President Obama's Weekly Address - January 1, 2011

The New Year

Happy New Year!

Rosie the Riveter Dies

Huffington Post: Geraldine Hoff Doyle, the inspiration for "Rosie the Riveter," died on Sunday at the age of 86 due to complications from arthritis, the Washington Post reports.

...Rosie's story began in the 1940s, when the 17-year-old Doyle was working at a metal factory in Ann Arbor, Michigan. A visiting United Press International photographer snapped a pic of her sporting a red-and-white bandana.

I wonder if she finally gave up after seeing this:



Although this little tidbit of information gave me a chuckle:

According to the Wall Street Journal, Doyle quit after just one week at the factory where her picture was made famous.

Was "Rosie" the Riveter the 1940's version of Sarah Palin?

Tucker Carlson's Christian Values

There is obviously nothing that the neoconservative right wing will allow to go unchallenged when it comes to anything related to President Obama.

The latest faux-rage comes at the expense of the President's comments regarding Michael Vick. Comments that, by the way, were made in a private conversation to Eagles owner Jeff Lurie in a phone call to initially praise him for using alternative energy sources to power his stadium. During the call, Obama also commended the Eagles owner for giving Michael Vick a second chance.

“He said, ‘So many people who serve time never get a fair second chance.’ He said, ‘It’s never a level playing field for prisoners when they get out of jail.’ And he was happy that we did something on such a national stage that showed our faith in giving someone a second chance after such a major downfall.”

Lurie relayed the conversation to a Sports Illustrated reporter who ran with it. And here is where the hair-on-fire reaction begins. Animal activists naturally were aghast that the President would think to say such an insensitive thing as to giving a human being a second chance after serving time for his crime.  That's what the correctional institution in the US is all about right? Rehabilitation?  Fox New's Megyn Kelly compared animal cruelty to rape. Yes, rape. But self-proclaimed Christian and former bow tie addict Tucker Carlson really showed how he follows his faith by not only criticizing Obama for the private comments, but stating that Vick should have been executed for his actions.

"I'm a Christian, I've made mistakes myself, I believe fervently in second chances," Carlson said. "But Michael Vick killed dogs, and he did in a heartless and cruel way. And I think, personally, he should've been executed for that. He wasn't, but the idea that the President of the United States would be getting behind someone who murdered dogs? Kind of beyond the pale."

So, holier than thou Tucker Carlson, who admits to making mistakes and "fervently believes in second chances" is looking into his so called Christian heart not for forgiveness, but for vengeance. Must be an Old Testament type of guy. I wonder what type of vengeance should be cast uopon a person who maliciously wrote emails in someone else's name in an attempt to get that person in trouble? Isn't falsifying your identity through email a crime? Maybe that's a crime punishable by execution. Maybe Carlson should have been sentenced to hang by the bow tie until he was dead.

But I digress. The point is that this situation is exactly the way our legal and justice system is supposed to work, isn't it? You're guilty of a crime, convicted and sentenced by a jury of your peers, do the time and re-enter society a rehabilitated person. I didn't realize part of the deal after you were released was to never have the opportunity to work again.

And on a side note, now you know the reason why Carlson's shows always fail.

S#*! Sarah Palin Says (QWERTY Edition)

[Sigh.] I'd actually force myself to have the slightest bit of respect for Sarah Palin in this instance if she'd just admit she fucked up. But no. She brought up the whole "refudiate" story all over again in a feeble attempt to prove that it was just a typo.

"I pressed an F instead of a P and people freaked out," said Sarah, pointing out that her blunder was the second-most-searched word on Google trends.

Really, Sarah? Because when I look at my BlackBerry, the letter 'F' is about two thirds away from the letter 'P' on my keyboard. Oh, what's that you say?

In the clip from "Sarah Palin's Alaska"... it turns out that Palin claims she "pressed an 'f' instead of a 'd'" on the way to creating the word "refudiate." While the "f" and "d" keys are indeed closer to each other on a QWERTY keyboard, such an explanation would suggest that she was intending to spell the word "redudiate," which is also not a real word.

Once again... *sigh*... If you'll just admit that you melded the words "refute" and "repudiate" together in the excuse you call a brain, this would have been dropped long ago. Actually, it WAS dropped, but in your infinite wisdom, you decided to bring it up again to prove that you're never wrong when in actuality, you're often wrong (see Death Panels, Michelle Obama's anti-obesity campaign, the Bush Doctrine, abuse of power while governor of Alaska, etc.).

A Nation of Wussies

Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell was more than a little pissed off about the early cancellation of Sunday night's game in Philadelphia versus the Vikings due to an anticipated blizzard that hit the east coast. And I have to say, that while I initially understood the reason for the postponement, I couldn't agree with Rendell more, especially in light of the fact that the cancellation took place 9½ hours before game time before any snow had fallen, and as Rendell says in the clip below, they had more than enough time to make the call later in the day if they needed to, as happens in baseball.



And let's remember that it was the NFL that made this decision, not the mayor of Philadelphia or any government official before we get any "nanny state" whiners trying to misplace blame.

Christie Goes To Disney World During Blizzard - UPDATED

A lot of people are making an issue out of NJ Governor Chris "The Cannoli" Christie going on vacation to Disney World during the big blizzard we've experienced.  I really don't think it's that big a deal. What's he going to do, shovel New Jersey out himself? He probably needs help getting out of bed in the morning.

As much as I don't like Christie, this was obviously a planned vacation with his family. A trip to Disney World during Christmas week is not a spur of the moment thing.  But I do hope he enjoys the wonderful, balmy Florida weather.



Heh.

UPDATE (12/28/10 4:45pm): This is the reason Christie should be held accountable:

..it was Governor Christie's responsibility to ensure that the separated powers of the executive branch remained separated. Either he should have scheduled his family trip at another time, or he should have been a boss and told [Lt. Gov.] Guadagno that she could not travel at the same time as he was.

For someone who seems eager to exercise the power of the bully pulpit at public events, the reticence to exercise the legitimate powers of his office responsibly is puzzling, and alarming. It is a dereliction of duty and an abrogation of responsibility. Yes, the world will keep turning. But it isn't the Governor's duty to keep the world turning. It is his duty to ensure the administration of the state government and to run the executive branch. Especially in an emergency. Especially when there is almost a week's notice that the emergency is going to hit. It is inexcusable.

S#*! Sarah Palin Says (Stationery Edition)

Submitted without comment.

While touring a logging camp with her family on Sunday's episode of "Sarah Palin's Alaska," Palin took the opportunity to skewer conservationists who use pencils and paper as a medium to complain about her stance on the environment.

"Conservationists write me these nasty letters because I support an industry like this," the former vice presidential candidate said, after taking a chainsaw to an Evergreen Timber tree. "They write me these nasty letters using their pretty little pencils on their pretty little stationary not realizing. Where do you think your pencil and your piece of paper came from, people? It came from a tree that was harvested."

Casual Observation

I'm sorry, Huffington Post. You can't use the headline, "Snowpocalypse" for every snow storm.



Yes, I know this is a bad storm, but you blew your wad last season with a "Snowpocalypse" headline, so it kind of defeats the purpose of what your definition of "Snowpocalypse" is.

a·poc·a·lypse   [uh-pok-uh-lips] –noun
1. ( initial capital letter ) revelation ( def. 4 ) .
2. any of a class of Jewish or Christian writings that appeared from about 200 b.c. to a.d. 350 and were assumed to make revelations of the ultimate divine purpose.
3. a prophetic revelation, esp. concerning a cataclysm in which the forces of good permanently triumph over the forces of evil.
4. any revelation or prophecy.
5. any universal or widespread destruction or disaster: the apocalypse of nuclear war.

You see, the definition of "apocalypse" in comparison with a snowstorm is dubious at best. And being that this snowstorm is not even countrywide let alone universal, kind of makes the headline a little overblown. But ultimately, using the phrase "Snowpocalypse" for EVERY snowstorm is a bit "been here, done that"; soooo 2009.  Go with "Snowmageddon" next time.

President Obama's Weekly Address - December 25, 2010

Merry Christmas from the President & First Lady