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....The ability to put our government's finances in order for the long run is obviously part of getting back on our national game. We simply cannot afford four more years of fiscal stalemate. But how we achieve balance matters. If there is one pledge Obama made over and over, it is that he will tend to the rise of economic inequality, a drop in the living standards of many working Americans, the loss of well-paying jobs -- especially in manufacturing -- and curtailed access to higher education. Across ideological lines, Americans stuck in this downward spiral experience decline not as...

So for those of you who have access to Cable and power, I was wondering, what has been the coverage of Obama's response ? I have not been able to closely follow what Obama's response has been. I think the State Governers are doing a good enough job so that there won't be any need for Obama to rush out with Fema for mass rescues and have government agents rush out onto the scene to provide shelters for hundreds or even thousands of people made homeless like there was during Katrina. I think that the only thing Obama can do...

Where did the idea of Obama come from? Let's examine an obvious, yet overlooked source: the rubble of the Twin Towers. 9/11 was the most traumatic day in American history, and its horrors left deep gashes in our national soul. We stumbled around in pain and confusion for years, groping for a magical salve to heal our wounds -- and there, suddenly, was Barack Hussein Obama. As we turn our gaze from our current Obama-induced agonies to remember the terror attacks ten years ago, let's do ourselves the favor of honesty and admit how tightly the two are connected. On...

This will end in tears. The Obama hysteria is not merely embarrassing to witness, it is itself contributory to the scale of the disaster that is coming. What we are experiencing, in the deepening days of a global depression, is the desperate suspension of disbelief by people of intelligence – la trahison des clercs – in a pathetic effort to hypnotise themselves into the delusion that it will be all right on the night. It will not be all right. [....] It is crucial to recall the reality that lies behind the rhetoric. Denouncing “those who seek to advance their...

In a ceremony closed to both the media and general public, President Obama received an award from the “open government community” for having “the most transparent Administration in this nation’s history.” Lucy Dalglish of the Reporters’ Committee for Freedom of the Press explained that “the meeting had to be kept closed to prevent the President’s enemies from using the event for their own political advantage. This way the President can strictly control the information that is released to the public.” In remarks later released from the White House, President Obama declared himself “proud to be recognized as the most transparent...

As The Third World Turns Bethany Stotts, March 12, 2010 Public schools are often seen as indoctrination centers due to high-profile incidents such as Diatha Harris’ in-class criticism of the Iraq war and the many examples of students praising President Obama at the behest of their teachers. A new report by Mary Grabar attempts to put these incidents in perspective by covering a recent conference geared toward social studies teachers. “I was becoming increasingly disturbed by the lack of age appropriateness I was seeing throughout the conference,” reflects Grabar about the 2009 National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) conference...

Once hot-selling Barack Obama souvenirs are marked down to remainder-table prices at a drugstore near the Kenwood home he owns but has barely visited since becoming president a year ago this week. That's not a reflection of disenchantment with Obama in his old South Side stomping grounds, but rather the sobering realities of time, distance and enormously elevated responsibilities. "He's president of the United States, not mayor of Chicago," said Peter Flemister, a retired attorney at a diner in Hyde Park the other day. "He's got a financial crisis, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, health care. I'd rather he stay...

BERLIN – A musical about Barack Obama's "Yes we can" election campaign premieres in Germany this weekend, including love songs by the president to his wife Michelle and duets with Hillary Clinton.

The Santa Llucia Christmas market in Barcelona sells everything you could need for your nativity scene. Little statues of Joseph and Mary? Check. A little baby Jesus? Check. Donkeys, sheep and cows? Check. Defecating world leaders? What? The 'caganer' (literally 'defecator') is a feature of Catalan nativity scenes. The figure is usually tucked away in a corner of the model, far away from the manger itself, for children to find. The caganer represents fertility and equality. The figure was traditionally a representation of a Catalan peasant wearing a red stocking hat, but modern caganers are often caricatures of famous people,...

Here is what President Obama said about Springsteen: Finally, we honor the quiet kid from Jersey ... who grew up to become the rock 'n' roll laureate of a generation. For in the life of our country only a handful of people have tapped the full power of music to tell the real American story -- with honesty; from the heart; and one of those people is Bruce Springsteen... It's no wonder that his tours are not so much concerts, but communions. There's a place for everybody -- the sense that no matter who you are or what you do,...

Pencils and notebooks resembling President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign ads have been sold in at least one Columbia school and other public schools, causing the company that distributes the materials to travel around the state yanking the supplies out of machines. “Don’t be mad at us,” said Greg Jones, a sales representative with Pencil Wholesale. “It was a total accident.” Pencil Wholesale distributes supplies to six Columbia schools: Parkade Elementary, Cedar Ridge Elementary, Paxton Keeley Elementary, Mill Creek Elementary, Smithton Middle School and Hickman High School, said Linda Quinley, the district’s chief financial officer. At Mill Creek, at least one...

Chinese artist Liu Bolin warms his hands as his sculpture "Burning Man Obama" is tested at a workshop in Beijing A man wears basketball sneakers with an image of US President Barack Obama and the words "change" and "yes we can" along a street in Beijing Fridge magnets are seen at a shop in Beijing, including one of Chinese president Hu Jintao and some with the "Oba Mao" design by Liu Mingjie, in which he superimposed the face of Barack Obama over that of Chairman Mao The owner of a shop in Beijing shows a card sold at his...

http://www.southparkstudios.com/episodes/251890

Where have all those Obamenthusiasts who were so visible in 2008 been hiding this year? In this New Republic article Lydia DePillis seems to think that the problem is that Organizing For America has been run as a top-down organization, rather than as a bottom-up movement, giving the folks out there no sense of ownership. She asks, “Can a grassroots organization run in the top-down style of a political machine really accomplish much—let alone change the terms of debate on any given issue?” I think there’s something more going on here. Many Obamenthusiasts were thrilled by the idea of putting...

14-hour trip to Copenhagen on Air Force One: $1.4 million President Barack Hussein Obama getting knocked down a few pegs by the IOC: Priceless People might be miffed by the cost on the Obamas’ failed Olympic bid? The way I see it, it’s the best money the U.S. taxpayer’s spent in the past nine months!

The coffee was still brewing when Chris Ann Cleland got her first reminder of the day that voting for Barack Obama might have been a mistake. The Prince William County real estate agent was sitting at a long wooden table covered with paperwork. Her clients, a young couple who had brought their 2-week-old baby, were finalizing a short sale on a townhouse that they were anxious to unload, even if it meant ruining their credit, because they had maxed out their credit cards trying to make the payments. For Cleland, it was another example -- one of many this day...

Barack Obama has fallen back to Earth. When he ran for president, Obama said his election would be "the moment the rise of the oceans began to slow." And when he made his first big foreign trip in April, he was hailed by adoring crowds -- and almost-as-adoring politicians -- in Britain, Germany, France and the Czech Republic. But last week, in Russia and Italy, Obamania was little more than a pleasant memory. Yes, his international polling numbers are still high, but the president encountered hardly any adulation in the streets of Moscow or anywhere else. Instead, Russian strongman Vladimir...

The End of Obamania On his overseas trip, the president was met with a lot less cheering and a lot more tough talk. Doyle McManus July 12, 2009 Barack Obama has fallen back to Earth. When he ran for president, Obama said his election would be "the moment the rise of the oceans began to slow." And when he made his first big foreign trip in April, he was hailed by adoring crowds -- and almost-as-adoring politicians -- in Britain, Germany, France and the Czech Republic. But last week, in Russia and Italy, Obamania was little more than a pleasant...

The Obama administration plans to kill a controversial Bush administration spy satellite program at the Department of Homeland Security, according to officials familiar with the decision. The program came under fire from its inception two years ago. Democratic lawmakers said it would lead to domestic spying. The program would have provided federal, state and local officials with extensive access to spy-satellite imagery — but no eavesdropping capabilities— to assist with emergency response and other domestic-security needs, such as identifying where ports or border areas are vulnerable to terrorism.

Demonstrating what the media is calling “skills beyond those of any previous American president,” President Barack Obama swatted a fly during a recent press conference. Lest anyone present miss the significance of the deed, Obama himself pronounced it “impressive.” On the Today Show (NBC), substitute-host David Gregory praised the President’s “super-human concentration and precision,” and added, “there’s no way that a President McCain could’ve done this. America’s voters obviously chose wisely last November.” On The Early Show (CBS), Chris Wragge mused that Obama “must have had some ninja training.” Wragge speculated that the President’s reluctance to reveal this background to...