I wasn't too keen on Obama speaking at Brandenburg for several reasons (including that pesky Senate subcommittee), but Ann Arbor had a suggestion that made sense on a number of levels: Obama should speak at Berlin's Olympic Stadium.

Strengths? Jesse Owens (makes Germany feel proud, how far it's come, message of equality), timed with China Olympics (I'm not naïve enough to think he'll talk tough about human rights, but hey, the parallel's there, human spirit overriding the dictates of repressive governments), capacity 72,000 and Obama's comfortable in stadiums.

Comments? Complaints? Comforters? (That's our new wing of the Democratic Party, those simply seeking a Comfort Zone, similar to Slack for those disenfranchised Yahweh II'ans - possibly inspired by Hillary's "Can we get you a pillow?" we wholeheartedly respond, "Yes You Can!" We're not really into all-inclusion, but if we're comfortable with you being here, yes you can stay too!)

It wasn't very long ago that someone I suppose in consolation noted that Obama would be just as effective in representing women's issues as Hillary would have been. Some women might choose to disagree. I've yet to find anyone thrilled about the concept of a late-term abortion, but then most people aren't thrilled about root canals and chemotherapy either. Shall we ban them? Some people choose not to have potentially life-saving invasive surgery in their old-age. Irrational or simply a difficult but honest quality of life (and dying) issue? Recently a couple had the unpleasant decision of stopping their daughter's growth and basically sterilizing her in order to be able to care for her better as she got older - a decision reached with the assistance of ethics experts. Is this unusual situation something anyone's qualified to legislate in a sweeping manner?

But here's the kicker - men are more likely to put off medical care and decisions, less likely to see a doctor early or have checkups, while ignoring serious symptoms and living less healthily. Most people know little about the myriad types and high frequency of birth complications and defects unless directly affected. There just simply isn't a large group of women too lazy and irresponsible to get an abortion the first trimester just because. And to hear a group of grown men sitting around an office making infantile jokes about lactation would make you scared shitless to have the average man involved in any female decision related to sexual anatomy or function.

What do women want? Overwhelmingly, it seems, the trust and legal ability to figure it out for themselves. That should be a central Democratic tenet. How do we make it so?

Possibly the best of the Bond movies, and the worst of our Senators, it's ironic that his passing would delay the retro immunity vote, something I imagine he'd cherish. I'd guess it'd be the best memorial we could provide to head on over to Strange Bedfellows and help give them a hand to helping us defend our rights, even if this huge round may be lost (how exactly with a majority in both houses I can't quite figure out). If Bob Barr can see the light, everyone can. Just say Yes.

And as always I commend Marcie/EmptyWheel and Jane Hamsher and Glenn Greenwald for their dogged work in what's often unromantic tedious data compiling.

From a TPM-linked NYTimes piece:
"Obama campaign officials believe Mrs. Clinton’s fund-raisers could raise $50 to $75 million for him in the coming weeks."

Seems like helping pay off Hillary's $12 mill campaign debt shouldn't be such a bad investment, should it? Any thoughts from the "not one damn nickel" crowd?

Dear Pontiff,

Like wow, hi! Is it really you? I wasn't sure it'd work. Thanks for taking the time to read this. Cool shades, nice shoes, better than the last guy who had the job, the one who looked old even before he started. Must be strange taking a position with no exit clause - "the only way out of here's on a stretcher" - hardly reassuring.

So, wie geht's es ihnen und all that, figured you'd appreciate the language thing, et tu, Ponte? BTW, do you guys argue over whether to do litany in German or Italian like those guys dissing German opera in "Amadeus"? Or are the fly boys just happy to have someone not speaking Slavic after all those years? Anyway, I'm kind of nervous, and don't really have anything to say. I just kept seeing all these Open Letters to somebody important somewhere and thought I'd try it out too. But most of the people I'd want to write to are already dead ("Dear Albert, do you think String Theory is a crock? Thought so, Love Des" or "Dear Rev. Falwell, now that you've met Attila the Hun, can you tell us definitively whether you're to his left or right?") or the ones I'm under court order to stay away from. Okay, probably more info than you needed. So I thought about contacting the Dalai Lama, but he's a bit too new agey and besides, the Chinese might take offense and disqualify our synchronized swimmers or raise the price on my cheap sex toys (by the way, how many Hail Mary Full of Grace's for the sex toys? I should get started early, there's a lot of them - you should see some of the rosary beads they sell - talk about NSFW. Hey, what's up with those fake priests at confession? Does that happen often? Gives you the heebie jeebies, doesn't it?).

And then I thought about writing Dick Cheney - God knows I have a lot of questions for him, but by definition every letter's already open to him - must see himself as the Lord's emissary on earth, you know? Okay, that's probably in poor taste. Anyhoo, so then I was going to write the head of the UN about all those wars and bombings and stuff, but for the life of me couldn't remember how he's called - boy, ain't that the kicker, you'd think he'd be out making a name for himself trying to stop war and famine or something, but probably too busy counting his comp tickets to the Beijing Opening.

So I ended up writing you instead. Hope you don't mind. The nice thing about writing the Pope is you never have to remember his name or address. "Pope, Rome", that's it. Hell, I probably didn't even have to include a stamp. But now that I got your attention, I got this great idea for a sequel to "The Devil Wears Prada" -  "...But the Pope Wears Gucci". Okay, maybe you've heard that one already, kinda obvious. I have you pegged for more of a Simon Baker type than Meryl Streep, if you know what I mean - and I hear he's Catholic to boot. As long as you're down under, might as well look him up, maybe he's already in the stadium. (I never figured out those crowd masses - doesn't it take hours to do the wafer thing? And be careful with the Aussies and all that wine - they get a bit rowdy for large sporting events.) Well, that's it, hope I didn't bore you. TTFN, KOTPR (I made that up, pretty clever, eh?), see you at the Vatican.

Your obedient servant and faithful TPM reader,
Desidero