catching up

Political Humor

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Robert Shrum (The Week): The GOP’s desperate hunt for anyone but Mitt Romney – Herman Cain unravels. Rick Perry stumbles. And Republicans keep praying that someone will rescue them from the flip-flopping Romney.

… Maybe tea is a hallucinogen; maybe the GOP is demented – and it will nominate him (Cain) anyway. If that happened, it’s certain that President Obama would win by even more then he did in 2008.

….. He’s the latest in a procession of preposterous Republican candidates who have soared across the party’s firmament … The GOP’s primary voters have been relentlessly looking for Mr. Un-Romney…..

Full article here

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Alan Krueger (White House): Today’s employment report provides further evidence that the economy is continuing to recover from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, but the pace of improvement is not fast enough.

Private sector payrolls increased by 104,000, and overall payroll employment rose by 80,000 in October. The unemployment rate edged down 0.1 percentage point to 9.0 percent, a level that remains unacceptably high.

Despite adverse shocks that have created headwinds for economic growth, the economy has added private sector jobs for 20 straight months, for a total of 2.8 million jobs over that period. We need faster economic growth to put more Americans back to work. Today’s report provides further evidence for why it is so important that Congress pass the President’s American Jobs Act ….

More here

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Timothy Egan (NYT): For a Republican Party that has spent the better part of its presidential campaign proving that most of its candidates are not smarter than a fifth grader, the real scandal around frontrunner-of-the-moment Herman Cain is not what he knows. It’s what he doesn’t know.

…. China, said Cain with his clueless urgency, is “trying to develop nuclear capability.” Anyone who is gobsmacked by this category five level of ignorance concerning a country that has had nuclear weapons for more than 45 years has not been paying attention. Cain makes Sarah Palin, with her eagle-eyed view of Russia from Alaska, sound like a Council of Foreign Relations scholar on a gasbag high.

The clowns have finally taken over the circus, and I mean this with all due respect to those who labor with painted faces and oversized shoes…..

Full article here

Thanks Dorothy

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Steve Benen: On the Senate floor yesterday afternoon, Senate Republicans killed a popular jobs bill, despite the fact that a majority of senators supported the legislation. But the public’s understanding of what transpired will be shaped by the media’s coverage…..

…. CNN’s headline, at least online, read, “Competing infrastructure spending measures fail in Senate.” Here’s the lede: “In a pair of votes aimed more at making political points than law, the Senate rejected competing Democratic and Republican proposals to boost construction of roadways and other infrastructure projects.”….

Politico’s report was even worse. The headline read, “Senate gridlock: Both parties block jobs bills.” And check out the lede: “Rival Democratic and Republican jobs bills failed in the Senate on Thursday, the latest sign of the partisan gridlock gripping Washington…..”.

No, no, a thousand times, no. This just isn’t what happened…..

Full post here

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Long may he, eh, rain:

Cannes, Nov 4

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I forgot to post our Friday tune – thanks for the reminder WIW 😉

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Don’t miss Extreme Liberal’s post:

Here

Thanks ChristiMtl

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Follow Henry on Twitter – here

Thanks Meta 😉

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with thanks….

The Herald (Ireland): The eighth cousin of Barack Obama has received a personalised present from the US President – as a thank you for the reception on his visit to Moneygall.

Henry Healy, affectionately known as ‘Henry the Eighth’, was given a leather-bound notebook – with the Presidential seal and signatures of Obama and his wife Michelle – by US embassy staff last week.

The accountant met Obama when he visited Moneygall, his ancestral Irish home, on his trip here in May.

A delighted Henry said: “The embassy staff brought it down to me last week. I’ll be keeping it and I won’t be writing in it. I still even have the wrapping paper it came in and it’s something I’ll treasure for many years to come.”

Moneygall publican Ollie Hayes received two silver goblets from the President, as well as gold cufflinks from the US advance team.

Henry also celebrated Independence Day in style yesterday, when he was invited to the US Ambassador’s residence to join in the celebrations there.

Thank you ctgirl7

for old time’s sake ….. india, ireland & brazil

With love from three continents 😉

2012? Yes We Can!

kinship

Reuters: ….In Africa, Michelle Obama has been welcomed as the daughter of a continent she has only visited a handful of times, and interest is high in her unique position as a black presidential spouse and leader in her own right.

….Does she feel a kinship with Africa? “Absolutely, yeah,” she said in the interview, before comparing that to the feeling she had in Moneygall, Ireland, where the president met a distant cousin in May.

“I absolutely feel that connection here. And I wasn’t surprised by it. I absolutely felt that connection in Moneygall (and was) a little more surprised by it.”

Thousands of people lined the main street of tiny Moneygall last month, welcoming the Obamas as if they were long lost relatives…. “The love, the warmth, the connection, the excitement. That was family, too. And that’s what I want my kids to understand – that your family is Granny in Kisumu, but it’s also your cousin in Moneygall. That is your history. That is really the American history.”

Audiences in Johannesburg and Cape Town found the first lady’s history and success inspiring … “As a young black woman, I see her as a role model,” said Nozi Samela, 26, in Cape Town, adding that it was Obama’s work – not necessarily her race – that generated admiration. “She has taken time to come to the communities, to see the people from the ground level, and actually talk to them, and hear what the issues they face are. I see her as a role model.”

Mamphela Ramphele, a former anti-apartheid activist who moderated Obama’s discussion with students at the university, said the first lady rose above skin color and gender. “To have someone like her who is successful in her own right and represents the transcendence of barriers of race, of class, of gender in the U.S. coming here and engaging in such a human way… that touches the hearts of ordinary people,” Ramphele said.

Full article here

Thank you CTGirl

night everyone

There are some videos you can never post enough…..

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I just saw a comment from Cindy about anti-President Obama (healthcare reform) ads appearing on this site. Because I run the site I can’t see any of this stuff, can you let me know what you’re all seeing – what ads are appearing, and where?

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U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor throws out the ceremonial first pitch before a baseball game between the Chicago Cubs and the New York Yankees at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

I love her!!!!

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Thank you everyone for all the comments on today’s posts, the contrast between your decency and civility and the bile spewed by the professional left and teabaggers says it all – with any luck their hate will devour them.

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See you tomorrow you crazy, lovely people 😉

hic

😆

west wing week: ‘a homecoming of sorts’ (may 27, 2011)

night everyone

Sorry …. I just can’t watch this enough 😉

See you tomorrow.

the most special of days…..

The slideshow is by The Irish Times – you can see the original version here

Herald: President Barack Obama has vowed to make a return trip to Ireland with his two daughters. A full state visit is now on the cards after the US President was stunned by the response of the Irish people.

Mr Obama was overheard telling the crowds of well-wishers: “We’ll have to bring our girls to see Moneygall.”

As the President was forced to cut his trip short last night, Irish authorities extended a fresh invitation for a longer stay.

A Government source said that the President was genuinely stunned by the huge crowds and enthusiastic welcome in both Dublin and Offaly.

“He expected that the Irish would be good fun but it wasn’t until he got here that he fully understood the excitement around his visit.”

This video was made by our very own Donna:

Donna? You’re a gem 😉

moneygall memories

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama greet people as they walk along Main Street in Moneygall, Ireland, May 23. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)