Daimeon is in DC and will likely file a diary or two. I actually need to work part of the morning, so I will be offline, but I will jump on for The Big Event and watch it with all of you who plan to hang out in the Blend chat room for live conversation.
The room is open for business now, btw, if you want to gab...
This room is via Chatroll. You don't have to sign up for an account to chat in the above room, but if you want the full experience on the Blend Chatroll site, you can register there, and start written discussions, share videos and a lot more.
From the San Francisco Chronicle blog Bronstein At Large's piece "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" switch makes "gay" the new civil rights issue:
A few days ago, Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs posted a video on the new Administration's web site, change.gov, answering a constituent's question about the military's "don't ask, don't tell," probably one of the most nonsensical, silly and politically contorted policies ever to come out of the Clinton White House. More pretzel-like even than what the definition of "is" is. "Don't decide, don't please anyone" was more like it.There'd been some concern that Mr. Obama seemed to be waffling on his earlier statements that he was going to dump "don't ask.." Was he going to end the policy or not? "You don't hear politicians give a one-word answer much," Mr. Gibbs answered in more than one word. "But it's "Yes." "
That's a change the gay community and supporters have been seeking since the policy went into effect in 1993. As Chronicle reporter Matt Stannard notes today, Mr. Obama is firmly in line behind people like Colin Powell and Sam Nunn, both of whom first supported "Don't ask.." and later came to oppose it. Also it's a safer bet when three-quarters of Americans polled now believe gays and lesbians should serve openly in the military, compared with less than half in '93.
The actual question and response begins at about the 4:15 minute mark of the Robert Gibbs (incoming White House Press Secretary) video:
I give it until the end of the week for Elaine Donnelly to become unglued over this bit of news.
UPDATE: First, I'm moving this back up to the top to make the updates more prominent. Second, I apologize for cutting this short last night. There were some technical difficulties and some access issues. While I wanted to try and get some interviews, it just didn't happen for a couple of reasons. Reasons that were partially under my control. And I may have gotten a little terse in one of my comments which was uncalled for and unprofessional but the old saying about "three fingers pointing back at yourself" is true. I also need to remember that this event was not for me, but for the Junior Statesmen, high-school student learning and participating in our democracy. So again, my apologies. However, I have a little more background information on those who spoke to post along with some pictures after the jump.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
7:30 PM Good evening all, I'm coming at you live from the Luxurious Hotel Monaco in Washington, DC for one of the inaugural kickoff parties, "The Junior State of America" put on by the Junior Statesmen Foundation and sponsored by POLITICO and Facebook.
More after the jump.
7:55 PM: Mr. Norman Mineta, Former Secretary of Transportation from 2001-2006 is addressing the crowd. They've run through speakers rather quickly. Unfortunately while I was granted press credentials I'm not actually close enough to hear most of the speeches. Most speakers are speaking off-the-cuff, giving praise to Facebook and POLITICO. I'm actually seated next to a Washington Times reporter.
8:08 PM: Jay Maguire, of Maguire Strategies a Texas Statehouse lobbyist, National Chairman of the 75th Anniversary Committee for JSA, and friend of The Blend (and my personal friend) is speaking and working up the crowd.
8:11 PM: The last speaker Mr. David Viotti, CEO of the JSF is up and food will be on soon. I'll be back soon with more updates and possibly a few interviews and pictures.
UPDATE: So here's some pictures first.
Jay Maguire (left) Atul Saran (right)
Christy Fortin (left) Jay Maguire (right)
The spread
Barack singing
A little camera fun with our new President.
Now for a little meat.
The list of speakers and a surprise speaker. Mike Allen, the chief political correspondent for POLITICO, Chris Kelly, the Chief of Privacy Officer and head of Global Public Policy for Facebook, Michael McCurry, Former White House Press Secretary under Bill Clinton spoke for the Junior Statesmen Foundation, Mr. Norman Mineta the former Secretary of Transportation under G.W. Bush, Representative Speier, (12th District, California where the JSF is headquartered) and David Viotti, CEO of the Junior Statesmen Foundation.
Finally, the surprise speaker of the evening was Robert Gibbs, the incoming White House Press Secretary and the man who gave the one word answer to the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" question of repeal "Yes." Press Secretary Designate Gibbs spoke on the incredible amount of youth activism in this last election both on the Republican and the Democratic sides of the aisle.
The Junior Statesmen Foundation has been around for 75 years and does wonderful work. They've mentored over 500,000 student leaders to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to be active, informed and responsible citizens.
I had a lot of fun at this dinner. I got to meet Joe Tresh, official photographer of the event, also a friend of The Blend, and the person who shot this photo that ran on the front page of the Washington Post,
Thanks everyone for reading.
Daimeon is in DC and will likely file a diary or two. I actually need to work part of the morning, so I will be offline, but I will jump on for The Big Event and watch it with all of you who plan to hang out in the Blend chat room for live conversation.
The room is open for business now, btw, if you want to gab...
This room is via Chatroll. You don't have to sign up for an account to chat in the above room, but if you want the full experience on the Blend Chatroll site, you can register there, and start written discussions, share videos and a lot more.
From the San Francisco Chronicle blog Bronstein At Large's piece "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" switch makes "gay" the new civil rights issue:
A few days ago, Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs posted a video on the new Administration's web site, change.gov, answering a constituent's question about the military's "don't ask, don't tell," probably one of the most nonsensical, silly and politically contorted policies ever to come out of the Clinton White House. More pretzel-like even than what the definition of "is" is. "Don't decide, don't please anyone" was more like it.There'd been some concern that Mr. Obama seemed to be waffling on his earlier statements that he was going to dump "don't ask.." Was he going to end the policy or not? "You don't hear politicians give a one-word answer much," Mr. Gibbs answered in more than one word. "But it's "Yes." "
That's a change the gay community and supporters have been seeking since the policy went into effect in 1993. As Chronicle reporter Matt Stannard notes today, Mr. Obama is firmly in line behind people like Colin Powell and Sam Nunn, both of whom first supported "Don't ask.." and later came to oppose it. Also it's a safer bet when three-quarters of Americans polled now believe gays and lesbians should serve openly in the military, compared with less than half in '93.
The actual question and response begins at about the 4:15 minute mark of the Robert Gibbs (incoming White House Press Secretary) video:
I give it until the end of the week for Elaine Donnelly to become unglued over this bit of news.
UPDATE: First, I'm moving this back up to the top to make the updates more prominent. Second, I apologize for cutting this short last night. There were some technical difficulties and some access issues. While I wanted to try and get some interviews, it just didn't happen for a couple of reasons. Reasons that were partially under my control. And I may have gotten a little terse in one of my comments which was uncalled for and unprofessional but the old saying about "three fingers pointing back at yourself" is true. I also need to remember that this event was not for me, but for the Junior Statesmen, high-school student learning and participating in our democracy. So again, my apologies. However, I have a little more background information on those who spoke to post along with some pictures after the jump.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
7:30 PM Good evening all, I'm coming at you live from the Luxurious Hotel Monaco in Washington, DC for one of the inaugural kickoff parties, "The Junior State of America" put on by the Junior Statesmen Foundation and sponsored by POLITICO and Facebook.
More after the jump.
7:55 PM: Mr. Norman Mineta, Former Secretary of Transportation from 2001-2006 is addressing the crowd. They've run through speakers rather quickly. Unfortunately while I was granted press credentials I'm not actually close enough to hear most of the speeches. Most speakers are speaking off-the-cuff, giving praise to Facebook and POLITICO. I'm actually seated next to a Washington Times reporter.
8:08 PM: Jay Maguire, of Maguire Strategies a Texas Statehouse lobbyist, National Chairman of the 75th Anniversary Committee for JSA, and friend of The Blend (and my personal friend) is speaking and working up the crowd.
8:11 PM: The last speaker Mr. David Viotti, CEO of the JSF is up and food will be on soon. I'll be back soon with more updates and possibly a few interviews and pictures.
UPDATE: So here's some pictures first.
Jay Maguire (left) Atul Saran (right)
Christy Fortin (left) Jay Maguire (right)
The spread
Barack singing
A little camera fun with our new President.
Now for a little meat.
The list of speakers and a surprise speaker. Mike Allen, the chief political correspondent for POLITICO, Chris Kelly, the Chief of Privacy Officer and head of Global Public Policy for Facebook, Michael McCurry, Former White House Press Secretary under Bill Clinton spoke for the Junior Statesmen Foundation, Mr. Norman Mineta the former Secretary of Transportation under G.W. Bush, Representative Speier, (12th District, California where the JSF is headquartered) and David Viotti, CEO of the Junior Statesmen Foundation.
Finally, the surprise speaker of the evening was Robert Gibbs, the incoming White House Press Secretary and the man who gave the one word answer to the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" question of repeal "Yes." Press Secretary Designate Gibbs spoke on the incredible amount of youth activism in this last election both on the Republican and the Democratic sides of the aisle.
The Junior Statesmen Foundation has been around for 75 years and does wonderful work. They've mentored over 500,000 student leaders to acquire the knowledge and skills necessary to be active, informed and responsible citizens.
I had a lot of fun at this dinner. I got to meet Joe Tresh, official photographer of the event, also a friend of The Blend, and the person who shot this photo that ran on the front page of the Washington Post,
Thanks everyone for reading.
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