Pentagon to Lift U.S. Military’s Gay Ban
Viola Gienger reports on Bloomberg:
Top Pentagon officials will announce tomorrow their decision to certify lifting the ban on gays serving openly in the armed forces, two defense officials said.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are ready to certify that the armed forces are fully prepared for the change and that it won’t harm military readiness, said the officials who weren’t authorized to discuss the decision before the announcement.
President Barack Obama signed legislation into law in December that would repeal the prohibition, called “Don’t ask, don’t tell,” 60 days after the Defense Department drafts a plan for putting the new regulations in place and Obama and Pentagon officials certify that the shift wouldn’t harm recruitment, retention or readiness.
Obama is scheduled to meet with Panetta and Mullen tomorrow afternoon.
Calls to Assassinate the President is Protected Speech, Says 9th Circuit Court
Walter E. Bagdasarian.
Stephen C. Webster writes in the Raw Story:
A federal appeals court ruled Tuesday that calling for someone to kill the President of the United States cannot be classified as a threat because standing law does not prohibit “predictions or exhortations” to violence.
In a 2-1 decision, judges on the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that California resident Walter E. Bagdasarian was engaging in free speech when he wrote that Obama “will have a 50 cal in the head soon,” then called on someone to “shoot the nig.”
Bagdasarian published his comments on a Yahoo finance website in the weeks leading up to the 2008 presidential election. He was arrested weeks later, after one of the other commenters reported a potential threat to the Secret Service. During a search of his residence, authorities discovered that he did indeed possess a .50 caliber rifle.
“These statements are particularly repugnant because they directly…
President Obama Endorses ‘Respect For Marriage’ Act
It’s not often that the White House endorses a bill before it goes through the Senate or House, but President Obama did just that when he endorsed the Respect for Marriage Act today. With same-sex marraiges becoming legal in more and more states, this bill is a step towards equal taxation and social security survivor benefits, since there are “more than 1,000 federal rights and responsibilities gays and lesbians do not have access to because of DOMA.” From Joe Mirabella at Change.org:
Today President Obama endorsed the Respect for Marriage Act, a bill that would strike down DOMA and give legally married gays and lesbians the same federal rights and responsibilities as married straight couples.
Shin Inouye, a spokesperson for the White House, told Change.org, “The President has long called for a legislative repeal of the so-called “Defense of Marriage Act,” which continues to have a real impact on the lives of…
Millions for Defense; Not One Cent for Tribute
Oh how the times have been a changin’ since Robert Goodloe Harper coined that gem in 1798. In the 21st century, apparently, patriotism means stealing hundreds of billions from the U.S. Treasury to bailout incompetent bankers, as “minute man” [1] Paul Ryan begged the House to do on September 29, 2008.
Okay, so as a nation we’re totally cool with recasting tribute to greasy financial fat cats as “investment” — even if it doesn’t exactly pay a huge return. [2]
But since “far left socialist” Barack Obama proposed cutting Social Security benefits during recent talks to increase the nation’s debt ceiling (to much Republican enthusiasm), making sure Granny gets her catfood money has also been redefined as “wanton profligacy”. Ah, sure, the ol’ gal only had another ten years left in her TOPS anyways, right?
America, you are a pack of perverts. [3]
Fox News Twitter Account Gets Hacked Announcing President Obama’s Assassination
With instant access to knowledge via technology, it’s easy to get the wrong news. While some hackers may expose a private tweet or e-mail, others create fake news, like the assassination of the American president. Los Angeles Times reports:
Former Rep. Anthony Weiner falsely said his Twitter account was hacked just before Memorial Day weekend. But over the holiday weekend, it looks like real hackers attacked the @foxnewspolitics verified account, one of several Twitter accounts run by FoxNews.com.
A group calling itself “ScriptKiddies” claimed responsibility for the hack and also declared it has ties to the international hacker collective Anonymous.
The Tweets began appearing just after 2 a.m. ET on Monday, July 4, an hour and date likely calculated to maximize the time the Tweets were up before the account owner noticed or could do anything about it. The fake messages announced the assassination of President Obama during a visit to Iowa, but there were no…
Alex Jones On WWIII (Video)
Apply as many grains of salt as you see fit (personally I think he makes many good points, but WWIII? I’d be surprised), but here is Alex’s predictions on the impending WWIII:
Ellsberg Discusses How Crimes Nixon Committed Are Now Considered Legal
Photo: Thomas Good (CC)
Is President Obama getting away with some of the same offenses that led to Nixon’s resignation? Daniel Ellsberg thinks so. The Raw Story reports:
Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg said Tuesday that disgraced former Republican President Richard M. Nixon would “admire [President Barack] Obama’s boldness” in trying to stifle whistleblowers.
“Richard Nixon, if he were alive today, might take bittersweet satisfaction to know that he was not the last smart president to prolong unjustifiably a senseless, unwinnable war, at great cost in human life,” Ellsberg told CNN. “And his aide Henry Kissinger was not the last American official to win an undeserved Nobel Peace Prize.”
“He would probably also feel vindicated (and envious) that ALL the crimes he committed against me — which forced his resignation facing impeachment — are now legal,” he continued.
“That includes burglarizing my former psychoanalyst’s office (for material to blackmail me into silence), warrantless wiretapping, using the…
Obama Presents Mideast Peace Vision To Arab World
Photo: Elizabeth Cromwell (CC)
Via Reuters:
President Barack Obama on Thursday backed a key Palestinian demand on the borders of a future state with Israel as part of his vision for a Middle East peace deal and sought to shape political change convulsing the region.
Obama’s proposal — a policy shift that effectively calls for a negotiated Israeli pullback to 1967 borders that existed before it occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem — drew a swift rejection from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the eve of his Washington visit.
The president’s first public endorsement of the idea — in laying out his most detailed framework yet for an elusive peace deal — came in a much-anticipated “Arab spring” address aimed at recasting the U.S. response to upheaval sweeping the Arab world.
“At a time when the people of the Middle East and North Africa are casting off the burdens of the past, the…
Obama’s Birth Address Is Middle Of Highway
The White House thought it had us all fooled with today’s long-form Hawaiian birth certificate release, but that was until the latest revelation emerged. Enter 6085 Kalanianaole Highway, the supposed address of Obama’s childhood home, into Google Street View, and the red arrow points to ground in the middle of a freeway! Nice try, Barack Hussein, we’re too smart for you!
Update: this was intended to be humorous. But, apparently, it’s not too far off from actual “birther” arguments.
Via The Cheat Sheet tumblr:
Bradley Manning Supporters Heckle Obama During Fundraiser
Reuters reports:
Protesters interrupted President Barack Obama at a campaign fund-raiser on Thursday to complain about the treatment in detention of a U.S. soldier accused of leaking documents that appeared on the WikiLeaks website.
Obama’s administration has been criticized for Bradley Manning’s treatment, although the president says the Pentagon has assured him the soldier is not being ill-treated while he is awaiting trial.
Obama was addressing a room of about 200 people — many of whom paid as much as $35,800 to see him — when a woman in a white suit stood up and announced that she and nine others sitting at her table had written a song for him.
Despite Obama’s protestations, they then broke into a song that called for the 23-year-old soldier’s release. They passed out “Free Bradley Manning” signs and the woman took off her jacket to reveal a black T-shirt with Manning’s image.
“Now, where was I?” the somewhat flustered…
Constitutional Lawyer Drafts Obama Impeachment
Ben Smith writes for Politico:
A prominent libertarian constitutional lawyer and civil libertarian has drafted an article of impeachment against President Obama over his attack on Libya, throwing down a legal gauntlet that could be picked up by some Congressional Republicans.
Bruce Fein, a former Reagan administration official in the Department of Justice and chairman of American Freedom Agenda writes in his 15-page argument of Obama’s course that “Barack Hussein Obama has mocked the rule of law, endangered the very existence of the Republic and the liberties of the people, and perpetrated an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor.”
Fein is a small-government conservative who worked on the impeachment of President Bill Clinton and also called for the impeachment of President George W. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney, and his work doesn’t represent the Republican Party line. But it comes as some Republicans on the Hill, led by Senator Rand Paul, object vociferously…
Has Trump Really Sent Investigators After Obama’s Birth Certificate?
Justin Elliott writes at Salon:
Donald Trump’s claim that he dispatched private investigators to Hawaii to look into President Obama’s birth has been repeatedly printed as fact in the media despite zero evidence that he has done any such thing.
Here, for example, is how CNN is playing Trump’s comments, which he made Thursday on the “Today” show:
The CNN lead goes like this:
Self-proclaimed birther Donald Trump is now so doubtful of President Obama’s birthplace that he’s sent a team of his own investigators to Hawaii in hopes of getting to the bottom of the issue.
That’s according to Trump himself, who, in an interview with NBC, warned his investigators just might uncover “one of the greatest cons in the history of politics and beyond.”
This is stenographic journalism at its worst. The problem is that Trump has historically not been a credible source. He has a history of making disputed claims about his net worth as well…
Donald Trump Joins The Birthers
Photo: Gage Skidmore (CC)
In the wake of his announcement of a probable 2012 Presidential bid, the Donald joins the birthers, as reported by AP/Yahoo News:
Real estate tycoon Donald Trump said Thursday he isn’t convinced that President Barack Obama was born in the United States ,but says he hopes the president can prove that he was.
Officials in Hawaii have certified Obama’s citizenship, but “birthers” have demanded additional proof. And Trump, who is weighing whether to seek the Republican presidential nomination, says not all the questions have been answered.
In an interview broadcast Thursday, Trump told NBC News he plans to decide by June whether to run, and said that if he is the GOP nominee, “I’d like to beat him straight up,” not on the basis of the question of where Obama was born.
Trump insisted he didn’t introduce the citizenship issue, but he isn’t letting go of it either. Since he was…
Could Obama Be Impeached Over Libya? Let’s Ask Biden
Joe Biden comments on unconstitutional launching of military action. Comments from 2007.
Ralph Nader Discusses How The Labor Movement May Start A Revolt
On the Middle East news network Al Jazeera, Ralph Nader suggests that President Obama is not supporting the labor movement and if such ‘games’ continue it may lead to a ‘popular revolt’ in the United States.
Obama’s Change: More Tyranny and Oppression
Has anyone seen a change for the good? Or just more of the same … changes that will only leave us with less rights and money in our pockets. From Nathan Janes of PUPAGANDA.com:
In January of 2009, as the American economy teetered on the brink of economic collapse, the most prominent story within the mainstream media, called “the greatest mystery since Watergate,” was the selection of the Obama family pet. With the election of Barak Obama, many Americans, relieved that “change” was on the way, focused their attention on such trivial matters as the Presidential dog rather than the state of continual economic decline within our country. This phenomenon came on the heels of a successful election campaign where Americans were sold the Obama brand through terrific marketing and public relations. Everyone was buying “hope” and “change” with not only their votes but with their time and energy. The Obama campaign…
Birther Faces Court Martial For Refusing Deployment Orders
If Obama isn’t a US-born citizen is he fit to act as Commander in Cheif? That’s the question that brought Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin to trial for refusing to report for duty. Lakin, and other “birthers,” question whether President Obama is a US-born citizen or not. He pleaed guilty to one of two charges against him, stating he believed his orders for deployment were illegal because he still questions that Obama has a US birth certificate. MSNBC reports:
An Army doctor who disobeyed orders to deploy to Afghanistan because he questions President Barack Obama’s citizenship pleaded guilty Tuesday to one of two charges against him.
Lt. Col. Terrence Lakin of Greeley, Colo., pleaded guilty in a military court to a charge that included not meeting with a superior when ordered to do so and not reporting to duty at Fort Campbell.
Lakin faces up to 18 months in prison and dismissal from the Army.…
Obama Signs School Lunch Law
Looks like there’s going to be a lot of pudding trades with kids who bring bagged lunch. USA Today’s The Oval reports:
In signing a new law today to improve the quality of school lunches, President Obama paid joking tribute to its most prominent supporter: first lady Michelle Obama.
“Not only am I very proud of the bill,” the president said, “but had I not been able to get this passed, I would be sleeping on the couch.”
Mrs. Obama, whose major issues include fighting childhood obesity, laughed and said, “let’s just say it got done, so we don’t have to go down that road.”
The Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010, a $4.5 billion measure, provides more free school meals to the pool, and gives the government more power to decide what foods can offered in those meals, as well as in school vending machines and fundraisers during school hours.
[Continues at The Oval]
…
Chances Are, They’re Not Nazis
Aaron Cynic writes at Diatribe Media:
Back in the halcyon days following George W Bush’s inauguration, detractors and opponents of many stripes referred to W and his administration as Nazi’s. Even before the days of borderline fascist government policies like the PATRIOT ACT or warrantless wiretapping and torture apologists, lefties and others handed out poorly Xeroxed pamphlets featuring W’s face with a Hitler mustache.
Now, the jack boot is on the left foot, with hard line right wing conservatives dropping the Nazi card when referring to all things not Right as some form or another of Nazism. Most recently, Fox News chief Roger Ailes called the top brass at NPR “the left wing of Nazism” and said they have a “Nazi attitude.” Allies’ comments refer to the firing of NPR news analyst Juan Williams, after he told Bill O’Reilly that Muslims make him “nervous.”
It seems somewhere along the line the word “Nazi” devolved to…
President Obama Hosts Ramadan Dinner
What are you doing tonight? President Obama will be celebrating the Islamic faith. From The Hill:
President Obama will host an iftar — the special evening meal observed during Ramadan — on Friday night in the White House dining room.
Ramadan began on Wednesday and will end around Sept. 10.
Obama participated in a similar gathering last year.
Celebrations like iftar dinners “remind us of the principles that we hold in common, and Islam’s role in advancing justice, progress, tolerance and the dignity of all human beings,” Obama wrote in a statement Wednesday.
“Ramadan is a celebration of a faith known for great diversity and racial equality … a reminder that Islam has always been part of America and that American Muslims have made extraordinary contributions to our country.”
The dinner comes amid a growing controversy over the proposed construction of an Islamic cultural center in downtown Manhattan, near the site of the World Trade Center.…
