tagged w/ Obama
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NEVER AGAIN Say OWS Is Failing: AG Schneiderman Credits OWS for Renewed Pursuit of Bankers
by The TroubadourFollow for Writing by David Harris Gershon
This morning on MSNBC, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman told Chris Hayes that "the people's uprising" should be credited for renewed efforts to investigate and prosecute big banks.
The people's uprising, of course, is Occupy Wall Street, and the renewed efforts about which Schneiderman speaks is a "nationwide probe of wrongdoing in the mortgage-backed securities market" that he has just been named to lead.
Schneiderman's (nearly) direct reference to Occupy Wall Street as a motivating impetus for the national probe explicitly confirms what many have been arguing: that the nation's protest movement has shaken the halls of government at its deepest levels by transforming the national conversation about the connection between income inequality and financial corruption.
"Banks Got Bailed Out. We Got Sold Out."
Schneiderman's utterance this morning comes on the heels of President Obama's State of the Union address this week, which echoed many of the themes Occupy Wall Street has injected into our national consciousness, specifically themes of economic fairness and the need for the wealthiest Americans (1%) to pay their fair share.
Joe Garofoli of the San Fransisco Chronicle wrote after the SOTU address:
Linking the dominant themes in Obama's nationally televised address Tuesday to the mantras of the Occupy Wall Street movement would have been unthinkable five months ago. But in having its message echoed in the State of the Union address, the Occupy movement reached a milestone in changing the national conversation.
"Once you say the definition of my campaign is fairness, you don't have to say anything else," said Lawrence Rosenthal, an expert on social movements who directs UC Berkeley's Center for the Comparative Study of Right-Wing Movements. "It is the central tenet" of the Occupy movement, he added.
Indeed, having such themes echo would have been unthinkable five months ago. But we are five months into this movement, and the profound way in which Occupy Wall Street has changed our national conversation about economic fairness and justice cannot be overstated.
When the President echoes your dominant themes, and when a national investigation into big banks headed by the New York Attorney General is launched because of those articulated themes, one thing is clear: Occupy Wall Street is winning.
And it's only winter.
Come spring, expect Occupy Wall Street to blossom and expand dramatically, for while the movement may be winning the public discourse debate, there is so much more at stake.
We are just at the beginning.
Author's Note:
There are critiques to be made of the upcoming probe Schneiderman will be spearheading, specifically its effectiveness given the immunity from civil lawsuits big banks have been granted in"robo-signing" cases.
However, this issue does not take away from the dominant point of this post, which is the way in which Occupy Wall Street has changed the political landscape and national dialogue.NEVER AGAIN Say OWS Is Failing: AG Schneiderman Credits OWS for Renewed Pursuit of... more
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www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDTd4byn_fI
Ron Paul setting the record straight again on the debunked charge of the newsletters written by James B. Powell.
You may recall that all of the people pushing this story were originally screeching and squawking and swearing up and down that they could "PROVE" that Ron Paul wrote the newsletters.
Plus, Ron Paul addresses real issues like the college tuition, war, and the economy.www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDTd4byn_fI
Ron Paul setting the record straight again on... more
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Michael Collins Piper, veteran JFK researcher and author of "The Final Judgement," exposes the storyline and official government version of a potential assassinate plot of President Obama, or a future president in the book "In the President's Secret Service" by New York Times best selling author Ronald Kessler.
Kessler goes on to blame a future assassination plot on affirmitive action, the Secret Service's hiring of too many unqualified African-American agents, and also the Obama administration for their lapses in security.
Kessler is in effect creating a kind of plausible deniability on behalf of the government along with a possible "official government version" of the event.Michael Collins Piper, veteran JFK researcher and author of "The Final... more
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The cozy relationship between Barack Obama and the Bush family is a curious as Bill Clinton and the Bush family.
One might think that the close relationship suggests that the current administration was looking out for the previous administration.
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President Barack Obama met with former President George H.W. Bush and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush in the Oval Office on Friday, joining in a bipartisan gathering in an election year.
The White House said the three men enjoyed a personal visit in the Oval Office as they have in the past when the former president is visiting Washington.
Obama is scheduled to speak Saturday at the Alfalfa Club dinner, an annual event for Washington's movers and shakers. The former president and his son planned to attend the dinner.
Obama, who succeeded President George W. Bush in the White House, has maintained good relations with the Bush family.
He awarded George H.W. Bush the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian honor for contributions to society. During the ceremony, Obama called Bush a "gentleman" and said the former president's life has been "a testament that public service is a noble calling."
Last March, Obama joined with Jeb Bush at a Miami high school to tout his education agenda, sounding themes of empowering teachers, demanding accountability and enticing states to raise their academic standards. The former Florida governor has been a champion of education reform.The cozy relationship between Barack Obama and the Bush family is a curious as Bill... more
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College presidents wary of Obama cost-control plan
By KIMBERLY HEFLING
AP Education Writer
AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari
Politics Video
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The president says colleges and universities must do their part to curb costs so anybody can get a college education. AP correspondent Jerry Bodlander reports.
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President Obama says colleges and universities would be rewarded with more federal aid if they control tuition costs.
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President Obama says colleges and universities could lose federal money if they don't put a lid on tuition costs.
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Interactives
Christmas at the White House through the years
New Orleans Obama will see 4 years after Hurricane Katrina
Obama, Cabinet travels lead mostly to blue states
Presidential postcards: Chief executives on vacation
The 2009 U.S.-Russia summit
Barack Obama: The AP interview
Foodie in Chief: Mapping Obama's Eats
First ladies of fashion: Michelle Obama and Carla Bruni-Sarkozy
Obama's family and WWII
First 100 days: Revisiting the issues that shaped Obama's campaign
First 100 days: Day-by-day interactive calendar
First 100 days: Michelle Obama's style
Obama's West Wing
Latest News
Obama to senators: Change the way you do business
College presidents wary of Obama cost-control plan
Obama to speak at Alfalfa Club dinner
Obama meets with George H.W. and Jeb Bush
Obama holds fundraiser with American Indians
Photo Slideshow
Obama picks up Nobel Peace prize
Interactive
Obama's 2011 State of the Union Address
Obama's 2010 State of the Union Address
Panorama of the State of the Union Address
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Public university presidents facing ever-increasing state budget cuts are raising concerns about President Barack Obama's plan to force colleges and universities to contain tuition prices or face losing federal dollars.
Illinois State University President Al Bowman says the reality is that deficits in many public schools can't be easily overcome with simple modifications. Bowman says he's happy to hear Obama call for state-level support of public universities but adds that, given the decreases in state aid, tying federal support to tuition is a product of "fuzzy math."
Obama spelled out his proposal Friday at the University of Michigan.College presidents wary of Obama cost-control plan
By KIMBERLY HEFLING
AP... more
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ThinkProgress reported last week that Kansas House Speaker Mike O’Neal (R) was forced to apologize to First Lady Michelle Obama after forwarding an email to fellow lawmakers that called her “Mrs. YoMama” and compared her to the Grinch.
Earlier that same week, the Lawrence Journal-World was sent another email that O’Neal had forwarded to House Republicans that referred to President Obama and a Bible verse that says “Let his days be few” and calls for his children to be without a father and his wife to be widowed.
Nick Sementelli at Faith in Public Life notes that Psalm 109, which is a prayer for the death of a leader, became a popular conservative meme after Obama’s election. The “tongue-in-cheek” prayer for the president was seen on bumper stickers. The relevant part of the psalm reads.
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If anyone in the country sent a letter to the President with that message we would be arrested .ThinkProgress reported last week that Kansas House Speaker Mike O’Neal (R) was... more
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(FOX19) - It was the lead off question of the CNN Republican debate focusing on national security: Shouldn't we keep and even strengthen the Patriot Act?
A number of candidates answered the question. To analyze those answers, we are going to do this Reality Check in 2 parts.
Let's start with the question that was asked by Ed Meese of the Heritage Foundation. He asked at the debate, "At least 42 terrorist attacks aimed at the United States have been thwarted since 9/11. Tools like the Patriot Act have been instrumental in finding and stopping terrorists. Shouldn't we have a long range extension of the investigative powers contained in that act?
Former Utah Governor Jon Huntsman didn't really answer the question. For those who did, there were only two sides.
On one side, Texas Congressman Ron Paul says he is against what he calls the unconstitutional reach of the Patriot Act.
On the other side, all the other Republican candidates who essentially agreed with one another that the Patriot Act is not only necessary but needs to be made stronger.
"I'd look at strengthening it, because I think the dangers are literally that great," said Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich.
Texas Governor Rick Perry agreed, saying "We need to keep the Patriot Act and strengthen it if necessary and update it with new technologies as they come along."
The voice of dissension was Texas Congressman Ron Paul who said, "I think the Patriot Act is unpatriotic because it undermines our liberty…Today it seems too easy that our government and our congresses are so willing to give up our liberties for our security."
http://www.fox19.com/story/16214431/reality-check-patriot-act-part-1-has-the-patriot-act-thwarted-42-terror-attacks(FOX19) - It was the lead off question of the CNN Republican debate focusing on... more
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As Obama demands rich Americans pay more in taxes, the IRS reveals 36 White House staff are far behind in their own taxes. That's an average of $23,138 per staff member!
How embarrassing this must be for President Obama, whose major speech theme so far this campaign season has been that every single American, no matter how rich, should pay their "fair share" of taxes.
Because how unfair -- indeed, un-American -- it is for an office worker like, say, Warren Buffet's secretary to dutifully pay her taxes, while some well-to-do people with better educations and higher incomes end up paying a much smaller tax rate.
Or, worse, skipping their taxes altogether.
A new report just out from the Internal Revenue Service reveals that 36 of President Obama's executive office staff owe the country $833,970 in back taxes. These people working for Mr. Fair Share apparently haven't paid any share, let alone their fair share.
Previous reports have shown how well-paid Obama's White House staff is, with 457 aides pulling down more than $37 million last year. That's up seven workers and nearly $4 million from the Bush administration's last year.
Nearly one-third of Obama's aides make more than $100,000 with 21 being paid the top White House salary of $172,200, each.
The IRS' 2010 delinquent tax revelations come as part of a required annual agency report on federal employees' tax compliance. Turns out, an awful lot of folks being paid by taxpayers are not paying their own income taxes.
The report finds that thousands of federal employees owe the country more than $3.4 billion in back taxes. That's up 3% in the past year.
That scale of delinquency could annoy voters, hard-pressed by their own costs, fears and stubbornly high unemployment despite Joe Biden's many promises.
The tax offenders include employees of the U.S. Senate who help write the laws imposed on everyone else. They owe $2.1 million. Workers in the House of Representatives owe $8.5 million, Department of Education employees owe $4.3 million and over at Homeland Security, 4,697 workers owe about $37 million. Active duty military members owe more than $100 million.
The Treasury Department, where Obama nominee Tim Geithner had to pay up $42,000 in his own back taxes before being confirmed as secretary, has 1,181 other employees with delinquent taxes totaling $9.3 million.
As usual, the Postal Service, with more than 600,000 workers, has the most offenders (25,640), who also owe the most -- almost $270 million. Veterans Affairs has 11,659 workers owing the IRS $151 million while the Energy Department that was so quick to dish out more than $500 million to the Solyndra folks has 322 employees owing $5 million.
The country's chief law enforcement agency, the Department of Justice, has 2,069 employees who are nearly $17 million behind in taxes. Like Operation Fast and Furious, Attorney General Eric Holder has apparently missed them too.
As with ordinary people, the IRS attempts to negotiate back-tax payment plans with all delinquents, whose names cannot be released. But according to current federal law, the only federal employees who can be fired for not paying taxes are IRS workers.As Obama demands rich Americans pay more in taxes, the IRS reveals 36 White House... more
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Obama's State of the Union speech sounded so amazing, that he would fight the feed-the-rich Republicans and protect the real people of America; the middle class! Wow did it sound like he was trying to grab a sound bite from Ron Paul or something... Pathetic I still remember the TARP bailouts and that his biggest 3 contributors for his campaign were Big Unions who work tirelessly to abolish the privileges of workers in Right to Works states (the real middle class).
Not to drag anything on but when Obama says "Every American should pay their fair share in taxes" doesn't he realize there's millionaires, billionaires and top 500 companies receiving huge tax breaks or how GE did not pay a single dime in taxes in his term or Mitt Romney having a 15% tax while teaches making $29,000/year are slapped with over 30% tax.
This is not the America our ancestors envisioned we must become the change we want to see.Obama's State of the Union speech sounded so amazing, that he would fight the... more
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"Quantitative easing (QE) is an unconventional monetary policy used by central banks to stimulate the national economy when conventional monetary policy has become ineffective. A central bank buys financial assets to inject a pre-determined quantity of money into the economy"
In other words, the Private Central Federal Reserve Cartel is implementing the same policy from the past few yearsthat has changed nothing. Oh and Obama runs nothing.
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The central bank of the United States believes that America is still a ways from economic recovery, which could soon prompt the Federal Reserve to announce a new round of quantitative easing, or QE3.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke addressed the economic status of the US on Wednesday and experts predict that the grim statement he offered suggest that QE3 is just around the corner.
"The framework makes very clear that we need to be thinking about ways to provide further stimulus if we don't get improvement in the pace of recovery and a normalization of inflation,” Chairman Bernanke said at a conference Wednesday. He added that unless the US sees a major economic recovery anytime soon, the Fed would be needed to step up to the plate.
According to the chairman, the purchasing of bonds to boost the economy is “an option that is certainly on the table”
Speaking Wednesday, Bernanke said that the Fed would keep interest rates low until at least 2014 and said that hopes of the American economy finally seeing a recovery were faltering. “If there’s a need to let inflation” return “a little more slowly to target in order to get a better result on employment, then that’s something that we would be willing to do,” Bernanke said."Quantitative easing (QE) is an unconventional monetary policy used by central... more
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"There’s swelling anger in Poland over the country signing up with others to a global anti-piracy pact. Critics say the deal is as bad, if not worse, than America’s planned laws, which were shelved when web giants like Wikipedia and Google went on a protest blackout. RT’s Alexey Yaroshevsky is in Warsaw where the fear is that big corporations now have the power to take individual internet users offline at a whim."
What is ACTA?
ACTA was first developed by Japan and the United States in 2006. Canada, the European Union and Switzerland joined the preliminary talks throughout 2006 and 2007. Official negotiations began in June 2008, with Australia, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea and Singapore joining the talks.
Apart from the participating governments, an advisory committee of large US-based multinational corporations was consulted on the content of the draft treaty,[11] including the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America[12] and the International Intellectual Property Alliance[13] (which includes the Business Software Alliance, Motion Picture Association of America, and Recording Industry Association of America).[14]
The treaty calls for the creation of an "ACTA committee" to make amendments, for which public or judicial review are not required. Industry representatives may have "consultatory input" to amendments.[15] A 2009 Freedom of Information request showed that the following companies also received copies of the draft under a nondisclosure agreement: Google, eBay, Intel, Dell, News Corporation, Sony Pictures, Time Warner, and Verizon.[16]
ACTA first came to public attention in May 2008 after a discussion paper was uploaded to Wikileaks.[17] After more leaks in 2009 and 2010 and denied requests for disclosure by groups such as Doctors without Borders, IP Justice, the Canadian Library Association, and the Consumers Union of Japan,[18][2][19] the negotiating parties published an official version of the then current draft on 20 April 2010.[20]
In June 2010, a conference with "over 90 academics, practitioners and public interest organizations from six continents"[21] concluded "that the terms of the publicly released draft of ACTA threaten numerous public interests, including every concern specifically disclaimed by negotiators." A group of 75+ law professors signed a letter to President Obama demanding that ACTA be halted and changed.[22]
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http://www.redicecreations.com/article.php?id=18332"There’s swelling anger in Poland over the country signing up with others... more
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WASHINGTON -- A Senate bill banning the trading of corporate stocks by members of Congress based on nonpublic political information will see a vote next week, according to Democratic sources working on the bill.
"It'll be on the floor next week, either hotlined or an actual vote," one source said of the bill, known as the STOCK Act. Hotlining refers to the process of moving a bill through by unanimous consent.
A separate Democratic aide said that negotiations over amendments were still ongoing, which would make hotlining more difficult. A Democratic leadership aide, meanwhile, would only say that a vote was "possible."
The STOCK Act, authored by Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Scott Brown (R-Mass.), would ban trading by members of Congress guided by nonpublic economic or political information. It would also improve disclosures of all stock trades and other financial maneuvers by members of Congress, by requiring them to publicly detail each transaction within 30 days. Lawmakers are currently granted a full year of secrecy before disclosing such financial activities.
The bill received a big boost on Tuesday when President Barack Obama called for its enactment during the State of the Union address.
"Send me a bill that bans insider trading by members of Congress; I will sign it tomorrow," Obama said.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/26/stock-act-insider-trading-bill-senate_n_1234067.htmlWASHINGTON -- A Senate bill banning the trading of corporate stocks by members of... more
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There is evidence that in 1991 an Israeli undercover team planned to assassinate a U.S. President. The intended victim was George Herbert Walker Bush.
The first person to write of the plot was a former 11-term Republican Congressman from Illinois, Paul Findley. In a 1992 article in the Washington Report for Middle East Affairs.
On January 13th the Atlanta Jewish Times featured a column by its owner-publisher suggesting that Israel might someday need to “order a hit” on the president of the United States.
In the column, publisher Andrew Adler describes a scenario in which Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu would need to “give the go-ahead for U.S. based Mossad agents to take out a president deemed unfriendly to Israel.”
Numerous Jewish leaders quickly condemned Adler, who has now apologized for the column, resigned, and there are some reports that he plans to put the newspaper up for sale. An Israeli columnist noted that the hatred being stirred up against Obama is similar to conditions in Israel that led to the murder of Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by a Jewish extremist.
Many of those criticizing Adler claim that he had defamed Israel by suggesting that it would ever do such a thing. Abe Foxman, head of the Jewish Anti-Defamation League (ADL) proclaimed: “There is absolutely no excuse, no justification, no rationalization for this kind of rhetoric. It doesn’t even belong in fiction.”
In reality, however, Adler’s expectation that Israel’s inner circles have explored such a course of action, and would be willing to undertake it, may be entirely accurate. The fact is that Israel has killed and plotted to assassinate people throughout the world; a number have been Americans. One alleged plot was chillingly similar to Adler’s suggestion.There is evidence that in 1991 an Israeli undercover team planned to assassinate a... more
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The corporate media have been given their orders to throw the focus back on to Iran.
Here is a recap of what they are trying to make you forget.
1. Last Spring, Rose Gottemoeller, an assistant secretary of state and Washington's chief nuclear arms negotiator, asked Israel to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Israel refused.
2. The United Nations passed a resolution calling on Israel to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and to submit to inspections. Israel refused.
3. The IAEA asked Israel to sign the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and to submit to inspections. Israel refused.
4. Iran's formal notification to the IAEA of the planned construction of the backup fuel-rod facility underscores that Iran is playing by the rules of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty which Iran has signed.
5. Iran allows IAEA inspections of all its facilities.
6. Contrary to face-saving claims, it appears that the US and Israel were both caught off guard by Iran's announcement of a planned underground (to avoid being bombed) enrichment facility. The reasoning is simple. Had the US or Israel announced the existence of he new facility before Iran's notified the IAEA, it would have put Iran on the defensive. As it is now, the US and Israel seem to be playing catch up, casting doubt on the veracity of Israel's claims to "know" that Iran is a nuclear threat.
7. The IAEA and all 16 United States Intelligence Agencies are unanimous in agreement that Iran is not building and does not possess nuclear weapons.
8. In 1986, Mordachai Vanunu blew the whistle and provided photographs showing Israel's clandestine nuclear weapons factory underneath the reactor at Dimona.
9. Israel made the same accusations against Iraq that it is making against Iran, leading up to Israel's bombing of the power station at Osirik. Following the invasion of 2003, international experts examined the ruins of the power station at Osirik and found no evidence of a clandestine weapons factory in the rubble.
10. The United Nations has just released the Goldstone Report, a scathing report which accuses Israel of 37 specific war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza earlier this year. Israel has denounced the report as "Anti-Semitic (even though Judge Goldstone is himself Jewish), and the United States will block the report from being referred to the War Crimes Tribunal at the Hague, thereby making the US Government an accessory after-the-fact.
11. Recently revealed documents prove not only that Israel has nuclear weapos, but actually tried to sell some to Apartheid South Africa. Who else Israel approached to sell nuclear weapons remains an unasked question.
12. In 1965, Israel stole over 200-600 pounds of weapons-grade uranium from the United States.
13. Declassified documents from the former South African regime prove not only that Israel has had nuclear weapons for decades, but has tried to sell them to other countries!
We all need to be Joe Wilson right now. We need to stand up and scream, "LIAR!" at every politician and every talking media moron that is pushing this war in Iran. And we need to keep dong it until they get the message that we will not be deceived any more.
Israel wants to send your kids off to die in Iran, and YOU are the only one that can stop them.
Please forward this comment to your social networks.The corporate media have been given their orders to throw the focus back on to Iran.... more
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I missed Obama’s State of the Union address, because I was doing volunteer work in prison at the time and did not get to see it until yesterday morning, so please color this better late than never. I have the full enhanced video of the speech, followed by my own notes in raw format. I did not like everything I heard, but I did like far more than I disliked.I missed Obama’s State of the Union address, because I was doing volunteer work... more
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Food Stamp President
Why doesn’t someone just come out and call Newt Gingrich out? When Newt called President Obama the ‘food stamp’ President what he was really doing was slamming the President for having been ‘poor’! He was making an inside joke as to why Obama is not ‘fit’ to be President, in Newt’s mind (world), Obama is just not one of the ‘good ole’ boys’, he was not privy to an elite and preppy upbringing, he didn’t mingle and rub noses w/the ‘1%’ as a child. Newt really wanted to say that Obama was born on the wrong side of the tracks, but he knew that would be a little too racially charged so he toned it back a bit, the meaning, however, is still the same.
Saying that ‘more people than ever are on food stamps under Obama …’ was his out and he calculated that, Newt is Macovellian in that way. He knew that w/the ‘1%’ they would understand his lingo and snicker and w/the other ‘99%’ they would accept his follow-up definition, as he knew that he would need to clarify at some point. Let’s just call a spade a spade!
Newt is known for his dirty tricks, in the ‘90’s Newt was fined over $300k for ethics violations in the House while he was Speaker of the House, and remember that this was under a REPUBLICAN Congress! Newt has found that it is easy to retell his story if he waits a few years ~ the public at large seem to have a short memory and a shorter attention span ~ and simply changes the parts of his history that he does like, or at least the parts that he finds most hindering in his ongoing quest for power.
Newt is not using Reagan as an example that is a travesty to the integrity of Ronald Reagan. Newt is using Nixon as a model. Nixon lost to JFK in 1960 despite his (Nixon’s) dirty politics, and then came back several years later in 1974 to beat McGovern for the Presidency. In that 14 year span people seemed to forget the kind of person that Nixon was so when he played the ‘dirty politics’ card in 1974 it worked. That is Newt’s model ~ Newt, who left the House of Representatives in disgrace, much the same as Nixon left the White House in disgrace.Food Stamp President
Why doesn’t someone just come out and call Newt Gingrich... more
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Thom delivers his State of the Union Address. Also discussed: the release of Mitt Romney's tax returns and the SCOTUS' decision on the police's ability to use a GPS device to track criminal suspects.Thom delivers his State of the Union Address. Also discussed: the release of Mitt... more
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WASHINGTON (AP) — It was a wish list, not a to-do list.
President Barack Obama laid out an array of plans in his State of the Union speech as if his hands weren't so tied by political realities. There can be little more than wishful thinking behind his call to end oil industry subsidies — something he could not get through a Democratic Congress, much less today's divided Congress, much less in this election year.
And there was more recycling, in an even more forbidding climate than when the ideas were new: He pushed for an immigration overhaul that he couldn't get past Democrats, permanent college tuition tax credits that he asked for a year ago, and familiar discouragements for companies that move overseas.
A look at Obama's rhetoric Tuesday night and how it fits with the facts and political circumstances:
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OBAMA: "We have subsidized oil companies for a century. That's long enough. It's time to end the taxpayer giveaways to an industry that's rarely been more profitable, and double-down on a clean energy industry that's never been more promising."
THE FACTS: This is at least Obama's third run at stripping subsidies from the oil industry. Back when fellow Democrats formed the House and Senate majorities, he sought $36.5 billion in tax increases on oil and gas companies over the next decade, but Congress largely ignored the request. He called again to end such tax breaks in last year's State of the Union speech. And he's now doing it again, despite facing a wall of opposition from Republicans who want to spur domestic oil and gas production and oppose tax increases generally.
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OBAMA: "Our health care law relies on a reformed private market, not a government program."
THE FACTS: That's only half true. About half of the more than 30 million uninsured Americans expected to gain coverage through the health care law will be enrolled in a government program. Medicaid, the federal-state program for low-income people, will be expanded starting in 2014 to cover childless adults living near the poverty line.
The other half will be enrolled in private health plans through new state-based insurance markets. But many of them will be receiving federal subsidies to make their premiums more affordable. And that's a government program, too.
Starting in 2014 most Americans will be required to carry health coverage, either through an employer, by buying their own plan, or through a government program.
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OBAMA, asking Congress to pay for construction projects: "Take the money we're no longer spending at war, use half of it to pay down our debt, and use the rest to do some nation-building right here at home."
THE FACTS: The idea of taking war "savings" to pay for other programs is budgetary sleight of hand. For one thing, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been largely financed through borrowing, so stopping the wars doesn't create a pool of ready cash, just less debt. And the savings appear to be based at least in part on inflated war spending estimates for future years.
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OBAMA: "Through the power of our diplomacy a world that was once divided about how to deal with Iran's nuclear program now stands as one."
THE FACTS: The world is still divided over how to deal with Iran's disputed nuclear program, and even over whether the nuclear program is a problem at all.
It is true that the U.S., Europe and other nations have agreed to apply the strictest economic sanctions yet on Iran later this year. But the global sanctions net has holes, because some of Iran's large oil trading partners won't go along. China, a major purchaser of Iran's crude, isn't part of the new sanctions and, together with Russia, stopped the United Nations from applying similarly tough penalties.
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OBAMA: "Tonight, I want to speak about how we move forward, and lay out a blueprint for an economy that's built to last - an economy built on American manufacturing, American energy, skills for American workers, and a renewal of American values."
THE FACTS: Economists do see manufacturing growth as a necessary component of any U.S. recovery. U.S. manufacturing output climbed 0.9 percent in December, the biggest gain since December 2010. Yet Obama's apparent vision of a nation once again propelled by manufacturing — a vision shared by many Republicans — may already have slipped into the past.
Over generations, the economy has become ever more driven by services; not since 1975 has the U.S. had a surplus in merchandise trade, which covers trade in goods, including manufactured and farm goods. About 90 percent of American workers are employed in the service sector, a profound shift in the nature of the workforce over many decades.
The overall trade deficit through the first 11 months of 2011 ran at an annual rate of nearly $600 billion, up almost 12 percent from the year before.
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hmMd4Wbbpt4uXU36QnBNy3rmXQdg?docId=8b722f1b0bfc42768fd73804663b8955WASHINGTON (AP) — It was a wish list, not a to-do list.
President Barack... more
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Financial Dictator of America and head of the Federal Reserve Private Banking Cartel statement following January meeting.Financial Dictator of America and head of the Federal Reserve Private Banking Cartel... more
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