Live coverage:
White House Live (at 2:0 AM ET)
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Herald Sun: At one of her first face-to-face meetings with Barack Obama soon after becoming PM, Julia Gillard said to the leader of the free world: “Are you nuts?”.
It could have been a monumental diplomatic blunder from the woman who admitted foreign policy was not her passion. But Obama didn’t see it as an insult. He considered her disregard for foreign affairs double-speak refreshing.
The two leaders have discovered they share a similar sense of humour and political outlook, and a surprisingly strong personal relationship has blossomed between the Australian Prime Minister and the President of the United States.
They are like-minded left-of-centre politicians both facing difficult domestic challenges, with Obama battling a hostile Congress and Gillard juggling minority government. And both are trail-blazers – the first black President and first female PM.
… Gillard sent Obama a 50th birthday card in August, purchased from the Parliament House florist, with pictures of a kangaroo, the Parliament building, native flowers and the Captain Cook water-jet on Lake Burley Griffin. Inside she wrote a personal note, including the line, “Your life has been remarkable to date but I’m sure the best is yet to come”.
… Gillard told me about their chat in an interview: “I had a discussion in the margins of one of the summits with President Obama who said, ‘You know your Question Time is a good way of speaking to the nation and getting your message out’, to which I said, “Are you nuts? We have this for an hour and half, four days a week’.
“He did laugh. He was not insulted by the ‘are you nuts?’. He thought I was pretty funny,” Gillard recalled.
Full article here
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President Obama at a tree dedication ceremony at the U.S. embassy compound in Canberra – photos from Flickr – thank you Hopefruit
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** All Australia posts here **
The Obama Diary 
hi everyone!
Hi JoJo. I am so proud of President Obama.
Hiya Jojo.
Oh my what a ridiculous itinerary…couldn’t do it. No way no how. When my President comes home he deserves a 48 hr rest period. I simply cannot imagine Huntsman or Romney withstanding that kind of schedule.
By looking at the schedule it makes tired. how can this man do it? , PBO is the MOST world’s respected
around the the world. It would be wonderful if Rev Sharpton or RM could do on their shows to show their
viewer just how much PBO is been doing since Friday , and Thanks Chipstick for doing a wonderful jobs
for us.
MSNBC probably won’t allow that. It seems as though everytime the Prez goes abroad the media finds some distraction..when he went to Ireland, it was Netanyahu’s congressional speech. Now it’s the OWS police crackdown.
I am astounded that neither Rachel, Lawrence or Ed discussed President Obama’s trip to Australia, but instead chose to cover the sex scandal AGAIN and AGAIN. I’m sooooooo tired of this. It’s disgusting and we should not even talk about it.
Even if they discussed the Penn State tragedy (which I think they should since events are still developing), there were still more than ample opportunities for Rev Al, Ed, Rachel or Lawrence to discuss PBO’s visit in detail. And there was NOTHING on C-SPAN of all places.
They never do like to show how the rest of the world enjoys him. It astounds me that the American public has no idea of what the president is doing although CNN did cover his speech in Darwin live.
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/photo-gallery/gallery-e6frf94x-1226197189644?page=56
I want the President to take care of his self. Don’t try to do so much.
LOL!!! Huntsman would have to stay in bed for 2 weeks to recover!!! Lazy ass!!!
Hello Jojo.
I am totally with you, Africa, in being proud of President Obama. And yes, Hopefruit the President’s itinerary is so grueling I don’t know how he is able to remain so coherent. That Press Conference with the President and the Australian Prime Minister was so impressive. The range and depth of President Obama on all the issues is truly breathtaking. Of course, the American media would not dare show the entirety of that Press Conference, as well as all the activities and speeches of the President on this trip, because they know that once many Americans get to hear this President directly, without filters, then the people will catch on the lies that the media has been feeding them about the President. Again, I am proud to have voted for President Obama. He is by far the most impressive leader in my lifetime. I am also proud of Chipsticks for her dedication in making it possible for us to get unfiltered news about the President.
Hi Nathkatun, so good to hear you! Only recently Chi remarked that you’d been ‘scarce’. A ‘good morning’ to you!
hi !!!
a big THANK YOU to Chipsticks for all that you do — pictures, videos, sense of humor. A labour of love. I feel so lucky and blessed to visit TOD and read everybody’s comments here when I can. I feel like we’re all with POTUS in his trips. Godspeed
Totally concur lam. Thanks Chips. 🙂
Well, Chips and TODers, it doesn’t look my tired body can hold out for the next coverage.
Even though I don’t comment as much. believe me I’m always here.
G’day and G’night my friends…see y’all tomorrow.
G’night, bjw2 !!
Night night bjw2. I’m thinking I will have to follow you soon because I’m tired from staying up last night, and I have to be up early tomorrow.
There’s also some coverage of the President’s trip to Australia and the agenda, at our own Defense Department website:
http://www.defense.gov/
If there’s ever a movie about PM Gillard, Jodie Foster should play her.
You nailed it! They’re identical twins.
Perfect!
yes i can definetely see that
I’m tired of “Herb” Cain too, but this article is not to be believed. Cain doesn’t know anything about anything. He was in South Florida and fumbled every question about Cuba. I’m not sure he’s ever heard of Cuba. He knew nothing of the Cuban immigration policy. For inexplicable reasons, he still had some supporters in the Cuban community, calling him their “el Negro” —-oy—-and saying they like him because he is an “alpha male”, not sure if that was because of the sexual harassment charges or in spite of them. It didn’t seem to matter to these supporters that he knows nothing about foreign policy and they didn’t laugh when Cain said Obama had a “foggy foreign policy”. He said Repubs took over the House in 2008. I just don’t understand what this person is doing running for POTUS. It’s beyond preposterous.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/stateroundup/herman-cain-stumbles-on-cuba-question-in-south-florida/1202108
dotster…he is just making a name for himself so that people will know who is is, pay him big bucks for speeches,and sell his book. That is all.
Only stupid people will listen to Cain he is just pathetic no ofense, but those are the facts.
Mel, the question for me is what does this say about the Cain supporters? Cain call black Americans brain washed, I will call him brain dead, cause he is stupid. He’s making a fool of his self.
THIS GUY???
Herman Cain says it would be “very difficult” to attack Iran because “it’s very mountainous”…
…and he says presidents are “not supposed to know anything about foreign policy.”
“How do you say ‘delicious’ in Cuban?” [Cain] asked.
Jeebus. Cuban is not a language. Spanish, which is spoken in Cuba, is a language.
When is this man going to be escorted off the scene. I can’t take any more of his arrogant ignorance. In the wake of our country electing the smartest man in the room, the GOP has been recruiting the dumbest things under a rock from Palin, to Christine not-a-witch O’Donnell to Cain. I am sick of it. This world is complicated and these times are serious. As the President succintly said when he accepted the Democratic nomination for President: Enough!
I’m with you. ALL THE WAY!
Lol, oh my! 😦
If those Cubanos only realized that their “alpha male” is as dumb as a stump and it only reflects on their intelligence. I’m thinking those Cubans have a real problem.
Well, looking at that schedule, I don’t see sleeping time for My President. I am worried sick for him right now 😦 Goodnight Family I will be here first thing in the morning before heading to work.
I was thinking the same thing. I just want him to get home safe and get some rest once he returns. That schedule is nothing to sneeze at. No wonder the American media cannot keep up and they wouldn’t want the voters to really know how hard this President works. Those overfed lazy gossip mongers like Chuckie, Snarl Tapper and Cheshire Cat Henry simply cannot keep up. Knoller didn’t even come on the trip. It’s just too much work.
When he gets home, it’s right in time for the shitfest that is congress and its incompetence when dealing with the super committee deadline and isn’t there also an issue about funding the government too or am I mistaken? I can’t tell the last time I heard anything about the news unless it was listed on this blog. When he gets home, he still won’t get any sleep because congress REFUSES TO DO ITS JOB! Bunch of cantankerous buttholes.
“That schedule is nothing to sneeze at. No wonder the American media cannot keep up and they wouldn’t want the voters to really know how hard this President works. Those overfed lazy gossip mongers like Chuckie, Snarl Tapper and Cheshire Cat Henry simply cannot keep up. Knoller didn’t even come on the trip. It’s just too much work.”
Hopefruit, as always you hit the nail on the head! Any way I hope you too get to get some rest because you’ve been right there behind the President sharing with us your valuable insights. I truly value your commentaries.
One of the things that the President has done for me is offering such a contrast to the “lazy gossip mongers”. I have much higher standards for anyone I will take seriously or spend time listening to. The President and First Lady have raised the bar for everyone.
That is exactly what Tom Hanks said!!!
He says that President Obama has not only exceeded his expectations, but has EXPANDED them!!!
Any subsequent president & First Lady have their work cut out for them!!!
The President can get some rest on Airforce 1. But there ain’t nothing like sleeping in your own bed. I will be glad when he gets back home, and be with his family. Enough running around the world now. I know he has a job to do, I just want him to take care of himself. For his family and our country.
Chips, i f you are here, I would like to know if there is a youtube version of the video where PBO is departing with the ambassador boarding the plane with him? I would like to share just the video with some friends where I use work.
Hiya COS, do you mean the first video in the post? Was that the ambassador following him? Let me know if that’s the one and I’ll put in on YouTube for you.
Thanks Chips. I just came back to my computer. You did the right video.
COS, there was also a segment on Sky News where he is with PBO and the tree dedication at the Embassy. Don’t know if it’s available yet. I also heard that he was a very big bundler for PBO in CA, 2008.
Yes, I saw that picture Meta. Yes, he worked in our SF office. I believe he supprted PBO when he first started to run for president. PBO even paid a visit to our SFO office when he had little support. One of the ladies at my old office has a picture taken with PBO when he was in Los Angeles. He did not have any guards or anything then. 🙂
Nice article (although I disagree with the first 2 sentences):
Headline: Obama: America’s once and future president
http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2011/11/2011111412197754914.html
Damn. Chips even gives us virtual aerial images of where AF1 is flyin’ !!
You are amazing, Chips. Thank you so much for helping our spirits to soar during the President’s trip.
I must be the biggest doofus ever…but I don’t see any “live” President Obama in Australia…the links that I clicked on were some newspaper story….help!
I thought I was the biggest doofus df!! I didn’t see any live footage either….just news stories. I’ve been struggling left and right to figure this out. I hope there’s more video to see from skynews.
We can be doofus’ together!! I can’t even figure out where Sky news is linked here! Lord. I missed the whole thing 😦 I did manage to see PBO’s speech before Parliament….excellent.
Some kind soul here should explain to Janelle and me what we’re doing wrong…pretty please! I need my PBO fix!
I did get to see part of the arrival ceremony and parliament speech on another link provided though which was good. What’s crazy is setting my alarm and reading people’s comments real time even when I missed the sky news commentary. I have serious bags under my eyes but I figure if the President can hang, shoot, so can I. I tell you, Chipsticks is the best travel agent there is….bar none! If any WH staff is reading and watching Chipsticks’ overseas coverage….she deserves to meet PBO at some point (hint hint).
My beloved Janelle, you know what I always say, I can’t possibly ever meet PBO because….
And I don’t want to embarrass him like that 😳
He’ll just extend his hand like the gentleman that he is, ask are you okay, and flash that Crest/Colgate megawatt smile and you’ll be right as rain….trust!!! Thanks for all that you do Chipsticks, truly—what a gem you are.
🙂
I totally co-sign that, Janelle.
By Joe Schoenmann
Fri, Nov 11, 2011 (2 a.m.)
The conventional wisdom is that the biggest hurdle to President Barack Obama’s reelection is a dispirited and disappointed base.
But judging by the 100 people who showed up Thursday night for the opening of a Henderson campaign office for Obama, the president still has a lot of ardent supporters willing to campaign on his behalf.
The group reflected the young and minority voters who were key to Obama’s historic victory in 2008.
Organizing for America, the group that opened the office, formed shortly after Obama was inaugurated in 2009 to preserve the grassroots organization that help elect Obama and lay the groundwork for a second term.
Delray Gjestvang, a robotics programmer and car builder, admitted he doesn’t like the way things are going in Washington, but “it’s not Obama’s fault. Republicans won’t work with him.”
While some people in attendance said organizers received 300 RSVPs from people invited to the opening, Michael Campbell, press secretary of Organizing for America-Nevada, could not immediately confirm that number.
Aside from rank-and-file citizens and volunteers, some elected leaders showed up, including State Sen. Shirley Breeden, D-Henderson, said the presidential election will be a battle to protect Social Security and Medicare.
http://m.lvsun.com/news/2011/nov/11/obama-supporters-rally-open-henderson-headquarters/
Let’s hope Mr. Gjestvang also works to elect Shelley Berkley and whichever Dem is running for House Rep in his district.
The “dispirited and disappointed” base is a false meme propagated by “left” blogs and MSM pundits. It simply isn’t true and doesn’t comport with the true indicators, many of which we have actually witnessed, such as the number of new small donors and amount in donations to PBO’s campaign – causing him to exceed his target for any given quarter, the people’s reaction when PBO is giving a townhall or speech, the long lines to get in, the spike in ratings when he appears on televised shows, etc.
This meme of disappointed base simply does NOT add up. It’s an MSM fantasy, a delusion.
Couldn’t have said it better HF2.
It’s not fair the President travels when I am to busy to follow and read all the comments. If I wake up in the middle of the night maybe I’ll check in to see what is happening. Thanks Chips for all the wonderful pictures!!!!! Good night.
Just testing my QR code
The people of WI HAVE to recall this guy, before he does even MORE damage…if that’s even possible! WTH is wrong with these people?
http://motherjones.com/politics/2011/11/scott-walker-wisconsin-abstinence-jobs-plan
How do i get to my profile, password change, picture?
gravatar.com
Here is the video of the speech http://media.smh.com.au/news/national-news/in-full-obamas-address-to-parliament-2778964.html
Now if only my stupid internet will play it straight. damn buffering.
Oh thank you so much gobrooklyn, I really wanted to hear this and haven’t been able to find it.
Chips, you do know that without you & your site I would know nothing of my President’s doings.. since I don’t have cable & I don’t watch tv, I’m so appreciative of what you do for us here, and for what you do for President Obama. Thank you again.
You’re one gazillion per cent welcome sherijr, my pleasure 😉
Thank you, gobrooklyn!. Been searching all night!!!
Thank you gobrooklyn. I missed it and have been looking for a link. BTW I have been so busy trying to catch up with PBO and Chipsticks and all of you this evening that I have not had time to comment on anything. Now it’s way past my bedtime and I can not stay awake. Will bookmark the speech for first thing in the morning when my brain is fresh enough to take it in.
Love the Aussies for the warm reception they gave our Prez.
Night Obots!
hey TOD. So had a great afternoon at the OFA office after work. things are spinning up here in minnesota. Have met some really dedicated people – I keep telling anyone who will sit still long enough about you guys so maybe we’ll get some more people?
Have a peaceful night all I’m off to
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Thanks for sharing Alice! Have a good night.
Thanks, alice….sleep tight.
Where’s UT? The idiot college Republican that Tweeted the stupid today…GOES TO UTAUSTIN! Maybe our very own UTAustin can meet up and talk some sense!
http://bobcesca.com/blog-archives/2011/11/as-tempting-as-it-may-be.html
Yes, Our UTaustin has been on this! She provided links for tweeting ms pierce and for reporting complaints. Yes..check on previous thread. We have been blasting that idiot Twitter!
Thanks, hf….I should have known:) Been busy today…not time to comment much or read all the comments from all of you. One of those days! Glad you guys are blasting this ????? on Twitter.
“????” LOL! Tell us how you feel df.
I would get banned!
Some nice pics of PBO at tree-dedication ceremony.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/neeravbhatt/sets/72157628020326911/detail/
Bullets in the White House and now this: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/16/obama-assassination-lauren-pierce_n_1098280.html . Hey ut are you familiar with this person? She should be arrested. It is about to get ugly.
Also posted this below from Think Progress. Hope the Secret Service is involved.
Here’s how the Texas College Republicans handled it:
https://www.facebook.com/notes/texas-college-republicans/tcr-responds-to-the-tweet-by-lauren-pierce/10150387966361028
Mr. President. Please watch your back. The wingnuts are getting desperate. i fear for your safety.
I’m praying.
no weapons formed against PBO will prosper. And as a back up folks in this nation have to realize that if a hair on PO or his family’s head is harmed. . . . . . yardarm756 — you will fear for everyone’s safety.
They don’t want none. Trust.
Oh I think COS said he/she worked with the US ambassador? If so I hope he/she(?) sees this cause above Cos was looking for video.
The guy who boarded the plane with PBO was Jeffrey Bleich, an attorney at the firm where I use to work. He took a leave from work and worked with PBO before PBO appointed him as ambassador to Australia. Jeff is a good person. 🙂
Chips thanks for converting the video to youtube so that I could share with some of my old friends. You are the best.
meta, thanks for the commentary on the last thread giving the play-by-play of the president’s speech to the Australian Parliament.
Jovie, you cracked me up with your comment on the last thread regarding the state dinner menu of fried lamb being “just like a gyro.” You had me rolling.
Hope everyone is doing well.
ENERGIZER BUNNY KEEPS GOING AND GOING
Chips, once again, you’ve been marvelous. Don’t know how you do it. Thanks for another amazing day of updates!
Now Kuwait???
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/sns-rt-us-kuwait-protesttre7af2rl-20111116,0,3850558.story
Oh, this is really special!
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/11/obamacare-romneycare-are-the-same-fucking-bill-says-former-romney-adviser.php?ref=fpb
Wow! That’s great, desertflower..I like it! Only Obamacares~ 😎 The goprimary knuckle draggers won’t care..rombot will lie and they’ll soak it up like the used teabaggers they are.
I got Gmail just so I could post on TPM sometimes when I get the urge.
O/T So do we know if this is the end for OWS or they are gonna morph into something else? It has been quite an object lesson in how a progressive movement that goes off the battlefield (as happened at the end of Vietnam) & streets sees it’s organizing and strategic thinking muscle badly atrophy. So when it attempts to get back in the streets, it has no institutional memory of what worked or not, and how to actually sustain public engagement through highs and lows..
Sad really. many people saw this end glaringly coming. And now you have the public perception of the teaparty polling better than OWS in less than a month. Big lesson in there.
Edit
Reply
The only principle that the Occupy movement seems willing to fight to the death for is the right to occupy spaces. That alone does not and is never going to engage me or millions of other people who could be their allies.
At least the thoroughly misguided tea partiers were clear: we hate taxes, healthcare reform, financial reform, Democrats and President Obama. We will do everything we can to stop those, up to and including going into a voting booth.
OWS on the other hand, what are you against? Wall Street. Okay, who isn’t? What do you want to do about it? Occupy places. Until what happens? Until a judge asks us to leave and the police come and thats when we really double down on our constitutional right to draw attention to ourselves occupying places!
Their call for a Wall Street transaction tax, which is a great idea and has support from Democrats in congress, has been obscured by a general sense that this movement isn’t about anything but raising awareness about their ability to occupy public spaces.
You’ve totally nailed it here, FiredUp. Best explanation ever. Guess we can call it the ‘lost movement’ now.
Well said!!!
They dither while people like Michael Moore exploits them as unpaid actors in his opportunistic documentary!!!
They think Michael Moore and his ilk are on their side, but opportunists like Moore only want to exploit OWS for his very selfish purposes!!!
That’s why he is seething about the closure of the parks. He hadn’t finished filming his scenes!!!
Yes, zizi, spot on and quite sad.
Too bad no one was listening to the advice of the mucho experienced Al Giordano of The Field
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/thefield/4664/trait-du-savoir-vivre-occupy-wall-street-generations
Traité du Savoir-Vivre for the Occupy Wall Street Generations
Posted by Al Giordano – October 8, 2011 at 10:22 pm
Once upon a time, twenty thousand people descended on Wall Street, the capitol of capital, occupied it nonviolently, and won exactly what they demanded.
This is not a fairy tale. It really happened.
This is the story of how it happened. And it is also the story of one of those 20,000 occupiers and how immersing himself in those events at a young age changed the direction of his life. These words are dedicated and addressed to people not so unlike him: any and every individual who is currently occupying Wall Street, or anywhere else, or anyone else who is thinking about doing so.
[Read more…]
Or Jim Wright from Stonekettle Station
http://www.stonekettle.com/2011/11/occupy-wall-street-lessons-from-tea.html
Occupy Wall Street, Lessons From The Tea Party, and Niven’s Law
Never throw shit at an armed man
[Read more…]
Or Denise Oliver Velez and Greg Tate as highlighted by Smartypants who discussed OWS and it’s racial implications.
http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2011/11/black-folks-and-ows.html
Black folks and OWS
My friend Denise Oliver Velez has written a wonderful front-page story at Daily Kos about people of color and the occupy movement. In it she links to this fabulously written article by Greg Tate titled Top 10 Reasons Why So Few Black Folk Appear Down to Occupy Wall Street.
[Read more…]
Or Chauncy DeVega at WARN (We Are Respectable Negroes)
http://wearerespectablenegroes.blogspot.com/2011/11/annotation-project-open-letter-and.html
Political Hermeneutics: A Letter From People of Color (the 99th Percentile) to the OWS Movement
The fault lines of race, class, and gender are central to any analysis of the Occupy Wall Street (OWS) movement. Not surprisingly, some folks would like to overlook these issues as being peripheral to a political moment that should be “about class” and “not race.”
My rebuttal is predictable and direct: race and racial ideologies are no sideshow in American politics; how can they possibly be peripheral to OWS?
[Read more…]
++++++++++++
Instead many of them seem star-struck with the likes of Bill Maher, Michael Moore and Dylan Ratigan and their self-promoting pseudo-progressive rhetoric as if they can learn political strategizing from people who have never strategized anything but their own acquisition of wealth and fame. Many insist on not having goals, leaders–like arrogant children who disrespect their elders and insist on their consensus of ignorance. Consequently they set themselves up for exploitation, ratf*cking, manipulation, undermining through lack of discipline and focus.
Perhaps it’s not too late for wiser men and women to mic check them!
“Instead many of them seem star-struck with the likes of Bill Maher, Michael Moore and Dylan Ratigan and their self-promoting pseudo-progressive rhetoric as if they can learn political strategizing from people who have never strategized anything but their own acquisition of wealth and fame.”
Fancieful thank you for this comment and this post that is chock-full of valuable reading.
Gotta love the contrast between POTUS in the banner at the top and poor weird ol’ Rusty at the very bottom of the post.
(I meant waving Obama in the “Obama in Australia” banner) 🙂
I just must say I thought the President’s speech before the Australian Parliament was splendid. It was chock full of important strategic information for our country and the world. I cannot imagine the unseriousness of our media–a free press for which people have fought–not broadcasting this new Obama doctrine broadly and with precision and analysis. How tragic that we are squandering the freedom for which our ancestors have struggled so valiantly.
Where are the big mouth so-called progressives when it comes to gathering their funds to form a consortium dedicated to the free and accurate broadcasting of the news?
I thought that was the vision of Current. Instead it’s just an off-cable version of MSNBC and Daily Kos.
Yep. Their mission is to opine. It is not to educate.
Gore should get Tweeted and Tweeted and Tweeted about this.
Bless the TWEETERS!
It is a disgrace!!! I’ve actually stopped watching it completely!!!
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS COLLEGE GOP PRESIDENT: OBAMA ASSASSINATION ‘TEMPTING’
After police arrested a man who allegedly shot at the White House, the president of the University of Texas College Republicans tweeted that the idea of killing President Obama was “tempting.” “Y’all as tempting as it may be, don’t shoot Obama,” wrote Lauren Pierce.
It doesn’t get better in the rest of the article – it gets worse:
http://thinkprogress.org/politics/2011/11/16/370552/ut-college-gop-preisdent-obama-assassination-tempting/
Texas College Republicans call for resignation of president of UT College Republicans, Lauren Pierce:
https://www.facebook.com/notes/texas-college-republicans/tcr-responds-to-the-tweet-by-lauren-pierce/10150387966361028
Hope the Secret Service is standing by, with an ankle bracelet and some close monitoring of Ms. Pierce.
I wonder if Lauren E. Pierce think it’s tempting if someone assassinate her father. I would love to ask that bitch that.
Methinks she’s just destroyed her reputation, college career, and political yearnings, which is good. She needs a visit by the Secret Service or FBI – and/or should be thrown out of college. I feel nothing for her but contempt.
Noted upthread that utaustinliberal and others are already on this. I’m not surprised by this Lauren Pierce person’s actions (probably learned it at home), just irate.
Good sign, hopefully, of young people who recognize the limits of their disrespect.
And realize that their words have consequences.
Where is the progressive outrage? Where’s Rachael, Keith, Lawrence, Ed – all the so-called Professional Left. Not a peep.
She should resign…….what an embarassment. A person like her should not be a leader! You can totally disagree with a man’s politics but you must respect his life!
Good! Thanks Jacque~
“TCR respects the sanctity of human life, and although we may disagree politically with President Obama, our organization respects President Obama and the position he holds as our Chief Executive and Commander-in-Chief. Our organization also realizes that calls for violence are the never the solution for any disagreement, political or otherwise.
TCR is now calling for the official resignation of Ms. Pierce from both her position as Secretary of the Texas College Republicans, and as the President of the University of Texas College Republicans.”
I’m always pleasantly surprised when any republicon steps up. Gotta love Twitter for exposing idiots’ inner thoughts and getting called on it instantly!
This is good – I saw that twitter was on fire earlier today. These kids are learning that this kind of crap is ok because they see this all the time from “leaders” like Palin, Bachmann, McConnell and even Limbaugh. I blame these people because they’re raising kids to think this kind of depraved and insensitive stuff is ok. It’s never ok, and I’m shocked, but pleasantly surprised that the TCR actually took action. I hope Secret Service was involved. These kids are impressionable.
“…city officials expect thousands of demonstrators to pour into the Wall Street area from 7 a.m. [Thursday] to try to stop workers from getting to their desks in the financial district.
It will be a test of whether Occupy Wall Street and the loose-knit global alliance it inspired will flag or grow after police cleared a camp of hundreds of protesters from Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan on Tuesday.
“This movement is really not about tents as much as it is about an idea,” said spokesman Ed Needham. “There’s also going to be events in 100 countries around the world tomorrow.”
Occupy Wall Street plans to shut down the home of the New York Stock Exchange and the heart of American capitalism to kick off a day of protests. But the movement acknowledged tight security was likely to prevent protesters from getting close to the stock exchange.
Another protest spokesman, Mark Bray, said “the idea is to inconvenience Wall Street bankers going to work, not to hurt anyone. We are committed to nonviolent civil disobedience.”
Authorities were prepared for a possible influx of tens of thousands of protesters and aimed to balance public safety with their right to free speech and assembly, said Howard Wolfson, a New York deputy mayor.”
http://news.yahoo.com/ny-police-try-evict-anti-wall-street-protesters-064557041.html
They are turning violent, but they don’t have the numbers. In all of the US, they probably number 100k.
They just want to disrupt everything and somebody is bankrolling them!
John Hodges, the comedian was on Rachel tonight and made some good points about OWS. He said it was time for a leader. Although he was talking in a joking manner, I think he was echoing some of the feelings of others who support the movement. I could tell that he wasn’t quite saying what Rachel wanted to hear.
They are asking for a conflict if they are going to try to stop people from going to work. I mean everybody that works financial district is not part of the 1%.
And then if this keeps up, they will try and stop the election and force the president to use the national guard.
That is how waked these people are!
I hope Secretary Chu will be ok. He goes in front of a very hostile congressional hearing Thursday.
He just made a statement saying, that the final loan approval was mine alone.
He is a very good energy secretary, they have made lots of stuff at arpa-e, under his stewardship!
Anyways…
One of the reporters on NPR gave him a very tough interview last night. I am worried if he’s issuing a statement like that. You’d think that a country with a Nobel Laureate as Sec. of Energy would be thrilled, and that a party that claims to be about business would know something about the odds of a business succeeding or failing. The GOP are destroying this country.
By Pete Kasperowicz – 11/16/11 08:43 PM ET
Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Fla.) on Wednesday night said Republican governors and legislatures are purposefully pressing for the enactment of voter identification laws in order to suppress Democratic voter turnout in the 2012 election.
“State legislatures are attempting to impose voting restrictions that are the modern day equivalent of poll taxes and literacy tests,” she said on the House floor. “We cannot allow state legislatures to drag our nation backward in what is nothing more than a political quest to protect their governing majority’s interests.”
Wasserman Schultz said GOP efforts to end early voting is an example of this effort, since in her state, more than half of the early voters were African Americans and Hispanics.
http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/194183-wasserman-schultz-accuses-gop-of-rigging-elections-with-voter-suppression-laws
so cute – baby with that funky Obama Territory hat on
adorable dog with That Hat on http://twitter.com/?photo_id=1#!/lelomajor/status/137018423480811520/photo/1
Awwwwww
Chips, Everybody, so sorry for the double post …..
POTUS just landed in Darwin
WHAT!!!!!!! I’m fighting to stay up and I missed it!!!! What stream you are watching??????
here’s the link http://www.abc.net.au/news/specials/live-blogs/obama-in-australia/
THANK YOU.
you’re welcome
Here is summary if veterans bill approved today—
The Senate amendment to H.R. 674 would amend the bill to establish new job training programs and requirements for Armed Forces members separating from active duty, create additional requirements for veterans’ job training programs, and increase tax credits for employers to hire qualified members of the Armed Forces following their service. The bill would also permanently repeal the imposition of 3 percent withholding on certain payments made to vendors by government entities. In addition, the bill would require all Social Security and Tier 1 Railroad Retirement benefits to be included as part of modified adjusted gross income (MAGI) for purposes of determining eligibility for certain Medicaid applicants and subsidies for health insurance purchased through the new health insurance exchanges to be established under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. According to CBO, the provisions in the Senate amendment to H.R. 674 would have the accumulative budget impact of reducing the deficit by $1.98 billion over the FY 2012 – FY 2021 period.
What jerks. They are screwing the vets by adding SS & retirement to be part of MAGI. By that logic they should include pension & health care costs in THEIR income bottom line. They just had to find a was to stick a knife in and twist it a little before the give an inch.
They are vile, hateful & despicable.
I feel like gravel is in my eyes 😦 don’t know if I could make it. It’s pass 1:10 a.m. and no live coverage yet……seems like there is a delay in his flight. sigh…………..any suggestions to keep me awake…HELP!!!
do you want to open another window and watch live here? they have live coverage before POTUS speaks – it’s interesting enough http://www.abc.net.au/news/specials/live-blogs/obama-in-australia/
My personal highlight of the Australian trip:
“Mr Obama and Ms Gillard each shook hands with the 18 journalism students who were seated in a half-circle in the room – a set-up the Australian leader found ominous.
What worries me, Mr President, is that they’re arranged like this because they’ve been working on hard questions,” she told the President.
“How many days have you spent on the hard questions?”
Both laughed when someone responded “five minutes”.
“Oh well then you’ll sound like the usual journalists,” Mr Obama quipped.
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/bieberlike-reception-greets-obama-20111117-1nkiu.html#ixzz1dwaGSmKI
Ha! Chuck Todd, Ed Henry and Jake Tapper come to mind.
That’s going to make them snarl even more if they happen to see that. Ha!
Brilliant!
Mostly all the blue digs are voting for the balanced budget amendment on thursday. Yuck!
Security at U.S. embassies around the world is not taken lightly.
But Australian embassy staff were clearly not taking any chances, as President Obama found at the Canberra outpost Thursday, according to pool reports.
Flanked by U.S. ambassador Jeff Bleich on a tour of the grounds, POTUS was told it had an interesting history.
“Jackie Chan grew up in the house.”
“Who knew?” said Obama to the watching press corps, who quickly confirmed that Chan’s father worked as a cook at the embassy when the enduring martial-arts star was growing up.
Probably the safest embassy in the world? We think so.
Pool
That’s a good story – I didn’t realize Jackie Chan lived in Australia.
It’s official. I am looking gleefully to Rick Perry losing so badly he never thinks about running for any office, let alone President, ever again in his life. I haven’t even seen the ad, but the description is enough to tick me off:
NEW YORK (AP) — TITLE: “Lazy”
LENGTH: 30 seconds.
AIRING: On national cable and on Iowa broadcast and cable.
KEY IMAGES: The ad opens with footage of President Barack Obama being interviewed at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting in Hawaii last Saturday. “We’ve been a little bit lazy I think over the last couple of decades,” Obama says.
Rick Perry, wearing a denim shirt, appears and speaks to the camera. “Can you believe that? That’s what our president thinks is wrong with America? That Americans are lazy? That’s pathetic. It’s time to clean house in Washington.”
Of course the reality is this:
“Obama was speaking to a group of CEOs about the challenges of attracting foreign investment in the U.S., not about individuals or their economic challenges.
“There are a lot of things that make foreign investors see the U.S. as a great opportunity — our stability, our openness, our innovative free market culture,” Obama said. “But we’ve been a little bit lazy, I think, over the last couple of decades. We’ve kind of taken for granted, well, people will want to come here and we aren’t out there hungry, selling America and trying to attract new business into America.”
To deliberately construe a legitimate criticism into this thoroughly dishonest attack ad, is in fact, the laziest type of politicking there is. Why not have a legitimate debate about the size and role of government instead of making up stuff.
This guy is acting like he’s running regionally instead of nationally. I relish the end of his campaign. I eagerly await his spending more time with his family dropout speech.
I’m so tired of these people who have so little respect for their country that they can pull these stunts. They are dishonest and dishonourable. It’s too much.
Meanwhile, President Obama is running himself ragged trying to create some economic buffers for this country as Europe falters, knowing full well that when he flies home on Saturday, he’s got a lazy Congress waiting to blame him for them not doing their job.
This OWS group is too much now, too. They’ve littered twitter for the whole week with their police battles. I don’t even know what they stand for anymore. And they’ve completely taken all the oxygen out of the room. All the while, Republicans and Blue Dogs are passing laws that allow crazy people to carry concealed weapons. All the while, Republicans continue to pass voter suppression laws. All the while, people who could be applying pressure on the Republicans think that all politicians are the same, because the OWS people decided to say that the President coordinated the evictions. I can’t even argue with them on twitter anymore – there’s no point. It’s like they’ve entered a realm of paranoia, and they’ll only stop when all police departments resign from their jobs and join them in the tent villages. It’s crazy.
The OWS movement in its current incarnation is extremely disappointing. They have taken all of the oxygen out of the room apparently to create WTO-style footage of police vs. protestor clashes. How this will magically diminish wealth inequality, they have profoundly failed to explain.
Regarding the Michael Moore-stoked paranoia of Homeland Security and the White House coordinating a crackdown on OWS, I found this interesting article:
“ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE — President Barack Obama’s spokesman is suggesting the president believes it’s up to New York and other municipalities to decide how much force to use in dealing with Occupy Wall Street demonstrations.
Spokesman Jay Carney also says Obama hopes the right balance can be reached between protecting freedom of assembly and speech with the need to uphold order and safeguard public health and safety.”
Carney spoke to reporters Tuesday as Obama flew to Australia. He was asked whether Obama had been following the early-morning police raid on Zuccotti Park in New York, where Occupy Wall Street protesters have camped out for weeks.
He said the administration’s position is that each municipality has to make its own decisions about how to handle these issues.”
That seems to put a wet blanket on Michael Moore’s notion that there was a White House, FBI, Homeland Security conspiracy to break the back of OWS.
Michael Moore is mad that he no longer gets to have free footage for his upcoming documentary!!! Isn’t that just so sick of that man!!!
Perry knows he is sinking and sinking fast, so he is trying any and everything to grab onto to pull himself up, to keep himself alive.
Good Morning Chips & TODville! Morning shift signing in all bleary-eyed, yet ready to give the night shift commenters a break! This traveling across time zones seems to be having greater impact on this observer than it does on the main participant, but .. here I am.
Hmmmmm. What have I missed? Better go read the night logs before getting too comfortable. **mutter – hope they’re not too long**
Morning, VC. I’m up to see if I can find footage of the President arriving in Bali in 45 minutes, but to be honest, I’ve got a big meeting at 9am, and not sure what I’m still doing up… I just will sleep better knowing he’s landed after that hectic visit in Australia and the China announcement.
I may have to call it a night.
Hi Theo! I’m running around trying to find video of his parliamentary speech + the Bali arrival, but so far am out of luck. Haven’t you had any sleep at all yet?
No sleep yet. I was trying to catch up to all the video from today, and before I knew it, it was midnight. So, I said I’d just stay up, which wasn’t very smart. There was video on the parliamentary speech in the last thread – definitely worth watching.I watched it twice, with rewinds on the best parts. He should be arriving any time now.
‘He should be arriving any time now.’ Ergo, no sleep for you after all. 😆 Hopefully you’ll be able to keep your eyes open at work….hopefully.. or can you grab a nap when no one is looking?
Thanks for the hint about the last thread. Will check it out after the Bali landing
I thought I’d find some footage on the Indian channel, but they’re doing an interview with Musharraf. I’ll just have to leave his safe landing in the capable hands of the morning crew. Logging off! 😉
The President will be well-guarded in Indonesia. Apparently, there are two warships, fully armed, to ensure his safety – with about 1500 security personnel on the ships. Nothing like travelling with your own army…
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/11/17/us-navy-ships-close-ahead-obama-arrival-tni.html
‘Nothing like travelling with your own army…’
😆 I love knowing he’s well-protected ‘cos it takes a load off my mind. Generally I love when he travels because it takes him out of the intense Washington criticism/hatred for a bit, yet it also makes me a ‘tad bit’ apprehensive with all the whack-a-doodles floating around out there. A bit irrational on my part, but what can I say?
I’m the same way! That’s why I loved finding that article.
I haven’t had any luck finding alive feed for the arrival. I’m about to give up.
What’s the purpose for the Indonesia trip? Is some kind of summit going on there?
He added that the three Indonesian army personnel would also help to keep an eye on the US crews.
“The three personnel on board the USS Essex make it easy for us to monitor their every move,” he said.
——— why do they need to watch our military’s every move? They need to make sure that their military and police people are doing their jobs and leave our top notch military personnel alone (yes, I’m a little biased). What do the Indonesian brass think? That we are just gonna bomb Jakarta for no reason? For some reason, the Indonesian brass reminds me of a little Chihuahua barking and fussing and biting at a huge Doberman or German Shepherd.
crap! how does this bold thing work?! I just wanted to bold one word 🙄
Help! Which is the best live feed for the arrival in Bali? It doesn’t look like wh.gov will have one.
I guess we’ll have to wait until Ms Chips arrives, does her wizardry, and ‘Ta-da!’, we’ll have visual of the arrival! Come to think of it Chips works as hard as the President getting his message out in her own way. We are SO lucky!
Safe and sounds – but there are hundreds of protesters. Good thing he’s got his army…
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle11.asp?xfile=data/international/2011/November/international_November666.xml§ion=international
Good night all.
G’night, T & thanks!
So since everyone seems to be hours ahead of us, does that mean PBO will be home a day early?? I’m confused.
I’m going to go call FLOTUS. I’m sure she knows.
And Good Morning All.
See you all later.
This is just so disgusting. . .
http://www.yourblackworld.com/2011/11/16/disgusting-teacher-accused-of-making-black-students-rub-her-feet-during-class-video/
Apart from the sexual connotations I won’t even comment on the racial part. Sandusky-lite?
🙂 Sweet!
lololol
hahahahahahhahahhahahhahhahaha!!! Wish they had left the media in Australia. Wish he had the pilot of the media’s chartered plane pretend to be sick for a few hours and let our vaunted media sit idly by and twiddle their thumbs in the Australian heat.
Morning Todville….Love when we travel with the President and Again Thank you Chips for all you do!!
It’s Thursday morning here on the east. So in Bali what day is it? Friday Saturday, next week, or what?
Ha! Estimating from the time zones that Chips posted above I would say that it’s approx 9:08PM (tonight) in Bali 🙂 So hopefully our President should be going to bed soon.
Thanks hopefruit2. You are right the President need to get some rest, because he has been running around every where like 25 year old.
Tweet of the day phrase should be “Ending Bush-era tax cuts would affect me and my fellow millionaires about as much as a dead fly interrupts a picnic”. http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/breaking/chi-us-millionaires-ask-congress-raise-our-taxes-20111116,0,1479218.story#message2SuperCommittee
Good morning all. Hope today is even more brighter than yesterday. Can’t get TOD at work and so I will be anxiously awaiting my hour to come home to read all the wonderful posts and insightful comments.
Have a blessed day everyone and good and pleasant wishes for our hardworking president doing the people’s business.
Thank you Chips for all you do. Have a great day!!
If you haven’t yet listened to this particular media response to PBO’ Australian parliamentary I highly recommend it. I actually felt ‘enlightened’ after listening.
http://media.smh.com.au/news/national-news/in-full-obamas-address-to-parliament-2778964.html
Click on the video segment beneath that’s titled “China, the US and us”. It’s only 6 minutes and it’s well done.
Like ,minds, VC. I just posted that. Isn’t it frigging awesome?!!!
Yes! If only we could get like-minded analysis here! Can you imagine how much more ‘educated’ we’d feel/be?
Meanwhile, Norah O’Donnell and Jake “snarl” Tapper are tweeting each other about Jet lag instead of taking some badly needed lessons from the Australian media.
Guys, this is a vid where they are reading between the lines of PBO’s speech to parliament. According to them, it was a smack down to China:
http://media.smh.com.au/news/national-news/obamas-address-reading-between-the-lines-2778521.html
and a message to the Australian people a clear understanding of what exactly they signed up for.
This was good piece.
IMO, PBO standing behind his position on China in this way is a new approach to governing as I have seen it. And I like it. Instead of putting his hand behind his back and declaring he won’t play with China UNTIL they do things America’s way. He reiterates his (American) values, tells the other side that history shows they can’t really win in the long run if they continue to inhibit freedom, then leaves the door open. The President pivoting to a building approach (towards the Asia-Pacific region) as opposed to a war approach restricted to Middle East also shows that he continues to think ahead versus always reacting. America NEEDS to give our ‘naive and inexperienced’ president 4 more years to showcase his naivete and inexperience! Press on. OBAMA/BIDEN 2012
and the church says AMEN!!!
Oh dear! Df, what’s happening in Arizona? Is it the (chlorine in) the water?
http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/us-wouldbe-governors-ukrainian-love-quest-ends-in-homelessness-20111117-1nkev.html
Oh, Lord…chlorine.dirt.pollutants.ozone.spiky pollen particles.scorpion venom.And rattlesnake poop. Holy crap! With those “stellar” traits, I’m not so sure WHY he isn’t Governor right now….couldn’t be much worse than the wack job we ended up with!
THIS GUY IS DUMBER THAN A FUCKING BOX OF ROCKS!
http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/11/16/8848876-perry-says-obama-grew-up-in-a-privileged-way Seriously!!!!!!????? I nearly spit my coffee out! Sorry for the early morning emphasis, but for crying out loud, these guys are total pandering morons!
I’m not even going to say anything. His time has come and gone.
More on the guy that shot at the WH….
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45335315/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/#.TsULbj3RujM Hope they put him away.
A political correspondent takes issue with the behaviour of the leader of the opposition. Only in Australia, you say? …A pity. I rather like the first part of this quote (actually I like the last part as well):
—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–
‘ ”There’s no event too big in which he doesn’t show himself to be too small,” the manager of government business, Anthony Albanese, said. ”He always goes a step too far.”
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Kevin Rudd, said Mr Abbott’s words were unbecoming of somebody aspiring to be prime minister.
”We saw a man trying to inject crude, crass domestic politics into an occasion which should be beyond all that but about our uniform interest in the US alliance.” ‘
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/national/abbott-earns-reprimand-for-speaking-out-of-school-20111117-1nl7f.html#ixzz1dy8OC3JL
Little Miss GOP college president also had this to say on a previous Tweet..
Earlier this month, she tweeted a picture of a sign that read, “zoo has African lion, White House has a lyin’ African.” Via ThinkProgress.
Oh dear. This chick is a nasty piece, isn’t she?
She is at that.
Good morning, TODville.
Here are photos and some video of PBO addressing the troops in Darwin:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/obama-rallies-australian-troops-around-new-us-military-partnership/2011/11/17/gIQASp2rTN_story.html
This needs to be a keeper:)
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/political-animal/2011_11/crossing_the_15_trillion_debt033550.php Selective memory loss WILL take place!