This and That

One of the very loveliest photos, three years old today: First Lady Michelle Obama greets children at Children’s Place in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, April 13, 2010. (Photo by Samantha Appleton)

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The week ahead:

Monday: The President will welcome the BCS National Champion, the University of Alabama Crimson Tide, to the White House to honor their 15th championship and their exceptional 2012-2013 season. Later, the President will participate in an ambassador credentialing ceremony at the White House.

Tuesday: The President will hold a working lunch with Prince Mohammed bin Zayed of the United Arab Emirates at the White House. Later, the President will welcome Brad Keselowski to the White House to honor his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship.

Wednesday: The President will welcome the Wounded Warrior Project’s Soldier Ride to the White House in celebration of the 7th Annual Soldier Ride.

Thursday and Friday: The President will attend meetings at the White House.

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WH.gov

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‘Dependent on Congress doing right’

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SmartyPants: …… One of my routines is to read the news summary posted every morning on Daily Kos titled Abbreviated Pundit Roundup ….. This morning’s edition was telling. It covered the first full day of punditry since President Obama released his budget. The roundup included 5 commentaries on that topic – all focused on critiquing the inclusion of chained CPI…..

….. how about linking to:

Melissa Lazarín and Sasha Post at the Center for American Progress on President Obama’s Budget Makes Historic Investments in Young Children

Erika Eichelberger at Mother Jones on Obama Wants Mitt Romney’s Favorite Tax Break to Die

Annie Lowrey at the New York Times on A Budget Focus on Inequality

Matthew Yglesias at Slate on The Class War Has Begun: Obama is waging it against the rich. The Republicans are waging it against the poor.

And another one by Derek Thompson at the Atlantic titled The Obama Budget: Tax the Rich, Spare the Poor, Remember the Young

See links to those articles and full post here

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Chat away

Rise and Shine

Cagle

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10:50: President Obama departs the White House en route Fairfax, Va.

11:45: Delivers remarks at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. (C-Span)

11:45: VP Biden delivers remarks at a campaign event at the Sun City Community Center (C-Span)

2:0: Michelle Obama speaks to grassroots supporters at a campaign event in Racine, Wisconsin (listed by CNN)

3:30: VP Biden delivers remarks at a campaign event at Lincoln Park High School

4:45: President Obama departs the White House en route Camp David

5:15: Michelle Obama speaks to supporters at a campaign event at the University of Wisconsin-Wausau (listed by CNN)

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Cagle

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Thank you Pamela!

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OFA

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BuzzFeed: Kennedy Attacked Romney For Lack Of Women At Bain In 1994 Ad: “Exclusively White And Male”

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Manchester, New Hampshire, Oct 18 (Darren McCollester/Getty)

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The Alfred E Smith Dinner, Oct 18 (Mario Tama/Getty)

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Chron: A defaced painting of President Barack Obama, across the street from The Breakfast Klub restaurant in midtown, will be redone with a new design, said the original artist, Reginald C. Adams.

…. The original mural, done during the presidential election campaign in 2008, was damaged sometime early Monday by vandals who threw red paint on the larger-than-life image across the street from the popular restaurant at Travis and Alabama.

…. Marcus Davis, the restaurant owner, said he discovered the damage when he got to work about 7 a.m. Monday.

“When this happened it was a sad occasion, and yet there was some excitement there in terms of the opportunity it presents,” Davis said. “Just as President Obama has not given up and has turned a negative into a positive, that’s the example I will follow.”

More here

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Cagle

Cagle

Cagle

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Cagle

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Morning everyone 😉

This, That…. and a possibly way too early Heads Up

Manchester, New Hampshire, October 18 (Reuters/Jason Reed)

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Coming Up:

President Obama delivers remarks at the 67th Annual Alfred. E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner

C-Span * CBS 1 * CBS 2 * CNN

Streaming has started (7:40 ET) – warning: Willard will appear too …. wait, they’re having their dinner first, then we’ll get the speeches.

2008:

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(Jason Reed/Reuters)

Manchester, New Hampshire (Mark Bolton/Union Leader)

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JFK, Oct 18 (Reuters/Jason Reed)

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Live with Michael and Kelly (FBD)

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The Daily Show, October 18 (MSNBC)

Ah, Mr Morse

Remember this from last month?

I work for The Villages, a large retirement community in Central Florida, and one of the top 20 privately held corporations in the state. My employer records annual sales of over $1 billion dollars, and the company’s CEO, H. Gary Morse, is a multi-millionaire (possibly even a billionaire).

In contrast, the company’s employees are underpaid and have no benefits. I haven’t had a raise in six years. I am a part-time hourly employee, which means no paid vacation and no paid sick leave. This year, thanks to cuts in my hours, I’m on track to gross less than $10,000.

…. I checked my mail box and found a letter from my employer.

To our entire Villages Team:

The Villages is a great example of the “American Dream” come true. Together, we have created jobs, established businesses, founded an award-winning school and set the standard for enjoyable, affordable retirement living.

Only in America could such a community be created … but that America will soon disappear if we don’t change the leadership in Washington, D.C.

Read the full post here

Today:

LA Times: …. Paul Ryan’s initial campaign visit to Florida was to The Villages, a hotbed of Republican retirees. Residents were encouraged to arrive in their golf carts for the outdoor rally Saturday.

Hundreds of supporters jammed one of the development’s “town squares,” where free entertainment and boozy dances each night have helped this community of 60,000 seniors earn a somewhat double-edged reputation as Disney World for the Cialis set.

Open-air bars at the event began pouring before 8 a.m. Happy-hour pricing was in effect: $2.75 for a 14-ounce margarita. However, a Chick-fil-A stand did a brisker business.

The privately held, and tightly controlled, retirement complex is a regular campaign stop for GOP presidential candidates…..

Romney counts billionaire H. Gary Morse, who built The Villages on more than 30 square miles of central Florida farmland, among his campaign’s biggest donors. A co-chairman of Romney’s Florida finance committee, Morse, family members and their corporation have already given more than $1 million to the Romney campaign and the “super PAC” supporting him….

More here

Scum of the earth.

Awkward….

A British fan holds a Union flag over the head of Mitt Romney as he attended the morning swimming session on Day One of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Romney’s visit to London featured a string of embarrassing gaffes, including him doubting in an interview that the city was ready to host the Games, earning him a sharp public rebuke from Prime Minister David Cameron. The hashtag #RomneyShambles promptly trended on Twitter.

Even far-right British newspaper The Daily Mail – no friends of President Obama – was scathing in its assessment of Romney, describing it as an “abysmal diplomatic visit”:

…. After making the epic faux pas of questioning whether London was fully prepared to host the Olympic games, Mr Romney has been jeered on American TV and slammed by top British politicians, with London mayor Boris Johnston mocking the Massachusetts governor in front of a crowd of 60,000.

…. behind the scenes officials were even more scathing about the Republican presidential hopeful, describing his visit as a ‘car crash’ and comparing him unfavourably to Sarah Palin.

Another official who met with the former Governor of Massachusetts said he was ‘apparently devoid of charm, warmth, humour or sincerity’.

…. Another Whitehall official said of Mr Romney’s remarks: ‘What a car crash. We are speechless’ – with one aide saying the candidate was ‘worse than Sarah Palin’….

Chat away 😉

‘My millionaire boss…..’

I work for The Villages, a large retirement community in Central Florida, and one of the top 20 privately held corporations in the state. My employer records annual sales of over $1 billion dollars, and the company’s CEO, H. Gary Morse, is a multi-millionaire (possibly even a billionaire).

In contrast, the company’s employees are underpaid and have no benefits. I haven’t had a raise in six years. I am a part-time hourly employee, which means no paid vacation and no paid sick leave. This year, thanks to cuts in my hours, I’m on track to gross less than $10,000.

…. I checked my mail box and found a letter from my employer.

To our entire Villages Team:

The Villages is a great example of the “American Dream” come true. Together, we have created jobs, established businesses, founded an award-winning school and set the standard for enjoyable, affordable retirement living.

Only in America could such a community be created … but that America will soon disappear if we don’t change the leadership in Washington, D.C.

Read the full post here

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You know how much I hate linking to DK, but this is a must-read.

Sorry for all the posting and running today, I’ll see you all later.

‘Frat-boy conservatism in the Rose Garden’

Joan Walsh (Salon): What a buffoon.

Daily Caller “reporter” Neil Munro …. shouted, “Why do you favor foreigners over American workers?” while reportedly identifying himself as an immigrant….

…. I’m not one to revere the imperial presidency, but it’s unbelievable how wingnuts treat this man with such unprecedented and bullying disrespect….

…. And for right-wingers who insist Democrats are too quick to cry racism: Really, what else explains this constant, in-your-face (literally) contempt for a president?

Certainly they disrespected President Clinton, too, but never with such in-person abuse. Clinton was impeached after a political witch hunt and treated poorly even by the so-called liberal media, but he was never stalked into the Rose Garden or congressional chambers and heckled, as Obama has been.

…. It’s no accident that Munro works for bow-tied, sexually anxious bully Tucker Carlson, who famously (but not believably) boasted of beating up a gay man who made a pass at him in a men’s room, and admitted that when he hears Hillary Clinton speak, “I involuntarily cross my legs” …. This is your modern Republican Party, folks. It only gets worse.

Full post here

I’m no fan of Joan Walsh – at all – I don’t think she’s always shown much respect to PBO either, but I thought she was spot on here.

I honestly can’t even begin to describe how much I ***ing despise these people.

Back in a while.

commies!

You don’t often see Daily Kos linked around here – well, not since it became Firebagger Central. But this Conceptual Guerilla diary is a gem, so I’ll break the habit of a lifetime and link to the place.

The gist: CG got an email from “a guy who used to call my radio show over in Jacksonville” who described every Democrat as a “communist”.

This was CG’s reply:

That’s right, Rod.  Every Democrat is a communist … going all the way back to 1933 when FDR set up New Deal Communism. That would be the same New Deal communism you grew up under. The New Deal Communism that made us the richest, most powerful nation in history. The New Deal Communism that took us to the moon just 36 years after FDR was sworn in.

Let me show you the track record of those New Deal Communist Democrats.

Communist Truman left 2.5 percent unemployment to Eisenhower.

Republican Patriot Eisenhower left recession and 6.5 percent unemployment to Kennedy.

Communist Johnson left 3.5 percent unemployment to Nixon.

Republican Patriot Ford left recession and 7.5 unemployment to Jimmy Carter.

Communist Carter wasn’t able to improve much on the recession he inherited . . .

… and neither were Republican Patriots Reagan and Bush, who left recession and 7.2 unemployment to Bill Clinton.

Communist Bill Clinton left 4.2 percent unemployment to Dubya . . .

Republican Patriot Dubya left recession and 7.6 percent unemployment to Communist Barack Obama.

No Republican Patriot ever left office with unemployment under 5% …. including Reagan. No New Deal Communist ever left office with higher unemployment than they inherited …

More here

And this is CG’s video – be warned, it contains Rush Limbaugh, but it’s brilliant:

rise and shine

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Morning everyone 😉

You know I’d usually prefer to, oooooh, I don’t know, see Newt Gingrich naked than link to Daily Kos, but it’s worth an exception for this – Maryl1 gave us a link last night to a photo diary at DK that is just the most brilliant I’ve ever seen: you can see it here

Thanks so much Maryl1

Will catch up later, chat away.

rise and shine

Thank you Video Queen Donna 😉

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President Barack Obama sits in the cockpit of a 787 Dreamliner during his tour of the Boeing Plant production facility in Everett, Wash., Feb. 17, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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President Barack Obama arrives on the South Lawn of the White House after a three day West coast trip, early February 18

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The week ahead:

Monday: No public events.

Tuesday: The President and First Lady will invite music legends and contemporary major artists to the White House for a celebration of Blues music and in recognition of Black History Month as part of their “In Performance at the White House” series.

Wednesday: The President will deliver remarks at the construction site of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Thursday: The President will travel to Miami, Florida, to participate in an official event.

Friday: The President will host Prime Minister Thorning-Schmidt of Denmark for a meeting in the Oval Office.

Thanks Meta

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John McDonough (Boston.com): I’ve written before about the Obama Administration’s breakthrough efforts to fight health care fraud and abuse. Now there’s more, $4.1 billion more.

Earlier this week, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that the federal government recovered $4.1 billion in taxpayer dollars from individuals and corporations attempting to steal Medicare and Medicaid payments to which they were not entitled.

What’s $4.1 billion? It is the largest amount of money ever recovered, by far, in the history of the programs since they were established in 1965. Here are the numbers from the most recent years….

More here

Thanks amk

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Robert Shrum: The unholy alliance between Catholic bishops and the GOP

Catholic leaders are self-righteously trying to infringe on the liberty of all Americans. And head-in-the-sand Republicans are cheering them on

The Episcopal Church used to be described as the Republican Party at prayer. Today’s GOP has moved far right, and suddenly the Catholic bishops are now the Republican Party in the pulpit.

For many Catholics — and I intermittently try to be part of the church I was raised in — this is a betrayal of their beliefs about the place of faith in public life….

Full post here

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The Week

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Morning everyone – will be back later 😉