Welcome to hypocrisy 101.
For today’s lesson, we bring you Sean Hannity from Fox News, as he went out of his way to point out how unpatriotic Democrats were for not agreeing with NSA when Bush was in charge. Fast forward to today and we’ll see the same Sean Hannity, going out if his way to point out hiw wrong NSA is now that Obama is in charge.
Only on Fox Fix News would you see hypocrisy at this level.
Yes, I try to be a good liberal every chance that I can, but honestly, I can’t help but think that this NSA surveillance business is a big yawn. We live in an electronic, connected world. We provide information via phone, cable TV, Internet, e-mail, texts, check boxes (especially after we’ve all thoroughly read the 28 page privacy statement that all website provide us with), billing address is same as mailing address online forms when we buy something, credit card information (stored on a third party server), Facebook, Twitter, Skype, Tumblr, picture sharing sites and on and on and on.
Now we learn that the government, in the name of national security and with the acquiescence of the executive, legislative and judicial branches, has gathered this data (I believe that “scooped” is the reigning cool-person way to describe it) and could use it to discover patterns in our behavior. If they wanted to. It’s disturbing, but I cannot share the outrage. I saw it coming, and when I was a corporate technology trainer in the 1990s, I made a point of warning every student who sat in my class that everything they did on a computer, whether on the Internet or in a Word document, was fair game for any eyes that wanted to pry. This is ever more true today. People ignored or minimized this at their peril. And this was before September 11, when the corporations and government had even less of an excuse to watch us.
Okay, perhaps I’m being naive and obtuse and blind and I’m ignoring dangers that other can clearly see, but I don’t think so. Maybe this article is absolutely wrong, but again, I don’t think so. Yes, I understand that there’s a difference between willingly giving your data and the government mining for it, and I certainly don’t want the government to get used to taking data that citizens have not freely given it, but in a way, we have.
This is also part of our history, and has been going on since the Alien and Sedition Acts. And the 1917 Espionage Act. When we signed on to Truman’s Doctrine of containing Communism, we tacitly agreed that the government could check that we were loyal. Joseph McCarthy went too far and was too reckless. Richard Nixon did similar things, but he was elected VP and president and had J. Edgar Hoover to both support and threaten him. When they went too far, the Congress reined them in. So it will be today.
The problem now is that the threat of attack is too real and the consequences too terrible to let our guard down for even a second. The Chinese and Iranians are conducting cyberattacks that threaten our systems. How would you like the government to respond? By only following the bad people? That’s like asking the police to only shoot or arrest bad guys. Most times it happens, but when it doesn’t we react with a fury that sometimes ignores facts or circumstances. The same is true today. The NSA’s job is to conduct information-gathering and use that data to find patterns of behavior that might lead to terrorism. To say that they should not be gathering all of the data that they can is counterproductive.
That the press has reported this story based on a whistle-blowers actions shows that our system still works. The government will be held accountable. At this point, that’s good enough for me.
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U.S. stocks surged Tuesday as investors digested stellar economic data that appeared to put the housing and financial crises far in the rearview mirror.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a record high of 15,409.39, after gaining more than 100 points, or 0.7%. (Tracking the Dow 30).
The S&P 500 rose 0.7%, and the Nasdaq added 0.9%.
At the same time, the yield on the 10-year Treasury note surged above 2.1% — its highest level in more than a year.
And guess who’s playing Obama in the next film? Daniel Day Lewis. Yes, the very same actor that played Lincoln. I can’t wait to see this one!
President Obama used this week’s address to discuss the benefits of having a balanced approach to lowering the nation’s deficit and getting Americans back to work. He stated that his budget proposal, which will be presented next week, is a compromise and requires everyone to make the hard decisions to get this economy moving again.
According to the President, his budget “doesn’t spend beyond our means,and it’s a budget that doesn’t make harsh and unnecessary cuts that only serve to slow our economy.”
Watch the address below.
Another example that the President identifies with what the American people is going through. He has volunteered to give back 5% of his salary. Now if only each member of Congress would follow suit.
Sharing a bit of budget pain, President Barack Obama will return 5 percent of his salary to the Treasury in a show of solidarity with federal workers smarting from government-wide spending cuts.
Obama’s decision grew out of a desire to share in the sacrifice that government employees are making, a White House official said Wednesday. Hundreds of thousands of workers could be forced to take unpaid leave – known as furloughs – if Congress does not reach an agreement soon to undo the cuts.
The president is demonstrating that he will be paying a price, too, as the White House warns of dire economic consequences from the $85 billion in cuts that started to hit federal programs last month after Congress failed to stop them. In the weeks since, the administration has faced repeated questions about how the White House itself will be affected. The cancellation of White House tours in particular has drawn mixed reactions.
A 5 percent cut from the president’s salary of $400,000 per year amounts to $20,000
U.S. District Judge Richard F. Cebull, the federal judge in Montana who sent an email last year suggesting that President Barack Obama’s mother had sex with a dog, has retired following an investigation into his conduct.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit announced Tuesday that Cebull had submitted his retirement letter, effective May 3. A special committee had conducted a “thorough and extensive investigation” and submitted their report to the circuit’s Judicial Council, which issued a confidential order and memorandum on March 15, according to the court.
In the email forwarded by Cebull, a young Obama asks his mother why he’s black and she is white. “Don’t even go there Barack! From what I can remember about that party, you’re lucky you don’t bark!” his mother replies. Cebull told recipients of his email that he hoped it “touches your heart like it did mine.”
Cebull, nominated by President George W. Bush, stepped down as chief U.S. district judge in October and took a reduced caseload. He apologized for sending the letter back in the spring.
h/t Huffington Post
Well that didn’t take long. Of course you already knew that Conservatives were going to use this show on The History Channel, where the comparison is being made that a character who plays Satan resembles President Obama. The History Channel already pushed back on this claim of resemblance, but this is a good false equivalence, so Conservatives will do all they can to ride this conspiracy to its limit and beyond.
TruNews host Rick Wiles on Wednesday explained that it was not a coincidence that people like radio host Glenn Beck thought that “Satan” in the History Channel’s The Bible series looked similar to the president.
“As Mr. Obama prepares to enter Jerusalem this week, days before Passover, another massive swarm of locusts have entered southern Israel,” Wiles reported. “Mr. Obama is not only facing a biblical plague of locust in the Middle East he is also being compared to Satan in the popular The Bible series on the History Channel.”
But Wiles admitted that he believed the network and producer Mark Burnett when they saidthat it was “utter nonsense” that any resemblance was deliberate.
“I don’t believe they intentionally portrayed the Lucifer character to look like Mr. Obama,” the Christian radio host noted. “I think God guided the hand of the makeup artist and blinded the eyes of everybody on the movie set while it was being recorded, and the spiritual blinders were removed Sunday night when the program was broadcast nationally on the History Channel.”
“How many clues do we need from Heaven to understand that the man in the White House is a devil from Hell?”
“This week we’ve gone 180,” Boehner said. “After being in office now for four years, he’s actually going to sit down and talk to members. I think it’s a hopeful sign and I’m hopeful that something will come out of it. But if the president continues to insist on tax hikes, I dont think we’re going to get very far. If the president doesn’t believe that we have a spending problem, I dont know if we’re going to get very far. But I’m optimistic.”
I don’t know, and I could be wrong. But it sounds to me like Boehner is now breathing a breath of fresh air. With the President going straight to congressional Republicans trying to convince them to do what’s best for the American people, Boehner no longer has the burden of being looked upon as the Speaker who has no control over his House, or unable to bring his party together. That burden now rest on the President’s shoulders and Boehner is more than willing to just stand-off to the side and watch from the sidelines.
If the President’s outreach program succeeds, Boehner will celebrate with the rest of Congress. They will all be seen as being productive, working for the people who brought sent them to Washington. If the President fails, Boehner could then come into the spotlight and blame Mr. Obama for doing too little too late in trying to reach out.
Dude thinks he’s slick, but as Rev. Al Sharpton says on his show, you think you’re pulling one over on us, but “we got’cha!”
Well it may be due to the smack-down President Obama awarded to a CNN reporter who asked what I’ll consider to be a stupid question. The question had to do with the Sequester and why President Obama didn’t do more to keep Republicans in Washington and force them to agree with him instead of allowing them to leave early for the weekend.
The President answered, “I know that has been some of the conventional wisdom that’s been floating around Washington, that somehow, even though most people agree that I’m being reasonable, that most people agree I’m presenting a fair deal, that fact that they don’t take it means that I should somehow do a Jedi mind meld with these folks and convince them to do what’s right.”
Moments after President Obama made that statement, the White House tweeted this photo:
Another day, another Time of arguing, bickering, finger-pointing and disagreements. No, not your kids, Grown Ups in Washington. I don’t know about you, but I feel as though It’s Time for “Grown Ups” to start acting like “Grown Ups”.
Speaker Boehner is blaming President Obama for the upcoming disaster called the Sequester, President Obama is firing back stating the Congress needs to act before We, The People, fall into yet another catastrophic economic meltdown. GOP members Ted Cruz, a freshman, has joined the fray with the “blame game” stating the President isn’t doing enough on Immigration Reform. Adults, acting like children. Or, is it just children dressed up in Adult clothing?
Senator’s McCain, Graham, Rubio, Ryan and the lot are making a mockery of the office in which they represent by, instead of bringing solid solutions of important issues, they take it to the media for “soundbite” and talking-points. As a grown up, do you, average American, go to the Source of your disagreement or do you cower and discuss with everyone other than the one you have the disagreement with? Hmmm, I tend to believe it’s not the latter for most of us.
Every American, even if you don’t follow politics, has seen the News Tickers counting down to the Sequester. Or you’ve heard about the Immigration issue. You’ve seen and heard about the confirmation hearings with Chuck Hagel, a Republican, trying to fight his way through intense questioning about his “true” allegiances. Ironically, it’s the Republicans that are holding up the process. Or how about the Gun Control Fight, or gay marriage issue or Obamacare? No matter where you stand on these issues, This House, The United States of America, is completely “Out of Order”.
We’re a Great Country that prides itself on multi-tasking, coming together to get big jobs accomplished, but as of late, oh, I’ll say since President Obama took office in 2009, members of the GOP have forgotten how to govern, how to work across the aisle, how to be grown ups. Newt Gingrich has boasted about how when he was Speaker of the House, he worked with President Clinton to pass important legislation. Speaker of the House Tipp O’Neil and President Reagan came together, contentiously, to move this nation forward with “Reaganomics”.
Well, That’s What Time It Is. Working TOGETHER. Or have we forgotten how to do that?
Look, I know there’s tremendous animosities in Washington. The GOP and it’s surrogates don’t like President Obama but guess what? He’s the President so get over it. You were elected to work FOR THE PEOPLE of the United States of America. ALL of us, not just for your party. You took an oath before GOD and man to Serve the People. Well, do Your Job and Serve.
No more finger pointing. No more taking the arguments and/or disagreements to the media. Sit down, like grown ups, discuss, map out, dissect, compromise where it makes sense and Move Forward. Most jobs (if not all of them) have deadlines to meet. I don’t know of any successful job that waits for the last day or even goes past the deadline. Washington, Congress, Senators, House of Representatives, you’re not exempt.
Get it together…let’s Move Forward…that’s What Time It Is!
Presidents and football coaches often get along because they have such personal experiences with victory and defeat.
When President Obama called Baltimore Ravens head coach John Harbaugh this week, he lauded him for winning the Super Bowl after the a “bumpy season” that had included three straight defeats.
Harbaugh told Obama that life’s greatest accomplishments can come after “the greatest tribulations and adversity,” and he told the president: “I know you know this as much as anybody.”
Obama joked to Harbaugh: “You know, you and me, we should try some try some time to do some things easy and smooth … I’d like to know what it feels like; it’s never happened to me.”
Obama also spoke with Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome, and the two reminisced about Newsome’s playing days with the University of Alabama and the Cleveland Browns in the 1970s and ’80s.
h/t USA Today
