The President Sang Amazing Grace

President Obama and Bill Nye Talk Science and Politics

Free Community College in the US?

On Thursday January 8th President Obama announced a proposal to make the first two years of community college free for anyone who is willing to work for it. This plan is marvelous for so many reasons. It will serve to further diversify the workforce, make for a more informed electorate, and drive the economy. Here's hoping for the follow-through.

Barack it Like it's Hot

President Barack Obama gives an interview in this week's New Yorker with David Remnick worthy of the following...

Pro-Gun Viral Video DEBUNKED

Sadness

Our President wears his emotion on his sleeve.

Do not look directly at the MADDOW!

She's on FIRE!

Good Morning Hippie!

I woke up this morning to an interesting comment posted here at Tom Paine's Ghost. My old friend Troy decided it was time to let me know how appalling my support for Obama is. Troy is a good guy, a hard worker, a veteran, a family-man and a friend. I have a lot of respect for him and I am glad he has decided to engage in discourse here with us. Troy is mainly responding to a video I posted of the speech Obama delivered to the United Nations just a few weeks after the attacks on the US embassy in Libya. I will re-post his entire comment here and add my rebuttals in this green font as I think of them. Feel free to jump in and add to the conversation. OK, here we go...

Kris, Kris, Kris, for a “Freethinker’s Cove” I’m afraid you check your brain at the door and allow your far-left ideology and infatuation with Obama to rule over reality and reason!

I agree, the first 5-10 minutes of Obama’s speech was admirable and I appreciated listening to the short biographies of the Americans who lost their lives in the service of our country. But he quickly losses me when he starts making excuses for Muslims:

“Let us remember that Muslims have suffered the most at the hands of extremism.”

Really? What about the thousands of Americans who died at the hands of Muslim extremists on 9/11(2,606 people died in New York City in the World Trade Center and on the ground, 125 died at the Pentagon, and 44 people died in Shanksville, PA.) and their family members or the thousands of soldiers who have died from Muslim extremists to give Iraq (4,488 dead US Troops) and Afghanistan (1,957 dead US troops) a fresh start from tyranny and repression. What about the family members of the deceased still suffering from their losses? 

Each and every human life lost in war is deplorable. I am not saying and I don't think Obama is saying that a Muslim mother who loses her son in war suffers any more or less than an American mother who loses her son. Consider this, it has been estimated that anywhere from 28,000 to 42,000 people have lost their lives in Syria alone since the beginning of the civil war there in 2011, LAST YEAR. So lets take the US deaths from 9/11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and add them together = 9,220. Do I think Obama could have used more precise language when saying "that Muslims have suffered the most at the hands of extremism" Yes, I do. And being a bean counter when it comes to human life is a terrible thing to do. Every human life is invaluable, But I hardly consider the statement you quoted as Obama apologizing to moderate Muslims. He was attempting to give the world some perspective on the consequences and geography of terrorism.

Is it really enlightenment and tolerance to make excuses and apologize for these people? I think it is the highest form of enlightenment and tolerance to empathize with any group of people that is different from your own. I agree the Muslim community as a whole suffers from the extremists that use their religion for power. If you agree with this then you agree with what Obama said in the speech to the UN. The moderate Muslim’s in this world have to outnumber the extremists by millions. I don’t see them policing their own nearly enough if ever (What about Turkey? They still belong to NATO, have a strong military, and have a record of using military force against bad neighbors- ex: last week and Syria). Why doesn’t Obama apologize to America about his failed economic policies  or his failure to protect our citizen’s in foreign embassies?

What’s even worse is that the whole video excuse is a farce and a distraction from the fact that the Obama Administration dropped the ball on securing the US Embassy in Libya. I agree with this, just as I agree that the Bush administration dropped the ball on securing the World Trade Center on 9/11 But I am not a conspiracy theorist. I can sit here and complain all day that more was not done to prevent 9/11 but that does not mean I think Bush somehow caused 9/11 to happen, just as I do not think Obama somehow caused the attacks on the US embassy in Benghazi to happen. Terrorism exists and we need to be vigilant. I agree with this stance. Do you really think that a spontaneous riot would conveniently erupt on 9/11 from a video that was posted on the internet back in July? If that is the case Bill Maher’s “Religulous” would have started WWIII sometime in the past few years don’t you think? I don’t remember any backlash from that movie.

Liberalism, progressivism, whatever you want to call it, is zapping all the motivation, inspiration, ingenuity and drive out this country. The Obamaphone Lady in Cleveland, OH is a great example of where this country is heading under the leadership of President Obama:

Four years ago I would never have imagined myself thinking that I wish George W. Bush was still in office, but here I am thinking just that. It is appalling to me to see you idolizing Barack Obama like you do. Kris, where’s the hope and change he promised? Where’s the transparency (Here -transparency.gov) , the honesty and the openness? I have seen nothing but lies, deception and closed doors for the past four years. It is disgusting to me to see the President of the United States let other countries tell us what to do, especially China and Russia, or make excuses for my country in the name of tolerance and good-will. Kris, you’re an intelligent man. Why is it so hard for you to open your eyes and see the wrong this administration is doing to our country? What really has this man done in the past four years as president? (Yes, what has Obama done?) Please don’t answer with he killed Osama…

I tried to be as good as possible, I promise! I just hate to see an old friend wander down the wrong path. I appreciate your concern :) Miss you brother. How is your new family?

Obama addresses the World

The President of the United States addressed the United Nation's General Assembly last week in New York City. Though the speech was covered by the mainstream news networks, it was by no means emphasized. In my opinion this 30-minute speech was the most historic speech President Obama has delivered and I think will go down in history as a shining moment.  Famed biographer Doris Kearns Goodwin taught me that the Gettysburg address was barely noticed when Lincoln first delivered it. Few but the attendees in the front row could hear Lincoln's spoken words. Most of the crowd were not even paying attention to him but talking amongst themselves, much like contemporary people get distracted talking amongst themselves over social networks and so on. Don't let this historic speech pass you by. You can watch it right here on Tom Paine's Ghost! 

P.S. I will be live-blogging the Presidential Debate from Colorado today. Tune in here at 9PM eastern, 7PM mountain time tonight!

Sarah Silverman - Voter ID Fraud Laws are Bullshit

Facebook, Family, Politics, and Prejudice

Empty Chair Lynchings

This outrageous image sums up the attitude of an angry segment of anti-Obama voters in the United States.  They say they don't like what he is doing with policy but underneath it they are just plain racist.  This deplorable display of utter ignorance is telling. 

Taken in Austin, Texas this week the photo shows an office chair lynched in the front yard of a man named Bud Johnson. When confronted about this blatantly racist gesture he responded with eloquence:

I don't really give a damn whether it disturbs you or not. You can take [your concerns] and go straight to hell and take Obama with you. I don't give a sh*t. If you don't like it, don't come down my street.

There was a second mock-lynching in Virginia this one made it clear it was a reference to Clint Eastwood's version of Obama as invisible man in empty chair. It had a sign reading "Nobama" printed in read letters.

I do not claim that most Republican share this kind of racist rancor, but these displays just drag the whole anti-Obama crowd into a deeper hole from my perspective.

Source Global Grind's Selena Hill

Obama v. Romney: On Science

In my opinion, the most important debate in this presidential election will not be televised but rather is available RIGHT NOW to read in print at this website - sciencedebate.org Here is an example question and response from each respective candidate in parallel. Climate Change. The Earth’s climate is changing and there is concern about the potentially adverse effects of these changes on life on the planet. What is your position on cap-and-trade, carbon taxes, and other policies proposed to address global climate change—and what steps can we take to improve our ability to tackle challenges like climate change that cross national boundaries?
Barack Obama: Climate change is the one of the biggest issues of this generation, and we have to meet this challenge by driving smart policies that lead to greater growth in clean energy generation and result in a range of economic and social benefits. Since taking office I have established historic standards limiting greenhouse gas emissions from our vehicles for the first time in history. My administration has made unprecedented investments in clean energy, proposed the first-ever carbon pollution limits for new fossil-fuel-fired power plants and reduced carbon emissions within the Federal Government. Since I took office, the U.S. is importing an average of 3 million fewer barrels of oil every day, and our dependence on foreign oil is at a 20-year low. We are also showing international leadership on climate change, reaching historic agreements to set emission limits in unison with all major developed and developing nations. There is still more to be done to address this global problem. I will continue efforts to reduce our dependence on oil and lower our greenhouse gas emissions while creating an economy built to last.		Mitt Romney: I am not a scientist myself, but my best assessment of the data is that the world is getting warmer, that human activity contributes to that warming, and that policymakers should therefore consider the risk of negative consequences. However, there remains a lack of scientific consensus on the issue — on the extent of the warming, the extent of the human contribution, and the severity of the risk — and I believe we must support continued debate and investigation within the scientific community. Ultimately, the science is an input to the public policy decision; it does not dictate a particular policy response. President Obama has taken the view that if global warming is occurring, the American response must be to slash carbon dioxide emissions by imposing enormous costs on the U.S. economy. First he tried a massive cap-and-trade bill that would have devastated U.S. industry. When that approach was rejected by Congress, he declared his intention to pursue the same course on his own and proceeded through his EPA to impose rules that will bankrupt the coal industry. Nowhere along the way has the President indicated what actual results his approach would achieve — and with good reason. The reality is that the problem is called Global Warming, not America Warming. China long ago passed America as the leading emitter of greenhouse gases. Developed world emissions have leveled off while developing world emissions continue to grow rapidly, and developing nations have no interest in accepting economic constraints to change that dynamic. In this context, the primary effect of unilateral action by the U.S. to impose costs on its own emissions will be to shift industrial activity overseas to nations whose industrial processes are more emissions-intensive and less environmentally friendly. That result may make environmentalists feel better, but it will not better the environment. So I oppose steps like a carbon tax or a cap-and-trade system that would handicap the American economy and drive manufacturing jobs away, all without actually addressing the underlying problem. Economic growth and technological innovation, not economy-suppressing regulation, is the key to environmental protection in the long run. So I believe we should pursue what I call a “No Regrets” policy — steps that will lead to lower emissions, but that will benefit America regardless of whether the risks of global warming materialize and regardless of whether other nations take effective action. For instance, I support robust government funding for research on efficient, low-emissions technologies that will maintain American leadership in emerging industries. And I believe the federal government must significantly streamline the regulatory framework for the deployment of new energy technologies, including a new wave of investment in nuclear power. These steps will strengthen American industry, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and produce the economically-attractive technologies that developing nations must have access to if they are to achieve the reductions in their own emissions that will be necessary to address what is a global issue.

Eastwooded

What imaginary Mitt Romney?

Looking like a cross between Charlton Heston and Doc Brown, Clint Eastwood came out at the Republican National convention in Tampa, for Mitt Romney. He began by pretending to have a conversation with an invisible President Obama sitting in a chair next to him. His unkempt hair made Eastwood look more like he was on some combination of anti-Alzheimer's meds and crack. Now that I think about it that pretty much sums up how I see all tea-party cranks ranting away out there. Enough of my ramblings. See for yourself...

Scandal in Colorado!

Secretary of State for Colorado, Scott Gessler.

Scott Gessler is a one-man sleeper-cell for the GOP in Colorado. Very quietly in 2010 he amassed vast sums of money from the Republican Party to ensure his victory as the Secretary of State in Colorado. When Michael Steele, then chairman of the Republican Party visited Fort Collins in 2010 I attended his rally at the GOP headquarters inside an out-of-business blockbuster video on College Avenue. During the rally I noticed particular attention being paid to Gesslar by Steele. Gessler was the only politician to position himself in close physical proximity to Steele who was a controversial figure at the time.

Why all the love and attention?  This was all part of a quiet campaign by Steele to Gerrymander congressional districts across the country in favor of the Republican Party.  If you are not familiar with what Gerrymandering  is let me tell you. It is the process by which a political group manipulates geographical boundaries of certain voting districts to favor their group overall.

This is precisely what has happened in Northern Colorado in 2012. To understand this you need to know about the liberal/conservative distribution in the State of Colorado. Though there are pockets of liberals in the western mountains there are just as many conservative families up there as well. Neither group really have the numbers to make a big difference in the congressional districts. Looking down on the front-range, Boulder Colorado has historically been a liberal hub. But, over the last decade there has been some spill over as intra-national transplants have discovered the other cool parts of Colorado. 

As with any liberalization of an area the seeds started growing from the the centers of higher learning.  In Colorado this is partly true but there is a bit of a catch.  Denver and Boulder are chocked full of University students and have traditionally voted more to the left. Whereas Colorado Springs to the south, does not have such a liberal contingent.  though there are some private Universities there The Air Force Academy, Focus on the Family and more mega-churches than you can shake a stick at pretty much dominate the political climate in those parts. Now we come to my town - Fort Collins the jewel of Northern Colorado. Smack between Denver and Laramie Wyoming, Fort Collins is balanced town with just as many patchouli-drenched organic farmers as there are wrangler wearing country folk. Home to Colorado State University it is not uncommon to see someone donning Carhartts and cashmere.

I have called Fort Collins home for seven years and have watched as droves of bicycle-riding artists and musicians have taken up residence in this high flat sunny place.  The scales of reason have tipped gradually toward the left since I moved here.  Alas, my new home has now been tainted by the schemes of the Secretary of State, Scott Gessler.  Before 2010 it used to be that Fort Collins was the only large University town in its congressional district. I thought this was great as it pulled our representatives more to the center as they had to compromise with the ranchers and farmers of the high plains for a balanced approach to taxes and government programs for the area. But now the congressional districts have been redrawn and Fort Collins is now in the same geographical voting-bloc as Boulder. The powers that be have corralled  all the liberal folks into one big pen. By doing so they have minimized the liberal voice in Colorado. Instead of two slots for potentially liberal congress men or women there is just one.

See for yourself below.       The 2010 districts...

And here are the 2012 congressional districts!!!

Conclusion? Gerrymandering! In my opinion this is unconstitutional discrimination. The repercussions of this redistricting don't just affect Colorado but the entire nation as the new batch of Federal congress people will not be representing a fair cross-section of the American people. Redistricting in order to confine either side of the political spectrum to one geographical area only feeds the negative feedback cycle of political polarization rampant in America these days.

I do not care that the one person, one vote dogma is being followed. The spirit of the constitution is being violated!!!

Colorado Republican "Obama is a N-word"

Ed Haynes spoke these words at a public opinion hearing at Colorado State University in September of 2007. Haynes was responding to a headline that appeared on a college newspaper's opinion page that read "Taser this... FUCK BUSH" I am posting this clip here and now as I saw Ed standing in the bike lane on campus at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO yesterday holding a pro-Romney sign outside the area where Barack Obama gave a speech. Ed Haynes is a member of the GOP in Colorado and I think the words he utters in this public video sum up the just-plain-racist attitudes of many Romney fans around the country right now.

 

Obama visits Colorado State University (Photos)

Power to the people!!! Photo by Kristopher Hite. Creative commons license - feel free to use any of these photos but please give credit to www.tompainesghost.com

President Barack Obama

I took these photos yesterday as I watched President Obama speak to a crowd of 13,000 people on the Monfort quad in the center of the campus at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, CO. He talked a lot about expanding grants and tax credits for college students, not being discriminated against for who you love, and the dangers of a "Romney Doesn't Care" health plan. It made me happy that Obama mentioned the solar and wind industries in Colorado and how we need to re-elect him because "we have a lot more renewable energy to make!"

Photos by Kristopher Hite

Creative Commons license - feel free to use any of these photos but please give credit to www.tompainesghost.com

Ken Salazar - Secretary of the Department of the Interior and former Senator of Colorado

Ken Salazar - Photo by Kristopher Hite

John Hickenlooper - Current Governor of Colorado - I do not like him because of his stance on FRACKing. Thus the photo I choose looks like he is going to the bathroom.

Photo by Kristopher Hite PhD

Photo by Kristopher Hite PhD

Photo by Kristopher Hite PhD

Obama and Yellowstone

Rush Praises Obama

While watching this and the FOX coverage I realize they are using this event to justify "enhanced interrogation techniques" used in the prison at Guantanamo Bay. Victory at the expense of virtue is no victory.