politics

Carl Sagan’s speech will make you fall in love with Earth all over again

Sunday night’s Cosmos showed an updated animation to Carl Sagan’s monologue where he reminds us how beautiful our world is and how we’re all in it together….”every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.”

“Look again at that dot. That’s here. That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every “superstar,” every “supreme leader,” every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there-on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.

The Earth is a very small stage in a vast cosmic arena. Think of the endless cruelties visited by the inhabitants of one corner of this pixel on the scarcely distinguishable inhabitants of some other corner, how frequent their misunderstandings, how eager they are to kill one another, how fervent their hatreds. Think of the rivers of blood spilled by all those generals and emperors so that, in glory and triumph, they could become the momentary masters of a fraction of a dot.

Our posturings, our imagined self-importance, the delusion that we have some privileged position in the Universe, are challenged by this point of pale light. Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves.

The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life. There is nowhere else, at least in the near future, to which our species could migrate. Visit, yes. Settle, not yet. Like it or not, for the moment the Earth is where we make our stand.

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.”

Michelle Obama remembered Maya Angelou in a powerful and beautiful way

Michelle Obama is a strong, smart, amazing woman for whom I have always had great respect. But today when she spoke of the ways in which Maya Angelou empowered her as a woman… indeed as a fellow human being, I felt a special kinship with our First Lady.

Here are some excerpts and the video – the full text of the speech is below:

“The first time I read “Phenomenal Woman”, I was struck by how she celebrated black women’s beauty like no one had ever dared to before. (Applause.) Our curves, our stride, our strength, our grace. Her words were clever and sassy; they were powerful and sexual and boastful. And in that one singular poem, Maya Angelou spoke to the essence of black women, but she also graced us with an anthem for all women –- a call for all of us to embrace our God-given beauty.“Her message was very simple. She told us that our worth has nothing to do with what the world might say. Instead, she said,

“Each of us comes from the creator trailing wisps of glory.” She reminded us that we must each find our own voice, decide our own value, and then announce it to the world with all the pride and joy that is our birthright as members of the human race.

“Dr. Angelou’s words sustained me on every step of my journey –- through lonely moments in ivy-covered classrooms and colorless skyscrapers; through blissful moments mothering two splendid baby girls; through long years on the campaign trail where, at times, my very womanhood was dissected and questioned. For me, that was the power of Maya Angelou’s words –- words so powerful that they carried a little black girl from the South Side of Chicago all the way to the White House.

“And today, as First Lady, whenever the term “authentic” is used to describe me, I take it as a tremendous compliment, because I know that I am following in the footsteps of great women like Maya Angelou.”

(Pardon the video quality – this was the most inclusive one I could find)

LEGO Acknowledges Women Are Scientists Too!

I loved playing with LEGOs when I was a kid. In fact, I personally still fantasize about investing in the Frank Lloyd Wright Falling Waters LEGO kit even as a semi-adult. But the gender neutral toy has taken a turn for the gender specific in the last several years, focusing more on action figures for boys and princesses for girls.

Well, no more! This week LEGO announced it was joining the advocates of female STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) by launching their Women in Science LEGO sets.

The final results feature The Research Institute comprising the labs of the Astronomer, the Paleontologist, and the Chemist:

Women in Science LEGOs

How did something like this come to pass? The awesomeness of the internet. Last year an online campaign was started and check out the tweets the campaign got in just 24 hours:

Here are several other designs that were up for consideration as well that LEGO should totally make happen: Women in Science LEGOs

Falconer with two birds, Geologist with compass and hammer in the field & Robotics Engineer designing a robot arm

Zookeeper with tiger, Judge & Mail carrier with bicycle

Mechanic, Fire fighter & Construction worker

FDR’s Prayer for Soldiers on D-Day

Amazing video made by TIME of the radio speech President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave 70 years ago today. The prayer in the video below is an edited version. The full text is below.

My fellow Americans: Last night, when I spoke with you about the fall of Rome, I knew at that moment that troops of the United States and our allies were crossing the Channel in another and greater operation. It has come to pass with success thus far.

And so, in this poignant hour, I ask you to join with me in prayer:

Almighty God: Our sons, pride of our Nation, this day have set upon a mighty endeavor, a struggle to preserve our Republic, our religion, and our civilization, and to set free a suffering humanity.

Lead them straight and true; give strength to their arms, stoutness to their hearts, steadfastness in their faith.

They will need Thy blessings. Their road will be long and hard. For the enemy is strong. He may hurl back our forces. Success may not come with rushing speed, but we shall return again and again; and we know that by Thy grace, and by the righteousness of our cause, our sons will triumph.

They will be sore tried, by night and by day, without rest-until the victory is won. The darkness will be rent by noise and flame. Men’s souls will be shaken with the violences of war.

For these men are lately drawn from the ways of peace. They fight not for the lust of conquest. They fight to end conquest. They fight to liberate. They fight to let justice arise, and tolerance and good will among all Thy people. They yearn but for the end of battle, for their return to the haven of home.

Some will never return. Embrace these, Father, and receive them, Thy heroic servants, into Thy kingdom.

And for us at home — fathers, mothers, children, wives, sisters, and brothers of brave men overseas — whose thoughts and prayers are ever with them–help us, Almighty God, to rededicate ourselves in renewed faith in Thee in this hour of great sacrifice.

Many people have urged that I call the Nation into a single day of special prayer. But because the road is long and the desire is great, I ask that our people devote themselves in a continuance of prayer. As we rise to each new day, and again when each day is spent, let words of prayer be on our lips, invoking Thy help to our efforts.

Give us strength, too — strength in our daily tasks, to redouble the contributions we make in the physical and the material support of our armed forces.

And let our hearts be stout, to wait out the long travail, to bear sorrows that may come, to impart our courage unto our sons wheresoever they may be.

And, O Lord, give us Faith. Give us Faith in Thee; Faith in our sons; Faith in each other; Faith in our united crusade. Let not the keenness of our spirit ever be dulled. Let not the impacts of temporary events, of temporal matters of but fleeting moment let not these deter us in our unconquerable purpose.

With Thy blessing, we shall prevail over the unholy forces of our enemy. Help us to conquer the apostles of greed and racial arrogancies. Lead us to the saving of our country, and with our sister Nations into a world unity that will spell a sure peace a peace invulnerable to the schemings of unworthy men. And a peace that will let all of men live in freedom, reaping the just rewards of their honest toil.

Thy will be done, Almighty God.

A Guide for Dudes: Here’s What to Do and What Not To Do

I’d just finished a fun dinner with my bestest girl friends, jumped in my hot car and took off the shirt that I was wearing over my low cut tanktop and cranked on the A/C. I stopped on the way home at a 7-11 to fill my car up with gas, but before I got out of the car I grabbed the shirt and put it back on over my tanktop. Why did I do this?

As a Millennial woman, I was raised in a culture that has taught me that if I don’t want to get raped I need to take steps to prevent the rape. In the sex-ed classes across the southern states like the ones where I grew up, we spread lies in abstinence only education, we shame girls and women for what they wear, God forbidyour breast be exposed during the halftime game at the Superbowl. But we never teach our sons and men this key message: ASK CONSENT FIRST.

Here’s one way to do it:

John Oliver: You can prevent cable company f*ckery

The only two words that provide more boredom: Featuring Sting. But it turns out Net Neutrality is actually hugely important. It means all data has to be treated equally. Here is 13 minutes of absolute genius by John Oliver telling us why Net Neutrality is a BFD: The internet in its current form is not broken, and the FCC is currently taking steps to fix that.

This is why I hugged a “notorious” abortion doctor

I had never even heard of the so-called “notorious” abortion doctor George Tiller. When I crossed the Kansas-Oklahoma border for my first year at the University of Kansas, it wasn’t as if there was a billboard along I-35 saying “ABORTIONS” with a lit up arrow pointing and flashing. In fact I didn’t hear about him until several years later when I took a year off from school to work on my first political campaign. My candidate got a big check from Tiller and wondered if she should give it back. I didn’t want to show my ignorance not knowing who this major donor was, so I looked him up later wondering why it mattered. Ah how I miss my adorable liberal innocence.

Several years later, EMILY’s List came to Wichita to do a training for state and local women running for office, in part funded by the generous donations that Dr. Tiller made to their causes and candidates. By then I was well aware of the good doctor.

I was excited to participate, not as a candidate, but as a staffer who wanted to learn state level campaigning and meet other female leaders. The training was held in a Unitarian church they had rented out and I arrived very early. I pulled along the curb, grabbed my backpack, and began to walk inside. There were two older people across the street with a video camera on a tripod filming me. I had no idea why they were there but it made me feel incredibly uncomfortable.

Toward the end of the training a small trim man came into the room as we shared drinks and cookies. Women seemed to gather around him shaking his hand and saying hello. Dr. Tiller was introduced to the room and took a moment to say a few words. He spoke about being the father of daughters, about being a husband, about his life being surrounded by women. “Women are smart,” he said. “They are strong, they are brave, and I trust them to make their own healthcare decisions.”

I think I was the youngest person in the room, or near to it, so when I heard the male voice say hello while we both perused the lemonade, I was nervous and excited. I reached to hug him (southerns are huggers no matter which state we’re in). I told him thank you for helping Kansas women, Kansas candidates and activists, and for being a strong contributor for protecting a woman’s right to choose.

Later that night while having drinks with the EMILY’s List staffers at their hotel, I talked about hugging him and feeling like he was wearing a bunch of layers of clothes or something. Padding maybe, I wasn’t sure. One of them smiled at my innocence, “That’s his bullet proof vest, he wears it everywhere. He’s been shot in his arms and legs by anti-choice people.”

Five years ago today, Dr. Tiller was gunned down while greeting friends at his church on a beautiful Sunday spring morning. For a short time the clinic closed, but now in its place stands a new one, still providing women’s health services that these activists killed him for. Friend and ally Julie Burkhart is bravely leading the cause in his place, reminding us to “trust women.”

Dr. George Tiller Trust Women

Sea Lion plays with little girl, but watch what happens when she falls

Cutest. Thing. Ever. A little girl at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington, D.C. was running along the tank while the sea lion swam with her. But when she took a fall the sea lion got worried.

Believe in animals and animal rights? Love this video? Learn about the baby rhino that watched his mom get murdered by poachers. It will confirm your faith that animals do have emotions.

Storm Chaser Struck by Lightning, Survives, and Films It!

Storm chasers are no stranger to the dangers of Mother Nature. Last year one chaser lost his life when a violent tornado southeast of El Reno, Oklahoma shifted it’s path, rolling the vehicle. But this week in South Dakota, chaser Scott Sheppard got a jolt he never saw coming, filmed it, and lived to tell the tail:

Think this is amazing, check out the video of the Nebraska multiple vortex tornado

Sheppard said the bolt of lightning struck his arm and continued to the ground blowing a hole in the road. He survived, but his car didn’t fair too well and had to be towed.

RIP Maya Angelou

As an English major I was required to read some of the best pieces of literature of all time and some of the most pathetic pieces of crap ever penned and published. Maya Angelou has long been one of my most favorite authors. The rhythm of her words, whether poetry or prose, roll off a mental tongue in a way that made my mind dance among the letters scrolled on the page.

Via the AP:

“Author and poet Maya Angelou, who rose from poverty, segregation and violence to become a force on stage, screen and the printed page, has died. She was 86…

She gained acclaim for her first book, her autobiography “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” making her one of the first African-American women to write a best-seller.”

Her talent will live forever in her words, but her presence will be missed.

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