President Obama's Weekly Address, "GOP trying to destroy Social Security", August 14, 2010 (Video)

On the 75th anniversary of Social Security, President Obama promises to protect it from Republican leaders in Congress who have made privatization a key part of their agenda. He makes clear that, especially in light of the financial crisis, gambling Social Security on Wall Street makes no sense.



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President Obama, "Muslims have the right to practice their religion as anyone else" (Video)

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Bat.Shit.Crazy.

I saw this crazy exchange on Anderson Cooper last night. How this man is a congressman is beyond me (Rep. Louie Gohmert-R)??? Terror Babies??? Are the Republicans peddling this bill of goods? And evidence? As you watch the clip, there is NONE.



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Desperation, 1930's style....

This is what desperation is all about:



The above are Americans outside of Atlanta, Georgia in line to get on a WAITING LIST for low income housing. These are people who were working, laid off, and now losing everything. 13,000 people showed up in 90 degree plus heat just to have their names put on a waiting list, what does that tell you?

This is desperation on the 1930's scale.

No one believes that the economy is recovering and as folks are being kicked off unemployment, what will happen to them? Are we becoming the country of "if it is not me, I don't give a damn?" Because it sure looks like that to me. A tier 5 unemployment plan must pass congress or we will start seeing babies, mothers, children, fathers in the streets due to desperation, if they are not there now.

A Tier 5 unemployment extension could benefit US financial markets. After the stock market closed today down 265 many are investors are wondering what it will take to get the US financial markets robust again. With consumer spending at an all-time low and nearly 14 million Americans without work some help is in order if we are going to see the economy thrive again.

While we can argue and parse over whatever happens on a daily basis, this election, as I have said for over a year is about this economy. And baby, this economy is shitty and scummy for millions out here. When folks don't have jobs the wheels of motion stops for everyone in the economic chain. This is from purchase power, home values, health care access, food on your table, the whole nine yard.

From the NBC/WSJ Poll out today:



November is a hard sell to an electorate who is angry at BOTH PARTIES. It is not about the Republicans because the electorate get them, they are not about shit, basically, but it is about what the Democrats have done which many don't get.

Lastly, the die hard Democrats will vote, including practically everyone on this site. The problem is getting all those other voters, soft voters, independents who pushed us over the finish line to stay in our corner and from all the polling we have a lot of work to do. They are highly skeptical, angry, and feel that nothing is getting done. They pushed us over the finish line in 2008 and gave us a massive mandate and numbers in congress.

Now it is time to pitch to these people to come out. Make them feel that we are in their corner, even for the unemployed worker, let them know that if the Republicans get in charge they can kiss their unemployment good-bye. We have to say this and mean it. They must because this election will probably be tighter than a tick, every vote matters and count. For every one person that says they are not voting or will "maybe" vote, that is two votes WE must make up. Remember that.

Update [2010-8-11 21:45:59 by icebergslim]:

I felt this is important for this discussion. Americans have always thought ownership of a home is money, equity for the future. As the housing market has obliterated itself, many Americans are just walking away from their debt, responsibility. Remember, walking away from loans, debts is a sign of desperation or no carishness, which makes it harder for the over blown housing market to rebound. In fact, I know a couple whose home equity has vanished and are just walking away from the loan. For them, it is not that they can not afford to pay it, they can, they are just choosing NOT TO PAY IT because there is no monetary value in the home. This is another paradox going on out here.

During the great housing boom, homeowners nationwide borrowed a trillion dollars from banks, using the soaring value of their houses as security. Now the money has been spent and struggling borrowers are unable or unwilling to pay it back.

The delinquency rate on home equity loans is higher than all other types of consumer loans, including auto loans, boat loans, personal loans and even bank cards like Visa and MasterCard, according to the American Bankers Association.

Lenders say they are trying to recover some of that money but their success has been limited, in part because so many borrowers threaten bankruptcy and the collateral in the homes backing the loans has often disappeared.

Cross-posted @ Daily Kos

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Keith Olbermann's Special Comment on the idiot called Press Secretary Robert Gibbs

I guess the DNC, DCCC, DSCC don't need my time or money. To trash members of your own party is totally over the line.

Barack Obama you got a scummy White House and until YOU GET IT, you will continue to bleed support.

Mid-term elections less than 90 days away....

Read it all here.


First, Keith Olbermann with Michael Moore:



Keith Olbermann's Special Comment:



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Hard hitting television ad against Minority Speaker John Boehner

This one hits home. In fact, I remember Joe Scarborough from morning joe talking about the bad habits of John Boehner and how he could not see him as Speaker of the House because he is done by 5 PM everyday and at the local bar. Ain't that something...and remember, Boehner's district is middle class working folk, voting against unemployment is a disastrous decision for that area....



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Bad job numbers, bad unemployment numbers, bad all around

Again, November is about JOBS, this ECONOMY. The White House finally figuring this out is a tad too late on this. As long as people are unemployed, foreclosures at record highs, consumer confidence is low, this is going to continue for some time.

And that is why it will be tough for Democrats in November when the public has disdain for BOTH, Democrats and Republicans. The election of us vs. them with the public hating both.

Oh, those census jobs that bloated the REAL NUMBERS? Those jobs are done and the fallout is what we see, a weak job market as many said from the very beginning.

Companies showed a lack of confidence about hiring for a third straight month in July, making it likely the economy will grow more slowly the rest of the year.

Private employers added a net total of only 71,000 jobs last month, according to the Labor Department's July report Friday. That number was far below the roughly 200,000 needed each month to reduce the unemployment rate. The unemployment rate for July was unchanged at 9.5 percent.

The modest job gains were even weaker when considering a loss of government jobs at the local, state and federal levels in July that weren't temporary census positions. Factoring those in the net gain was only 12,000 jobs.

“The good news here is we are not falling off a cliff; we are getting job growth,” Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com, told CNBC Friday. “But obviously this is not enough. If we don’t see better job growth later this year and next the recovery is in jeopardy.”

The government sharply revised down its jobs figures for June, saying businesses hired fewer workers than previously estimated. June's private-sector job gains were lowered to 31,000 from 83,000. May's were raised slightly to show 51,000 net new jobs, from 33,000.

Overall, the economy lost a net total of 131,000 jobs last month, mostly because 143,000 temporary census jobs ended.

Source

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President Obama's remarks to the AFL-CIO Executive Council Meeting

President Obama speaks to the AFL-CIO Executive Council Meeting about the need to pursue bold, new options for the economy rather than fall back to failed policies of the past. August 4, 2010.

A couple of thoughts. First, President Obama hardly mentions the health care law which was supposed to be signature for the Democrats this fall, but in quite a few states more of a hindrance than help. Next, it was confirmed by Richard Trumka, President of the AFL-CIO that the negative language coming from the White House after the Blanche Lincoln win and the anger it caused for Union members and progressives the supposedly person(s) apologized.

The AFL-CIO chief already caused a stir in the 2010 election season when he put the union's resources behind a primary challenge to Senator Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.). Lincoln ultimately won the nomination in a runoff election sparking a heated bit of anonymous sniping from White House officials. Trumka stressed that President Obama never talked him out of backing Lt. Gov. Bill Halter in that race. As for the nameless administration aides, he said: "The anonymous sources have [apologized]."

Lastly, the AFL-CIO from their stance will not protect many Blue Dog Democrats based on their voting records for the mid term elections in November. And that is less money in November and up to the DCCC and DSCC to protect those particular congress critters. Good luck on that one.



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President Obama meets with Young African Leaders

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Obama's Speech on leaving Iraq in Georgia, August 2, 2010

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President Obama's Remarks to the Urban League, July 29, 2010 (Video, Transcript)

President Obama speaks about the critical need for education reform and discusses what his Administration has done to raise standards and encourage excellence during a speech to the Urban League. July 29, 2010, Washington, D.C.



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President Obama on The View (Video)

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Part Five



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The fight for the midterms has begun...the DNC ad....

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Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks interviews

Julian Assange, founder of WikiLeaks, interview with Andrea Mitchell on the 91K Afghanistan documents leaked involving the Afghanistan War from the Bush period through the current Obama Administration.

Makes everyone revisit the flawed analogy of continuing a non-winnable war that has gone on longer that Vietnam and bankrupted this country. When will be build up OUR NATION and stop building up OTHERS. Der Spiegel, UK's The Guardian and The New York Times were given weeks to look over all the content of these documents before publishing, unanimously on Sunday, July 25, 2009. More information, here.



More interviews with Assange from April, 2010, Collateral Murder:

Part One:



Part Two:



Part Three:



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Gasp!!! BP CEO Tony Hayward, OUT....

About time....

Gaffe-prone BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward — who incensed many on the Gulf Coast by saying he wanted his life back as they struggled with the fallout from the company's massive oil spill — will be replaced, a senior U.S. government official said Sunday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because an announcement had not been made, was briefed on the decision by a senior BP official late last week.

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And the "Stupid Crown" goes to...

The Obama Administration.

The Maureen Dowd op-ed and the Frank Rich op-ed has hit this Shirley Sherrod fiasco out of the park.

The White House continue to straddle the fence by having totally insensitive individuals making decisions that continues to make this administration look like jackasses.

If Barack Obama does not change, do you think people will continue to support him?

That is the real question here. And we need to look at it totally.

I was at the beauty salon on Friday and all the African American women were talking about how the Obama Administration just threw Shirley Sherrod under the bus without any investigation based on FOX NEWS, which the African American Community do NOT LIKE.

Also, many stated that he does need more Black People in his administration. I don't know about that, but he does need some people in that administration that know how to use GOOGLE, because the name Sherrod is legendary in the Civil Rights History.

The West Wing white guys who pushed to ditch Shirley Sherrod before Glenn Beck could pounce not only didn’t bother to Google, they weren’t familiar enough with civil rights history to recognize the name Sherrod. And they didn’t return the calls and e-mail of prominent blacks who tried to alert them that something was wrong.

Charles Sherrod, Shirley’s husband, was a Freedom Rider who, along with the civil rights hero John Lewis, was a key member of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee of the ‘60s.

As Lewis, the longtime Georgia congressman, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, he knew immediately that something was amiss with the distorted video clip of Sherrod talking to the N.A.A.C.P.

The sad thing about this is that many prominent BLACK FOLK in the KNOW on Civil Rights history did call this White House and they like Sherrod was tossed aside.

And who ended up with egg on its face?

Many on this site has tried to say this is not Obama's fault, but when many look at this it is his fault, along with others to eat crow. Why? He put former Governor Vilsack of Iowa in charge, he hired him. Vilsack nor the White House did not even view the clip before the truck marks was on the back of Shirley Sherrod. How dumb is that one? And then we have Jim Messina from the White House, ELATED for a job well done in throwing Shirley Sherrod over the bus, only to have that bus come back to haunt him.

But three Democratic sources said deputy chief of staff Jim Messina singled out the White House's initial response to the incident for praise in the regular 8:30 a.m. staff meeting Tuesday morning. The sources differed on the substance of Messina's praise, but concurred that he had praised the speed of White House communications in response to the flap, which was driven by a misleadingly edited video posted to Andrew Breitbart's Big Government website.

One source, who is unhappy with the administration's handling of the incident, paraphrased Messina's remarks: "We could have waited all day — we could have had a media circus — but we took decisive action, and it’s a good example of how to respond in this atmosphere."

I have worked on quite a few projects and held a few jobs, but never have I witnessed someone being fired on "hearsay", without a proper investigation. And for the Obama White House, this is what African Americans are mad about.

Shirley Sherrod could have been my mother, your mother, your grandmother. A woman who never asked for anything, worked hard through college, graduate school who decided to make a difference for her community by coming back to live there and be part of it. She could have gone anywhere in this country, but decided to come back home, even after all that has happened to her.

Lastly, Congressman Jim Clyburn is right here:

“I don’t think a single black person was consulted before Shirley Sherrod was fired — I mean c’mon, “ said Congressman James Clyburn of South Carolina, a black lawmaker so temperate that he agreed with an op-ed piece in The Wall Street Journal on Friday by Senator James Webb of Virginia, which urged that “government-directed diversity programs should end.”

“The president’s getting hurt real bad,” Clyburn told me. “He needs some black people around him.” He said Obama’s inner circle keeps “screwing up” on race: “Some people over there are not sensitive at all about race. They really feel that the extent to which he allows himself to talk about race would tend to pigeonhole him or cost him support, when a lot of people saw his election as a way to get the issue behind us. I don’t think people elected him to disengage on race. Just the opposite.”

Again, I don't know if he needs more Black People, but he needs cooler heads over there who are not afraid because FOX NEWS comes calling. And there are people in that White House who are not sensitive about race, they have shown that card repeatedly and continues to get burned.

I hope Shirley Sherrod thanks the Obama Administration for a job offer and passes. She should not be used as a token for all the problems the USDA has on discrimination, that is not what she wants. She loved her job that she had with staff, budget and outreach. That was taken away from her. And though she clearly respects the President, she strongly believes that it was pressure from the White House to toss her and most Americans believe that too. For that, thanks but no thanks to the USDA job.

Cross posted @ Daily Kos

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