tuesday

a (very) early heads up

Rolandsmartin.com: Tom Joyner is airing an exclusive interview with President Barack Obama during his Tuesday morning show.

The two-part interview is scheduled to air at 8:50 a.m. EST and at 9:06 a.m. EST.

During the wide-ranging interview, President Obama will outline a plan to create jobs rebuilding roads, bridges and schools. Obama also plans to discuss his strategy on getting his policies passed despite the Republican opposition, and his battle for re-election over the next 17 months.

President Obama also will share some insight on the impact of Hurricane Irene and what he had planned to say during the postponed dedication to the Dr. Martin Luther King Memorial.

The president’s interview will be re-broadcast in its entirety on Monday, Sept. 5th.

Thank you lamh34 😉

***

You can listen to the show online at blackamericaweb

Thanks for the link Kasai

it may be time to impeach the president

After all, Onyango ‘Omar’ Obama, the guy arrested last week in Massachusetts for allegedly ‘operating a vehicle under the influence of alcohol’ and who was allegedly not legally in the United States, is the son of ….. deep breath, let’s get this right ….. the President’s grandfather’s third wife (the President’s father was born to his grandfather’s second wife).

In other words, Onyango and the President are almost one, they are so close.

Yeah, yeah, it’s true, George W – and not his step-uncle – had his very own drink driving conviction and was an alien too (he hailed from Planet Chump), but that’s different.

Sheesh, impeachment?

****

Needless to say, this is the lead story on GOPolitico’s section on the President.

It’s interesting, this is the photo of Onyango Obama released by the Framingham police, a standard mug shot:

This is what GOPolitico has done to the photo:

Why did they do that? Did they think a grainy black and white close-up would make the man look …… sinister?

Oh dear.

pragmatic obots unite

Hi everyone, I posted about the new Pragmatic Obots Unite site a couple of days ago, but I didn’t realize why it had changed from W.E.E. See You until now – read about it here.

Wishing Pragmatic Obots Unite the brightest of futures, the site is wonderful.

‘the black history of the white house’

‘three charts to email to your right-wing brother-in-law’

From Smirking Chimp

Thanks Loriah

press briefing

chat away

President Obama speaks as he nominates Alan Krueger to be the next chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, August 29

****

Hi everyone, I’ll be out for a few hours this afternoon, if you have any links to post or stuff you want to talk about, this is the thread for you. See you all later 😉

‘leading from behind the scenes’

David Remnick (New Yorker): …. ‘Leading from behind’ ….  The phrase ricocheted from one Murdoch-owned editorial page and television studio to the next; Obama was daily pilloried as a timorous pretender who, out of a misbegotten sense of liberal guilt, unearned self-regard, and downright unpatriotic acceptance of fading national glory, had handed over the steering wheel of global leadership to the Élysée Palace.

We were, as Mitt Romney put it, “following the French into Libya.” The President was “dithering,” Sarah Palin declared. John McCain wanted boots on the ground. ….. Rick Perry, for his part, shot an elephant in his pajamas.

Six months later, as Libyans rejoice at the prospect of a world without an unhinged despot, many of Obama’s critics still view a President who rid the world of Osama bin Laden (something that George Bush failed to do) and helped bring down Muammar Qaddafi (something that Ronald Reagan failed to do) as supinely selling out American power.

….. a more apt description, admittedly, would have been “leading from behind the scenes” ….

….. Nothing guarantees that Libya’s path will be straight and pacific …. But these emergent institutions were developed above all by Libyans, not by Ahmed Chalabi or the Central Intelligence Agency. They are indigenous; they have legitimacy.

….. The trouble with so much of the conservative critique of Obama’s foreign policy is that it cares less about outcomes than about the assertion of America’s power and the affirmation of its glory. In the case of Libya, Obama led from a place of no glory, and, in the eyes of his critics, no results could ever vindicate such a strategy. Yet a calculated modesty can augment a nation’s true influence. Obama would not be the first statesman to realize that it can be easier to win if you don’t need to trumpet your victory.

Full article here

fighting fraud

Peter Budetti (LA Times): ….. Medicare is a success story, providing high-quality benefits and a strong safety net for seniors and people with disabilities. But as costs have grown … so have the opportunities for criminals to commit fraud.

In his Aug. 21 Times Op-Ed article, Malcolm Sparrow focused on one part of this problem, explaining how criminals take advantage of Medicare’s electronic payment system to make false claims. But what Sparrow does not mention is that over the last two years the Obama administration has undertaken an ambitious effort to rid Medicare of criminals, and we are turning the electronic payment system to our advantage in that fight.

Since President Obama took office, we have conducted an unprecedented crackdown on those who steal from Medicare, giving law enforcement greater resources, putting more boots on the ground and increasing penalties. In 2010, these efforts recovered a record $4 billion in taxpayer money.

But we’re not just prosecuting fraud. We’re also taking steps to prevent it…. (see article for details)

In the past our response to fraud was often so fragmented because different jurisdictions didn’t have easy ways to share information …. Today, not only do we have all our claims data visible in one place in real time, we’re also adding other sources of information such as the many tips that come in to our 1-800-MEDICARE hotline….

…. For criminals looking to get rich, Medicare’s electronic payment system was once an easy target. In the fight against fraud today, it’s quickly becoming one of our own greatest weapons.

Full article here

Peter Budetti is the deputy administrator and director for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ Center for Program Integrity

Thanks Tally 😉