Tahrir Protesters to sit-in Until Army Steps Down

The people united will never be defeated:

Egyptian youths camped out on Thursday in Cairo’s Tahrir Square and vowed to stay put until the army hands power to civilians, a day after a mass demonstration marked a year since an uprising which brought down Hosni Mubarak.

Tens of thousands of Egyptians poured into the square and onto streets of other cities for the January 25 anniversary of the day the revolt began. Also Thursday, military authorities told several American pro-democracy activists – including the son of a member of US President Barack Obama’s cabinet – they cannot leave the country. One of those affected described the move as a “de facto detention.”

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President Obama: I Want Second Term 'Badly'

It's all about him:

President Barack Obama today signaled an aggressive tact for his early re-election campaign, critiquing his Republican opponents by name and insisting he's ready to "fight with every fiber of my being" for a second term.

"How much do you want it?" ABC News' Diane Sawyer asked Obama during an exclusive interview in Las Vegas.

"Badly," the president said, "because I think the country needs it."

"Whoever wins the Republican primary is going to be a standard bearer for a vision of the country that I don't think reflects who we are," Obama said.

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Capping Worst Year On Record, Sales Of New Homes Drop In December

I'm not sure I heard any solutions from President during the State of the Union:

The AP reports:

"The Commerce Department said Thursday new-home sales fell last month to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 307,000. The pace is less than half the 700,000 that economists say must be sold in a healthy economy.

    "About 302,000 homes were sold last year. That's less than the 323,000 sold in 2010, making 2011 the worst year on records dating back to 1963.

    "The median sales prices for new homes dropped in December, as builders continued to slash prices. It fell 2.5 percent to $210,300."

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George Soros: We Could be Headed for a Second Depression

I'm afraid he is right. The financial system is so out of control that only bad can come from it. The near collapse in 2007 was only a temporary reprieve. The political system is so corrupt and inept that it has no answer for what plagues the World. Here in the United States cooperation between Congress and the White House is non-existent. The politicians are too busy taking orders from the banksters that are undermining the financial system. No one is charge. No democracy. No leadership. No solutions:

Sitting in his 33rd-floor corner office high above Seventh Avenue in New York, preparing for his trip to Davos, he is more concerned with surviving than staying rich. “At times like these, survival is the most important thing,” he says, peering through his owlish glasses and brushing wisps of gray hair off his forehead. He doesn’t just mean it’s time to protect your assets. He means it’s time to stave off disaster. As he sees it, the world faces one of the most dangerous periods of modern history—a period of “evil.” Europe is confronting a descent into chaos and conflict. In America he predicts riots on the streets that will lead to a brutal clampdown that will dramatically curtail civil liberties. The global economic system could even collapse altogether.

“I am not here to cheer you up. The situation is about as serious and difficult as I’ve experienced in my career,” Soros tells Newsweek. “We are facing an extremely difficult time, comparable in many ways to the 1930s, the Great Depression. We are facing now a general retrenchment in the developed world, which threatens to put us in a decade of more stagnation, or worse. The best-case scenario is a deflationary environment. The worst-case scenario is a collapse of the financial system.”

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Bill Would Ban Aborted Fetuses in Food

Bill Would Ban Aborted Fetuses in Food - ABC News

“There is a potential that there are companies that are using aborted human babies in their research and development of basically enhancing flavor for artificial flavors,” he told KRMG Radio. “I don’t know if it is happening in Oklahoma, it may be, it may not be. What I am saying is that if it does happen then we are not going to allow it to manufacture here."

Federal regulators have failed to act on toxic chemical, report says

Federal regulators have failed to act on toxic chemical, report says - The Huffington Post

Despite growing fears over the health effects of a chemical found in many baby bottles and a host of other products, federal regulators have done little to protect the public, according to a new report from a nonprofit research group.

Rubio: Gingrich 'Inaccurate, Inflammatory' Immigration ad attacking Romney 'Doesn't Belong in this Campaign'

Rubio is considered a possible VP pick for the Republican nominee. His words carry weight:

Sen. Marco Rubio scolded Newt Gingrich’s presidential campaign over a Spanish-language radio ad that accuses rival Mitt Romney of being “anti-immigrant”

 “This kind of language is more than just unfortunate. It’s inaccurate, inflammatory, and doesn’t belong in this campaign,” Rubio told The Miami Herald when asked about the ad.

[...]So when Gingrich’s radio spot described Romney as “the most anti-immigrant candidate,” Rubio and others felt he not only crossed the line – he was adopting liberal criticisms.

That's why the ad was pulled:

The Newt Gingrich campaign has taken off the air a Spanish-language radio spot not long after an influential Florida senator lambasted the presidential candidate for releasing an "inaccurate" and "inflammatory" ad about Mitt Romney's immigration record.

The Occupy Movement: A Religious Read

This article was written by rabbi Daniel Zemel:

In some ways, at the heart of the Occupy movement is the perceived and real breakdown of what we might call our national civic covenant — a nice biblical term. The terms, meaning and aspirations of this covenant can be found in such foundational texts as the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Gettysburg Address.

[...]The very notion of a national civic covenant can be traced to a biblical teaching that subtly informs so much of what is at the heart contemporary democracy.  Deuteronomy, after all, teaches that everyone was gathered to be a partner in the covenant of Sinai — men and women, young and old.  Everyone from “wood chopper to water drawer to the stranger in your gates,” was a covenanted partner in the Sinaitic dream of a new vision for what it means to be a human being:  Each one of us carries a reflection of God’s holiness; each one of us is made in God’s image.

Today, too many in America see too vast a gap between the elites and the people.  This doesn’t challenge the notion that there will always be a 1 percent: It is the steepness of the angle between the 1 percent and the rest that is being questioned.  Does the national civic covenant still hold when so little is shared between those at the top and those at the bottom?  What sort of covenant is it when it allows us to have so little in common?

Newt Gingrich Attacked Reagan and called him a "Failing" President

Do the people of Florida know who they are about to vote for? Gingrich is a total fraud. And even worse he is dangerous. He is capable of anything. Romney is correctly ridiculed for his flip-flopping. Newt Gingrich is worse. He's schizophrenic:

Newt Gingrich's fond recollections of working under Ronald Reagan in the 1980s have been rubbished by a White House colleague who claims he was often extremely critical of the former president.

In several of his campaign speeches, Gingrich has alluded to his work with the 40th U.S. President, claiming 'we helped defeat the Soviet empire' and 'I helped Reagan create millions of jobs' among other achievements.

But Elliott Abrams, a former assistant secretary of state, said that rather than working side by side with Reagan, Gingrich was scathing about his plans to defeat Communism and often refused to support his decisions.

Mr Abrams said that when Gingrich was first elected to Congress in 1978, the freshman members chose to attack Reagan as often as he voted for him.

Writing in the National Review, he describes a statement made by Gingrich on March 21, 1986, at the height of the Nicaraguan contras funding debate.

He quotes Gingrich: 'Measured against the scale and momentum of the Soviet empire's challenge, the Reagan administration has failed, is failing, and without a dramatic change in strategy will continue to fail... President Reagan is clearly failing.

'The burden of this failure frankly must be placed first on Ronald Reagan.'

In another bitter attack, he compared Reagan's meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev as 'the most dangerous summit for the West since Adolf Hitler met with Neville Chamberlain in 1938 in Munich'.

Full article

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.”

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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."

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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.

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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.’”

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'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.

Video: Nancy Pelosi: Newt Gingrich Will Never be President

Transcript: Obama State of the Union Speech (1-24-12)

Full prepared Text. Excerpt Below:

In 2008, the house of cards collapsed.  We learned that mortgages had been sold to people who couldn’t afford or understand them.  Banks had made huge bets and bonuses with other people’s money.  Regulators had looked the other way, or didn’t have the authority to stop the bad behavior.

It was wrong.  It was irresponsible.  And it plunged our economy into a crisis that put millions out of work, saddled us with more debt, and left innocent, hard-working Americans holding the bag.  In the six months before I took office, we lost nearly four million jobs.  And we lost another four million before our policies were in full effect.

Those are the facts.  But so are these.  In the last 22 months, businesses have created more than three million jobs.  Last year, they created the most jobs since 2005.  American manufacturers are hiring again, creating jobs for the first time since the late 1990s.  Together, we’ve agreed to cut the deficit by more than $2 trillion.  And we’ve put in place new rules to hold Wall Street accountable, so a crisis like that never happens again.

The state of our Union is getting stronger.  And we’ve come too far to turn back now.  As long as I’m President, I will work with anyone in this chamber to build on this momentum.  But I intend to fight obstruction with action, and I will oppose any effort to return to the very same policies that brought on this economic crisis in the first place.

No, we will not go back to an economy weakened by outsourcing, bad debt, and phony financial profits.  Tonight, I want to speak about how we move forward, and lay out a blueprint for an economy that’s built to last – an economy built on American manufacturing, American energy, skills for American workers, and a renewal of American values.

[...]Second, no American company should be able to avoid paying its fair share of taxes by moving jobs and profits overseas.  From now on, every multinational company should have to pay a basic minimum tax.  And every penny should go towards lowering taxes for companies that choose to stay here and hire here. 

Third, if you’re an American manufacturer, you should get a bigger tax cut.  If you’re a high-tech manufacturer, we should double the tax deduction you get for making products here.  And if you want to relocate in a community that was hit hard when a factory left town, you should get help financing a new plant, equipment, or training for new workers.

My message is simple.  It’s time to stop rewarding businesses that ship jobs overseas, and start rewarding companies that create jobs right here in America.  Send me these tax reforms, and I’ll sign them right away.  

[...]Tonight, I’m announcing the creation of a Trade Enforcement Unit that will be charged with investigating unfair trade practices in countries like China.  There will be more inspections to prevent counterfeit or unsafe goods from crossing our borders.  And this Congress should make sure that no foreign company has an advantage over American manufacturing when it comes to accessing finance or new markets like Russia.  Our workers are the most productive on Earth, and if the playing field is level, I promise you – America will always win.