Saturday, June 9, 2012

President Obama's Weekly Address - June 9, 2012

Congress Must Act to Keep Our Teachers On The Job

Monday, June 4, 2012

Context, ladies

POSTED BY JHW22

OK, I've had a couple of days now where I accidentally watched Andrea Mitchell and only just saved my TV by putting heavy objects away before throwing them at her.

Today's "WHY THE FUCK AM I WATCHING THIS?!?!" moment was when Andrea and two other female journalists (I think Ruth Marcus and another gal whose name escapes me) were going ON AND ON about the Obama ad with Sarah Jessica Parker. You'd think the campaign broke some advertising 101 rule or something. You'd think the Obama campaign just ran an ad worse than the Daisy ad or the sheep with glowing eyes ad or the "I'm not a witch" ad (side note: that "I'm not a witch" ad STILL makes me think of "I'm not a witch, I'm your wife"). Anywho, Andrea and crew acted as if going the celebrity route was the horror of campaign ad horrors.

But just now, while watching Lawrence O'Donnell, I learned that the SJP ad was aired during... THE MTV MOVIE AWARDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As someone who worked in advertising, let me just say that the ad was great, for starters, because it encourages people to A) Donate B) Register at the Obama site and C) Stars a WOMAN that many WOMEN based years of their lives' schedules around. Genius. Now to learn it was aired to target the YOUTH VOTE, I want to find every object in my house and throw them at my TV posthumously for Andrea and ladies being so CLUELESS.

It was a GENIUS ad. A GENIUS ad buy. The only people who didn't "get" that? Three old white ladies who didn't watch MTV even when it HAD music.

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Can You Get It Painted on Velvet?

What a waste of artistic talent.


Via Wonkette: Patriot Depot, supplies for the conservative revolution, has what you crave, and that is seven different versions of this amazing portrait of Ghost Andrew Breitbart titled Fight. You could buy it in a pack of post cards; you could buy a giclee print; you could buy a $49.95 version, or a $3,999.95 version...

I can't wait for the artist, David Bugnon, to create his next masterpiece, James O'Keefe in a Brunhilda costume.

This monstrosity is almost as awesome as Jebus holding the Declaration of Independence or President Obama burning the Constitution.

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Must Reads



Dana Milbank: A new conspiracy theory: Is Romney a unicorn?

Eugene Robinson: Romney plays his Trump card

Ed Kilgore: Sauce for Gander

Bill Moyers and Michael Winship: Pity the Poor Billionaires

Jim Wright: Things That Chap My Ass About Facebook

Johan Santana Pitches 1st Mets No-Hitter

President Obama's Weekly Address - June 2, 2012

It’s Time for Congress to Get to Work

Thursday, May 31, 2012

Why Won't Romney Talk About His Tenure as Massachusetts Governor?

More like this, please.



The one time he was actually a government executive, as Governor of Massachusetts, is off the radar for the Romney campaign when he touts his experience. Why? Because he sucked at it, that's why. You can thump your chest about the successes of vulture capitalism all you want, Mitt, but when the shit hits the fan, you can't sell off Alabama or Louisiana because they cost more in federal tax dollars than they take in.

What will you do then? Add "fees" instead of raise "taxes"?

ADDING... The only good thing he did while Governor of MA was Romneycare, which he's trying to run away from as fast as possible. We are really deep through the looking glass, huh folks?

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Socialist Jon Stewart is Back!

After a two week hiatus, The Daily Show came back with guns blazing! Enjoy.



Is Mitt Romney's Birth Certificate Fake?

I'm sorry, but I'm not buying it.

Yesterday, as a cherry on the top of clinching the Republican nomination and playing grab ass with billionaire casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and not really reality TV host Donald Trump, Mitt Romney released his birth certificate.

Was it a Romney wink of the eye to the Birther crowd and a jab in the eye to President Obama while in the middle of a .0001Percenter circle jerk with Adelson and Donald "Obama was born in Kenya" Trump? No, says the Romney campaign, they were responding to a reporter's request from the previous day.

But let's take a look at this document, shall we?



1- Clearly, this is not the original. It's a copy that was issued on January 18, 2012. Where is the original?

2 - I think the request was for Mitt Romney's "Birth Certificate," not "Certificate of Live Birth" as is displayed on the title. What is Mitt Romney trying to hide?

3 - Mitt's father, George Romney was born in Mexico. Does that mean George Romney was actually a Mexican citizen and not a US citizen? If so, why is Mitt eligible?

4 - This is a short-form copy. Where is the long-form birth certificate? Why should this short-form be sufficient?'

Again, I don't buy it. I'll need to see Mitt Romney's original, long-form birth certificate with a raised seal before I find another reason not to believe the piece of crap above is a forgery.


Attention, Donald Trump...

...if you have questions about President Obama's place of birth, then by definition, you are a Birther. Trying to qualify it is nonsense.
"A lot of people are questioning his birth certificate," Trump said on CNBC on Tuesday. "They're questioning the authenticity of his birth certificate." 
"I've been known as being a very smart guy for a long time. I don't consider myself birther or not birther but there are some major questions here and the press doesn't want to cover it," he said.
Douchenozzle.


ADDING...



Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Wait, WHAT!?

POSTED BY JHW22

Remember when West Virginia election results were reported as "an inmate got almost as many votes as Obama in the Dem primary"? Why didn't we hear that Obama got almost as many votes as ALL the GOP candidates COMBINED and that the inmate only got 5,000 votes fewer than Romney?

State results are oh, so interesting.

The Mitt App

I thought Mitt Romney was running for President of America. Where's Amercia?





UPDATE: I downloaded the app to make sure it wasn't a bad joke. And yes, this is legit.

Here's one I took myself:

Quote of the Day

"I guess I'm known as a RINO now, which means a Republican in name only, because, I guess, of social views, perhaps, or common sense would be another one, which seems to escape members of our party. For heaven’s sake, you have Grover Norquist wandering the earth in his white robes saying that if you raise taxes one penny, he’ll defeat you. He can’t murder you. He can’t burn your house. The only thing he can do to you, as an elected official, is defeat you for reelection. And if that means more to you than your country when we need patriots to come out in a situation when we’re in extremity, you shouldn’t even be in Congress." 
~Former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.)

Saturday, May 26, 2012

Immune To Facts

Usually, I don't read or post comments on YouTube under President Obama's weekly addresses because they are filled with moronic, non-thinking statements - and really, who wants to be subjected on a Saturday morning to the fact that almost half the country's citizens are either brainwashed by the Fox News/Rush Limbaugh faction, or are complete morons, idiots and racists, or a combination of all of the above?

But after watching President Obama's innocuous address today regarding the remembrance of our troops on this Memorial Day weekend, I went against my better judgment and decided to see who could possibly disagree with the President on something as nonpartisan as "supporting the troops." That was my first mistake. The vitriol was palpable, you know, because there are those who insist on disagreeing with the President about everything. And so after reading a few comments from the Obama haters, I had to chime in and got into a debate with another commenter.

The following is what I can put together in hopefully the correct chronological order. I've also included links to references I made that aren't allowed in YouTube comments.

Broadway Carl: It's pretty amazing to see such ridiculously nasty comments regarding this particular video message. The hatred against this President astonishes me, even when he's making a statement about honoring the fallen on Memorial Day; a simple, mundane message that has been repeated by every President before our current one. And yet some will call this political exploitation. Those same idiots would also criticize him had he not made this type of statement. Q: How do you live with such hatred day to day? 
Joey Juarez 1: To quote Queen Moochelle Obama, it sounds like for the first time in your adult life, you are proud of your country, Carl...and what is amazing is that this president will single-handedly bring this country to it's knees and you don't care at all about that... 
BC: People like you say stuff like that all the time, joeyjuarez1, but you never have any facts to back it up. President Obama will "single-handedly bring this country to its knees"? How? By saving the auto industry? By destroying Al-Qaeda? By cutting taxes for 95% of all Americans? By stopping us from going over the financial cliff we were headed for? Prove it and stop talking in simplistic GOP/Fox News talking points. Don't just parrot what someone else says because you want to believe it, prove it. 
JJ1: He "saved" the auto industry???? Dude, he threw tens of thousands of non-union auto workers under the bus! Now that $85 million dollar bail out is part of the $6 Trillion dollar debt that he's racked up "single-handedly"!! AND he brags about it! 
BC: Auto bailout facts from 8/25/11 LA Times: "After a massive restructuring and several high-profile bankruptcies, a leaner, more aggressive auto industry is making a comeback, hiring workers and ramping up manufacturing plants. From a trough 2 years ago, Ford, General Motors, Chrysler and other auto companies have added almost 90K manufacturing jobs, a 14% increase, according to federal employment data." 
Every economist agrees over one million manufacturing related jobs were saved.

JJ1: Oh, wow...this dude...the LA Times?? The articles says "TAXPAYERS bailed out much of the U.S. auto industry. Now the CARMAKERS MIGHT be what saves the nation's economy from falling back into recession." Remove your blind Choombama cataracts and put your glasses on and learn to read and not "spin" the facts...what a liberal!

I'll pause at this point to point out that he's called me "dude" twice, referred to Michelle Obama as "Queen Moochelle," apparently in reference to the false meme that she's some kind of moocher, and now calls President Obama "Choombama." I don't even know what the fuck that means. But we continue:

BC: Yes, I used the conservative LA Times to make a point. And I did point out the article is 9 months old. But who made the decision? And if it was such a bad one, why is Romney trying to take credit for it when he originally wrote an op-ed titled, "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt"? And before you say that it was structured bankruptcies that he was in favor of, remember that there was no private equity flowing - even Bain passed on it. So the government was the only solution. Hell, even Bush knew that.

JJ1: He destroyed Al-Qaeda (this from a man who didn't want them referred to as "terrorists")...he is sending 1.5 BILLION DOLLARS in military aid to the Muslim Brotherhood...and the terrorism continues...


BC: If you're going to claim funds going to the Muslim Brotherhood, you should read up on these pesky little things called facts instead of Breitbart or Beltway Pundit.
 
From The Guardian: "US officials and lawmakers said Sec of State Clinton has determined that it's in the US national interest to allow $1.3 billion in military assistance to flow. She also certified that Egypt is meeting its obligations to the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty, which frees up an additional $200 mil in economic aid... All of the $1.3 billion in foreign military financing is obligated to pay U.S. defense and security companies for contracts they have to supply equipment and support for the Egyptian military." 
So no, it's not going to the Muslim Brotherhood. Good try, though.

 
Need I mention Osama Bin Laden is dead? Maybe, but I didn't.
JJ1: There you go, leaving out facts to "spin" the article your way once again...the beginning of the article says: "The OBAMA ADMINISTRATION TOLD CONGRESS on Thursday it will waive democracy requirements to release up to $1.5 billion in aid to Egypt despite concerns that the country is backsliding on commitments it made to democratic governance and rule of law." Read and don't spin, stupid!

BC: Continue reading, jackass. It's going to US contractors. "All of the $1.3 billion in foreign military financing is obligated to pay U.S. defense and security companies for contracts they have to supply equipment and support for the Egyptian military." Not the government, not the Muslim Brotherhood, the military.
 
My main point remains: the guy can't even commend the troops on Memorial Day without guys like you criticizing it as some ulterior motive. You'd think everyone would agree with something so nonpartisan, but no. Hate and fear trumps even thanking the troops.

JJ1: Carl, buddy, you're missing the point...this guy has lied over and over and over again that when we see him on camera, when we hear his lying voice and false words filled with false promises, we can't help but scorn everything that comes out of his mouth...like one politician stated to Choombama 'YOU LIE!!!" and he continues to lie and you believe him... 
BC: Joey, I'm asking you to show me what he's lied about. Give me one example where he's been caught in a red handed lie, you know, like Romney saying Obama has "doubled the deficit." Just give me a few examples if he's lied so much. 
JJ1: So, Carl, do you REALLY think that Obama has our best interests at heart? Are you really buying into the lie that things are getting better? One only needs to look around and see what is really going on all around us...businesses closing down, multiple families living together to make ends meet, not being able to travel across town to see relatives because gas is too high, opting for no-name brand products at grocery stores, less out-to-eat evenings or "sharing plates" at restaurants...really? 
BC: Yes, I do. Maybe it's not as fast as we'd like, but things are getting better. Unemployment is slowly coming down. The only reason it isn't lower is because public sector work is being slashed, you know, that "smaller government" stuff. We were losing 700,000 jobs a month 3½ years ago. Stock market is up 5000 points in the last 3 years. Retail and growth are up. Gas prices are down from this time last year and have dropped the last seven weeks in a row (not that any administration can affect gas prices directly, that's just another straw man argument). 
JJ1: The WSJ: Number of the Week: Half of U.S. Lives in Household Getting Benefits - "As of early 2011, 15% of people lived in a household that received food stamps, 26% had someone enrolled in Medicaid and 2% had a member receiving unemployment benefits. Families doubling up to save money or pool expenses also is likely leading to more multigenerational households. But even without the effects of the recession, there would be a larger reliance on government." 
The Census data show that 16% of the population lives in a household where at least one member receives Social Security and 15% receive or live with someone who gets Medicare. There is likely a lot of overlap, since Social Security and Medicare tend to go hand in hand, but those percentages also are likely to increase as the Baby Boom generation ages.

With increased government spending comes the need to pay for it, and if taxes aren’t going to increase that means deficits. Nearly three-quarters of Americans blame the U.S. budget deficit on spending too much money on federal programs, according to a Gallup poll last year, but when the conversation turns to which programs to cut, the majorities are harder to find. For example, 56% of respondents oppose making significant changes to Social Security or Medicare.

The more people who receive benefits, the harder it’s going to be to make cuts, and it’s never popular to raise taxes. In some respects that argues for letting a combination of tax increases and spending cuts that is set to automatically hit in 2013 take effect. There’s just one problem: the Congressional Budget Office says it would sink the economy into recession.

BC: I agree with your entire last comment. So where is the lie? The CBO also says that Obama's current budget would decrease the debt by $2 trillion over 10 years, while Romney's would raise the debt $5 trillion over the same period. But it's Obama that's pointed to as spending like a drunken sailor when he's lowered the budget each of the last three years.  
JJ1: The Food Stamp President 
BC: So those people that you just used as an example of things not getting better, you'd cut off their government assistance until they get back on their feet? 
JJ1: Senator Obama crossed the country promising that his campaign, and administration would be the most transparent in history. He promised that he wouldn’t allow lobbyists in his staff, or money in his funds. That was in 2007, as it stands today the President has accepted millions of dollars from lobbyists and special interest groups. The President even took it one step farther by appointing many of those lobbyists into positions of power and influence. 
BC: I'm not entirely happy with it, but hey, it's politics.  
"...another watchdog, Meredith McGehee of the Campaign Legal Center, praised Obama’s rules as “a good starting place” and urged patience in judging their efficacy. 
“Any good set of ethics rules has the opportunity for waivers, but if the waivers become the rule, rather than the exception, then you have to look at whether the waivers are being sought too frequently or whether there’s a problem with the rule. I don’t think we’re at that point yet.”
I did fail to mention that, while not as transparent as we hoped the Obama administration would be, there's no doubt that they've been more transparent than any previous administration has been. I also didn't bring up the "No lobbyists" rule was defined as no one who'd been a lobbyist the previous two years - with few exceptions that continues to be the case. And while I may consider it a "promise broken," I wouldn't call it an outright lie. Lies are intentionally told to conceal something or to malign another. But I digress...
JJ1: "President Obama falsely claimed that no Republicans in the Senate voted for the payroll tax cut. “Virtually every Senate Republican voted against the tax cut last week,” he told reporters. 
There's only one huge problem. The statement is completely false. According to the Senate Roll Call, twenty Republicans voted for the measure to proceed, including Idaho's Mike Crapo and James Risch. On the other hand, every Democrat but one voted against it." 
BC: Don't try conflating the two separate bills (I know it's not you necessarily, but the author of the article you site). 
S. 1917 (Middle Class Tax Cut Act of 2011) was a 51-49 vote. No Republican voted for it. 
S.1931, which the author tries to confuse the reader with, could be more accurately described as ONLY 20 Republican Senators voted for it. It failed 20-78, which means 27 Republican Senators voted AGAINST it, with all the rest of the Democrats. 
JJ1: Carl, vote for Obama in Nov 2012, ok...you are all too happy to do so...thank you for contributing to the ruin of the lives of the American people...we thank you so much...your blind eyes will never let you see...your drone mind will never change...continue to support this sheep in wolves clothing...not until all of American's cities turn into what Detroit is today will you fully understand what will happen if this man stays in office...good luck... 
BC: I will, and you'll thank your lucky stars in avoiding a President Romney who says things depending on which way the wind blows any given day. Thanks for having the conversation though. I appreciate it. Good luck.

And there you have it. My good faith attempt to try and enlighten the unenlightenable. Faced with facts, JJ1 decides to give up and thank me for dooming the future of the country with my intended vote for President Obama in November. I'll never waste my time like that again.

Must Reads



Rex Nutting: Obama spending binge never happened

Ilyse Hogue: Et Tu, Cory Booker? The Pathology of False Equivalence

Sreeizzle2012: Some Shocking Obamacare Facts

Jim Hightower: Snarling Banks

Paul Buchheit: How the Ultra-Rich Betray America

President Obama's Weekly Address - May 27, 2012

Honoring Our Fallen Heroes this Memorial Day


Sunday, May 20, 2012

Leave Cory Alone!

This morning, Newark, NJ Mayor Cory Booker was a guest on Meet The Press and sort of stuck his foot in his mouth in the false equivalency market, and Fox News ran with it.

"This kind of stuff is nauseating to me on both sides," Booker said. "It's nauseating to the American public. Enough is enough. Stop attacking private equity. Stop attacking Jeremiah Wright. This stuff has got to stop, because what it does is it undermines, to me, what this country should be focused on. It's a distraction from the real issues."
Booker was immediately attacked on Twitter, some of it justified, some of it way over the top, to the point that he decided to clarify his remarks in a video.



I think he realized the false equivalency and tried to correct the record. But in no way did Booker deserve some of the nasty comments he received on the interwebs.

Anti-Obama SuperPAC Ad is Obama's Fault

Yes, you read that right. Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus is blaming President Obama for the leaked Joe Ricketts race baiting Rev. Wright proposal.

...this president’s got a bigger problem and his problem is no matter what he puts out there, no matter what distractions he puts out there, he can’t change the truth and escape the reality of where we are in this American economy. And it’s no good.
Got that? In the twisted mind of what is probably one of the worst RNC Chairmen in recent memory, Priebus is trying to push the meme that it's the Obama administration that put the story out there. Kinda makes you long for the days of Michael Steele, doesn't it?

Saturday, May 19, 2012

You. Must. Watch. This.

"Rich people do not create jobs."


Must Reads



William Saletan: The Marriage Trap

Suzy Khimm: Democrats talk about cutting entitlements. Republicans don’t talk about raising taxes.

Jeff Zeleny and Jim Rutenberg: G.O.P. ‘Super PAC’ Weighs Hard-Line Attack on Obama

Tim Murphy: Joe Ricketts, Government Handout Hypocrite

Adam Serwer: Jeremiah Wright Is Not a Silver Bullet

Joan Walsh: More Rev. Wright hate porn!

Paul Krugman: Win Some, Lose Some

Steve Benen: This Week in God

Robert Reich: The Commencement Address That Won’t Be Given

Tim Karr: The First Amendment and the Smartphone Journalist

Christopher Brauchli: Mitt the Barber and The Church

 
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