Read a little. Learn a lot. • Tightly-written news, views and stuff • Follow us on Twitter • Be a Facebook Fan • Tumble us!

02 May 2011 01:12

tags

Politics: President Obama reassures American Muslims: ‘no war on Islam’

  • I’ve made clear, just as President Bush did shortly after 9/11, that our war is not against Islam. Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader; he was a mass murderer of Muslims. Indeed, al Qaeda has slaughtered scores of Muslims in many countries, including our own. So his demise should be welcomed by all who believe in peace and human dignity.
  • President Barack Obama • In his speech tonight, announcing that a U.S. special operation had killed Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. The President takes a very good tact here in distancing bin Laden and his organization from the Muslim community writ large. His reminder that bin Laden had himself killed many Muslims in service of his terror campaigns (and within our nation, as well, with many Muslims killed on 9/11) is an important one, too often lost in recent politicking. Even amidst what looks like broad jubilation domestically at the news, it’s important to keep the celebrating a positive thing, not something that turns at all ugly on our Muslim brethren. The President clearly wanted to short circuit that, as best he could, by emphasizing solidarity. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

30 Apr 2011 15:38

tags

Politics: Obama, GOP appear to agree: Big oil needs no tax subsidies

  • Obama Today, the president used his weekly radio address to suggest, in the wake of high gas prices and huge oil company profits, to remove the oil subsidies big oil companies enjoy. This might just be the time to pull it off.
  • GOP In this case … it appears that top GOP figures agree. John Boehner recently suggested removing corporate tax breaks for oil companies (which his staffers have tried to walk back), and Paul Ryan recently made a similar pitch. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

29 Apr 2011 15:45

tags

U.S.:

  • I have never seen devastation like this. It is heartbreaking. This is something I don’t think anyone has seen before.
  • President Barack Obama • Discussing his reaction to the damage in Tuscaloosa. The president, flanked by Michelle Obama and Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley. The storms have killed at least 310 — 210 in Alabama alone — and left hundreds injured, along with tearing up a huge chunk of a number of towns across the South, especially in Tuscaloosa. “We can’t bring those who’ve been lost back,” he said. “They’re alongside God at this point … but the property damage, which is obviously extensive, that’s something we can do something about.” For their sake, let’s hope so. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

27 Apr 2011 10:22

tags

U.S.: Two P’s in a pod: Obama shuffles the defense end of his cabinet

  • Panetta Leon Panetta, the head of the CIA, and Bill Clinton’s former chief of staff, is on tap to replace Robert Gates, who is retiring as Defense Secretary pretty soon.
  • Petraeus Who’s gonna replace Panetta? General David Petraeus, who will leave the front lines of Afghanistan to head the Central Intelligence Agency. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

23 Apr 2011 21:32

tags

Politics: Obama’s getting blamed for gas prices — and he doesn’t like it

  • Every time gas prices go up like this, like clockwork, suddenly politicians look around and they discover high gas prices. And they’re shocked. And they get in front of TV and say we’ve got a three-point plan to bring gas prices down to $2 a gallon. Then when gas prices go down, nothing ever happens.
  • President Obama • Complaining about the drama that seems to follow every time gas prices go up — particularly in terms of how it affects him. Bro’s pretty upset about the fact that he’s getting the short end of the gas-price stick in the polls (which have drooped significantly since March), but he’s not afraid to shift the blame. “That’s $4 billion of your money going to these companies when they’re making record profits and you’re paying near record prices at the pump,” he said in his weekly radio/interwebs address. “It has to stop.” Of note here: George W. Bush went through a similar bit of drama halfway through his presidency. source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

21 Apr 2011 10:12

tags

Politics: Whoa! Obama calls Paul Ryan’s GOP budget plan “radical”

Because, COME ON! Why should all the Republicans have the fun using phrases like “radical”? Obama wants in, too! Next, he needs to call something a “birther” somehow. William Ayers! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Apr 2011 16:53

tags

World: Pentagon proposal for Libya aid awaits Obama’s approval

  • $25 million in proposed non-lethal aid to Libyan rebels source
  • » The Pentagon’s plan awaits President Obama’s approval. That said, $25 million is a relatively very minor cost to the U.S. in the context of a military action. It would, however, explicitly not go towards arming the rebels with western weaponry, but would rather send vehicles, supplies, medicines, and radios. The Gaddafi government threatened that such supply shipments would extend the bloody battles and “encourage the other side to be more defiant,” which is a pretty difficult quote to read with feeling unbearably angry.
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 

20 Apr 2011 16:39

tags

Politics: Dilbert’s Scott Adams: Bush, Obama chimp jokes are the same

  • …if I add the context that Googling ‘George Bush monkey’ gives you over 3 million hits, and most of them are jokes where President Bush’s face is transposed on a monkey, you see what’s really going on. Democrats and advocates of civil rights are using the media to further an agenda at the expense of a woman who was probably so non-racist that the photo in question didn’t set off her alarms…
  • “Dilbert” creator Scott Adams • On the topic of Orange County Republican official Marilyn Davenport, who emailed a photo of an Obama “family portrait,” showing two grinning adult chimpanzees with a chimp-ish baby Barack. First of all — the Dilbert guy? What? Why!? But second of all, we agree wholeheartedly with the folks at Mediaite on this one. To compare Bush monkey/chimp jokes to ones directed at Obama is at best silly and at worst willfully evasive and/or ignorant. You don’t have to be a scholarly social critic to understand why a joke aimed at two different people could be construed as racist against one, and at worst stupid or unfunny against the other. To deny this seems like digging your head in the sand about what are and aren’t racial stereotypes in our society. Wanting to excise racism doesn’t necessitate pretending not to recognize it. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink

20 Apr 2011 09:53

tags

Politics: Obama’s new deficit-reduction group an ultra-partisan mess

  • I remain skeptical that the administration will take this effort seriously, especially after it all but ignored its previous debt commission and President Obama had to be dragged kicking and screaming to consider minimal spending cuts for the rest of this fiscal year.
  • House Minority Whip Eric Cantor • Offering a soft touch to the news of the president’s new deficit reduction group, which was supposed to include 16 members, eight from each party. Instead, it includes six — two Republicans and four Democrats. (The “gang of six,” by the way, was left out in the cold.) Cantor’s on the list, along with a bunch of other folks known for their partisanship. If you ask us, it sounds like he’s just pissed that he had to do something he didn’t really want to do. We know, Eric, we hate meetings too! source
Posted by Ernie Smith • 0 Comments • Permalink

19 Apr 2011 16:39

tags

Politics: Rep. Allen West didn’t much like that Obama speech

  • What you continue to see is a third world dictator-like arrogance, that’s what I saw in that speech last week…This whole talk about shared prosperity I mean that really gives me the goosebumps because I’m starting to believe that a community organizer is nothing but a low-level socialist agitator.
  • Rep. Allen West • Speaking to conservative radio host Laura Ingraham about President Obama’s speech on the deficit last week. This is an extreme example of the general tenor of conservative criticism since he made the speech (another point being that he specifically invited Paul Ryan to the speech, only to trash his plan publicly). This isn’t surprising, as you can usually count on Allen West’s rhetorical style to be intensely hard-right, as well as loaded with hyperbolic drama — dictatorial arrogance normally has a higher price than speechifying. source
Posted by Chris Tognotti • 0 Comments • Permalink
 
<< newer 
top tags
older >>