Happy 4th of July long weekend, all kos-friends!

25 letters would really really help!

Welcome to Monday Overnight News with jlms qkw.  My goal is to find stories you may not have seen elsewhere.  I am also committed to stories on Iraq, Afghanistan, Utah, and the Iowa Floods.  Additionally, I have sections on Political Cartoons and Sports. Halfway?  We're halfway through the calendar year, and Sunday evening wrapped up halfway through the baseball season.  

Leading Story:

The Australian (Sidney):  China moves to defuse racial tension before Olympics  Or, don't be surprised.  

With authorities eager to present China as a harmonious nation during the August Games, the government has ordered local officials to defuse petition campaigns by discontented citizens and to prevent "mass incidents," such as riots and demonstrations, according to the news reports.

Saturday's stability meeting is the latest of a flurry of security measures that China is taking to prevent any domestic unrest upsetting the Games and was targeted at petition campaigns by farmers and other disgruntled citizens.

Fitness Monday is a community series here on dailykos.com.  We offer support, advice, and a bit of writing.  

None of the diarists (or commenters) are professional fitness folks, and it is always a good idea to consult with your personal doctor and stuff.  

Fit and healthy kos-friends can knock on more doors and do more of all those  things that will elect more and better Democrats for all of us.  

June 28, 2008:  A Happy Happy Joy Joy Hip Hip Hooray Day for Me!

A Wedding.
A Birthday.
and a fabulous project!

Hello dailykos members!  This diary is an official part of Netroots For The Troops.  

It's your letter lady, jlms qkw, home from holiday.  And a big thanks to all previous letter writers, especially those who sent in letters while I was on vacation!

Current Totals:  59 61 Letters!  

This includes my 11 and 49 from wonderful dailykos members and their families!  

42 40 more needed!

I was in Iowa during the recent flooding.  Since I've seen hardly any news for two weeks (i.e., out of the loop/loopless), I'm opening with this:  (remember your request for cartoons?)

Des Moines Register Cartoonist

Rough spring in Iowa.  My stepmom's niece had her house destroyed in the Parkersburg tornado.  Floods everywhere.  Then 4 dead Boy Scouts.  Then more flooding.  

Welcome to jlms qkw's second hosting of the wonderful OND.  I am again taking a hopefully quirky approach, looking at several international papers on various continents, for stories you may not have heard of, that I hope you find of interest.  

I will be regularly hosting Monday nights starting in July, so I appreciate your suggestions about making this more useful for you.  

Oh, and on the local news:  I tried using the Des Moines Register, but all of the news was about the flooding.  I'm headed there tomorrow morning to visit my parents, with the two kidlets in tow.  

Des Moines Register

Iowans scramble to handle rising water
State begins cleanup and prepares for more. Trouble spots: Mason City, Iowa City, Saylorville area
• D.M. levees should hold
• I.C. outflow worse than '93
• Mason City without water
• Ask your questions
• Share your photos
• Weather forecast

Welcome to Fitness Monday, a weekly community series for sharing and support.  When we are more fit, we can knock on more doors, make more phone calls, etc., to elect more and better Democrats!  

I am not a fitness professional and the advice presented here is not a replacement for anything.  Please see your own doctor or fitness coaches for  professional advice.

Today I wanted to talk about things you can do at work, since so many of us (except me) are at work for much of the day, all of the daylight in the winter, and sometimes for far too many hours in a week.  Also, I believe that a lot of us spend a lot of time in front of a computer screen.  

Oh noes!  I have posted a diary, and hit the impact list, 5 days in a row!  Must post fast!
It's Saturday Night!

no politics please.  no criticism.  just fun and pooties!

plf515 has once again left the care and feeding of this lovely series in my hands.

In exchange, please pretty please write a letter to a soldier!  and email it to me!  I would love a commitment of 5 letters from readers today ;-)

Follow below for book chit chat, and details on the letters.  

It's your letter lady again!  (oh noes, i outed my gender!)

Easiest way EVAH to write a letter to a soldier!

Join in our Netroots for the Troops project by 1)donating money for the care packages or 2)writing a letter, emailing it to me (free), for inclusion in the packages.

I need a fix.  Do you?  
Let's have fun with critter pix, no politics, no whining.  

and write a letter to a soldier pretty please!

I'm waiting for primary results.  Are you?  While we wait, let's all write a little letter to a soldier!  Please, pretty please!

I want 101 letters, and I have about 20, with about 40 more promised.  I want 101 more letters and pictures from kids, too.  Netroots for the Troops hosted a discussion with a soldier Sunday night, and he said letters from kids were the best.  

See below for all the details.  

Be nice:  I am guest-hosting in exchange for the chance to get more letters to soldiers for Netroots Support the Troops!

Please share other news stories you find worthy or unusual.  

I selected a few stories, then noticed I was focusing on stories involving individuals not in anyone's headlines, and groups taking some kind of action.  

Hi all!  Welcome to What Are You Working On, a weekly series involving all things crafty and creative.  

It's birthday season at our house, and I will share with you-all how I decorated my daughter's recent birthday cakes.  She is a princess extraordinaire, and chose a castle cake this year.  

Cake decorating is quite easy with a few basic supplies.  

Please share your own creative endeavors and post pictures if you have them.  

I live in Salt Lake City, Utah.  As you may have heard, the president was in town for some fancy fundraising for Mccain.  

My local paper interviewed someone at the Romney dinner (Mitt, former candidate for president and current potential VP candidate).  

Now I am freshly annoyed, and I am inspired to fight back in my own way.  Please join me!

Letters and Pictures Project, Netroots for the Troops Care Packages

Welcome dailykos.com readers!  Netroots Nation is going to send 101 care packages to Iraq and Afghanistan.  The latest fund-raising diarywas posted this morning.  Fund-raising was kicked off Monday night.  Ninepatch wrote an excellent how-to on the packages on Sunday.  

The Free Part:  packages are stuff.  nice stuff, important stuff. Letters and pictures put the HEART into the packages.  Letters from home are the #1 request from anysoldier.com.

Apparently, there is a video of Hillary Clinton in a bunker.  Perhaps with a mustache.  I don't know, I haven't seen it.

This comment made me realize why I was so very uncomfortable with the idea:

it is comments like this idiocy--comparing hillary clinton to someone who slaughtered millions and millions of jews, gypsies, homosexuals, and others, that makes me spend very, very little time here at dk.  
my grandparents lost their entire families in the holocaust.  hitler is not a fucking punchline, and blithely comparing people to him is not funny.

nonnie9999's comment