday?s game, not after the 49-year-old left-hander accused of him of relaying signs from second base.
The incident took place in the fifth inning, when Moyer stepped off the rubber and said a few words to Chipper at second base. MLB.com has the quotes:
?That was all on Jamie Moyer,? Jones said. ?He woke a sleeping giant tonight. He started chirping and it went all downhill from there. He accused me of relaying a sign down 6-2 with a 3-0 count to Brian McCann. I have never relayed a sign to anyone while I?m on second base.?
Moyer declined to discuss the matter after the game, but Chipper had more to say:
?I don?t know what the problem was,? Jones said. ?I was literally having a conversation with the shortstop [Troy Tulowitzki] when he stepped off and said that. I don?t know why he?s so paranoid. But to be honest with you, every pitch he throws is 78 [mph]. So it?s not like we really have to relay signs.?
The AJC?s David O?Brien tweeted this afternoon that Chipper said Moyer is ?paranoid? about sign stealing because he comes from a team, the Philies, that always does it.
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AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais
As the president and first lady hit the campaign trail together today for their first public rallies of 2012, here are five things to watch that could make this a noteworthy day.
1. CAMPAIGNER-IN-CHIEF TAKES ON ROMNEY
President Obama has largely refrained from engagement with Mitt Romney directly by name. Look for that to change today.? Obama has been studying up on Romney's positions and statements (most recently evidenced by his OBL comments at Monday's press conference) and is expected to more aggressively hammer the presumptive nominee on the auto bailout/manufacturing in Ohio and on social/women's issues in Virginia.
Obama will highlight a "stark contrast of the 'back to the future' approach of Gov. Romney," said senior strategist David Axelrod of the message.
2. OBAMAMANIA 2.0
Four years after "Obamamania" swept college campuses and across the country, we will get a glimpse of what the phenomenon looks like the second time around. The Obama campaign expects overflow crowds at both OSU and VCU as part of carefully orchestrated optics. Aides want to portray the president as still highly popular among young people and still able to energize large crowds.
Organizers have been touting the level of volunteerism and voter registration on the campuses ahead of the events.? They also plan to feature "innovative" integration of social media into the rallies, much as they did at Invesco Field in 2008, by broadcasting selected tweets, Facebook posts and Instagram images on the big screens to boost interactivity and participation.
How organic is the enthusiasm and participation, and can it be sustained - particularly throughout the crucial organizing months of summer? Those are key questions for the months ahead.
Obama campaign manager Jim Messina insists younger voters will still be a secret weapon in states like Ohio and Virginia, as long as they can get them out. "What people don't focus on is there's 8 million voters who are 18 to 21 who weren't old enough to vote last time and who are going to cast their first vote for Barack Obama," he said at the University of Pennsylvania late last year.
3. "FORWARD"
The much-critiqued new slogan for Obama-Biden 2012 - "Forward" - makes its debut today.? We'll be looking for how it plays with the crowd, and whether it shows up emblazoned on any campaign swag. A seven minute campaign video by the same name will air at both events, illustrating what Team Obama bills as a positive economic and social trajectory in his first term.
"It's one word to basically encapsulate the campaign we're working to run," a campaign official said of the slogan. "We want to keep moving forward. We don't want to go back to the economic policies of the past."
Aides believe the "forward" argument effectively sells Obama's progress on the economy - including Friday's anemic jobs report - because some progress is better than none, and certainly better than going in the opposite direction.
4. FLASHBACKS: REPUBLICANS SURFACE '08 PROMISES TO COLUMBUS, RICHMOND
The Republican National Committee has resurfaced promises Obama made in Columbus, Ohio, and Richmond, Va., as a candidate in 2008 - and highlights the fact that they've been broken or unfulfilled.? Among them are a pledge to half the deficit in his first term; keep former lobbyists out of his administration; reduce health insurance premiums; and change the tone in Washington. See the entire 12-page annotated memo.
It will be interesting to see whether the Obama's rhetoric today meets the standards he laid out on visits to the states in 2008.
"What we need now is not misleading charges and divisive attacks. What we need is honest leadership and real change, and that's why I'm running for President of the United States." (Richmond, Va., 10/22/08)
"More of the slash and burn, say-anything, do-anything politics that's calculated to divide and distract; to tear us apart instead of bringing us together. Well, that's not the kind of politics the American people need right now." (Columbus, Ohio 11/2/08)
5. FLOTUS FACTOR
The president and first lady rarely appear together on the road, but today they will - and it's not by accident. As the president often remarks in his official speeches, Mrs. Obama is incredibly popular and often draws applause just by the mention of her name. The latest ABC/Post poll puts her favorability rating well above her husband's at 69 percent.
Michelle Obama's role in the rallies and in the weeks ahead will be worth watching closely.? "She can speak to the president's character and steady hand in times of crisis and she can tell stories about what his accomplishments have meant to millions of Americans," said Axelrod.
The first lady will introduce the president at both events.
RALLY RUNDOWN
Each rally is scheduled to last roughly two hours, including performances by local musicians, pep bands, presentations by students and volunteers, screening of several short campaign videos, and remarks by local Obama surrogates. President Obama's remarks are expected to run roughly 35 minutes at each site and be generally similar in content.
The Ohio State University (Obama speaks 1:20 p.m. ET).? Guest speakers: ?Sen. Sherrod Brown, former astronaut and Sen. John Glenn, former Gov. Ted Strickland, Mayor Michael Coleman. ?Emcee: DJ Konata of Power 107.5 FM ("one of the main stays of Columbus radio").
Virginia Commonwealth University (Obama speaks 4:55 p.m. ET). Guest speakers: Rep. Bobby Scott, former Gov. and DNC chair Tim Kaine, Mayor Dwight Jones. Emcee: VCU basketball coach Shaka Smart.
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Staff Sergeant David Thatcher, center, is saluted as he enters the USS Hornet before a news conference to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Tokyo attack by the Doolittle Raiders in Alameda, Calif., Saturday, May 5, 2012. Survivors of a daring World War II aerial bombing of Japan are gathering in Alameda on the 70th anniversary of the attack. The "Doolittle Raiders" have been credited with lifting the nation's spirits after Pearl Harbor. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Staff Sergeant David Thatcher, center, is saluted as he enters the USS Hornet before a news conference to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Tokyo attack by the Doolittle Raiders in Alameda, Calif., Saturday, May 5, 2012. Survivors of a daring World War II aerial bombing of Japan are gathering in Alameda on the 70th anniversary of the attack. The "Doolittle Raiders" have been credited with lifting the nation's spirits after Pearl Harbor. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Lt. Col. Edward Saylor, right, talks with USS Hornet volunteer Roger Felton as they look at an old photograph before a news conference to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Tokyo attack by the Doolittle Raiders on the USS Hornet in Alameda, Calif., Saturday, May 5, 2012. Survivors of a daring World War II aerial bombing of Japan are gathering in Alameda on the 70th anniversary of the attack. The "Doolittle Raiders" have been credited with lifting the nation's spirits after Pearl Harbor. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Major Thomas Griffin, seated at right, shakes hands with Lt. Col. Chu Chen as he enters the USS Hornet before a news conference to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Tokyo attack by the Doolittle Raiders in Alameda, Calif., Saturday, May 5, 2012. Also pictured at left is John Fu. Survivors of a daring World War II aerial bombing of Japan are gathering in Alameda on the 70th anniversary of the attack. The "Doolittle Raiders" have been credited with lifting the nation's spirits after Pearl Harbor. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Staff Sergeant David Thatcher, from left, Major Thomas Griffin, Lt. Col. Edward Saylor, and Jonna Doolittle Hoppes, granddaughter of Gen. Jimmy Doolittle, are shown before a news conference to commemorate the 70th Anniversary of the Tokyo attack by the Doolittle Raiders in Alameda, Calif., Saturday, May 5, 2012. Survivors of a daring World War II aerial bombing of Japan are gathering in Alameda on the 70th anniversary of the attack. The "Doolittle Raiders" have been credited with lifting the nation's spirits after Pearl Harbor. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
ALAMEDA, Calif. (AP) ? Three of Doolittle's Raiders who helped boost American morale during the early days of World War II recalled the dangers of their bold bombing attack on Japan mainland.
Airman Edward Saylor didn't expect to come back alive when his B-25 set off on the 1942 mission.
"Some of the group thought they'd make it," Saylor said Saturday. "But the odds were so bad."
Saylor and the other 79 Doolittle's Raiders were forced to take off in rainy, windy conditions significantly further from Japan than planned, straining their fuel capacity. None of the 16 planes' pilots had ever taken off from an aircraft carrier before.
Saylor and two other raiders, Maj. Thomas Griffin and Staff Sgt. David Thatcher ? all in their 90s now ? recalled their daring mission and its leader, Lt. Col. Jimmy Doolittle, at a commemoration Saturday aboard the USS Hornet in Alameda, across the bay from San Francisco.
Their mission has been credited with boosting American spirits at a critical time, less than five months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and with Japan sweeping through the Pacific. The bombing inflicted only scattered damage, but lifted spirits at home while shaking Japan's confidence.
But it did not come without a price.
Three raiders were killed while trying to land in China. Eight were captured by the Japanese, of which three were executed and a fourth died of disease in prison.
The Japanese also killed Chinese villagers suspected of helping many of the airmen escape.
Griffin recalled ditching his plane when it ran out of fuel after the raid and parachuting to the ground in darkness.
"I got out of my airplane by jumping real fast," he said. "It was a long, strange journey to the land down below."
Griffin landed in a tree and clung to it until daybreak.
Saturday's event was held in conjunction with the 70th anniversary of the raiders' April 18, 1942 mission. It also included: Doolittle's granddaughter, Jonna Doolittle Hoppes; two seamen aboard the carrier the raiders left from, the USS Hornet CV-8, Lt. Cmdr. Richard Nowatzki and Lt. j.g. Oral Moore; and a Chinese official who as a teenager helped rescue the raiders, Lt. Col. Chu Chen.
The American airmen remembered Doolittle as a great planner who knew his aircraft and fought alongside them.
Hoppes said her grandfather, who was born in Alameda and died in 1993, was very proud of the men on the mission.
"I grew up with 79 uncles in addition to the ones I really had," she said. "He was just very proud of how they turned out."
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Episode 108:
Episode 114: make the Forbes list of best places in the US to work, but Aggie and Peter and I really like working at home. They're not much help, but they are lots of company. They are also good listeners. While Aggie takes her position as Senior Associate and Director of Security very seriously, I am sure people regard her barking as more of a nuisance than a deterrent. Peter
for the last month, I haven't been to the grocery. My well-stocked pantry and hoarding of household supplies has finally come in handy! Of course, there is nothing in my refrigerator at this point that could possibly be described as fresh - so Ariela offered to take me to Publix this morning so I could stock up again. Shopping is always fun, but I've never gone to the market with a five-year-old before - so this was an adventure. Baby was already a little hyped up from whatever sugar he consumed with breakfast, but I may have made matters worse by alerting him to the fact that he could get a free cookie from the lady in the bakery. I mean, who says no to a free cookie? I'd also forgotten how unique a child's point of view can be. When we got to the dairy department, I reached for a container of sour cream and as I went to put it in the car, Baby stopped talking mid-joke to shriek: "Taco butter!" and wanted to know why I was buying that. I guess sour cream isn't part of a child's vocabulary, but he knows it's something you put on tacos. I laughed, the guy who was stocking the yogurt section laughed and Baby laughed, too - although I'm not sure he knew why. I also discovered that Baby is a person of vanilla sensibility. Ice cream was on sale - I chose peach because it's summer, I asked him to choose the flavor he wanted to take home and share with his dad and sisters. And do you know what he chose from the plethora of yummy flavors available? Yep, vanilla. Maybe I'm just a choco-holic - and while I don't have anything against vanilla in principle, I would certainly have chosen something more exciting if I were five. When we got back to my house, my sweet friend brought the groceries inside while Baby spun around in my chair and regaled Aggie with a highly embroidered tale of our morning adventure. Thanks to Ariela, I now have lettuce, tomatoes, veggie burgers (on sale!) and peach ice cream. Friends are a good thing!
When I got my new camera, I also tried to find a camera case that would protect the thing without being too big and bulky. I really wanted something I could just slip into my purse or tote bag and everything I saw in the stores or online was either too small or too big with lots of straps and extraneous stuff I didn't want or need. Etsy to the rescue! One day I was just
