Sunday March 17, 2013, 5:58 pm
MUST WATCH: A Politician Loses It And Restores My Faith In Humanity

10 years ago, Minnesota state Rep. Lynne Osterman made a politically expedient mistake. Now she's trying to fix it.

Adam Mordecai

At :32, she makes a great point.
At :58, she goes to a brave place almost no politician ever does.
At 1:30, she talks about family and brings her truth hammer.
At 2:07, she asks the question we're all asking, then makes us laugh.
At 2:51, she calls out all of those who would vote "no" on equality.
And at 3:13, she breaks my heart and puts everything into perspective.

In case you are curious, the bill supporting marriage equality passed in committee. It still has a way to go to become law. :D
ORIGINAL: By The UpTake.

Sunday March 17, 2013, 6:22 pm

Honestly? When is the last time you can remember any politician active or retired making an apology for anything? Sure, there is the occasional, I betrayed my wife, etc...blah, blah, blah....but an honest and open apology for a real mistake? Hats off to her.

Sunday March 17, 2013, 6:24 pm
Very powerful speech! Gives me hope as a gay Minnesotan.

Sunday March 17, 2013, 6:29 pm
It is almost unbelievable but a stunning experience to learn there ARE actually SOME honest, empathic and fair Republicans! Yes, powerful, very much so. thx JL

Sunday March 17, 2013, 6:33 pm
You are welcome Angelika.
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Sunday March 17, 2013, 6:52 pm
I am very glad I watched! So awesome to see a politician humbled and honest . Thanks, JL

Sunday March 17, 2013, 6:55 pm
You are welcome Autumn. You cannot currently send a star to Autumn because you have done so within the last day.

Monday March 18, 2013, 7:05 am
I can't believe she actually came out and said she was sorry. How humbling of her. Thanks for posting JLA!

Monday March 18, 2013, 10:37 am
That is an example of when MN, my home state, was at its best. We were the last state in the union to compel candidates to identity themselves as democrats and republicans, prior to that we were progressives and conservatives. But those who came before worked together for the betterment of our state and all its people, they took long looks into the future and did what was right for people of all incomes, all faiths, no faiths. 2002, when she was speaking actually marked the beginning of the end of that kind of cooperation. Today we are as divided as the nation. I've always believed it was no accident that I was born into what has been for most of my life the most progressive state in our union. Those debates, discussions and decisions formed the core of who I became politically. It has saddened me greatly over the last decade to see us devolve into just another bickering bunch of people who vote expediently and ideologically first and as human beings last. I applaud her statement and wish both parties (we retook both Houses and the Governorship last fall) would once again work for the betterment of ALL of us, not just the ones who support our particular brand of ideological ideas. We have always been better than that, I hope we can be again. There are signs of life in the legislature this year, but the divisions remain deep and partisan. That is no way to build a state or a union. Compromise, cooperation and long term vision is what does that. May we all, in all states, find that strength once more. United we stand, divided we fall. It would be good if our political leadership remembered that and what it really means.

Monday March 18, 2013, 10:59 am
Thank you for that marvelous historical analysis Gene! You cannot currently send a star to Gene because you have done so within the last day.

Monday March 18, 2013, 11:28 am
There are still some politicians than can say sorry even though they are few and far between


Noted thanks

Monday March 18, 2013, 3:46 pm
A very nice example for those who are on the fence or who have no real opinion of their own. Sheeples...

Monday March 18, 2013, 4:14 pm
You are welcome Carol.
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Monday March 18, 2013, 7:15 pm
awesome! wish more people would stand up and tell the truth

Tuesday March 19, 2013, 12:43 am
It takes a big person to admit mistakes and attempt to use that experience to make it right.

Meanwhile, other politicians too often simply go for a cover-up, so they can do the same sort of thing over again.

As Rachel Maddow points out, we need to hold politicians and political parties to account - and i'd add, in the case of the Republicans, let a little reality in.

If you haven't seen this yet, you need to.

The irony involved will kill you, or at least killed many others.

But seriously, we can't just dismiss things as conspracy theories because 'that's just too evil for politicians to do' because it would appear that very little is, for some, especially where party policy embraces it.

http://www.nbcnews.com/id/26315908/#51234332


...The American people have got to get angry, they need to do things...

Tuesday March 19, 2013, 12:47 am
Further to the above:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/mar/18/panorama-iraq-fresh-wmd-claims


MI6 and CIA were told before invasion that Iraq had no active WMD

BBC's Panorama reveals fresh evidence that agencies dismissed intelligence from Iraqi foreign minister and spy chief

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Richard Norton-Taylor
guardian.co.uk, Monday 18 March 2013



Fresh evidence has been revealed about how MI6 and the CIA were told through secret channels by Saddam Hussein's foreign minister and his head of intelligence that Iraq had no active weapons of mass destruction.

Tony Blair told parliament before the war that intelligence showed Iraq's nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons programme was "active", "growing" and "up and running".

A special BBC Panorama programme aired on Monday night details how British and US intelligence agencies were informed by top sources months before the invasion that Iraq had no active WMD programme, and that the information was not passed to subsequent inquiries.

It describes how Naji Sabri, Saddam's foreign minister, told the CIA's station chief in Paris at the time, Bill Murray, through an intermediary that Iraq had "virtually nothing" in terms of WMD.

Sabri said in a statement that the Panorama story was "totally fabricated".

However, Panorama confirms that three months before the war an MI6 officer met Iraq's head of intelligence, Tahir Habbush al-Tikriti, who also said that Saddam had no active WMD. The meeting in the Jordanian capital, Amman, took place days before the British government published its now widely discredited Iraqi weapons dossier in September 2002.

Lord Butler, the former cabinet secretary who led an inquiry into the use of intelligence in the runup to the invasion of Iraq, tells the programme that he was not told about Sabri's comments, and that he should have been.

Butler says of the use of intelligence: "There were ways in which people were misled or misled themselves at all stages."

When it was suggested to him that the body that probably felt most misled of all was the British public, Butler replied: "Yes, I think they're, they're, they got every reason think that."

The programme shows how the then chief of MI6, Sir Richard Dearlove, responded to information from Iraqi sources later acknowledged to be unreliable.

One unidentified MI6 officer has told the Chilcot inquiry that at one stage information was "being torn off the teleprinter and rushed across to Number 10".

Another said it was "wishful thinking… [that] promised the crock of gold at the end of the rainbow".

The programme says that MI6 stood by claims that Iraq was buying uranium from Niger, though these were dismissed by other intelligence agencies, including the French.

It also shows how claims by Iraqis were treated seriously by elements in MI6 and the CIA even after they were exposed as fabricated including claims, notably about alleged mobile biological warfare containers, made by Rafid Ahmed Alwan al-Janabi, a German source codenamed Curveball. He admitted to the Guardian in 2011 that all the information he gave to the west was fabricated.

Panorama says it asked for an interview with Blair but he said he was "too busy".

• The Spies Who Fooled the World, BBC Panorama Special, BBC1, Monday, 18 March, 10.35pm


.....................................................................................................................................

And so it continues... while the big Lies continue and because no accounting is asked or given.

Tuesday March 19, 2013, 1:41 am
It's a rare instance when a politician apologizes for anything! Awesome.

Tuesday March 19, 2013, 3:30 am
SPAM ALERT! Jackie W, March 18th.
Please click on FLAG AS INAPPROPRIATE.
It only takes a moment. Please flag ALL such stinking ADS!
You don't want to go there - they are trying to communicate with random people to get their INFORMATION, most likely to SELL.
These are NOT "real" Care2 members - no use trying to "talk" to them! And they never have profiles...
Care2 ought to stop these ADS at their SOURCE...

Tuesday March 19, 2013, 9:29 am
You cannot currently send a star to Tammy because you have done so within the last day.
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BMutiny, the missing profile means someone flagged their profile for spam and it was removed, which stopped that profile from being able to generate spam. Thanks to all who helped report the instance here.

Tuesday March 19, 2013, 11:51 am
She did a beautiful thing, for herself and her personal journey. Would that more of her party live the same values.

Tuesday March 19, 2013, 11:59 am
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Tuesday March 19, 2013, 12:31 pm
Wow! There is one honest politician in this country and that same politician admitted to making a mistake AND apologized for it! Never thought I would live long enough to see the day that happened! Thanks for making my day.

Tuesday March 19, 2013, 1:47 pm
I bet that won't happen again soon! Very refreshing to hear a politician admit they were wrong.

Tuesday March 19, 2013, 2:13 pm
Fantastic video. I hope everyone watches it.

Tuesday March 19, 2013, 2:26 pm
A powerful story and a powerful example. Let's hope many, not just in Minnesota, follow her example.

Tuesday March 19, 2013, 4:34 pm
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Tuesday March 19, 2013, 4:40 pm
Good start. I hope other politicians will follow

Tuesday March 19, 2013, 5:13 pm
Noted. Stunning, whatever your opinion on the matter. Glad to be introduced to that woman.

Tuesday March 19, 2013, 6:46 pm
MY faith has been restored watching this and by a few other members that PROVE over and over they are human and truly care. Perhaps an attack of consciousness will get to some of them b4 its too late. If not God help us. Bless her heart for stepping up!!

Tuesday March 19, 2013, 7:44 pm
Every time I click on a green link that says "VISIT SITE" I get signed up for more spam that I did not request against my will. This sounds like a subject I would be interested in but "No thanks." (And while I love Care2 I REALLY DO NOT need them to automatically "Click" tiny check boxes for me. (Like Facebook for instance!) I can make up my mind for myself if I want the box checked on my own volition.

Tuesday March 19, 2013, 8:45 pm
Truly a great lady and her honesty is quite impressive. Her speech is most eloquent and it would be great if it empowers other politicians to do the same.

Wednesday March 20, 2013, 7:47 am
ty

Wednesday March 20, 2013, 9:38 am
ty tried to get to screen to sign pettion and it wouldn't come up.

Wednesday March 20, 2013, 10:07 am
That is why in spite of his rousing speeches the man is known as Tony B Liar

Wednesday March 20, 2013, 10:49 am
An example to follow by many, many, many politicians!

Wednesday March 20, 2013, 11:00 am
You know this lady has my respect,duly noted and shared

Wednesday March 20, 2013, 11:08 am
Wow! Good for her!

Wednesday March 20, 2013, 11:54 am
You are welcome Ro and Lyn. Sorry about your challenge Lyn.