TGIFriday Reads
Posted: April 29, 2011 Filed under: Barack Obama, Federal Budget, Republican politics, Violence against women, Women's Rights | Tags: Barrack Obama Senior, birthers, conspiracy theories, Donald Trump, Lara Logan, oil subsidies, Paul Ryan, Racism, Republicans, student visa, violence against women 47 Comments
Good Morning!
Well, it’s getting to be the silly season. Now we have Republicans who were for oil subsidies before they were against them or against them before they were for them. Evidently, angry town hall participants can’t figure out why oil companies that keep making record profits while gouging at the pump deserve huge tax breaks. So, Republicans are making up their minds as they go along. Here’s one such example from the Wonk Room: Paul Ryan Endorses Ending Oil Subsidies, Even Though He Voted For Them
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI) agree.d to end subsidies to oil companies during a town hall in Waterford, Wisconsin, this morning, eliciting great applause from an overflow crowd in a very conservative section of his district. “We also want to get rid of corporate welfare,” Ryan insisted. “So we propose to repeal all that”
…
But Ryan voted twice this year to actually extend subsidies to oil companies, once on a motion to recommit on a shorter-term continuing resolution and again when he supported an amendment to the initial House CR. The Ryan budget, meanwhile, doesn’t specifically target oil subsidies, but only generally promises to end “corporate welfare.”
Earlier this week, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) also indirectly endorsed ending subsidies to the oil industry, before walking back his support.
CBS Reporter Lara Logan is offering up more information on her ‘merciless’ assault during the Egyptian uprising. Logan was separated from her colleagues for about 25 minutes.
She declined to go into more detail about the assault but said: “What really struck me was how merciless they were. They really enjoyed my pain and suffering. It incited them to more violence.”
After being rescued by a group of civilians and Egyptian soldiers, she was swiftly flown back to the United States. “She was quite traumatized, as you can imagine, for a period of time,” Mr. Fager said. Ms. Logan said she decided almost immediately that she would speak out about sexual violence both on behalf of other journalists and on behalf of “millions of voiceless women who are subjected to attacks like this and worse.”
It appears the Lake Havusu Arizona Newspaper filed to see Barack Obama Senior’s immigration file. Their EXCLUSIVE–“Dad’s Immigration File Offers More Evidence Of Obama’s Birthplace” is an interesting read. Sounds like Harvard couldn’t get rid of this particular Obama soon enough. This really brings an interesting contrast to the President’s Book “Dreams of my Father”.
The documents also show that the CIS investigated the elder Obama as a polygamist, having a wife in Kenya and a “wife and child in Honolulu.” Dahlim’s memo adds that “Polygamy is not an excludable or deportation charge as Subject is a non-immigrant.”
Documents show that Obama, Sr. was denied an extension on his student visa in July, 1964, in part because Harvard University, where Obama, Sr., was a Ph.D. candidate, sought his removal. Obama Sr. eventually left the United States willingly after becoming an illegal alien for remaining in the country past the expiration of his visa.
An INS investigator, M.F. McKeon, wrote “They (Harvard officials) weren’t very impressed with him and asked us to hold up action on his application until they decided what action they could take in order to get rid of him. They were apparently having difficulty with his financial arrangements and couldn’t seem to figure out how many wives he had.”
Documents show that Harvard officials considered Obama, Sr. to be a “slippery character,” and conspired with the INS to have him deported.
After raising nearly every racist dogwhistle in the play book, Donald Trump Bristles at Claim He’s a Racist. Gee, why would anyone think that when the guy questions how the President–a legacy who graduated summa sum laude from Harvard–got into Harvard in the first place.
Trump tells TMZ … “That is a terrible statement for a newscaster to make. I am the last person that such a thing should be said about.”
Bob Schieffer delivered a scathing statement against Trump Wednesday night on the “CBS Evening News,” reacting to Trump’s insinuation that President Barack Obama may not have had the grades to get into Harvard.
Schieffer said, “That’s just code for saying he got into law school because he’s black. This is an ugly strain of racism that’s running through this whole thing.”
We asked Trump if he was suggesting Obama got into Harvard Law School through affirmative action. He said, “Affirmative action is out there. It’s a program that is available. But I have no idea whether it applies in this case. I’m not suggesting anything.”
Politically-motivated accusation and innuendo is nothing new–as pointed out by Politico–but does Trump’s birther agenda shift the practice to a new low because it rose to the level of a media feeding frenzy?
Lurid conspiracy theories have followed presidents for as long as the office has existed. Yet even Obama’s most recent predecessors benefited from a widespread consensus that some types of personal allegations had no place in public debate unless or until they received some imprimatur of legitimacy — from an official investigation, for instance, or from a detailed report by a major news organization.
“There are no more arbiters of truth,” said former White House press secretary Robert Gibbs. “So whatever you can prove factually, somebody else can find something else and point to it with enough ferocity to get people to believe it. We’ve crossed some Rubicon into the unknown.”
It’s hard to imagine Bill Clinton coming out to the White House briefing room to present evidence showing why people who thought he helped plot the murder of aide Vincent Foster— never mind official rulings of suicide — were wrong. George W. Bush, likewise, was never tempted to take to the Rose Garden to deny allegations from voices on the liberal fringe who believed that he knew about the Sept. 11 attacks ahead of time and chose to let them happen.
Well, at least it’s Friday! So, what’s on your reading and blogging list this morning?
peej
Carissa
bostonboomer
ecocatwoman
grayslady
mablue2
JJ Lopez aka Minkoff Minx
NW Luna
peggysue22
skydancingguestblogger
Mona (aka Wonk the Vote)
Sky Dancing 
Good morning! Apparently the royal wedding is over, so we won’t have to endure too much more oohing and ahhing about it.
Ugh, it is excruciating…I think the news is covering it until freaking 10 am…
I really don’t want to get the “I Heart BP” people stirred up with accusations of anti-British prejudice, but this is the weirdest thing I’ve ever seen. I don’t think NBC has taken a commercial since midnight and it looks like they’re going to go all day.
Even NPR is covering it!
Matt and Meredith keep talking about how much we as Americans “admire” Prince William and feel a sense of ownership in him and his brother. We do? For what? Are they kidding? This is so cringe-worthy we might need to look into revoking their citizenship.
Katedown to the Royal Willding – The Nuptials of the Century – The Daily Show with Jon Stewart – 04/27/11 – Video Clip | Comedy Central
They just brought on fashion experts to announce that her choice of dress indicates she wants to be a traditional wife and traditional princess, which is just what the royal family needs. Lol
This may not be quite “kosher”, but all this royal stuff reminds me of having a stupid f*cking president. I’m sick of having one. I don’t have one and I never have. I’m ready to throw over the American hierarchy along with the British one.
Gaddafi using rape as a weapon.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1380364/Libya-Gaddafis-troops-rape-children-young-eight.html
BB I can’t even click the link…just seeing that bit about 8 year olds.
Hey, have you noticed that since Obama officially began his campaign, Hillary has been out of the spotlight. I wonder if she will say something about this.
I guess it’s just me, but why are we still celebrating kings and queens in the year 2011? Why are people expected to bow and curtsy to another human being? Why must people back out of a room when in the presence of “royalty”?
I tuned in for a few minutes. Yes, the bride is beautiful. The queen looks great for a woman in her 80’s and Philip himself is in his 90’s and still upright, but when she does pass away this should be the end of that circus which has the British taxpayers footing their lifestyle.
And what was that on Camilla’s head for heavens sake?
Is there any other news happening in the world today? Hour after hour of people waving in the streets of London?
Spare me.
Yeah, the wedding dress is beautiful…
The news channels do not even have any news tickers running on the bottom of the screen.
I saw something from one of the British papers, they have lip readers spying on what Will and Cate are saying to each other. All I can think of is that episode of Seinfeld where Marlee Matlin is spying for George by lip reading his ex-girlfriend.
Couldn’t agree more.
I watched to Discovery channel’s special on earth quakes and the nuclear disaster in Japan and managed to avoid all the hooplah. I saw some article with the headline “Why are US women obsessed with the Royal Wedding?” All I could think of was what kind of women is this person hanging around with? I have yet to speak to one person that watched it, cared about it, or thought the press coverage was weird. I think the press just all wanted to go over there and wear weird hates and do stupid things.
Have you all seen this?
Ohio man pleads guilty in forced-abortion attempt | Reuters
A full time college student and father of 6 at the ripe old age of 28???
How did this happen? Is he “studying” to be a pediatrician?
Wait, he is also:
So he is a full time student, father of six and convicted felon…wow.
Okay, a full time 28 year old college student/parolee, father of 6, a convicted felon, and possessing a firearm. Got it.
But think of all those Father’s Day cards!
The death toll has risen to 310:
Death Toll From Devastating Storms Climbs
Okay, I hope I’m not going to upset anyone by saying this.
I totally agree that Trump has jumped the shark, and I really want him AND the birthers to go away. But stuff like this is very disturbing to me.
ORLY?
What “official investigation” or “detailed news report” decided that Hillary and Bill had murdered Vince Foster? A lot of Rush Limbaugh’s followers still believe it’s true. Shouldn’t we avoid accusing Presidents of murder in general, unless there is enough proof to arrest and indict? Or isn’t an accusation of murder considered personal these days?
It seems to me that there are a lot worse things that Presidents “in recent memory” have been subjected to than the Donald’s/birthers’ racism.
Maybe being white makes me unable to get this, but I know I’d rather be subjected to sexism (not that I have a choice!) than be accused of murder.
I think it’s all despicable. I guess I don’t have a ruler for any of it. It’s one thing to disagree with some one on substance but another to challenge them based on utterly made up nonsense. I felt awful for Chelsea then and Obama’s girls now.
actually, I think accusing Dubya of blowing up the Word Trade Towers and killing thousands of people is at the top of my list, were I to have one …
and every one who knows me knows Dubya makes me apoplectic
I guess that’s kind of what I’m getting at…who has now made the decision that the racist crap Obama’s experiencing is worse than any other crap other Presidents have experienced?
WOuldn’t it be nice if we had a media that put a halt to all irresponsible conjecture about our Presidents and became fact-based again? But we don’t, and I think that’s what’s really bugging me – the insinuation that the media has been so sober and responsible towards our Presidents before Obama and Obama is the most victimized President ever. Nonsense.
Agree with that completely. I think we just keep shooting for new lows and it’s just Obama’s turn right now. I can’t figure out why we’ve had a news cycle on the birth certificate–old news–and royal weddings–irrelevant distractions. Is it because most of the journalists can’t actually handle anything real these days? I mean look at the historical Bernanke presser and the group of idiots they sent to ask the questions. I think what’s being put on air these days isn’t worth showing to my dog. Every media outlet goes tabloid these days.
It’s interesting to look at the media’s recent history of behavior towards the candidates of 2008. When it was Hillary (a white woman) against Obama (a black man) they couldn’t have been nicer to Obama and rottener to Hillary. Now that Hillary’s out of the way as far as becoming president goes, they’ll give air time to the racist leaning theories against Obama.
The media are ratings whores. They’ll just go to whatever gets them a watch, no matter how lurid or how wrong.
Hell alot of dems still believe they killed Foster.
That just blows me away… guess it proves there’s a ‘sucker born every minute’ … PT Barnum lives!
The media and the Senate have every right to examine documents pertaining to presidential candidate. They have reviewed everything that factually pertains to an individual’s life.
Wanting to look at these documents is not outrageous…it’s not paranoid…it’s not racist. Obama has chosen NOT to release anything…the press and the senate have chosen NOT to ask for anything…so far, he’s gotten away with simply looking put upon with the unfair and “racist” attacks.
BS – everyday people have to show evidence of records everyday. My daughter will have to produce birth certificate, driver’s license, have an FBI background check, produce school transcripts and a state of Pennsylvania background check SIMPLY TO GO TO COLLEGE.
Why is any of this unreasonable or heaven help us “RACIST”. Oh, that’s right…we elected a BLACK man as president, therefore we automatically change the standards??? Please, equality is equality. The other IS racist.
Obama likes to play the victim…he likes to point the finger at those “crazy” people…and he likes to get away with it.
As far as I’m concerned, he should have been disqualified for the caucus cheating, the convention vote manipulation/intimidation, and the questionable campaign contributions. I could care less if he is Muslim, Kenyan, or Martian. He is an incompetent narcissist who doesn’t deserve my time of day much less my vote.
what she said 🙂
What are you talking about? Obama released his legally certified birth certificate back during the 2008 campaign. He isn’t required to release his school transcripts–GW Bush didn’t, and most presidents and candidates haven’t.
This is a one-time warning. Birther nonsense will not be tolerated here.
I don’t consider myself a “birther” and legitimate questions about an individuals background etc is not what I consider nonsense.
But hey, do what you gotta do…seems like no one on ANY blog wants to actually discuss anything anymore…it’s all either conform and agree or off with your head? Whatever happened to the fine art of debate, discuss, disagree???
Peace out.
There’s room to debate issues. Trig truthing, Obama birth certificate denial, and dubya ordering the demolition of the twin towers aren’t issues. They are conspiratorial nonsense with no basis in reality. The Obama ones are laced with xenophobia and racist overtones. He graduated magna cum laude. You think every professor at Harvard conspired to give him As or something? There’s tons of stuff to discuss with his policy without venturing into racial stereotype land.
Why would anyone debate a debunked issue?
What is there to say that would prompt a debate around a legitimate birth certificate except to question why even after its latest publication there are still those willing to disbelieve the facts?
Few here like Obama because of his policies and ineptitude, his lack of conviction, or passion for the middle class and his catering to the rich.
But to continue to beat a dead horse, and expect commonsense to be put aside in its place, is asking far more than what the facts reveal.
Well said, Pat!
You are wrong about GW Bush. He openly released his college transcripts, including his SAT scores.
http://www.eduinreview.com/blog/2008/10/college-transcripts-of-george-w-bush-show-c-average/
N.B.: I have absolutely no interest in this birther nonsense.
I think GW is proud of being C kinda guy frankly. Definitely infers legacy admission into Yale, however.
And Hawaiian officials certified they’d seen the longform. The longform isn’t available to be released as a rule. He released what was legally available and required back in 2008.
Allow me to dig myself an even deeper hole…
I am the kind of individual who does take a look at both sides. I believe that there is a shred of truth to many “theories” and I simply try to look at everything unbiased and base my opinion accordingly. While there is a lot of stuff floated out there on both the right and left side of the political aisle that I consider crap, there are a couple of points associated with the “birther nonsense” that seem worthy of questioning and answering IMO. The SS# and the passport/and/or trip to Pakistan when he was younger. But I’m sure no one here is really interested in those details.
So, call me crazy if you like…lord knows after the 2008 primaries I was pretty much called everything derogatory a human being/woman could be called.
I do try to come here (and everywhere else for that matter) with respect for the owner and the commenters…no name calling (unless I’m talking about Obama). I try to defend/question the talking points without being dismissive. I am still a registered democrat and I even voted for a few of them in 2010. But I am disgusted with pretty much the lot of them and all the others too. There are some very fundamental things wrong with this country and our political system IMO. Sometimes, those opinions lean more to the left, sometimes more to the right, sometimes pretty much dead center. I’m not extremist anything, although honestly since 2008 I can’t quite figure out what I am…socially liberal, fiscally conservative, libertarian in some ways – eh, take your pick.
Have a fabulous weekend, hug your loved ones and yourselves!
I think the Pakistan trip is something I’d like to know more about. But when the birth certificate went up on the website and Hawaii officials certified it, I think questions about that became moot. What’s really turned me off about those questions is the way most people are asking them. They are couched in things that set of my alarms because they’re so closely related to black stereotypes like “lazy” and “not as smart” and to all the hatred that’s aimed at any one of Muslim descent or affiliation right now. We all got called racists back in the day. I try not let that blind me to some of the hatred of Obama that appears to be based on making him an “other” of some kind. Some of this stuff is just not dying and I have to say that the level of obsessiveness and anger puts any questions like these in an unkind light. Again, I can’t imagine some of these presidential children having to listen to all this … at some point you have to consider that he holds an office we should hold in esteem.
Paul Krugman on how the FED has abandoned the unemployed. He thinks Ron Paul might have something to do with the lack of emphasis on bringing down unemployment and the sudden interest in inflation which even Bernanke said was due mostly to oil prices and what’s going on there. He says Bernanke is a milquetoast basically.
The wedding is utter nonsense and fantasy. Everybody shits, everybody dies, we’re all equal. What a waste of time and money. Silliness cubed.
Trump is an egomaniac and a fool, with little brain power and even less business savvy. He is not worthy of anyone’s time or energy.
Obama’s birth certificate is just another distraction. Oh, lookie, he showed those Repubs all right. Oneupsmanship at its most trivial, as he leads the country’s descent into fascism (Petraeus? Are you kidding me?)
I feel soiled just writing these few words. I’m done.
If we all sat back and took a collective view, it’s pretty clear to me that we have been fed a diet of outright lies over the past 30 years or so and no one trusts a thing they see or hear. In other words, we are all in this together, like it or not, and our level of trust in the credibility of our leaders and the press is at an all time low.
This is what makes these suppositions of a forged birth certificate appeal to people who – and not unlike ourselves – view everything through a skeptical lens. It also makes it easier for people like Trump and a host of others to stand before the public, look them square in the face, and lie their very souls into hell! They have become masters of the art and show no remorse even when caught in a flat out doozy!
I have no love for Sarah Palin, and I doubt anyone on this blog would even think that of me for a minute, but having to listen to the insanity of the legitimacy of her child is disgusting. The same holds true for Bush, another moron I despised, being involved in 9/11. These things are simply untrue but they still surface with suspect “proof” being offered by way of other lies and the circus continues.
Our government over the years, along with a lazy and corporate owned MSM, have no one to blame for the idiocy of conspiratorial beliefs held by so many when they are the ones who have directly and irresponsibly fed us the lies that allowed this mistrust to grow.
Sometimes the answer may be as simple as “it is what it is” but we have been “trained” to see it otherwise.
AMEN Pat..sometimes a cigar is just a cigar 😆
Cue the Twilight Zone Music: Muslims, Convert or DIE!!!!
and more on the wow, that’s really christlike front:
“Pro-Life” GOP Will Now Starve Poor Babies Over Planned Parenthood Funding
Some people are truly despicable. They may profess to be “Christians” but they are truly the scum of the earth. I’m not even religious, but didn’t Christ say “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19.14.