evening all

Rahm Emanuel’s speech at the Iowa Democratic Party Jefferson-Jackson dinner in Des Moines tonight will be live on C-Span at 8:30 ET – here

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A couple more videos from Australia posted on the WH YouTube channel today:

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And another from ABC Australia:

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YouTube

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OFA: Yesterday, four Republicans in the New Hampshire State House allowed a hearing requested by Orly Taitz, the notorious dentist-lawyer-birther who wants President Obama officially removed from the state’s primary ballot.

So in honor of conspiracy theorists everywhere, we’re re-releasing the campaign’s limited-edition “Made in the USA” mugs.

There’s clearly nothing we can do to satisfy this crowd – or anyone else who insists on wasting time and energy on nonsense like this.

But when it starts to make your head hurt, I’ve found the best remedy is to have some tea in my “Made in the USA” mug.

Works like a charm. I recommend Earl Grey.

Buy the mug here

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**** Thanks to ChristiMtl for the link to Emilia’s post on Chris Matthews (here) – she says it all. ****

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Tommy Christopher (Mediaite): Michael Moore Goes The Full Wingnut On President Obama Over Occupy ‘Crackdown’

This week began with a series of raids on Occupy movement encampments across the country … Filmmaker Michael Moore responded by accusing President Obama, via Twitter, of giving the “green light” for the raids. It’s just the latest in a series of unhinged attacks, on the President, by Moore….

…. At the time he made the accusation, there was absolutely no evidence to support it … The whole thing is so tin-foil ridiculous….What’s truly mystifying, though, is Michael Moore’s desperation to attack President Obama …. it’s rare that a liberal outpaces the most rabid of right-wing fabricators to do so.

…. this is just the culmination of a series of unhinged anti-Obama attacks by Moore … Perhaps most tellingly, though, he appeared on The View in September to express his “disappointment” with President Obama by saying, “Bill Maher had a good answer when he said that Obama was half white and half black. He said I went to the polls and I voted for the black guy and what we got was the white guy.”

…. A blogger at AngryBlackLady.com notes Moore’s curious obsession with “the white vote” in a talk he gave earlier this month. He told the crowd, “The only reason Obama won was because of 18 to 29 year olds,” and went on to explain that this was the only age group in which a majority of whites voted for Barack Obama….

….. It’s time that Michael Moore, and some of the others who are disillusioned with President Obama, think about what role his race plays in the ways in which they criticize him.

Full post here

rise and shine

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AP: After a nine-day trip through Asia in which he showed command on the world stage, President Barack Obama is headed back to debt-deadlocked Washington, where he’ll confront fresh reminders of the limits of his power at home.

Obama departed from Bali’s international airport Saturday afternoon for a 21-hour flight that, factoring in time-zone changes, was to return him to the White House before dawn Sunday.

He’ll be arriving days ahead of a deadline for a congressional supercommittee to produce recommendations to attack the country’s deficit. But even though the president spoke to the supercommittee leaders from Air Force One as he headed out of town and urged them to get a deal, the panel is no further along than when Obama left Washington: frozen stuck along partisan lines.

…. Obama set out in his Asia-Pacific tour to deepen U.S. engagement in a fast-growing region that the White House views as increasingly critical to America’s security and economic prosperity. He achieved some successes, including progress on a regional free-trade deal that could pay off with U.S. jobs, and a new military agreement with Australia that will boost the U.S. defense posture in the region by deploying more marines and U.S. aircraft to Australia.

… On China, throughout his trip Obama sent both public and private signals to the rising giant, cementing American power in a manner seen to counter China, and scolding Chinese leaders about the need to play by the rules economically. On the final day of his trip, Saturday in Indonesia, Obama held a surprise meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao on the sidelines of an East Asia summit, focusing on the economic matters that have prompted disputes between the two major world powers.

Full article here

Not forgetting:

….. next to Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda

… with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and Australia’s Prime Minister Julia Gillard

Washington Post: President Obama and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao held an unscheduled meeting Saturday morning on the sidelines of a summit of Asian leaders on the Indonesian island of Bali, and the two briefly discussed the territorial dispute in the South China Sea that has unnerved some of China’s neighbors.

…. The surprise session came at the end of Obama’s 9-day Asia trip, that began with a stop in Hawaii and took him to Australia’s northern coast and to the capital, Canberra….

…. Throughout the trip, Obama stressed that his mission was to find new markets in Asia for American products and link the U.S. recovery to this region’s dynamic growth.

But a strong subtext of the administration’s announced pivot to Asia has been shoring up longstanding alliances and reassuring traditional allies that the United States would help counter a newly assertive China, which is increasing its military spending and pressing its territorial claims in the region.

Full article here

Reuters: Myanmar’s government vowed on Saturday to address concerns raised by President Barack Obama, outlining far-reaching plans to make peace with ethnic rebels, gradually release more political prisoners and relax controls on freedom of expression.

Full article here

President Obama boards Air Force One as he leaves Bali for Washington, Nov. 19

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I know, we wished Donna a happy birthday yesterday …. but it turns out I was a day early 😳

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Rahm Emanuel’s speech at the Iowa Democratic Party Jefferson-Jackson dinner in Des Moines tonight will be live on C-Span at 8:30 ET – here