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What Should Michelle Grow in Her Victory Garden? [Poll Updated/Expanded]

By SusanUnPC on March 21, 2009 at 12:35 PM in Michelle Obama

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The seeds alone cost $200.00 (!). They’re organic and quite exotic, as you’ll see below. And don’t worry. Your First Lady won’t be out there pulling the weeds. That’ll be left to the staff. Next, below the fold, besides a CNN video from yesterday, you’ll find some juicy, sweet quotes from the New York Times article, “Obamas to Plant Vegetable Garden at White House“:

While the Clintons grew some vegetables in pots on the White House roof, the Obamas’ garden will far transcend that, with 55 varieties of vegetables — from a wish list of the kitchen staff — grown from organic seedlings started at the Executive Mansion’s greenhouses. [Susan's Note: Yes, CNN also pointed out how the Clintons were oh so not into a gardening project, quite clearly giving the Obamas lots of gold stars for their superiority over the Clintons' attitude.]

The Obamas will feed their love of Mexican food with cilantro, tomatillos and hot peppers. Lettuces will include red romaine, green oak leaf, butterhead, red leaf and galactic. There will be spinach, chard, collards and black kale. For desserts, there will be a patch of berries. And herbs will include some more unusual varieties, like anise hyssop and Thai basil. A White House carpenter, Charlie Brandts, who is a beekeeper, will tend two hives for honey.

The total cost of seeds, mulch and so forth is $200, said Sam Kass, an assistant White House chef, who prepared healthful meals for the Obama family in Chicago and is an advocate of local food. Mr. Kass will oversee the garden.

The plots will be in raised beds fertilized with White House compost, crab meal from the Chesapeake Bay, lime and green sand. Ladybugs and praying mantises will help control harmful bugs.

Cristeta Comerford, the White House’s executive chef, said she was eager to plan menus around the garden, and Bill Yosses, the pastry chef, said he was looking forward to berry season.

The White House grounds crew and the kitchen staff will do most of the work, but other White House staff members have volunteered. …

Now, the CNN video report, which lauds Meeechelle and denigrates Hillary and Bill:

Seriously, it is a great idea for all of us to grow a few things this year. Amazon has extensive collections of seeds:

Doc99

Cannabis sativa seems far more appropriate

http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

I will amend the list!!! THANKS!

TeakwoodKite

I would have voted three times for it but I didn’t see the “sign” saying you could vote more than once.

Julia

Erythoroxylum coca. A better choice for that garden!
ziggy

There would certainly be presidential precedents. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson cultivated hemp (both C. sativa and C. indica) on their farms. While the former was grown primarily as a vital source of fiber and seed, the latter was grown for its higher resin content. Hemp was widely used medicinally from colonial times up until the Civil War.

So, did Washington and Jefferson inhale? Probably. See pages 25 and 26:

http://books.google.com/books?id=PKDrpeRRY94C&pg=PA26&lpg=PA26&dq=hemp+smoking+Jefferson+Washington&source=bl&ots=8CqMBj6q4B&sig=OtZdpcXIkncUYIoNMm7c-4C6ORE&hl=en&ei=ij7FSZjLJaDFtgfBvLzMCg&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=4&ct=result
DaddysDarlin

I agree, then when P Diddy and the rest stop by they can just take a simple stroll through the garden to smoke their blunts! I am sure Obama still takes bong hits, that’s why he cant speak without a teleprompter. Turn head left, raise eyebrow, lower arm, blink, swallow. Oh and while your at it, spit these words out someone else wrote for you and pretend you are the greatest speech writer and orator this country has ever seen. Right? F**K Obama. I don’t give a damn what they grow in their garden, who gives a shit? Really, is this the only news that the MSM can report on these days? Obama has really stifled our media and what they can and cant print about him. That’s why there is never a bad word to be printed about him, he calls the shots.
I WOULD LET AN OBAMABOT DIE BEFORE I FEED THEM ANYTHING FROM MY GARDEN, KEEP OUT.
How do you think the bots are faring in this economy? Can you say unemployment line?
I HOPE you like the CHANGE Obama has promised you.

cynic

Maybe you should consider taking a calming stroll in the garden before you totally pop your cork.

The garden is to be planted and tended to by 26 local elementary school kids, who will come back to the White House for a special harvest dinner event. I think the whole thing is a quite nice little project.

http://noquarter foxyladi14

i agree..if ..this were Cindy.we would all be
cheering and praising her..
Julia

wow! Child labor. Good idea Young people must work for Obama
Tess

…oh, very special indeed! I’m dying to see Michelle in Carrharts supervising, of course, not getting her hands dirty like white girls.

andrew191

Proper handling of a bullwhip shouldn’t soil her hands.

RebelCarol

The garden is to be planted and tended to by 26 local elementary school kids, who will come back to the White House for a special harvest dinner event. I think the whole thing is a quite nice little project.

I got the impression that this garden was going to be for the WH since Michelle & O’s personal chef will be planning their meals around the vegies grown in the garden.

The kids are going to have only one dinner from the fruits of their labor?

Who is paying the $200 for the seeds? Us taxpayers?

cynic

If you want to be mercenary about it, consider that a 200 buck investment in seeds will result in a far greater reduction in the White House kitchen budget.

I suspect elementary children living in our nation’s capital might take some small patriotic pride in knowing they’re growing vegetables that wind up on the White House menu, served not only to the family of the President of the United States, but to visiting dignitaries and heads of state. I sure would have gotten a kick out of it. But hey, I was a Cub Scout who said the pledge of alligance at the start of every pack meeting. I was probably brainwashed.
http://noquarter foxyladi14

of course,,we pay for everything,doncha know?

candymarl

This is why CNN is losing viewership. Why do they compare Obama to Bush when it comes to the economy but go back to the Clintons when they want to praise the Obamas?

The Clinton’s have decades long records of standing up for black folks both here and abroad. It’s the Obama’s white so-called liberal friends that are trying to build them up with no record to back it up.

A garden? That’s the best they’ve got? Please.
motherinKY

I bet Michelle Hussein consulted this list when planning her expensive and very elite garden.
mountainaires

Er…a conscience?

Perhaps….a brain?

Who digs in the garden in a dress, hose and costly Jimmy Choo boots?!

“Michelle Obama went digging at the White House today wearing a pair of expensive-looking Jimmy Choos boots.”

WHAT WILL BE IN THE OBAMAS’ GARDEN?

According to AP, the White House kitchen garden is pretty ambitious, with “spinach, broccoli, various lettuces, kale and collard greens, assorted herbs and blueberries, blackberries and raspberries.”

My suggestion is for the Obama’s to grow “a pair” alongside a “whole lotta green” since this country is sure going to need it during the depression they’re putting us into.

Nobel Economists Slam Obama’s Economic Policy

George Washington’s Blog
Saturday, March 21, 2009

Nobel economists Paul Krugman and Joseph Stiglitz slammed Obama’s economic policy this week.

Krugman said:

At every stage, Geithner et al have made it clear that they still have faith in the people who created the financial crisis — that they believe that all we have is a liquidity crisis that can be undone with a bit of financial engineering, that “governments do a bad job of running banks” (as opposed, presumably, to the wonderful job the private bankers have done), that financial bailouts and guarantees should come with no strings attached.

This was bad analysis, bad policy, and terrible politics. This administration, elected on the promise of change, has already managed, in an astonishingly short time, to create the impression that it’s owned by the wheeler-dealers.

Stiglitz said the Obama administration has failed to address the structural and regulatory flaws at the heart of the financial crisis that stand in the way of economic recovery and that Obama has confused saving the bankers and saving the banks. He also said:

We got cheated, to put it bluntly. What we don’t know is that—whether we will continue to get cheated. And that’s really at the core of much of what we’re talking about. Are we going to continue to get cheated?…
Do American taxpayers want to be bailing out institutions abroad? That’s a question we ought to be debating….

The fact that there was so much campaign contributions from the financial sector at least raises the concern [that the Obama administration is throwing money at the bankers because of their campaign contributions].

And Nobel economist Myron Scholes has slammed the business-as-usual approach of the Obama administration to credit default swaps:

The “solution is really to blow up or burn the OTC market, the CDSs and swaps and structured products, and let us start over,” he said, referring to credit-default swaps and other complex securities that are traded off exchanges. “One way to do that, through the auspices of regulators or the banking commissioners, is to try to close all contracts at mid-market prices.”

http://noquarterusa.net/ SusanUnPC

LINK, please!!!

TeakwoodKite

http://www.democracynow.org/2009/2/25/stieglitz
mountainaires

Michelle Obama went digging at the White House today wearing a pair of expensive-looking Jimmy Choos boots.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/michelle-obama/5023654/Michelle-Obama-digs-kitchen-garden-at-White-House.html

http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/

JohnnyB

They haven’t called it a Victory Garden yet, am I correct on that? Yes, it was the Great Depression that forced people to “grow their own”. You have to have a garden area big enough or you just end up with lots of tomatoes and not much else.

What they are doing at the White House is a pretty bold experiment. Soon, they will enclose this into a hothouse, I’m sure.

And this is a potential high terrorist target. This is what the First Family and “guests” are going to eat. To protect this plot of land, they will need the chemical sensors that are spread around our nation’s biggest cities, smelling the air for poisons and toxins. Add the cost of armed guards as well and staff time to manage and tend to the garden. Cost per pound of produce grown will probably be higher than the value of silver.

elise

It sounds more like Versailles than Victory.

http://americanpumainitaly.blogspot.com/ American Girl in Italy

that’s what i said down below! haha

http://americanpumainitaly.blogspot.com/ American Girl in Italy

I wish I had a yard to grow my own garden. My inlaws grow tomatoes, zucchini, carrots, potatoes, and lettuce. It is so yummy to have fresh garden veggies! Especially zucchini. My mom has her own garden as well, and gets lots of delicious cherry toms, strawberries, zucchini and others.

It is such a great idea, if you have the space.

I grow strawberries, and avocado trees. I have three going now, from pits that I ate. I also have two lemon trees.

I really want to grow tomatoes and have been trying to figure out a way to grow them upside like this:
http://www.curbly.com/DIY-Maven/posts/1620-how-to-make-an-upside-down-tomato-planter

or this: http://www.minifarmhomestead.com/gardening/tomato.htm

I just haven’t figured out how to hang them on our terrace.

If you’ve got the dirt, go for it! It’s a great way to save money, and the flavors are delicious.

cat

Hi Sarah
love your soups, btw

http://www.gardeners.com/Gardeners-Revolution-Planter/VegetableGardening_TerrificTomatoes,37-850,default,cp.html

http://americanpumainitaly.blogspot.com/ American Girl in Italy

Oh yea!! Don’t you just love that pasta e fagioli one!?! yum! hehe

I have seen those topsy turvey things. The only problem is where/how to hang it. We have a super high roof where the terrace is…

This thing would work, but $80 seems a little steep. Plus, how to get it here.
http://www.hammacher.com/publish/67403.asp

I could try and hang them over the railing, but knowing me, I would reach out for the toms, and fall over. haha

Brodie

I don’t think you hang it, it seems to have a stand that hangs itself.

http://americanpumainitaly.blogspot.com/ American Girl in Italy

the hammacher one is a stand alone. the other types hang. the problem i have is *getting* the hammacher one to italy…

cat

the hammacher thing looks cool and you won’t fall over the railing.

http://americanpumainitaly.blogspot.com/ American Girl in Italy

ok, i love that site you linked to. I have found about 10 things so far i want… haha

JustMe~~

https://www.hangingtomato.com/?cid=486566

Buy a large bracket for the wall AGL so it can hang from the wall off your terrace? Just an idea.

http://americanpumainitaly.blogspot.com/ American Girl in Italy

we thought about it, but the problem then is how to get the tomatoes. my hubby said I would end up going head first over the edge. hahah

We have a long wall on one side of the terrace, but it is kind of weak (master craftmanship…) otherwise I could attach hangers.

And that is ANOTHER issue here…. they don’t have as many cool fancy garden things here, like we do in U.S. At least that I can find.

Isn’t my life difficult? haha All I want is to grow some juicy toms… *sigh* hahahha

Greyledge Gal

American Girl – on the tomato hangers, maybe check out some yard sales or flea markets for freestanding birdfeeder holders or old stands that with a hook that held bird cages?

As for growing on the terrace, the reviews on the potato bins at Gardeners Supply ( http://www.gardeners.com/Potato-Bin/36-629,default,pd.html ) sound like they can accommodate several different kinds of veggies including tomatoes, cucumbers, and squash in addition to the potatoes.

I am going to try growing potatoes on our patio this year in these. Potatoes can leave behind diseases in the garden so I like the idea of keeping them segregated.

http://americanpumainitaly.blogspot.com/ American Girl in Italy

that’s a great idea! nothing as yummy as fresh veggies! are potatoes easy to grow?

I would LOVE to grow zucchini but the plants are so big.

Sassy

I would add a persimmon tree. Wow! Have any of you ever tried one of those things?
Puts a sweet pucker on a scowling face!LOL!
In hard times here in the south, people ate greens collected from creek banks…either poke salad or polk salad.
I don’t know the correct spelling.

andrew191

With Obama it would be “Pork Salad”.

diane

NATALEE HOLLOWAY FOUND?
something is up in aruba!
http://www.poorrichardsalmanac.biz
pm317

Could she have started an inner city garden in DC tended by volunteers from schools and other community organization instead of on the WH grounds? Their rich could have donated some money. Again it seems like “me, me, me.” They can’t seem to hit the right note with anything.

Kim

That is a far better idea, pm317, and would be of real benefit and not just done “for show.” If the Obamas want to save the taxpayers money, maybe not flying that behemoth of a plane, somewhere constantly, would be of greater benefit.
http://americanpumainitaly.blogspot.com/ American Girl in Italy

you’re right. that would be a great idea. she should do that. help (teach?)people in inner cities how to garden, convert empty lots to gardens, organize community drives to raise money to create a garden…

pm317

My bad. Didn’t Obama get some money to do inner city garden in Chicago and there was one gazebo with weeds growing all around?

Found it here, has a picture of the gazebo:
http://www.suntimes.com/news/politics/obama/1050869,CST-NWS-garden11.article

As a state senator, Barack Obama gave $100,000 in state money to a campaign volunteer who failed to deliver on a plan to create a botanic garden in one of Chicago’s most blighted neighborhoods.

Obama — who was running for Congress when he announced the project in 2000 — said the green space in Englewood would build ”a sense of neighborhood pride.”

Instead, what was supposed to be a six-block stretch of trees and paths is now a field of unfulfilled dreams, strewn with weeds, garbage and broken pavement.

http://americanpumainitaly.blogspot.com/ American Girl in Italy

THAT’S right! I remember that story…. nice.

http://deleted Buzz Latte

Actually it’s just another publicity stunt since MIcHELLe doesn’t know the first thing about gardening or being generous.

Obama didn’t get a blip from the Leno appearance so, let’s march out uber “woman” MicHELLe to all the stupids living in Obamaland.
getfitnow

This is my thought too. I heard that a group of inner city kids were invited for the ground breaking ceremony and them cookies were served. Nothing wrong with cookies but this was a perfect opportunity to let those executive chefs get creative with veggies and show a variety of uses and how tasty they can even for kids. I also agree, that she should have taken this opportunity to launch an edible garden initiative –a pilot program in the inner city. Let the kids do the work and perhaps broaden into a farmers market or some kind of small business venture.But it seems with BO/MO it’s always about them.
FLDemFem

The White House garden will be tended by volunteers..

Students from the school, which has had a garden since 2001, will also help plant, harvest and cook the vegetables, berries and herbs. Virtually the entire Obama family, including the president, will pull weeds, “whether they like it or not,” Mrs. Obama said with a laugh. “Now Grandma, my mom, I don’t know.” Her mother, she said, will probably sit back and say: “Isn’t that lovely. You missed a spot.

Yeah, I can see the entire Obummer family out there, on their knees, pulling weeds. Uhuh. More like those school kids will end up doing it and not even get to play on that fancy swing set afterwards.

Ellen

The comments here on this garden are beyond the absurd…Michelle decided to start a garden, with full support of her White House Staff, who will USE the vegetables and fruit grown and local school children will help tend the garden and share in the results. This merits criticism?? Attacking the fact that the kids ate cookies? You people must be desparate, really.

pm317

Who invited you to the party?
elise

Ellen, it is a nice, non-threatening project for her. She can have an elegant garden, be PC without being pushy or doing anything controversial. So, IMO, nq has a right to call it what it is. Another opportunity for photo ops this summer without getting her hands dirty, literally or figuratively.

TeakwoodKite

A White House carpenter, Charlie Brandts, who is a beekeeper, will tend two hives for honey.

How sweet. That is taxpayers honey money..I mean money honey…awww forget it!

andrew191

I doubt the hives will produce much, the queen bee is Pelosi, and there are no workers, only Obama drones.

RebelCarol

Good one Andrew!

andrew191

It is fitting though that the White House now has an Apiary.

devildog666

Yippee! Michelle can rejoice in her “Victory (over capitalism) Garden”. Better grow your own garden, because in 18 months you’ll be paying $5.00 for a head of lettuce and $10 a pop for a tomato.

andrew191

Fresh, homegrown vegetables always taste better, even when consumed in a cardboard house.

andrew191

I think she’s actually growing giant extra-terrestrial seed pods. Are you sleepy?
AngryWhitePerson

I wish the Obamas could grow some common sense and class.

I’mFedUp

AngryWhitePerson…I agree, and would throw in some respect and love for our country. Sadly that will never happen.

Scranton4Hillary

Please add humility, compassion and generosity to your growing a garden list. Such a pity these seeds weren’t planted early on in their lifes.
NomNomNom

Recommend adding the Mexican orchid cvs. Cuitlauzina pendula ‘Whitey’ or ‘Old Whitey’.
Just sayin.
http://deleted Buzz Latte

Cannabis Sativa is appropriate since the Obama’s have gotten away with illegalities before.

How about some Horny Goat Weed?
wodiej

too bad she can’t grow some “class”
http://deleted Buzz Latte

Exactly, wodiej but would she know what to do with it (class) once she grew some?
pm317

This is a fun post, Susan. Looking at the votes, it is clear, the number one choice of the people is sour grapes; the second is evenly split among, cannabis, arugula, and tobacco for reasons that are self-evident; the third choice is mainly between poppies and ears with a misc few going for the others. I say that your readers know the Obamas very well.
MrMike

Did they get the girls a puppy yet? I expect when that happens the media will swoon with delight and sales of the breed will go through the roof as the posers snap them up.
tango

I love how Mrs. Obama gets all the kudos and praise for starting a garden. Big flippin’ deal! You know she wasn’t out there tilling the soil and adding compost and all that in her Jimmy Choo boots. She just took a few jabs at the ground for the photo/video op and will let others do all the hard day to day work. Hey that sounds like her husband!

It’s so nice to know they’ll have fresh produce, grown by professional gardeners, prepared by private chefs, served by White House staff to Pres. Obama and his wife in her designer shoes and free dresses. All the while Barack and Michelle will be patting themselves on the back for having the resourcefulness to plant a garden for food in these tough economic times and will be suggesting to the American people they should do it too.

Maybe the Obamas ought to plant a clue or two. And a row of Treasury Department appointees along with giving a big jolt of fertilizer to the WH etiquette and foreign relations section because those two areas certainly are not doing very well.
smiles

I think the Obamas are growing a garden to protect themselves. The longer he stays in the White House, the more risk there is of someone poisoning their food. They can just keep it all home grown and not take any food from outside sources. They’ll become more vegetarian as the US population rises in an uproar over some of Obama’s policies.

http://americanpumainitaly.blogspot.com/ American Girl in Italy

Starting to sound a little bit like Louis and Marie Antoinette…when will the people start to storm Versaille?

I’mFedUp

Versaille?

I never thought in my lifetime I would hear the word “Revolution” as many times a day as I do now. I’m not sure the Commie agenda is being received too well in our country, and once Pelosi and OIdiot grant amnesty and free rides to every illegal in the world…Just sayin’…

http://www.marklevinshow.com Seattle Moss

I’m not sure the Commie agenda is being received too well

The backlash will be severe to those that imposed punishment Taxes without due process. The bill the house passed last week is an attack on the American people.
Taxation without representation!!!

Everyone Republican and democrat that signed the McCarthy bill will be thrown out in the
Great Tax Revolt backlash of 2010

Fight for Liberty and Freedom!!

I’mFedUp

You are right. I am even seeing some of the most die hard, leftie, OBozo supporters ready to call for his impeachment. By 2010, if we’re still here, you are right. Midterms are going to be a big ole bitch for the sickos on the far left.

andrew191

Didn’t they storm the “Bastille” to get the gunpowder and weapons?

http://americanpumainitaly.blogspot.com/ American Girl in Italy

On October 5, 1789, a mob from Paris marched upon Versaille. On October 6, some rioters entered the palace and tried to break into Marie-Antoinette’s bedroom. She escaped down the private passage behind the paneling to Louis XVI’s rooms.

Versailles

Built by Louis XIV, the Sun King, in the 17th century, Versailles is an exceptionally lavish estate located just outside of Paris. The gardens were meticulously designed to impress the French aristocrats while visiting the manor. Versailles also served as home to other royals including Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. In 1789, thousands of starving Parisians stormed the sprawling chateau and took this royal couple back to Paris where they were guillotined four years later.

I’ve been there three times. It is so pretty, and huge!

http://americanpumainitaly.blogspot.com/ American Girl in Italy

In 1788 the French government went bankrupt and it’s people were starving. On the morning of October 6, 1789 a mob of angry Parisians, mostly women, marched to the Palace demanding bread. They stormed the Palace, ran up the Queen’s Staircase and broke into the Guard’s Room, then into the Antechambre. Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were taken to Paris as prisoners with their children and they never saw the Palace of Versailles again.

andrew191

On July 14, 1789, months before the mobs descended on Versailles, the Bastille was stormed and is considered the physical beginning of the French revolution (the tennis court oath may be considered the written beginning), much like the “Shot heard ’round the world”. We’re both correct, and revolutions are usually ugly affairs, so let’s all get morning after, bedhead ugly.

http://firefox AnnieCollier

Didn’t we once have a poster here who called herself Madame DeFarge?
http://americanpumainitaly.blogspot.com/ sarainitaly

oh, i’m not disputing the storm on Bastille – my comment was that MO’s garden, and the rising anger of the public, and the expected rise in inflation made me think about the people of Paris, who stormed Versaille, because they were starving and the government was bankrupt, and the king and queen partied like it’s 1999.

JustMe~~

Anyone remember that money for the garden to be built in IL? It’s a waste ground with an odd looking arbor never did get finished. However all the money disappeared… some pay off for something when O was in the senate or similar….
ziggy

The part of the story I that most enjoyed hearing was left out:

Part of the White House garden is being planted by local school children. They’ve all been invited to come back for the harvest, and to attend a special dinner in the White House where they’ll be served the veggies they’ve grown.

How can anybody not like this?

Ferd Berfle

I bet you’re one of those children, recently left behind, who will be there. Good for you, Zippy. While you’re there, would you please have one of your temper tantrums?
Ellen

Oh Ziggy, little do you know. Larrys’ minions will not like anything that remotely touches the Obama family in any sense. Take that back, they DESPISE the Obama family, any family friends or associates (except Hillary and Bill), the city of Chicago and its politicians, any Obama policy, Michelles’ clothes, hairstyle – all of it. All their inner hate has found a target and they love it.

elise

You and ziggy are so right Ellen. It is so much better than Michele being involved in something serious, like Vital Voices.

http://firefox AnnieCollier

Because, Ziggy it is just for those aaaawwwwww cutesy wootsy photo ops. I’m only surprised that they didn’t get Alice Waters and her crew in to do the garden.

andrew191

You really think it’s just about photo ops? I’m stunned at the thought of Michelle engaging in such a self serving, attention seeking activity.

She might want to reconsider the garden thing. It is, after all, the White House grounds. There’s no telling what they might accidently dig up.

RebelCarol

How can anybody not like this?

They are going to get only one dinner. Please, they should be able to receive their harvest on a weekly basis, not just one dinner.

cynic

Have we missed the central point here? That Michelle’s White House kitchen garden is actually a project for 26 elementary school kids?

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/03/20/white-house-breaks-ground-kitchen-garden/

http://americanpumainitaly.blogspot.com/ American Girl in Italy

Sounds more like cheap labor to me.

Ferd Berfle

And if I were one of the parents, I wouldn’t let my children anywhere near those two charlatans.
cynic

Maybe I ought to drop my moniker to free it up for any number of people vastly more cynical than I am. If anyone other than the Obama family had invited elementary school kids to grow a garden on the White House grounds, and then come to the White House later for a special harvest dinner, most Americans would smile and nod in approval. My gripe isn’t that people voice honest criticisms of Obama; it’s that they’re so full of animosity–of outright hatred–that they’ve totally dehumanized the man. It’s symptomatic of a seriously ill political culture, not simply of a nation of divided opinions.

I respectfully suggest that this bears thinking about by some. Blind hatred does far more damage to the hearts and minds that hold it than to its object. It never results in a good outcome for anyone. This is a basic spiritual truth. Hatred is poison.

http://americanpumainitaly.blogspot.com/ American Girl in Italy

you read hatred into my comment, where i was being sarcastic and attempting humor.

that said, there is absolutely no reason i should embrace and celebrate anything that MO does. She has done nothing to warrant my respect, or approval. nada.

i am not full of hatred, but she definitely has some serious issues.

cynic

That was a general comment, in no way directed specifically at you. I think anyone can find plenty of examples of hate-driven comments around here. Consider, for example, what DaddysDarlin said up at the top of the thread.

Selective approval and selective disapproval are far more constructive than unrelending animosity, in my own opinion at least.

I’mFedUp

There’s no reason to approve anything the usurper and his hate filled wife do. The good news is that there’s a 1st Amendment that Obama hasn’t quite yet destroyed. Until he does so, and he WILL soon, then we can express our disdain for the phony Totus and the ridiculous wife.
http://americanpumainitaly.blogspot.com/ American Girl in Italy

you know how they say it takes twice as long to get over someone you were once dating, after you break up?

that’s kind of how i feel about the obama’s.

we went through two years of a very, very rocky relationship, and it will take four years to get over it.

for people like me, that ate, slept and breathed this past primary, it was very painful, in so many ways. I for one just don’t forgive and forget. Hillary Clinton is a far better person that I, in that regard.

and he hasn’t done anything, IMHO, to *win* me back.

(metaphorically speaking, of course)

I’mFedUp

AGI…I was done with the Demoncraps and the Obamas in the primary. Period. We all know what happened and it was repugnant and unforgivable. Now, all I want is for the one-termer to hurry up and get the hell out of the White House, preferably before he does any more damage to this country. Period. He will never get a chance with me, and I will continue to fight his ludicrous “policies,” lies and fraud until he’s gone. He did this country wrong from the beginning and, no, he’s not winning us back any time soon IMO.

Ellen

Those issues are…..? (and please do NOT repeat the ‘if you can’t keep your own house how can you keep the WH’ that was NOT about Hillary story)

andrew191

How touching cynic. Would you retro-actively practice what you preach and be gushingly supportive of George Bush and take back all of YOUR dehumanizing rhetoric? I thought not.

I’mFedUp

Andrew…LMFAO…Yeah, really, just wondering if all the people who want us to gush over the Obozo family will respect us if we ask THEM to gush over Bush and Cheney? You just rocked it.
cynic

I rather doubt I’ll ever share your warm and fuzzy feelings about George W and Dick Cheney’s tour of duty. A lot of the things they did will remain as invisible scars on the American psyche, and real scars on a lot of American bodies. But I do retract any comparisons I made between Dick Cheney and Darth Vader. Vader expressed his remorse as he finally stepped off the stage.

I’mFedUp

Well, it’s my personal opinion that, as far as destroying this country, Bush and Cheney are in the Minor League compared to Obama. So, pardon me for not giving him a chance, and for praying that his already clear failure will result in rapid removal from my government.
andrew191

If those are your true sentiments cynic, than you are a lousy hypocrite for posting what you did above.

FLDemFem

Those kids already have a garden that they tend at their school. Now they get to tend the one at the White House as well. At school, it all either goes to school lunches or they get to take it home. How much of the Obama produce do you think they are going to get?
Ferd Berfle

Maybe I ought to drop my moniker to free it up for any number of people vastly more cynical than I am.

A better moniker for you, toodles, would be credulous or gullible. But since you are such a groupie of That One, why don’t you post under the obvious–obamabot. It would certainly be more appropriate to the content of your posts.

I’mFedUp

Is this the beginning of the brownshirts? That mandatory volunteer thing? I can’t wait until they try that nonsense on my family.

http://americanpumainitaly.blogspot.com/ American Girl in Italy

i think anyone who voted for obama should have to do the volunteer program.

I’mFedUp

AGI…The people who voted for OBozo would gladly do it and “serve their Messiah” while anointing his feet, feeding him grapes, and bringing him nekkit, dancing slave girls. Those of us with brains wouldn’t let our families anywhere near those freaks and would leave the country before exposing decent children to that insanity.

http://firefox AnnieCollier

Do you have any senior citizens in your family? MEchille has their duties outlined. Idle people are unappreciated people. Seniors can “clean the streets and pick up the dog poop in the parks.”…

BTW, did anyone have an Obama Armybot coming to their door today asking you to sign the pledge?

I’mFedUp

Annie…are you kidding? My mother is 80 years old but she could kick OIdiot’s pansy ass. Literally. No one better show up at her door with that crap. Or mine. I am trying to stay cool, but this is soooo out of hand and disgraceful. Oh My God…what did those freaks who voted this pig into office DO to this country? Ughhhhhh……
I’mFedUp

Annie, where did you see this???? I am terrified.
Ferd Berfle

Pledge to do what, exactly? I’ll pledge to run them off my property lickety-split.
http://noquarter foxyladi14

i didn’t.could be the large sign.
beware of vicious dogs.

elise

Do you really think that is the point of this project, cynic?

http://donnadarko.wordpress.com donna darko

Who cares about the Victory Garden? It’s a distraction from the looting of the American people.

beaniedabhudda

After watching the video one word ~ HARPY.
yttik

LOL, hilarious above about the alien seed pods. Yes indeed, I do believe michelle will be growing pod people.
mountainaires

Will Michelle Obama be violating the law?

H.R. 875, The Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009

H.R. 875 would establish the Food Safety Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services to protect the public health by preventing food-borne illness, ensuring the safety of food, improving research on contaminants leading to food-borne illness, and improving security of food from intentional contamination.

Sounds inocuous, right? But, the bill itself could make Michelle Obama subject to prison and fines–like a host of other organic and backyard growers and gardeners will be. Of course, we all know Michelle Obama will NEVER be subject to the law like other Americans, don’t we. But, it does sort of make a mockery of what she is attempting to do–which, by the way is mimic Eleanor Roosevelt’s victory garden.

http://www.the-peoples-forum.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=10073

http://www.washingtonwatch.com/bills/show/111_HR_875.html

cynic

H.R. 875 would establish the Food Safety Administration within the Department of Health and Human Services to protect the public health by preventing food-borne illness, ensuring the safety of food, improving research on contaminants leading to food-borne illness, and improving security of food from intentional contamination.

I read through the bill with particular attention to the sections indicated in the links above. I fail to see in what sense it targets organic farmers and small farm operations for unfair treatment or shows preferential treatment for big corporations. I would expect compliance to require far less effort on the part of organic growers and small farms than of large corporate operations, since the former tend to have all aspects of production and distribution directly under their own control. Small organic operations don’t tend to use enormous quantites of questionable chemicals and food additives; they don’t tend to purchase, process, and distribute produce and ingredients from questionable sources outside of their control that are frequently overseas; they don’t tend to operate industrial scale processing plants employing thousands of people they don’t know; etc. It’s the big-business, industrial scale operations that are going to have to get their acts together.

Accidental contamination of food products through irresponsiblity and neglegence is obviously becoming increasingly common. Thousands have been sickened and many have died as a result. Consumers are expected to buy meat and produce items that don’t even carry labels stating where the stuff came from. A steak might have come from an animal too sick to walk when it arrived at the slaughter house. And there’s the seldom-mentioned matter of the food supply being a wide-open vector for deliberate attack by terrorists. After 8 years of increasingly ineffective regulation, and given the highly questionable origins, contents, and safety of much of the current American food supply, I think modernized legislation like this is long overdue.

Uppity Woman

As the song goes, she should “Grow apple trees and honey bees and snow white turtle doves……” While drinking a coke.

Ferd Berfle

While drinking a coke.

Or snorting it.

http://noquarter foxyladi14

ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!

http://deleted Buzz Latte

Crap. MicHELLe trying to pretend she is Eleanor Roosevelt incarnated is just so bogus.

Publicity Stunt. School kids doing the garden. Nice touch, but it begs the question: Will the time the elementary kids supposedly spend growing the garden extend over the summer? Will their little hours spent go against the hours of Mandatory Vounteerism or will they have to be pawns in the Obamas’ game again?

While it’s a good thing to have community outreach this stinks of the clueless Obamas exploiting kids for a feel good bump in poll numbers.

No sincerity attached. None at all.

Elsie

And also why are all the kids mostly blacks?.. I guess this is geared towards black kids and not white kids. Or is it because since the first family is black, they will highlight mostly black persons.

I do not wish to be influenced by this latest propaganda .. I have my own backyard vegetable garden ever since and I do not need a black First Family to convince me that is it good for me. I have never seen the Obamas ever involved in backyard gardening and this was not even part of the community organizing that they did in Illinois. So how convincing are they.

No thank you I have my own backyard gardening and no one has to tell me how important it is.

cynic

I suspect that pretty much reflects the demographics of elementary school children in Washington, DC.

News flash: African Americans sometimes keep gardens. They sometimes grow vegetables. In rural areas, that’s the norm. They’ve also even been known to enjoy flowers.

When was the last time anyone kept a kitchen garden on the White House grounds? I totally approve. I even like the idea of bee keeping.

http://americanpumainitaly.blogspot.com/ American Girl in Italy

i kind of want to start some bee hives. i am worried about them disappearing. i am just too scared of bees though. ahah

cynic

I’m very worried about the bees. When I was a kid, the blossoming fruit trees would be alive with bees every spring, and the clover covered lawns would be full of busy honeybees all summer. Last spring, out along the walking track in the local park, the blossoming trees were empty and silent. I watched all summer for honeybees on the lawn, but saw hardly any. Deep in our hearts, I suppose we all know that something isn’t right.

http://americanpumainitaly.blogspot.com/ American Girl in Italy

i keep finding them dead on the ground, or crawling around.:O( this can’t be good.
agreed, something isn’t right!

http://deleted Buzz Latte

Gee, I bet the White House and the rest of America has been waiting for your approval, Cynic.

LOL!

http://americanpumainitaly.blogspot.com/ American Girl in Italy

I found the video on youtube (can’t view cnn for some reason) and it looked like a cute groups of kids from all ethnic backgrounds.

the only thing odd in the video, i thought, were michelle’s gardening abilities.
FLDemFem

Washington DC has a population of 99% black people. Nothing wrong with local schoolkids being all black, it’s the norm. Now if they had mostly white kids with a black kid or two, then it would be a set-up. Or the kids from Sidwell Friends.

http://deleted Buzz Latte

Volunteerism
Sassy

I hope they put in a few rows of pole beans.
All those used teleprompters will make great trellises!
Tess

C’mon, guys, why am I the first to suggest Michelle grow acorns? They’re edible, they’re common (no offense) and stuff like that.
The Obamas are channeling so much historical stuff I fully expect the O to appear in a wheelchair with a sweater on, in front of a radio mike. Maybe Marilyn Monroe will sing “Happy Birthday Dear Barack”? Maybe he’ll appear to the masses wearing a suit on the beach walking with Bebe Rebozo? (Wait, Rebozo sounds like Rezko.)
Never mind.

FLDemFem

To grow acorns you must first grow an oak tree. Do you have any idea how long that takes?? Way too long to put up with the Obummers.
http://firefox AnnieCollier

Would that be Barack Lincoln Roosevelt Kennedy Bill Clinton Obama?

sandi78

Seriously, it really amazes me the no White House chef has put in a garden already.

As for Meechelle gardening, right after they bring in the flying pigs.
AF catfish

$200 for seeds? Seems a little pricey.

http://firefox AnnieCollier

Nothing but the best for MEchille…sky’s the limit.

Ferd Berfle

Yeah, but they ordered the wrong kind of cannabis, the indica type that potheads call rope dope.

SJ

My god I really don’t know how much more of this nonsense the American people are going to take. Why does Michelle get a few cows to give milk on a morning that should be good also.

I am sure we must be the laughing stock of the world amongst its leaders, here we have Michelle digging up the WH lawn with this silly idea that she is growing a kitchen garden and people are praising this effort as if it was some wonderful discovery.

Bottom line is it was all for the photo op do some people really feel Michelle is out there this morning like farmer Joe looking after the crops? That was yesterdays photo op the Obama’s have moved on to the next occasion when they can thrill the cameras with their brilliance.

Ferd Berfle

Michelle digging up the WH lawn with this silly idea that she is growing a kitchen garden and people are praising this effort as if it was some wonderful discovery.

The time we really should start worrying is if they plant a lot of corn and order a big kettle with lots of copper tubing.

I’mFedUp

Well, Ferd, that would sort of be in line with the Kennedy dynasty…You know, Joe and all….

Ferd Berfle

And Teddy would be right there showing them the finer points of making ~~rotgut~~ ~~booze~~spring tonic.

I’mFedUp

HAHAHHAHAHAH Ferd. You kill me.

Moonshine Obama style. I love it.

Animal Control

She could start by growing some class for that is totaly lacking. Then follow that with a switch to turn on Obama’s vaunted brilliance cause I ain’t seen it yet!
In one picture in The Washington Post it appears the garden is very close to some extrodinarilly tall trees–looks like they blew it again.

No Class and No Brains-not much of a duo.

Ferd Berfle

In one picture in The Washington Post it appears the garden is very close to some extrodinarilly tall trees–looks like they blew it again.

I had thought that the White House lawn might not be the best place for a garden but then, it came to me that That One will just talk the plants in to growing or Me-chelle will yell at them until they do as sort of a good-gardener, bad gardener routine.

Animal Control

It may turn out to be a nice garden since they’ve been shoveling alot of manure between the White House and Capitol Hill. Our garden is about 1000 square feet and 200 dollars is an exorbitant price for seeds–plant I can understand but not for seeds. However, what do they care it’s not their money!

Ferd Berfle

since they’ve been shoveling alot of manure between the White House and Capitol Hill.

LMAO. And you’re right, that is a lot of money for seeds.

http://firefox AnnieCollier

I thought I read that it was to be in raised beds? Why the shovels then? Symbolic?

Judy L. NC

My question too, Annie…. This is all such crap to divert from the Special Olympics flap. Must be that Mechelle saw Alice Waters on 60 Minutes last weekend and *poof* made it happen. And there will be no beets because the president doesn’t like them. Way to set an example.

I’m writing CNN about the Clinton dis.

Sassy

Well, so far I have resisted, but here goes!

Watermelon!

Duck…incoming sniper fire! LOL!

Ferd Berfle

LMAO, Sassy. Maybe they’ll set get a henhouse for the chickens that are soon to be coming home to roost.
RebelCarol

Haha – I held out longer than you did!
http://noquarter foxyladi14

well..we have all been thinking it..you were the only one brave enough to say it lol..
hat tip…

E.Kramer

The thing that made my blood boil wasn’t that Michelle was starting a garden, but that CNN used the story to belittle Hillary and Bill. Is it my imagination or are they on a mission to try and rewrite the 90′s. Their comparisons between the two first ladies is sickening, if not sexist. Hillary is by far a superior person and is proving it everday, even if the press is trying to ignore her. Comparisons between Hillary and Michelle will only make CNN look stupid. I have to tune in to Fox to see any coverage of Hillary and the State Dept. CNN is proving to be a pitiful enabler of this admnistration!
Juliezzz

Oh Come on! Wake up people! This so called organic garden that Michelle wants to plant (yeah right! Like a Chicago city dweller is used to mucking it up in a garden) is a complete propaganda stunt to throw people off the scent of H.R. 875: Food Safety Modernization Act of 2009. You’re thinking, “SO! What’s wrong with food safety?” Nothing except what they are trying to do is heavily regulate all organic farming down to the backyard tomato grower, seasonal Jam seller, and road side vegetable stands. Regulation so heavy that it will put all small growers out of business. And, It basically out laws “Organic” gardening by the regulations it puts in place. DON’T Take my word on it! Go read it yourself! It’s so long I guarantee you that those in congress will NOT read it. They will pass it on recommendation or on the fact that the Title seems reasonable.

we are experiencing a massive erosion of rights on a daily basis and people need to stand up and stop it!
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