Obama Press Conference – LIVE
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LIVE ELECTION NIGHT CHAT @ 5:00 pm PT TONIGHT!
As a great way to share this experience, PlanetPOV is hosting a live chat (live typed comments) tonight to discuss the night's results as they come in along with everything else this election will bring and what folks think it will mean for the future.
That’s right, Kalima, not all Americans are stupid because look who we elected.
My point was that out of the population of our country, very few vote.
That’s what I want to change.
And I want to somehow get younger people to vote.
The average age of Americans who vote, and it’s low considering the population, but the average age is 27 years old.
Back during Vietnam, and the draft, young people voted, and voting age is 18.
The flip side is, as time goes by, the most ignorant and racist die and disappear, a big percentage of racists are quite elderly now. Several years from now, there will be more of a shift away from such ignorance.
Ok, then line them up to register them as soon as possible. There must still be enough Dems who haven’t lost faith in the President who would volunteer to get more people registered. Why anyone would give up their right to vote is beyond me, it sounds disconnected and lazy to me. I live in one country where I can’t vote and couldn’t vote in the last GE in the U.K. because I hadn’t renewed my registration over there. I would give just about anything for the right to vote, to be a voice in something important. I just can’t understand the reluctance to register, nor can I understand people who are eligible to vote, not voting.
I can’t understand, either, Kalima…
And then I visit my cousins…
There’s a whole world out there who are only concerned with their own lives, and don’t see the connections or worth of politics – if it ‘registers’ at all with them.
I almost envy it in a weird way. I don’t want to demean them, by calling them simple, they are blood – but they give me a glimpse into a big chunk of Americana.
Sometimes, I think the fault with compulsory voting is that there are a whole lot of people not qualified to vote. It sounds elitist, but, perhaps it works out in the end.
What really gets me is those registered who don’t vote – by mail even.
I mean, why did you even bother to register?
Yet they would be the first to shout from the rooftops how much they love their country and how proud they are to be Americans. Sort of defeats the whole object I think. If they really cared, they would vote, take a part in the political process of the country. It’s downright lazy to not vote and still make a noise to complain about it. No vote, no voice is how I see it for the eligible voters who can’t make the effort to claim their rights as citizens. It just thoroughly annoys me.
javaz-
When Arnold became governator of CA, everyone whooped and hollered that it was the largest “landslide” ever. Well – not so much. The NY Times reviewed our Secretary of State’s figures and found that it was a fairly significant percent of those who VOTED and even pretty OK for those who were REGISTERED, but his vote numbers represented only 18 percent of all the ELIGIBLE voters in CA. That is a crisis.
Slightly OT but The Senate has already passed an Amendment to end DADT and the HOUSE is about to close their vote, it’s already won there!
Humanity and equality continues to prevail in the Obama era!!!
UPDATE:
THE AMENDMENT IS ADOPTED!!!
Hooray but as with everything, it’s not the ideal, but it is a beginning.
I’m getting tired of settling.
What do you mean? This amendment ends discrimination in the military against gays, that was the goal, doesn’t seem like settling for anything to me, smells like victory!
Tell that to the whiners at you-know-where.
I hear it still has to pass through the pentagon and probably will not be settled until december or so?
Yep, according to the AP:
Still, The Pentagon is under the CIC as is everyone else who could undermine this, it would be bad for one’s career to try and harm the career of one’s boss.
I think it will end up being just the formality and political cover it was, so Congresspeople can say, “See? It only went into effect because the Pentagon said it could!”
I am confident it will go all the way. It would really be stupid for one to go against the grain at this point.
The whole thing is so 1950’s anyway.
My 10 year old grandson knows it is not right. Too bad we lose that sense of right versus wrong over the years. He asked me how if someone was gay it would change the way they act in a war situation or anything else, he seems to already have an inner sense that it is not right to treat people differently because of their orientation.
Hello Sue, it’s so great to have you back. Take care.
Your grandson makes a great argument for lowering the voting age.
I think, as some people “grow up”, they view the world through their fears and insecurities and satisfying them is rationalized to be “right”…and validated by all the other small minded people like them.
It seems so clear when you see all of these anti-gay Christians and Republicans suddenly being revealed as hypocrites. I mean, they’re gay and yet they’re campaigning to oppress gay people!
They sound far less mature and thoughtful than your grandson, that’s for sure!
That is wonderful news AdLib, about bloody time too. I wonder just how many of the already suspended from duty before this will actually benefit from this?
May I ask how YOU could be O/T on YOUR own post?
I was asking myself the same thing when I bumped my nose on the back of my head!
Oops, nasty surprise I’m sure. Feeling any better now?
Hot damn! That is JUST GREAT! I had forgotten the Senate had already voted so it makes it twice as sweet!!! Hooray for SANITY. I did see that 2 Republicans voted to repeal it, so there’s a twinkle of hope there, too.
You want to read crazy?
Check out Alex Jones Info Wars – there’s war on your mind – site.
There is a conspiracy, false flag operation in every article, and Alex Jones has a radio show and Rand Paul is a frequent guest.
You think FOX and Glenn Beck are nuts?
Check out Alex Jones Infowars,
I don’t check it out that often, but I do check, because it’s good to know what the crazies among us are thinking, and they do not hold back.
Jesse Ventura is a frequent guest.
They find a conspiracy in every single thing.
I like to know what the crazy-looney-tunes are talking about, so I visit that site a couple times per week.
Crazier yet, is when even I agree with some of their things.
They hate Glenn Beck and they hate FOX and Rupert Murdoch, but every time I leave that site, I need to take a shower and never feel clean.
Not my business javaz, but why go there at all?
When you realize that these nutjobs are just there to stir up their base, annoy the Left and people like Beck have Vick’s rubbed under their eyes to produce that ugly crying mug with false tears, you will also realize that giving them that much importance is exactly what they want from the other side, a distraction from their own useless policies. One of these day they will just go too far, some of their fans will desert them, why worry about them, they have been busy digging their own graves for years now.
I think that because of all the awful things happening in your state right now, you are more caught up in this nonsense than many. Sometimes just turn off the news, don’t go looking for the negativity, it can’t be good for your health, and take a break from the constant barrage of bs coming your way for a few days. I’m sure that you will feel a bit better for doing it.
Here’s another one:
http://www.globalresearch.ca
Whenever I get into it with someone with some crackpot theory I only have to check this site or Jones’ to see where they’re getting it from.
They hate everything. They’re smug a-holes and it’s only they who know “The Truth” – we’re all sheople who try to discredit them with “woo-woo”.
You know, the Flat Earthers say the same thing:
“Aim: To carefully observe, think freely, rediscover forgotten fact and oppose theoretical dogmatic assumptions. To help establish the United States…of the world on this flat earth. Replace the science religion…with SANITY.”
For real. The Flat Earth Society still exists.
AdLib, the picture of Obama is not what you want, because the racist assholes and right wing conspirators will think his hand raised in that way is a salute to Hitler.
I’m a follower of conspiracy theories, and do believe in some, but seriously, you want another pic of Obama because if anyone follows this site, they’ll use it to promote their conspiracy.
I know, the Nazis are far right, but somehow thanks to Glenn Beck et all, somehow the National Socialist Party means Liberal left now.
F
Yes, Kalima, I do because I am learning how they operate.
They will jump at any little thing to revise history and make Obama a Nazi.
But who believes it?
Anyone with an IQ in the higher double digits, knows that this is a crock of shite. They don’t even know the history of the takeover of Germany by the Nazi movement. They talk out of the hole they sit on.
Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh and Alex Jones.
Again javaz, who the f
I do get what you are saying, Kalima, but I think that maybe you are thinking Americans that actually vote – and that’s it, isn’t it? Not enough Americans vote – but those that do are STUPID!
Rand Paul?
Really?
Sarah Palin – really?
That’s what I want to see GROW do – is promote VOTING.
Not all Americans who vote are stupid javaz, look who your President is now.
My feeling is that I won’t allow the fact that there are racist lunatics out there ever convince me to dance to their crazed tune.
If they want to yell “Hitler” every time Obama’s hand is raised, so be it, they only look more insane for it.
Are there pictures of Bush or Palin or Beck with their hands raised? Do these asses suddenly worry that all are now Hitler?
Is it supposed to be magic or an uncontrollable “tell”, that having a picture taken with a hand in the air makes one want to annex Poland and exterminate Jews?
I guarantee, they will hate Obama no matter what is in a picture of him. As the saying goes, if we allow the sensibilities of our enemies to control our choices, the terrorists win.
Not on this Planet.
Kalima, I’ll reply up here since it’s easier.
I don’t know if people still refer to Brazil nuts that way.
Having grown up in Detroit, I could tell you stories and educate you even more to racist terms that were just a part of the vernacular.
I appreciated Pepe’s article about the racism he experienced and say that I’d never heard the term he was called.
I grew up hearing so many racist terms that were part of the lingo and sadly, I have to admit that my father used those terms, but not all that much and as the years went on and he got older, he stopped.
It was so accepted and just the way people talked back then, but I never was comfortable using those words, and also admit that I did though, because the words were so common.
But I never said them much, because I knew innately that it was wrong.
You’d have to understand the times back then and how it just seemed natural for people to hate blacks and think less of them and maybe that’s another reason that I am so against the SB1070 law because it’s the same thing, but this time it refers to Mexicans.
My husband and I do not like it at all when people say the racial terms when referring to Mexicans and how people think that Mexicans are less than human.
It’s all so complicated and I thought that our country had overcome it all, or most of it, as there will always be a segment of our society that is racist.
We were warned by activists about Obama being elected, and that it didn’t mean that we were over it, and they are so right, because we are not and racism is alive and thriving in our country and it shocks me.
I don’t know how or what to do to change it.
I, too thought we had overcome it………….
It’s gotten worse since Obama.
It truly does shock me.
They’ve all come out of the closet, and the hatred against gays is revving up more with the DADT repeal, and yes, I know it’s not really a repeal.
And now it is out of the bag about hispanics. Before long, these people will not have any friends
We’re scared to put a bumper-sticker on our car and my husband is not as paranoid as I am.
But we know when to keep our mouths shut.
When you live in an area where the majority are gun-toting, gun-loving FOX watchers, and they love O’Reilly and Hannity, and they believe every word.
They really believe that Obama is going to take their guns and that Democrats/Liberals are anti-American, you learn to shut your mouth real quick.
We do have 2 neighbors that are somewhat Democrats and maybe even with Liberal leaning, but even they are not people that we can speak freely.
I walk away from racists and racial slurs. I know they exist, but don’t have to let them soil me.
The only way to change it, would be through education and when you see these dumb f
It’s easier to type this up here instead of replying down there –
Okay, Bush Jr., do not get me wrong about this because I abhorred him and resented him and was one to type all the anti-Bush crap online.
Such as saying that Bush was NOT my president, and I was going to fly our flags upside down and blah, blah, blah.
And now I’m reading similar things about Obama, so I guess that woke me up in a sense.
But GW is an affable guy.
He really is.
I know that his image and his personality in public is not who he really is, but he comes off as a really fun-loving nice guy.
I remember when he was running against Gore and he appeared on Regis’s show, Regis and Kelly Lee? Or was it Kathi Lee back then?
I don’t really watch that show, but did watch it way back when for some reason, and I remember there was that woman from Survivor that lost that was co-hosting with Regis.
Was her name Sue?
Never watch that show either, but GW was so very down-to-earth and nice to her and he came off as a really nice guy.
You know, the guy you’d like to have a beer with and I’d have a beer with him!
LMAO
He just wasn’t qualified to be president or governor of Texas for that matter.
He was a Sarah Palin – a corporate media creation, imho.
I don’t drink beer. Bush was like a dumb marionette for the evil ones in the GOP. I wonder if he ever felt the light bulb go on enough to realize that he was being used like a worn out doormat?
The RW found their stooge and he played his part well.
I do think the light came on.
Cheney was and probably still is royally pissed that Bush when leaving office never pardoned Scooter Libby.
I think Bush figured it out at the end.
I’ll never forget his face and demeanor when Obama won the election and people around the world celebrated.
I think that Bush was in such a bubble and he really did not realize how much people hated him and how much people around the world hated him.
I think that it’s easy to be in a bubble and believe those around you when you hold that kind of power.
I must give credit to GW during 9/11, because he did what a president should do following that horrific day.
I know, he didn’t do what he should have done to prevent it and sat in a classroom while it was happening and he looked so gobsmacked by it all.
But after, he did rally the nation and did throw the first pitch at some baseball game, and he did what presidents must do during those times.
He messed up so horribly, because he had the nation and the world’s support right after 9/11 and then what did he do?
He invaded Iraq.
Actually javaz, wasn’t his message to the nation after 9/11 to tell you to “go shopping?”
You could have blown me over with a feather when I heard that and my brain couldn’t process it. Whether brain washed or not, he had enough animosity against Saddam to start an illegal war, thumb his nose at the UN and the international community and kill hundreds of thousands of innocents plus over 4000 of your bravest. Now even if I liked beer, how could I ever drink one with this man?
Yeah, he did say that after a time, and actually, I do understand that.
Our economy ran on consumerism.
I get that, I truly do, but he didn’t say it for a couple weeks after.
What I am saying is that when 9/11 happened, our nation and the world went into complete shock and fear.
I mean if the US could suffer such an attack – the world went on high alert.
My husband was in France at the time, and I was alone here, and I have no family here, nor did I have the friends in the neighborhood as we do now, and I wasn’t close to my in-laws back then.
In fact, my in-laws hated me, absolutely hated me back then, but we’ve all gotten over that since and I’m very close to my husband’s sisters, and one brother and even his mother and I have come to terms and love each other now.
But I was so alone when it happened and I wasn’t scared that I’d be attacked where we live, because we are rural, but I cannot tell you the fear during that time and how alone I was.
I had no idea what Europe was, and feared for my husband.
No more airplanes flying overhead, and the TV was 24 hours of non-stop coverage of New York and the sadness and fear of people who couldn’t find loved ones.
I remember 9/11 was a Tuesday, is that right?
I think that I finally ventured out on Thursday, and the radio was playing some song by Enrique Iglesius, and it had Bush’s voice in the background and it was so horribly distressing that I ran 2 stop signs but there was no traffic into town.
I should not have been driving, but I had to get groceries.
And the grocery store was empty, except for a couple cashiers and some other workers.
It was surreal.
Bush declared that Friday after as the day of mourning, and you couldn’t help but watch that on the TV and it was heartbreaking.
My husband called me from Paris and said how he was out at lunch on that Friday in a cafe and they dimmed the lights, cut the music and traffic on the streets came to halt and people got out of their cars and buses and the church bells were all he could hear.
French people in the restaurant somehow knew he was an American, and they came up to my husband and gave their condolences and it was all so very touching and extremely moving.
Bush did the right thing at the time when we all needed it.
He had the world and the nation in his hands, and then blew it all.
It was a Tuesday, my hubby was returning from work out of town and I had watched everything unfold on the tv, couldn’t leave the spot I was sitting in for hours at a time. We sat together in complete shock holding hands until the broadcasts ended in the wee hours. I tried to contact a friend who lived in Manhatten, the phone was dead. Didn’t hear anything for 3 days, he had been evacuated from his building because of the toxic dust covering everything. It was almost a month until he could move back.
Economy or not, I’m not at all sure that it was appropriate, his speech at Ground Zero about the terrorists “hearing from all of us soon” was what the people wanted to hear at that time. They were looking for justice, not a new pair of shoes.
Just to clarify Europe and the rest of the world’s position in joining the coalition to invade Afghanistan, yes it was out of friendship and outrage, but please never forget that people of 92 other countries perished along with Americans that awful day and the world was united.
Europe and the U.K. have had many terrorist attacks before 9/11 and they were more outraged than worrying about if it could happen in their countries, it had for many years before, just not on the same scale.
I was no fan of Bush, but even I told my husband when he called from Paris, that Bush was saying and doing the right things at the time immediately following the attack.
And he did.
He did calm the nation in the days following, but then he let the Cheney and Rumsfeld and Neo-cons run the show.
We flew out to Paris in January following the attack, and we were so unsettled because France and Europe was on high alert.
I’d never ridden a train or subway and to see fully armed military people at train stations and in subways unnerved me, but at the same time, it was comforting.
And while we were there, there was some explosion or something in a subway somewhere in Asia – was it Japan?
Remember that?
And how the television coverage showed it and you could hear the cell-phones ringing of the dead?
I was very nervous at first, and then when the US invaded Iraq and all the anti-French coming out of the US, embarrassed us and shamed us.
I mean, they showed merchants in New York pouring French wine into the gutters and Congress met to change the name of food – Freedom Fries and Freedom Toast, and do you know how embarrassing that was to be an American in Paris?
We started saying that we were from Canada.
Je suis Canadien!
Luckily, the French understood it was the politicians and not the American people.
I don’t recall any train crash in Asia in Jan 2002. There was one in Cape Town though.
The French just laughed as the videos of people pouring French wine into the gutters were shown around the world. After all they were payed for many times over.
As I’ve said here many times over, Europe hated your government, not your people, we are not that immature.
Hey Javaz
I agree he was an affable guy to a point, but it was all a mask. I have read several biographies on him and his family and they are much different behind closed doors. If you will recall, it took Bush days to confront 9/11 and even longer with Katrina. Then he used the ruins of the WTC as a photo op and to plant the seed of his war cry. You are much more forgiving than me lol, but I remember just how not engaged he was. Sorry to interject here but I saw him and his antics in a totally different light.
SUE!!!
It’s been forever since I’ve seen you and my gosh, it’s so good to see you again!
I’ve missed you!!!
I’m not sure it was all an act, as rich people can be nice, too when it suits them.
I can’t explain that, but even Paris Hilton has her days.
I used to hate her, until she put out a video mocking herself when McCain somehow drew her into the election, and then I’ve liked her ever since, but if there’s an example of a very rich person that feels entitled . . .
Do you know what I mean?
Yeah, I do, but I have read too much to the contrary to believe he is anything by conniving. I read the book by Kitty Kelly, John Dean, Russ Baker and they all tell the same story. One way in front of the crowd and another entirely behind the scenes. You should hear the scathing reviews on Barbara Bush and she was the one I felt empathy for LOL. She is a cold hearted bitch according to all reports. It is all about the green to them. GHW’s father was probably the last with any modicom of decency. Prescott Bush although somewhat of a scoundrel at least had s few morals……not so the off spring.
Thanks for the welcome back, I have been taking a hiatus and feel refreshed again. Have you been writing on the AZ thing?
Prescott Bush was a Nazi-sympathizer, or am I wrong in thinking that?
I don;t write articles anymore here, as I was shamed by Cher’s articles and you!
I’ve been taking online classes that are free, and it is amazing the classes that you can take online for free, even from MIT.
You don’t submit anything to be graded, but you just follow the classes and then give it a shot, and well, I’ve been having fun doing that.
I’ve also taken a hiatus for mental health reasons, as all the negativity really gets to me.
I want a solution!
But I’ve accepted that there is no solution, and so we all must just enjoy sunrises and sunsets, and be grateful.
Where are the young?
Why aren’t they protesting?
Javaz I have taken the road less traveled these days and don’t let it all get to me. I take people for what they are and call them out on it, but I can no longer let them get to me. Let them wallow in their hatred while I just laugh at them.
You sell yourself short, you piece on Arpaio was excellent and I know you can do more. You could write a book on AZ alone LOL.
See?
That’s why I’ve missed you!
You wrote an entire series about the religious right, and you did a fantastic job!
I am going to bed now, as that is what we do!
We go to bed and take books and have the TV on to meaningless shows, and mindless sitcoms, but it’s what we do.
My husband is not into the blogging thing or even following the news, and he always tells me to STOP.
He does know what’s going on, but he doesn’t follow it all as much as I do.
He helps me since my hiatus, and other things that have happened in my life, to put it all in perspective.
We’re going to be okay and so are you.
Night Javaz, funny I will be doing the exact same thing in a few minutes. I guess we are on the same wave length with our recovery LOL
Bush was a politician and the “affable guy” was his artificial campaign gimmick. It was Rove and all who promoted the phony “guy you’d want to have a beer with” image, that was not an organic development but a premeditated ploy.
Bush proved he was far from an affable guy once he got the job. He reverted to the smirking, snobbish, self-important and self-righteous ass he had been his whole life, as he destroyed every business venture he touched…adding the U.S. to his list.
This is the problem with campaigns that are built for the media, it is hard to recognize where the marketing image ends and the real person begins.
With Bush, I would propose that he was never that affable, down to Earth guy he was presented to be…how could such an egotistical ass have ever been down to Earth?
You are correct and maybe we should fear Sister Sarah, since the corporate media continues to make her relevant.
She really is another GW Bush in the making.
There is a reason why the right wing does not like George Soros. He was involved in Harken Oil and he flat out said for public record that GW was not any kind of businessman and he would never hire him to run a company he was responsible for…….
I didn’t see the video but suspect that it wasn’t available over here anyway. I am relieved to hear the news for all the people affected now and in the future by this mess. I’m delighted for your President, the ignorant GOP were going to have a party about his responsibility in all this, now they can wipe those ugly grins off theirs faces and stop scratching their pendulous balls. Up your’s GOP!!!!
Ok, I reported this as Breaking News on MB at 7:02 am, do I get a badge or something?
A case of cat food for Mr. Fluffybottom?
(was that the kitty’s name that AdLib held hostage for donations to the site?)
😆
Thanks javaz, he eats more than a case in two days, and has grown as big as a house. Once in a while in his sleep he shouts out, “Where is AdLib?”
Please let Mr. Fluffy Wuvers know he is missed and he still owes me ten bucks.
That’s it!
Mr. Fluffy Wuvers!
Fluffy Bottom was my name when I used to dance . . . 😆 too much Craig Ferguson!
😯 ❓ ❓
It’s a joke similar to what Craig Ferguson does frequently on his show.
He comes on after David Letterman and we tape them both because we can never stay up that late.
Have you ever heard of Craig Ferguson?
Yes, I know Craig Ferguson. Thanks for explaining, my mind was on a mental treadmill for a few minutes.
Btw, my nickname for hubby is Fluff. 🙂
He just told me that you told him if he pretended to look really scared, the food and drinks were on the house. Did you say house or mouse?
Absolutely!!! You have just earned a Super Scooper badge to sew on your sash. 😆 😆 😆
😆 For a second there boomer, I thought you had written “to sew on your ass.” Sorry I just regained consciousness after a night of fighting with a loud mouthed mosquito.
Good evening.
Sash dear — sash. 😆 😆 😆
😳 My third eye seems to be sporting an oil smudge, sorry.
Yes you certainly do! Here you are:
ROFLMAO!!!
😆 😆 😆 I’m so happy to call you my friend.
Hey everybody, come check out my badge. HP, eat your heart out!!
No fair! Now Kalima will like you better! 😥 😥 😥
It is bestowed on Kalima by everyone at The Planet including you!
BTW, are you getting my emails? Haven’t heard back from you.
I know that. I was just pulling your chain. 😀
Yes, and I apologize. Short version — I forgot to have my anti-depressant prescription refilled. 😆 😆 😆
Seriously though, I apologize for being such a horse’s behind. Certainly nothing personal. My best friend has been sent to work overseas for the next 2-5 years and I’ve been just a tad shell shocked and heartbroken.
You’re never a horse’s patoot, Boomer, NEVER.
We’re old enough to skip the apologies and be who we are, and if you find that you’ve committed a faux pas, blame it on age!
You know, as we age we become eccentric and forgetful, and that’s not a lie!
Ah those Senior Moments. It’s all their fault. 😆
Senior moments indeed. Didn’t you know that
When it comes to having Senior moments, my husband and I do that a lot and that can be dangerous!
LOL
For instance, not only did I think today was Friday, but my husband went fishing today, and I didn’t think we did our 23 vitamins and supplements, so I set them all out after he left this morning.
When he came home I told him that I did the vitamins and here you go, take them, since he normally does the vitamins.
(I do our meds)
He told me that we took them before he left!
Since I had just emptied the dishwasher this morning, he showed me the juice glasses.
So, I took 46 vitamins and supplements today and may I say that I feel really good and have energy that I don’t normally have!
LMAO
Don’t fret, we share something that he doesn’t have, molehills and furry little things.
😀
Speaking of furry, some of us prefer Brazilian.
LMAO
Boomer, would you please share a glass of Merlot with me!
I call that “summer cut” but I love Brazil nuts and haven’t been able to find any here for decades. 🙁
Wow.
I wish so much that I had your address as I am not a fan of Brazil Nuts although my husband does enjoy them.
Also, do you know the racist-term for Brazil Nuts?
I wonder if anyone other than people from the mid-west know what I’m talking about.
I just googled that javaz and I wish I hadn’t, it is an abomination I could have done without. My feeling about the racists in America has already fallen below raw sewage level as it is, I wonder just how much lower they can go on my scale of human or not.
javaz…
Hold that thought ’til tomorrow. 😀
Merlot is a red wine, correct?
Do you prefer red wine chilled or at room temp?
As a whole, I appreciated much of what Obama said about his Admin’s response to the spill. He confessed regrets at the speed of their reactions, at their trusting BP on the amount of the flow, on other aspects as well.
He did describe that a scientific board was assembled to consider and review things, which I had hoped would be the case and did assert that his admin is ultimately in charge.
Still, the impression was left with me that BP is not really so subservient, Obama had difficulty answering why equipment from other companies and countries, such as the tankers in Saudi Arabia that sucked up an oiol spill in their waters, are not being brought in to limit the damage.
Obama explained that BP and the other oil companies have the best technology to stop this spill…which appears to be mud. At the same time, I did appreciate Obama saying that BP shares the interest of the public on stopping the well but may not share their interests in being truthful about the facts and damages caused by the spill.
The impression was also left with me that BP may be advising the Obama Admin to keep other companies and equipment out of the gulf so it doesn’t interfere with their operations, the real motive may be more to BP’s benefit than the public’s if, for example, another company’s tankers suck up (and retain) a lot of oil, making them look good and BP look less capable. I don’t know but I can’t think of one good reason why such a tanker is not in the gulf right now.
Lastly, the MMS needs to be fully overhauled, there should be an orderly but swift replacement of personnel there because the agency appears too corrupt to function.
Corruption may be a natural progression of any regulatory agency (see SEC) but when you have a presidency like the Bush Admin, that wants to derail all regulation by government and accomplishes this by putting industry personnel in charge of “regulating” industry, such a collapse of government protection is inevitable and planned.
Have you seen this article?
(I just put it on the oil spill one but maybe it’s appropriate to repeat it here)
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/2010/05/critical_perspective.php
Very interesting article Javaz. I don’t think people realize what a “war zone” the initial explosion left asunder. Definitely for the first couple of weeks they were reeling just to understand the problem at the source and clean up the debris. Then it takes at least a couple weeks to get equipment and raw materials in for a top kill. At best I think a week or so could have been saved and that’s if the top kill works.
I agree with the author about expertise. BP knows where to get the experts better than anyone and the biggest expert is Haliburton which may be part of the problem. I think it’s naive to frame the problem thinking that BP worked on this alone. It just does not work that way.
People also don’t understand the science of how they clean up around tankers. It’s a very limited area where ships clean. The oil is much more contained and thicker at the surface. That’s why they can pick it up so quick. In an open ocean spill containment is the first problem and sucking it up is the second. While this oil is thousands of square miles in diameter.
My husband heard on the radio that Halliburton and Trans-Ocean (?) will also face lawsuits, and speculation is that BP will be suing them.
It’s all very complicated but as Obama said, the main concern right now should be stopping it and then cleaning it up.
From what I read the flotilla is on the way.
http://www.examiner.com/a-2650176~Obama_to_take_questions__cite_report__on_oil_spill.html
Obviously the Obama administration is taking more control of the situation and that change probably happened Monday.
“I take responsibility” is something we seldom hear from leaders and never heard from Bush for eight years with disasters that were much more of his making.
I don’t know if you noticed the pattern with President Obama, he’s a quick learner. He may not get it completely right the first time but people vastly underrate his tenacity and ability to change course when needed.
I still think the bottom line is whether this latest effort is successful or not. If it isn’t the criticism will continue. That’s just human nature.
Who was the last guy that asked about “the boot on the neck” – I thought that was a pundit that said that and not anyone in the administration.
And puh-leeze, bringing up the Sestak non-scandal leads me to believe the last guy is a FOXflamer.
That was Major Garrett from Fox News, you hit the nail right on the head.
These frauds sat by, covered up and ignored all of the far worse scandals of the Bush Admin but now feign moral outrage at Obama for far more minimal things.
Whatever happened with the Sestak thing, I hope Obama has learned well from Clinton’s presidency that when there’s no harm done by something that could be blown up into having a “gate” added at the end, provide an answer to the questions once than walk away.
It’s a joke. Even if the administration did offer Sestak a job there is nothing wrong with that. Sestak has many talents and would fill many jobs well. But you know the Republicans are trying anything like we saw with Whitewater. This time I don’t think the vast majority of the American people have the appetite for another faux scandal with so many real problems.
President Obama’s explanation at the start was concise, imho.
As typical for our president, he’s handling the press with aplomb.
I do admit to chuckling at Helen Thomas turning the discussion from the Gulf to Afghanistan and her schoolmarm warning about not using the Bush excuse of ‘we fight ’em there so we won’t to have fight ’em here.’
I love Helen Thomas and remember how Bush blacklisted her and others for years, never calling on them for questions. I don’t think, however, that Obama’s response was very good.
Still, Obama does not similarly hide from the tough questions and questioners as the coward Bush did.
Obama calls on Fox News and many other conservative and propagandist reporters. He is not afraid of being questioned.
Remember Bush calling on all the plants in the “reporter” pool, some starting out with, “I know you are doing the work of Jesus…” and “President Bush, may I begin by expressing how much Americans appreciate your leadership at this time?”
Seriously, wasn’t the vastness and degree of propaganda in the Bush Admin competitive with the worst of all governments in the last 100 years?
One of my favorite Bush “reporters” was Jeff Gannon!
LOL
I don’t know how Obama does it really and why he even wants to do it with all the negativity from the Party of NO and Obstruction and hyped-up accusations against him day after day from Fox and their merry-band of miscreants.
I just cannot imagine the resolve and ability to forge on with so much political drama and even danger.
Whenever I feel myself slipping into blaming Obama for something or accusing him of anything, it’s always good to have a reminder of what he is up against every single day.
I’m still proud that Obama is our president and am proud that he’s trying to fix things.
He really does not get the credit he deserves.
Agreed. I would feel hypocritical to be as blind a follower of Obama as the Repubs were of Bush. There are things Obama does or doesn’t do that I disagree with and I will honestly express that.
However, just because I feel honesty is the best policy, it doesn’t mean I don’t respect Obama or not appreciate having him as our president at this incredibly difficult time in our nation’s history.
I remember Bush predicting that his presidency would be judged far better in the future. Heh! However, as much as people may be frustrated with Obama’s imperfections right now, I think that many years down the line, he will be seen as one of our most remarkable and capable presidents.
What other president has had to deal with so many crises in such a short span of time and in the midst of such terrible partisanship, racism and hatred?
Imagine if Obama had only come into office with 52 Dem Senators, how paralyzed our government would have been in the face of so many disasters? Or, if we had a President McCain and Vice President Palin in charge of the BP oil spill?
Seriously, we’ve all seen how being president ages and stresses people. Would McCain really have lasted 4 years? I think the only way he could is by taking plenty of time off along the way so he wasn’t stressed into a heart attack. And Palin would probably have stepped up then.
So, in the end, how lucky are we to have President Obama right now instead of more Bush, Romney, Palin or McCain.
It really could have been a nail in the coffin for the U.S.
We are fortunate to be able to be complaining about President Obama.
Could you imagine going to work everyday and hearing nothing but criticism?
And then to have all the criticism made public and being accused of being a commie-pinko-socialist-nazi-terrorist-loving-anti-christ?
I know that I’d quit that job!
(and then I could have someone else write my autobiography and charge 200 G’s for speaking engagements and demand a luxury jet with bendy straws!)
I really think and hope the GOP will role out Mittens in 2012. The loser or the last GOP primaries always seems to be the winner the next go around. Bush II was the exception because he was a Bush after all.
Romney will be the epitome of Republican hypocrisy. He signed a HC bill very similar to the bill that Obama passed but without the needed subsidies from government and Romney is as Wall Street as it gets when he made his bones with Bain (sp) Capital.
Romney has not had a position he has not flip flopped on and it would be a blood bath.
If the GOP does run a more extreme candidate like another hypocrite Gingrich or liar Palin they would be even worse off. I just don’t see the GOP having a viable candidate.
Gingrich is toast and Palin is a joke, and even the Republicans hate her, believe it or not.
The Republican voters accuse the “liberal media” and liberals of using Palin to make them look stupid, if you read comments on-line from right-wing sites.
Romney is a Mormon, and that hurts him, and even though I have my bigoted attitude when it comes to Mormons, I still think that’s unfair.
Because I do not believe that religion should ever be used to elect or not elect a person to office.
But yeah, Romney will have a tough time disassociating himself from passing the health care bill in Massachusetts.
I think there are some pinning their hopes on Pawlenty?
Isn’t he the governor of Minnesota?
I really know nothing about him.
You’ve got to remember what W ran on the first time as well. Bipartisanship, not being a nation builder and not touching SS. All this was a complete lie but I understand why people thought he was viable at the time.
I will also never forgive the Nader voters of the MSM that really scuttled the Gore candidacy.
Obama will be remembered as a very good or even great president for two reason, especially if he gets another four years already. The HCR bill will eventually change the way we think about healthcare and government in this country for generations. The vast majority of Americans will think of it as a right never to be taken away just like with SS which I might add started off with far more limitations and covered less than half the workers at the time.
Second will be his progress on ending nuclear proliferation.
I just hope he gets the support he needs to do the last big thing we need. Weening ourselves off of fossil fuels. But people still don’t give him credit for how much he and Congress have invested already.
I agree with you KQ in that Obama will go down in history as a great president, similar to FDR, imho.
But look how the Republicans and FOX’s-idiot-heads have tried re-writing history about FDR and even MLK.
Heck, look how Republicans and the religious right zealots have re-written the bible to back their agenda.
As for a second-term, I really do not see a viable Republican candidate that could take on Obama, but then again, I never expected Bush to beat Gore.
Well said Javaz and that includes what he’s up against in his own party sad to say. Look at what he’s trying to do with repealing DADT. You still have a couple of holdouts like Webb that are trying to stop change.
I also see the press, especially progressive media getting it wrong on DADT. They act like the military is going to have the final say with policy. They simply will not. The military is just getting final say on how to implement the policy but you still have progressives running around with their hair on fire saying the policy is up to the military.