US Politics Videos: Political Blog & US Politics Videos // Current

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7 hours ago

Abortions OK for Rich Republicans

The Stupak Amendment passed last week along with HR3962 would effectively prohibit abortions for the poor that can't afford... more

JonRaymond
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National Security Agency's Surveillance Data Could Fill Two States by 2015

We always knew that the National Security Agency collects a lot of surveillance data from satellites and by other means, but we... more

pjacobs51
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Obama Says Russia ‘Reset Button’ Has Worked

SINGAPORE — President Obama and President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia expressed dissatisfaction Sunday with Iran’s response to a nuclear offer made by world powers, raising the prospect that sanctions may be the next step in the West’s ongoing efforts to rein in Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.

The two men, meeting during an Asia-Pacific summit conference in Singapore before Mr. Obama traveled to Shanghai, also made progress in efforts to negotiate a replacement for a key arms control treaty between the United States and Russia that is set to expire in December, American administration officials said.

While White House officials acknowledged on Sunday that a new pact to replace the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or START, will not be ratified soon, they said they expect to reach a “bridge” agreement that will preserve the status quo until a new treaty is approved.

The Sunday afternoon discussion with Mr. Medvedev was the fifth such meeting for Mr. Obama since he took office vowing to repair America’s relationship with Russia, and American officials expressed satisfaction Sunday with their progress so far. “I have found, as always, President Medvedev frank, constructive and thoughtful,” Mr. Obama said after the meeting. “The reset button has worked,” he added, alluding to the administration’s early promise to “reset” the bilateral relationship after several years of bickering over a variety of issues from missile defense to Kosovo.

With the START treaty set to expire soon, the Obama administration is searching for ways to have weapons inspectors remain in Russia to keep American eyes on the world’s second most formidable nuclear arsenal. In the absence of a treaty or a legally binding “bridge” authority, American inspectors would be forced to leave Russia when the treaty expires. Likewise, Russian inspectors would have to leave the United States.

Under START provisions, both nations are allowed a maximum of 30 inspectors to monitor each other’s compliance with the treaty.

On Iran, administration officials said, Mr. Obama and Mr. Medvedev discussed a timetable for imposing sanctions if Tehran and the West do not soon agree on a proposal in which Iran would send its enriched uranium out of the country, either for either temporary safekeeping or reprocessing into fuel rods.

“Unfortunately, so far at least, Iran appears to have been unable to say yes to what everyone acknowledges is a creative and constructive approach,” said Mr. Obama, sitting next to Mr. Medvedev. “We are running out of time with respect to that approach.” Mr. Medvedev also alluded to running out of patience. He said that while a dialogue with Iran was continuing, “we are not completely happy about its pace. If something does not work there are other means to move the process further.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/16/world/asia/16prexy.htmlSINGAPORE — President Obama and President Dmitri A. Medvedev of Russia expressed dissatisfaction Sunday with Iran’s... more

current89
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17 hours ago

One small step for me today, one giant leap for our Planet Earth, if others follow, use local sewing talent for clothing.

It is difficult finding a bath robe that is both organic and Made in the USA or Maine, as well as affordable. I found someone... more

CarolynGillis
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2 comments

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1 day ago

Study suggests costs rise under health care bill

Overall spending on health care would rise as a result of legislation approved a week ago by the House, and billions of dollars in... more

xiola
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3 comments

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1 day ago

Obama, Medvedev to work on weapons treaty

SINGAPORE - A major pact within tantalizing reach, President Barack Obama aims to nudge forward an arms-control deal in talks with... more

current89
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4 comments

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1 day ago

Democrat-Led healthcare reform could make things WORSE

WHOO! The Democrats in Congress passed a bill! Healthcare for all! Awesome! Right? ...right?

asherp
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1 comment

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1 day ago

White House to Push Immigration Reform in 2010

The Obama administration will insist on measures to give legal status to an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants as it pushes... more

current89
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7 comments

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1 day ago

GOP Wins in 2010 Could Lead to Big Losses in 2012

This is an interesting read. I myself still think Obama will be a one-term President, but you never know what could happen.... more

JeremyGoode
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2 days ago

Republicans Shocked That Public Is Mad At Them For Voting Against Anti-Rape Amendment

Last month, 30 Republican senators voted against Sen. Al Franken’s (D-MN) amendment that would punish defense contractors “if they restrict their employees from taking workplace sexual assault, battery and discrimination cases to court.” His amendment was inspired by Jamie Leigh Jones, who was gang-raped by her co-workers while working for Halliburton/KBR in Baghdad in 2005, and then had to fight her employer for justice.

The GOP senators who sided with defense contractors at the expense of women — such as John Thune (SD) — have been facing an intense backlash. David Vitter (LA) refused to give a rape victim a straight answer when she confronted him about his vote, claiming that he is “absolutely supportive of any [rape] case like that being prosecuted criminally to the full extent of the law.”

Politico reports that Republicans are now scratching their heads at why the public is so incensed about their “no” votes:

Privately, GOP sources acknowledge that they failed to anticipate the political consequences of a “no” vote on the amendment. And several aides said that Republicans are engaged in an internal blame game about why they agreed to a roll-call vote on the measure, rather than a simple voice vote that would have allowed the opposing senators to duck criticism.

As BarbinMD writes, “Seriously? They voted against an amendment that was prompted by the brutal gang-rape of a young woman by her co-workers while she was working for a company under contract for the United States government, after which she was locked in a shipping container without food or water, threatened if she left to seek medical treatment, and was then prevented from bringing criminal charges against her assailants. And they failed to anticipate the political consequences?”

Thune is also claiming that Franken doesn’t really care about Jones and other rape victims whose employers have blocked them from seeking justice; he and other Democrats just wanted to “create a vote which they could use to attack Republicans.”

So basically, the only lesson they learned is that next time, they have to hide their votes when they decide to screw over women’s rights. That way, they can support their allies in the contracting business and the public will never find out.Last month, 30 Republican senators voted against Sen. Al Franken’s (D-MN) amendment that would punish defense contractors... more

Future_America
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2 days ago

Sarah Palin's book goes rogue on facts

Sarah Palin's new book reprises familiar claims from the 2008 presidential campaign that haven't become any truer over... more

Future_America
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31 comments

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2 days ago

Obama: China Can Be Source of Shared Strength

TOKYO — The United States is not threatened by a rising China, President Obama said Saturday, but will seek to strengthen... more

current89
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2 comments

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2 days ago

Learn to Speak Tea Bag

You too can learn to communicate with your one syllable right wing friends. http://www.markfiore.com/political/learn-speak-tea-bag/

JonRaymond
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2 days ago

US Considers Scaled-Back Climate Deal

I have to admit there are some days when I have trouble holding back my frustration following the painful progress of the climate change negotiations, and this is one of those times. The Washington Post reports that the Obama administration is looking at endorsing a short-term climate pact and pushing off stronger action until next year. Essentially because Congress can't get off its delaying, half-measured haunches, pull its head out of the the political sand, and do what science says is required to, well, not destroy the climate for us and future generations:

Todd Stern, US special envoy on climate change, was quoted as saying,
An interim operational deal is not meant to be seen as a substitute for a real agreement. It's meant to be seen as substantive building blocks to a full, legal agreement, and perhaps the best chance of getting such an agreement.
Well, at least it's not a substitute for a real agreement...

US Exceptionalism Rears Its Ugly Head
The Washington Post also points out the part that really gets me fired up. This isn't Stern, rather the original article author: "Any global pact would be postponed until next year when it would be constrained by whatever domestic climate legislation Congress enacts."

Let's remember that the legislation being pondered in Congress falls so far short of the science that it'd be belly-laughable if the situation weren't so dire and ultimately tragic.

And constrained by Congressional legislation?!? We're talking about the future of the planet and the US falls back on its historical position of US exceptionalism when it comes to international law.

Not wanting to be bound in any way -- and ignoring the climate rope around its neck and the tipping-point hangman waiting to open the trapdoor -- we fall back on painfully myopic ways of thinking... to the ultimate detriment of us all, starting with those people in the world who did little or nothing to create the situation.

A collective psychological defect on the part of US lawmakers is going to doom us. Shameful.

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/11/united-states-considers-scaled-back-climate-deal.phpI have to admit there are some days when I have trouble holding back my frustration following the painful progress of the climate... more

pjacobs51
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2 days ago

Death Threats force removal of Atheist Billboard

"'Don't believe in God? You're not alone' was the message on a billboard put up by the Cincinnati... more

DeliaTheArtist
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167 comments

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2 days ago

Palin Palooza goes rogue; political circus begins

Sarah Palin's upcoming book tour has all the markings of a political campaign. Yet insiders claim Palin's interest is... more

locutus
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8 comments

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2 days ago

Breaking up is hard to do

When it comes to understanding the real economy and the struggles of ordinary Americans, Senator Bernie Sanders always seems to be... more

WakeUpPeople
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19 comments

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3 days ago

Obama considers domestic spending freeze

WASHINGTON - The White House has told domestic agencies to assume their budgets will be frozen or even cut by 5 percent as it... more

current89
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54 comments

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3 days ago

Obama Arrives in Tokyo to Mend Fences

TOKYO — President Obama, seeking to mend fences with America’s most important Asian ally, announced that he would establish a high-level working group on the contentious issue of the continuing presence of a Marine base in Okinawa.

The decision, announced at a news conference just a few hours after he touched down in Tokyo to begin his first presidential trip to Asia,appears to represent a concession by the Obama administration to at least consider Japan’s concerns. It comes less than a month after Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates seemed to shut the door on renegotiating a deal reached in 2006 to relocate the United States Marine airbase in Futenma to a less populated part of the island.

Mr. Obama’s visit comes at a time when the two allies are grappling with recent shifts in their overall relationship, and Japan’s newly elected prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, searches for a more “equal partnership.” On Friday, both leaders emphasized the importance of the relationship, and stressed that the two sides were seeing eye-to-eye. Standing beside Mr. Obama at the Japanese equivalent of the White House, the Kantei, Mr. Hatoyama said, “We’ve come to call each other Barack and Yukio, and gotten quite accustomed to calling each other by our names.

But White House officials said that the United States has only agreed to talks “on the implementation” of the Okinawa agreement, and said that they don’t expect to the larger shape of the agreement, which also calls for relocating some 8,000 Marines from Okinawa to Guam. Japan policy experts indicated that the establishment of the working group is likely only a face-saving way for Mr. Hatoyama to tell the Japanese public that he is keeping his campaign promise...

The United States also appeared to give ground on the other contentious security alliance issue, accepting Mr. Hatoyama’s pledge of $5 billion in aid to Afghanistan, which Mr. Hatoyama linked to his government’s decision to end the Japanese Navy’s refueling mission near Afghanistan. Mr. Obama said the promise “underscores Japan ’s prominent role” in the broad international effort in Afghanistan .

Still, there have been ample signs that the half-century alliance may be entering a new phase. In the past, squabbles between the United States and Japan have focused mostly on trade disputes over luxury cars and semiconductors, while the security alliance between the two was more stable.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/14/world/asia/14prexy.html?_r=1&hp

end of excerptTOKYO — President Obama, seeking to mend fences with America’s most important Asian ally, announced that he would... more

current89
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5 comments

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3 days ago

Fox News declares cyberwar on liberal blogosphere

(From the link)

How do you annoy the maximum number of Liberal blogs with minimal effort? If you're Fox News, all you have to do is shut down the YouTube channel that supplies them with infuriating O'Reilly Factor clips. They did this today!

Spend even a few minutes on a politically-inclined blog that leans to the left, and you'll spot the little red-and-white "News1News" logo (above) attached to the upper-left corner a YouTube clip, usually of Glenn Beck ranting hilariously or otherwise being horrible. News1News specializes in capturing and uploading Fox bloviator's most outrageous statements for all of eternity. And each day, we bloggers—from the Huffington Post, Mediaite, Truthdig, Gawker, etc.—plucked newsworthy clips from News1News' Youtube channel, surrounded them with our words, and put them on our sites. (In fact, Mediaite's feature "Your Moment of Glenn" is all News1News clips.) From all this blog love, News1News videos had more than 20 million cumulative views by the time it was shut down. It was the simple, convenient way to stoke Liberal ire!

But today, it appears that Fox News determined it was time to close this one-stop Liberal blog fodder shop: They sent more than 150 DMCA takedown notices to YouTube regarding Fox News clips on the News1News channel, said the channel's proprietor, John. (John, a doctor living in Washington, DC, didn't want his last name used.) This put the channel well over YouTube's controversial "three-strike" copyright violation limit. News1News was shut down, and John was inundated with emails from caffeine-addled bloggers asking, frantically, "what happened!?"

Because, now, if you try to watch Hannity's infamous apology to Jon Stewart on the Huffington Post, or Michael Jackson's "ghost" on Gawker, or Glenn Beck saying dumb stuff on Truthdig, you will only see "This Video is no longer available due to copyright claim by Fox News LLC". (SPOOKY!!)

Which, granted, these clips did belong to Fox, and they were well in their rights to have them taken down, as specified by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. So how do we know this is a politically-motivated move by Fox to hinder the liberal blogosphere's ability to make fun of them? Because plenty of Fox News clips are still available on YouTube—only on conservative-leaning channels: GlennBeckDailyClips, for example has more than 630 clips of, well, the Glenn Beck Program. And ConservativeNation has 186 stomach-churning videos from the whole spectrum of quality Fox News programing. Also: Duh, Fox News would totally do something like this.

News1News is back up, at a new address—at least until Fox takes it down again. But what's surprising about this whole episode isn't that Fox will use digital copyright law to fight back against its political opponents; it's that the operators of these popular cable news-ripping YouTube channels are actually pretty important players in the blog game. Think about it: They not only get to select which cable news clips have the possibility of "going viral" and becoming news themselves, but if they're taken down, whole swaths of video-based blog posts become a lot of words surrounding a big empty space.

Fox News thought John was important enough to take down, even though he's just some guy whose hobby is clipping videos and putting them on YouTube. And John said that network bigwigs took enough notice when one of his MSNBC clips hit 500,000 views that VP of Digital Media, Mark Lukasiewicz, personally called him to say they had their eye on him. (Mark Lukasiewicz could not be reached for comment because he is important and it is 9:30pm.)

How does John do it? "I DVR things," he said. "I know what people are going to find interesting. You can watch a Bill O'Reilly show and you can pick out the things that are going to make heads explode. Literally, when my head explodes I know it's going to be a good clip."(From the link) How do you annoy the maximum number of Liberal blogs with minimal effort? If you're Fox News, all you have... more