U.S. Embassy Moving Outside Vatican City Walls***. Rightwing Blogsphere and Pundits Go Berserk

***where it always was.


So the U.S. is closing its Vatican embassy and relocating it outside Vatican City, where it always was, and guess what?

The right wing blosphere and punditry went viral with its misinformation, lies, and outrage.  

See, this is how they operate.  Half-assedly learn something the Obama Administration is going to do, take that half-assed information and apply a nefarious motive to it because OBUMMER!  Spread the misinformation and lies to every corner of the rightwing blogsphere.  Get all paliny over it.  

Rinse.  Repeat.

It's wearying.  It really is.  The U.S. Embassy's Vatican move?  There is no there there.  But apparently it's the default reaction to anything the Obama Administration does.  So the best thing to do is let them have their tantrum, close the door, and quietly walk away.


From Time Magazine website:



"...[F]irst you find all the FACTS, things like: Who, What Where When and Why. Then you report those facts. 

 WHAT: The US embassy to the Vatican is moving. 

WHERE: It is moving from what was a private residence to better secured building that is adjacent to the US Embassy to Italy, - the two will maintain separate entrances on separate streets. Oh, and the new embassy is a tenth of a mile CLOSER to the Vatican than the old one was. (and please note that no country has an embassy inside the Vatican City walls - there isn't room.) 

WHY: Because the new location offers more in place security and we will save 1.4 million a year in lease and operating costs. 

WHEN: the move will occur in 2015. The buildings were purchased several years ago during a different administration. 

WHO: Well, since the buildings were purchased under the Bush 2 administration - you should be able to figure out when the plan to move began and whose State Department initiated it. 

What you don't do is try to blame the current president for closing an embassy that isn't closing or imply that the current embassy is inside the Vatican walls when NO country has an embassy inside those walls.

Idjits!

BLACK FRIDAY

Why is it called Black Friday? 

 The Philadelphia police force coined the term in the 1960s. They were referring to the same day, the Friday after Thanksgiving, which even back then saw a mass of ravenous shoppers descend upon the area. Pedestrians and motorists caused a great deal of congestion, much to the dismay of the police, which led to the “Black Friday” labelling. 

 An alternative reason relates to accounting. As would be expected, the onslaught of customers leads to a considerable hike in retailers’ revenue (over $59 billion was spent across the four-day weekend last year). It is therefore said that the period propels retailers to move “out of the red” and “into the black”. Thus, Black Friday. 

 Who gets involved? 

 Who doesn’t. According to the National Retail Federation, up to 140 million people across America will descend en masse on retailers during the weekend and, understandably, there are few shops who would be willing to miss out on such an opportunity. 





I don't understand why people act like stampeding herds of wild animals to buy a bunch of stuff made in China to give to people (who probably don't need it) on Christmas day.


"Retailers like Walmart and Macy’s open their doors as early as midnight and you literally have to avoid being trampled at certain stores." 



IMO, the Friday after Thanksgiving should be called Stampede Friday , since that's what actually happens.

I'll be happy not to participate again this year.

William Rivers Pitt at TruthOut has a good article on this.




Wal-Mart Madness:

Walmart's Black Friday Going About As Badly As You'd Expect

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

To Autumn
by John Keats

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness, 
  Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless 
  With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;
To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees, 
  And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core; 
    To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells 
  With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,
And still more, later flowers for the bees, 
Until they think warm days will never cease,
    For summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells.

Who hath not seen thee oft amid thy store? 
  Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find
Thee sitting careless on a granary floor, 
  Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;
Or on a half-reap'd furrow sound asleep, 
  Drowsed with the fume of poppies, while thy hook
    Spares the next swath and all its twined flowers:
And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep 
  Steady thy laden head across a brook; 
  Or by a cider-press, with patient look,
    Thou watchest the last oozings, hours by hours.

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they? 
  Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,--
While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day, 
  And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue;
Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn 
  Among the river sallows, borne aloft
    Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies; 
And full-grown lambs loud bleat from hilly bourn; 
  Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft
  The redbreast whistles from a garden-croft, 
    And gathering swallows twitter in the skies.

Working on a family holiday?  What do you think?



As a society, we’ve agreed that most of America’s workforce should have key holidays — in this case just one day — to be with family and friends, or just to take a breather from work. Holidays are also up there with vacation days as critical to keeping employees healthy and productive, more so than ever. Our research at the Families and Work Institute shows that the nation’s workforce is more stressed than ever, increasing significantly in recent years. Nearly one-third (32%) of employees report that their work has a primarily negative impact on their lives off the job by draining energy, so they don’t have enough left over for their personal and family life. Our research also shows that those who take vacations and holidays return to work more energized and productive. That’s why so many leading employers are encouraging time off for holidays and vacations. 

 In a statement, Macy’s said the decision to open on Thanksgiving was “in response to interest from customers who prefer to start their shopping early.” And it’s also true that it’s what some employees want as well, especially when retailers offer to pay time and a half, or when labor agreements include provisions for premium pay. But what I want to do is encourage people to look at the bigger work-life picture. Giving up our holidays can negatively impact our well-being and our personal and family lives. Creating traditions with our children and continuing traditions with our elders can also suffer. More important, it further erodes the already faint distinction between our work and our personal lives, and it’s a trend that just may move from retail to white collar jobs. After all, 50 years ago no one would have thought that professionals would be working nights and weekends, and we all know how that turned out. --Ellen Galinsky, Time Magazine

THE WOMAN WHO REMEMBERS MAHLER

Traveling for the Thanksgiving holiday.  

Here's a great story.




A wonderful article on a remarkable woman:




"Today, in a one-room flat in Belsize Park, in London, the pianist Alice Herz-Sommer is celebrating her hundred-and-tenth birthday. Her life is extraordinary not only for the years she has counted but for the people she has known and the scenes she has witnessed. She is noted, among other things, for being the oldest living Holocaust survivor. For two years, from 1943 until the end of the war, she was interned at the Theresienstadt camp; her husband, Leopold Sommer, was deported to Auschwitz and later to Dachau, where he died of typhus. She was born in Prague, to a German-Jewish family that consorted with the giants of fin-de-siècle culture. When she was a child, she met Gustav Mahler, and Franz Kafka was a frequent guest of the household."









Gustave Mahler's Adagietto from his 5th Symphony


 


On an entirely different subject, here's a great article by our beloved TRUTH 101 on Pope Francis's recent criticism of phony "trickle down"economics.

House Republicans send a big FU! to the hungry on this Thanksgiving Holiday

As Americans gather around their tables this coming
Thanksgiving, they'll think about the fiscally responsible House Republicans who sent a message to those "takers" who depend on the SNAP program for putting food on their Thanksgiving tables. 

 Message to all those "takers" from the GOP:

"STUFF IT!

Especially YOU veterans! You know, the heroes we fetishize when that sort of adulation and "respect" suits us politically!"



In addition to reducing housing aid, and denying health care to vets, the GOP is also trying to remove thousands of vets from the food stamp program, known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP.

At least 900,000 veterans rely on SNAP. The House Republican version of the farm bill, the five-year piece of legislation that funds nutrition and agriculture provisions, would slash funding for the food stamps program by nearly $40 billion and boot 2.8 million people off the program next year.

That includes 170,000 veterans, who would be removed through a provision in the bill that would eliminate food stamps eligibility for non-elderly jobless adults who can't find work or an opening in a job training program. ---Mother Jones

Commenters come to this blog almost daily to remind me that Mr. Obama got re-elected last year only because he promised people "free stuff."  These are the same folks who have nothing to say about this shameful legislation by the GOP that took that "free stuff" from the poor and hungry.  Because:  OBAMA!

As the chest-thumping patriots, who love our veterans to pieces, gather around their blessedly food-laden tables this Thursday, they'll say a special prayer to God, thanking him (or her) for the bounty they will devour, and swat away that annoying thought about the "free stuff" folks, who'll just have to make do with less.  After all, keeping them on handouts and commie welfare only makes them more lazy than they already are.   Amen. 




Kevin W. Concannon, Under secretary for Food, Nutrition and Consumer Services, lays out the facts on the SNAP program:

SNAP recipients come from all walks of life. Ninety-one percent of SNAP recipients live in households with children, an elderly family member, a disabled person who cannot work, or adults who are working. SNAP serves 900,000 veterans each month.

SNAP recipients are poor. The vast majority of SNAP recipients have incomes far below the Federal poverty level. For a family of four, that's just a little over $23,000 per year. Last year, the extra support provided by SNAP prevented 4.7 million Americans, including 2.1 million children, from slipping back into poverty as they worked to get back on their feet.

SNAP recipients play by the rules. Over 99 percent of those receiving SNAP benefits are eligible. Over the last 15 years, USDA has reduced fraud in SNAP from 4 percent to around 1 percent.

SNAP recipients are working. In households where at least one adult is able to work, more than 80 percent work in the year before or after receiving SNAP. --Daily Kos

The Spartan Is Coming! The Spartan Is Coming!

A wise person once said that the best way to annoy your opponents is to ridicule them.  But how can we top the TeaBaggers when they do such an impressive job of ridiculing themselves?

If they're not flopping around the internet pretending to be someone else and depositing stupid boiler plate diatribes from obscure internet sites, they're making fools of themselves by dressing in silly costumes and pretending to be heroes!   That's Tea Party in all its hilarity and nincompoopery. 

It's better, I suppose, than watching them stick forks in their eyes.

Or maybe not.


Thanks to Infidel753 and The Immoral Minority for the tip on this special example of Tea Party awesomeness:

Historic US-Iran First Step

UPDATE BELOW



Congratulations to Secretary of State, John Kerry, and the US team that sealed the deal.  More will have to be done, but this is an historic beginning.




Amir Owen at Haaretz:  



Geneva deal seals Netanyahu’s legacy: An ineffectual leader:


The facts prove that all along, Netanyahu erred in his assessments and his policy. Those who said Iran would not have nuclear weapons before 2014 were right, as were those who strived to stop Iranian nuclear armament through non-military means — a mixture of dialogue and sanctions. If Netanyahu and Barak's plans between spring 2010 and spring 2011 had succeeded, Israel would now be dealing with the wounds of the first Iranian war and preparing for the second, while Iran’s efforts to build a nuclear bomb would be about to finish restoring their nuclear program. [...]

The agreement with Iran will be carried out, over Netanyahu’s objections, because that is what the superpowers want. John Kerry, encouraged by the diplomatic success that began with Syria’s chemical disarmament, will not let go regarding the Israeli-Palestinian talks. The Likud leadership anticipates a diplomatic and political crisis next spring, with a divided party that will try to tie Netanyahu’s hands. If he wants to run again, as his ministers believe he does, he will have to become even more extreme and speed toward Obama on a collision course. This morning, in Switzerland, Netanyahu had his toy gun taken away.

In Basel, Herzl founded the state of the Jews, and in Geneva, Obama ended Netanyahu’s era.

h/t Daily Kos



From The Nation:



President Obama and Secretary of State Kerry signed the deal in explicit, full-frontal defiance of American hawks, neoconservatives and hardliners, the Israel lobby, and anti-Iran partisans in Congress. Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and his team, backed by President Hassan Rouhani—elected in June with a mandate to do exactly this—have similarly defied their own country’s hardliners and skeptics, led by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and by what Zarif calls Iran’s own Tea Party. And the United States struck the deal despite outright hostility, bordering on hysteria, from its two chief allies in the Middle East, Israel and Saudi Arabia.

UPDATE:


For an excellent analysis of this historic first step, please read Infidel753's blog post on the subject. He knows a lot more than I do (and many others) about the complicated ME and how these negotiations work.

Sunday Blog on What Religious Fundamentalists Say About Atheists

The words you hear these actors say were actually taken from a religious fundamentalist website arguing against atheists and atheism.  (NSFW)












SOURCE

The GOP and Filibustering President Obama's Nominees

 

 

 

 

And why there's gridlock in government: 

 

The GOP's strategy?  Unprecedented Obstruction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Congratulations to Harry Reid and the Democrats for stopping the obstructive, destructive, do-nothing GOP.

 

 

 

From USA Today: 

 

 

 

"Democrats' decision Thursday to change Senate rules so they can confirm presidential nominees without Republican support is sure to worsen partisanship in a body that is already dangerously dysfunctional. Republicans instantly promised to retaliate, and important national business — the current budget negotiations, for example, or attempts to head off another government shutdown — could suffer. Even so, the Senate's GOP minority brought the rules change, known as the "nuclear option," on itself. The Republicans' repeated abuse of the filibuster to block highly qualified nominees simply because they were picked by a Democratic president had left Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., with little choice."



Apparently The Hindenburg of Gas Bags, Limbaugh, had a melt down over the change in the Senate rules.

Anytime that seething pile of bigotry and hatred is made uncomfortable and p.o.'d is a great day for America.  And it means something good has happened.



 

John Fitzgerald Kennedy

This was one of President John F. Kennedy's favorite poems:




"I Have a Rendezvouz with Death"

poem by Alan Seeger

I have a rendezvous with Death
At some disputed barricade,
When Spring comes back with rustling shade
And apple-blossoms fill the air-
I have a rendezvous with Death
When Spring brings back blue days and fair.

It may be he shall take my hand
And lead me into his dark land
And close my eyes and quench my breath-
It may be I shall pass him still.
I have a rendezvous with Death
On some scarred slope of battered hill,
When Spring comes round again this year
And the first meadow-flowers appear.

 God knows 'twere better to be deep
 Pillowed in silk and scented down,
 Where love throbs out in blissful sleep,
 Pulse nigh to pulse, and breath to breath,
 Where hushed awakenings are dear...
 But I've a rendezvous with Death
 At midnight in some flaming town,
 When Spring trips north again this year,
 And I to my pledged word am true,
 I shall not fail that rendezvous.

GIVE 'EM HELL, HARRY!

 


\Daily Kos gives us a shocking visual for the reason Senator Reid had to do this:



h/t Daily Kos

The Republicans brought this on themselves and the US Senate. They've done nothing but obstruct, obstruct, and obstruct.  And President Obama has endured this spiteful, destructive behavior from this GOP senate minority more than any other president in the history of this country.

Good on you Harry. 

Republicans have sought, as a rule, to use every tactic imaginable to block the initiatives and policies proposed by this president. They've done so since the night of his inauguration.

The use of the filibuster by the Republican minority to block President Obama's nominees (judicial and executive branch) is part of an unprecedented ratcheting-up of the use of that tactic.

As Gail Collins so wonderfully put it, we're now at a point where the nomination of a new Federal Reserve Chair cannot come to a vote until Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) decides there's been sufficient discussion of Benghazi.

Great work, Senator Reid, and kudos to the other fifty-one Senate Democrats who did the right thing today. It's a new day for the U.S Senate. --Ian Reifowitz,  Daily Kos


Now let Mr. Obama do what he was elected to do!\



Did I mention how much I love Charlie Pierce?


I have no doubt that the civility crowd will scream bloody murder now that Harry Reid has dropped the big one in the Senate.

They may need the Jaws of Life to pry Ruth Marcus off the fainting couch. As I said before. I was nervous about this prospect for years, but recently passed over the International Fk You Line.

The country has a right to be governed by the president and the philosophy for which the country voted.

Vandalism is not debate. It is not governing. It is long past time for Barack Obama actually to be allowed to be president. (And, it must be said, the fact that it was necessary for the Senate to take this step further belies as naive the president's star-making speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention.)

Good for Pat Leahy for stepping up on this. All I can say is that Harry Reid must have been a tough fighter for the late rounds.

Your Modern Republican Party

Why does a political party and those who favor its ideology make ridiculous choices that reinforce its lousy image of the mean-spirited party of NO!?

Anyone?




“Catch An Illegal Immigrant” Game Planned For University Of Texas 

Lorenzo Garcia, chairman of the Young Conservatives of Texas, announced the game will involve students tracking down other students tagged as “illegal immigrants” in exchange for $25 gift cards.


The Young Conservatives of Texas, led by Lorenzo Garcia who once interned with, guess who?  Ted Cruz, canceled this hideous idea after attracting so much negativity and scorn.  But the question is what inspired this lamebrain idea in the first place? Was it a plan to attract approval and praise from Uncle Ted?


On to Oklahoma and another Republican politician who believes in making people's lives miserable as a solution to laws she doesn't like: 

"Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin (R) announced earlier this month that state-owned National Guard facilities will no longer allow any married couples to apply for spousal benefits, regardless of whether they are same-sex or opposite-sex. 

The Supreme Court’s decision overturning the Defense of Marriage Act means that servicemembers with same-sex spouses are now eligible for federal benefits. Fallin’s unusual tactic is designed to avoid having to recognize those couples, which she asserts would violate Oklahoma’s constitutional amendment limiting marriage to one man and one woman: 

FALLIN: Oklahoma law is clear. The state of Oklahoma does not recognize same-sex marriages, nor does it confer marriage benefits to same-sex couples. The decision reached today allows the National Guard to obey Oklahoma law without violating federal rules or policies. It protects the integrity of our state constitution and sends a message to the federal government that they cannot simply ignore our laws or the will of the people. 

This decision directly contradicts an order from Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel ordering states to provide same-sex couples with the federal benefits they deserve under the law."


Hey Gov. Fallin, how is this nasty piece of deception protecting the rights of the minorities in your state?  In order to impose Oklahoma's majority's dislike of marriage equality, you will now use that anti-gay sentiment to punish ALL deserving National Guard families?  That way, the not-gay families can blame not receiving their benefits on the same-spouse couples? Is that how you're working this?  

PS.  This is another wretched move on the part of a political party that seems to relish hurting people, even those who serve their country.

Oklahoma again?  Oy!

Coburn blocks sex assault vote in Senate

And let's not forget this:

And the Tea Party extremists continue their treasonous blather. 

This time unhindered on social media:

Everest Wilhelmsen

We now have authority to shoot Obama, i.e., to kill him. His willful violations and alienation of our Constitution, constant disregard for our peaceful protests and corruption of all the three branches of government, (i.e., rogue and illegitiimate government), reveal the dictator that he is. Obama and his co-conspirators disrespect our Constitution (constitutional rule of law) and abuse the Americ...See More

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  Steve Van Hook How Does This Country Stand For This

  November 19 at 10:47am via mobile

GEORGE ZIMMERMAN AND GUNS: TROUBLE AGAIN

UPDATE BELOW

See below for the New Daily News headline.



George Zimmerman charged for allegedly pointing gun at girlfriend in Florida:  

"The former neighborhood watchman who gained national notoriety after killing Trayvon Martin, an unarmed teenager, was busted Monday on suspicion of domestic violence 15 miles north of Orlando. 

This is far from the first time he has been back in the news since his acquittal in July."

This is the guy the right-wing noise machine and bloggers defended and made into a martyr during the Trayvon Martin trial.

His estranged wife brought charges against him a few months ago for his thuggish behavior involving guns.

And he's in the news again for more aggressive behavior involving guns and women.

Seems he has a problem.

We knew this all along.  Those who fell over themselves defending him?

Not so much.

Who's surprised by this?

Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo:




"It always seemed possible to me that Zimmerman was just a coward with a gun and something to prove who got scared and killed a kid. 

 Obviously we still can't know just what happened that night. But police have now responded to two domestic violence incidents with two separate women in less than three months - and this in less than five months since his acquittal. 

 Now we have him allegedly pointing a loaded weapon at his new girlfriend and apparently barricading himself in the house after police arrived on the scene. Add to this the earlier history of violent incidents including violently resisting arrest in 2005 and the real world verdict is now beyond a reasonable doubt as to this point: Zimmerman is a liar and a habitually violent and frequently out of control man who should never have been allowed to possess a gun. 

 Given all we know now about Zimmerman and all the additional evidence he's provided us with post-acquittal, there's simply no reason to doubt the worst case scenario of how Trayvon Martin died. The only real question is whether Zimmerman shot him in cold blood or killed him during the confrontation he himself forced to happen. 

 Those who supported the Martin family and were outraged by the verdict and the whole case have every right to grim 'I told you sos' and even snark aimed at Zimmerman's dead-ender defenders. 

But speaking for myself it is more a sense of being sick to my stomach. Yes, it's an injustice we already knew about. But this just makes it all the more clear who Zimmerman is and by whatever mix of details what happened. And I can't help but think of that kid lying dead on his back." --Josh Marshall

UPDATE:



Wednesday, November 20, 2013:

"George Zimmerman was told today he must surrender his guns in order to get out of jail following his arrest for the alleged aggravated assault of his girlfriend. 

A Florida judge set bond at $9,000 and Zimmerman's lawyers said they expect him to get out of jail Wednesday. He must also wear an electronic monitoring device and have no contact with his girlfriend.  
Zimmerman stood expressionless as the judge explained that there is probable cause in his case and a bead of sweat trickled down his face as the judge explained the conditions for his release. 

The state attorney said that the victim, identified by police as Zimmerman's girlfriend Samantha Scheibe, said there was a prior domestic violence incident a week-and-a-half ago that involved "a choking." 

The victim also said that Zimmerman has threatened to commit suicide, saying he "had nothing to lose," the state attorney said.  

"She is in fear for her safety," the state attorney said of the victim. The victim asked for "no contact and no return." 

 His arraignment will be Jan. 7, 2014."




Still nothing on the conservative blogs that fell over themselves defending this guy.  Where are all his supporters now?  Like the commenter below who gets the grand prize for the stupidest reaction to the verdict:


beamish said... I'm outraged by the verdict. Trayvon Martin's parents should have been ordered to buy Zimmerman a box of ammunition. July 13, 2013 at 10:14 PM

*crickets*

None of Zimmerman's admirers thought for one minute that the guy may have been reckless in what he did.  Not one.  It's not polite to say "We told you so,"  but...

President Obama's Tribute to President Lincoln's Gettysburg Address

"In the evening, when Michelle and the girls have gone to bed, I sometimes walk down the hall to a room Abraham Lincoln used as his office. It contains an original copy of the Gettysburg Address, written in Lincoln's own hand. 

I linger on these few words that have helped define our American experiment: "a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." 

 Through the lines of weariness etched in his face, we know Lincoln grasped, perhaps more than anyone, the burdens required to give these words meaning. He knew that even a self evident truth was not self executing; that blood drawn by the lash was an affront to our ideals; that blood drawn by the sword was in painful service to those same ideals. 

 He understood as well that our humble efforts, our individual ambitions, are ultimately not what matter; rather, it is through the accumulated toil and sacrifice of ordinary men and women -- those like the soldiers who consecrated that battlefield -- that this country is built, and freedom preserved. This quintessentially self made man, fierce in his belief in honest work and the striving spirit at the heart of America, believed that it falls to each generation, collectively, to share in that toil and sacrifice. 

Through cold war and world war, through industrial revolutions and technological transformations, through movements for civil rights and women's rights and workers rights and gay rights, we have. At times, social and economic change have strained our union. But Lincoln's words give us confidence that whatever trials avail us, this nation and the freedom we cherish can, and shall, prevail."

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address -- November 19, 1863

UPDATE BELOW


One hundred and fifty years ago today, President Abraham Lincoln delivered one of the greatest speeches ever given in the history of our Republic.




"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. 

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. 

 But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. 

It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." 

Abraham Lincoln 
November 19, 1863



UPDATE: On this day when we Americas should be celebrating by reading and reciting one of the greatest speeches any president ever delivered to the America people, what has spread like fire through the conservative blogsphere is a lie.  And speaking of "swamp-fevered" [as I do below] is there any conservative blog more infested with reptilian minds than the execrable Breitbart?  

Here's what a friend found on a conservative blog and sent me via email:


Anonymous said... "Gaffe" or Purposely? "President Obama joined a cast of 61 "noted lawmakers, politicians, news anchors and celebrities, including every living President, in reciting the Gettysburg Address" for PBS star Ken Burns, who made "The Civil War" documentary series. 

 Everyone else delivered the address as Lincoln had written it, including the phrase, "that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom." 

But in his version of the address, President Obama omitted the words "under God." Will the networks notice this gaffe? 

How could he omit this? It's clear to me it's on purpose and tells us much more about this guy then he lets's on." 




Too many hysterics on the Right will look for anything to prove their swamp-fevered fantasies about Obama--that he hates his country and he hates God. The above ignoramus eagerly reported this to his other low-information friends:   HE LEFT OUT GOD! 

The reason? The truth! Don't bother to tell these trouble makers, it doesn't fit their preconceived prejudices about the black guy in "their" White House. 

Conservatives flip out after Obama reads original Gettysburg Address without ‘under God’ 

The jerk who reported the lie, I'm sure, will not bother to go back to the blog where he spread it and correct his "gaffe."  And it tells us much more about him and the people like him who live to destroy, demean, and defame President Obama and his wife and daughters.

We Interrupt Your Regularly Scheduled Hysteria...

for a reality check.

As much as the clown-mouths in the punditry claim the roll-out of the A.C.A. is the end of President Obama's Everything, as much as the sand-brained ninnyhammers hope for the total destruction of the Obama Universe and all of his messiah-worshipping minions, we have news for them:

Na Ga Happen.

Was this a blow to the implementation of the A.C.A.?

Yes.

Could the roll out have been done better?

Yes.

Is it like Katrina?  The Iraq War?  Watergate? Monicagate?

No.  No.  No.  And NO!

The TeaPublicans have lost their reason as they pray for the End Times of the Obama Administration. As certain as Radical Redneck will steal or morph into another blog identity,  the TeaPublicans will at some point wake up and realize that this is only the end of the first year of President Obama's second term.  The American people have very short memories.  This bungled kick-off will be forgotten.  The A.C.A. will enroll the number of people it needs to enroll.  The TeaPublicans will continue to obstruct, sabotage, and tell their followers that THIS IS IT FOR OBAMA!  And they'll zombie-follow that narrative as though it were true, until reality hits them between their beady little eyes. Because we know those benighted folks tend to live in an alternate reality where merely wishing for fantasies makes them so.

So for those of us who understand how politics works and how the TeaPublicans will always overestimate their predictions of utter failure and collapse for the opposition, just remember what the estimable Douglas Adams said:

Turn off the noise.  Don't listen to what the flying monkeys are howling about on the teevee; and fer gawdsake stay away from the blogs where the best they can come up with is telling the world that the FLOTUS has a large posterior.  That passes for intelligent political discussion on that side.  No. Really.  What are you worrying about if that's the level of discourse there?  

Stay Calm and Sign Up for the A.C.A. 

Washington Post editor Bob Woodward has spoken a small bit of reality and on Fox News Sunday, no less. The pundits are all wrong. ObamaCare isn’t Obama’s Katrina or his Iraq, or even his Watergate (notice these are all Republican scandals that Republicans are dying to falsely equivocate onto a Democrat. 

Nope. 

 According to Woodward, Obama is incompetent (of course), but he had good intentions. “What this is, it’s a mess clearly, but what it isn’t, and I think you have to look at the question of motive. And the President’s motive here, even though there were deep problems with the implementation, he wants to do something good for 30 million people and get them health insurance. 

So this isn’t Watergate, this isn’t Clinton and Monica Lewinsky.”




Yes, we can admit this was incompetence.  Now name a two-term president who didn't run into trouble in his second term.  This isn't like President Ronald Reagan's criminal Iran-Contra scandal where actual laws were broken and where dozens of people in his administration were criminally indicted.  This isn't the sort of incompetency that President George W. Bush presided over where thousands of people died; and this isn't a juicy sex scandal ala President Bill Clinton, either.

Mr. Obama will get through this.  His motives are admirable even if his aides failed him, and he took the blame for it.

It's up to those of us who believe that universal health care is a right not a privilege to counter the unrelenting harpies whose only contribution to helping millions of uninsured and underinsured Americans is to hope for President Obama's health care plan to fail.

We're better than that.  

Much better.

Check these out:



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