I hope I find sometime tomorrow CET to listen to it – after I have contacted ESTA about my travel to the 203rd meeting of the Fortran Standardization Committee meeting in Las Vegas 🙂
Congrats on 1st JB, I will be watching from a sleep clinic room tonight. when I scheduled I forgot it was the SOTU really glad they have TV’s in the rooms with cable. Probably watch on C-Span. Better coverage. Will check with my iPhone later tonight.
Can you imagine all the words’ flying around in the President’s brain today? Or maybe he’s the type that calls it done, and then goes and has some pie. Love him.
You know JB, I think when it is right, it is done. He may go off script , but it would have to be really important to do so. The media is just nuts trying to figure out what he is going to say tonight. I loved Jay’s comments from yesterday’s Press Briefing. The jackals were nuts.
Looking forward to a kick-ass 2014 SOTU. Excitement is building.
Over the weekend, the light bulb turned on in my head, which is this 2014 truth:
The MSM is scared to death that the outcome of 2014 Congressional races go the way they did in 2006 (landslide Dems).
They will fight tooth and nail and will say and publish any and all lies necessary to make sure this does not happen.
Despite their Koch-backed views, the MSM are not blind. They know that the two men (and their families) who lead this country are men with integrity, character and conviction who are motivated by deep personal empathy for all people. Compare to the previous administration: Bush’s reckless shallow bluster and Cheney’s cruel greed.
I am so appreciative of TODville where we Obots can vent our frustration at the unscrupulous MSM without the mindless soul-sapping personal attacks from trolls.
But the truth is that the MSM will not change and will only ramp up their efforts to see that Congress is 100% obstructionist after Nov 2014. Why, you could say, the stories write themselves! (Thought bubble over MSM talking head – guaranteed two more years of not working, just showing up after reading e-mails from Clintonistas, emoPutins and the GOP – sweeeet!). Aside: more of the “I’ve got mine, Jack” mentality that we suffered through with the Obamacare rollout.
This means the burden to get Dems elected in Congress and the Senate rests with us, the grassroots. The MSM will throw hurdles in our way at every step, every single day.
The best remedy is to focus on the positive results that local Dems have made to society. For instance, in deep-red Arizona and Utah, the Dem mayors of Phoenix and Salt Lake City have ended homelessness for vets. The SLC mayor took immediate and forceful action to extend marriage equality in December when he could (since muddled up by the court system).
These mayors are bucking the tide and improving their constituents’ lives. They are the examples we need to promote when people respond that it doesn’t make a difference who their Congresscritter or Senator is.
As the old saying goes, “forewarned is forearmed.”
Please keep this in mind as the MSM led by the odious upChuck continue this narrative until Nov. 4, 2014.
Arapaho, you’re right that everything we hear from the media this year will be about discouraging Dems and depressing 2014 turnout. The only countervailing media is us.
“We lived with her the first semester, but I had severe asthma and the weather there wasn’t good for me. My parents made a decision for my sister and me to stay in Texas while my mom kept going to school. But that doesn’t mean she wasn’t there for us. She traveled back and forth all the time, missing so many classes so that she could be with us. Her friends were such a big help. Especially her third year, when she would only go to school two weeks out of the month and her friends would share class notes so she could try to keep up while she was home with us in Fort Worth……..”
“My mother had me when she was very young, a kid herself. And although she was married for a short period of time, parenthood was her sole responsibility. Yes, we lived in a trailer. Does it matter how long? Not to me. Even though some people have tried to question my own memories; I do remember the trailer, as well as the apartments that we lived in during the years that followed. I know that I was my mother’s first priority and that she wanted a better life for me than the one she was living. She worked 2 jobs and went to community college at night. She refused to repeat the life her family struggled in growing up……”
LP, Wendy Davis obviously has wonderful daughters who love her very much. But they should not have to be put through the stress of having to “defend” her from vicious political enemies who are threatened by her strength. Her daughters are learning a lot about Texas Republicans. I hope the lesson sticks with them and they become leaders like their mom.
I love Jon’s respect and admiration for President Obama. Jon has always been one with that like spirit of POB. May Jon continue to be blessed in his career. What a beautiful ride he has taken humbly, yet brilliantly for our nation’s history. Thank you Jon.HZ
This article is awesome! I got teary reading this…
“every president has had the privilege of publicly recognizing such inspiration throughout his address”. “This is President Obama’s favorite part, too—particularly the story that’s often told to conclude the speech. My old boss is a sucker for good endings, and he would send us far and wide to find just the right anecdote. In 2011, a worker from a Pennsylvania firm whose drilling technology helped save the Chilean miners said, “We proved that Center Rock is a little company, but we do big things.” The President loved the quote, and turned it into an entire ending about American greatness and aspiration. In 2012, I remember the tears in his eyes as he told us that his proudest possession was the American flag that the SEAL team took with them on the Osama bin Laden mission, and later gave to the president as a gift. He turned that story into an ending about the unity and teamwork that defines America at its best.”
Yes, and I know I couldn’t have had dinner tonight without this count from Little Lukie! He’s become NBC’s Mark Knoller with all that countin’. Probably the only “news” he could get in advance, from a roster he saw in the hallway.
The ignorance of the latter shows through with their disgusting behavior – talk about highlighting the fact that the SCOTUS is political beyond any doubt.
Probably worse than the media carrying water for the GOP is the fact that the GOP and Corporations have bought the Supreme Court.
The network is in rebuilding mode, trying to push away from its traditional reliance on breaking news. So it’s perhaps not surprising that its ratings are not at their most robust. Even so, the numbers are stinging: as the Hollywood Reporter and TVNewser noted, it was CNN’s third-worst ratings month in its history. CNN lost 39% of its total primetime audience from the same month in 2013, and 35% of its primetime audience in the coveted A25-54 demo.
Arch-rival MSNBC also saw its ratings fall from 2013, but not nearly as much as CNN did. (It dropped just 2% in the primetime demo, for instance.) It landed in second place in all categories in both total day and primetime. Fox News, meanwhile, saw its ratings grow from January 2013, though they fell by 1% in the primetime demo category. As ever, it retained its comfortable first place lead.
One big winner for the month: Chris Matthews, whose move to 7 PM netted him his best-ever ratings in the demo.
It’s always distressing to see FOX with the highest ratings. FOX has done as much as any other entity to damage this country—–spreading lies, hate, anger—–as they take advantage of the uninformed and unenlightened for ratings.
WASHINGTON — In his State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Barack Obama will announce plans to sign an executive order to raise the minimum wage for workers under federal contracts to $10.10 per hour. Obama’s strategy is to do what he can toward his goal of increasing pay for workers, while simultaneously pressing Congress to pass legislation to raise the minimum wage nationally.
Yet Obama has for years resisted this strategy when it comes to barring workplace discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals. LGBT rights groups have repeatedly pressed him to sign an executive order to bar discrimination by federal contractors based on sexual orientation or gender identity. But Obama has refused, saying he would instead like to see Congress pass the more comprehensive Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which has cleared the Senate but doesn’t appear to be going anywhere in the GOP-controlled House. As recently as November, Obama argued that executive orders “basically nullify Congress.”
“There is no reason why the President could not have issued a federal contractor executive order years ago,” said Human Rights Campaign spokesman Michael Cole-Schwartz. “With the newly publicized commitment of the administration to take action where Congress has left off, prohibiting discrimination by contractors is a tailor-made solution to the President’s expressed aims. Our frustration at the lack of movement by the White House on addressing anti-LGBT discrimination is growing every day.”
Linda, how come they never say, “our frustration is the lack of movement by the Republican led House and Senate Rs.” Even I know that any Executive Order can be reversed by the next president and PBO wants discrimination issues to be codified in law to prevent that. Just a little common sense and they would get it, too, but it’s easier to complain.
exactly, jackie. Isn’t it amazing how much we have all learned about the political process because we have a President we admire and who inspires our learning and involvement?
aloha chips and tods!
checking in from rainy, chilly hawaii (honest–it’s only about 70 deg today, and i’m wrapped in a blanket). just looked in on the white house site for streaming the sotu, and they were showing this video. it made me laugh and i thought you might enjoy the memory too.
These figures don’t take in C-span, which is the only way I watch, Nor does it take in the vast numbers that go to the WH website for the enhanced version, which has probably become more popular in recent years.
Perhaps the $$ would be better spent on the IRS investigating every single damn one of the mofos who wrote and voted for this stupid bill. They are a waste of air.
The amount of time spent by GOP politicians dreaming up and discussion laws related to sex and its impact on women’s lives gives a very weird picture in my mind of right wing US politics. They are like school children reading the “dirty words” in a dictionary.
They cannot be getting any – because they cannot stop talking about it – their views on birth control must have their wives telling them to sleep in the spare room.
He sat next to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, but said, “I’m not allowed to talk about what CNN people say. I don’t know why. I got a memo on it.” Smith was, however, allowed to discuss how Blitzer separated his vegetables on his plate.
Hi Dudette. I can hardly wait! The TOD Family will all be watching together (in spirit) – to lift our beloved President Obama up. I have “We Shall Overcome” playing over and over in my head today.
I hope you are well. I miss your beautiful pictures of our great earth and the infinite beyond. But most of all, I’ve missed you and I’m glad you are on your way towards better health.
Have a great State of the Union Day everyone!
And thanks to everyone for the great work you’re all doing.
Hey y’all! I’m feeling good. Trying not to blast the heat but there’s only so many layers you can put on before it’s hard to maneuver. 🙂
The snow is beautiful. So glad I’m not in that stuff though. Hate to say it, but Atlanta people just get extra stupid when it comes to driving in bad weather.
All over really! My sister just spent 3 hrs trying to get home on what’s normally a 1 hr commute. She saw people literally making u-turns in the middle of on-coming traffic. SMH!
Hey DJ Dudette!! So happy to see you here!! I’ve missed you! I’m glad you’re recovery is going well. And I know what you mean about stupid dirvers in snow, that’s how it is in Memphis (even in rain, UGH!)
Hey there Sweet Southern Lady! Thanks, Hon’! Yes, I’ve been driving through Memphis in snow, you definitely know what I mean.
I’ll be here for the party too! Woooooot!
Hello beautiful Dudette. ((((((((((((((( Bundle up warmly and relax.)))))))))))))))))) Miss you, but know that I keep you in my prayers for comfort, rest, and healing in your space. Lots of love to you, our Great Maestro.HZ
Hi Dudette. Glad that you’re doing good. I hope that your health continues to improve. 🙂
“…Atlanta people just get extra stupid when it comes to driving in bad weather.” Crazy isn’t it?!?!? People have been on the road for hours, running out of gas; abandoning cars; students potentially having to spend the night at schools because the buses can’t go anywhere…as pretty as the snow is, I’m glad I’m able to enjoy it from the warmth of my home as opposed to having to be in it trying to get home.
Your weather is pretty extreme out there… Y’all be safe, u hear!
Winter Storm Warning remains in effect until 7 am EST Wednesday.
Locations: All of the Atlanta metro as well as areas along Interstate 20 west of Atlanta and Interstate 85 east of Atlanta.
Hazard types: snow.
Accumulations: 1 to 2 inches with locally higher amounts.
Timing: snow will continue through the late evening. Although the snow will end close to midnight Wednesday, snow covered roads will make for hazardous driving conditions through Wednesday morning.
Impacts: snow covered roads will make travel difficult through Wednesday morning.
Visibilities: visibilities will be reduced to one half of a mile within the heavier snow bands.
Temperatures: Upper 20s to around 30.
Correction on the hazard types: snow & ice. The ice is the biggie. Hard freeze tonight, so anybody who has to go out tomorrow morning will be in for another adventure.
Yep, the ice is the problem…especially the black ice. And since the temp won’t get much above freezing tomorrow — if at all — we’ll probably have another day of hazardous driving conditions on many of the surface streets.
Ron Paul will join the chorus of conservatives responding to President Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday by live tweeting the “REAL State of the Union.”
“What useless rhetoric will we hear from President Obama this year?” he asked on his website.
“Far too often, our ‘leaders’ fail to provide the American people with the truth. What’s most telling about the State of the Union is less about what Obama says and more about what he withholds or ignores,” he said. “Where do we really stand as a nation?”
Thanks DD for the reminder. I just lit mine.
I’ve been trying to finish my work here at the office so I can leave in 40mins and get home before 6pm PST
I can’t bring myself to read that … but last I looked, there was a huge state employee union presence in New Jersey, understandably very concerned about state employee pensions and benefits. Oops. #MessingWithTheWrongGroup
They want them gone JoB – not growing them is part of the process. In my world they were legislated out by most states, 1990s – turned into the equivalent of your 401Ks
Those crazy Republicans with their stupid rebuttal-prebuttal thingys have forced me to release the Kracken…I told you I was starting to feel a little Fired Up today. 🙂 😆 🙂
Federal workers have never all been paid comparable wages to those in the private sector, as a rule (although locality pay kicked in decades ago for those who work in high-cost areas). There’s been a Pay Comparability Act to rectify that, which – as far back as I go – was always waived for the exigencies of the government.
So, this is doubly disgusting to me. With all of the government contract dollars allotted to private-sector companies, you mean to tell me that some government contractors are paid the current minimum wage? We’re not talking wages earned at a mom ‘n’ pop store, here. And secondly, Republicans are MAD that the hourly pay of government contractor workers is being raised to a living wage? Grrr …
On Tuesday, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) criticized President Obama’s plan to raise the minimum wage for government contractors, citing it as a dangerous example of government takeover.
“The President thinks that is the way to be president and sign executive orders on his own? And decide how small business and veteran-owned business and contractors with the federal government are supposed to run the business?” Blunt said on Fox News. Comparing a $10 minimum wage to the Affordable Care Act, Blunt lamented that the government has now taken “over how federal contractors run their business as well.”
Roughly 560,000 people are hourly wage workers through federal contracts. Even though government contracts are responsible for nearly 2 million low-paid jobs, Obama’s order would only affect new contracts, mostly in the low-paying service industry. The workers affected are janitors, technicians, and fast food workers who work for companies with contracts in federal buildings and museums.
Low-wage service employees have held a series of walkouts to protest their treatment. A report from the Government Accountability Office agreed that abuse is rampant — the 25 worst wage violators receive active federal contracts. Meanwhile, the CEOs of these companies are paid a total $24 billion a year, according to Demos.
I can’t bring myself to read that, with Bill’s face on it … guessing he has something to say, or Pres. Obama’s idea is being compared to his non-ideas, as usual.
News you can use 🙂 Chicago shelter pups will be participants in the Puppy Bowl with FL Michelle Obama. Their names are Sharpie and Toewser (pronounced Tazer) named after Chgo Blackhawks hockey players Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp, in case you’re writing this all down. 🙂 The good news for Sharpie and Toeser is that all the doggies that have been featured in the Puppy Bowl end up being adopted.
Obama White House.gov
The Obama Diary 
Whoa!
Thank yooooooooooou Nerdy!!!
I am sure the tone is right Mr. President, but I feel so many of the right are tone deaf.
He’s not trying to reach the tone-deaf right. He’s trying to reach the American people.
🙂
I hope I find sometime tomorrow CET to listen to it – after I have contacted ESTA about my travel to the 203rd meeting of the Fortran Standardization Committee meeting in Las Vegas 🙂
Congrats on 1st JB, I will be watching from a sleep clinic room tonight. when I scheduled I forgot it was the SOTU really glad they have TV’s in the rooms with cable. Probably watch on C-Span. Better coverage. Will check with my iPhone later tonight.
Oh, yes, you had mentioned your sleep clinic appointment – best of luck with that. Enjoy the show (if you’re not sleeping!).
My problem JB is I won’t have anyone to talk to or make a comment and no SHOUTING “YAAA, that’s it President.” Can’t disturb the other sleepers. 🙂
Unless they’re all yellin’, too! Keep alert for them (when you’re not sleeping)! 🙂
Can you imagine all the words’ flying around in the President’s brain today? Or maybe he’s the type that calls it done, and then goes and has some pie. Love him.
Thanks for the coverage NW, Cips. Haven’t caught up yet, but maybe tomorrow I can. 🙂
You know JB, I think when it is right, it is done. He may go off script , but it would have to be really important to do so. The media is just nuts trying to figure out what he is going to say tonight. I loved Jay’s comments from yesterday’s Press Briefing. The jackals were nuts.
Roberta, missed Jay’s comments. What did he say?
The President is the center of everyone’s universe and the media cannot handle it. Lovin’ it so.hard. 🙂
tnmtngirl:
Good luck on your surgery tomorrow. Please allow yourself plenty of time to rest and completely recover. Forward to a great 2014.
This
Thanks, friends. 🙂
Yes, very best wishes for a successful outcome. Check in when you can to let us know how you are!
A tail-end charlie repost.
Looking forward to a kick-ass 2014 SOTU. Excitement is building.
Over the weekend, the light bulb turned on in my head, which is this 2014 truth:
The MSM is scared to death that the outcome of 2014 Congressional races go the way they did in 2006 (landslide Dems).
They will fight tooth and nail and will say and publish any and all lies necessary to make sure this does not happen.
Despite their Koch-backed views, the MSM are not blind. They know that the two men (and their families) who lead this country are men with integrity, character and conviction who are motivated by deep personal empathy for all people. Compare to the previous administration: Bush’s reckless shallow bluster and Cheney’s cruel greed.
I am so appreciative of TODville where we Obots can vent our frustration at the unscrupulous MSM without the mindless soul-sapping personal attacks from trolls.
But the truth is that the MSM will not change and will only ramp up their efforts to see that Congress is 100% obstructionist after Nov 2014. Why, you could say, the stories write themselves! (Thought bubble over MSM talking head – guaranteed two more years of not working, just showing up after reading e-mails from Clintonistas, emoPutins and the GOP – sweeeet!). Aside: more of the “I’ve got mine, Jack” mentality that we suffered through with the Obamacare rollout.
This means the burden to get Dems elected in Congress and the Senate rests with us, the grassroots. The MSM will throw hurdles in our way at every step, every single day.
The best remedy is to focus on the positive results that local Dems have made to society. For instance, in deep-red Arizona and Utah, the Dem mayors of Phoenix and Salt Lake City have ended homelessness for vets. The SLC mayor took immediate and forceful action to extend marriage equality in December when he could (since muddled up by the court system).
These mayors are bucking the tide and improving their constituents’ lives. They are the examples we need to promote when people respond that it doesn’t make a difference who their Congresscritter or Senator is.
As the old saying goes, “forewarned is forearmed.”
Please keep this in mind as the MSM led by the odious upChuck continue this narrative until Nov. 4, 2014.
Arapaho, you’re right that everything we hear from the media this year will be about discouraging Dems and depressing 2014 turnout. The only countervailing media is us.
I think the 30 Million ACA covered people can be enlisted to help us.
Wasn’t there a plan to join voter registration and Obamacare enrollment?
Layla this ones for you
“We lived with her the first semester, but I had severe asthma and the weather there wasn’t good for me. My parents made a decision for my sister and me to stay in Texas while my mom kept going to school. But that doesn’t mean she wasn’t there for us. She traveled back and forth all the time, missing so many classes so that she could be with us. Her friends were such a big help. Especially her third year, when she would only go to school two weeks out of the month and her friends would share class notes so she could try to keep up while she was home with us in Fort Worth……..”
“My mother had me when she was very young, a kid herself. And although she was married for a short period of time, parenthood was her sole responsibility. Yes, we lived in a trailer. Does it matter how long? Not to me. Even though some people have tried to question my own memories; I do remember the trailer, as well as the apartments that we lived in during the years that followed. I know that I was my mother’s first priority and that she wanted a better life for me than the one she was living. She worked 2 jobs and went to community college at night. She refused to repeat the life her family struggled in growing up……”
LP, Wendy Davis obviously has wonderful daughters who love her very much. But they should not have to be put through the stress of having to “defend” her from vicious political enemies who are threatened by her strength. Her daughters are learning a lot about Texas Republicans. I hope the lesson sticks with them and they become leaders like their mom.
I hope all the women in Texas are learning the lessons
Great piece by Jon Favreau.
I love Jon’s respect and admiration for President Obama. Jon has always been one with that like spirit of POB. May Jon continue to be blessed in his career. What a beautiful ride he has taken humbly, yet brilliantly for our nation’s history. Thank you Jon.HZ
This article is awesome! I got teary reading this…
“every president has had the privilege of publicly recognizing such inspiration throughout his address”. “This is President Obama’s favorite part, too—particularly the story that’s often told to conclude the speech. My old boss is a sucker for good endings, and he would send us far and wide to find just the right anecdote. In 2011, a worker from a Pennsylvania firm whose drilling technology helped save the Chilean miners said, “We proved that Center Rock is a little company, but we do big things.” The President loved the quote, and turned it into an entire ending about American greatness and aspiration. In 2012, I remember the tears in his eyes as he told us that his proudest possession was the American flag that the SEAL team took with them on the Osama bin Laden mission, and later gave to the president as a gift. He turned that story into an ending about the unity and teamwork that defines America at its best.”
They will be missed. Just kidding—-the 3 most detestable will not be in attendance, which is actually cheerful news.
Good news, but what about Sotomayor?
Embarrassed to say I forgot all about her, and forgot there were 9 of ’em! You should tweet old Lukie back on that miss!
Yes, and I know I couldn’t have had dinner tonight without this count from Little Lukie! He’s become NBC’s Mark Knoller with all that countin’. Probably the only “news” he could get in advance, from a roster he saw in the hallway.
Scalia and Thomas should be kick off the Supreme Court anyway.
The ignorance of the latter shows through with their disgusting behavior – talk about highlighting the fact that the SCOTUS is political beyond any doubt.
Probably worse than the media carrying water for the GOP is the fact that the GOP and Corporations have bought the Supreme Court.
January 2014 was not a month to remember for CNN.
The network is in rebuilding mode, trying to push away from its traditional reliance on breaking news. So it’s perhaps not surprising that its ratings are not at their most robust. Even so, the numbers are stinging: as the Hollywood Reporter and TVNewser noted, it was CNN’s third-worst ratings month in its history. CNN lost 39% of its total primetime audience from the same month in 2013, and 35% of its primetime audience in the coveted A25-54 demo.
Arch-rival MSNBC also saw its ratings fall from 2013, but not nearly as much as CNN did. (It dropped just 2% in the primetime demo, for instance.) It landed in second place in all categories in both total day and primetime. Fox News, meanwhile, saw its ratings grow from January 2013, though they fell by 1% in the primetime demo category. As ever, it retained its comfortable first place lead.
One big winner for the month: Chris Matthews, whose move to 7 PM netted him his best-ever ratings in the demo.
It’s always distressing to see FOX with the highest ratings. FOX has done as much as any other entity to damage this country—–spreading lies, hate, anger—–as they take advantage of the uninformed and unenlightened for ratings.
My, my, my. PBO is the utterly most photogenic man in the world, even from the back. My, my, my.
Early grab on the naughty mats, MightyPamela? Ha!
Jacquelineoboomer and MightyPamela have you seen yardarm? I hope he is fine. HZ
He was here today HZ talking about frozen nuts!
😆 I’m are he’s at the locker, standing guard duty..
*sure
Oh, that was yardarm. My eyes again. Good that he is here.HZ
As in “FURST”?! Come to think of it, even this quote at the top of the thread could describe the man…
Yes it could!
Dunno if this is fake or not, but what a cute picture!
(my grammar might need tweaking, but y’all get my drift..)
He so IS!
WASHINGTON — In his State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Barack Obama will announce plans to sign an executive order to raise the minimum wage for workers under federal contracts to $10.10 per hour. Obama’s strategy is to do what he can toward his goal of increasing pay for workers, while simultaneously pressing Congress to pass legislation to raise the minimum wage nationally.
Yet Obama has for years resisted this strategy when it comes to barring workplace discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender individuals. LGBT rights groups have repeatedly pressed him to sign an executive order to bar discrimination by federal contractors based on sexual orientation or gender identity. But Obama has refused, saying he would instead like to see Congress pass the more comprehensive Employment Non-Discrimination Act, which has cleared the Senate but doesn’t appear to be going anywhere in the GOP-controlled House. As recently as November, Obama argued that executive orders “basically nullify Congress.”
“There is no reason why the President could not have issued a federal contractor executive order years ago,” said Human Rights Campaign spokesman Michael Cole-Schwartz. “With the newly publicized commitment of the administration to take action where Congress has left off, prohibiting discrimination by contractors is a tailor-made solution to the President’s expressed aims. Our frustration at the lack of movement by the White House on addressing anti-LGBT discrimination is growing every day.”
—–
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/28/obama-executive-action-enda_n_4680447.html
WahWahWah………….go complain to your BFF Bill Clinton
Linda, how come they never say, “our frustration is the lack of movement by the Republican led House and Senate Rs.” Even I know that any Executive Order can be reversed by the next president and PBO wants discrimination issues to be codified in law to prevent that. Just a little common sense and they would get it, too, but it’s easier to complain.
exactly, jackie. Isn’t it amazing how much we have all learned about the political process because we have a President we admire and who inspires our learning and involvement?
23,499,626 hits prior to PBO speech
aloha chips and tods!
checking in from rainy, chilly hawaii (honest–it’s only about 70 deg today, and i’m wrapped in a blanket). just looked in on the white house site for streaming the sotu, and they were showing this video. it made me laugh and i thought you might enjoy the memory too.
Thanks Susanne. Great memories!!
Our President has such a great sense of humor.
He sure looks ready.
Greetings!
State of the Union viewer numbers for every year starting with Clinton. Bush is the highest in 2003 when he was taking us in to another war of choice.
Click to access stateoftheunion-nielsenratings.pdf
These figures don’t take in C-span, which is the only way I watch, Nor does it take in the vast numbers that go to the WH website for the enhanced version, which has probably become more popular in recent years.
True… I forgot about those…
PBS, AJAM, Fusion, FBN, Radio is Never factored in.
The information is there, but they Media is very selective on what they actually post publicly.
What in the world? Saw the House was voting on this today. They’re crazy. I mean, really crazy.
I thought they hated the IRS….
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2014/roll030.xml
6 Dems voted with the Repubs.
Really disgusting!
Yes they do unless the IRS is in your vagina!
😯
LMVO!!!
Perhaps the $$ would be better spent on the IRS investigating every single damn one of the mofos who wrote and voted for this stupid bill. They are a waste of air.
Every woman in America needs to know how House Republicans use (waste) their time waging war against them.
Does the GOP want to raise taxes on rape victims now?
But there is no war on women
The amount of time spent by GOP politicians dreaming up and discussion laws related to sex and its impact on women’s lives gives a very weird picture in my mind of right wing US politics. They are like school children reading the “dirty words” in a dictionary.
They cannot be getting any – because they cannot stop talking about it – their views on birth control must have their wives telling them to sleep in the spare room.
So PBO had the Jackals over for lunch today. He is a better person than I am. 🙄
Sorry, that’s the wrong tweet.
Moocher! Who paid for his meal!!! lol
He sat next to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, but said, “I’m not allowed to talk about what CNN people say. I don’t know why. I got a memo on it.” Smith was, however, allowed to discuss how Blitzer separated his vegetables on his plate.
hahahahaha…how pathetic
Howdy Buds!!! 😀
Can’t wait to see our brilliant President knock it out of the park tonight!
Hey Girl! How ya feeling??
Hey you! I sure missed you!
Hi…how you feeling……and How about this snow in Atlanta, yikes !
Duuuuuuuuuuuuuuuudette!!! Hope you’re doing good and getting your strength back?
Dang Chips! you knocked me out of the way!
GGail —> Slower than a herd of snails traveling through peanut butter
Ooooohhhhh, youuuuuuu!!!!! (shakes fist!!!!)))))
LOL!
Dayum! – mean and has sand in fist…..
ok, ok,
I give…sheesh!
I win 😎
This time!!!! 👿
GG, this is why you can’t finish your work!! Get to it Lady!! We need you here tonight!
I Know LadyTNT!
Tell Chipsticks to leave me lone so I can get done with ma work!
You cannot win an argument with someone who wants to marry a giraffe
And folks keep saying Michele Bachmann is crazy
Hiya Chips-a-doodledoo! Doing good. Strong as a… Democrat today! 😀
Hey sista!
Hello dere, dahlin’ GGail! 🙂
Hi Dudette. I can hardly wait! The TOD Family will all be watching together (in spirit) – to lift our beloved President Obama up. I have “We Shall Overcome” playing over and over in my head today.
I hope you are well. I miss your beautiful pictures of our great earth and the infinite beyond. But most of all, I’ve missed you and I’m glad you are on your way towards better health.
Have a great State of the Union Day everyone!
And thanks to everyone for the great work you’re all doing.
Hi Sue! Thank you so much, my dear! I missed you too!.
Here’s something magnificent for you!
https://twitter.com/GoogleEarthPics/status/428295493332914176
Gorge! Thank you.
@}–>—-
Hey y’all! I’m feeling good. Trying not to blast the heat but there’s only so many layers you can put on before it’s hard to maneuver. 🙂
The snow is beautiful. So glad I’m not in that stuff though. Hate to say it, but Atlanta people just get extra stupid when it comes to driving in bad weather.
😆 Our Dudette is most certainly back!!!
LOL! Yep! You know I’m feeling good when my witchy-bitchy comes out for a spin! 😀 😀 😀
I cracked up at the witchy-bitchy, it was confirmation you’re on the road to recovery!
You know me sooo well! |-)
Especially on the I-75/85 !
All over really! My sister just spent 3 hrs trying to get home on what’s normally a 1 hr commute. She saw people literally making u-turns in the middle of on-coming traffic. SMH!
SMH 2!
Hey DJ Dudette!! So happy to see you here!! I’ve missed you! I’m glad you’re recovery is going well. And I know what you mean about stupid dirvers in snow, that’s how it is in Memphis (even in rain, UGH!)
I will be here tonight for the SOTU party!!
Hey there Sweet Southern Lady! Thanks, Hon’! Yes, I’ve been driving through Memphis in snow, you definitely know what I mean.
I’ll be here for the party too! Woooooot!
Hello beautiful Dudette. ((((((((((((((( Bundle up warmly and relax.)))))))))))))))))) Miss you, but know that I keep you in my prayers for comfort, rest, and healing in your space. Lots of love to you, our Great Maestro.HZ
Dearest HZ! You move me to tears! Thank you for your incredible warmth and beautiful spirit! Love you! {{{{{{{{{{ HZ }}}}}}}}}}
{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{ You are so welcome, beautiful angel.}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}} HZ
Welcome back Dudette. Glad that you are feeling better.
Hey COS! Thank you! I’m glad too! Missed hanging out with ya!
Hi Dudette. Glad that you’re doing good. I hope that your health continues to improve. 🙂
“…Atlanta people just get extra stupid when it comes to driving in bad weather.” Crazy isn’t it?!?!? People have been on the road for hours, running out of gas; abandoning cars; students potentially having to spend the night at schools because the buses can’t go anywhere…as pretty as the snow is, I’m glad I’m able to enjoy it from the warmth of my home as opposed to having to be in it trying to get home.
Your weather is pretty extreme out there… Y’all be safe, u hear!
Winter Storm Warning remains in effect until 7 am EST Wednesday.
Locations: All of the Atlanta metro as well as areas along Interstate 20 west of Atlanta and Interstate 85 east of Atlanta.
Hazard types: snow.
Accumulations: 1 to 2 inches with locally higher amounts.
Timing: snow will continue through the late evening. Although the snow will end close to midnight Wednesday, snow covered roads will make for hazardous driving conditions through Wednesday morning.
Impacts: snow covered roads will make travel difficult through Wednesday morning.
Visibilities: visibilities will be reduced to one half of a mile within the heavier snow bands.
Temperatures: Upper 20s to around 30.
Correction on the hazard types: snow & ice. The ice is the biggie. Hard freeze tonight, so anybody who has to go out tomorrow morning will be in for another adventure.
Tomorrow should sho nuff be a Snow Day for everybody!
Yep, the ice is the problem…especially the black ice. And since the temp won’t get much above freezing tomorrow — if at all — we’ll probably have another day of hazardous driving conditions on many of the surface streets.
Absolutely! Good day to telecommute.
Thanks Neighbor! 🙂
Scary out there. Snuggle up and stay warm!
Well, well, well. look who’s here! Welcome Dudette
That’s me! Wassup, Vicki-Bay-beeeeee! 😀
😎 🙂 😆 😉
The TODable DJ Sweet Dudette is In the Community, present and in attendance 😉 .
Lovely to Read your posts. Alive and Kicking…….a song from the ’80s please Hit Me with it dear Lady. It has been a Long Time Coming.
Hey Nena! Thank you so much! Glad to be alive and kicking! 😀
This is 70’s instead of 80’s, but it’s a good one.
Hey Dudette, did you see that on Sunday, I posted Frankie Beverly & Maze – Southern Girl and I posted some of the lyrics – just fer you!
We love you our Southern Girl and we’re sooooo very happy you have returned to your “outside” family 🙂
Thanks Dudette. 😉
This is the song I had in mind for your Return……The Title: Alive and Kicking by Simple Mind.
Well looky who’s here!!!! It’s the Dudette!!!!!!
So good to hear from yooooooooouuuuuuuuuu.
H,i Dudette! I’m so glad to see you posting again. I hope you are feeling better. My prayers for a quick recovery.
Another one chimes in.
Ron Paul will join the chorus of conservatives responding to President Obama’s State of the Union address on Tuesday by live tweeting the “REAL State of the Union.”
“What useless rhetoric will we hear from President Obama this year?” he asked on his website.
“Far too often, our ‘leaders’ fail to provide the American people with the truth. What’s most telling about the State of the Union is less about what Obama says and more about what he withholds or ignores,” he said. “Where do we really stand as a nation?”
@RonPaul – if anybody wants to take him on – won’t be me, that’s for sure. #LifeIsWayTooShort
title of his speech: ‘the president is blah’
For Bobfr – ICYMI:
He met with the family of Kenneth Bae today.
It would be great to have 50 candles lit by 9 tonight.
http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/candles.cfm?l=eng&gi=obama
Done Grandma DD!!
Thanks DD for the reminder. I just lit mine.
I’ve been trying to finish my work here at the office so I can leave in 40mins and get home before 6pm PST
Done. #38…12 to go.
Did mine earlier. Thanks so much, Donna. {{{{{{{{{ Hugs to the beautiful grandbabies}}}}}}}}}}HZ
Done! “Dear God, Thank you for Blessing our nation with President Obama. Please continue to guide and protect him. Alycée”
That felt good..
Mine was #54
The plot thickens.
Fort Lee Development Linked To State Pension Funds
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/hudson-lights-state-pensions
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Then the River flows 😉
I can’t bring myself to read that … but last I looked, there was a huge state employee union presence in New Jersey, understandably very concerned about state employee pensions and benefits. Oops. #MessingWithTheWrongGroup
And EVERY GOP politician wants gov employee pensions to be gone – they, of course, want to keep their own.
They may not want them to be gone, but they sure don’t want them to grow!!!!
They want them gone JoB – not growing them is part of the process. In my world they were legislated out by most states, 1990s – turned into the equivalent of your 401Ks
Two different worlds!
Take him down, Dudette!
😀
You’re on fire on the Twitter machine Donna!
Those crazy Republicans with their stupid rebuttal-prebuttal thingys have forced me to release the Kracken…I told you I was starting to feel a little Fired Up today. 🙂 😆 🙂
Go git ’em girl!!
Holey Moley I’ve gotten 26 followers today 🙂
YEAH! Let’s hear it for the Kracken!
Federal workers have never all been paid comparable wages to those in the private sector, as a rule (although locality pay kicked in decades ago for those who work in high-cost areas). There’s been a Pay Comparability Act to rectify that, which – as far back as I go – was always waived for the exigencies of the government.
So, this is doubly disgusting to me. With all of the government contract dollars allotted to private-sector companies, you mean to tell me that some government contractors are paid the current minimum wage? We’re not talking wages earned at a mom ‘n’ pop store, here. And secondly, Republicans are MAD that the hourly pay of government contractor workers is being raised to a living wage? Grrr …
On Tuesday, Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) criticized President Obama’s plan to raise the minimum wage for government contractors, citing it as a dangerous example of government takeover.
“The President thinks that is the way to be president and sign executive orders on his own? And decide how small business and veteran-owned business and contractors with the federal government are supposed to run the business?” Blunt said on Fox News. Comparing a $10 minimum wage to the Affordable Care Act, Blunt lamented that the government has now taken “over how federal contractors run their business as well.”
Roughly 560,000 people are hourly wage workers through federal contracts. Even though government contracts are responsible for nearly 2 million low-paid jobs, Obama’s order would only affect new contracts, mostly in the low-paying service industry. The workers affected are janitors, technicians, and fast food workers who work for companies with contracts in federal buildings and museums.
Low-wage service employees have held a series of walkouts to protest their treatment. A report from the Government Accountability Office agreed that abuse is rampant — the 25 worst wage violators receive active federal contracts. Meanwhile, the CEOs of these companies are paid a total $24 billion a year, according to Demos.
http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/01/28/3216391/blunt-contractors-wage/
I can’t bring myself to read that, with Bill’s face on it … guessing he has something to say, or Pres. Obama’s idea is being compared to his non-ideas, as usual.
My world – main thing we heard about the Clinton years
1. Hillary failed on health care
2. impeachment & Monica
But now the media loves him – and note how they are starting to love Bush II – same media, same stupid
30!!!!! WTF!!!! it should be 100!!! Hey jam, what’s up!
30 experts on What exactly? Giving speeches? Being POTUS?
Hmm?
AJAM was supposed to be different, huh? But it is the same old thing…..Talking Heads….NY/DC punditry bat poop.
THIS!!!! I expected nothing different!
Okay I’m heading home. You all keep lighting those candles. We are up to 35. We only need 15 more to reach our goal of 50 before the SOTU.
Later!
Chat away!
http://theobamadiary.com/2014/01/28/chat-away-307/
News you can use 🙂 Chicago shelter pups will be participants in the Puppy Bowl with FL Michelle Obama. Their names are Sharpie and Toewser (pronounced Tazer) named after Chgo Blackhawks hockey players Jonathan Toews and Patrick Sharp, in case you’re writing this all down. 🙂 The good news for Sharpie and Toeser is that all the doggies that have been featured in the Puppy Bowl end up being adopted.
‘Duck Dynasty’ stars attending the State of the Union…
Louisiana Republican Rep. Vance McAllister announced… that he’s bringing Willie Robertson…
South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham announced … that he had given a guest ticket to Robertson’s wife, Korie. … http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/duck-dynasty-state-of-the-union