Tuck & Patti are an American husband and wife jazz duo.
Oklahoma born guitarist Tuck Andress met singer Patti Cathcart, a native of San Francisco, at an audition in Las Vegas in 1980.[1] Prior to this, Tuck had been a session performer with The Gap Band.
Tuck and Patti began performing together in California in 1981 and married in 1983. After signing with Windham Hill in 1987, they released several albums for the label before signing with Epic Records for one album in 1995. After several more on Windham Hill, their releases after 2001 have been on 33rd Street Records. They received a mention on Kathy Griffin‘s DVD show as part of Griffin’s recounting of her experiences at Brooke Shields‘s wedding to Chris Henchy, where the duo had performed.
Enjoy your Sunday, folks!
Memo to President Obama: You Have 48 Days Left to End DADT “This Year” as Your Promised. Do It.
David Zephyr
I will end don’t ask-don’t tell.” — President Barack Obama.
Mr. President, you’ve had two years now to keep your word. The fact is, thus far you haven’t.
Mr. President, it was your White House that created the delayed time-line to drag the issue out beyond the November 2010 election. Your rationale? So that a Pentagon Study could be made to determine how ending DADT would be implemented. And so to give you time to work with Congress.
Regardless, you still told the nation that you would end this cruel, dehumanizing policy “this year”.
Well, this year is almost over. I can’t even say nothing has changed, because it actually has: your Justice Department has worked against the federal court victory ending DADT ban. Your very Justice Department went to the Supreme Court in order to oppose a federal judge in order to keep DADT in force. Some argue that it was a ‘strategic move’ by your Administration, but others see it as just political cowardice.
As a gay American, who has known first hand how this rotten policy has been used to destroy the careers and lives of really good people, I have given you all the benefit of doubt possible. You campaigned on this issue. You talk the talk, but you have not even begun to walk the walk.
As a President, you had the rare opportunity that so few Presidents have had, holding a gigantic majority in the House of Representatives and the largest partisan majority in the Senate in eons. You’ve had the resources that other Presidents only dreamed of.
So what’s up? You can’t shrink away from this any longer. You can’t kick this can down the road anymore. The mid-term election excuse is over, your Pentagon study is in, which you never needed it in the first place. What are you going to do? You, not anyone else. You.
You have the power of the Executive Office and the Executive Order.
There are millions of us in the LBGT community watching you now. We are focused now and listening to your every word including your politically calculated nuances.
Here is is: You now only have 48 days left to keep the solemn promise to end DADT “this year” and to allow our gay and lesbian troops serve openly, to carry a photo of their loved one with them as they put their lives at stake every single day, to have a photo of their beloved next to the hospital bed where they are recovering from loss of limbs, loss of mental health and more, to be open about who they are. 48 days left for you to show you have the leadership skills you sold us on.
On the 49th day, if DADT is still an enforced policy here in the U.S. and overseas within our Armed Forces, then you lose me completely. And you will lose millions more.
This isn’t hard. It means you must keep your word.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389×9553567
Big difference in this letter and the 71 year old’s letter from below, isn’t it?
Notice the letter was focused on one thing, and one thing only. ME ME ME!
No gratitude, no recognition of anyone or anything else but DADT. Selfish bastard.
You’re in my head, Ametia!
I was about to post the same thing. The letter is filled with selfishness and threats. Threats will get him nowhere. I’ll say it again with you… what a selfish bastard!
These folks do NOT understand the concept of serving the GREATER whole. It is alright if they stop supporting the POTUS, go right ahead. I’m sure gays aren’t the only group of folks who have cried about their displeaure over some policy that was inacted under another administration, but now they want that magic wand to sprinkle fairy dust, (no pun intended) and make it all perfect!
Why don’t they vote for the Republicans, better yet, run for office and help make the changes happen like overnight.
Wow! Let’s see. If I were to write him back I would say:
Dear David
Man, fuck you
dannie22
cause our President is too gracious to respond to such nonsense.
LOL
Hello everyone!
Hi Dannie.
Hello, Dannie!
http://theobamadiary.com/2010/11/13/a-letter-to-the-president/#comment-4317
November 11, 2010
Dear Barack,
I am a 71-year old man, well educated, retired, and financially solvent. I’m a great fan of yours. I write in the wake of the election, which had to be even harder on you than it was on me. May I offer a word of encouragement?
First, thank you for giving yourself, heart, soul, and mind, to the task of being our president. Thank you for working so hard and so ably to save a country in dire straits from the follies of the last administration. You’ve done a wonderful job. Thank you for changing the way America was regarded in the world. Thank you for the emergency measures you took to avert a depression. Thank you for health care reform, for reining in the financial industry, for all you have done for education, for tax cuts for the middle class. Thank you for closing out our war in Iraq, for your commitment to ending Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, for your efforts to eliminate nuclear weapons. Thank you for at least starting to call the country to the changes we need to make to save the planet.
I’ve never prayed for a president before. But you are such a rare gift, and in such a critical time, that I am stirred to do it. You are easily the best president of my lifetime, a person both intelligent and good, a rare phenomenon in the White House. I have prayed for you often–that God protect you, keep you strong, give you wisdom. What you are doing is so important, not just for our country but for the world. And, against powerful wealthy interests, it is all so difficult to do. All their stratagems show that they will stop at nothing to destroy you.
Will you stay the course for us nevertheless? Will you keep leading, keep holding up a vision, keep saying and doing the right thing even if it continues to meet misrepresentation and opposition? That is the hope that I and so many others repose in you.
I don’t see how you can possibly do it without spiritual resources, and I know you have them. I could be wrong, but I have this idea that, while in the Senate, you felt a call. You saw the needs. You saw the leadership vacuum. And you offered yourself. You knew it would be difficult. You just didn’t know it would be this difficult.
Abraham Lincoln, I believe, is one of your heroes. He is one of mine also. He suffered in the White House, day after day, in the long bleak winter of the Civil War. He held out, and the right thing was finally done.
I see your situation in much the same terms. And the question that troubles me is: If you don’t do it, who will?
I pray that you will not lose heart, Barack, even though the going just got even harder, but will find the strength deep inside yourself to carry on. May Michelle help you keep your perspective and your dedication. May the kids continue to bring you the joys that only kids can give. And may God continue to be your refuge and your strength.
Thank you for everything you have done. God bless you as the journey continues.
So beautiful.
Amen! THY WILL BE DONE.
That’s a lovely letter. I’m going to copy it and keep it.
The letter is PRICLESS.
Gratitude, it is a rare gift and an attribute of action. Gratitude keeps the heart open so that we are able to recongize God’s love for us.
School sued over racial epithet in book
http://www.freep.com/article/20101111/NEWS04/11110543/1006/School-sued-over-racial-epithet-in-book
A Macomb County family is suing its school district for discrimination over a classroom reading of a racial epithet in a book depicting slavery.
According to the lawsuit, filed Nov. 3 in Macomb County Circuit Court in January, a fifth-grade teacher at Margaret Black Elementary in the Warren Consolidated School District read to her class from “From Slave Ship to Freedom Road,” by Julius Lester.
The selections included one of a slave auction, with derogatory but historical references to Africans, and one with the same epithet from a slave’s viewpoint.
The family’s lawyer Scott Combs of Novi, said the family approached him last winter. They are seeking damages in excess of $25,000 for violations of the Michigan Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act. It protects individuals from race-based discrimination. The girl left the district and has to repeat fifth grade.
“This is material not appropriate for a 15-year-old,” he said.
Officials said fifth-grade teachers and the principal discussed the book before the reading as part of their Black History Month curriculum. It is recommended for children ages 10-15. District spokesman Robert Freehan said the book was substituted for a preapproved one by the publisher without the district’s knowledge and steps have been taken to address that.
“It’s not historically misleading,” he said of the material.
Amen. THY WILL BE DONE!
Drug expert told police Iraq whistleblower David Kelly was ‘murdered’
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/11/drug-expert-told-police-iraq-whistleblower-david-kelly-murdered/#comment-97067692
The death of Dr. David Kelly, a former weapons inspector in Iraq, was “murder” and not suicide, according to a drug expert who spoke with British authorities during the ensuing investigation.
Dr. Andrew Watt, quoted prominently in the Saturday edition of Britain’s Mail Online, is attributed as “an experienced clinical pharmacologist” who reportedly spoke to authorities after Dr. Kelly’s death and assurred them it was not due in part to an overdose, which was later cited as one of the causes.
“I reported to the Thames force that I believe that the death of Dr Kelly may have been murder,” he reportedly said. “I have received an acknowledgement and they have given me an incident number. I have been told that the inquiry is being conducted by a very senior officer.”
Dr. David Kelly was found dead in a field near his home in Oxfordshire in 2003, shortly after he was revealed to be the source of a BBC leak that accused Tony Blair’s government of exaggerating the threat posed by Saddam Hussein. His death prompted suspicions among many that he may have been killed in retaliation for the leak.
So many lies and deceit surrounding Iraq. Karma, it will always have a job, eternally.
Yes & Amen!
The Almighty will expose the truth and bring it to light so everyone may see.
Evil has no place to hide. Karma is very exacting in it’s execution.
UN Torture Rapporteur: ‘Couldn’t Be More Clear’ That Waterboarding Is Torture, ‘Immoral and Illegal’
http://thinkprogress.org/2010/11/13/un-rapporteur-bush-torture/#comments
In a interview with the Dallas Morning News published yesterday, former President Bush touted his authorization of waterboarding as a key accomplishment to “leav[ing] behind a firmer foundation for my successors.” “[W]e passed laws that Congress endorsed and embraced, like the Terrorist Surveillance Program, military tribunals and enhanced interrogation techniques. The enhanced interrogation techniques are available to presidents if they so choose to use them.” Bush’s comments come on the heels of the revelation, published in his memoir released this week, that he personally authorized the waterboarding of 9/11 suspects.
Bush has adamantly defended his use of waterboarding and other “enhanced interrogation techniques” over the years, saying the practices saved lives, were completely legal, and were not torture — but many rightly disagree. On Thursday, the American Civil Liberties Union “joined a growing chorus in the human rights community calling for a special prosecutor to investigate” Bush’s use of waterboading to determine whether his administration “violated federal statutes prohibiting torture.” “[T]he former President’s acknowledgment that he authorized torture is absolutely without parallel in American history,” the ACLU wrote in a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder.
DeMint On Michael Steele: ‘I Am Looking For Some Alternatives’
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/14/demint-michael-steele-rnc_n_783226.html
There has been a subdued blame game being waged in Republican circles for weeks over who is at fault for the failure to pick up more Senate seats than the six the party gained in the 2010 midterm elections. On one side is the Republican establishment, which has pointed fingers at the Tea Party movement for nominating candidates who weren’t viable in a general election format. On the other is a class of activists and practitioners who argue that the Republican National Committee lacked the resources to harness the enthusiasm of the base.
On Sunday, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) added a bit of fuel to the fire when he refused to support the re-election hopes of RNC Chairman Michael Steele, saying he would look for alternatives instead.
Good Morning, everyone!
Have a happy Sunday!
Good Afternoon, SG2! :-)