Barack Obama- People Remember He Just Got There! Change is a slow process.

"Bill O'Rielly" Has Issues- Do we care? Is he too extreme?

Bill O’Reilly has never been one to hold his tongue. A recent interview was no exception, especially when it came to actor Sean Penn.

Insisting that Penn’s politics are far too left for his taste, O’Reilly states that he simply cannot bring himself to patronize a Penn film. He does, however, appreciate the actor’s talents. Says O’Reilly to The Hollywood Reporter:

"He’s a great actor, and if you hire him, you’ll get a good performance. I’m just not going to give a guy who gives aid and comfort to people like [Iran president Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad, Hugo Chávez and Saddam Hussein, when he was alive, my ten bucks. That’s my right as an American."

Penn isn’t the only celebrity O’Reilly disdains. The newsman, who got his journalistic start on the show "Inside Edition," tells The Hollywood Reporter that he’s no fan of Bruce Springsteen, who he says spouts nonsense. Such famous people, says O’Reilly, have a duty to use their platform responsibly. Though he claims that he would attack right-wing celebrities, O’Reilly seems to most often take on those who oppose his strident opinion. Meanwhile, O’Reilly definitely doesn’t restrain himself when discussing rival news station MSNBC, about which he remarks, "They’re dishonest people who do a lot of damage. They put out a product — MSNBC — that is hateful, and they’re doing it solely to make money."

CNBC Open Mic

T.I. Dead and Gone SPOOF- Barack Obama

Obama passing new law to allow searching of PC's, Laptops, and media devices

TV ad to put heat on Congress to pass budget

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- After e-mail pleas and nationwide canvassing, President Obama's political arm has made a TV ad that will air Thursday, urging voters to pressure Congress to approve his $3.6 trillion budget"America is facing tough times," the narrator says in the 30-second ad. "President Obama has a plan to get our economy moving again, to cut the deficit in half and create jobs by investing in health care, energy independence and schools.

"Thousands are going door-to-door as part of Organizing for America, gathering support for President Obama's plan to invest in America's future. You can help, too. Call Congress and tell them to support President Obama's budget plan to get our economy moving again."

The ad features video footage of a national door-to-door canvassing drive held last weekend by Organizing for America, Obama's presidential campaign organization, which has been folded into the Democratic National Committee.

Natalie Wyeth, OFA's spokeswoman, said this is the organization's "first ad as a project of the DNC."

"The ad will run on national and D.C. cable, primarily MSNBC and CNN," she wrote in an e-mail. "This is just one of the many tools we'll provide our supporters with, to help them make their voices heard and send a strong signal to Washington that the time for change is now."

Condoleezza Rice Joins Bush in Rejecting Obama Criticism

The Bush administration appears split on Barack Obama.

Dick Cheney, of course, knows where he stands: He thinks the new president is hurting our national security. His old boss, George W. Bush, may or may not disagree, but he’s keeping mum — the former president said this month that he won’t publicly criticize the new commander in chief. And Condoleezza Rice is siding with Dubya.

Appearing on "The Tonight Show" last night, Ms. Rice told Jay Leno she has no interest in slinging mud at Obama. In fact, she’s obviously quite confident in his administration’s abilities. Or thinks highly of the group, at least.

And I agree with the president. We owe them our loyalty and our silence while they do it. Because I know what it’s like to have people chirping at you when they perhaps don’t know what’s going on inside. These are quality people. I know them. They love the country. And they won’t make the same decisions, perhaps, that we did. But I believe they’ll do what they think is best for the country and I’ll give my advice privately and keep it to myself.

We take it Cheney won’t be calling Rice for help in the near future.

Investors Cheer Geithner (For Once)- Now the Conservatives have to find another Target in the Administration

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner formally unveiled the White House plan to clean out toxic assets from banks' balance sheets on Monday, and investors gave it the equivalent of a standing ovation. Contrary to what happened in early February when Geithner first outlined the plan in such general terms that everyone was disappointed, stocks surged around the world yesterday. The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 6.8 percent, its biggest gain since October, suggesting that "investors bet that the government may have finally found a way to fix the nagging problem at the core of the financial crisis," notes the Los Angeles Times. The Wall Street Journal says "the reaction seemed more a sigh of relief at seeing some details of the program, after weeks of waiting, than an overwhelming endorsement," particularly since "much fine print is still to be spelled out." The New York Times takes the broadest look at the three-part plan that could end up purchasing "up to $2 trillion in real estate assets" and points out that it was "bigger and more generous to private investors than expected." The Washington Post hears word that administration officials "made changes to the plan in recent days in a way that makes it more favorable to private investors."

President Obama: Special Olympic Gaffe Apology- "WE Accept" Lets Move On

An official statement has just been released from the Special Olympics Chairman, Timothy Shriver, Maria's brother.
The release says:

"President Obama called last night and expressed his regret and he apologized. He said that he did not intend to humiliate Special Olympics athletes or people with intellectual disabilities. He was sincere and heartfelt, and said that he is a fan of our movement and is ready to work with our athletes to make the United States a more accepting and welcoming country for all people with special needs.

Words hurt and words matter. Words can cause pain and result in stereotypes that are unfair and damaging to people with intellectual disabilities. And using 'Special Olympics' in a negative or derogatory context can be a humiliating put-down to people with special needs.

This is a teachable moment for our country. We are asking young people, parents and leaders from all walks of life to engage in conversation and help dispel negative caricatures about people with intellectual disabilities. We believe that it's only through open conversation and dialogue about how stereotypes can cause pain that we can begin to work together to create communities of acceptance and inclusion for all.

Special Olympics is not a program, but a worldwide movement operating 30,000 events a year in more than 180 countries. Every one of them is a chance for people of all ages to get involved, to think differently about attitudes and perceptions they may have about people with intellectual disabilities, and to make a difference.

And so we challenge people to join our 'Spread the Word to End the Word' campaign, a youth-led national awareness effort that will launch on March 31, where we are asking people to pledge their respect for people with special needs. We're asking people to sign our 'R-word' pledge, to join in our Unified Sports programs, to volunteer, and to be fans of our athletes and our movement.

Additionally, we challenge policy leaders at all levels to commit to improving the support and resources for people with intellectual disabilities in areas such as healthcare, education, housing and recreation.

Finally, we invite the President to take the lead and consider hiring a Special Olympics athlete to work in the White House. In so doing, he could help end misperceptions about the talents and abilities of people with intellectual disabilities, and demonstrate their dignity and value to the world."

We do give Obama a lot of credit for calling right away to apologize and clear things up the night it happened.

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart---Wed, Mar 18, 2009

Season 14 : Ep. 39|21:35|
Nandan Nilekani, author of “Imagining India,” sits down to chat with Jon.

Fox News Misleads Viewers With Biden Splice (VIDEO)

ThinkProgress made an excellent catch today, of the sort that I'm frankly surprised are still available to make, given the increased capacity that the internet lends to the practice of factchecking.

Earlier yesterday, Fox News ran a brief clip show, intimating that viewers were about to see various Obama officials stating that the economic fundamentals were favorable. In fact, that is what the video shows, for the most part: Christina Romer, Larry Summers and Austan Goolsbee, all from this Sunday's morning talk shows. All conform to the stated premise that viewers were about to see comments from "recent interviews this week." However, there was one splice in the clip that featured Joe Biden, stating declaratively, "The fundamentals of our economy are strong."


Fox cut away from Biden awfully quick, and for good reason: the audience was about to unleash a torrent of boos. That's because it wasn't a "recent interview" from "this week." It was from a stump speech, months ago. And Biden, as it turns out, was ridiculing McCain:

Look. If you want to continue to challenge the Obama administration on the merits, in the matter of having recently used those words against McCain in the campaign, that's one thing. That challenge was thrown down, with gusto, over the weekend. But this is an example of willful journalistic fraud, plain and simple. What really surprises me is that we all lived through Hillary Clinton's Tuzla humiliation. We all saw how easy it was to find the video that proved she was not under sniper fire. We all just watched Jon Stewart paste Jim Cramer, with videos Cramer thought wouldn't ever come back to haunt him. We've seen how easy it is for people with a little but of time and research skill to debunk misleading talking points, like the non-existent train between Disneyland and Las Vegas. Our own commenters are swift enough to point out the errors I make by accident!

It's very sad, and weird, because Fox News would have made their point just fine if they hadn't included the misleading part of this clip. All they've really done is demonstrate that they do not have enough faith in their own editorial premises to avoid bolstering them with falsehoods. But more to the point, whoever is responsible for putting this video together needs to accept a new prevailing reality, that stupid little lies like this will be debunked and exposed very quickly, so they may as well just cut out this nonsense entirely.

Meghan McCain: Kiss my ass!

Jack Cafferty on President Obama

NEW YORK (CNN) -- What a welcome change to feel like someone is running the country instead of running it into the ground.

President Obama has done more in eight weeks than George W. Bush did in eight years -- unless you include starting a couple of wars.

While the armchair quarterbacks second guess the new president, he gets up every day and does things, lots of things.

Whether it's creating commissions for women and girls, ordering the investigation of President Bush's use of signing statements, or jamming a huge stimulus package through Congress, the man is working his tail off. And he seems to be loving every minute of it. It's almost as though our president was born to do exactly what he's doing. He's leading, and boy, is that refreshing.

I remember many times when Bush was in office wondering who the hell was running the country. Then he would appear somewhere in front of a handpicked audience to utter some banalities or say something utterly stupid and I would be reminded. I don't miss him.That's not to say President Obama hasn't stubbed his toe here and there. Signing that omnibus spending bill with all those earmarks in it after campaigning so hard against pork was probably a mistake. The opportunity was right there to send that bill back to Congress with a note that read, "I told you I am against earmarks and I meant it. Now do it over and send me something clean." Nancy Pelosi's head would have probably exploded, but the American people would have been ready to crown him king.

There are serious questions about whether Tim Geithner has what it takes to solve the banking crisis. Either nationalize the big ones in trouble or let them fail. It doesn't seem that just continuing to hand them money is working.

Better background checks on some of his appointees would have saved him some embarrassment. There's no excuse for asking someone like Tom Daschle with his problems to do anything.

But the point, I guess, is this: President Obama is attacking our country's problems on several fronts. He's got ambitious ideas on how to solve them, and he communicates a sense of calm and confidence to the rest of us as he goes about his business. Will all his ideas work? Of course not. But if you throw enough stuff at the wall, some of it will stick.

And at least I don't go to bed at night worried that I'll wake up in the morning to find out we're about to invade someone.

McCain Fumes About Earmarks

Gingrich: You're 'irrational' if you don't want the president to succeed

Meghan McCain Blasts Ann Coulter: 'I Find Her Offensive'

By The Staff at wowOwow.com

Meghan McCain has turned her attention away from matters of the heart and toward another lightning rod: Ann Coulter. Writing in her regular Daily Beast column, McCain, daughter of Republican Sen. John McCain, lambasted Coulter’s brash style, one which McCain finds inconceivable:

I straight up don’t understand this woman or her popularity. I find her offensive, radical, insulting and confusing all at the same time. But no matter how much you or I disagree with her, the cult that follows Coulter cannot be denied.

McCain goes on to wonder if Coulter’s right-wing antics are simply an act or if she’s just offering the public "gimmicks to gain publicity." Coulter has yet to release a reply, but we have a feeling she’s got one in the works.

Alicia Keys as First Lady Michelle Obama???

Alicia Keys is taking on the role of the first lady of fashion.

The singer posed as Michelle Obama alongside look-alikes of first daughters Sasha and Malia for a Glamour magazine photo shoot.

"She has worked hard for everything she's accomplished, and done so with grace and humility. So many women and girls can identify with her story," Alicia said of the first lady.

In the photograph, Alicia is wearing a blue Carolina Herrera dress, a black Michael Kors belt, Miriam Haskell necklace and black Christian Louboutin shoes.

Glamour magazine's 70th Anniversary/American Icons issue hits newsstands March 10.

Alec Baldwin-Hoping the GOP Gets Its Act Together

I am an actor and someone employed in the entertainment business. I have my own opinions about how this government should be run and how disgracefully it has been run by both parties. I want to give it as hard as I can to those who willingly seek political roles and disgrace their office and, conversely, commend those who, in my opinion, behave commendably. I express those opinions un-self-consciously while never believing for one minute that they will influence anyone or anything. I do it as an American. For me, it's an American thing.

I am not the head of my Party.

Rush Limbaugh is an uneducated, marginally talented, overbearing, recovering drug addict who was, at least according to Wikipedia, ineligible for the draft because he had cysts on his ass.

I have dear friends of mine who represent real Republicans. Goldwater Republicans. Strong on defense. Tough on immigration. Fiscal conservatives. Not the bullshit Reagan wing of the party which, along with Clinton killing Glass-Steagall, brought us to where we are today.

My friends who are these real Republicans (not hypocritical evangelicals who are too lazy to raise their own children properly so, therefore, insist that all public institutions and policies bend to their will to make that job easier) do not listen to Limbaugh. They don't care what he says. They think he is an amusing entertainer. Like most progressives I know are well aware how hit-and-miss Michael Moore can be and, ultimately view him as an entertainer and don't give a damn what he says.

Until Limbaugh gets real, weans himself off the big salary and runs for office, he will always be nothing more than a poorly educated, marginally talented buffoon who has developed a real talent for manipulating the G-spot of the neocon consciousness and massaging the hate gland of so many economically displaced white voters in America.

I hope to God the GOP gets its act together soon and finds a real leader for their Party. Rush Limbaugh as the spokesperson for the GOP? 2010, I can't wait.

Michelle Obama - "O" Magazine

Oprah is sharing the cover of her O magazine for the first time in nine years - with President Barack Obama's wife -- First Lady Michelle Obama!

In the mag's new interview, Oprah talks about everything from White House decor to the celebrity of being the first family.

Michelle says the family's first Monday in the White House was "kind of weird." She explains, "You know, now we live here and Barack is getting up and going to work and it's just us. This is our home now."

She says her two young daughters Sasha and Malia aren't fazed by some of the more extreme trappings of First Family life: "Once someone on my staff e-mailed to tell me that the president was on his way. But you could already hear the helicopter, so it was like, well, no kidding."

"The girls don't move," Michelle recounts to Oprah. "I'm like, 'You want to see Daddy landing in the helicopter?' 'No, that's okay. We already saw it.'"

For more with Oprah and Michelle, pick up the upcoming issue of O magazine, on newsstands March 17.

Sheets Off ( The same meaning is there) Rush Limbaugh Gives Speech To CPAC

Whoopi Goldberg: Obama's Great, But the Next Two Years Are Going to Be Tough

Forget all the amazement, the idea that, for the first time in history, in the history of our country, someone who wasn’t a Caucasian man was going to be president of the United States. Do I think that’s a great thing? Yes, of course. But boy, does he have his work cut out for him! I listened to a lot of people talk about all the reasons that some of the decisions he’s making are wrong, and I thought, “Well, if they were wrong, why didn’t anybody start to correct the problems as they happened?” Surely all those Republican and Democratic senators who were sitting for the last eight years saw what was coming, and maybe they were all so brilliant that they couldn’t figure out how to articulate the problems at hand. But now, since we have a new guy coming in, it seems everyone has the information.

Obama Moves to Lift Bush's 'Conscience' Rule

Women’s groups are hailing the Obama administration’s reported decision to roll back Bush-era protections for health-care workers who refuse to provide services because of moral objections.

"We heartily commend the Obama administration for recognizing this rule for what it is: a targeted attack on women’s health and rights. Rescinding this harmful rule is a step back from the precipice; women across the country will be able to breathe easier once their right to information and needed services has been fully restored," said Marcia D. Greenberger, co-president of the National Women’s Law Center.

The Bush administration regulation allowed federal funding to be cut off to any health-care facility that didn’t let doctors or nurses opt out of procedures — including abortion — to which they objected, or which were against their religious beliefs. Government officials told The Washington Post today that they’re reviewing a proposal to get rid of the regulation. Officials said the way it’s worded now is too broad and could restrict women from getting vital services. Family-planning groups have said it could even stretch to not giving women contraceptives. The Los Angeles Times notes that seven states and two family-planning groups have filed lawsuits against the regulation.