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Posts Tagged ‘obama’

Just a couple of months before his 101st birthday. DrewM mentioned him to me last year, when he attended the Pearl Harbor commemoration ceremony in December. Mary Katharine Ham wrote a great piece about him back then too, which included…

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5. Obama gives Shout out to ‘Congressional Medal of Honor Winner’ who Isn’t

UPDATED TUESDAY – MARCH 16, 2010…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… Posted: March 15, 20105:14 pm Eastern

Rev. Jim Wallis, a member of President Obama’s “faith council” who is described as a spiritual adviser to the president, is a socialist activist who has championed communist causes and previously labeled the U.S. “the great captor and destroyer of human life.”

Wallis was in the news last week urging Christians to stop watching Fox News host Glenn Beck’s program for Beck’s remarks against churches that preach “social justice.”

The Associated Baptist Press described Wallis as a “politically progressive evangelical and longtime advocate for the poor.” the Huffington Post identified Wallis as a “Christian author and social justice advocate.”

Wallis, however, is a long time socialist advocate and founder of a far-left magazine, Sojourners, that has championed communist causes.

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Is Henry Kissinger not yet dead?Until a Henry Kissinger lookalike of some kind (clone?) was dutifully reported by the mainstream media to have turned up with tummy trouble in Seoul, South Korea, on Saturday 13th March 2010, a lot of people thought that he was dead. three months ago, on Saturday 12th December 2009, British MI6 agents executed five of Kissinger’s close associates, including two banksters. It was thought that Kissinger himself might have been taken down at that time. the ex-US Secretary of State has been a major cabal insider for decades. It is said in Washington DC that all major financial transactions involving US dollars still have to go past his desk and that he has thirty or forty levels of security clearance above the US President. the only question has been who or what was sitting at his desk. big H has had a colourful career. When, in September 1978, Pope John Paul I (Albino Luciani) confided to an aide that he was going to purge the masonic non-Christian Illuminati from the Roman Catholic Church, he was found poisoned to death in his bed the next morning. Shortly afterwards, Henry Kissinger presided over a Black Mass at the Basilica of St John Lateran to commemorate the murder. St John Lateran, in Rome, is the official ecclesiastical seat of the Bishop of Rome (the Pope).

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… US envoy for Damascus after Assad publicly mocks Hillary Clinton

DEBKAfile Special Report March 16, 2010, 1:47 PM (GMT+02:00)

Tags: Barack Obama Bashar Assad Hillary Clinton

on Feb. 25, when the Iranian and Syrian presidents met in Damascus to confirm their military pact, they publicly mocked the US and its demands for Bashar Assad to distance himself from Tehran and made fun of secretary of state Hillary Clinton in person. on March, US Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey Feltman summoned Syrian Ambassador Imad Moustapha for a quiet reprimand.but still the Obama administration is going easy on both Iran and Syria. In fact this week it asked the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee to confirm the appointment of Robert Ford as the first US ambassador to Damascus in five years.neither Clinton nor any other administration member has referred to Assad’s public insult to America and herself – in dramatic contrast to their harsh reaction to a bureaucratic step by Israel – for which prime minister Binyamin apologized – to approve the deposit of a long-term plan to build 1,600 homes in East Jerusalem. since then, a week has gone by with Washington never tiring of berating Israel day by day.the Syrian president has shown no contrition – nor was any demanded by the Obama administration – for joking: “We have met today to sign a separation agreement… We must have misunderstood because of a bad translation or our limited understanding, but instead signed an agreement to cancel visas.”He was responding to Clinton’s assertion that his relationship with Iran was “deeply troubling to the region as well as to the United States.”Assad took his time to reply to Washington’s diplomatic complaint. He finally relayed his answer not directly but through French president Nicolas Sarkozy, thereby turning a demonstrative cold shoulder to the United States government.

In his message, the Syrian president warned Washington frankly for the first time to stop expecting him to break off or degrade his ties with Tehran. In so doing, he has snatched a key Obama foreign policy goal out of the administration’s grasp. He explained that his bond with Iran was less ideological than strategic, grounded in the Arabs’ need to keep up their “resistance” to Israel. the Syrian-Iranian bond, says Assad, will peter out of its own accord when this need disappears.

Syrian contempt, intransigence and commitment to Arab violence against Israel have not discouraged the Obama administration in its courtship of this terror-sponsoring dictatorship. a senior emissary, John Kerry, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, later affirmed his belief that “it is important to have diplomatic representation in Syria.on March 14, the Wall Street Journal wrote succinctly:”Mr. Obama’s foreign policy pattern to date: our enemies get courted; our friends get the squeeze. It has happened to Poland, the CzechRepublic, Honduras and Colombia. Now it’s Israel’s turn.”

……………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………..FROM WWW.JTF.ORG what the Bible really says about surrendering Jewish land how to stop the Bolshevik elite from surrendering Israel how Israel won her greatest victories by defying U.S. pressure what Bolshevik brainwashing has done to Israeli Jews there is no “Palestine” (Part 1 of 2) there is no “Palestine” (Part 2 of 2) is Yesha occupied or liberated? (Part 1 of 2) is Yesha occupied or liberated? (Part 2 of 2) there are no Arab “moderates” (Part 1 of 2) there are no Arab “moderates” (Part 2 of 2) Unmasking the real Ariel Sharon Saving the Gaza District will save Israel Sharon’s Likud victory proves Feiglin is wrong “Right-wing” Avigdor Lieberman urges Israeli surrender Who will lead against Ariel Sharon? Abbas and PLO continue Arafat’s Nazi terror the traitors who run the Yesha Council a Jewish hero named Adir Zik Sharon’s plan: Imprison Yesha Jews Desecrating and sanctifying Holocaust victims what JTF tells its young Jewish listeners Arab Muslim money controls the Israeli media Sharon bribes Israeli soldiers to expel Yesha Jews When Jewish billionaires help Arab Muslim Nazis Hilltop Youth’s new resistance stuns Israeli army G-d punishes the traitor Ariel Sharon G-d gives Hamas terrorists election victory the heroic Jewish youth of Amona Jewish civil war in Israel (Part 1) Jewish civil war in Israel (Part 2) Jewish civil war in Israel (Part 3) Why Jews believe in G-d Israel funds Hamas Muslim terrorists Ben Pesach speech interrupted (Part 1) Ben Pesach speech interrupted (Part 2) Ben Pesach speech interrupted (Part 3) Why Israel cannot win As JTF predicted Israel loses Lebanon war Israel’s image damaged by Lebanon defeat Black Nazi Nelson Mandela True Zionists oppose all foreign aid an Israeli treason story beyond belief Who was responsible for Rabin’s assassination? Black African Nazi Bishop Desmond Tutu Why self-hating Jews want to destroy Israel Why Jews must oppose gun control Netanyahu did not learn from history ……………………………………………………………………….. ………………………………………………………………………..HK P7, M8, M13 SUPERB 9mm PISTOL………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….HOMELAND SECURITY – PUBLIC VIDEO………………………………………………………………………..RIOTS IN GREECE………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Tags: Iraqi politics Nouri Maliki

debkafile’s intelligence and Baghdad sources disclose that prime minister Nouri al-Maliki was injured in an attempt on his life last Thursday, March 11. His armored convoy came under an RPG-automatic fire attack after a bomb hit his car. US and Iraqi authorities have blacked out the incident, but our sources learn that Maliki is being treated for moderate-to-serious injuries at the American military hospital. one source says he was hit in the arm. His doctors apparently found his condition was too serious for him to face TV cameras and deliver a broadcast statement to the nation scheduled Sunday March 14, although members of his State of the Law party were beginning to ask questions about his disappearance.As the counting of votes continues in Iraq’s general election, it confirms the Maliki party’s lead against its foremost rival, former prime minister Iyad Allawi’s secular al-Iraqiya bloc of liberal Shiites and Sunni Muslims.Allawi’s is running an active campaign to prove widespread vote-rigging both in the balloting of the 19 million eligible voters in the country and the more one and a half-million ballots outside.Maliki is running ahead in seven to nine provinces. Still, Allawi who appears to have carried five, hopes to unseat his rival and win a second term as prime minister.the incumbent, a Shiite, is solidly backed from Washington as its best hope for a stable government that would allow the US military to pull out of Iraq on time in August, seven years after the invasion.Saudi Arabia and Syria and some circles in the Obama administration promoted Allawi’s bid.the attack on Malliki was obviously aimed at getting rid of the American candidate for Iraqi prime minister. His State of the Law party is very much a one-man show. Without its leader, it would probably break up into factions and its winning parliamentary members attach themselves to other groupings in the 325-member House.

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Posted: March 14, 201011:07 pm Eastern

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., will soon be facing a public-relations nightmare in his bid for re-election: a TV ad campaign produced by the same strategist whose “Willie Horton” commercial spoiled Michael Dukakis’ 1988 presidential hopes.

Floyd Brown, author and president of the Western Center for Journalism, created the infamous “Willie Horton” commercial accusing then-Massachusetts Gov. Dukakis of being soft on crime. the ad, which focused on convicted murderer William Horton, who was granted a weekend furlough under Dukakis and who used his freedom to flee, rape and murder, sent the Dukakis campaign flailing to the defensive and is credited with contributing to the candidate’s loss to then-Vice President George Bush.

Now a pair of political-action committees have hired Brown to create a new series of independent-expenditure advertisements that allegedly expose Reid’s record of political corruption and ties to Arab money.

See the signs created by everyday Americans around the country who are sick and tired of corruption in the nation’s capital!

Specifically, the commercial responds to an ad launched last fall that included the CEO of the MGM Mirage casino in Las Vegas, James Murren, praising Reid for calling banks and pressuring them to finance the casino’s failing $8.5 billion construction project called City Center. Murren claims Reid’s efforts saved over 12,000 Nevada jobs.

Brown’s ad, however, points to Murren’s business partner, the ruler of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. the ad claims Al Maktoum used slave labor to build similar structures in Dubai and that the slave-labor bosses and union-labor bosses are now working together to get their financial friend in Washington re-elected.

The TV ad, scheduled to begin running this week, can be seen below:

Is progressive Asheville Obama’s vision for America?

Hip, environmentally aware, self-reliant and undeniably quaint, Asheville, N.C is a progressive’s vision of what America could be. but mountain liberalism comes at a price.

By Patrik Jonsson, Staff writer / April 24, 2010
Atlanta

by Patrik Jonsson, Staff writer / April 24, 2010

Atlanta

Okay, maybe the Obamas’ Asheville, N.C., trip is just a romantic getaway and a chance to grab some 12 Bones BBQ, as the White House suggests.

But you know something is going on when even the local “tea party” affiliate welcomes Obama to their “mountain paradise.”

Critics like Hoover Institution fellow Shelby Steele have complained that Obama’s “ultimate vision, he has not been very clear about.”

So given that the Obama’s “kind of fell in love” with the Buncombe County burg during a debate prep visit during the 2008 campaign, could Asheville itself be a clue to what the President is thinking when he talks about “transforming” America?

‘Hillbilly-hippies’

Founded as a health resort, the little city of “hillbilly-hippies,” entrepreneurs, musicians, retirees, and community drum circles is, indeed, a progressive’s vision of America.

Nestled in the oldest hills on earth, Asheville (pop. 70,000), the first East Coast city to require sustainable green construction, is a sort of experiment in environmentalism that has made the city the gateway to the new Appalachia and gotten it listed both as one of America’s “happiest places” and as one of the “best places to reinvent your life.”

But it also represents conservative fears about what President’s intentions might wreak: a dearth of high-paying jobs, relatively high taxes, large numbers of homeless and other wards of the state, a high crime rate, and a progressive ruling class perhaps more interested in maintaining quaintness than thickening residents’ wallets.

“At least as far back as the arrival of the Vanderbilts, it has been a haven for artists, innovative types, sophisticated thinkers, and people who want a little something more out of life than the average,” writes former resident Thomas Osborne on City-Data.com. “Asheville is cultured and educated, perhaps more like a New England town, but amazingly friendly and polite, like a piece of decent southern aristocracy.”

To be sure, the visit also fits into Obama’s “White House to Main Street” program, where he will travel next week to the struggling small towns of the Midwest who first gave him real traction in the 2008 campaign.

‘A guy like the rest of us’

And compared to other presidential vacations to tony Martha’s Vineyard, this trip represents a “middle class” vacation to portray Obama as what Dolly Jenkins-Mullen of the University of North Carolina calls “a guy like the rest of us” as Congress ponders a crackdown on Wall Street.

Politically, the visit – the President’s fourth to North Carolina – also could be a signal, writes Politico, that his popularity in North Carolina, a state he stole from the Republicans in 2008, is turning as Democratic support fractures.

But if Asheville is indeed an Obama vision for America, there’s a stark lesson about the impact of soaring debt in hard times to glean from the city, as well.

The city’s success today – embodied by its rich catalog of Art Deco buildings – came at a price.

As a result of the 1920s building spree, Asheville “entered the Depression with the highest per capita debt in the country,” writes New Hampshire native Terry Pindell in “A Good Place to Live.”

“All across America, governments declared bankruptcy, further contributing … to the national depression. but Ashevillians’ stubborn mountain pride led them to choose a different path [which] made Asheville what it is today. They created a sinking fund to pay off every cent of the debt, no matter how long it took. [T]he debt wasn’t retired until 1977. For forty years Asheville lay in an economic cocoon – a long sleep.”

Franken is one of the “menaces” (besides being brain dead and illiterate like the majority of diggers).
Read on If you Have Intelligence!

The youth-felons (14-18) I teach in an S-4 High Security prison for the most part despise their previous public school education from which they all dropped out, many as early as the 6th-7th grades. they hate the coiled exhibitionist in Putz Obama, and delegate him a weird Uncle Tom status in their inner city hoods. He has no place, less than their fathers who most boys wish dead, and would gladly comply with their own wishes if they had access or reason to find their makers. Sharpton, Jackson, the flamboyent crop of liberal preachers mean nothing to these young men whom I’m honored to reach with an ABE and GED curricula. Obama is the last in a line of false preachers filled with Democratic crumbled dreams that filled their disillusioned mothers’ wishes, but came to nought in their mothers and grandmothers’ lives. At the PPTs in prison you’ll see these pathetic women, and I mean that with sincere sadness, as they are bleached by heartsick love for their teenage sons thrown into jail often for 2+ years, who “wouldn’t listen to me,” and I want to tell them how bottomless is their uncontainable anger for white and black societies for they know Obama will do NOTHING to avail them, but their mothers and their grandmothers know that even more strongly. I’m amazed when 1 out of 10 will read a textbook with independent passion, for the other 9 will fight and resist and try every trick that worked in their failing public schools which they all still dispise, even 3 or more years after dropping-out. Every one is a hooked 700 lb. tuna on 100 lb. testline and the fight between teacher and student is a classic struggle for days, weeks, and months, until he leaves or gives-in in most prison schools. they sense Obama is the primal lie, and I’ve asked them to explain: it comes down to the Democratic vision transplanted of living deeply wounded in spirit, instead of rising from the vacuous well, they hold firm to the bottom edges and tred water, the slime Obama-Jackson throws into the well. when they leave prison they go back to the “MENACE” or jungle; where else is there after the half-way program which never conclusively point a way out of the jungle. Their lives are fears instilled by the Dodds, Kennedys, Obamas, etc. now generations old and responsible all the more who never spent 10 minutes as an educator in 1 Level 4 juvy-prison because (I’ve always wanted to tell some of the students, but never have of course)…to the Democrats, these boys in prison are testtube specimens, and as alien to Obama and Michelle as a Chopin waltz, or carbonic acid, or a gibous moon

At the end of almost four hours of debate Sunday night, House Republican Leader John Boehner and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made memorable final statements in advance of a historic health care vote.

Boehner took the floor and proclaimed, acknowledging likely passage, that he had a “sad and heavy heart.”

He said “no one in this body” believes the bill is satisfactory and argued “we have failed to listen to America, and we have failed to reflect the will of our constituents.”

“Shame on each and every one of you who substitutes your will and your desires above those of your fellow countrymen,” said Boehner.

He grew agitated when asking rhetorical questions about the impact of the bill, asking members if they could really promise their constituents that it would not have a variety of negative consequences.

“Do you really believe that if you like the health plan that you have that you can keep it? no you can’t,” he said. At one point he offered an angry “hell no” to one of his rhetorical questions.

In response to noises from the gallery in response to Boehner, Rep. David Obey, acting as speaker, said, “Both sides would do well to remember the dignity of the House.”

“I beg you…do not further strike at the heart of this country and this institution with arrogance, for surely you will not strike with impunity,” Boehner said.

He asked for a roll call vote to be taken, as opposed to an electronic vote tally, a call Obey denied. Roll call votes are almost never taken in the House.

After Boehner, Pelosi rose to speak to a standing ovation from Democrats in the gallery.

She said the House was about to “make history for our country and progress for the American people.”

The bill, she said, would lead to “healthier lives, more liberty to pursue hopes and dreams and happiness.”

“This is an American proposal that honors the traditions of our country,” Pelosi said in a more measured address than Boehner. She hailed President Obama’s leadership on health care.

She added that the one word to use to describe the legislation is “opportunity,” and said it would unleash “entrepreneurial power” in the economy because it meant people could change jobs or start a small business without risking their health insurance.

“With this health care reform, 32 million more Americans will have health care insurance, and those who have insurance now will be spared being at the mercy of the health insurance industry,” Pelosi said.

Once the bill passes, she added, “being a woman will no longer be a pre-existing medical condition.”

She also noted that the bill has more than 200 Republican amendments, even if it lacked Republican votes.

The vote, she said, “honored the character of this country,” calling health care a “right, not a privilege.”

“The time has chosen us,” said Pelosi.

More Coverage of Health Care Reform:

House Passes Health Care Bill
Obama: “This is What Change Looks Like”
Health Care Vote: How Each Representative Voted
Announcement of the Vote
Boehner Tells Democrats: Shame on You
Pelosi Urges House to “Make History”
Health Care Bill: What’s in It?
Short-Term Effect of the Bill
What, Me Worry? Obama Watches Basketball
Stupak Called “Baby Killer” for Backing Bill
CBSNews.com Special Report: Health Care

To understand Martin Scorseses well-crafted psychologicalthriller Shutter Island, viewers should do an Internet search on the followingthree terms: MK-Ultra, Manchurian candidates, and Operation Paperclip. For theextended value-added search, throw in the combination of CIA and LSD.

Shutter Island is being released at a very propitious time.just look at last Saturdays front page of the New York Times. Above the foldwe have two related stories, the first, under the inaccurate headline a newreport, a new verdict, in terror fight. a more accurate title would read U.S.government and Obama administration reaffirm Bush administration commitment totorture.

The post-World War II U.S. administrations and its risingsecurity-industrial complex covertly embraced torture and secret dosing ofunsuspecting people with psychedelic drugs to control their behavior and createassets and assassins during the Red Scare. now, overt torture done in the nameof fighting terror has been embraced by the administration of Mr. Hope andChange.

The Times announced that the recent government report thatexonerated . . . the lawyers who gave justification to the Bushadministrations brutal interrogation tactics officially . . . brings to aclose a pivotal chapter in the debate over the legal limits of the Bushadministrations fight against terrorism and whether its treatment of Qaedaprisoners amounted to torture.

This means the first modern nation that banned torture inits Constitution now officially endorses torture by redefining cruel andunusual punishment.

J.S. Bybee, now a federal judge, and John Yoo, now aprofessor at the University of Califormia, Berkeley, serve in the renewed rolesof Operation Paperclip Nazi war criminals brought to the United Statesfollowing World War II. there is little difference between Bybee/Yoo and vonBraun/Strughold.

Werner von Braun got a pass from being hanged at Nurembergbecause he was useful tthe U.S. military, and later the space, industries.Hubertus Strughold, the father of U.S. space medicine, was directly responsiblefor the inhumane torture of human subjects at Dachau.

Leonardo DiCaprios character, Edward Daniels, was at theliberation of Dachau, and discovered a Paperclip Nazi on Shutter Islandcontinuing to experiment on human subjects, only now with the sanction of theU.S. government. Only a frontal lobotomy will silence his quest for truth.

Our new mass frontal lobotomies come by way of themainstream media with imprecise headlines and official acceptance ofunacceptable government decisions. Torture by any other name, or sanctioned bya memo, is still torture.

The second front page Times article headlined F.B.I. ShutsBook on Anthrax Case, Fatal to five in 2001 gives us the governments versionof the lone gunman. Dr. Bruce E. Ivins is a minor-league version of LeeHarvey Oswald. were to believe that he, and he alone, sent thetrillion-spores-per-gram Ames strain silicon impregnated U.S. military gradeanthrax through the mail.

Nowhere in the article will you find mention of BattelleMemorial Institute, headquartered in Columbus, Ohio. the Times reported earlieron Battelles Project Jefferson and Clear Vision, and curious characterslike William C. Patrick III and Ken Alibeck. Alibeck is the former number twoman in the Soviets illegal biochemical program who consulted at Battelle withPatrick, another Battelle consultant who wrote a paper on sending anthraxthrough the mail.

Readers might want to Google Battelle, thesecurity-industrial complexs favorite non-profit, and their ShutterIsland-like facility in West Jefferson, Ohio. the FBI originally told the FreePress that they were looking at Battelle in West Jefferson, and the profitmotive of a newly-formed company that stood to make hundreds of millions ofdollars off of anthrax vaccines.

Were now to believe that it was Ivins, according to theTimes, a biodefense expert who cast blame on an alternate personality called CrazyBruce and anyone who doesnt believe this story will be called the C word:conspiracy theorist.

Ivins, like Edward Daniels in Shutter Island, had his flawsand makes a perfect patsy for the lone mailer theory. Ivins, who committedsuicide in 2008, allegedly stalked two women who were able to confirm that itwas Crazy Bruce, his other personality, who sent the letters. as the Timesdutifully reported, Crazy Bruce, who surfaces periodically as paranoid,severely depressed, and ridden with incredible anxiety.

Just like the movie Shutter Island, theres a Rule of 4 codedmessage that Ivins left, according to the FBI. the Times noted, that Ivinsembedded a complex coded message in the notes that he mailed with anthrax in2001. the coded message, based on DNA biochemistry, alluded to two femalecolleagues with whom he was obsessed.

So says the FBI; so reports the New York Times. Thegovernment also initially denied they brought Nazi war criminals into theUnited States, and that there was a secret harassment campaign against U.S.citizens called COINTELPRO. And, that they were dosing unsuspecting people withLSD and BZ and other psychedelic and mind-altering drugs. We should all seeShutter Island and shudder at the fact that its closer to the truth than wellever get in corporate-controlled newspapers.

BobFitrakis is Editor of freepress.org,where this article first appeared.

President Obama delivers his first State of the Union address against a backdrop of an American public anxious about the economy and lawmakers on edge about the midterm elections. CNN.com provides live updates of the speech.

(CNN) — 10:20 Address ends with Obama calling on Americans to “seize this moment — to start anew, to carry the dream forward and to strengthen our union once more”

Click here to read in chronological order

10:18 Obama acknowledges that his administration has had political setbacks; says “some of them were deserved.” Obama says the “spirit of determination and optimism” is what keeps him fighting

10:17 On discord in politics: “Democracy in a nation of 300 million people can be noisy and messy and complicated. and when you try to do big things and make big changes, it stirs passions and controversy”

10:13 Obama says he will work with Congress and the military to repeal “the law that denies gay Americans the right to serve the country they love because of who they are”

Obama calls for ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ repeal

10:08 Obama says the threat of nuclear weapons is “perhaps the greatest danger to the American people”

10:06 Obama details the challenges in Afghanistan: “There will be difficult days ahead. but I am confident we will succeed”

10:02 Obama mentions Massachusetts special election: “After last week, it is clear that campaign fever has come even earlier than usual. but we still need to govern.” He calls out Republicans, saying, “just saying no to everything may be good short-term politics, but it’s not leadership”

9:59 Obama calls on Congress to publish all earmark requests on a single Web site before there’s a vote “so that the American people can see how their money is being spent”

9:57 Obama says Washington is facing a “deficit of trust,” and calls for action on “both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue” to restore credibility

9:54 Obama announces he will establish a bipartisan deficit reduction commission by executive order

9:54 “We will not continue tax cuts for oil companies, investment fund managers and those making over $250,000 a year. We just can’t afford it”

9:52 Obama proposes steps to “pay for the $1 trillion that it took to rescue the economy last year,” including a partial freeze on some government programs. He says he will enforce the freeze by veto if he has to

Broad range of programs targeted by proposed spending freeze

Obama proposes almost doubling child care tax credit

9:48 On health care, Obama urges Congress not to walk away. “Not now. not when we are so close. Let us find a way to come together and finish the job for the American people”

9:45 Standing ovation after Obama acknowledges first lady Michelle Obama for her efforts to tackle childhood obesity. with all eyes on the first lady, Obama notes, “She gets embarrassed” as she motions for those in the chambers to sit down

9:44 Obama gets more laughs: “By now it should be fairly obvious that I didn’t take on health care because it was good politics”

9:41 CNN’s Candy Crowley observes: a call for safe, clean nuclear power plans brings GOP to its feet

9:37 Obama announces goal of doubling exports over the next five years, an increase that he says will support 2 million jobs in America. “To help meet this goal, we’re launching a National Export Initiative that will help farmers and small businesses increase their exports, and reform export controls consistent with national security”

9:36 On climate change: “Even if you doubt the evidence, providing incentives for energy efficiency and clean energy are the right thing to do for our future — because the nation that leads the clean energy economy will be the nation that leads the global economy. and America must be that nation”

9:34 On financial reform: “The lobbyists are already trying to kill it. Well, we cannot let them win this fight. and if the bill that ends up on my desk does not meet the test of real reform, I will send it back”

9:29 Obama urges the Senate follow the House’s lead and pass a jobs bill, saying, “I want a jobs bill on my desk without delay”

9:28 Obama says workers in Tampa, Florida, will soon break ground on a new high-speed railroad funded by the Recovery Act

9:27 On stimulating the economy: “I’m proposing that we take $30 billion of the money Wall Street banks have repaid and use it to help community banks give small businesses the credit they need to stay afloat. I am also proposing a new small business tax credit — one that will go to over one million small businesses who hire new workers or raise wages. While we’re at it, let’s also eliminate all capital gains taxes on small business investment; and provide a tax incentive for all businesses, large and small, to invest in new plants and equipment.”

9:23 Obama credits the creation of 2 million jobs with steps his administration has taken toward economic recovery, adding, “We are on track to add another one and a half million jobs to this total by the end of the year”

9:20 CNN’s Candy Crowley observes: Always some good theater at these events. Obama talks about the taxes he has cut. no Republican stands to clap, and the president calls them out, “I thought I’d get some applause on that one”

9:18 Obama says the bank bailout “was about as popular as a root canal”

9:16 Obama draws first applause after he says he has “never been more hopeful about America’s future” than tonight

9:13 On the economy, Obama says “the worst of the storm has passed”

9:12 Obama says America is being tested, but said “we must answer history’s call,” conjuring up memories of such times of struggle as the Civil War Battle of Bull Run, the storming of Omaha Beach in World War II and the stock market crash of 1929

9:11 Obama begins his State of the Union address

9:10 Vice President Joe Biden lets out a cheer as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi welcomes Obama

9:08 Obama enters chamber, greets members of Congress, his Cabinet and Supreme Court justices

9:05 Wilson Livingood, the House Sergeant of Arms, introduces Obama

9:01 In holding room, Obama was talking with Sens. Lamar Alexander, John Cornyn and John Thune. He turned to the entire congressional welcoming committee and joked, “We just brokered a health care deal right here.”

8:48 p.m. The president’s speech is being written right up until the last moments, according to two White House aides, who say they have not seen a new draft since about noon today. An embargoed copy of the full speech was supposed to be released at 8:30 p.m., but there’s no sign of it yet because of last-minute changes.

8:38 p.m. Obama en route to Capitol

8 p.m. CNN’s Ed Henry reports:

Senior officials said the president’s broad goal was to seize back the mantle of change by talking about the need for a “new beginning” between Democrats and Republicans that can restore trust in Washington.

Along these lines, the president was to make what officials described as a passing reference to the special election in Massachusetts but would not have a “chastened” tone like Bill Clinton after the 1994 election. instead, officials said he would use the election defeat as a way to challenge Republicans to meet him halfway on the major issues facing the nation.

Officials said he would note that with Republicans now having 41 votes in the Senate, they can’t just block everything.

The first test will come next week when the Senate is expected to begin debate on a jobs bill. the president was to specifically try to sprinkle the jobs bill with small business and corporate tax cuts to win over some Republican votes and call their bluff if they do not come on board.

While jobs and the economy were to make up the bulk of the speech, officials said health care would also figure prominently. but they noted the president would not get too specific on the path forward because key lawmakers want to take a deep breath on the volatile issue while ramping up much more time on the jobs legislation.

Beyond jobs and health care, officials said the second tier of the agenda would focus on three primary issues:

– Financial regulatory reform, which would give the president another chance to press Wall Street to change the rules of the road to prevent another crisis.

– Climate change legislation, where the president would specifically cite the work of lawmakers in both parties trying to broker a compromise.

– Education reform, where the president would push for an increase of up to $4 billion despite lean times for other key parts of his budget.

7 p.m. Excerpts released

Complete coverage on the State of the Union address

By Gregory Corcoran

Another week, another jab at bankers.

Last week, one of President Obama’s first reactions to the Massachusetts election of Republican Scott Brown, which ended the Democratic Party’s 60-seat hold on the Senate, was to lash out at the banks, announcing what is known as the Volcker Rule, , a proposal that would set new limits on the size and risk taken by the country’s biggest banks.

Wednesday night, he led with another right jab at bankers (is there a trend here?), reiterating his reasons for his proposed financial-system changes. Here’s how bankers might respond to Obama’s critique:

President Obama: “For these Americans and so many others, change has not come fast enough. some are frustrated; some are angry. They dont understand why it seems like bad behavior on Wall Street is rewarded but hard work on Main Street isnt.
I’m sorry, who was taking out all those subprime, adjustable-rate mortgages on which those Wall Street-created securities were created? I know there are more mortgage-holding voters than bankers, but could you please stop pinning it all on us?

Obama: “Our most urgent task upon taking office was to shore up the same banks that helped cause this crisis.”
Say it with me: Subprime. Sub-Prime. At the base of the securitized house of cards was mortgages held by people who couldn’t afford them. Banks spread the contagion, but regular taxpayers who wanted McMansions–and coudn’t afford them–were a huge factor, too.

Obama: “It was not easy to do. And if theres one thing that has unified Democrats and Republicans, its that we all hated the bank bailout. I hated it. you hated it. It was about as popular as a root canal.”
Hey, we were the ones in the dentist’s chair. sure, we liked the cheap financing available from the Federal Reserve, but we didn’t all need to partake of that $250 billion rescue fund. you might remember that Secretary Paulson had to twist more than a few arms in that October meeting at the Treasury Department with the heads of the country’s nine biggest banks.

Obama: “So I supported the last administrations efforts to create the financial rescue program. And when we took the program over, we made it more transparent and accountable. As a result, the markets are now stabilized, and we have recovered most of the money we spent on the banks.”
Steady? The market dropped 552.45 points in three days last week because of all the turmoil in Washington, what with bank curbs and the anti-Bernanke move. oh yeah, and what about the TARP money you gave to the auto makers?

Obama: “To recover the rest, I have proposed a fee on the biggest banks. I know Wall Street isnt keen on this idea, but if these firms can afford to hand out big bonuses again, they can afford a modest fee to pay back the taxpayers who rescued them in their time of need.”
Let me see if I got this straight. We’ve paid back $143 billion of the $205 billion, at a profit. But you want to tax the biggest banks, which are the ones who paid most of that $143 billion, to recover the rest? And you know we aren’t just going to eat the cost of the tax ourselves. Don’t believe me? just ask Todd Teske, CEO of Briggs & Stratton Corp. “I’ve heard this has the potential for driving up costs for the banks,” he said in this WSJ article. “To the extent those costs are passed on to their customer base, that becomes problematic.” you boast of not having raised taxes a dime on any American, but you are about to make it a little more costly for everyone to do their banking.

Boston

When voters head to the polls Tuesday to vote in the Massachusetts Senate race, they might have to battle snow and rain to get there. will that help either candidate?

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The forecast in many parts of the state calls for cold, wet weather – which could keep some voters at home.

That could ultimately benefit Democratic candidate Martha Coakley, says pollster David Paleologos of Suffolk University in Boston, who has conducted polling on this race.

Because the worst weather is supposed to hit the more conservative towns of northern and western Massachusetts, voters who might typically favor state Sen. Scott Brown (R) could have a more difficult time making it to the polls, mr. Paleologos says.

Voter turnout is already expected to be lower than in a regular November election. People aren’t used to having to vote this time of year and there’s only one seat on the ballot.

“We have no idea what normal turnout would be because we’ve never done this before,” says Dan Payne, a Democratic media consultant based in the state. “It’s such a weird animal we have here. A January election is something we’ve never done.”

High-stakes race

But this race has also received unexpected national attention due to its implications for healthcare reform and other issues crucial to President Obama’s agenda.

Ms. Coakley has promised to support the healthcare reform bill currently in Congress, which would give the Senate the necessary 60th vote to defeat any GOP filibuster and give the bill final approval. but mr. Brown, little known before this race but currently leading most polls, has vowed to vote down the bill.

With such high stakes, the race has drawn campaign donations and star politicians from across the country in recent days. mr. Obama and former President Bill Clinton made campaign appearances for Coakley this weekend, while Brown found stumping help in former Mayor Rudy Giuliani Friday.

Link between weather and voting

Still, it’s unclear just who might turn out Tuesday to vote or what impact inclement weather might have.

No study has conclusively linked weather to low voter turnout, says Charles Stewart, a political scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.

But Suffolk’s Paleologos thinks that snowy weather could have an impact on the race of between half a point to 2 or 3 points. He conducted polling earlier this week of likely voters that placed Brown ahead of Coakley by 4 points, but within the margin of error for the poll. In that scenario, the weather could be a major factor.

But Paleologos also conducted polling over the weekend in three bellwether communities that returned results nearly identical to the final state’s final tallies in the 2006 Senate race. Those three communities have Brown leading by a 14-point margin – enough that a few points lost to weather would not affect the outcome of the race.

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After a sub-par performance in Latin America during 2009, the Obama administration has truly risen to this occasion with its forceful response to the humanitarian crisis in Haiti. President Obama has ordered his agencies to put this disaster on the top of their agendas, and has already committed $100 million in U.S. assistance. but the President, wisely, has cautioned it will take some long days before the full measure of U.S. relief can arrive in Haiti and show results.

These efforts will move faster because of an agreement with Cuba’s government made public today that the United States can operate relief flights destined for Haiti over Cuban airspace.

No one should be surprised by Cuba’s decision; they have a decades’ long commitment to international cooperation in the face of national disasters, and our government has previously received cooperation from Havana on over-flights for weather detection and fighting hurricanes, on matters relating to security, and during disasters in Venezuela and Pakistan.

But the President should think about this: if Cuba is willing to cooperate with the United States in the air, shouldn’t we cooperate with Cuba on the ground on initiatives that reflect our countries’ shared interests in helping the people of Haiti? Doing so would quickly multiply the force of our efforts.

Let’s not forget, Cuba is already there.

Haiti and Cuba signed a medical cooperation agreement in 1998. Present in Haiti before the earthquake struck were 344 members of the Cuban medical brigade who have been providing primary care, obstetrical services, and operations to restore the sight of Haitians with various eye diseases. Earlier this week, Cuba sent 30 more physicians along with food, medicine, plasma, and other items.

According to Spanish press reports, this contingent is already providing emergency medical care across Haiti for patients that Cuban doctors had already been treating for many years. Immediately following the earthquake, these doctors opened up two make-shift clinics in their residences because local hospitals were destroyed. Cuban doctors then moved to reopen the “Social Security” hospital and started operating on the injured. A day ago, the Cubans reopened the national hospital and started to treat people.

Their work could form the foundation for broad Cuban-U.S. cooperation.

First, as U.S. AID and military teams roll into Haiti, the U.S. government should make it clear that our personnel should cooperate, coordinate, and work with the Cuban medical personnel in Haiti. They know Haiti, they’ve been providing health care in Haiti since 1998, and they have been running a highly effective medical response since the earthquake occurred.

Second, the U.S. can help expand the reach and impact of the Cuban medical brigades. when they experience supply shortages, we should offer the Cubans medicines and other necessary assistance to help with their effort. Gary Maybarduk, a veteran of relief efforts with experience in Haiti, has urged lending the Cuban brigades durable medical equipment and using U.S. helicopters to transport them to inaccessible locations.

Third, we’ve seen reports that injured Americans – and possibly, injured Haitians – are being airlifted to the medical facilities at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Our colleague at the New America Foundation, Col. Larry Wilkerson, has proposed that we open up Guantanamo to Cuban doctors.

Cuban doctors should be welcomed on to the base to assist in treatment and operations. Our armed forces – which have lengthy experience in cooperating with the Cuban military – could allow Cubans to come pick up (or they could transport) victims to Cuban hospitals for treatment. Our militaries carry out exercises to practice for fires and other big accidents near the base that require joint efforts to treat the victims – this would be effective and it would assure quicker attention for the wounded.

Fourth, global leaders are calling for a summit to coordinate global responses to the Haiti tragedy. That summit could take place in Cuba, which is ideally located. if it doesn’t happen there, Cuba should be invited and encouraged to play a leadership role in the coordination of response efforts.

President Obama knows the Cubans can do more than open up airspace to American flights. when he attended the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad and Tobago last year, he made a public statement about the respect shown Cuban doctors by the heads of state he met at the Summit, and conceded that the U.S. had to engage in efforts like medical cooperation to reconnect our country to the people of the region.

The previous administration couldn’t bring itself to do this. After Hurricane Katrina, Cuba’s government offered to send 1,586 doctors and 25 tons of medical supplies to buttress what was obviously an insufficient response to the suffering of American citizens on our own Gulf Coast. Bush being Bush, his administration not only declined the offer but insulted the qualifications of Cuban doctors.

We need to be Samaritans and not silent or sarcastic about what Cuba has to offer. We have seen the better angels of Obama’s nature, and we’re hopeful that he would seriously consider cooperating with the Cuban government especially if it meant saving Haitian lives.

This tragedy is about Haiti, not Cuba or President Obama, and I recognize that. but we can help Haitians by enlisting with the Cubans in a joint effort to speed and magnify aid our efforts. Doing so would set a new example for U.S. diplomacy that will return long-standing benefits to our nation and our relationships across the Western Hemisphere. and possibly even set a new tone for the U.S.-Cuba relationship. We need it.