Barack Obama

How Many Progressive Budget Analysts Does It Take to Discuss the Military?

February 15, 2011 by Source

By David Swanson / opednews.com / February 15, 2011 Whether or not one recklessly and misleadingly includes Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid in discussions of the federal discretionary budget, the fact remains that over half of the discretionary budget (of everything other than Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid) is military. The primary talking […]

State of the Union – An Open Thread

January 25, 2011 by Staff

Did you watch the State of the Union address by President Obama tonight? Paul Ryan’s rebuttal? Michele Bachmann as she stared off into space?

Let’s hear your thoughts…

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The Hope Inspired by seeing the President take a Stand for Children

January 14, 2011 by Ernie McCray

I’ll remember the scene for as long as I live, as it was so gratifying to look upon all those citizens of my birthplace, Tucsonans, gathered together to memorialize a horrific tragedy, filling the screen on my TV in HD, showing the loving side of Arizona for all the world to see. In living color. […]

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Giving Obama Some Credit (and a break) at the End of the Year

December 27, 2010 by Source

by John Lawrence / Will Blog for Food / December 25, 2010 The last days of the lame duck session of Congress were remarkably successful with passage of ratification of the START Treaty, repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, aid for first responders, extension of unemployment benefits, the Food Safety bill and the tax bill. […]

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Nine Reasons I Like Obama, Still …

December 15, 2010 by Source

By Kit-Bacon Gressitt / Excuse Me, I’m Writing / Originally published Dec 12, 2010 I voted for President Barack Obama, and I don’t care what anyone says, I still like him. And you know why? #1 I still like Obama because he is not any of the other parties’ alternatives who vied for voter approval […]

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The Left Revolts Against Obama

December 13, 2010 by Frank Gormlie

You can almost feel it in the air. The tension. There is so much tension right now between President Obama and the American left because of the recent “compromise” on taxes maneuvered by the White House and Congressional Republicans, that you can almost cut it with the old proverbial knife. Much of the Left – […]

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One Small Thing YOU Can Do To Protest The Obama/GOP Tax Deal

December 8, 2010 by Doug Porter

Like millions of other Americans, I signed up online for the Organizing for America mailing list during the 2008 election cycle. Organizing for America was the online presence of the Obama campaign, which dipped deeply into activist communities to build its base of support. It was my thinking at the time that this network could […]

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Hey, Obama, here’s some stuff we can cut in San Diego

December 7, 2010 by Dixon Guizot

As everyone knows, President Obama is a gifted orator who has voiced several rousing, meaningless, and unmemorable riffs on abstract concepts like hope and change. But he’s never been as inspiring as he was yesterday, when he told the nation how we won’t be raising taxes on our super-rich. To hear the president, in a […]

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Book Review: “Obama’s Wars” by Bob Woodward – the capitulation of civilian control over American military

November 14, 2010 by Frank Gormlie

Most reviews of Bob Woodward’s new book, Obama’s Wars, focus on the perceived failures and incompetency of Barack Obama, or on the in-fighting between the generals or within the White House staff, or intellectualize on the over-all abilities and shortcomings of Woodward as a chronicler of modern American history. And in doing so, they miss the point.

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On Election Day Voters Cut Off Their Hand to Spite Their Foot

November 8, 2010 by Source

by John Lawrence/Will Blog for Food

I can think of no more apt metaphor for what voters did to themselves than the title of this post. Dissatisfied with the economy, voters voted in a party dedicated to the destruction of the economy as far as the middle class is concerned. They voted for a great economy for Wall Street bankers and billionaires. Obama, despite his failure to get the economy back on track in two years and despite his Republican lite tendencies and seeming inability to take a strong stand, is vastly preferable to the Republicans who now control the House. Obama, who already was governing from the right of center, is continually accused of being a left wing socialist and told by Republicans that he now must move to the right. If he moves to the right any further, he might as well resign from the Democratic party and join the Tea Baggers.

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The Rolling Stone Interview of Barack Obama

September 29, 2010 by Source

The following is an article from the October 15, 2010 issue of Rolling Stone.

We arrived at the southwest gate of the white house a little after one o’clock on the afternoon of September 17th. It was a warm fall day, but the capital felt quiet and half-empty, as it does on Fridays at the end of summer, with Congress still in recess.

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Why aren’t we celebrating? It’s the end of US combat in Iraq, isn’t it? – Voices from San Diego’s peace movement

September 1, 2010 by Frank Gormlie

Candidate Barack Obama pledged to end the war in Iraq. More than any other Presidential candidate during that long, long campaign – Obama was the most poised to declare himself as the anti-war candidate. And he did. And the peace movement and the left in general ate it up – for good reason.

The peace movement had been in the streets protesting the Iraq invasion, war and occupation by Bush for 6 long years, since the Fall of 2002. Every year – in March – on the invasion’s anniversary, the peace movement would take to the streets. We welcomed a candidate of Barack’s stature joining our side. And we joined him as well, shooting his popularity up, beyond Edwards, Kucinich, Clinton, … and ultimately beyond John McCain.

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What Obama Won’t Say Tonight

August 31, 2010 by Source

By Ray McGovern

President Barack Obama’s aides say his speech this evening marking the end of “combat operations” in Iraq will avoid the vainglorious aspects of President George W. Bush’s infamous “Mission Accomplished” speech in 2003. We’ll see.

On the chance Obama might be open to pivoting away from the reduction of U.S. troops in Iraq and addressing honestly the worsening quagmire in Afghanistan. I have offered him the following text:

My Fellow Americans,

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Issa uses propaganda to charge Obama with using propaganda

August 21, 2010 by Frank Gormlie

Our local Repubnick, Darrel Issa – of North County – is in the news again, and he’s in the news again because he continues to play the role of the GOP’s attack dog on the Obama administration. Of all the problems facing this country, what do you think Issa is now charging the White House with?

Issa, the ranking Republican on the House of Representatives’ Oversight Committee, is charging Obama with being guilty of using propaganda with White House claims of saving jobs and creating new ones with stimulus monies. That’s it. Obama is therefore guilty because the claims cannot be proven, says Issa, and such propaganda is prohibited if taxpayer money is used.

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Obama, the Middle Class, and Progressives

August 21, 2010 by Source

by Ariana Huffington / Huffington Post / August 21, 2010

As we head into the stretch run of the 2010 midterms, and get closer to the halfway point of President Obama’s first term, we’re hearing a lot of media chatter about the “enthusiasm gap” plaguing Democrats. There is also a lot of talk about whether progressives — aka “the professional left” — should or shouldn’t be disappointed in Obama. In a post about last month’s Netroots Nation gathering in Las Vegas, Matt Yglesias wrote that at this year’s event, “the dominant mood” was “depressed” and that he could feel a “considerable degree of ill will toward Barack Obama and his administration.”

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Oil drilling — a nasty national habit

April 6, 2010 by Source

by David Helvarg

President Obama’s decision to have Interior Secretary Ken Salazar open vast new areas of federal ocean waters to offshore oil drilling is no surprise. In his State of the Union address, the president explained that his vision for a clean energy future included offshore drilling, nuclear power and clean coal. Unfortunately, that’s like advocating a healthy diet based on fast-food snacking, amphetamines and low-tar cigarettes.

If the arguments you hear in the coming days for expanded drilling sound familiar, it’s because they’ve been repeated for generations. We’ve been hearing promises about safer drilling technologies since before Union Oil began drilling in the Santa Barbara Channel. And if you don’t remember what happened that time, you should. Soon after the wells were bored, one of them blew out in January 1969, causing a massive oil slick that slimed beaches and killed birds, fish and marine mammals. The resulting catastrophe helped spark the modern environmental movement.

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Contemplating the Obama Blues

February 2, 2010 by Dixon Guizot

by Shane Finneran

Like many folks on the left, I’ve recently been suffering from PODS, President Obama Disappointment Syndrome. On mild days, my PODS symptoms would include eye-rolling during Obama clips on the news, lack of interest in presidential moments like the state of the union speeches, and on-sight deletion of emails I get from barackobama.com . And when my Obama blues would really act up, I’d find myself dwelling on how the president has let the nation down and turned hope into just another four-letter word.

But when I take an objective look at PODS, I realize that the malady actually is not caused by any chicanery on the part of Obama, who has governed just about how he said he would govern. My PODS is a result of the dreamy expectations that I, like many liberals, had for the guy.

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Has Obama Lost the Left? Why Is He Still Pushing Bi-Partisanship?

January 28, 2010 by Source

Editor: I received this email from a good friend this morning after he had watched President Obama’s State of the Union speech:

…. For me, an Obama supporter who contributed hundreds to his campaign – well, tonight I removed my Obama bumper sticker. Based on his speech, he’s a 20th century president in the 21st century, looking backwards into the future. Nuclear power, capital gains cuts, and a health care bill designed by the greedy for the greedy – insurance companies, he’s as much a republican as he needs to be. Just better looking with a better presentation. His approval rating is sinking not because he’s losing the right – he never had them. He’s losing everything left of center.

Here’s an analysis of the Speech:

by John Nichols

Say what you will about Barack Obama. But don’t accuse the president of veering from the course he charted at a point when his term was new, his popularity ratings were high and Americans took seriously all that talk of “hope” and “change.”

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Continued Debate on ‘Avatar’: Avatar Obama and the United States of Hype

January 8, 2010 by Source

by: Ángel Luis Lara / La Jornada (Mexico) – truthout / 04 January 2010

We live in the era of hype. The word, which bounces and bounds throughout the matrices of our information age, refers to a cultural product that has been so juiced up with marketing that its popularity takes off independently and regardless of its quality. It is the wrapping that matters: the advertisement is louder, more important and more real than what is advertised. James Cameron is the author of the latest, greatest global hype: “Avatar.”

The force behind the bludgeoning impact of “Avatar’s” promotional blitz has been driven by three main factoids: it’s the most expensive movie in the history of movies, it has revolutionized the world of special effects and it was shot in 3-D.

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Cong. Susan Davis target of anti-Afghan war protesters

December 2, 2009 by Frank Gormlie

CITY HEIGHTS, San Diego. In protest of President Obama’s Afghanistan war escalation, a small crowd gathered at the corner of Fairmont and University Avenue to wave signs, chant, and signify their opposition by their presence. Congresswoman Susan Davis, who has offices nearby, was the target of the protest for her pro-war stance.

The protest had been called by San Diego’s Peace and Justice Coalition as “The Day After” demonstration to Obama’s West Point speech where he declared he’s sending 30,000 more US troops to Afghanistan.

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The Moment of Crystallized Disenchantment – an Appeal to Progressives Who Have Supported Barack Obama

December 1, 2009 by Frank Gormlie

In just a few hours, President Obama will lay out his plan to send an additional 30,000+ US troops to Afghanistan. Which makes this a very trying moment for progressives who supported Obama during the campaign, his Presidency, and up to now. It is a very painful moment, a very anguishing one, as many of us are picking up our anti-war protest signs once again. Many of us will be demonstrating against this decision in the coming days and weeks ahead.

Do you feel the pain? I certainly do. This is even very painful for me to write. The pain I feel, that we feel – those of us who did support Obama- is very real. And it is to those I now appeal – those who championed the first African-American to assume the Presidency, to take the reins of our Empire in the hopes of bringing our democracy back from the eight long Bush years.

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Needed: New National Security Thinking

December 1, 2009 by Source

by Katrina vanden Heuvel / The Nation / Dec. 01, 2009

Tonight President Obama will announce his new Afghanistan policy. By all accounts it will be one of military escalation. This is a tragic moment–both for the nation and his presidency–and it is one I had hoped the President would avoid by courageously leading us in a wiser direction, one that views 21st century challenges anew, in fresh and necessary ways.

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90 Positive accomplishments by President Obama in his first six months

November 30, 2009 by Source

[Editor’s Note: I have published this list – followed by a progressive critique – as a counter-pole to the anguish progressives and leftists feel right now, on the eve of President Obama’s announcement of additional US troops being sent to Afghanistan. Some progressives are ready to throw Obama out of office because of his Afghanistan “surge.” This is basically a list of positives and there are many items on this list that progressives will disagree with, will consider to be cosmetic, or will fault for a lack of follow-through — and there are without doubt a lot of negatives not included. But we think this is an impressive list just the same.]

By Robert P. Watson

I am always being asked to grade Obama’s presidency. In place of offering him a grade, I put together a list of his accomplishments thus far. I think you would agree that it is very impressive. His first six months have been even more active than FDR’s or LBJ’s — the two standards for such assessments.

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An Open Letter to President Obama from Michael Moore on Afghanistan

November 30, 2009 by Source

Dear President Obama,

Do you really want to be the new “war president”? If you go to West Point tomorrow night (Tuesday, 8pm) and announce that you are increasing, rather than withdrawing, the troops in Afghanistan, you are the new war president. Pure and simple. And with that you will do the worst possible thing you could do — destroy the hopes and dreams so many millions have placed in you. With just one speech tomorrow night you will turn a multitude of young people who were the backbone of your campaign into disillusioned cynics. You will teach them what they’ve always heard is true — that all politicians are alike. I simply can’t believe you’re about to do what they say you are going to do. Please say it isn’t so.

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The dilemma of the disenchanted progressive: why it’s important for Ocean Beach – Part III

November 24, 2009 by Frank Gormlie

by Frank Gormlie

The dilemma of the disenchanted progressive has come full circle. If the progressive is disenchanted and deeply puzzled, what about the progressive community – what about a place like Ocean Beach?

This then is the third and final part of the series. In Part 1, I presented what I see as this dilemma for disenchanted progressives: as people on the political left we are disenchanted about the tempo and types of changes that President Obama has ushered in to date. And yet, as I discuss in Part 2, this country is facing a mass movement that represents an American brand of fascism, and it’s gunning for President Obama.

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The Dilemma of the Disenchanted Progressive – Part 2

November 10, 2009 by Frank Gormlie

by Frank Gormlie

THE CONVERGENCE OF HISTORIC EVENTS

History is converging events for us very quickly: the first – the anniversary of the election of Barack Obama as President; the second – the rise of a reactionary and racist mass movement in this country; third – the passage by the House of what some call an “historic” health care reform package and the beginning of discussion on their version next week by the Senate; and fourth, we’re on the eve of the continuation and even expansion of the war in Afghanistan – as Obama contemplates just how many thousands of Americans he will be sending soon to the “graveyard of empires”.

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One Year On After Barack Obama’s Election – Part 1

November 4, 2009 by Anna Daniels

Stop and think a moment. Tuesday November 4, 2008. Election night. I bet you can remember where you were, what you were doing.

We had invited friends over, to celebrate together, or commiserate together- who knew? We weren’t sure what the outcome of the election would be. Would Obama carry Pennsylvania and Ohio and Virginia and North Carolina?

We had the computer set up with MSNBC, and the champagne was flowing. Earlier that day at the Central library information desk where I worked I answered many many questions about where people could vote.

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Obama Administration to ease Federal marijuana prosecutions

October 19, 2009 by Source

WASHINGTON — The Obama administration will not seek to arrest medical marijuana users and suppliers as long as they conform to state laws, under new policy guidelines to be sent to federal prosecutors Monday.

Two Justice Department officials described the new policy to The Associated Press, saying prosecutors will be told it is not a good use of their time to arrest people who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state laws.

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Why Right-Wing Demagogues Are Trying to Peddle Ludicrous Conspiracy Theories

October 4, 2009 by Source

Even before Barack Obama was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States, the internet was seething with lurid conspiracy theories exposing his alleged subversion and treachery.

Among the many false claims: Obama was a secret Muslim; he was not a native U.S. citizen and his election as president should be overturned; he was a tool of the New World Order in a plot to merge the government of the United States into a North American union with Mexico and Canada.

Within hours of Obama’s inauguration, claims circulated that Obama was not really president because Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts scrambled the words as he administered the oath of office. A few days after the inauguration came a warning that Obama planned to impose martial law and collect all guns.

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Family Feud: Sister versus Brother Over Health Care Reform

October 1, 2009 by Anna Daniels

I know that I am not the only one who is at odds with family over political issues. My latest family feud began innocently enough—a phone call yesterday with my beloved big brother, and only remaining immediate family member, in Western Pennsylvania.

When Jack told me that the prescription drug he takes for recurrent heartburn falls into the Medicare donut hole, and that he is going without it until the next cycle of coverage begins, I told him that his little sister is supporting health care reform to close that very donut hole.

His response- “I DON’T WANT ANYONE CRAMMING SOMETHING I DON’T WANT DOWN MY THROAT.” Yes, his response was in caps. Ouch.

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Chris April 24, 2024 at 6:15 pm on Students at PLNU Are Angry With Administration For Disrespecting Gay Community and Chilling Free SpeechNot to excuse the administration, but why did these students choose a school with a known anti LGBTQ stance due its religious affiliation?
kh April 24, 2024 at 5:55 pm on ‘Hey You! Get Up! We’ve Outlawed Sleeping in Public!’Not making false pipedream promises would be a start. I wish I could locate that press release from Todd Gloria as a councilmember where he...
kh April 24, 2024 at 5:53 pm on ‘Hey You! Get Up! We’ve Outlawed Sleeping in Public!’Sure. And vary widely based on zoning as well. I just checked two recently sold homes in Mira Mesa, and what they were reassessed at....
kh April 24, 2024 at 5:38 pm on Planning Groups Forced to Pay New $1,000 Fee to Appeal Projects Stifles Community DemocracyI know one of the appeals from 2022(?) was on the Inn at Sunset cliffs, and the appeal prevailed at city council. It was not...
T April 24, 2024 at 5:03 pm on Planning Groups Forced to Pay New $1,000 Fee to Appeal Projects Stifles Community DemocracyThis is great info. Last week at the PBPB meeting their planner was talking about the new $1000 appeal charge and why the city thinks...
gilbert field April 24, 2024 at 4:47 pm on ‘Hey You! Get Up! We’ve Outlawed Sleeping in Public!’Getting back to the original comment, which was what Larry Turner would do to reduce homelessness, I am still not sure what he means or...
kh April 24, 2024 at 3:38 pm on California Leaders Take Sides in ‘Most Important Supreme Court Case on Homelessness in 40 Years’Count me in the last group. Glad to see Governor Newsom has come around to my side and finally figured out that letting people die...
chris schultz April 24, 2024 at 3:34 pm on ‘Hey You! Get Up! We’ve Outlawed Sleeping in Public!’Exactly, land gets more expensive the closer to the coast generally speaking. The same standard doesn't apply everywhere.
CARL M ZANOLLI April 24, 2024 at 3:32 pm on Students at PLNU Are Angry With Administration For Disrespecting Gay Community and Chilling Free SpeechParents spend so much $$$ to send their kids to PLNU because they weren't accepted elsewhere.
Gail April 24, 2024 at 3:10 pm on Planning Groups Forced to Pay New $1,000 Fee to Appeal Projects Stifles Community DemocracyI agree, these are land use issues heard at community planning meetings, by volunteers. There is a $500 stipend offered by the City for the...
kh April 24, 2024 at 3:02 pm on City Council Committee Sides With Upstart Planning Group in Uptown and With Existing Group in La JollaThis whole process is trash. Some goons at the planning dept wasted a whole lot of community members' time on this farce. The city made...
kh April 24, 2024 at 2:22 pm on ‘Hey You! Get Up! We’ve Outlawed Sleeping in Public!’Assessed value can be far from the true value unless you just purchased it. The land value of my property in OB is over 85%...
Dr. Jack Hammer April 24, 2024 at 11:35 am on Students at PLNU Are Angry With Administration For Disrespecting Gay Community and Chilling Free SpeechBut isn't that why the parents pay so much $$$ for this education? So their little darlings can be protected from the 'evils' of the...
Gilbert Field April 24, 2024 at 10:23 am on ‘Hey You! Get Up! We’ve Outlawed Sleeping in Public!’I looked at Zillow for a typical home in Claremont. House is 1200 square feet and the price is $1 million. 1200 time $250 =...
nostalgic April 24, 2024 at 10:09 am on Reader Rant: ‘Why I’m Breaking Up With Cox Communications’For this very important topic, keep us all informed. I would like to send an email. As a complication, there is occasionally an attachment. I...