thursday

President Barack Obama talks with Mike Froman, Deputy National Security Advisor for International Economic Affairs, before a call in the Oval Office, Aug. 10, 2011. Pictured, from left, are; Caroline Atkinson, Special Assistant to the President for International Economic Affairs; NSC Deputy Executive Secretary Valerie Boyd; Liz Sherwood-Randall, Special Assistant to the President and NSC Senior Director for European Affairs; and National Security Advisor Tom Donilon. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

al

family

Mansura Shajahan wipes away tears as she and her son Yusuf Shajahan were acknowledged by President Barack Obama at the Iftar dinner in the White House, Aug. 10. Mansura’s husband Mohammed Shajahan died in the World Trade Center on Sept. 11.

****

October 2008

Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan (1987 – 2007): A U.S. Army Specialist who died in Operation Iraqi Freedom. He received a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart for his service. He is buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Kareem was a Muslim.

More here

‘burned on a teacup’

Mark Mellman (The Hill): Make no mistake: Republicans castigating President Obama for S&P’s ill-considered downgrade are akin to a mugger attacking the mayor, then blaming the sheriff for “letting” him do it.

Republican members of Congress attacked the full faith and credit of the United States by arguing publicly that defaulting on our debts would not be so bad. No rating agency can hear that and remain confident America feels bound and determined to pay its bills.

When every serious GOP economist and most every Republican who has carefully investigated the issue – from Sen. Tom Coburn to former Sen. Alan Simpson – conclude that both spending cuts and revenue increases are required to restore our fiscal heath, but Republican leaders announce they will refuse to appoint anyone to the supercommittee who might even consider eliminating billions in subsidies to oil companies, they not only subordinate the national interest to the interests of Big Oil, they also send an unmistakable message to rating agencies that they aren’t serious about restoring fiscal discipline, thereby mugging America’s credit rating. Then they attack President Obama for what – allowing them to speak freely, if foolishly?

… “Tea Party” is becoming a dirty word …. Republicans running for every office from president to dog catcher are forced to pledge fealty to a group that is increasingly scorned by the American people.

The same could be said of the GOP itself. Just this week CNN/ORC pollsters found 59 percent of Americans harboring unfavorable views of the Republican Party, while only 33 percent offered favorable opinions. At no point in the last two decades has opinion of the Republican Party been so negative …. (While hardly loved, Democrats are 26 points better off than the GOP.)

…. Americans want compromise and moderation, while Republicans emerge from this crisis looking uncompromising in their extremism. Public preference for compromise is clear – three recent polls found 66 percent to 85 percent saying they would rather the parties compromise than stick to their principles.

But the GOP failed this test … Being uncompromising, extreme and in thrall to a movement that is becoming a pariah will hurt the GOP. Unfortunately, it hurts the country even more.

Full article here

****

Gallup

‘get the message’

Greg Sargent: SEIU is launching a $1.5 million campaign, including TV and radio ads and direct mail, that’s designed to shift the conversation to jobs, and away from austerity, in six key swing states where unemployment is running very high.

The campaign, an SEIU official tells me, is meant to counteract ads being run by high profile conservative groups that are pushing an austerity agenda among voters who are struggling economically – and will pressure House Republicans to prioritize job creation over tax breaks for corporations and the rich.

…the TV spot will run in Colorado, Florida, Missouri, Montana, Nevada and Virginia….

More here

heads up

Live here

‘parry with an a’

Thanks Dotser! 😆

a word from tally: are you in?

Two sites I have frequented for over a decade, bartcop.com & smirkingchimp.com have become so full-time Obama hate 24/7 vile you’d think they were all on the Koch payroll. Another one, HP, has also been taken over by the crazies, and is now the National Enquirer of politics.

The first two have been losing money, when in the past, they were doing fine during the Bush years.

I have to give bartcop credit, he prints emails every now and then when a longtime reader writes to say, “Sorry, you’re wrong about Obama, and I can’t take your hate anymore, so I’m out.” Then of course, he makes a comment about how the writer has no clue, or some other nefarious whatever….. Many people have tried to tell him… I keep trying to tell him he’s hurting, not helping. But I’ve all but given up.

I am ever so thankful that there are actually MORE positive Obama sites I can go to now, than the old anti-Bush sites that I used to frequent (and just cannot anymore because of the level on ridiculous, uninformed vitriol.) That gives me hope.

Yet something is eating away at me that I can’t quite put my finger on….. it’s like something just out of my peripheral vision that I can’t focus on, but I know it’s there. It’s starting to live in my instincts more than anything else. Like I gut feeling I know to be true, even though I have no actual hard evidence of.

I watched it first happen to HP with a sudden influx of teaspoons who should be spewing their hate over on freepland… then the “PL/EmoProgs/PUMA/Bitter Hillary supporters” most who seem to be so irrational, I wonder if all of them are who they claim to be.

Anyone ever watch the BBC miniseries, I CLAUDIUS? In episode 3, Postumus tells Augustus his step grandmother Livia, is murdering everyone who comes before her son Tiberius in the line of succession. Postumus is in fear of his life because he has been framed for rape, and  knows he is the last one standing between Tiberius and the throne should Augustus die. Of course Augustus thinks he’s mad to even suggest such an outrageous thing. Postumus, at his wit’s end, laughs,  “It’s incredible isn’t it? It’s too horrific to even think about. I have to be mad even to mention it.” A brilliant 6min – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5xSMC-cyke0

I mention this because Hillary Clinton has been more than vindicated about her claim regarding the “vast rightwing conspiracy.” Yes, that was over a decade ago, but they haven’t stopped. Anyone who thinks otherwise needs to clear the fog from their head. Voter suppression is alive and well in every state. GOP “activists” are still allowed to handle ballots – like last night in WI. The Koch pockets are deep. Paid operatives are everywhere, on every site, planted to poison the populace, and it’s working on the LEFT as much as it’s working on the RIGHT. I’ve never seen so many brainwashed Dems in my life. It’s so bad, they can’t see the damage they’re doing. They’ve all forgotten about Nader. They don’t realize that they demoralize everyone they talk to into staying home, and that there is no hope. They’ve all bought into the fantasy everything would be different if Obama was President Superfly. It’s insane. SMART PEOPLE, HAVE LOST THEIR FRAKKING MINDS, and can no longer process rational thought about the big picture, and how many factors are involved. The GOP owned media + the Kochs + Citizens United + voter suppression + election (e-voting) fraud + no House Super Majority + no 60+ Dems in the Senate + all the Cult of Norquist Oathers = No Magic Harry Potter Wand for POTUS.

Now we have this nonsense about Romney being WEIRD. From a RIGHTWING site, and everyone is taking this as if they lifted it from whitehouse.gov. You mention the insanity of it to anyone and they think you’re crazy.

“It’s incredible isn’t it? It’s too horrific to even think about. I have to be mad even to mention it.”

Really? Actually, I think it’s everyone ELSE who has lost their minds, when they cannot see an obvious right-wing hit piece when it falls on their head.

The GOP/Tsps KNOW how popular Obama still is, and they’re throwing everything they have at him and the dems so they can control every branch come 2012. If that happens, I firmly believe the US is finished.

If the election is even close, we’re in for another illegal SCOTUS coup like we had in 2000.

Again – if you’re not on Twitter, GET ON IT. Stop asking others to do your work for you. We should all be marching on DC, but most of us are at the point we’re lucky to have jobs, and can’t afford even a day off. That is what the GOP is counting on. All of us being too poor to fight back.

TODAY we need to be CALLING/EMAILING/TWEETING NON-STOP about ZERO TOLERANCE FOR THE OATHERS TO BE APPOINTED TO THE SUPER COMMITTEE.  We CANNOT allow this to stand. We CANNOT wait for November to make a fuss about this.

TODAY we need to be CALLING/EMAILING/TWEETING NON-STOP about the PROOF on the Politico hit piece, and how the media should be called out for being so frakking lazy!

Every day is going to be a new challenge we’re going to have to suit up and fight with every fiber of our being!

ARE YOU IN??

THE TIME IS NOW. ALL HANDS ON DECK.

lunch guest

President Obama has lunch with campaign volunteers at Ted’s Bulletin in Washington, Aug. 10

the players