President Obama has never been a liar.

...Obama told ABC's Robin Roberts Wednesday: (click here)  "Over the course of several years as I have talked to friends and family and neighbors when I think about members of my own staff who are in incredibly committed monogamous relationships, same-sex relationships, who are raising kids together, when I think about those soldiers or airmen or marines or sailors who are out there fighting on my behalf and yet feel constrained, even now that Don't Ask Don't Tell is gone, because they are not able to commit themselves in a marriage, at a certain point I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same sex couples should be able to get married."...


I remember when the observation was made the polling places listed him as "Barack Hussein Obama" and it would taint the vote. That was inaccurate. President Obama never denies his heritage or any aspect of his personal beliefs. He is who he is and that will never change.


I am hearing how his personal views will be exploited for political purposes and it will be the pulpit in churches that will wield power. Well, since when is that new? His birth place has been under attack and still is. The GOP Right Wing is determined and desperate to exploit every aspect of negativity to win. 


The President is not without his church supporters either. He has a religious following in many communities across this country, so the idea that preachers could dictate elections is an interesting idea. To begin non-profits should not be involved in politics as a 501(c)3, but, if preachers dominate the elections in the USA then we are a theocracy and not a democracy.


Separation of church and state is important. It is important to provide freedom to everyone without oppressing anyone. Churches are allowed their doctrines and they stand regardless of Same Sex Marriage in states like Massachusetts. 


There are many states providing marriage to Same Sex Couples and supporting their families with the need for health insurance coverage and equal treatment under the law as heterosexual couples. The statement by President Obama is not all that unusual or extreme. There are many mainstream ideas incorporating the definition of family to include married partners of the same sex. He is a young man with young mainstream ideas. He has a right to his personal beliefs. It is admirable he is willing to speak so freely about his personal views. Very admirable. It really doesn't do anything to policy. This is still a states rights issue.

Another extraordinary accomplishment for NASA.

The planet 55 Cancri e (click here) was first discovered in 2004 and is not a habitable world. Instead, it is known as a super-Earth because of its size: The world is about twice the width of Earth and is super-dense, with about eight times the mass of Earth....


...Spitzer first detected infrared light from an alien planet in 2005. But that world was "hot Jupiter," a gas giant planet much larger than 55 Cancri e that orbited extremely close to its parent star. While other telescopes have performed similar feats since then, Spitzer's view of the 55 Cancri e is the first time the light from a rocky super-Earth type planet has been seen, researchers said....

To the right is the Spitzer Space Telescope.


Lyman Spitzer, Jr. (1914-1997) (click here) was one of the 20th century's great scientists. A renowned astrophysicist, he made major contributions in the areas of stellar dynamics, plasma physics, thermonuclear fusion, and space astronomy. Lyman Spitzer, Jr. was the first person to propose the idea of placing a large telescope in space and was the driving force behind the development of the Hubble Space Telescope....


These telescopes operate above Earth's atmosphere to eliminate gases that distort the view of space from Earth's surface. All to often we take our technology for granted and while this seems like 'just another pretty picture' of outer space, one has to realize the accomplishment of the scientists involved to provide these images. Controlling the view of such photos is really an accomplishment.

"This is the Grover Norquist Congress"

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) (click title to entry - thank you) on Wednesday criticized Republicans in a 20-minute floor speech for blocking any bipartisan agreement on deficit reduction for the last several years, which he said was due in large part to their allegiance to Grover Norquist.

"John Boehner could never go against Grover," Reid said. "Grover Norquist. This is the 'Grover Norquist Congress,' because Republicans shake in their boots."...

Yesterday, the USA Senate Republicans, including Scott Brown filibustered the vote to maintain student loan rates.

...On a related point, (click here) Reid also criticized Republicans for trying to backtrack on the agreement both sides were finally able to reach last year to cut the deficit, which calls for $1.2 trillion in cuts to defense and social programs.

"The House is doing everything they can to walk away from the agreement that we made, the bipartisan vote that we took," Reid said. "They're doing everything that they can....

Norquist believes the GOP simply needs a President elected that believes in the anarchy of the Right Wing. No one else in the country matters, only the Norquist agenda is pertinent to the outcomes of the people of the USA. Anarchists. Unfortunately, a nation of people and a US Constitution stand in their way.

"All we have to do is replace Obama. ...  We are not auditioning for fearless leader. We don't need a president to tell us in what direction to go. We know what direction to go. We want the Ryan budget. ... We just need a president to sign this stuff....Pick a Republican with enough working digits to handle a pen to become president of the United States. This is a change for Republicans: the House and Senate doing the work with the president signing bills. His job is to be captain of the team, to sign the legislation that has already been prepared."


Mitt Romney fits the requirements, willing to do anything to be President with fingers that function to specifications.

"I am not going to need to call Timothy Geithner...in the case for Europe right now...that is a decision I would like to have input on...

Which ever way the wind blows, Mitt. Timothy Geithner has proven himself to be a friend of the Middle Class and repeatedly has been a force to contend with in a House of Representatives that can't tie their shoe laces. There is absolutely no way any President can provide complete focus to every problem the USA faces and for anyone to state so, is a liar.

By Timothy Geithner, Published: May 31, 2011

...On June 1, 2009, General Motors filed for bankruptcy, (click here) backed by $30 billion in support from the federal government. The same day, in the same New York courthouse, a judge approved Chrysler’s plan to forge an alliance with Fiat and emerge from bankruptcy as a restructured business with an uncertain future.

Two years later, all three American automakers have returned to profitability, the industry has added new shifts and 115,000 jobs, and GM and Chrysler have returned more than 50 percent of the government’s investment. The industry is mounting one of the most improbable turnarounds in recent history.

This outcome was anything but assured. In December 2008, the industry faced the prospect of uncontrolled liquidations just as our financial system was reeling from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. President George W. Bush provided more than $17 billion in temporary loans to GM and Chrysler to avert that disaster, but those efforts, while important, were not enough. President Obama took office faced with an industry that was burning and had to determine whether additional government support made sense.

In a series of meetings in early 2009, the administration’s autos team sought to examine an interwoven web of options and to highlight the risks each entailed. The companies needed to make dramatic changes. Years of bad decisions had caused them to progressively lose market share to foreign competitors, and the financial crisis had dried up financing for almost everything, compounding the collapse in demand for vehicles. It was not clear whether there was a responsible way to put taxpayer dollars on the line in a way that helped ensure the companies emerged stronger, not weaker....


Representative Barney Frank recently revealed the ability of Romney to lie on nearly every issue before the electorate.

And finally I have to ask you about the Presidential race. (click here) Of course you’ve seen Mitt Romney first hand, he was governor of your state.  What are your thoughts on the Republican race?

Well, any gay or lesbian person with any self-respect should not be voting for any of the Republicans, including Mitt Romney, who made the degrading comment in one of the recent debates about how he kept Massachusetts from being the Las Vegas of gay marriage, kind of cheapening this very profound thing for us.

This is a faker who in 1994, when he was trying to beat Ted Kennedy in a different era, said “Oh, I’ll be better than him on gay rights,” and of course he’s been outrageous.  In fact in 2004, when the Massachusetts Supreme Court had ruled in favor of gay rights, there was an effort in the State Legislature to overturn it.  Mitt Romney led a fight against a whole lot of legislators who had courageously voted with us to uphold gay marriage, and he tried very hard to defeat them....

Angela Merkel over reacted to the Greek elections.

She stated Greece has to live up to their obligations under austerity loans.


The Greek government wasn't overthrown, there is only a new President.


This means the new President can prioritize the financial structure within the country under the loan provisions. I do believe the loan agreement was voted on by a legislative body not just signed by the President.


By Maria Petrakis and Natalie Weeks on May 07, 2012

New Democracy leader (click here) Antonis Samaras began trying to put together a government after a Greek election that raised fresh questions about the country’s euro membership and triggered the biggest stock-market drop in six months.

Samaras was given three days from today to put together a coalition from an assembly split down the middle on whether to renege on the terms of bailout agreements negotiated since May 2010....

Honestly.  She acts as though there was an invasion.

Rebecca Kleefisch states destroying bargaining rights in Wisconsin is about "Political Courage."

...The rally (click here) seems to have consisted of right-wing politicians spewing one distortion after another about the Walker administration’s policies and their opponents’ intentions. The interviews with the audience members unfortunately show a typical “tea party” misunderstanding of the issues, and that Republicans’ talking points about collective bargaining and teachers’ health benefits have taken root with at least the party’s avid supporters....

For an appearance by a Lt. Governor, there was not a large crowd.

I always considered political courage to be standing up for individual rights. It is far more difficult to achieve political change through peaceful courage then it is to destroy the process that provides that OPPORTUNITY.


It is nearly laughable to hear people state, "I have to pay for mine." in regard to benefit costs in the private sector. Does the woman who said that realize what the profit margin is for her private employer that has no problem with her paying for her benefits? That is ridiculous and oppresses the American economy. The money she is paying for benefits could be going to her children's or grandchildren's education fund rather than stockholder profits. The profits on Wall Street these days is exploitative for the very reason she states.


Wouldn't it be great if all of government were privatized and everyone had to pay for their own benefits while receiving bargain basement services.

He killed his own brother in a suicide pact.

Abdullah Hassan al Asiri, (click here) perpetrator of the failed 27 Aug 09 suicide attack against Saudi Prince Muhammad bin Nayef and brother of Ibrahim Hassan al Asiri, assessed to be a top AQAP explosives expert and bombmaker.

Bombmaker, yes. Explosives EXPERT, no. If this man is on anyone's most wanted list, why then aren't mercenaries on the hunt? Yemen is a place of anarchy, it would be easy to capture and/or kill them. This is the fruit of anarchy. Take a good look.


When Arab leaders realized how deadly madrassas were they changed them to be schools instead of terrorist learning grounds. That can't be done in a country dominated by anarchy.


Poverty in any country is not simply a sad condition of the people it is a national security issue of any other nation. Changing that 'condition' is more difficult today with the Climate Crisis. Drought globally is effecting farming and agrarian lives are frequently one of choice during impoverishment.


I don't recall Wall Street doing anything about global poverty either. Wall Street's methodology is to give large sums of money to police enforcement in civilized nations to control demonstrators. Wall Street spends its money on making more money and laying communication cables across ocean floors. If I am not mistaken, a super fast communication cable, once hacked into, actually facilitates these global criminals. Ah, yes, all in the names of progress. Everyone's progress, it would seem.

..."ONLY ONE MAJOR BOMB MAKER"

The cartridge bomb plot followed in 2010.

In an English-language al Qaeda online magazine called Inspire, the network boasted that the cartridge plot cost only $4,300 and had achieved one important goal by scaring the West.

It hinted that Asiri had trained others in his Yemen-based group, saying: "Isn't it funny how America thinks AQAP has only one major bomb maker?"

Gauging the extent of Asiri's inventiveness, and of his ability to inspire the imaginations of his colleagues, has become a preoccupation Western security officials.

U.S. and allied officials, for example, say they are increasingly concerned that doctors working with AQAP will implant bombs inside living militants to try to circumvent airport security measures and bring down planes....

39% opposed Amendment One in North Carolina. That is interesting.

The dynamics of democracy has taken a turn for the worse in North Carolina. For the sixteen years I have lived in this state polling was always at a government building with long waiting lines, but, not this year.  This year I received a new voters registration card in the mail and my polling destination changed to "Oak View Baptist Church." I had to follow signs directing me to the the back of the church where there was a door leading into a meeting room. The voting machines were inside. Voting in a church would give pause to some people. Definitely.

Since, 2010 the North Carolina legislature has a strong majority of Republicans. The first time in over hundred years. This amendment was their idea. After I cast my votes yesterday including a ballot choice for President Obama, I knew there was coercion involved in this vote. Most of the people I spoke to did not understand the law at all, so the media did not do their job either because voters were uninformed to the dynamics this law imposed on society. 

The entire law is intended to be coercive. It is designed to put pressure on people to marry and marry in heterosexual relationships. It won't work. If unmarried couples are together it is their own choice as the laws of marriage and divorce in North Carolina are not hurdles to those decisions. The state has become biased to 'life style' since 2010. There is an air of self-righteousness about the law these days. 

It was interesting watching voters come and go yesterday. It was easy to pick out the Republicans over everyone else. They were scowling, the men were, the old white men were. They are simply angry about everything.

So, the effort to save the constitutional soul of North Carolina continues.

Gay NC couples resume protests of marriage ban (click here)

The Associated Press

Published: Wednesday, May 9, 2012 at 4:30 a.m

.Last Modified: Wednesday, May 9, 2012 at 4:01 a.m.

The results are in from the constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in North Carolina, but gay and lesbian couples are still demanding the right to marry.

Same-sex couples will ask for marriage licenses in Wilson and Durham on Wednesday, the start of a week-long campaign protesting their inability to wed.
The "We Do" campaign's protest against the state's gay marriage ban made news last fall. Two demonstrators were arrested in Asheville after they refused to leave a county office building where marriage licenses are granted.
The campaign is spreading to eight North Carolina counties in the next week. The demonstrations involving local couples spreads Thursday to Forsyth County, then to Mitchell, Madison, Buncombe, Randolph and Mecklenburg counties.