Jack & Jill Politics

Kudos to Barbara Boxer for Saaaaa-lping Lindsey Graham yesterday! Love. Her.

rikyrah: HE'S SAFELY BACK HOME!! :>): LOVE THE SALUTE! :>)

MUTUAL SALUTES!/RESPECT!! {a PIC}

President Barack Obama arrives on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Thursday, Feb. 5, 2009.

WELCOME HOME - - MR. PRESIDENT!! :>)

Here's ANOTHER PIC

Annnnnnd, ANOTHER ONE!

ENJOY!! THOROUGHLY!! :>) :>)

rikyrah: AT THE END OF THE DAY:

February 5, 2009: The Day in 100 Seconds

Watch "QUICKLY!" :>) :>)

rikyrah: She JUST happened ta B in TOWN - -DC:

Sebelius in town- -Kansan rumored for HHS job

Talk about timing: Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius – one of the top prospects to take the open post at HHS – is in Washington...

Thursday and Friday for two speaking engagements. The replacement buzz has centered on Sebelius since Tom Daschle stepped aside Tuesday amid questions about his taxes and ties to the health care industry.

So it would be a perfect opportunity for Sebelius – a friend of Obama, a former Kansas insurance commissioner, a public figure with managerial experience – to take a little detour to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, right?

“All I have is what is on the schedule,” Sebelius spokeswoman Beth Martino said Thursday. “I don’t have any other information. That is all I got.”

Sebelius delivers keynote addresses at the Good Jobs, Green Jobs National Conference and the National Education Association Women’s Observance.

Both appearances have been on her schedule since last Friday, Martino was quick to note – before Daschle dropped out.

But it looks like she’s free Thursday night, according to her public schedule. A White House aide said there’s nothing scheduled.

Hmmmmm!? :>)

rikyrah: This is JUST A GREAT PIECE!:

Mayor Adrian And Michelle Fenty: Washington's Other Stylish Couple (SLIDESHOW, VIDEO)

**Scroll down for slideshow and video**

The Obamas will likely be spending quite a bit of time with DC Mayor Adrian Fenty and his British wife Michelle. The First Lady lunched with them last Friday, the Mayor took the President out to eat at Ben's Chili Bowl on January 10th, and Jill Biden and Michelle Obama's mom Marian Robinson attended a Kennedy Center event thrown by Michelle Fenty on Tuesday.

At age 35, Adrian Fenty was the youngest person to be elected DC mayor in 2006. He and Michelle Cross Fenty, whom he married in 1997, have three kids: twin boys Matthew and Andrew Fenty, who were born in 2000, and daughter Aerin, who was born in November. Mayor Fenty, like President Obama, has a white mother and black father.

The Fentys met at Howard University Law School, where, like the first couple again, Michelle acted as Adrian's mentor. According to the Washington Post:

"I had probably seen her walking the halls for some time," Adrian Fenty said of Michelle. "I asked her to be my mentor. . . . It was love at first sight."


Michelle Fenty laughs. "He'll say it was love at first sight, but it wasn't."

Michelle, the daughter of Jamaican immigrants, grew up in working-class south London:

With three girls, Annett Cross remembers braiding a lot of hair, ice skating and playing board games. "As a little girl, Michelle was a very bright kid," said Cross, 58, who now lives in Brooklyn's Crown Heights neighborhood. "She was always writing on walls. If she found a blank space, she would write. She didn't play with a lot of toys."


Their neighborhood of flats was diverse, with Jamaicans, whites and Indians. Michelle ran track, loved Maxi Priest and lip-synced to Shalimar. "Michelle was always doing the right thing all the time," Athena Cross said. "She's very studious. That was always her priority."

Michelle still works four days a week as a lawyer and is an active member of Washington's social scene, though she told Politico that's not necessarily her favorite part of the job:

"In order to get a lot of the things done you do have to do some social events, because a lot of networking takes place, and I think that's part of the job," she said. "Is it something I enjoy any more than anything else? No. I think it's a means to an end."

Story continues below
She told Women Bisnow:

"People recognize that I have children and a job. They're incredibly grateful when I show up--I didn't feel a massive expectation to be out there everyday."

The Washington Post writes that Michelle, like her Obama counterpart, "doesn't believe in nannies; if a sitter is needed, they call on the mayor's mom."

SLIDESHOW:

WATCH Mayor Fenty discuss inauguration preparations, Ben's Chili Bowl, and get teased by Bill Cosby on "Meet the Press":

WATCH Mayor Fenty endorse Barack Obama on July 17, 2007:


Mayor Adrian And Michelle Fenty: Washington's Other Stylish Couple (SLIDESHOW, VIDEO)

See more photos of Michelle Fenty in Washington Life magazine.

THIS couple is soooo EXCITING!! What a BLESSING for BOTH FAMILIES!! :>)

ENJOY! :>)

rikyrah: Tell ANDY CARD - - - -GAME OVA!!

Bush Jacketless In Oval Office: Photo Uncovered After Bush Chief Of Staff Slams Obama's Informal Appearance (SLIDESHOW)

**Scroll down for slideshow**

One day after President Bush's former Chief of Staff Andrew Card blasted President Obama for breaking the Bush dress code, which reportedly required that a jacket be worn by anyone entering the Oval Office, we've unearthed a photo of, well, a jacketless President Bush in the Oval Office.

On Wednesday night, Card told "Inside Edition" that "there should be a dress code of respect....I wish that [Obama] would wear a suit coat and tie." Much has been made of Obama's informal appearance in a photograph taken on January 21st, the day after his inauguration.

The photo of Bush was taken on January 22nd, 2001--two days after his own inauguration.

Card also told "Inside Edition":

"The Oval Office symbolizes...the Constitution, the hopes and dreams, and I'm going to say democracy. And when you have a dress code in the Supreme Court and a dress code on the floor of the Senate, floor of the House, I think it's appropriate to have an expectation that there will be a dress code that respects the office of the President."

Ironically, the photo shows Bush signing papers with staff secretary Harriet Miers, whom he went on to nominate for the Supreme Court in 2005. (She later withdrew her nomination.)

It turns out that going casual in the Oval Office is a long, time-honored tradition that pre-dates the Bush administration: Gerald Ford did it. Jimmy Carter did it. Clinton did it (a lot). See photographic evidence below.

In response to the Andrew Card controversy, Reuters' Jon Decker told MSNBC on Thursday morning that Bush "always wore a suit and tie in the Oval Office. There was never a picture of him that was seen by the public in which he wasn't wearing a suit and tie." Until now.

Will Andrew Card issue an apology? Only time will tell.

SLIDESHOW:

ANSWER TO THE LAST QUESTION: He cain't ANSWER UNLESS and UNTIL he TAKES HIS FOOT OUTTA HIS MOUTH!! Humf!!

***foldin' arms; rollin' eyes***

The sudden resurgence of the Congressional Republicans is interesting. It isn't just the sudden ability to stop what I believe would be effective advocates for their positions in the Cabinet. It isn't the sudden idea that the stimulus package is full of pork. Nor is it in total a niggerazation of President Obama's choices for Cabinet,et al, which was my intial thought. I believe what we are looking at is a full court press by the financial industry and the extremely wealthy to find the money from the government to indemnify mortgage backed bond holders and the financial institutions holding them. This means money can not go to healthcare change, social programs, changes in the bankruptcy code that would allow the adjustment(cram down) of mortgage debt on the primary home or any worthwhile social program.

Daschle would have been a huge force in changing how healthcare is administered. Solis, if she goes by the wayside, would be an effective advocate for labor. Killefer as an efficiency expert would be resordering the ways in the executive branch does business. All three's ideas, changes and executions of plans will intially cost more money. If this were to happen there would be less money and the financial institutions to receive from the Federal Government.

We can count the ways. If mortgage bond holders do not suffer from cram downs in the underlyiing mortgage they are indemnified in full but the mortgage holder may loss their home or own one for which they paid full price but own at a loss. If financial institutions, which are bankrupt, are allowed to survive in a good/bank bad bank scenario where they are not liquidated the mangement, which made the bad judgements in the first, keep their jobs. The bond issued by the insolvent bank are paid off in full. The shareholders have potential upside. In a liquidation the managment loses their jobs and shareholders lose everything. Bondholders stand first in line for the crumbs.

It is the choice between paying to keep a dead man on life support or pulling the plug financially. Each hurts but the pain ends and life goes on. The wealthy and financial institutions refuse to recognize they are dead. Their ghoulish relatives insist we pay for a miracle cure we can't afford. This is the goal of the Congressional Republicans and the very wealthy they represent.

Many conservatives were against the bailout of the financial sector. I read many opinions advocating for allowing some of these institutions to fail. That bailouts only rewarded those failed enterprises.

But no, we were told that these institutions were too big too fail and now the government, in essence, owns them. We have already overpaid, to the tune of over 78 billion dollars, for much of these bad assets and TARP will be requesting billions more in the months to come.

Democrats supported the bank bailout as feverishly (if not more) than the Republicans, but now this is all some huge conspiracy? Are we to believe that the unethical, tax evading behavior of Daschle, Killefer and Solis had nothing to do with the fact that they were deemed unworthy of the privelege to serve? Furthermore, do you reallt think thos 3 were so uniquely qualified, that removing them would severely damage Obama's ability to advance his political agenda?

RE: President Obama's Address Today

Just looking at him, reminds me of my own issues in (and with) Corporate America. No matter how hard we work to be collegial, consensus builders, there will always be "those people" who only hear things when they're getting CUSSED-OUT.

You can not be polite to them. You can not BE NICE to them. You can try every tactic in your toolkit, but they will not hear you until you pull "the knives out" and start cutting them (and their arguments) apart piece-by-piece...

And the great thing about President Obama is that he knows how to wield a knife better than the finest chef at the Cordon Bleu. I'm anxiously looking forward to seeing the Republicans sliced, diced and juliened into carrot slivers.

As a former pastor once preached to me, "Don't mistake my meekness for weakness."

LAWD @ "there will always be "those people" who only hear things when they're getting CUSSED-OUT.

You can not be polite to them. You can not BE NICE to them. You can try every tactic in your toolkit, but they will not hear you until you pull "the knives out" and start cutting them (and their arguments) apart piece-by-piece..."


And you know this!

What happens when 'those people' belong to the Democrat party?

This bill is not being unfairly mischaracterized. It is full of too much unnecessary, non-stimulus spending.

Concessions to fiscal responsibility are needed to garner support for this bill now.

The President and the Democrats know that public support for the bill is drying up as more people learn the facts about what is in it. That's why there is a rush to get the bill passed.

Ttime for you to go. The Trifling Train calls you aboard.

RobM: LOL! :>)

IFFF I may create the ambiance:

ALL ABOARD!! :>)

Hot damn! "Trifling Train." I'm adding it to my JJP Lexicon. Thanks, RobM.

"THIS IS NOT A GAME!"

Dear Msmartin,

yes it is a game with the Republicans...they care more about power than they do about our country.

"Eighty-one percent of Americans say the stimulus bill should be a bipartisan effort. Just 13 percent think it is okay for a bill to be passed with only the backing of the Democratic majority.

There are signs that Americans are receptive to Republicans’ push to increase the proportion of tax cuts in the stimulus bill: Asked whether higher government spending or tax cuts for business would be more effective in ending the recession, 59 percent choose the tax cuts. Just 22 percent prefer more government spending…
The public is not optimistic about the impact of the economic stimulus bill: Just 21 percent believe it will significantly shorten the recession. An additional 18 percent believe it will shorten the recession slightly. Forty-five percent say it will not shorten the recession at all."

What we need, is what I have been saying all along. We need a bill that spends money on proposals that will help people and create jobs NOW AND tax cuts that are targeted to the middle class and small businesses. Long term stimulus spending should be put into another, separate bill.

President Obama made an error when he let Nancy Pelosi write this bill. The more sunlight this bill sees, the more difficult it becomes to defend.

Last October, while campaigning in Toledo, President Obama called for "a new ethic of responsibility." The nation's economic troubles, he said, occurred partly because "everyone was living beyond their means," including politicians who "spent money they didn't have." In his inaugural address last month, Obama regretted "our collective failure to make hard choices" and heralded "a new era of responsibility."
Now President Obama, as one of his first priorities, is pushing a gargantuan "stimulus" plan that will add around $1 trillion to the national debt and cannot possibly work as advertised.

Like it or not President Barack Obama WON. Remember?

Thanks for the tip about the congressional switchboards lighting up.

All right people, let's get busy. Light Em Up!
Here is link how to contact your Senators.

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_informati...

add 1 trillion to a debt he inherited and a job loss number he inherited. what do you want him to do? tax cuts have not worked. people are not spending they are saving so its the govts job now to do the spending.

Spending that will stimulate the economy is what we all want. A middle class tax break would also stimulate the economy. Reductions in wasteful government spending will insure smaller deficits.

Saving, contrary to popular perceptions, still puts money into financial institutions, and the money moves into the economy. Unless folks are stuffing $$ under their mattresses, saving is not detrimental.

Spending that will stimulate the economy is what we all want.


No you don't! Not according to your posts here at JJP.

Justice58,

I have been advocating since this bill was introduced, for a reduction in unnecessary, non-stimulus spending that will not create jobs or help families.

I am in favor of a payroll tax cut for middle class workers and a payroll tax exemption for business. This will immediately put money back in the hands of those who need it most, and where it can do the most good, quickly. I also like the idea of giving home buyers a $15,000 tax credit to stimulate the housing market and reduce the inventory of unsold homes.

I have also expressed the need for long term spending for energy independence, healthcare and education, but I want those items to be put into a separate bill so that they may be responsibly addressed and debated.

I am skeptical of throwing billions of dollars to state governments to spend as they please. Here in Illinois, Mayor Daley will not even disclose to the people what he wants to spend the money on! How are we to be assured that the states will spend our money in a way that will not go to waste?

Tell me something...how do tax cuts and credits help PEOPLE WHO DON'T HAVE OR CAN'T FIND A JOB??????

Conserv1

Tax cuts doesn't work. End of story. This bill is to stimulate the economy. Looks like republicans want this country's economic system to collaspe just because a black man is running the country.


Republicans lost the election & if they continue down this path of going against building up our economy....they may never be able to win another election. The handwriting is already on the wall for republicans. When will they learn?

Then why did Obama see to it that some were included in this bill?

Spending alone will not work...remember the Great Depression?

Spending+Tax cuts+Responsible government spending

Yes, Republicans lost but we have a two party system and I would be disappointed if the Republicans just rolled over and allowed this massive bill to go unscrutinized and undebated.

The outcome of this battle remains to be seen, but Republicans are doing what they feel is right and necessary, for the country and their party.

You know that you cannot reason with Conserv1. That person never addresses critics in a fair manner.

81% of republican Americans say the stimulus bill should be bipartisan effort. Just 13% of the corporate media think it's okay for a bill to be passed with only the backing of the democratic party.

Rush Limpballs talking point alert.

Rasmussen is the source.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/...

Consider the Source.

Rasmussen is the Faux News/Rush Limpballs/Hannity/Drudge pollster.

If the Congressional swithboards were lit up in support of this bill, it would have passed already.

Like it or not, this bill has been exposed. It is short on the 'emergency stimulus' that this economy needs and stuffed full of much unnecessary spending that does nothing to create jobs or help families now.

The President made a huge mistake when he gave Nancy Pelosi the authority to write this bill. She immediately played 'politics as usual', froze Republicans out of negotiations('We won. We wrote it.") and fill it to the brim with pork for Democratic pet projects.

The President should have directed the Dems in the House to deliver, as his econmic advisor, Larry Summers recommended, a tmely, targeted and temporary, emergency stimulus bill.

If he had, the bill would have been supported by both parties and would be on it's way to the President's desk by now.

If the Republicans are so opposed to it then they should state on the record that they do not want any of the money from the stimulus going to their districts because it wouldn't work and it's not stimulative. The Republicans in Congress are posturing at the same time that Republican governors and mayors are begging for the bill to be passed. It's a shame because once the unemployment figures are released the importance of the legislation will become even more clear and it will be more obvious that Republicans are taking bad advice. If a person had a principled objection to the plan, I'd say fine, but these objections about 1% of the bill are simply posturing on the part of the Republicans and their constituents be damned. Not the lobbyists, not the corporations, but the people who comprise their districts and states are the ones suffering. The problem with the GOP is that they believe the beltway is America and they lose sight of the reality in the rest of the country. For those of us who watch the local news and hear everyday about another company laying off hundreds and thousands of workers, the bill sounds like a lifeline. But by all means continue listening to the talking heads who told Bush what a great job he was doing. I hope that works out for you guys.

Light Up the Congressional Switchboard.

http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_informati...

Conserv1

The bill will pass. So get over yourself.

We shall see. Harry "We have the votes" Reid sent the Senate home.

Just keeping the debate lively!

This is amazing, a public rep in Ohio recommends on record that if you are being evicted or threatened. don't leave and she gives her reasons. You have to read this transcript.

Angela

February 03, 2009

Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH) Urges Homeowners to Stay in Foreclosed Homes

After an $850 billion bailout for Wall Street and another $25 billion for the auto industry, struggling homeowners still await large-scale government assistance. The Obama administration says it’s working out the details of its plan to stem foreclosures. In the absence of government action so far, some are taking action on the local level. In Michigan, Wayne County Sheriff Warren Evans announced Monday he won’t enforce sales of foreclosed homes. And in Ohio, Rep. Marcy Kaptur is encouraging homeowners facing foreclosures to stay in their homes. Meanwhile, the government-backed mortgage giant Fannie Mae has agreed to restructure mortgages after a campaign led by one of its biggest critics, the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America.
Guests:

Rep. Marcy Kaptur, Democratic Congress member from the Ninth Congressional District of Ohio. She’s the longest-serving Democratic woman in the history of the House.

Bruce Marks, Founder and CEO of NACA, the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America, which has just successfully pressured Fannie Mac to restructure thousands of troubled mortgages.

Kathy Broka, President of the Fair Housing Center in Toledo, Ohio.

Rush Transcript
This transcript is available free of charge. However, donations help us provide closed captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing on our TV broadcast. Thank you for your generous contribution.
Donate - $25, $50, $100, More...

AMY GOODMAN: After an $850 billion bailout for Wall Street and another $25 billion for the auto industry, struggling homeowners still await large-scale government assistance. The Obama administration says it’s working out the details of its plan to stem foreclosures.


Well, in the absence of government action so far, some are taking action on the local level. In Michigan, Wayne County Sheriff Warren Evans announced Monday he won’t enforce sales of foreclosed homes. Wayne County includes the city of Detroit and has had more than 46,000 foreclosures in the past two years. Evans says he came to the decision after reviewing the Troubled Asset Relief Program, the Wall Street bailout measure known as TARP. He says the foreclosures would conflict with a provision ordering the Treasury Department to reduce foreclosures and help restructure loans. Evans said he’d be violating the law by denying foreclosed homeowners the chance at potential federal assistance. He said, “I cannot in clear conscience allow one more family to be put out of their home until I am satisfied they have been afforded every option they are entitled to under the law to avoid foreclosure.”


Meanwhile, the government-backed mortgage giant Fannie Mae has agreed to restructure mortgages after a campaign led by one of its biggest critics, the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America, or NACA. Fannie Mae will work with NACA to modify mortgage payments for struggling homeowners. In October, NACA held a protest outside Fannie Mae’s D.C. headquarters, blockading the entrance until being granted a meeting with top executives.


And in Ohio, Democratic Congress member Marcy Kaptur is encouraging homeowners facing foreclosures to stay in their homes. Kaptur says residents should exercise squatters’ rights to refuse being forced out because of loans she says could well have been illegal.


Congress member Kaptur joins us now from Toledo, Ohio. She is the longest-serving Democratic Congress[woman] in history. We’re also joined by Kathy Broka, president of the Fair Housing Center in Toledo. And on the line in Boston is Bruce Marks. He’s the president of the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America, which has just successfully pressured Fannie Mae to work with it to restructure thousands of troubled mortgages.


We’re going to go first to Ohio. Congress member Marcy Kaptur, can you repeat what you said on the floor of the House? What are you urging homeowners who could be foreclosed to do?


REP. MARCY KAPTUR: Well, the most important thing to do is to get legal help. And what we are finding is that if people receive a notice from a financial institution, their first reaction is fear, rather than getting proper legal representation. Here in our region, we recommend that people go to Legal Aid or the Advocates for Basic Legal Equality—or nationally, there’s a number people can call: (888) 995-HOME—and to get the proper legal representation, so they can actually have the scales of justice be balanced rather than, now, all the power to Wall Street and none of the justice to Main Street.


AMY GOODMAN: Now, explain how that works. If you have a person who’s at home, and they come to take the family out, you’re saying sit there?


REP. MARCY KAPTUR: Well, if it’s a sheriff’s eviction, if it’s reached that point, that is almost impossible. But we find that most of the foreclosures that haven’t reached that point, families are not getting the proper legal representation, and that’s why I’m saying that possession is nine-tenths of the law; therefore, stay in your property.


Get proper legal representation. If you believe that Wall Street has been deceptive, could have been fraudulent or tried to dupe the public, and with these subprime loans and with the kind of circuitous financing that’s been done, Wall Street cannot produce the deed nor the mortgage audit trail, you need a lawyer.


And you should stay in your home. It is your castle. It’s more than a piece of property. It’s your home.


And just because Washington hasn’t handled this bailout properly—and we never should have done it this way in the first place. We should have used the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Securities and Exchange Commission to resolve and do these workouts. Washington chose another road, which has been very, very destructive. I have opposed this all the way. But because they’ve done the wrong thing, you, at least, shouldn’t be the victim of what’s been happening on Wall Street and in Washington. You need a lawyer. You need a good lawyer. And you ought to get that legal representation so that the scales of justice are balanced.


AMY GOODMAN: And Congressman Kaptur, of course—Congress member Kaptur, of course, the people who are being forced out of their homes now are in the most difficult situations. How do they afford a lawyer? How can they even think along these lines?


REP. MARCY KAPTUR: Well, that’s why I’m recommending your Legal Aid Society. Call your local bar association or the national number, (888) 995-HOME. Most people don’t even think about getting representation, because they get a piece of paper from the bank, and they go, “Oh, it’s the bank,” and they become fearful, rather than saying, “Oh, wait a minute. This is contract law. The mortgage is a contract. I am one party. There is another party. What are my legal rights under the law as a property owner?” And many times, they are abrogating their own rights. They’re forgetting that they have rights in this proceeding. And they need to exercise those legal rights.


You know, when this mess started, when the meltdown really started back last year, 75 percent even of the subprime loans were performing. That means people were making their payments. What Washington has done and what Wall Street has done has made it so much worse. But those loans were performing loans. The other 25 percent weren’t all bad either. There were some issues, but they could have been worked out. Washington went backwards, when it should have gone forwards. It should have embraced Main Street; it embraced Wall Street first, and they trusted them again, the very same institutions, the five top ones, that have done most of the damage: JPMorgan, Wachovia, Bank of America, Citigroup and HSBC. If you get a letter from one of those, you should say, “I need a lawyer.” You need a lawyer in order to represent your interests in that contract.


AMY GOODMAN: You’re saying they did it wrong. Explain exactly what you felt was wrong and how it should have been done right and how it can be fixed now, Congress member Marcy Kaptur.


REP. MARCY KAPTUR: Alright. Well, if we look at prior meltdowns in the real estate market—and I’d love to have an hour to tell you what’s really gone wrong—but the federal institutions that were normally used to do workouts and to resolve pending bank failures are the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Securities and Exchange Commission. They have all the examination powers. They have enormous power to do workouts, to track that loan, to get it, to put the borrower at the same table. If they have to write down some losses, both by the lender and by the mortgagee, they do that. The Securities and Exchange Commission comes in and, through their auditors, they deal with the real valuation of property, even in a downturned economy.


Those institutions were put on the shelf. They were not used. In fact, I think one of the reasons they were not used is because when they come in, they bring examiners. They actually look at the books. They can do mortgage audit trails. And I think that Wall Street really didn’t want that, and they were powerful enough, in order to help to pass a bill, scaring Congress right before the election, before a new president was elected last fall, that they really put all the power in the Treasury Department, which isn’t a housing agency. It really doesn’t do bank regulation in the same way that the FDIC does, nor oversight. Treasury really works with Wall Street. They basically sell US debt. There’s a real circuit that goes between Wall Street and Washington, the Capitol, the US Treasury Department. So they used the wrong agency.


They brought in people from the very companies, like Goldman Sachs, to run the Treasury that had been one of the agencies—one of the companies that was going under, so they made it into a bank holding company. You can follow the trail of what they did. Meanwhile, they’re protecting their interests on Wall Street. And here on Main Street, the so-called bailout that they were given hasn’t trickled down. And so, millions and millions of families are getting foreclosure notices. They don’t have proper legal representation. The Washington-Wall Street circuit isn’t really working to allow these workouts to occur, and people are falling off the edge.


Somewhere, the scales of justice have to be balanced, and Washington has to use the traditional instruments that have worked. They have actually given power to a department that has been abysmal in its handling of taxpayer dollars. And you know what? There’s been no real oversight by the Congress, as required by that TARP law that was passed last year. So it, to me, is just an indication of how much power these institutions really have politically. But why should my constituents or the constituents of members around the country be hurt even more? They need representation in this process. They deserve it.


AMY GOODMAN: Congress member Marcy Kaptur, when you talk about those who caused the problem now being in charge of solving the problem, you can only think of a job description for the Treasury Secretary: be a part of the mess and don’t pay your taxes, and you, too, could be Treasury Secretary of the United States of America, Tim Geithner. Your thoughts?


REP. MARCY KAPTUR: Walk away with billions. And then—oh, Secretary Paulson came from Goldman Sachs, which, as this crisis began, carefully tucked itself as a—I call it a gambling house; it was an investment house up on Wall Street—they came under the Bank Holding Company Act. Why would they do that? Morgan Stanley did, as well. Why would they do that? They did that because they then become eligible for deposit insurance, which the good banks have paid into for decades. But Goldman didn’t pay into that. Morgan Stanley didn’t pay into that. So they all of a sudden went legit; they turned from a gambling house into a bank, just like that. Most of the public didn’t even catch that. And so, they wanted the protections, though they were high-risk institutions in their behavior, and they’ve hurt our country and the people of our country so much. They wanted to come under, put their nose under the tent of the Deposit Insurance Corporation.


You know, and then the good banks had to pay more for deposit insurance. They were powerful enough to turn the banking industry of this country almost upside-down and hurt banks in places like Ohio and caused the merger of institutions. Ohio now lost one of its major banks called National City Bank; it was merged with PNC in Pittsburgh. And the vice chair of PNC in Pittsburgh was the gentleman who invented derivatives on Wall Street. He left Wall Street and went to PNC. PNC now effectively has price control over the western part of Pennsylvania and parts of eastern Ohio now. That’s how powerful these institutions are.


And so, they’re not just powerful in Washington; they really have power out in the regions to control lines of credit, lending. It’s just unbelievable. This feels like the late 1920s and early 1930s, in terms of the concentration of the banking system itself. And if you look at the bad paper, if you look at where there’s trouble, 95 percent—95 to 98 percent of the paper really has moved to five institutions, the ones that I mentioned: JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wachovia, Citigroup and HSBC. They have this country held by the neck.


AMY GOODMAN: We’re talking to Congress member Marcy Kaptur. This term, she becomes the longest-serving Democratic congresswoman in US history. She is the dean of the Ohio congressional delegation. I hope you’ll stay with us. We are also going to go to a housing activist in Toledo, and we’ll be joined by Bruce Marks, who’s head of NACA, the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America. He’s from Boston. He was blockading Fannie Mae; now he’s working with them. We’ll find out what’s happened. Stay with us.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re talking about the housing crisis. Our guests are Congress member Marcy Kaptur, the longest-serving congresswoman in US history. She joins us from Toledo, Ohio, as does Kathy Broka, president of the Fair Housing Center in Toledo, and Bruce Marks, founder and CEO of NACA, the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America.


We’re going to come back to Toledo in a minute. But, Bruce Marks, tell us the scope of the problem in Massachusetts. And how did you, who was blockading the doors of Fannie Mae in October until you could meet with its CEO, how did you end up now working with Fannie Mae?


BRUCE MARKS: Well, it’s good to be on, Amy.


I mean, we have got offices around the country. We have got forty offices around the country. We do the best solutions out there for working people throughout this country. So if you go through NACA, you’re able to restructure your mortgage by permanently reducing your interest rate to as little as three percent and reducing your principal to make your mortgage affordable. And we’re doing it for tens of thousands of homeowners.


And in a sense, it’s done through nonviolent bank terrorism. So what we do is we confront these institutions. And yes, Fannie Mae has done the right thing. They have set the standard. But on this Saturday, Sunday and Monday, if you go to our website, Amy, and you go there, and what—we appreciate what Marcy is saying in terms of being able to—don’t leave your home, like what the sheriff in Cook County, Chicago has done—he has said, “I will not foreclose. I will not throw anybody out of their home.” But this weekend, we’re going on the Predators Tour. So when the congresswoman says that we should hold JPMorgan responsible, we should hold Option One, Wilbur Ross, who heads Option One, responsible, and GMAC. Let’s go to their homes. So if you go to our website at naca.com—and we would like the congresswoman to join us—let’s go on the Predators Tour to the homes of these CEOs with thousands of homeowners.


And this is what we’re going to do with thousands of homeowners, go into their home and say, “I want you to meet my family. I want you to see who you’re foreclosing on.” We’ve got to not just talk the talk; we’ve got to walk the walk. And walking the walk means it’s personal. If someone’s going to lose their homes, if you go to our website, you can see pictures of how the rich and the greedy are living now on our dime, on our dollar, on our homes. So we’re going—if they’re going to take our homes, we’re going to go to their homes, and we’re going to tell them, “No more.” And that’s what it has to do, not just go and stop the foreclosures. Let’s go into their communities.


And so, you can see pictures of where Jamie Dimon, CEO of Chase, lives, not just in Stamford, Connecticut, where we’re doing this event with literally thousands of homeowners, or re. Wilbur Ross, who runs Option One, or Feinberg, who runs GMAC, you can see where they live. And if you can’t come to Stamford, Connecticut, then go to their—go to Jamie Dimon’s home in Chicago or in other parts of the country, because these CEOs, they have multi-million-dollar homes. The one in Stamford, Connecticut—actually it’s in Mount Kisco, $17 million, where he lives. And so, that’s what we have to do. And also, what we’re going to do—


AMY GOODMAN: And what are you demanding when you go to their homes?


BRUCE MARKS: I’m sorry?


AMY GOODMAN: What are you demanding when you go to their homes?


BRUCE MARKS: We are demanding that they meet with the homeowners who they’re foreclosing on. We believe that if they can see, face-to-face, in the eyes of the homeowners, what they’re doing and the consequences of their actions, that that makes it personal. And we want their children to meet the children of the homeowners who are losing their homes and have those children have a conversation with each other and have their children go back to their parents and say, “Mom, Dad, is it true that you’re foreclosing on these homeowners?”


I mean, Wilbur Ross, he owns Option One. He has $1.8 billion in net worth. $1.8 billion. Jamie Dimon, $300 million. Frey—this guy is suing Bank of America, because he does not want them to do modifications. I mean, you go down the line, you can see their homes, you can have their addresses. You can go visit them, not just on our Predators Tour, but anytime you want, because they—it’s personal now.


And we’re not just going as ten or twenty people; we’re going with hundreds and thousands, because at this event, we’re also doing individual counseling, because, yes, you’re right, we have agreements with the major servicers out there where they’re required to restructure your mortgage to make that affordable for the long term. Yes, it’s nice, and it’s a good step that we say get an attorney, but it’s the confrontation, it’s the advocacy, it’s personalizing the issue that makes that work, and to get other sheriffs around the country, like they’ve done in Cook County, saying, “I’m not going to foreclose on my own. I’m not going to foreclose on hard-working people, because that’s who I am,” to do that. And, you know—and we’re able to get it done.


And Congress has been nowhere on this stuff. Where is the moratorium on the foreclosures? Where is—we still have hearings today on the refinance option by Barney Frank. We know that doesn’t work. So—


AMY GOODMAN: Well, let’s talk about Hope for Homeowners, and I want—


BRUCE MARKS: —when is Congress going to step up and say, “Let’s restructure mortgages to make them affordable”?


AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to talk about the Hope for Homeowners bill, and maybe Congress member Kaptur could weigh in here. It was passed last summer. The idea is it would help out something like 450,000 homeowners to stop the foreclosures. And in the end, I think there have been twenty-one successful applications. It’s almost impossible to go through that system. Barney Frank is saying, well, now they’ve not only prevented abuse, they’ve prevented use. And so, today they’re reopening it. What’s that about, Congress member Kaptur?


REP. MARCY KAPTUR: Well, I am one of three Democrats that voted no on that bill. And during the debate and during our caucus meetings on the bill, Congressman Frank, who chairs the committee, and I had an ongoing debate in a very open forum, where I basically said it won’t work and that the necessary workouts were not going to be done, that the administration would find a way, because of the way that the bill was written, not to give us the immediate help that we needed. He prevailed in that vote; I did not.


But I went up to him after that vote—I’ll never forget it—and I said, “You know what, Barney?” I said, “You’re a friend of mine. We serve together. I really hope you’re right.” And my heart was breaking at that point, because I knew that hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of more people in my region, just my region, would receive foreclosure notices and would be thrown out of their homes during that period. And that is exactly what has happened. I hope that Chairman Frank will act with dispatch to bring to the table the parties that need to be brought to the table to get these workouts going.


This foreclosure crisis has tied up our entire banking system to the point where companies that want to expand in districts like ours, where unemployment is over 11.5 percent now, cannot get credit from the banks. This is having a terrible impact on the credit system of this country. And that bill was completely inadequate, and it was almost doomed to fail.


The proper way to proceed is to bring the FDIC and the SEC to the table now. I hope that the new president, President Obama, will bring the chair, will bring Sheila Bair to his office, will make necessary appointments to those boards and talk to people who’ve actually resolved bank crises in the past, like William Isaac, who had served both the Democrats and Republicans back in the 1970s and ’80s when we had these problems before. This isn’t the first time that the banks of this country have sort of done it to the American people, and there are very knowledgeable experienced people in the commercial banking world who have actually done these workouts and have systemically changed what needs to be done. They’re not being used right now.


AMY GOODMAN: Congress member Kaptur, your assessment of the Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and who he has brought on?


REP. MARCY KAPTUR: Well, you had asked me the question before about the influence of Wall Street in Washington. Mr. Geithner has now brought one of the major lobbyists who had lobbied for Goldman Sachs as his chief of staff, Mr. Patterson. And this revolving door between Washington and Wall Street is terribly strong. And I say, how can we trust the very people who brought us to this point to now manage the public dollars, the taxpayer dollars of the people of the United States? We need to clean out that operation, and we need to hold the Wall Street banks and all of their associates accountable to the American people. The scales of justice have to be balanced. They are far out of whack right now.


AMY GOODMAN: Kathy Broka is also in Toledo with Congress member Kaptur. She’s president of the Fair Housing Center there in Toledo. Tell us the scope of the problem, Kathy Broka. We heard Bruce Marks lay out what NACA is doing. What is Fair Housing Center in Toledo doing? How many people are being foreclosed on? How are you helping?


KATHY BROKA: Toledo is, along with Cleveland, which was considered the epicenter of the foreclosure crisis in the country—I was talking to Cleveland people months ago who had people from all over the country showing up in their offices as the epicenter of the foreclosure crisis. So we’ve been struggling with this for years.


The Fair Housing Center alone has helped save homeowners over $5 million by doing loan modifications and workouts. This is one small agency, whose primary purpose was to investigate allegations of discrimination in housing. Now, at least half of the work that we do is on foreclosures, because there were really no other agencies in the city that was doing the work, and it was the primary problem in our community. And so, we are doing workouts, but we’re one small agency. This needs to be on a massive national scale. We can’t piecemeal this any longer. I feel like my staff are little gerbils on a wheel that just keeps turning around. So, as much hard work as we do, as dedicated as my staff is, we need help.


I’m so tired of hearing how banks are saying, “Call us early, before you get in trouble.” And then we try to do that, and they tell us, “Why are you calling us? You’re not even behind yet on your mortgage payment,” even though the homeowners are doing their due diligence and know that they’ve got a loan that’s going to adjust in two to three months and that they absolutely won’t be able to keep those payments going. And so, they’re doing what the banks tell them to do. When are the banks going to do what they say they’re going to do? That’s my question.


I was watching TV not too long ago, when Maxine Waters was on trying to get in touch with one of her constituent’s lenders to see what could be done for them, and it took her over half-an-hour, maybe even longer, two, three hours, where she kept getting the runaround. If she can’t get an answer, a straight answer, from the banks, what do you think our constituents are doing? How hard do you think it is for those of us who are on the frontline trying to get these deals done to keep the homeowners in their houses?


AMY GOODMAN: What would be the single act that would help you most, would help people who are threatened with losing their homes most, Kathy Broka?


KATHY BROKA: The single act would be for the banks to do what they say they’ve been doing for months and years: just do what you say you’re doing, that you want to keep people in their houses, that you’re willing to work with them, because we get someone at a bank, we finally get a person who’s there to help, who will do these loan modifications and workouts, and then the next month they’ve been laid off, and somebody new comes on. Get people in those departments at the banks who have the authority to do workouts that make sense.


I get so tired of hearing the banks say, “Well, you know, these don’t work. These loan modifications don’t work, because we give them to homeowners, and then, two or three months later, they’re right back being in default.” But what they don’t say is, oftentimes those homeowners have gotten into workouts without any representation, the bank has thrown them something and said, “Take it or leave it,” have set them up once again for failure, and then they use those very statistics to tell the rest of the people in the United States that these are just freeloaders and why are we helping them. It’s so unfair, and it’s so untrue.


AMY GOODMAN: Congress member Kaptur, what do you think of the Obama stimulus plan? What do you think, the possibility that your state, that Ohio, could get something like $9 billion under the plan? How much of a stimulus is the overall plan?


REP. MARCY KAPTUR: Well, first of all, I’ve been concerned about how much a state like Ohio, which is in deep recession, will actually receive from this program. We appreciate the President’s leadership on extending unemployment benefits, on covering people with health insurance, on heating assistance. I call these lifeline programs, absolutely essential. The people who have been thrown out of work have paid tax dollars to help our country when she gets in a situation like this, so I think they’re getting back what they paid for, essentially.


But the real issue for Ohio is, if all Ohio gets is $9 billion or $12 billion, which some people have been saying, our population is 3.66 percent of the country. Not even discounting for unemployment, we should be receiving anywhere between $25 billion and $30 billion in the various tax provisions and the investment portions of the bill. And if we do not receive that, then my question is, to which states is that money going?


So I think that the lifeline support programs are critical, but here, regionally, right now, because our banks are not loaning, even green energy companies—we’re one of the three leading solar energy capitals in the hemisphere. I have solar companies out here that want to bring on employees. The banks won’t loan. They—we have companies that want to bring up factory floors right now, and even some of these Ohio banking institutions that have received TARP funds, the bailout funds, aren’t making loans. So it’s very important—and I hope the administration is listening to this—that—


AMY GOODMAN: Looks like we just lost the satellite. We’re going to try to bring it back. We’ve been talking to Congress member Marcy Kaptur, also Kathy Broka, president of the Fair Housing Center in Toledo. We’re going to go to a break. We’ll come back, and hopefully we’ll get her back on satellite, or we’ll get her on the phone. But we’ll wrap up that discussion, and then we’re going to turn to Sri Lanka and what’s happening there. This is Democracy Now! Stay with us.

AMY GOODMAN: We’re back with Congress member Marcy Kaptur. Again, she is the longest-serving congresswoman in US history. Two last questions for you.


Slightly off topic, but very much a part of the stimulus package, we just got this emergency email from a fellow Ohioan, Congress member Kaptur. It is from the well known anti-nuclear activist Harvey Wasserman. As you were talking about alternative energy, he says, “A $50 billion nuke power bomb is dropping toward Obama’s stimulus package. The desperate, dangerous nuclear power industry has dropped a $50 billion stealth bomb,” he says, “meant to irradiate the Obama Stimulus Package.


“It comes in the form of a mega-loan guarantee package that would build new reactors Wall Street [wouldn’t] finance even when it had cash.” He says, “It will take a [healthy] dose of citizen action to stop it, so start calling your Senators now.”


He says that “[t]he vaguely worded bailout-in-advance provision was snuck through the Senate Appropriations Committee in the deep night of January 27. It would provide $50 billion in loan guarantees for ‘eligible technologies’ that would technically include renewable sources and electric transmission. But the handout is clearly directed at nukes and ‘clean coal.’”


Now, this is in the Senate section. What do you think of this?


REP. MARCY KAPTUR: Well, I have not read the Senate bill. They’ve just been drafting that. I can tell you, in the House bill, we have $114.5 billion for green energy: for solar, for wind, for geothermal, for biofuels. These are all industries we are bringing up here in our region.


I happen to represent the nuclear power plant that in the last twenty years has had more accidents than any other one in the country. And so, my own view is—and, in fact, there was a brownout a couple years ago because of this particular—the system this particular plant is attached to. And my feeling is, until we can actually assure ourselves that these plants are operated safely, I don’t know why we would want to reward this industry. I would be very concerned about that, based on our own living history of what has happened here. This is a very dangerous technology and one that we have to exercise extraordinary responsibility. So I was—that was not in the House version, to my knowledge, and I haven’t read the Senate language.


AMY GOODMAN: Finally, two questions. One is Judd Gregg as Commerce Secretary, and the other is, well, the question about you. George Voinovich has announced he will not be seeking another Senate seat. You’re the longest-serving congresswoman in history. Will you be seeking his seat in 2010?


REP. MARCY KAPTUR: Well, maybe I’ll just say that in terms of my tenure, I’m the longest-serving Democratic woman. There are others, Republican women, who have served thirty-five years, so I’m far from that right now, but at least on the Democratic side of the aisle, I am the longest-serving woman.


And we’ve just come through an election out here in Ohio. Our economy is in really tough straits. And I think it’s too early for anyone to say that they are or are not running. Obviously, I think every elected official in Ohio who’s a Democrat is looking at that right now. And we’ll give it some time.


AMY GOODMAN: And as for Judd Gregg, who is stepping away from his seat as senator, tapped to be the third Republican in the Obama administration in a key seat as Commerce Secretary, your thoughts on him?


REP. MARCY KAPTUR: Well, the Department of Commerce is a very important department, obviously. And about 60 percent of its budget is NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He comes from a coastal state in the Northeast, so I think that his knowledge of some of the issues that come before the Department of Commerce will be an asset. And we wish him very well. And the Department of Commerce, particularly in the Economic Development Administration, is very important to us here in the industrial and agricultural heartland. I would hope that the fact that he comes from a rather small state will not in any way prescribe his travels or his views about what needs to be done to help the big industrial and agricultural states to move forward economically.


AMY GOODMAN: Congress member Marcy Kaptur, thanks so much for being with us, again, the longest Democratic woman who has served in US history.


REP. MARCY KAPTUR: Thank you.


AMY GOODMAN: Thank you, speaking to us from Toledo, Ohio. And thanks also to Kathy Broka, president of the Fair Housing Center in Toledo, and Bruce Marks of NACA, naca.com, that’s the Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America, speaking to us from Boston.

That's what I needed to hear! Barack is back, baby! And I'm fired up and ready to go again! I think the President now realizes, as we all should, the campaign is over, but the fight will never end. Time to mobilize and take action again! I just left a voice message for Jim Webb in Virginia, one of the Democratic sell outs undermining the President over the Economic Recovery Package. I painted a picture for him...those long lines of Black folks in Virginia standing in the rain in November to vote for Barack Obama doing the same in '12 to vote again for the President and AGAINST him. I never trusted him, but I voted for him because the alternative, George Allen, was unthinkable, but I warned him if he votes against this Recovery Package, I don't give a damn if an active Klansman is on the ballot, I'm pulling the lever (and pray forgiveness).

Why are you so firm in your support for this bill AS IS.

Do you not see any room for improvement?

The President's op-ed and his comments today sound more like campaign rhetoric. He knows how to campaign; he doesn't yet know how to govern. Thus, in a pinch, he resorts to what has worked for him in the past.

The President fails to address most of the major objections to that plan: for example, its pork-laden nature and the fact that, as compared to tax cuts, the spending spree will provide very little short-term bang.

Obama did hint that much of the spending the Democrats propose won't even provide medium-term bang and is not intended to. He counters that the plan is not just a "prescription for short-term spending," but also "a strategy for America's long-term growth and opportunity in areas such as renewable energy, health care and education."

Why should spending programs for the long-term need to be rushed through Congress, under a suspension of the normal rules and with minimal debate, in the form of a stimulus package?

Arguably, the money needed to stimulate the economy should be appropriated immediately in order to get us out of the recession. But there is no possible justification for appropriating the rest of the money on this sort of emergency basis.

Concessions to fiscal responsibility are what is needed now.

lol are you serious. normally id be revved up to take this one on but ima let it go, Private Practice is on.

and don't say anything..i'm on the left coast and it's not on yet.

"The President's op-ed and his comments today sound more like campaign rhetoric. He knows how to campaign; he doesn't yet know how to govern. Thus, in a pinch, he resorts to what has worked for him in the past."

poof begone

Val: IFFFF I may: Here ya GO! :>) :>)

I called my crack head Senators and painted the same picture NMP. I told them they have jobs, thanks to us, and maybe they need to see how it feels to get a pink slip.

rikyrah: Look what I found: Breaking News: Michael Phelps has been suspended from competitive swimming for three months and has lost one of his sponsor deals.

Ima check some other sources.

Good Grief!! He was just smoking some weed. It's not like he was taking performance enhancing drugs. I don't even know why he called it a mistake - he did it on purpose. And good for him. It's only our crazy drug laws that make this herb an issue. If he'd been photographed drinking a beer nobody would think twice.

Oh god, I actually feel bad for him. God knows I have made mistakes in my life and thankfully they were made before instant cameras and youtube. Gheez, how many of us could have survived youth if all our mistakes were on tape??????

co-signing

I don't feel sorry for him. Thems the breaks. You'z a celebrity now and everything you do is fair game. EVERYONE has a camera on them now and if you're a celebrity doing anything shady you can bet your azz will be on TMZ within hours. He didn't have a hard job. All he had to do was stay off drugs and live clean and he could keep racking up the million$. If you can't even do that, you shouldn't be able to keep your endorsements.

Agree, Town. This has been sugar-coated since the story broke last weekend. He won 8 Gold Medals, he's an olympic athlete. He's got multi million dollar endorsements, and he's a role model. Like it or not.

You do the crime, you do the time. I think we'll discover other suprises down the road too. Nope, no sympathy here, none what so ever.

I disagree with some of what you say...by the way Phelps did have to train for years...it wasn't just a gift, he did do his work.

I am curious if you have ever trained for a physical job. I haven't had to, but, I recently started jogging and I can tell you it is not easy.

l am anxious to hear of your experience about physical training for the olympics

What does Michael Phelps training and you jogging have to do with him being a dumb ass being caught on film sucking down a bong?

Michael Vick trained for years too, but he slipped up and lost everything. Why should Michael Phelps be any different?

Same with Mike Vick, same with Mike Phelps: You're getting paid millions of dollars and all you have to do to keep earning that money is keep yourself clean. If you can't do that then I can't feel sorry for you when you "slip up" and lose your endorsements.

Too bad, so sad.

killing dogs and running an illegal gambling operation is way different from taking a hit of some weed. sheesh, this michael phelps thing is a total non-story. he's 23 and he's spent most of the last eight years in a damn pool. I'd be more worried about him if he wasn't doing anything to have a little fun. weed is no big deal in my view...but then i worked in the entertainment industry....

Are we supposed to be sad for a pampered spoiled athlete who was made the main "face" of the Olympics?

No you shouldn't be "sad" for him for any reason, he won his medals on his skills. The medals weren't given to him.

Yes, he made a stupid mistake....and he has admitted that. We are all children of God and if I remember correctly, most of are sinners, yet, we are able to be forgiven and to forgive.

If I recall Kobe Bryant asked for forgiveness for his trangressions and he seems to be doing just fine.

See what a visit to my state can do for your career? LOL. Poor guy.

claudia_m: Awwwww! Sorry! :>) :>)

Please remember how easy it was for Bush to have surrogates speak for him.....no one expected anything more than a grunt from Bush. Since Pres. Obama has established this record of high oratory it will be one more bar he will be constantly evaluated on.

C-Span has full video:

http://www.c-span.org/Watch/watch.aspx?MediaId=...

lamh32: GREAT!! :>) THANKS! :>)

I Love our President. I really do.

He just kicked ass and spoke plainly. You can tell he's pissed because he is really relaxed, snarky & stutters a bit. He's SO animated. I love it. He's clownin' their asses.

I especially love his wtf moments. lol

This is a "stimulus bill!" THAT'S THE POINT!!

Dan Rather hit a note with me tonight on MSNBC. I believe he makes a great point about our President. Rather commented as I interpret; that Pres. Obama is so good at oratory and speeches that so far while in office his admin. has depended on him to get his messages out BECAUSE he doesn't have good enough surrogates to get out his message or reinforce.

I am concerned about this because I believe the critics are making their case in that having President Obama on the news every single day and multiple times a day will dilute his affect.

I hate to judge too soon, but, so far, I am not impressed with Robert Gibb. I have listened to him for a few days and I am left with a big blah factor.

I'm with you on Gibb. At first I thought it was because we were use to smooth operators lying to us everyday we just couldn't understand an honest guy. The Southern twang throws me off too. He needs somebody like Ed Gordon.

He needs Bill Burton. He has just enough attitude and refused to take crap from the media. I love Gibbs but he's trying too hard to be a nice guy and those pricks have already shown that they don't deserve kid glove treatment.

Gheez, I wish I knew the answer. I do know that as much as I disliked Ari Fleisher, he knew how to handle the press. I get the sense that Gibb is floundering. I don't know for sure, but, maybe he has hte knowledge but doesn't know how to control the press room. On another note, maybe Pres. Obam has created a different firestorm with the press because of his promise of "transparency"?

part of that is PBO getting his staff in place. once they get everyone in place they can go out and communicate his message. everyone is still getting adjusted so that will come. hes got to earn the respect of the people once that happens he can put all those senators and representatives and economists out there to speak on his behalf. itll get better only week 2

I hear you...just don't want this guy to fail in any way.

o he wont. not with JJP around. I think this will be unique in a way we havent seen. Barack has something that other presidents dont have i dont know what it is but its only been maybe 4 presidents who've had it. barack, reagan, kennedy and FDR. whatever it is the country gets behind them and refuses to let them fail. we wont let him fail. i know for damn sure i wont

And not with Michelle and Valerie looking out for him.

Love the honesty of this exchange. You're a great confidence booster, allamr18. But I have to admit, Angelar, I am also a little worried about Robert Gibb. He was great during the election, but he needs to find his stride and get better with his talking points!

co-signing

MAAAANNNN PBO was on that shit today. He fired off on them it was lovely

rikyrah: Here's part of the VIDEO: http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid5... Address to the Democratic Caucus.

You can tell he is just flat out done w/all the bull sh*t. He looks fed the hell up and he should be. I feel like we're back on the campaign trail. Tell it President Obama!

SDG: U got dat right!! :>) :>)

He needs to hit those fools over the head, verbally of course, every day until they get their act together.

ultrmagnetic: HE DOES!! They heads R just 2 THICK 2 feel IT! :>) :>)

Updated Thursday, February 5th 2009, 6:37 PM


Etta James classic sung by Beyonce is smash hit at President Obama's ball

Singer Etta James says she was only trying to get a laugh when she said she "can't stand" Beyonce and made fun of President Obama's ears during a concert in Seattle.

James told the Daily News Thursday that she meant no harm when she poked fun at the president and ripped Beyonce for her performance of James' hit "At Last" during the inauguration.

"I didn't really mean anything," James said. "Even as a little child, I've always had that comedian kind of attitude. ...That's probably what went into it."

Still, James acknowledged being miffed that she wasn't invited to perform her signature song for Obama's first dance with his wife on inauguration night.

James was "feeling left out of something that was basically mine, that I had done every time you look around," she said.

And while she said she liked Beyonce's performance, when asked if she thought she could have done better, James answered, "I think so. That's a shame to say that."

James made the controversial comments before performing the song at a concert in Seattle last week. She began by saying of Obama, "You know your President, right? You know the one with the big ears?"

She went on to say about Beyonce, "I tell you that woman he had singing for him, singing my song, she gonna get her ass whupped."

Thursday, James said she kept the insults rolling only because the crowd was laughing so hard, a reaction that can be heard on a recording.

"Nobody was getting mad at me in Seattle," she said. "They were all laughing, and it was funny."

She said the jokes were "not from a vicious place."

James pointed out that she posed for a picture and spoke with Beyonce last year before the premiere of "Cadillac Records," in which the young singer portrays the 71-year-old legend.

As for Obama, James said she "always thought he was handsome and he was cool."

"I still had my joke about him," she said. "That might be horrible. The president might not ever like me in life."

She questioned how upset Obama could possibly be about the barb: "He's got other stuff (to worry about) besides Etta James."

TRANSLATION: Somebody tol' Etta to sit her ass right on down in the corner and now she's trying to get from out of that corner.

I agree Town,

Etta found out that people are angry about her disrespect and she has backed the #### up! It didn't sound like joking to me.

omg, you just gave me the laugh of the day. god love you

I missed Obama on C-SPAN. Heard he was FIRED UP!!! Anyone see it, hopefully will be on youtube

I saw it. I commented below.

He was awesome.

Keith Olbermann put Dick Cheney on blast for his fear tactic message at Politico!


Go Keith!

I know this will sound corny but I watched our President board the helicopter from the White House and then land from his first trip on Air Force One and almost cried.

Yay! I will look forward to Pres. Obama and his family boarding the helicopter to travel to Camp David.

Bush Chief Of Staff To Obama: Put On Your Jacket On (VIDEO)
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/05/bush-c...

I don't know why they are worried about Obama wearing a Jacket in the Oval Office, it's been occupied by an empty suit for the last 8 years :).

HA,HA, HA!

Booky: HEY! :>)

LOL! :>) :>) :>) Good one!!

-Er -ummmm Did ya mean THIS SUIT? :>)

Of course I like the "GREEN!" :>) :>)

LOL @ that suit!!!!!

claudia_m: "BOO" B "stylin'!" :>) :>) :>)

No I meant a CLOWN SUIT. :)

Booky: Ooooo-kaaaay!

Here's shrub- - PURCHASING A SUIT! :>)

Nice.

A-EFFIN-MEN....nobody cares about that

Now that's a president.

Just in time for his weekend house parties.

Just watched it on CSPAN. That was a great speech!

You could tell that there were some technical difficulties with the prompter, but I think some of his best lines were the ones that were off message.

lamh32, isn't that when The President is @ his most interesting? When he is "off the cuff" you get to hear the real deal. The exasperation and the astonishment @ the sheer stupidity of some ppl. He never fails to crack me up when he's in "I just don't get you ppl" mode.

I thought it was great too. I thought he was going to say "Who the fuck are they kidding" at some point cause I could hear the pause and I could hear the exasperation. But he was fired up and he fired up those Democrats in the room. Did you hear them yelling?! They better get some guts and step up to the plate.

Fucking A, cause either your wid him or agin him!

rikyrah: Wha' HE SAID:

1. Don't come to the "table" with the SAME tired, worn-out ideas!

2. SOUNDS like soma the "TROOPS" are "FIRED UP!"

3. They sent us here to "bring change!" Annnnnd, I know that you want to work with me to bring about change.

4. Citing the "unemployment stats." This is NOT a game! These are family that YOU know about!

5. People are counting on us.

6. The "scale and the scope" of this plan are right!

7. I found this DEFICIT when I showed up!!

We are going to lose a trillion dollars worth of demands this year!

8. We started this package with "tax cuts" [per the economists]. Suddenly, what was a "balanced project" has now become "unbalanced!"

9. This is a "stimulus bill!" THAT'S THE POINT!!

10. All of us are going to have to accommodate some things.

Simple IDEA: Let's put Americans to WORK!! [3 million people]

11. This plan will end the tyranny of oil dependency!

12. I missed 1 state: Alaska. But, we're going to get there! :>) :>)

13. We will keep working for BI-PARTISAN actions!

14. Proud of the BILLS recently signed!

PREACH PREACHA!!

You're FIRED UP!! :>) :>)

I hope the First Lady is waiting up for him when he's back home from Air Force One. Brotha man broke the swagger meter off the charts tonight. I felt like having a cigarette and a drink after that speech.

Crack those heads, Mr. President. Seems like Congress is in need of a tutorial on the Chicago Way.

Yeah MON, he was PREZO-LISIOUS!

TriniPrincess: LOL!!! :>) :>) :>) :>)

BUT - - - - -***pointin' to the "BAD CHAIR"*** 5 MINUTES! :>) :>)

***shakin' my head**** :>)

O.K. 2 MINUTES 'cause I'm laughin' 2 hard!! :>) :>)

POTUS opened up a big old can of whup a$$ on the gop and the cable/news media. I loved the part when he said "What do they think a Stimulus IS": *snicker*

CNN Talking Head John (Mrs. Dana Bash) King said '"Obama is going to have to compromise privately with repubs and conservatives in his own party".

CNN Talking Pundit Head Dana (Mr. John King) Bash said President Obama was "Harsh".

It's ON like Tyrone!

Let's Roll!

It's ON like Tyrone!


BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA

LOL!

Dana Bash is just mad because she knew he was talking about her and her CNN colleagues ( with the exception of Roland and Cafferty). Truth hurts.

They can all drink a can of STFU! Tired of all the talking head so-called "experts". What a load of bullsh*t artists they are.

Booky: U R "FIRED UP!! READY TO ROLL!! -Er to GO!! :>) :>)

Wow you just illustrated again how incestuous these hires are and how they're so insular. Campbell Brown, too. And Andrea Martin over at whatever network she tries to annoy people from. Who else?

That's Andrea Greenspan to you h&fs. Allan Greenspan's wife,

You know old Anus Greedypants who was the FED Chair. Ran off before Wall Street collasped.

Not only are they incestuous, they have good jobs and high incomes. They have health care, they can afford to send their children to the best schools and colleges. They can take vacations. They aren't worried about losing their homes. They have good credit. The question is why do they want to keep us from having the same?

I ask myself the same question every day ... and the answer keeps coming back the same, because folks like that need the masses to be downtrodden, in order to elevate themselves and keep them on top of the pile.

I don't think many in that Media/Washington clique really want this country to be better ... because then what would they have to report or bitch about?

didnt PBO say, "ENOUGH" at the DNC? they mustve thought he was kidding?

allamr18: YEP! That's what I HEARD! :>) :>)

thanks GLH, I just watched him and he was fired up!

Angelar: YEP!! :>)

dang i missed him.

allamr18: Don't worry. There is a VID on the burner , e'en as we speak! :>) :>)

I'm waiting for c-span to put it in their archives. They have it listed, but no link yet.

How soon do ya think b4 it's on you tube?

lamh32: I just posted "SOMA" IT.

Signed, Ms Technologically-Challenged! GLH :>) :>)

Look up - thread. :>)

http://www.popeater.com/music/article/miley-cyr...

Hannah Montana: Racist Asian eyes, what's the big deal?

lame come on the girl is 16 she made silly faces people are getting out of hand at trying to spark controversy with everything

Somehow I think it would be a different story if she had bugged her eyes out and put on some blackface or made a YouTube video talking "black."

As with Michael Phelps, when you sign on that dotted line to become a public figure EVERYTHING you do is up for scrutiny.

she didnt really go that far. there are kids i work with that make silly faces and at no point do i think they are making fun of any race, they are kids. Michael phelps is different hes 23 and did something illegal shes 16 and was hanging out with friends.

Doesn't matter if they "were kids." Doesn't mean it's right. As a celebrity, everything she does is up for scrutiny. If she doesn't like it, she can give it up and go back to what she would have been doing had she not become Miley Cyrus: be a drive thru associate at Sonic.

Again, if she had caricatured black people everyone would be up in arms calling for her head. There would be none of this "they're just kids" talk. But Asians were the ones who were mocked, so I guess it's ok.

listen i feel what your saying but i dont believe that she was saying ok im rich and famous so let me get on youtube and mock a group of 2 billion people. if she did so then yes id be up in arms but i dont see it as such

If she were in a picture holding up a noose behind a black kid's head everyone would be up in arms and nobody would accept her "I just a kid fooling 'round" argument. NOBODY.

Let's say she was just clowning around and having fun and didn't mean anything by it. She's still a celebrity which means everything she does is fair game. She might be 16 but she should know by now that everytime she goofs off with her friends it ends up in the tabloids. If she doesn't want scrutiny of her funny faces around Asian people...DON'T MAKE FUNNY FACES AROUND ASIAN PEOPLE with a camera present and think nobody's going to blow that up on the internets.

well i looked at the pics again and i can see your point and why people would be upset.

Well you got to admit it that it was a dumb thing to do.

Miley Cyrus is the next Britney Spears, a girl who if her dad hadn't sang "Achy Breaky Heart" 50-11 years ago would be the drive thru clerk at Sonic, and then after graduation she would move up to cashier at Rite-Aid hanging out with her friends Crystal, Becky, Misty, Rusty and Tripp in the parking lot after work.

So PBO is about to speak to try to save his Presidency. I do see this one little fight poses the very important question of WHO ARE THE REAL ALLIES OF BARACK OBAMA? Who has made a tentative arrangement to support him as long as he appeared to be on top? Who was out on loan and can be pulled to go back to their real "boss"? Let's not forget his Chief of Staff shares a divided loyalty and another citizenship with a different country? Can you imagine the outrage people would feel if it was China or Iraq, but because it's Israel it's just supposed to be okay? And why is it that the mere inquiry about this a problem? How is it that the Republicans AND the corporate media went lockstep with each other to fight him even from the moment he took office? How is it that ALL the DEMOCRATS are NOT SUPPORTING THEIR PRESIDENT no matter what? Black people didn't even support him by and large until after he won Iowa. There was the opposition from those that framed it as his not being Black enough but I think it had to do with the fact he didn't come from the traditional Black base (not that I was complaining about that), but those rank and file Black politicians and pundits (i.e. Tavis) were NOT SUPPORTING him. And still may not be supporting him. And why is that Nancy Pelosi and the Congressional Democrats loading this stimulus with a lot of things that are nice but not be all end all necessary right now? I'm on the ledge so to speak and I'd like to be talked down: but I may be right regardless. Are Black people particularly prepared for the fall-out if his Presidency implodes because he wasn't prepared to accept a core group of people DO NOT WANT TO BE APPEASED and DO NOT WANT HIM TO SUCCEED and are willing to do ANYTHING to see him FAIL?

Barack Obama: 17 days in office and he couldn't solve the nation's problems. He should resign right now.

Come on no making fun. I'm serious. And yes I saw that fool complaining about a "dress code" for PBO. That's what I'm talking about. Blatant disrespect and open scorn and fake friends.

Town: LOL!! :>) :>)

Annnnnd, turn in his "new jacket!" :>) :>)

The NAME of a "new prez" can be "embroidered" on that jacket once the "tread of his name" is removed! ***shakin' my head***

LAWD HA"MERCY! :>)

He's still not adhering to the proper dress code! Obama is supposed to be wearing one of those butler jackets when he's in the White House! With a name tag that says "Barack Obama." That's in the White House dress code manual! Andy Card says it so it must be true!

Town: ONE WORD for CARD - - - -Saaaaa-lap!! :>)

Chill. His presidency is not imperiled. You are letting the media get to you.

Yes.

Relax..... the problem is that Pelosi wants to wield power in the House, that's why POTUS needs Rahm to whip house dems especially blue dogs so that she can't run wild and let ppl bring home pork.

i think we need to just wait and see. i think dems are tired of being kicked around and all of them will be up and ready for a fight. I think they are going to rally and it will be nice, so lets just be patient its only week 2.

rikyrah: First - - HE "SCHMOOZES!" NEXT - - HE WILL SPEAK!! :>) :>)

HERE HE IS!! And the Crowd Goes Wild

Nice pic and vid of President Obama's virgin trip on Air Force 1.

Important Moments I can't wait to see:

1st Formal White House Dinner
1st Dinner with the Royals
1st Trips at President to: Kenya (hell all of Africa), UK
1st Christmas (I'm still banking on a Black Santa Clause. It better be a Black Santa Claus)
All biggest American holiday: 4th of July (Malia's b-day), Thanksgiving, etc.

LOL!!! I knew you would snatch that picture. Isn't it just lovely!!! At least my mother thinks so.

Dang, he looks so good. Great Pic!

You did that!

icebergslim: Annnnnnd, I AM TELLIN' YOU - - - - I just "claimed it" on my Kodak paper! :>) :>)

out of all the friggin' Obama pictures, my mother wanted to see him get in Marine One and on Air Force One. Then she wanted to see him in that, sorry to me, dorky, Air Force One jacket. I know, don't hate, but that jacket is not my style, but I can see how so many want to see him on this plane and in that jacket. History.

The jacket IS dorky, but The President's love it...LOL

And, yes, I wanted to see him in that jacket.

I'm waiting for the pic with Malia and Sasha greeting Marine One.

icebergslim: LISTEN to your mother! WISDOM!! TRUST!! :>)

Check out this post from Al over at The field. It's interesting, and I wanted to get ya'll feedback

Activism vs Organizing

.

Prez Obama is definitely cheezed out in this pic!