Chat Away

Rise and Shine

Elsheba Khan at the grave of her son, Specialist Kareem Rashad Sultan Khan, in Arlington National Cemetery – he died on 6 August 2007 in Baqouba, Iraq

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Today:

9:30: The President and First Lady host a breakfast in honor of Gold Star Families

11:0: The President lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier; The First Lady also attends

11:20: The President delivers remarks

White House Live * C-Span

12:20: VP Biden and President Santos Speak to the press, Bogota, Colombia (Audio only at WH Live)

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The Oklahoman: President Barack Obama came to Oklahoma on Sunday to comfort grieving families, laud the work of emergency responders and offer assurances that the nation stands ready to assist with recovery from last week’s deadly tornadoes.

…. He also talked with Moore School Superintendent Suzy Pierce, Shelley Jaques-McMillin, principal of Briarwood Elementary, which also was badly damaged, and several others, including Scott Lewis, who was able to get his son, Zack, out of school and into a storm shelter in the nick of time.

“He just wanted to speak to the boy and tell him how brave he was,” Moore Mayor Glenn Lewis said. “Told us everything will be OK. And he reassured us. We told him how great FEMA was and the first responders.”

…. Afterward, the president met in private at the station for about 30 minutes with several family members of the children killed at Plaza Towers.

More here

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President Obama’s motorcade exits the tornado ravaged Plaza Towers Elementary School after visiting with residents and families in Moore

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“When we say that we’ve got your back, I promise you, we keep our word.” —President Obama today in Oklahoma: at.wh.gov/lpMQt

— The White House (@whitehouse) May 27, 2013

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National Memo – Five Great Signs for Obamacare

Republicans have tested the limits of hyperbole in attacking Obamacare. You can’t really top then-Minority Leader John Boehner warning that passage of the Affordable Care Act would be “Armageddon.” Well, we’re still here.

…. There’s no doubt that this new system that requires a health care marketplace to be set up in all 50 states will be complex and onerous to put in place — especially with Republicans purposely trying to engineer a disaster. But they’ve set expectations so low that there’s a good chance Obamacare will actually impress, especially in the blue states that are taking advantage of the landmark law.

….. Here are five auspicious signs for Obamacare

More here

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Consumer confidence soars to 6-year high, backed by job growth, rising home prices. Consumers unaware what a bad job Obama’s doing, says GOP

— The Daily Edge (@TheDailyEdge) May 27, 2013

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NYT: The state of the economy is far from ideal, but some very definite positives are brewing. It’s not just that we are continuing to recover from a deep recession; we are also seeing signs that America’s long-term future may be looking up, too.

The case for optimism is hardly open-and-shut. The economy’s problems include high unemployment, mediocre productivity gains and stagnant or slow-growing earnings for most income classes. Still, let’s consider five indicators that the future is starting to brighten:

More here

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California reminds us: The first step toward a balanced budget is getting Republicans out of office. fb.me/Fgm97vsR

— LOLGOP (@LOLGOP) May 26, 2013

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Rise and Shine

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Today:

5:0 EST: President Obama departs West Palm Beach, Florida

7:30 EST: Arrives White House

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NYT: The Obama administration is planning a decade-long scientific effort to examine the workings of the human brain and build a comprehensive map of its activity, seeking to do for the brain what the Human Genome Project did for genetics.

The project, which the administration has been looking to unveil as early as March, will include federal agencies, private foundations and teams of neuroscientists and nanoscientists in a concerted effort to advance the knowledge of the brain’s billions of neurons and gain greater insights into perception, actions and, ultimately, consciousness.

Scientists with the highest hopes for the project also see it as a way to develop the technology essential to understanding diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, as well as to find new therapies for a variety of mental illnesses.

More here

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@ReignOfApril‘s response to Melissa Harris-Perry here

I’ve added a link to April’s blog in the blogroll on the right, I’ve noooooooo idea why I didn’t do it before

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That was short – mooOOOooorning!

Melissa Harris Perry

MSNBC

Mitt’s Mendacity….

Thanks Marlz

evening all

President Barack Obama meets with former President George H.W. Bush and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in the Oval Office, Jan. 27, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

The White House released a statement saying, “The three men enjoyed a personal visit in the Oval Office – as they have done on previous occasions when President Bush is Washington.”

The Bushes are in town to attend the exclusive Alfalfa Club dinner Saturday, an annual get-together for Washington power brokers that Obama also is scheduled to attend.

7:15 PM: PBO delivers remarks at the 99th annual Alfalfa Club Dinner in Washington. Michelle Obama attends.

Thanks Jovie

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President Barack Obama boards Marine One for departure from Cambridge-Dorchester Airport in Cambridge, Md., Jan. 27, 2012. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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White House

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The Week

Nick Anderson

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USA Today: Republicans were quick to rebuke the Obama administration after a third clean-energy company to receive taxpayer dollars, Ener1, filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this week.

But absent from their critique of Ener1 — which was awarded a $118.5 million grant from the Department of Energy in 2009 to expand an Indianapolis manufacturing plant — has been any mention that the electric battery manufacturer was also championed by one of the GOP’s rising stars, Gov. Mitch Daniels.

More here

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The line for President Obama’s speech in Michigan early this morning:

Freep.com

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Ta-Nehisi Coates (The Atlantic): All parties agree that Ron Paul is not, personally, racist and that he didn’t write the (newsletters) passages …. As I’ve said before, we all must make our calculus in supporting a candidate or even claiming he is “good” for the debate. But it must be an honest calculus.

If you believe that a character who would conspire to profit off of white supremacy, anti-gay bigotry, and anti-Semitism is the best vehicle for convincing the country to end the drug war, to end our romance with interventionism, to encourage serious scrutiny of state violence, at every level, then you should be honest enough to defend that proposition.

What you should not do is claim that Ron Paul “legislated” for Martin Luther King Day, or claim to have intricate knowledge of Ron Paul’s heart, and thus by the harsh accumulation of evidence, be made to look ridiculous.

More here

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They’re eating each other alive, part 2,372:

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Supporters of President Obama cheer at the press bus travelling with Newt Gingrich arriving at the Republican Jewish Coalition rally in Delray Beach, Florida, January 27

rise and shine

Greg Sargent: The first thing you should watch this morning is this harsh new Web video from the Obama-allied Priorities USA Action. It paints a very lurid picture of “Mitt Romney’s America,” and it provides the clearest clues yet as to what kind of campaign Obama and outside groups will run against him if he’s the nominee.

Romney’s corporate background, as well as that infamous Bain picture, get top billing, and are tied to the allegation that Romney’s policies would be a boon to corporations while decimating the middle class. Obama advisers and allies intend to paint an extremely vivid and even frightening picture of what Romney’s desire to roll back Obama’s post-Bush reforms would mean for the economy, the country, and the future. Beyond his pro-corporate policies, the feeling on the Obama team is that Romney’s corporate past is an unexplored and potentially serious liability, particularly amid the intense anti-Wall Street sentiment that seems to be on the rise…..

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CNN will have live steaming of the President’s 11:25 speech

Today:

11:25 The President delivers remarks in front of the Key Bridge at Georgetown’s Waterfront Park in Washington, DC

12:30 Jay Carney’s press briefing

2:30 Michelle Obama hosts the PCAH’s National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards

4:15 The President and Vice President meet with Senate Democratic leadership

7:0 The President departs Joint Base Andrews en route to Nice, France

7:0 The Vice President and Jill Biden host Eric Cantor and his wife Diana for dinner at the Naval Observatory

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More at the White House site

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You know how much I hate GOPolitico and how I hold my nose when I link to it – well, I’m holding my nose again because this article is worth reading: link

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Quinnipiac: President Barack Obama’s job approval rating is up, from a negative 41 – 55 percent October 5, to a split today with 47 percent approving and 49 percent disapproving in a Quinnipiac University poll released today. The president has leads of 5 to 16 percentage points over likely Republican challengers.

…. “President Obama seems to be improving in voters’ eyes almost across-the-board,” said Peter Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. “He scores big gains among the groups with whom he has had the most problems – whites and men. Women also shift from a five-point negative to a four-point positive.

….. Obama also is looking better in matchups against potential Republican nominees:

47 – 42 percent over Romney, compared to a 46 – 42 percentlead October 5;
52 – 36 percent over Perry, up from a 45 – 44 percent tie last month;
50 – 40 percent over Cain, who was not included in a matchup last month;
52 – 37 percent over Gingrich, who was not matched last month.

More here

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From the same poll:

More here

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The Week

See Steve Benen on Cain’s troubles

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Full editorial here – thanks Proud

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Morning everyone 😉

evening all

Original video here

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Most of the local channels have posted either their full interviews with the President, or clips:

Portland – KGW, NBC, Tracy Barry
Phoenix – KSAZ, Fox, John Hook (no video yet)
Denver – KUSA, NBC, Adele Arakawa
Minneapolis – WCCO, CBS, Amelia Santaniello
Houston – KTRK, ABC, Dave Ward (no video yet)
Omaha – KETV, ABC, Rob McCartney
Tampa – WTVT, Fox, Mark Wilson
Hampton Roads – WAVY, NBC, Tom Schaad
Philadelphia – WPVI, ABC, Brian Taff

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Daily Beast: ….. Dorothy Rodham’s early life was difficult, and at the age of 8, when her parents divorced, she and a younger sister were sent alone by train from Chicago to Alhambra, Calif., to live with grandparents. It was not a happy home, and at 14, she left to make her way on her own, first as a mother’s helper, then after returning to Chicago, doing clerical work. There she met Hugh Rodham, a traveling salesman eight years her senior, and after a five-year courtship, they married in 1942.

…. Dorothy Rodham was a secret Democrat …. Hugh Rodham was a staunch Republican … After Hugh Rodham died in 1993, Dorothy spent much of her time at the White House, caring for Chelsea and bucking up her daughter through a minefield of policy and personal setbacks…..

Full article here

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WH: In 2009, President Obama challenged the Federal Government to lead by example by becoming leaner, greener and more efficient. He asked agencies and departments to become more energy efficient, reduce waste and water use, and use its purchasing power as the largest energy consumer in the U.S. economy to support more environmentally responsible products and technologies in their operations.

The GreenGov Presidential Awards celebrate extraordinary achievement in the pursuit of President Obama’s challenge. Given in six different categories, the awards honor Federal civilian and military personnel, agency teams, agency projects and facilities, and agency programs that exemplify President Obama’s charge to lead by example toward a clean energy economy.

Meet this year’s winners and learn about the award they are receiving – here

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Steve Benen: …. “Last Friday, at the swanky Barley House tavern in Concord, N.H., Rick Perry took a little jab at the Occupy Wall Street crowd, referencing an amusing quote his son had sent him from a protester occupying Toronto (see video)

…..So what’s the problem? There is no “Jeremy” – the quote Perry paraphrased appeared in a satirical piece that ran in Toronto’s Globe and Mail. The piece became a chain email, Perry’s son sent it to him, and the governor failed once again to separate fact from fiction…..

Full post here

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TPM: A potentially huge shoe is dropping in the Herman Cain harassment scandal: one of his accusers indicated through her lawyer on Tuesday that she wants to come forward and tell her side of the story.

Joel P. Bennett, an attorney to one of the two National Restaurant Association employees who allegedly accused Cain of sexual harassment, told the Washington Post on Tuesday that his client is currently barred from speaking by a mutual non-disparagement agreement with the organization. But he says that agreement is being violated by Cain already, who has taken to the press to slam the harassment claim as “baseless,” and that she now wants to come forward and reveal herself to set the record straight.

Full post here

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Daily Beast: The Tea Party Pork Binge – They brought the nation to the brink of default over spending, but a Newsweek investigation shows Tea Party lawmakers grabbing billions from the government trough. Plus, view the letters submitted by the ‘Dirty Dozen.’

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, the Republican leadership’s tether to the Tea Party, flutters the hearts of the government-bashing, budget-slicing faithful with his relentless attacks on runaway federal spending. To Cantor, an $8 billion high-speed rail connecting Las Vegas to Disneyland is wasteful “pork-barrel spending” ….

But away from the cameras, Cantor sometimes pulls right up to the spending trough, including the very stimulus law he panned in public. Letters obtained by Newsweek show him pressing the Transportation Department to spend nearly $3 billion in stimulus money on a high-speed-rail project – not the one he derided in Nevada, but another in his home state….

Full article here

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CBS: Individuals making more than $1 million a year could see an average tax cut of more than $500,000 under Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry’s complicated tax proposal, while some taxpayers at the other end of the income spectrum would see a tax hike compared to the current tax rates, according to an analysis released Monday.

Perry’s plan would also reduce federal tax revenues by hundreds of billions of dollars, forcing the government to make dramatic spending cuts – long a goal of many conservatives pushing for a smaller federal footprint…..

More here

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ABC: While President Obama hosts a global economic summit for the first time this month, the first lady will take spouses of the world’s leaders to the valley where ABC-TV’s “Lost” and the classic ”Jurassic Park” were filmed.

When the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit opens in Hawaii Nov.12, Michelle Obama will take as many as two dozen spouses to Kualoa Ranch, where the lush vistas and remote access lured the producers of Hawaii Five-0, Magnum, Fantasy Island, the film Pearl Harbor and Karate Kid, among many others.

This is the first time President Obama has played host to such a big summit – APEC is the conference of economies that ring the Pacific Basin. He chose his home state of Hawaii for two days of meetings, centered in Honolulu.

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Rich Iott, second from right, in a Nazi SS Waffen uniform

Washington Jewish Week: Notorious Nazi impersonator Richard Iott, who’s also a former GOP House candidate, donated $2,400 (the maximum amount permitted) to Rep. John Boehner earlier this year via the House speaker’s political action committee, according to recent FEC filings.

Iott came to prominence late last year when it was revealed that the one-time candidate in Ohio apparently spent his weekends prancing around in a Nazi SS Waffen uniform, reenacting battles….

…. given what we know about Iott’s pastime, should a leader like Boehner keep the contribution? …. I asked the speaker’s office for comment and was told, well, nothing ….The National Jewish Democratic Council called on Boehner to give back Iott’s money this afternoon.

More here

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Thanks Marlz 😉

rise and shine

President Barack Obama waves to people gathered along a road in Boone, N.C., during his three-day American Jobs Act bus tour, Oct. 17. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

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Yesterday’s speeches:

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White House live

CNN live streaming

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Steve Benen: At an event in North Carolina yesterday, President Obama talked up the next phase in the fight over job creation. We knew Dems would start to move on individual provisions within the American Jobs Act, and yesterday, we learned which component would go first.

…. “So this week I’m going to ask members of Congress to vote on one component of the plan, which is whether we should put hundreds of thousands of teachers back in the classroom, and cops back on the street, and firefighters back to work….”

…. Why are Dems pursuing this first? It may have something to do with the idea’s overwhelming popularity – A whopping 75% supported the measure in a CNN poll …. even 63% of Republicans approve of the spending.

…. the total number of Republican lawmakers in either chamber willing to support the teachers/first responders jobs bill – or even allow a vote on the bill – is currently zero, despite overwhelming support from the American mainstream.

Full post here

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Greg Sargent: ‘Moderate’ Dems may break with Obama on pieces of jobs bill: With the Senate set to vote on pieces of the jobs bill, Senators Ben Nelson and Jon Tester, both of whom voted against the overall proposal, may actually vote against the $35 billion in state aid to avert teacher and first-responder layoffs.

Their objection: The tax hikes on the rich that are supported by big majorities, including among independents and moderates. As always, these “moderates” and “centrists” are not willing to support economic solutions that actually are moderate and centrist – and as a result, they may give more ammo to Republicans to claim that opposition to Obama’s proposals is “bipartisan.”

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I ♥ Barney:

Original (and much better quality!) video here

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McClatchy: Even as protests over its political influence grow louder, Wall Street is one of the leading sources of money so far in the 2012 race for the White House. Not surprisingly, the biggest beneficiary has been Republican hopeful Mitt Romney…

…. Romney has attracted $7.5 million from the financial community … That’s nearly twice as much as President Barack Obama has received from it, and almost a quarter of the $32 million that Romney’s campaign has taken in overall.

…. Romney is the top recipient of campaign cash from employees of the five biggest Wall Street banks. Goldman Sachs gave the most — $352,200…. The other banks were Morgan Stanley ($184,800), Bank of America ($112,500), JP Morgan Chase & Co. ($107,250) and Citigroup Inc. ($56,550).

A spokesman for the Romney campaign could not be reached for comment.

… Obama had raised about $3.9 million in Wall Street contributions as of the end of September (just over 4 percent of his overall haul so far of $89 million, which dwarfs the GOP field).

Full post here

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Caption: A waxwork figure of George Clooney on display at Madame Tussauds in London is posed alongside a waxwork of US president Barack Obama….

Jeez, looks like the real George to me. The President? Not so much. 😕

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Thank You Loriah!

the last word

That was a seriously good discussion – with the Rev Al Sharpton, Melissa Harris-Perry and Goldie Taylor – on The Last Word about Lawrence O’Donnell’s interview with Herman Cain.