Home > Window on Washington > Archives > 2008 > May > 06
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Bush honors Fort Hood spouse
The wife of a Fort Hood soldier fielded a “thank you” from the commander in chief Tuesday for her work to help military families care for wounded soldiers.
Colleen Saffron was one of six military spouses who received the President’s Volunteer Service Award on the South Lawn of the White House. Saffron’s husband, Staff Sgt. Terry Saffron, shattered his jaw and injured his arm in Iraq four years ago after an improvised explosive device detonated.
In 2007, Colleen Saffron and others formed Operation Life Transformed, a nonprofit foundation that pays for spouses and other caregivers to learn how to care for wounded troops.
“Colleen, America can’t thank you enough,” President Bush told her.
May is National Military Appreciation Month. U.S. Rep. John Carter, a Round Rock Republican who represents Fort Hood, will introduce legislation this week that would allow military spouses to claim either their home state or a state they intend to move to as their state of residence, instead of where their spouses are stationed.
Members of the military can already claim another state as their place of residence. Carter said in a letter to fellow lawmakers that his proposal would save spouses from having to update drivers licenses and auto registrations. Also, if the family keeps a home in a state, such as Texas, with high property taxes but no personal income tax, then moves to a state with an income tax, the family would not have to pay both the income tax and the property taxes back home.
The spouse and service member would have to claim the same state as home.
“I have spoken with military spouses across the district and state about this problem and am happy to introduce this bill on their behalf,” Carter said.
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment | Categories: Texas
Obama vs. Clinton: Who’s got game?
Maybe it was a basketball fan at the Democratic National Committee who came up with the idea of having Indiana and North Carolina hold their presidential primaries on the same day. Few states revere basketball the way the Hoosier state and Tar Heel state do. So it was a natural pairing for a primary day.
So between Democratic presidential rivals Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, the two candidates competing in both states, who’s got game?
In her campaign appearances, Clinton often recalls playing half-court basketball in high school. In those days, only the boys played full court. But Obama was a player on a state championship basketball team in Hawaii.
Politically, though, it’s about even.
In Indiana, Obama has the endorsement of Portland Trail Blazer star Greg Oden, a onetime Mr. Basketball in the Hoosier state. But Clinton has the backing of Mel and Herb Simon, the brothers who co-own the Indiana Pacers.
In North Carolina, Obama is supported by former Duke stars Shane Battier and Grant Hill, both stars in the National Basketball Association. But Clinton is backed by Bob Johnson, owner of the Charlotte Bobcats.
Clinton has repeatedly compared her underdog campaign to the “Milan miracle,” a reference to the high school team from the small town of Milan, Ind., whose legendary state championship season was portrayed in the popular movie “Hoosiers.”
Obama, though, has invoked basketball legend Michael Jordan, a college star in North Carolina before moving to the NBA and Chicago, whose media market serves the northwest part of Indiana.
Talking recently about his high school basketball career, Obama said he “was 23 before No. 23 was No. 23.”
“I’m not saying Michael Jordan stole that number from me,” he added. “I do want to point out that I graduated in ‘79, and I think (Michael) Jordan didn’t get out until ‘81 or ‘82.”
Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment |
Unlikely pair of NOW and Miss Indiana behind Clinton
Hillary Clinton’s campaign for the 2008 Democratic nomination has united an unlikely pair - the National Organization for Women’s (NOW) political action committee and Miss Indiana, Brittany Mason.
NOW has long been critical of the kind of beauty pageants won by Mason. NOW’s foundation even advocated feminists staging mock pageants to “subvert this institution” which, it said, is “a statement of submission, of making the body an object of someone else’s pleasure and preferences.”
Even so, that hasn’t stopped NOW activists and Miss Indiana from going all out to help Clinton win Tuesday’s Indiana presidential primary. Miss Indiana has made several high profile appearances with Clinton in the Hoosier state and most recently accompanied Chelsea Clinton on a visit to a cosmetology school.
“She’s the one I’ve personally admired since I was a little girl,” Mason said of Hillary Clinton.
But Indiana isn’t Clinton’s first encounter with a beauty pageant. In March, she agreed to ask contestants a question via video at the Miss World Puerto Rico pageant.
“I’m going to make it easy for you,” said Clinton - herself no stranger to tough grilling on the campaign trail. “Tell us what you love most about Puerto Rico.”
At the time, many pundits thought the Democratic contest between Clinton and Barack Obama could come down to the 55 convention delegates up for grabs in Puerto Rico’s June 3 primary.
It still could.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment |
Stevie Wonder “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” for Obama
Music legend Stevie Wonder’s song “Signed, Sealed, Delivered” has been a staple at Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s rallies ever since the presidential campaign began.
But on the eve of Indiana’s presidential primary, it wasn’t just a recording of the song being played at an Obama rally. Stevie Wonder himself performed it at a get-out-the-vote rally in downtown Indianapolis that drew 21,000 people.
It wasn’t the first time the Obama campaign has used superstar musicians to draw attention away from rival Hillary Clinton. Earlier in the campaign, when Bill Clinton was speaking in Bloomington, Obama campaign aides craftily drew listeners away by offering free tickets to a Dave Matthews concert.
Wonder and Matthews are supporting Obama, but it’s not at all clear who rocker John Mellencamp, an Indiana native, is supporting. Earlier, he appeared at an Obama rally, but most recently at a Clinton rally.
But as the well-known chorus of Mellencamp’s “Pink Houses” hit song begins, “Ain’t that America,” pretty much divided right down the middle in this protracted campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination.
.JPG)
-1.JPG)
Services »
