Tag: President Obama

One change makes you larger,

And one change makes you small,

And the ones Obama gives you, don’t do anything at all.

Go ask Geithner, when he’s ten feet tall.

Bring a shovel with you, he’s WAY down in that 10 trillion dollar rabbit hole no Obamabots want to talk about, he’s down there with the Mad Hatters of Wall Street and the Cheshire Cats of the Fed, he’s down there high-fiving his Goldman Sachs pals, they’re on a roll, they’ve been raking in market bubble billions and cashing in when those bubbles have exploded ever since the 1920’s.                

Mad Hatters, Cheshire Cats, whacko wingnuts and Goldman Sachs.

Are we having fun yet?

(please rec at dkos too)

If you will indulge me for a few minutes, I have a thought experiment in which I would like you to participate. Sit and close your eyes for a minute. Now imagine, you wake up and it’s tomorrow. The government tells you that you aren’t married to your love. Everyone in the media calls your marriage a “marriage” with scare quotes, or a partnership or even worse. Some in the media decide to tell you that you’re completely sick and wrong. That your existence and the love you have for your partner is not love but a sick, hedonistic perversion.

Nobody understands you.

People cast you out and ignore you.

They call you names.

     Treat the captives well, and care for them.

    All the soldiers taken must be cared for with magnanimitty and sincerity so that they may be used by us.

    This is called ‘winning a battle and becoming stronger.’

    Hence what is essential in war is victory, not prolonged operations. . .

                               –  The Art of War

    Military contractors do not seek victory, but, “prolonged operations.”

    Instead of breaking minds and bodies in order to win hearts and minds, maybe we should have read more history.

    I have recently read Sun Tzu’s “The Art of War”. Although this book was written over 2300 years ago and in a time before drone missiles, military contractors and Military Industrial Complexes, I feel that it is a good book to read for everyone who would like to learn the age old and time tested concepts of military strategy.

I know why you’re here . . .

You’re here because you know something.  What you know is hard to explain, but you feel it.  You’ve felt it your entire life, that there’s something wrong with America.  Something very wrong.  You know what it is, but no one in power will do anything about it.  And that frustrates you, your frustration is like a splinter in your mind, driving you mad.  

I know what you’ve been doing . . . why you hardly sleep, why you live the way you do, and why day after day, you read progressive blogs.  You’re looking for him.  You’re looking for a progressive leader.  I know because I was once looking for the same thing.  And when he found me, he told me I wasn’t really looking for him.  I was looking for the leadership within me, the leadership within each of us.  

How do we achieve real change?  It’s the question that drives us.  It’s the question that brought you here. You know the question, just as I do.

But no one in power will ask it . . .

They’re afraid of the answer.  

So they keep taking the blue pill.  Most Americans are afraid of the answer too, so they keep taking the blue pill.   When Republicans are in power, it has an R on it.  When Democrats are in power, it has a D on it.  

But it’s the same blue pill.

copyright © 2009 Betsy L. Angert.  BeThink.org

Never for a moment in my life have I been “in love.”  I do not believe in the notion.  Fireworks have not filled my heart.  Flames of a fiery passion do not burn within me.  Indeed, my soul has not been ablaze.  Thoughts of a hot-blooded devotion seem illogical to me.  Such sentiments always have.  Fondness too fertile is but torture for me.  I admire many, and adore none.  For me, the affection I feel for another is born out of sincere and profound appreciation.  To like another means more to me than to love or be loved.  Excitement, an emotional reaction to another, rises up within me when I experience an empathetic exchange with someone who has glorious gray matter.

Today, it happened.  I felt an a twinge that startled me.  I stood still as he entered the room.  I expected nothing out of the ordinary, or at least nothing other than what has become his recently adopted, more avoidant, routine.  Although long ago, I had become accustomed to his face, his voice, and his demeanor, for I have known the man for more than a few years.  In the last few weeks, while essentially he is who he always was, some of his stances have changed.  Possibly, Barry has felt a need to compromise his positions, but I wonder; what of his principles.

Ralph Orlowski / Getty Images

If the president releases the Bush torture memos, Republicans are promising to “go nuclear” and filibuster his legal appointments. Scott Horton reports on a serious threat to Obama’s transparency.

As we all know, the appointment of Dawn Johnsen, as chief of the office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice, has been held up for quite some time now.  

Until recently, the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, often considered the “brains” of the department, has been known mostly to legal experts. But for the past eight years, it was the epicenter of allegations of political manipulation and, worse, the source of infamous memoranda on torture. In tapping Eric Holder as attorney general, President Obama has promised to restore standards of professionalism to the department. For Republicans, this is tantamount to a declaration of partisan war

The real reason for their vehement opposition is that Johnsen is committed to overturning the Bush administration’s policies on torture and warrantless surveillance that would clip the wings of the imperial presidency.

The more you dig . . . .

Is Anybody Listening?

Many have already heard about the kids from Pomona California Village Academy High School, many have probably caught their little eight minute video that has launched them into the National Spotlight and Political Debate on what this Country is now going through. But this isn’t new it’s just affecting many more kids and families now, with more added each day. Kids can’t learn and achieve any dreams they might have if their families are struggling and their living those struggles daily.

There’s no one as Irish as Barack O’Bama {this is the YouTube video, no embed available}

I went over to ABC News to see if they had posted a video report that I caught last night, never got to that as this is what I found, and will be airing this morning on GMA.

Exclusive: ‘It Hurts,’ Says First Lady of Military Families on Food Stamps

First lady Michelle Obama wants military families to know they have a friend in the White House, she told “Good Morning America’s” Robin Roberts in an exclusive interview today at Fort Bragg, N.C. — her first network television interview since her husband took office.

“It hurts. It hurts,” the first lady said of hearing about military families on food stamps. “These are people who are willing to send their loved ones off to, perhaps, give their lives — the ultimate sacrifice. But yet, they’re living back at home on food stamps. It’s not right, and it’s not where we should be as a nation.”