On this day: President Barack Obama looks out over the Grand Canyon in Arizona on Aug. 16, 2009 (Photo by Pete Souza)
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#ObamasAmerica: White House installs solar panels, ups govt. use of renewable energy to 7%. washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-pol… http://t.co/q2NdBFJKuQ
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Nerdy Wonka (@NerdyWonka) August 15, 2025****
Washington Post: White House Solar Panels Being Installed This Week
The White House began installing solar panels on the First Family’s residence this week, a White House official confirmed Thursday. The Obama administration has already undertaken a number of measures to increase the federal government’s energy efficiency and use of renewable energy while cutting greenhouse gas emissions linked to climate change, a plan the president outlined in an executive order he signed in October 2009.
The administration has doubled the number of hybrid cars and truck in the federal fleet, increased the government’s use of renewable energy to 7 percent, cut the federal government’s greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent and committed $2 billion to upgrade federal buildings’ energy efficiency through contracting requirements at no up-front cost to taxpayers.
So far these measures have collectively saved 7 million gallons of gas and been equivalent to permanently removing 1.5 million cars from the road, according to the White House.
More here
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Sorry, Eurocrats, your recession isn't over because of austerity. It's over because you stopped doing more austerity theatlantic.com/business/archi…
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Matt O'Brien (@ObsoleteDogma) August 15, 2025****
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Heidi Mitchell: Stand And Deliver: After Her 12-Hour Filibuster, How Far Will Texas Senator Wendy Davis Run?
Just a week prior, the scene besieging the two-term senator was altogether less serene. On the final day of a special session of the Eighty-third Legislature, an omnibus antiabortion bill known as SB 5, which proposed new restrictions on family-planning clinics, was up for a vote in the Senate—and Davis arrived at the Capitol building in Austin prepared for a long fight.
Wearing pink Mizuno running shoes and a sky-blue Escada day coat concealing a back brace, the 50-year-old runner and cyclist held the floor for a twelve-hour filibuster that packed the rotunda with pro-choice defenders and had the nation biting its collective nails as coverage streamed online and the clock ticked down to midnight. In those hours, Davis’s Facebook likes spiked. The hashtag #StandWithWendy began trending as high as some 125,000 tweets per hour. Barack Obama used it. Lena Dunham tweeted her support. John Oliver made a joke about a new line of shoes, the Fila-busters, the next night on The Daily Show.
More here
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On the first anniversary of the implementation of DACA: what it means to us, to DREAMers, and to #immigrationreform: goo.gl/DYThfh
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Cecilia Muñoz (@Cecilia44) August 15, 2025****
Brian Beutler: The Stupidest Anti-ObamaCare Campaign Ever
We’ve known for a few weeks now that conservative groups are attempting to sabotage Obamacare by planning and staging campaigns to dissuade young people and families from enrolling in state insurance exchanges. Via Greg Sargent, these efforts include a new radio spot from the conservative group Americans for Prosperity, and the good news is that in addition to being heartless and cruel, it’s also incredibly stupid. “Two years ago, my son Caleb began having seizures … if we can’t pick our own doctor, how do I know my family is going to get the care they need?”
Set aside for a moment that the one factual claim about the law in that quote — “we can’t pick our own doctor” — is false, and will be false until the president of Kaiser Permanente hypnotizes all of Washington and persuades Congress to ban PPOs. Set aside too that the single most well known and well liked provision of the Affordable Care Act is the one banning insurance companies from discriminating against people with preexisting conditions. That’s the reason Caleb will never have to worry about being locked out of coverage for the rest of his life.
More here
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:lol:
I'm ready for Biden/Obama2016!
Are you ready?
#UniteBlue http://t.co/lJVPZpmPId
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Wesley Smith (@WesleyZ3) August 15, 2025****
Steve Benen: Get To Know The New GOP Hostage Strategy
A spirited debate has unfolded within the Republican Party over the last several weeks about what the party intends to do to sabotage the federal health care system. A significant contingent within the GOP has demanded a hostage strategy: Republicans should tell Democrats that they’ll shut down the government unless Dems agree to deny health care benefits to millions of Americans. The strategy is, of course, destined to fail. Democrats will never agree to pay such a ransom, and Republicans don’t want to be on the hook for a shutdown that puts their control of Congress in jeopardy.
It seems increasingly obvious that congressional Republicans are less a governing party and more a group of intemperate children who like to play with matches — and it just so happens they’ve stumbled upon some explosives. To be sure, a government shutdown would be an awful development that would hurt the economy and severely undermine public services Americans rely on. But a debt-ceiling crisis is on a whole other level — it’s like comparing cutting your hand with a kitchen knife and needing stitches, and amputating your hand altogether. The former is serious; the latter is tough to recover from.
More here
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We Are All Garth Brooks Today
marylynne1
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Steve Benen: ‘The King Of Golf And Vacations’
Maybe there’s something about presidential vacations that many folks find irksome on a reflexive level. Americans may think that presidents shouldn’t take off when there’s so much work to be done. But RNC Chairman Reince Priebus is taking these attitudes to a very silly level. First, President Obama is taking an eight-day break because, well, humans in stressful jobs occasionally need to take a breather. But for Republicans to make hay out of this is absurd — Obama has taken 87 days off since his first inauguration, and at the comparable point in George W. Bush’s presidency, Obama’s Republican predecessor had taken 399 days off. Remember this chart?
At this point, I imagine conservatives are asking, “Why is it Bush’s days off were fair game for criticism but Obama’s aren’t?” The answer is pretty straightforward: it’s because Bush’s time away from the office was extraordinary. No modern president ever took as much time off as he did. Bush’s vacation days, in other words, became noteworthy because they were record-breaking. For every day off Obama has taken, Bush took 4.5 days off over a comparable period of time.
More here
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BREAKING: US builders started work on more homes in July, led by a jump in apartment construction.
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The Associated Press (@AP) August 16, 2025****
CNBC: Housing Starts Up 5.9%; Q2 Productivity Beats Forecasts
The Commerce Department said on Friday that housing starts increased 5.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 896,000 units. June’s starts were revised up to show a 846,000-unit pace instead of the previously reported 836,000 units.Permits to build homes rose 2.7 percent in July to a 943,000-unit pace. Meanwhile, productivity increased at a 0.9 percent annual rate, the Labor Department said. Economists polled by Reuters had expected productivity to gain at a 0.6 percent rate.
Output rose at a 2.6 percent rate in the second quarter, while the number of hours worked increased at a 1.7 percent rate. Unit labor costs—a gauge of labor-related costs for any given unit of output—rose at 1.4 percent rate in the second quarter, slightly above forecasts of economists polled by Reuters. Builders have been complaining about a shortage of labor and materials. Still, residential construction remains on a firmer footing and should again contribute to economic growth this year.
More here
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On This Day:
President Barack Obama has breakfast with small business owners at Rausch’s Cafe in Guttenberg, Iowa, during a three-day bus tour in the Midwest, Aug.16, 2011. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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President Barack Obama browses crafts and antiques at Grasshoppers store in LeClaire, Iowa, Aug. 16, 2011, during a three-day bus tour in the Midwest. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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President Barack Obama talks with people at Grasshoppers store in LeClaire, Iowa, Aug. 16, 2011, during a three-day bus tour in the Midwest. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)
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White House.gov
Hello.
Obviously my comment at end of last thread will not be read. :) That’s okay.
Congrats tnmtngirl and good morning. I’ll go back and read your post. ;)
G’morning UT, Chips, TOD, lurkers, everyone, and congrats tnmtngirl on #1 :)
Thanks UT for a fabulous R & S! The last pic with PBO and the boys, and the dog holding the stuffed toy is just too precious!!
Who do you mean Japa? I’ve isolated myself to TOD and the links here. It’s a much happier place.
Good Friday Morning Chipsticks, TODers…Everyone!!!
UT, I am loving the ‘this day history” type articles, videos and pictures that you are including about President Obama’s Presidency. Good memories!
I’m ready to start the weekend! I hope everyone has positive thoughts and an optimistic outlook to start their weekend! :-D
You’re welcome and thank you for the positive feedback!
Thank you UT. I love seeing photos from years past since I’ve only been here since about Dec. I’m just always posts behind.
How beautiful AZ is without the crazy:) Do you realize that we have Congresspeople that would like to dig for uranium at the Grand Canyon?? A Wonder of the World….and they want to dig it up. Anyway…good morning!
We gotta get you out of there.
It’s in the mid 60′s this morning in Chicago with a refreshing breeze off the lake…… Am I tempting you?
Mid 60′s?? What’s that???? We have an excessive heat advisory in effect until Sunday:) Temps in excess of 110 !!!! AND humid!!!!
I’d move in a NY minute if I could :) Can we stay at your house? :)
A humid 110? As my husband says of his Rush Limbaugh wannabe twin brother - “That AZ sun has baked the brains out of you.”
I will consider opening my home to you. Do you do windows? Do you like dogs? Because you’ll have to share their beds (I won’t make you stay in their crates, I promise).
What kind of dogs do you have? :grin: Isn’t the Golden in the top photo beautiful? We have one called Bear. Lovable funny guy.
We have a cairn/silky mix - Nickelby; a bichon/maltese mix - Kasper; and a yorkie - Pearl. All were rescued as adults. Pearl, our latest, had been a puppy mill breeder and then dumped at a kill shelter after her last litter, 7 years old. The shelter that I deal with rescued her, spayed her, cleaned her teeth, fostered her and started her on housebreaking. She’s been with us a year and a half - and you would never know the horrible life she led previously. She kinda bald - I will test again this year for thyroid or cushing’s, but last year her numbers were fine. It’s probably just the harsh life she led. But she’s beautiful to us.
You should see her play with her ‘brothers’. She brought such joy to us. We love her to pieces (and her brothers of course!)
Oh bless you. It breaks my heart to see so many deserted dogs. So three, that’s a houseful. We’ve had three at once. We have a cute little pound puppy, part lab, part spaniel. Both spoiled.
We always have two because we would fall apart if our house was ever without a dog. Then we found ‘Harvey’ on the street a number of years ago. He was about 10 years old, a tumor the size of my fist on his foot. We removed it, were told it would definitely come back and we’d have him about 10 months. We decided against radiation which by all accounts wouldn’t have helped anyway. I never knew I had it in me to allow myself to get attached, knowing we wouldn’t have him that long.
I have an herbalist friend who specializes in cancer for animals. We have him a particular ‘tea’. Harvey was with us 7 1/2 years. The cancer did come back the last year and we removed his toe, thinking we’d bought him all kinds of time. But he was quite old and the kidneys failed. He was the sweetest, loveliest dog. And we discovered that we rather liked three dogs (as long as they’re small. You should see my macho husband with these little dogs. It’s adorable).
We have no children. We have doggies. So many people do not understand the special bond when you adopt an adult dog. It’s really amazing.
By the way, I love spaniel mixes. I had two cockapoos, totally different in look and temperament and they were wonderful. Well, all of my dogs are wonderful. They’re not spoiled at all!
You should start a blog and tell their stories. I want to do that someday. We feel the same way about our pets. We really get close to them. Bear was a replacement for Chopper. My husband was de sated when he died suddenly of a heart attack. We had raised him from about ten days old on. He was very special. We knew the mother was a Golden. She was run over and the pups rescued. We know one other pup was black. We think he was part border collie. But Doug needed another Golden to ease the pain. Bear was from the neighborhood. Not a pet store.
Beautiful story. the sadness and loss is the price we pay for the unmitigated joy they give us. I’ve nursed them through old age, Cushing’s disease, cancer and the pit bull attack of little Kasper that almost killed him. That’s another thing I never thought I could do - deal with serious health issues. But it is a blessing to find that you are more than you ever thought you could be, and that these precious pets are the conduit to your Better Self and a state of grace.
Have I got stories to tell……..
Yes, you do invest a lot of love and nurturing into them and it is so rewarding and painful. Each of our pets have a story too. You really should think about opening a WP blog.
I will consider it. Thanks, CarolMae.
Good luck and let me know when it’s open. :grin:
Did you change your name? ;) We’re twins.
I’m privileged to call you my twin, girl friend!
Great! I have dog stories to share if you would like to hear. Where can we share them? :smile:
I would LOVE to share dog stories! Let me think on how we can do that.
Maybe Ms. Chips could relay email addresses?
Or I could relay mine. Are you on twitter. We could DM our emails? Or FB?
Yes! I’m FlowerInFaith on twitter. And you are….?
I’m @carolmaewy Solved?
I believe so!
Good. I sent a testing DM and a couple regular tweets. It takes me time because I switch from an app to a browser.
I can’t come if you have dogs:) I have a Great Dane…and she doesn’t play well with others:) I can visit though!
Yes…a humid 110. Sucks hard.
Your Dane would scoop up my babies in one gulp!
Always welcome for a visit, though.
I feel you DZ. Some want to drill in Yellowstone. Thank goodness for our fore bearers who set the land aside. As huge an area that Yellowstone is it is still full of tourists.
I stood probably at that very spot PBO is standing at the Grand Canyon. You feel so small looking out at into the canyon and realizing that it took millions of years for water and ice to carve the land like that. I wonder how the so-called creationist think this was done in less than 6000 yrs.
I’m definitely ready for Biden/Obama 2016! :) :)
Mooooooorning UT, thank you for another faaaaaab R&S!!!
Anytime Chica. Anytime. :D
As I read on the various posts and comments about some of the rantings of the emoprogs, RWNJ’s, MSM, et al., I am sooooooooooooo thankful that we have a person in the White House who does not react to every “shoulda” that is thrown his way. I am sooooooooooooooo thankful that our President is a person of rational thinking, great intelligence and character. I am soooooooooooooooooo thankful that we have a Commander in Chief who looks for diplomatic ways to resolve problems and disagreements rather than automatically turning to bullying and war. I am sooooooooooooooo thankful that President Obama is a person who doesn’t rely on talking points, propaganda, half-truths and mis-information, but likes to have COMPLETE AND FACTUAL information before responding, reacting, or deciding.
His detractors try to downplay his accomplishments, but I think one of his greatest accomplishments is keeping this country from falling into complete ruin and further despair. We can say that we are not where we WANT to be economically, socially, legally, environmentally… We are not where we SHOULD be when it comes to our rights – human, civil, constitutional… But imagine what a nightmare we would be in if one of the many irrational thinking , easily influenced, volatile, “bend with the wind” types were leading this country.
I am SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO THANKFUL that God gave us moments of common sense to elect President Obama….in 2008 and again in 2012.
Beautifully stated. And I’m just thankful you reminded us of all that, so we all could remind ourselves to be thankful. It was great fun waking up this morning to find that Barack Obama is STILL President of the United States, wasn’t it?
Most definitely worth waking up to. :-D
You said that so beautifully. His good qualities are especially needed in this time of instant news. The old news is trying to keep up with the new and they are losing their strong suit of investigation and the whole truth, or big picture.
I couldn’t agree more with every single word you wrote swbluega ~ I am grateful multiple times a day for President Barack Obama
‘I am sooooooooooooo thankful that we have a person in the White House who does not react to every “shoulda” that is thrown his way.’ etc. etc
x 100% Good morning, SW! In the words of the man himself:
“….JFK …perhaps pondering the more ambitious challenges ahead - the quality of courage. In some ways the longer you are in politics, the easier it should be to muster such courage, for there is a certain liberation that comes from realizing that no matter what you do, someone will be angry at you, that political attacks will come no matter how cautiously you vote, that JUDGEMENT MAY BE TAKEN AS COWARDICE and COURAGE ITSELF MAY BE SEEN AS CALCULATION. I find comfort in the fact that the longer I’m in politics the less nourishing popularity becomes, that a STRIVING FOR POWER AND RANK AND FAME seems to BETRAY A POVERTY OF AMBITION, and that I am ANSWERABLE MAINLY TO THE STEADY GAZE OF MY OWN CONSCIENCE. [All emphasis mine]
pg. 134 Audacity of Hope (c)2006
IMO we are tremendously, tremendously blessed to have a leader who knows himself well and possesses a confidence of self, AND who can actually see beneath the trappings of leadership to steer a course, obstructed, yes, but with definite goals for all America nonetheless. He WILL get there, there being where the Repubs didn’t want him to go.
“that JUDGEMENT MAY BE TAKEN AS COWARDICE…”
How often has President Obama been accused of being weak when in fact he has exercised sound judgment?
“…blessed to have a leader who … can actually see beneath the trappings of leadership to steer a course, obstructed, yes, but with definite goals for all America nonetheless.”
President Obama does not look for quick fixes. He aims for solutions that are sustainable and hard to reverse.
‘President Obama …. aims for solutions that are sustainable and hard to reverse.’
A leadership strength for which intelligent voters will forever be grateful!
Beautiful post, swbluega - I agree with everything you said.
That’s a great statement, sw. We all need to thank God every day that Barack Obama is our president. I can assure you that I do.
Amen
I guess the economy and unemployment doesn’t matter anymore, now that the MSM is trying to shove Christie down our throats…
Good morning, Have a great day people. So glad the First Family is all together. I can only imagine all the stories the girls are telling everyone about their experience at camp this past summer.
What kind of camp do young girls their age go to these days? I’m so out of touch with children especially girls that age. And of course WY is a completely different way of life. I know we have camps in the mountain areas that other kids come here for, but I always think of specialty camps.
Much like pimping, leaking ain’t easy.
Well said, as usual, Don. Ha! (I so enjoy your rapier wit and comments.)
I see it’s still blocked. Can the WSJ still be trusted for news?
They have a paywall so you have to subscribe to WSJ to read their content online. But that info is also reported elsewhere, not just WSJ.
Thanks HF.
I wouldn’t trust the WSJ on anything, but Greenwald confirms in the piece that he was indeed speaking to NBC about a Snowden interview, which he would do himself! All for $50k…..
Did GG want the $50k? He’s one strange dude. I’ve decided he’s a bottom feeder.
Their reporting used to be trusted - certainly not their editorial board. But I don’t trust anything from the WSJ - especially since Murdoch got his grubby hands on it.
That’s what I thought. Don’t really trust many of them.
Bear takes nap on enclosed front porch of a home in Naples, Fl. Looks like he picked a nice one. Leaves after an hour, all rested up.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/videogallery/77051523/Raw-Bear-Takes-Nap-on-Florida-Porch
Bears in Florida? Do they have mountains in Florida? I thought the whole state was flat. I know someone who moved to Naples Fl about seven years ago.
Yes, I didn’t know it either until a couple months ago. My cousin lives in Sanford County and they have them. She can’t have a garden because of heat and wildlife. She potted a few things in a fenced in porch. Seems crazy with all those people.
Wow - it seemed pretty mellow, but I’d be worried that it might come back after such a pleasant experience on that beautiful porch. Next time, he may want a dip in the pool, and the time after that - he’ll be demanding drinks with umbrellas in them…
I was a little shocked that the owners were fiddling about with only a glass window between them and the bear - kind of dangerous…
Want to join him?
a most excellent Rise and Shine Ms UT! GM TOD hope everyone is as fine as frog’s hair on this lovely morning. :-)
We’re all pickin’ up yardarmspeak now. Too funny. Mornin’, a4alice! Enjoy your day. :)
;-)
Just goes to show that some of ya’ll know quality writing, eh? Good morning anyway……It’s P.O.E.T.S. Day(Piss on everythig tomorrow’s Saturday). :lol:
What’s this “anyway” thingie? Anyway, Friday’s good, too, eh? :)
Woke up in a bit of a funky mood jc.
Carpe diem, carpe noctem, carpe omnious, Sailor!
Oh really. My Latin is a bit rusty but the fish part(carp) eludes me. I do, howsomever, see the day, night, and always parts.
Well if you add the e part to the carp part (Ha!) you get the “seize” (carpe) part! Seize the day, seize the night, seize it all!
I’m sure your Latin’s not as rusty as mine, but it’s the only other language I remember anything about, because I am the goddess of the dying art forms, dontcha know.
Goddess, eh? Wooohoooo. Party in the garden or what? Bring on the wine and flutes and such. :-D
Wrong side of the bed or wrong bed? ;)
Oooooo! Naughty mat time for you. At my age there are no wrong beds, especially if you can get up from it! :-)
Ha, naughty mat. Bring it. . .
Ah! I see you got your big girl pants on. Sounds like you’re hot to trot with no place to race, hmmm! :-)
No, not really. Easy to sass from here.
‘s okay. Make sure you keep it and wear it like a crown.
;)
http://maddowblog.msnbc.com/_news/2013/08/16/20051963-koch-brothers-thrive-on-healthcare-confusion?lite
Hmmm … my first comment of the day doesn’t post. What’s up with that, WP? Lucky for all of you, I think I can reconstruct it. :)
Rise ‘n’ Shine already, UT? Uh … okay. Tryin’. Mornin’.
Love the photo of President Obama in the crafts and antiques shop in Iowa. He looks like a gentle and sweet bull in a china shop, totally out of his element. I can just imagine Michelle’s response, when he gifts her with his selection: “Oh, Barack, thanks, honey!” And then she rolled her eyes, methinks. Ha!
I have to sign in to leave a comment. Then close out TOD, reopen TOD and THEN my comments post. It’s absurd.
Yes. The only good part is that getting into TOD is WORTH IT!
Before I figured out that this was the procedure, I couldn’t post for about a day and I had withdrawal!
I feel your pain!
Wikileaks needs to be exposed for the KKKoch hate-filled and violent organization that it is. They should be ashamed to even mention “Nobel Peace Prize” in reference to anyone associated with this “movement.”
They really are the most sinister movement Hopefruit, and absolutely nobody in the media seems to be investigating who is behind them.
Because that would blow the cover off many of the complicit media pundits including certain frauds on MSNBC who are likely on the Koch payroll…I’m not calling names but we know who they are.
Hiya Admiral…..Pls chk ur in-box. :-)
This is as bad as the clown at the rodeo; as a matter of fact, it is worse.
It’s Friiiiiday! :grin: Good Morning, winners, posters, commenters, lurkers,…. EVERY. ONE!
KaPOWza - right in the kissah! Good one Chips! :-)
I’m just trying to raise $50k Alice, we could have the Rio Boy and Snowdenski do their interview here :cool:
;-)
Nah, raise $100K, cut Rio Boy out of loop, and have UT conduct interview. Must see TV/Blog…
Snowdenski would NEVER be that brave Alycee, UT would chew him up and spit him out!!!
Would be a pleasure to watch her expose him as a fraud AND more importantly, school the #Newstainers! One can dream…
Maybe if we offer Greenwald $100k he’ll set it up Alycee, after all that guy would sell his Granny for a dollar.
A pleasure to see you in the village, Alycee! Have a good Friday.
ROTFLMAO -indeed Chips. You could net $50K in one hour!
LOL @ “rio boy” and “Snowdenski”
LMAO!
Okay, the fundraiser starts here, Hopefruit!!! I donate a cent, you?
I will match that with half a cent.
Oooh, I can see this fundraiser taking quite a while :???:
Hey Hopefruit, do farthings still exist in your world? Wow! :grin:
LOL! Farthings, ha’pennies, shillings…you name it… :) :)
O dear, another old -er soul! /Of course I know nothing, no-thing about that other coin you mentioned./
Excellent. You are on a tear today, Chips! And we’re with ya.
BOOM! Excellent Chips :)
‘THEY DID NOTHING’ - ‘THEY SIMPLY CANNOT GOVERN’
The Morning Plum: GOP elites in full blown panic
By Greg Sargent
————————————————-
The most interesting bit is the profound worry about the drift towards a government shutdown over Obamacare. But I think the fundamental problem is still being overlooked. Here’s the key part:
Republicans are in jeopardy of convincing voters they simply cannot govern. Their favorable ratings are terrible and getting worse. But there is broad concern it could go from worse to an unmitigated disaster this fall. Most urgently, according to a slew of key Republicans we interviewed, conservative GOP senators have got to give up their insistence that the party allow the government to shut down after Sept. 30 if they don’t get their way on defunding Obamacare.
.
.
If Republicans are in jeopardy of convincing voters they cannot govern, as top GOPers seem to fear, it’s not clear that this is only because a shutdown has become a real possibility. A shutdown, because of its visibility and destructiveness, is obviously a glaring symbol of an inability to govern, one that voters (as the 1990s showed) easily understand in such terms.
——————————————————————-
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2013/08/16/the-morning-plum-gop-elites-in-full-blown-panic/
Well - we know for a fact that the GOP cannot govern.
What have they done for Americans in the last 50 years? What has lasted and what has benefited the average American? What have they prevented that would have secured Americans more, and provided more prosperity? They are a bane to America’s existence - and they have no business claiming expertise in capitalism, fairness, freedom, democracy.
Their most recent actions (i.e. over the last several years) have shown them to be against free markets (otherwise, they’d stop this foolishness of subsidies to booming oil companies and they wouldn’t be preventing the blossoming green technologies), they’d be creating a tax base that is sustaining for the economy and providing growth and investment opportunities for infrastructure and small businesses, they wouldn’t support companies like WalMart, who destroy small businesses and cause their workers to seek tax-subsidies, they wouldn’t start illegal wars over oil, they wouldn’t pass discriminatory laws against women, minorities and the middle class in general. They wouldn’t support dictators for the sake of a bit of false peace, and they wouldn’t be so quick to object to the calls for freedom and democracy in the Middle East, or violating the voting rights of Americans right here at home.
They are being exposed as the frauds that they are.
GM, TOD!
#BAMBAMBAM #BamityBam
Pray folks get off the bridge safely.
Yesterday, my normal 6 hr trip from Newport RI to 9.5 hours — several accidents along the way and an accident and hazmat spill on the George Washington Bridge. Upside, as I didn’t want to just sit on 95, I took a scenic tour of the Bronx…
s/b took 9.5 hrs
They need to not allow these “Big Rigs” on bridges. They need to find an alternative route for carry dangerous and hazardous materials. How is this any different than the Keystone pipeline the empogs are complaining about. Don’t get me wrong I am NOT for the Keystone pipeline but stuff like this happens all over America. In SoCal this big rigs can’t travel through tunnels after a big rig that exploded and the flames killed thousands that were in the tunnel.
Gosh, I pray nobody got seriously hurt. And please, let this be an accident and nothing else.
MSNBC, CNN are not freaking out. Probably a minor incident ?
To HopeFruit2
There’s something about the Washington Post that I find offputting (maybe it’s Ezra Klein or Fred Hiatt), so I rarely venture over there. The article you responded to this morning had some very illuminating quotes:
Quote 1 (page 1)
“I was raised to think the blacks were bad; I’m not gonna lie. We lived on one side of the tracks, and they lived on the other,” said Margaret Abercrombie, 68, who is white and grew up along the Mississippi River in Sikeston, Mo.
Quote 2 (end of article, page 2)
Bernadette Brock, 67, who was square-dancing at the fair, said the rodeo incident was nothing compared with anti-Obama displays at lower-profile events.
“Honey,” Brock said, “if you had been in some of our counties down here, this was mild.”
I guess I knew intellectually that some people in this country hold these beliefs, but to see these unembarrassed quotes is stunning.
I know you would like the MSM to equate GOP with racism, but aren’t these people who are quoted in the article doing it themselves?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-rodeo-clown-incident-illustrates-nations-continued-racial-divide/2013/08/15/8da23cf0-05b8-11e3-88d6-d5795fab4637_story.html?Post+generic=%3Ftid%3Dsm_twitter_washingtonpost
As someone who lives in GA, none of this surprises me.
There are some places in this country that I will never venture into, knowing that there are backwards thinking people lurking quite acceptably in public, because their views are shared by their community. Makes for a dangerous situation when racism/violence/hatred is considered an acceptable way of life, and kids are exposed to that crap. What was very sad about the snippet of video I saw over that clown nonsense was the image of children viewing and hearing that disgusting display. Just like the kids in the photos at the lynchings way back in the day - as they picnicked next tot he hanging body of a black man. They think it’s ok.
I listened to a bit of the Stephanie Miller show this morning, and John Fugelsang was going on about how he thought the rodeo cruelty was a far greater offense that anything the clown was doing, as though only one thing could be wrong. And he didn’t want to defend the President’s right to dignity at all, saying that we all know it happens, and if the mask had been of Clinton or something, we wouldn’t be upset. And that liberals had an effigy of Bush hanging by a noose. Well - it’s all bad! Why should the President of the United States be hanged in effigy in his own country? Where’s the respect for the Office? Why wouldn’t Americans be outraged by a masked clown goading on violence against the image of the President - whether it’s President Obama, Clinton or Bush or other? Why does Fugelsang not understand that portraying racism in front of children, against a backdrop of cheering adults, is more harmful to the future of this country than nearly any other act - especially when portrayed against the most honoured and very real symbol of democracy in this country? And why do we have to choose between denouncing violence against the image of the President or the horrors experienced by animals at some rodeos? False emoprog outrage conveniently employed to prevent him from defending President Obama. Pure and simple.
Excellent comment & insight Theo.
Good Morning TOD Family.
I’ve been away, but now I’m back. Traveling and lot of personal stuff going on, but it’s all good! Sorry I missed Chips birthday party…I hear it was a blast. I missed everyone so much. Thanks for keeping me sane. Special shout-out to GoBrooklyn. Thrilled that you’re headed home!
Happy Belated Birthday Chips Darlin’!
Hi Dakota! Welcome Back!
Thanks pumpkin. Good to see you!
Welcome home Dakota, lovely to see ya!!! Just make sure you’re here for my 22nd birthday next year, okay?
Ok sweet lady! I see we’re the same age…
Good Friday morning, TODville!!
LOVE that our First Family is reunited.
Aww… I used to ride bikes with my Dad when I was her age! Sweet!
Obama fam reported to be on a bike ride on a trail thru the woods. (cape cod online—-won’t post here—need to register) Michelle and Sasha reported to fly by first at a fast clip around the bend, followed by the pres. and Malia, all wearing helmets—(got in troubs once for not wearing them). People shouted questions of PBO as he zoomed by—-he said something like “Nice day, isn’t it?” and they asked if he was having a good time, and he said he was having a great time, as always. They were followed by secret service on bikes, trying to keep up, and some suburbans (always a protective caravan, must get tiresome—-but understandable). News item also mentioned that PBO is getting regular updates on the situation in Egypt from Susan Rice.
And that’s your Obama fam vacay snooping report for today.
Good job dotster :-)
As atonement for those quotes from the WaPo article, here’s the face of an unreported Presidential “executive order:”
And he’s from the West Coast too!
“Education Secretary Arne Duncan appointed Johns to become the first executive director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for African Americans earlier this year. His mission, by an executive order of the president, is to ‘help ensure that African-Americans receive a complete and competitive education that prepares them for college, a satisfying career and productive citizenship.’
I love the popcorn while observing the GOP self-destruction.
You’re on fiyah today, Meta!
GM Chips, TOD…… wonderful RS UT……. about he crash had to hit the breakfast buffet before zonking out! I saw this and couldn’t stop laughing… Is this the stupidest group of people in the country? How easy would it be for these 4 networks to turn this around, and say don’t have your candidates come on our networks for anything, interviews, airing ads, nothing, nada…….and just run oppo pieces on the GOP the whole election season. These morons don’t think local affiliates wouldn’t blackball any GOP rep running for congress, state senate/house, dog catcher? I thought I had seen it all!
In a highly anticipated move, the Republican National Committee voted unanimously on Friday to deny NBC and CNN the rights to host or sponsor a Republican primary debate unless they cancel their respective Hillary Clinton film projects.
“CNN and NBC anchors will just have to watch on their competitors’ networks,” RNC chairman Reince Priebus told the committee members in Boston.
While NBC and CNN’s competitors stand to benefit from the RNC’s decision, there’s another potential winner who has gone unmentioned: Univision.
On Friday, RNC communications director Sean Spicer told POLITICO that the boycott would extend to NBC and CNN’s Spanish-language channels: Telemundo and CNN Espanol.
Good Afternoon TODers.
I think it’s umm, *lovely*, “lovelyplains” that the Republicans are running scared - at least I hope that’s how people will see it. The networks have done specials on candidates, probably since Ike. This is no different than their candidates refusing to be interviewed by any network other than FOX. I don’t think they’ll have much to worry about if ABC host the debates, but I bet it’ll be FOX all day everyday.
You want to know the most ironic part of this? FOX MOVIE PRODUCTIONS, is the entity that is actually making the the Hillary series…….NBC entertainment is just airing it, but they are not boycotting FOX LOL! Also CNN/Time Warner, in the last year has done documentaries on Reagan, G.H.W. Bush, Dick Cheney, and last week Nixon…Some of those aired on HBO, some on CNN……..same story they are all under the Time Warner umbrella…….not a peep.
Someone please tweet this to Rancid Prebus!
I love it when Republicans, so well-practiced at sabotage, end up sabotaging themselves. I laugh and laugh and laugh!!!
:-)
awesome Meta! RT’d! Let’s get the word out about how the health care bill! :-)
Chat away!
http://theobamadiary.com/2013/08/16/chat-away-212/
I’m disturbed. I use old-fashioned IM to talk with my friend while we’re at work and there’s an add from Americans for Prosperity, to scare people about ACA. More bucks to OFA to counteract this b.s.!
I blame my keyboard for “add” instead of “ad”. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.
:-)