"Obama attempts to refocus on the economy; Pushes program for middle class GOP leaders dismiss remarks" by Michael D. Shear and Peter Baker | New York Times, July 25, 2013
GALESBURG, Ill. — President Obama tried to move past months of debate over guns, surveillance, and scandal....
Returning to the site of his first major economic speech as a young senator eight years ago, Obama lamented that typical middle-class Americans had been left behind by globalization, Wall Street irresponsibility, and Washington policies, while the richest Americans had accumulated more wealth.
It's his policies that have been so ruinous and resulted in such destruction!
Related: Fed is Working For Workers
That's what I was told.
He declared it “my highest priority” to reverse those trends, while accusing other politicians of not only ignoring the problem but of making it worse.
It hasn't been for the last nine months after that s***-fooley political argument was a theme of the campaign?
Related: Sunday Globe Specials: Fiscal Cliff Fraud
That's the worse part he was talking about. The tax hike for the rich was actually a tax cut!
Between that, the health care flop, and the student loan snafu, you would think the incompetent Democraps are f***ing up on purpose, no?
“With this endless parade of distractions and political posturing and phony scandals, Washington’s taken its eye off the ball,” Obama told an audience at Knox College. “And I am here to say this needs to stop. This needs to stop.”
It sure does.
The president mainly offered revived elements of his largely stalled economic program, including developing new energy, rebuilding manufacturing, spending more on roads, bridges and ports, expanding preschool to every 4-year-old, and raising the minimum wage.
In other words, NOTHING NEW -- and yet it is LEADING the NATIONAL COVERAGE of the Boston Globe!
But he and his aides hoped to use the speech both to claim credit for the progress made since the recession of 2008-09 and to position himself as the champion of a disaffected middle class that has yet to recover fully.
That's Bill Clinton's triangulation strategy; no wonder rank-and-file Democrats are pissed at this president!
And not only have they not recovered, they have FALLEN BEHIND EVEN MORE, thus there WAS NEVER ANY RECOVERY! Only the TOP 7% saw their wealth grow!
He chastised Republicans in Congress for not focusing on economic priorities and obstructing his initiatives.
“Over the last six months, this gridlock has gotten worse,” he said....
Unless it is what Israel, the war machine, or some well-connected corporations want. Then it sails through on votes.
Republican leaders were not impressed....
Neither am I.
“We’ve heard it all before.”
Yup.
*****************************
Obama acknowledged before the speech that it would not “change any minds,” nor would it outline new proposals. Any new ideas will come in a series of other speeches in the weeks to come.
Pffffft!
He pivoted without a plan?
But Obama and his aides have billed his second Knox College speech as an important milestone in the president’s tenure on the national political stage.
They said they hope it will reset a national economic debate that had become too mired in the bitter clashes between the parties in Congress.
Who would want to read this crap anymore?
The Knox College speech was the president’s first stop Wednesday. He also traveled to the University of Central Missouri in Warrensburg for a second speech before returning to the White House in the evening.
Yeah, thanks for pumping more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, asshole!
On Thursday, Obama is scheduled to travel to Jacksonville, Fla., where he will continue to discuss his economic vision at the Port Authority there.
The president has long pushed for renewed federal investment in infrastructure, including ports, as a way of helping to kickstart the economy....
Of course, he hasn't really pushed to hard unless it was connected to surveillance and tyranny.
Obama gave little sense of how he would change growing inequality beyond giving more speeches in the next few weeks if he cannot win more cooperation from Congress.
More hot air warming the planet!
“I will not allow gridlock or inaction or willful indifference to get in our way,” he said. “That means whatever executive authority I have to help the middle class, I’ll use it. Where I can’t act on my own, and Congress isn’t cooperating, I’ll pick up the phone and call CEOs, I’ll call philanthropists, I’ll call college presidents, I’ll call anybody who can help.”
I more interested in WHO i$ CALLING YOU, my dictator!
--more--"
Yeah, about that "partisanship":
"Senate gets the start of a thaw; McCain at center of bipartisan shift" by Matt Viser | Globe Staff, July 25, 2013
WASHINGTON — US senators from both political parties who are fed up with bickering and gridlock are showing signs of forming a moderate center in the fractious chamber, an effort to restore a sense of comity....
Senator John McCain, the 2008 Republican presidential candidate who failed to block Barack Obama from winning the White House, has emerged as a potential dealmaker in this fragile initiative, in a twist of irony that could help put Obama’s second term on a more positive path. McCain, of Arizona, has been holding private meetings at the White House and appears to relish being seen once again as a maverick willing to reach across the aisle....
McCain told the Globe of the mood in the Senate: “We stared at the abyss and took a step back.”
Recent agreements have ranged from topics as far-reaching as immigration to as basic as presidential nominees. On Wednesday, the Senate overwhelmingly passed a bipartisan compromise on student loans. And McCain has joined with one of the most liberal senators, Elizabeth Warren, on a sweeping financial regulations bill.
That bill, sorry to say, is going nowhere.
Before anyone gets too excited about a possible Senate shift, it is worth recognizing the new atmosphere has its limits: major agreements on immigration and the farm bill have yet to become law, in part because House Republicans are less willing to compromise than their Senate counterparts.
It will be Republican after next year's elections.
The Senate also has rejected other compromises, most prominently legislation to enhance background checks and tighten gun control laws. And the biggest test on whether the latest agreements are a passing phase or part of a sustained trend will arrive after the summer recess, when debate resumes on raising the nation’s borrowing limit. That topic has repeatedly bedeviled Washington, contributing to plummeting approval ratings for Congress and placing what economists say is a drag on the economy.
Congress is rated lower than North Korea!
But for those who have been calling for a more cooperative tone in the Senate, the past several weeks have brought hopeful signs....
The Senate came to an agreement on student loans — much to the dismay of Warren and other liberal Democrats who opposed the deal and argued that not all compromise is good.
“It feels good to get things done around here in a bipartisan way,” Senator Barbara Boxer, a California Democrat, said of the student loan compromise, which she opposed. “But that doesn’t mean because it’s called bipartisan, it’s the right thing to do.”
On Wednesday, the Senate voted down several amendments, including one cosponsored by Warren, and by an overwhelmingly bipartisan 81-to-18 vote approved the student loan bill.
See: Warren Smacked Down by Senate on Student Loans
That banking regulation bill will receive even fewer votes -- if it ever sees the floor of the Senate.
Now, there’s work ongoing with the White House over a debt ceiling deal, with several Senate Republicans meeting regularly with White House chief of staff Denis McDonough.
“I think there’s collective embarrassment that everything is a partisan battle and our approval rating is about 9 percent,” said Senator Angus King, an independent from Maine who helped cut the deal on the student loan legislation.
“Nothing happens unless you have votes from both sides,” King added. “It’s simple arithmetic. You can link arms and be passionate and make great points but you have to have both sides to get something done.”
That's why Israel, the war machine, and well-connected intere$ts have nothing to worry about.
***************************
Warren has joined with McCain in new legislation to tighten banking regulations under an updated version of the Glass-Steagall Act, which would prevent commercial banks from engaging in investment activities.
“She’s tough,” McCain said of Warren.
Polls show that Americans blame Republicans more for the partisanship than they do Obama. In a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll, 48 percent of those surveyed said that Obama emphasizes a partisan approach over unifying the country. Sixty-seven percent of those surveyed said the same about the Republican Party....
You think I'm believing an agenda-pu$hing, ma$$ media, corporate pre$$ poll?
And judging by the Congress ratings, we BLAME BOTH!
--more--"
Related:
"NSA’s phone monitoring survives strong challenge in House" by Donna Cassata | Associated Press, July 25, 2013
WASHINGTON — The House narrowly rejected a challenge to the National Security Agency’s secret collection of hundreds of millions of Americans’ phone records Wednesday night after a fierce debate pitting privacy rights against the government’s efforts to thwart terrorism.
The vote was 217-205 on an issue that created unusual political coalitions in Washington, with libertarian-leaning conservatives and liberal Democrats pressing for the change against the Obama administration, the Republican establishment, and national security experts.
We really need more of that, guys.
The showdown vote marked the first chance for lawmakers to take a stand on the secret surveillance program since former NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden leaked classified documents last month that spelled out the monumental scope of some of the government’s activities.
And they approved! What does the NSA have on them, huh?
‘‘Have 12 years gone by and our memories faded so badly that we forgot what happened on Sept. 11?’’ Representative Mike Rogers, Republican of Michigan and chairman of the Intelligence committee, said in pleading with his colleagues to back the program during House debate.
No. It turns out Muslims didn't do 9/11; Israel and her helpers in various western governments and intelligence agencies did.
His Republican colleague from Michigan, Justin Amash, was the chief sponsor of the repeal effort.
His measure, offered as an addition to a $598.3 billion defense spending bill for 2014, would have canceled the statutory authority for the NSA program, ending the agency’s ability to collect phone records and metadata under the USA Patriot Act unless it identified an individual under investigation.
Oh, the war budget and spying power went through on a bipartisan basis, huh?
Amash told the House that his effort was to defend the Constitution and ‘‘defend the privacy of every American.’’
Thanks for trying.
Among the eight members of the all-Democratic delegation from Massachusetts, only Joseph P. Kennedy III of Brookline voted against stripping the NSA of wide-ranging powers.
Related: Slow Saturday Special: Finally, a Hawkish Kennedy
The three brothers are spinning in their graves!
The overall defense spending bill would provide the Pentagon with $512.5 billion for weapons, personnel, aircraft, and ships plus $85.8 billion for the war in Afghanistan for the next budget year.
Ever notice when it comes to things the American people want and need there is parti$an$hip?
--more--"
"House rejects limits to NSA program" by Donna Cassata | Associated Press, July 24, 2013
WASHINGTON (AP) — The House narrowly rejected a challenge to the National Security Agency’s secret collection of hundreds of millions of Americans’ phone records Wednesday night after a fierce debate pitting privacy rights against the government’s efforts to thwart terrorism.
The vote was 217-205 on an issue that created unusual political coalitions in Washington, with libertarian-leaning conservatives and liberal Democrats pressing for the change against the Obama administration, the Republican establishment and Congress’ national security experts.
The showdown vote marked the first chance for lawmakers to take a stand on the secret surveillance program since former NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden leaked classified documents last month that spelled out the monumental scope of the government’s activities.
It is unlikely to be the final word on government intrusion to defend the nation and Americans’ civil liberties....
Even the pre$$ knows it's unconstitutional.
Republican Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, chief sponsor of the repeal effort, said his aim was to end the indiscriminate collection of Americans’ phone records.
His measure, offered as an addition to a $598.3 billion defense spending bill for 2014, would have canceled the statutory authority for the NSA program, ending the agency’s ability to collect phone records and metadata under the USA Patriot Act unless it identified an individual under investigation.
Amash told the House that his effort was to defend the Constitution and ‘‘defend the privacy of every American.’’
The unusual political coalitions were on full display during a spirited but brief House debate....
Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., a senior member of the Judiciary Committee who helped write the Patriot Act, insisted ‘‘the time has come’’ to stop the collection of phone records.
Several Republicans acknowledged the difficulty in balancing civil liberties against national security, but expressed suspicion about the Obama administration’s implementation of the NSA programs — and anger at Director of National Intelligence James Clapper.
‘‘Right now the balancing is being done by people we do not know. People who lied to this body,’’ said Rep. Mick Mulvaney, R-S.C.
I believe it was the "least untruthful" statement he could make at the time.
He was referring to Clapper who admitted he gave misleading statements to Congress on how much the U.S. spies on Americans. Clapper apologized to lawmakers earlier this month after saying in March that the U.S. does not gather data on citizens — something that Snowden revealed as false by releasing documents showing the NSA collects millions of phone records.
With a flurry of letters, statements and tweets, both sides lobbied furiously in the hours prior to the vote in the Republican-controlled House. In a last-minute statement, Clapper warned against dismantling a critical intelligence tool....
No it isn't; this is nothing more than spying on every one.
Since the disclosures this year, however, lawmakers have said they were shocked by the scope of the two programs — one to collect records of hundreds of millions of calls and the other allowing the NSA to sweep up Internet usage data from around the world that goes through nine major U.S.-based providers....
I thought that kind of important.
The overall defense spending bill would provide the Pentagon with $512.5 billion for weapons, personnel, aircraft and ships plus $85.8 billion for the war in Afghanistan for the next budget year.
The total, which is $5.1 billion below current spending, has drawn a veto threat from the White House, which argues that it would force the administration to cut education, health research and other domestic programs in order to boost spending for the Pentagon.
In a leap of faith, the bill assumes that Congress and the administration will resolve the automatic, across-the-board spending cuts that have led the Pentagon to furlough workers and cut back on training....
By voice vote, the House backed an amendment that would require the president to seek congressional approval before sending U.S. military forces into the 2-year-old civil war in Syria.
They aren't going to send forces in, we already have them there in the form of "Al-CIA-Duh" mercenaries; what they are going to do is missile and bomb the crap out of the place.
Rep. Trey Radel, R-Fla., sponsor of the measure, said Obama has a ‘‘cloudy foreign policy’’ and noted the nation’s war weariness after more than 10 years of conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan.
At least SOMEONE DOWN THERE DID!!!!!
The administration is moving ahead with sending weapons to vetted rebels, but Obama and members of Congress have rejected the notion of U.S. ground forces.
The House also adopted, by voice vote, an amendment barring funds for military or paramilitary operations in Egypt. Several lawmakers, including Rep. Kay Granger, R-Texas, who heads the panel overseeing foreign aid, expressed concerns about the measure jeopardizing the United States’ longstanding relationship with the Egyptian military.
The sponsor of the measure, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., insisted that his amendment would not affect that relationship.
The overall bill must be reconciled with whatever measure the Democratic-controlled Senate produces.
--more--"
Also see:
"New Video By "Snordelhans" Exposes Edward Snowden - Are We Being Treated As Suckers Again?
When the Edward Snowden/NSA trouble first started last month, I too was originally thinking that this man was a hero to the American people by his escaping the United States with valuable information that could both expose the criminality of the NSA and the entire Barry Soetoro regime in Washington.
However, it has been well over a month since Snowden left the US, and I am deeply troubled by the simple fact that if this man is truly legitimate, he should have already put out valuable information that could possibly bring down the entire corrupt NSA organization. But to this day, he has not revealed what he knows, or has even bothered to release one iota of information from his "stolen databases"... This puzzles me immensely, and has led me to believe that we are again being treated as suckers and that this entire NSA episode is nothing more than fluff and a distraction while the Soetoro regime does its worse in taking away more freedoms in the United States to further enslaving the American public....
Being on vacation, I missed a lot over the last few weeks, and one video that came out back at the end of June by none other than Patrick Willis, aka..."Snordster", or "Snordelhans" finally caught my attention today.... It is entitled: "Ed Snowden, NSA, and Fairy Tales", and as the title states, Patrick Willis is questioning this entire Ed Snowden/NSA fiasco, and he definitely smells a rat..... I have that video right here for everyone to see for themselves, and I do have my own further thoughts and comments to follow:
NTS Notes: Lets cut to the chase here.... If this was me, or any other sane or legitimate person, and I had information that could end the tyranny of both the NSA and the Soetoro Regime, I would not delay in a heart beat in revealing that information to every news outlet everywhere across the world. That is why this Edward Snowden episode is indeed suspect.....
This entire Edward Snowden episode does stink to high heaven. I had posted in my rants my doubts about this man whom everyone is haling as a true hero. Again, if he is legitimate and has this valuable information, then why the hell the delay in releasing it? I therefore do ask all readers this question again: In regards to this entire Edward Snowden/NSA episode, are we being treated as suckers again?
More to come
--MORE--"
Time to disconnect.
UPDATE:
"All this only confirms in my own mind that the Snowden affair is an engineered event. We knew most of this spying deal already, more were catching on everyday, the Utah data center is coming on line, the secrets are out anyway so why not let it be well known through the controlled media. What are the folks going to do? Talk talk talk...then accept it. So far the plan that was is working. When Forbes posts, from the well,-look-at-that dept., the blueprints of the Utah NSA datacenter, well, you know everything is not as it is portrayed....
--MORE--"
It never is as portrayed by the AmeriKan media (frown).
"Manufactured Hero Edward Snowden: Americans “turn against” Invisible Snowden
July 25, 2013
by willyloman
by Scott Creighton
.... The numbers of “Snowden Truthers” are dwindling, while the psyop becomes more and more obvious.
Yesterday, the Edward Snowden character was supposed to pop his head out of his tiny little hole that he has been remarkably good at hiding in.
Yet ONCE AGAIN, there was no Snowden sighting in the Moscow airport (that’s because he’s not there) and the “Snowden” character is staying put in the transit area… behind the potted palm apparently.
Unfortunately, all the attention paid to the vanishing Edwardo Show distracted from the real story of the Amash amendment getting squashed in the House of Representatives while a new poll comes out showing Americans don’t stand behind whistle-blowers anymore.
Much ado about nothing? But why? Hang on. It’ll be clearer in a minute.
The press was gathered in the airport standing exactly where they have been told to stand. The podium was set up and the cameras were on. All awaited the “hero/villain” Snowden to emerge from his super secret hiding spot in the tiny transit area of the Moscow airport, but in the end, all were disappointed.
Snowden was supposed to finally get his papers so he could leave the airport and go start his new life “working” in Russia (you can take that for whatever it’s worth). What kind of “work” are we supposed to imagine this guy is going to do in Russia? Didn’t Glenn Greenwald say he had more “secrets” on his laptops? Enough to bring the whole U.S. government to it’s knees?
But after waiting around all day in an airport, what they got instead of “Edward Snowden” was Snowden’s lawyer, a guy who runs a “pro-democracy” NGO in Russia (with offices in New York and London, by the way)
Seems like all the “Snowden” lawyers are regime change figures in Russia.
Uh… yeah.
And that whole thing, staged as it was, set up hastily by “Snowden’s people” in a big rush and it just HAPPENED to coincide with a vote in congress over the Amash amendment.
For those of you who don’t know, the Amash amendment would have prohibited the NSA and others from collecting mass amounts of data on everybody, strictly limiting spying powers to those they have proven need to be spied upon.
The White House (the guys behind the “Snowden” character) had lobbied hard to get the amendment defeated. They said they didn’t want congress getting in the way of all that important work they are doing defending us from “the terrorists”
Imaging that. The Obama White House parroting Michelle Bachman.
The measure failed to pass the House. Apparently just enough of our representatives think the government needs to collect every piece of information from you they can get their grubby hands on. Probably so they can sell it or give it away to various financial interests who run the country. Whatever the reason, the measure failed by 12 votes.
So while everyone was playing “Where’s Edwardo?” in Moscow, the House betrayed us.
Isn’t that nice of Edwardo? He seems to have distracted the American public at just the right moment, didn’t he?
.... Any questions?
--MORE--"
UPDATE:
"All this only confirms in my own mind that the Snowden affair is an engineered event. We knew most of this spying deal already, more were catching on everyday, the Utah data center is coming on line, the secrets are out anyway so why not let it be well known through the controlled media. What are the folks going to do? Talk talk talk...then accept it. So far the plan that was is working. When Forbes posts, from the well,-look-at-that dept., the blueprints of the Utah NSA datacenter, well, you know everything is not as it is portrayed....
--MORE--"
It never is as portrayed by the AmeriKan media (frown).
"Manufactured Hero Edward Snowden: Americans “turn against” Invisible Snowden
July 25, 2013
by willyloman
by Scott Creighton
.... The numbers of “Snowden Truthers” are dwindling, while the psyop becomes more and more obvious.
Yesterday, the Edward Snowden character was supposed to pop his head out of his tiny little hole that he has been remarkably good at hiding in.
Yet ONCE AGAIN, there was no Snowden sighting in the Moscow airport (that’s because he’s not there) and the “Snowden” character is staying put in the transit area… behind the potted palm apparently.
Unfortunately, all the attention paid to the vanishing Edwardo Show distracted from the real story of the Amash amendment getting squashed in the House of Representatives while a new poll comes out showing Americans don’t stand behind whistle-blowers anymore.
Much ado about nothing? But why? Hang on. It’ll be clearer in a minute.
The press was gathered in the airport standing exactly where they have been told to stand. The podium was set up and the cameras were on. All awaited the “hero/villain” Snowden to emerge from his super secret hiding spot in the tiny transit area of the Moscow airport, but in the end, all were disappointed.
Snowden was supposed to finally get his papers so he could leave the airport and go start his new life “working” in Russia (you can take that for whatever it’s worth). What kind of “work” are we supposed to imagine this guy is going to do in Russia? Didn’t Glenn Greenwald say he had more “secrets” on his laptops? Enough to bring the whole U.S. government to it’s knees?
“The U.S. government should be on its knees every day begging that nothing happen to Snowden, because if something does happen to him, all the information will be revealed and it could be its worst nightmare.” ReutersAnd now our manufactured hero/villain wants to “work” for the enemy?
But after waiting around all day in an airport, what they got instead of “Edward Snowden” was Snowden’s lawyer, a guy who runs a “pro-democracy” NGO in Russia (with offices in New York and London, by the way)
Seems like all the “Snowden” lawyers are regime change figures in Russia.
Uh… yeah.
And that whole thing, staged as it was, set up hastily by “Snowden’s people” in a big rush and it just HAPPENED to coincide with a vote in congress over the Amash amendment.
For those of you who don’t know, the Amash amendment would have prohibited the NSA and others from collecting mass amounts of data on everybody, strictly limiting spying powers to those they have proven need to be spied upon.
The White House (the guys behind the “Snowden” character) had lobbied hard to get the amendment defeated. They said they didn’t want congress getting in the way of all that important work they are doing defending us from “the terrorists”
“We oppose the current effort in the House to hastily dismantle one of our intelligence community’s counterterrorism tools,” Obama White HouseWhich, by the way, is the EXACT SAME ARGUMENT MICHELLE BACHMAN MADE on the floor of the House of Representatives.
Imaging that. The Obama White House parroting Michelle Bachman.
The measure failed to pass the House. Apparently just enough of our representatives think the government needs to collect every piece of information from you they can get their grubby hands on. Probably so they can sell it or give it away to various financial interests who run the country. Whatever the reason, the measure failed by 12 votes.
So while everyone was playing “Where’s Edwardo?” in Moscow, the House betrayed us.
Isn’t that nice of Edwardo? He seems to have distracted the American public at just the right moment, didn’t he?
.... Any questions?
--MORE--"
