World News Korner

Courtesy of the YouTube page:

Immigration-rights protesters interrupted President Obama's speech Monday demanding he use executive powers to immediately halt all deportations, but he rebuked them, telling them he doesn't have that power. "You have a power to stop deportation," one man, standing directly behind Mr. Obama, shouted near the end of the president's immigration speech in San Francisco, who then began to lead chants of "Stop deportation!"

"Actually, I don't, and that's why we are here," Mr. Obama replied.

When security moved to escort the protester out of the room, Mr. Obama told them to hold off.

"These guys don't need to go. let me finish. No, no, he can stay there," he said.

He went on to say if he thought he had unilateral powers to halt deportations, he would. But he said that would actually break the law.

"If in fact I could solve all these problems without passing the laws in Congress then I would do so. But we're also a nation of laws, that's part of our tradition," he said.

"The easy way out is to yell and pretend I can try and do something by violating our laws. what I'm proposing is the harder path," Mr. Obama said. "It requires us lobbying and getting it done."

I was incredibly impressed with how he engaged this young man instead of simply allowing the Secret Service to strong arm him out of the building. He did not have to engage, but he did.

I am sometimes really irritated by people who seem to think that the President can solve every problem with a snap of his fingers or an Executive Order. He can't.

He needs to have a Congress and Senate that are willing to work with him, and right now the Republicans will not touch a single thing that he wants to get done.

And let me just add that I sometimes think of myself as pretty cool, but I would have had a VERY hard time keeping my cool while that jackass was yelling like that and refusing to let the President respond.

Now just imagine how President Romney would have handled that. Frightening isn't it?

Talking Points has more.

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This is an excerpt from the speech that John F. Kennedy had prepared to deliver in Dallas, the breeding ground for the Tea Party of today, but was struck down by an assassin's bullet before he could speak its words out loud:

In a world of complex and continuing problems, in a world full of frustrations and irritations, America's leadership must be guided by the lights of learning and reason -- or else those who confuse rhetoric with reality and the plausible with the possible will gain the popular ascendancy with their seemingly swift and simple solutions to every world problem.

There will always be dissident voices heard in the land, expressing opposition without alternative, finding fault but never favor, perceiving gloom on every side and seeking influence without responsibility. Those voices are inevitable.

But today other voices are heard in the land -- voices preaching doctrines wholly unrelated to reality, wholly unsuited to the sixties, doctrines which apparently assume that words will suffice without weapons, that vituperation is as good as victory and that peace is a sign of weakness. At a time when the national debt is steadily being reduced in terms of its burden on our economy, they see that debt as the single greatest threat to our security. At a time when we are steadily reducing the number of Federal employees serving every thousand citizens, they fear those supposed hordes of civil servants far more than the actual hordes of opposing armies.

We cannot expect that everyone, to use the phrase of a decade ago, will "talk sense to the American people." But we can hope that fewer people will listen to nonsense. And the notion that this Nation is headed for defeat through deficit, or that strength is but a matter of slogans, is nothing but just plain nonsense.

Clearly that is a speech which could be delivered today, and its meaning would not be lost. In fact today a speech like that may be needed more than ever.

That speech could be talking about Rush Lumbaugh, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, and just about ANY of those who fear monger over at Fox News or on Right Wing radio.

It could also be addressing the Teabaggers who enter politics simply to sabotage from within.

In fact Tom Brokaw remembered the reaction from the conservatives of the time to the news of JFK's death, and related it on MSNBC on Friday:

Recounting his experiences from that day, he said that the reaction to JFK’s assassination, “mostly in conservative states,” was encapsulated by his interaction with one man who expressed satisfaction over the president’s killing.

“This was unusual but it was not unheard of,” Brokaw told the MSNBC hosts, prefacing a conservative’s reaction to JFK’s killing. “As I came running out of the announce booth, the chief engineer, with whom I didn’t get along very well – he’s a really curmudgeonly guy, old, kind of a gnarly guy – said ‘What happened?’”

“‘Kennedy was shot,’” Brokaw recalled telling the engineer. “He said, ‘About time somebody shot that SOB’”

“That was heard in other places, mostly in conservative states,” Brokaw concluded. “That was reflecting his real feeling for him and they had to peel me away from him.”

Are there any among us who do not believe that the reaction to news of President Obama's assassination would not be virtually identical among the Right Wing of today?

We need to remember as we document and discuss the sabotage and obstructionism practiced by the conservatives of today, that if they feel backed into a corner there is no telling to what lengths they will go to survive.

(H/T to Rolling Stone.)

Update: Well right on cue here come the Teabaggers to help me make my point.

Courtesy of Raw Story:

An apparent threat made against President Barack Obama’s life posted on Facebook has caught the attention of the Secret Service.

Agents declined to comment on the post, which has been removed but was preserved in screen captures by Social News Daily, made Tuesday by Everest Wilhelmen, leader of the Christian American Patriots Militia.

“We now have authority to shoot Obama, i.e., to kill him,” Wilhelmsen posted on his Facebook page. “His willful violations and alienation of our Constitution, constant disregard for our peaceful protests and corruption of all the three branches of government, (i.e., rogue and illegitimate government), reveal the dictator that he is. Obama and his co-conspirators disrespect our Constitution (constitutional rule of law) and abuse the American people.”

The post was made the same day as a gathering of right-wing cranks, conspiracy theorists and gun advocates met at a park across from the White House demanding that Obama voluntarily leave office.

When the Right Wing cannot get their way through elections, or political maneuverings, then their only fallback is to start the killing.

And this is why we want stronger gun control laws in this country. As far as I am concerned nobody who posts something like this should be able to even touch a weapon for the rest of their life. And that goes for the little one between their legs as well, no sense in letting these idiots procreate.

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"Look saying I'm a fake Alaskan, is like saying my glasses and hair are fake. Who'd believe ya?"

So this little tidbit showed up in our weekly political gossip column the Alaska Ear yesterday:

Earwigs who don't care for Our Sarah are taking heart from the fact she didn't apply for a Permanent Fund dividend this year, presumably because she was out of the state longer than is allowed. They seem to think this means she can't run for the U.S. Senate in Alaska.

Sorry. Not so.

Ear checked with Elections Goddess Gail Fenumiai, who said federal rules require only that one be 30 years old and an "inhabitant" of the state. Which is why that wacko from Brooklyn who was in Zaz Hollander's ADN story Friday can probably show up here and run in the primary.

Just what we need. Are there no shelters for the weird in Brooklyn?

Anyhow, while serious lobes were thinking politics, Ear was noticing that Todd, Trig and Piper did apply. So apparently, they don't spend as much time Outside as Mom.

Now of course the article focused on the question of whether Palin could run for the Senate or not, but I know there is no way that she would run for political office again, so that part did not interest me.

What did interest me was the revelation that Palin had not filed for her PFD this year.

As you know I already documented the fact that she did not do so last year either. So I did a check over at the Alaska Department of Revenue, and sure enough Palin's name was not on there.

Bristol was on there. As were Todd's mom Faye, his sister Diana, Track's daughter Kyla Grace, Piper, Todd, Track, and Trig.

But no Sarah.

The other name that was missing was Willow, who I assume was gone to "hair school" in Arizona for much of the year, but who still should have qualified since attending school out of state does not a disqualify you for the PFD. Here are the guidelines for such an absence:

1. receiving secondary or postsecondary education on a full-time basis;
2. receiving vocational, professional, or other specific education on a full-time basis for which, as determined by the Alaska Commission on Postsecondary Education, a comparable program is not reasonably available in the state;

So perhaps Willow did not qualify for some other reason, or somebody in her family did not prepare the appropriate paperwork.

However what is not in dispute is that Sarah Palin, for the second year running, is no longer a resident of Alaska.

And that is something we Alaskans need to advertise far and wide.

Sarah Palin is no longer Alaska's problem, she now belongs to the world. (And more specifically Arizona. Ha, ha, ha Arizona!)

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Courtesy of the LA Times:

Despite the disastrous rollout of the federal government's healthcare website, enrollment is surging in many states as tens of thousands of consumers sign up for insurance plans made available by President Obama's health law.

A number of states that use their own systems, including California, are on track to hit enrollment targets for 2014 because of a sharp increase in November, according to state officials.

"What we are seeing is incredible momentum," said Peter Lee, director of Covered California, the nation's largest state insurance marketplace, which accounted for a third of all enrollments nationally in October. California — which enrolled about 31,000 people in health plans last month — nearly doubled that in the first two weeks of this month.

Several other states, including Connecticut and Kentucky, are outpacing their enrollment estimates, even as states that depend on the federal website lag far behind. In Minnesota, enrollment in the second half of October ran at triple the rate of the first half, officials said. Washington state is also on track to easily exceed its October enrollment figure, officials said.

You know whenever I see statistics like this I cannot help but think of all of the millions of Americans who could have been helped to get health care if only those Republican governors had allowed the expansion of Medicaid in their states and had set up state exchanges of their own.

I just hope that the people in their states are paying attention, and are prepared to punish them come election day.

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Courtesy of the Arizona resident's Facebook page:

Back home in Alaska after a great few weeks on our “Good Tidings and Great Joy” book tour! Had to jump on Todd's SkiDoo with Trig to eliminate jet lag. Thanks so much to all who came out to visit, share recipes, and give us the chance to say an early Merry Christmas!

Back home? Does this picture look like Arizona to anybody else?

Look I believe that coincidences DO happen, unlike a certain poorly bewigged lunatic I could mention, but come on!

I put up this post proving that Sarah Palin has not received a PFD two years running yesterday morning, and then eight and a half hours later Palin is saying that she is suddenly back in Alaska?

And with pictures to "prove it." Pictures which just so happen to feature the little boy that we accused her of abandoning as well. Seriously?

You know if I were a conspiracy theorist I might think that somebody was watching this blog, and felt the need to put the kibosh on speculation that she was not a resident of Alaska while she was out selling a book that was all about her life in Alaska.

You know, IF I were a conspiracy theorist.

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Courtesy of CNN:

A grand jury investigating the 2012 rape of a 16-year-old girl in Steubenville, Ohio, has indicted four school employees, including the school superintendent, who faces felony charges, Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced Monday.

Steubenville City Schools Superintendent Michael McVey faces three felony counts: one charge of tampering with evidence and two counts of obstructing justice. He also is charged with making a false statement and obstructing official business, both misdemeanors, DeWine said.

Also indicted was elementary school principal Lynnett Gorman and wrestling coach Seth Fluharty, both of whom are charged with misdemeanor failure to report child abuse. Volunteer assistant Steubenville football coach Matt Bellardine was charged with four misdemeanors: allowing underage drinking, obstructing official business, making a false statement and contributing to the unruliness or delinquency of a child.

This brings to six the number of people the grand jury has indicted after two students were convicted of rape, DeWine said. A school technology director and his daughter were indicted in October.

In March, Steubenville High School football players Ma'lik Richmond and Trenton Mays were convicted of the rape, which authorities said took place at a party in August 2012. Photos and videos of the incident made their way onto social media and attracted national attention, rocking the small eastern Ohio community.

Richmond was sentenced to a minimum of one year in a juvenile correctional facility. Mays got two years.

A grand jury then began investigating whether others should be charged. In October, it indicted William Rhinaman, 53, the director of technology for Steubenville City Schools, on charges of tampering with evidence, obstruction of justice, obstructing official business and perjury.

His daughter, Hannah Rhinaman, 20, of Mingo Junction, Ohio, was also indicted that month on two counts of receiving stolen property and one count of grand theft, according to a news release from DeWine's office.

This is very good news, in a case that demonstrated just how far a town will go to protect their athletes. Even at the expense of a 16 year old girl's reputation and personal safety.

These school employees were supposed to protect this child, and instead did everything they could to protect her attackers and to prevent justice from being carried out.

For those who are not up to speed on the Steubenville rape case just click here.

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I caught this for the first time the other day after it popped up on one of the sites I visit frequently.

I had never seen this movies entitled "God on Trial" but I found this portion to be incredibly riveting.

Here is how IMBD describes the film:

Awaiting their inevitable deaths at one of the worst concentration camps, a group of Jews make a rabbinical court to decide whether G-d has went against the holy covenant and if He is the one guilty for their suffering.

You know you almost HAVE to believe that conversations like this took place in concentration camps all over the place during World War 2. In fact I believe that they are happening with increasing frequency in the years since that terrible war, and not only among the Jewish population.

I am interested in your feedback, because as an Atheist all I could think was that the questions posed simply had no reasonable nor logical answers, and either pointed to the non-existence of God or to the existence of a terrible God who relishes the act of human genocide and revels in our suffering.

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