CONSERVATIVE AND LIBERAL GROUPS CALL FOR REP.HUNTER’s RESIGNATION OVER “INDEFINITE DETENTION OF CITIZENS” VOTE

We should do the same with the President:

Duncan Hunter (source: http://eastcountymagazine.org)

Politics does indeed make strange bedfellows. On February 3rd, members of the liberal Ramona Forum will join forces with conservative members of the TEA party to demand the resignation of Congressman Duncan Hunter. The protest will be held at Rep. Hunter’s office, 1870 Cordell Street in El Cajon, from 1 to 4 p.m.

“I am going and I know some Tea Party organizers who are going,” said Terri Linnell, Tea Party member who is running against Hunter in the Republican primary. The local protest is part of a a national movement to protest the National Defense Authorization Act, which was signed into law by President Obama in December 2012. Civil libertarians have objected to the bill on grounds that it could allow the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens.

[...]“That’s against the Constitution,” says Linnell, who said objections to the measure are also being voiced by conservative Oath Keeper members as well as Tea Party members. Some Liberal Democrats and Libertarians share the same concern. “By voting for it they broke their oath uphold the Constitution,” Linnell observed. “They voted to allow this.”

Full article

Occupy Wall Street Monitored By U.S. Conference Of Mayors, Emails Show

The two-party dictatorship obviously feels threatened by Occupy Wall Street. It also shows--once again--that there is no difference between the 2 parties:

After denying that they are coordinating responses to Occupy Wall Street, the U.S. Conference of Mayors recently surveyed city administrations across the country about the movement.

In late November, according to documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request, the District of Columbia mayor's office received a request to update its answers to the survey. The questions to city officials appeared to elicit profiles of Occupy activists and answers that could help show the activists as a drain on resources.

The mayor's conference asked via the emailed survey: What are the estimated Occupy-related costs? What are the major issues relating to Occupy events? Has the Occupy membership changed and if so "describe those involved in the movement how they've changed in terms of who they are and what their intentions for the demonstrations are."

In the survey, the organization also called on city administrations to share tactics. "Please describe any strategies or tactics your city is employing in responding to Occupy-related events, including an assessment of their effectiveness if possible."

Full article

Oakland Police Could Face Federal Takeover

It should have happened before this thug police force attacked peaceful Occupy Wall Street protesters several months ago:

Mayor Jean Quan vowed Wednesday to quickly reform the scandal-plagued Oakland Police Department after a frustrated judge threatened a federal takeover if it fails to quickly make good on changes agreed to nine years ago.

U.S. District Judge Thelton Henderson said he "remains in disbelief" that the department has failed to adopt the reforms.

Henderson's frustration with the pace of improvements was evident throughout a scathing five-page ruling issued Tuesday.

"This department finds itself woefully behind its peers around the state and nation," he wrote.

Full article

Arizona governor, Obama in 'tense' exchange over book

Barack Obama is a very arrogant individual who does not know his role as President. He thinks and treats Congress and Governors as subordinates. This is the main reason he is not respected by his adversaries. He feels everyone should believe like he does that he is hot stuff. He is no leader. And like his recent predecessors, he's an egomaniac. That's the system we have. We elect people with plenty of ego and little ability to solve problems:

Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer and President Barack Obama engaged in an apparently tense exchange on an airport tarmac shortly after Air Force One touched down outside Phoenix on Wednesday.

The two leaders could be seen talking intently at the base of Air Force One's steps. Both could be seen smiling, but speaking at the same time.

Obama appeared to walk away from the Republican governor while they were still talking, according to a White House pool reporter. Brewer confirmed that by saying she didn't finish her sentence.

Asked moments later what the conversation was about, Brewer said: "He was a little disturbed about my book."

On a Phoenix radio talk show after their meeting, Brewer said Obama was "tense."

Full article

Howard Fineman: Newt Gingrich Never uses Title "President Obama"

This is in keeping with the Obama hating practice. Gingrich wants to appeal to all the racists that refuse to acknowledge Barack Obama as President of the United States. And then again, Newt is a bigot:

During a SOTU preview segment on Tuesday evening’s Hardball, MSNBC contributor Howard Fineman made an observation about a rankling trend among certain opponents of President Obama, the tendency not to address him by his hard-won title. Framing it in the context of those who question the President’s legitimacy, Fineman noted “I have never heard Newt Gingrich call President Obama ‘President Obama.’”

Full article

'Mormonism is a cult,' says the Pentecostal preacher who introduced Newt Gingrich

A bigot tends to surround himself with bigots:

Offering up a prayer before the arrival of Newt Gingrich, Dr Howard Rodney-Browne declared: 'We stand for America. We draw a line in the sand. The devil will not have America! Absolutely not!'

Gingrich's event was held in the grounds of The River at Tampa Bay church, where Rodney-Browne, a South African-born U.S. citizen who first came to the United States as a missionary in 1987, is pastor.

Rodney-Browne called for 'a rising of every believer in this land that will not sit idly by and allow the killing of unborn babies and allow Islam to take over this country and allow the rights and freedom of a Christian nation where the word of God is proclaimed and preached to be taken away.'

[...]He expressed grave reservations, however, about Mitt Romney's Mormon faith.

'Mormonism is a cult and that's the problem,' he said.

Full article

Over Half Of Retail Workers Earn Less Than $10 An Hour

Of course last night the President made no mention of the minimum wage and barely mentioned health care. Therefore, those who work in retail have no hope of seeing their financial situation improve in a second Obama administration:

More than half of the retail workers surveyed in a study last fall earn less than $10 an hour. The Retail Action Project and Stephanie Luce of the City University of New York conducted the study of 436 retail workers in New York, a location chosen because it is the retail capital of the U.S. Most surveyed worked in stores with a national presence, which means that the study reflects conditions and practices experienced by retail workers across the U.S.

About one-third of the workers surveyed support a family member on their wages, but the median wage for the surveyed workers is only $9.50 an hour. The majority of workers (59 percent) are female. Almost one in five earns less than $8 an hour, and almost 12 percent earn minimum wage. About 34 percent rely on public assistance.

Other findings from the study include:

•     Lack of health insurance and paid sick days from retail jobs. Over 70 percent don’t receive health insurance from their job. About 25 percent live without health insurance, and 34 percent rely on government programs. Less than half received paid time off or paid sick days. Only 25 percent have ever used a paid sick day

Full article

Video: Tahrir Square Marks Egyptian Revolution Anniversary

Editorial: State of the Union Ideas Useful but not Enough

USA Today Editorial:

Those are worthy targets of opportunity, but the president gave shorter shrift to another obstacle to reviving the American dream, the nation's growing debt. The cost of servicing that debt alone is now $4,200 per household this year. Most of this borrowing is not being undertaken to defeat tyranny, build massive infrastructure programs or improve education. Rather, it is funding a yawning gap between historically low tax receipts and unaffordable spending on health care and retirement benefits. Taxing millionaires won't close the gap, and suggesting that it would is deceptive.

Problems of such scale will not be solved until the nation can overcome its inability to adapt its education system, politics and culture to a world rapidly being remade.

Obama spoke eloquently on these topics, particularly the desire to produce better skilled workers and generate more investment in American manufacturing. Yet his proposals were mostly small bore and have little chance of being enacted in an election year. That might be all that's possible in these contentious times.

Dealing with the big challenges would require both parties to stop fighting long enough to provide each other cover as they make difficult decisions to cut popular spending programs, overhaul the tax code and channel more of the money that the government does spend into long-term investments, as opposed to living subsidies. That's a sure path to improving the state of the union, but not one the nation's political culture is yet willing to accept.