PHOTOS: A ****CHRISTMAS**** tale of two cities

[Bluebear]

The chartreuse taffeta tablecloth lined in hot pink on the buffet table was the talk of the reporters clustered in the East Room awaiting first lady Laura Bush's appearance at the annual White House holiday press preview last week. Departing from traditional glitter and gold, the White House 2005 takes a daring detour using sizzling colors and armloads of lilies, roses, amaryllis and white azalea trees.

We cornered chief florist Nancy Clarke to find out how to make two of the most innovative decorations on display this year, for those of you who do not happen to be among the 45,000 guests who will be dropping by the White House over the next few weeks.

On the East Room buffet table, three silver compote dishes displaying huge bunches of pink French (!!!!!!!!!!!!) tulips were surrounded by wide collars of fresh green pears. And how difficult would this be to duplicate? blah blah blah blah

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/07/AR2005120700574.html

MEANWHILE>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

[RB TexLa]

1. nominated

nothing else to add

res ipsa loquitor

[CrazyOrangeCat]

2. Jimmy Carter . . .

. . . is actively trying to help these poor folks, unlike our current commander-in-thief.

But then, Jimmy Carter is a humble, empathetic soul.

The neo-cons are as soulless as the Nazis were.

Such a shame this juxtaposition of images will never make it to the TV screen . . .

All the same, thanks for posting it.

[az chela]

7. Oh yah

I recieved a xmas card from Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter hand written.What a great honor for me to actually get a card from them

[CrazyOrangeCat]

14. Very cool--I'm jealous!

My dad sat next to him on a plane in 1974, right before he started campaigning. Said he was a smart, humble guy.

[Sequoia]

23. I saw him when he came to our military base and I

was as close to him as I could possibly be without his guards getting too worried. The boss of our squadon sent me to the back of the crowd because I wasn't "in uniform" (dressed like everyone else). But, ha, ha, I saw the President and the poor fools standing in the below zero weather on the tramac had to just stand there like stiff posts while I hung out with the OSI and even got to party that night with the staff from Air Force One and I still have the book of matches from that day.

[RubyDuby in GA]

27. I got a card too. I love the Carters. See:

I'm touching his back....and yes, I know I sound like a groupie.

They are such kind souls. I truly feel that this planet is better off for their having been here.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

28. Thanks for posting that . . .

. . . it's nice to see kind faces for a change . . .

[catzies]

31. That's beautiful! How lucky you are to have it.

What a very special memory!

[Minimus]

26. Me too. I received one last year also.

[NI4NI]

11. A MoveOn ad in the NYT

[Wwagsthedog]

3. Laura says,

"Let them eat cake"...........

[Gemini Cat]

12. She also sez...

"Try not to be sad." :wtf::mad:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5590755

What a stupid stupid cow.

[Bellamia]

18. Laura also says

we're outta cake, have a pretzel.

[SammyWinstonJack]

21. She should give it to her lying, Liar husband. Pinhead** has difficulties

with pretzels. :yoiks:

[Bluebear]

24. You got that right!

[sleipnir]

4. No surprise here.

The rich and elite have always enjoyed a better life. This is hardly news, I hate to say. Until we correct the capitalistic system, these pictures will be the norm and should be accepted.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

5. Sorry, but things have really deteriorated . . .

since the seventies. The gap between really rich people and really poor is much, much wider. There are virtually no manufacturing jobs like I was able to get right out of high school. It's much worse, and the middle class is shrinking rapidly.

And no, these pix will NOT be accepted. These pix are why you and I are here--to fight for what is right.

[sleipnir]

8. Then we must continue the fight!!!

I'm all for revving up the battle! It's time to change the system and Hurricane Katrina showed the world that the system we have is failed!!

I don't want to accept these photos, but until we change the system the are going to be the norm and are reality.

I think we are about to see a dramatic swing in Hegel's Dialectic here in America.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

10. Fitzmas is comin' my friend . . .

. . . that will give us the momentum we need.

:evilgrin:

[az chela]

6. Us against them

How can anyone spend that kind of money while people are homeless and hungry.It makes no difference to me what you believe in but we are our brothers keeper and while anyone is without a home or food I cry inside for them.There has to be justice in this world for this planet to survive and we are now reaping the harvest for man's inhumanity to man.
We will pay the price ,it has already begun,last xmas a tsunami and this yr Katrina and the storm in florida and an earth quake in pakistan.Anyone besides me think mother nature is fed up and ready to roll over and dump the parasites off this planet??
And less we forget the innocent people in Iraq and the ones who are being blown up over there for greed and power.
Sorry I cant find any happiness in any of this.
Everytime one of these disasters happens we all lose a part of ourselves

[CrazyOrangeCat]

9. Yeah, I get the feeling . . .

. . . sometimes, that Mother Earth is starting to shrug her shoulders in self defense. . . she really doesn't need us around anymore.

[madrchsod]

13. that is one thing that really really pisses me off--

seeing the pictures of new orleans where absolutely nothing has been done. no wonder the world no longer respects the usa they see that our government has abandoned an entire city...

[Stephanie]

15. Let them eat creme brulee!

And tell them to try not to be sad. It's Christmas!

[Bluebear]

16. And certainly NOT Kwanzaa, Hannukah, etc!

After ALL!

[whatelseisnew]

17. This is citizens' monies being spent

on ridiculous lavishness. Reminds me of a place I worked. They claimed to be undergoing a financial strain, asking the employees to reduce spending, while continuing to receive deliveries of ornate custom ordered bouquets for display in the executive offices.

[Doctor_J]

19. Smirk and Pickles -

pigs. and the fawning press sends nothing but bouquets.

[leftchick]

20. laura's heart is three sizes too small...

"let them eat Cake!"....

[holdensphonies]

22. Pink, Pears and Flowers

Ahh... the French!

[populistdriven]

25. Bill O'Reilly: This is what happens then you choose the gangsta lifestyle

He actually said this about the suffering blacks in NOLA.

That man should be drawn and quartered.

[ninkasi]

29. Those two last photos...

One woman, turned away from the destruction, crying. The last one, the one with the lady looking so worn down and hopeless...and we're supposed to CARE about Laura Bush's color schemes, or her flowers, or her parties? This is the kind of thing that has ripped away the curtain, and has exposed the true heart of "compassionate conservatism" to the world.

Meanwhile, monkeyman flies around the country, at our expense, to babble on and on about how Saddam wouldn't disarm...hard to get rid of non-existent weapons...about 9-11...Iraq wasn't involved, and Osama is still free...about Saddam choosing war...a whopper of a lie...and our Gulf Coast has been abandoned. Tell us, Smirky, how many schools in Iraq have been painted? How much GOOD are we doing to the people we don't kill, or torture? OUR COUNTRY IS BEING DESTROYED FROM WITHIN.

No attack by terrorists can hope to equal the sheer destruction that Republicans have inflicted on us. More Americans are struggling in poverty, doing without medical care, unable to afford prescription drugs, shivering because they can't afford heat, and the president's main priority is to cut the wealthy's taxes. Just take away school lunch money, Medicaid, you know, all those programs that help the poor.

Meanwhile, his vapid wife straps on her rictus smile and babbles on about lime green and pink and "don't be sad", until she can retreat to her Xanax induced flight from reality. Now, while the need is so great, where are all of the conservative churches, who have benefited from "faith-based funding"? Are they there, helping rebuild New Orleans, and the rest of the destroyed areas, instead of spreading their messages of hate toward gays and women and everybody else? I thought not.

So while Faux fights an imaginary war against the rest of us, over an imaginary issue...The War Against Christmas...and while the rich get richer, and fundies spew messages of hate, while our children die and become horribly maimed in a war that should never have been...the Gulf Coast suffers, and dies. If Democrats can't make each and every one of these points, if they can't fight tooth and nail for us, then what difference will it make whether we die because of terrorist's bomb, or from deliberate neglect from our own government?

Remember, America, what happened to New Orleans could happen to you. Tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, forest fires, mudslides...do you think that your government will be there when you need them, if you are poor, especially if you are poor and black? After all of this, if we can't take back at least the Senate or House in 2006, then what happens after will be truly the end of what Thomas Jefferson and the rest of our Founding Fathers gave us, the end of a free, democratic America.

[Lefty48197]

30. Those photos speak volumes...

.

[Susan43]

32. Thank you

for taking the time to post this. It's a reality check on just how much those assholes in the WH care about the "people."

[Oceansaway]

33. K&R

:kick: