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Subscribe to RSSPublished 3:25 p.m. ET -- What do rocker Ted Nugent, Apple CEO Tim Cook, singer Tony Bennett, Mohawk-coiffed NASA staffer Bobak Ferdowski, and a 103-year old Florida woman have in common? They’re all going to be among the members of Congress and other Washington dignitaries for tonight’s State of the Union address. They, and many other related guests, may seem like an eclectic bunch but they’re all invited for a purpose.
Together, those guests form a diverse group of Americans who together paint a portrait of a nation in flux: victims of gun violence, undocumented immigrants, veterans of the war in Afghanistan, and the corporate executives and small-business owners who represent the strong economic future the president must outline in his speech.
Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images
Singer Tony Bennett will attend the State of the Union as a guest of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.
Twenty members of Congress have organized an effort to include almost two dozen victims of gun violence and their families at the Capitol for President Obama’s annual address. Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords of Arizona, who was shot in January 2011 during a constituent meeting in her district, and her husband, Mark Kelly, also will attend the speech as guests of Rep. Ron Barber, D-Ariz., and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. The parents of slain Chicago teen Hadiya Pendleton will attend the State of Union as guests of first lady Michelle Obama.
RELATED: Two charged with murder in Hadiya Pendleton shooting
Curbing gun violence sprang to the top of the administration’s agenda following a string of mass shootings. There was the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Conn., the movie theater shooting in Aurora, Colo., and the attack on a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisc., among others. The president has pushed for new gun control measures, including universal background checks and an assault weapons ban. The latter faces a particularly steep uphill fight in Congress, though Obama has maintained his resolve. Such a ban "deserves a vote in Congress because weapons of war have no place on our streets or in our schools or threatening our law enforcement officers,” he told an audience in Minneapolis earlier this month.
Sitting in likely opposition to this gun control push: Nugent. The rocker will be the guest of Texas Congressman Steve Stockman. Nugent landed in hot water with the Secret Service in April 2012 when he declared at a national NRA meeting that if Obama was re-elected, “I will either be dead or in jail by this time next year.”
Kevin Tighe / Getty Images Contributor
Ted Nugent performs at Ruth Eckerd Hall on August 6, 2012 in Tampa, Florida.
RELATED: Gun control advocates use State of the Union to highlight their cause
Sweeping immigration reform, a promise of Obama’s in his 2008 campaign, eluded the president in his first term, culminating in the Senate’s late 2010 failure to pass the DREAM Act. A year and a half later, the Obama administration made waves in announcing an executive order to halt the deportation of illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States as children. The president renewed his focus on reform earlier this year following the Senate’s construction of new legislative framework for an immigration policy overhaul.
Sitting in the audience tonight will be 20-year-old Alan Aleman, a DREAM Act activist and student at the College of Southern Nevada who was one of his state’s first undocumented immigrants to receive a work permit under deferred action. Several congressional leaders including Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., Rep. Marc Veasey, D-Texas and Rep. Luis Gutierrez, D-Ill., have also extended invitations to those who have been touched by the immigration issue.
RELATED: State of the Union’s special guests: undocumented immigrants
But one of Obama’s top priorities is economic growth. More than seven in 10 Americans remain dissatisfied with the current state of the economy, according to a recent NBC News/WSJ poll. But in attendance tonight will be examples of prosperity from across the socio-economic spectrum: small-business owners like brewery owner Deb Carey of Wisconsin, and corporate executives like Apple’s Cook and ECCO Select CEO Jeanette Hernandez-Prenger, an invitee of House Speaker John Boehner.
Also in attendance tonight will be those who have argued for increased civil rights and protections. Guests include Amanda McMillan, who won a gender discrimination case she filed against her former employer; Desiline Victor, the 103-year old Florida woman who waited in line for hours to vote; and Tracy Hepner, the co-founder of a group that supports LGBT military partners and their families.
Damian Dovarganes / AP file
Bobak Ferdowsi, a flight director for the Mars rover Curiosity, works at his computer at the Surface Mission Support Area, at NASA's JPL in Pasadena, Calif. Known to the Twitterverse and the president of the United States as "Mohawk Guy," Bobak Ferdowski could be the changing face of NASA and all of geekdom.
Also to be seated in the first lady’s section are Sgt. Carlos Evans, a combat veteran who sustained injuries in Afghanistan, and Sgt. Sheena Adams, a recipient of the Combat Action Ribbon for her completion of leadership and deployment last year. The president is expected to announce during his address tonight that 34,000 of the 66,000 U.S. troops currently in Afghanistan will return home within the year, according to a senior administration official.
And last but not least, there’s NASA’s “Mohawk Guy.” Ferdowsi, also a guest of the first lady, will serve to draw attention to the president’s calls for visas for technology-trained immigrants. Ferdowsi is the Iranian-American who helped guide the Curiosity rover on Mars.
RELATED: NASA's 'Mohawk Guy' will sit with first lady at State of Union
Leave a Comment:
President Obama is THE Rock Star of the Moment.
U.S.A. is a better place because of that.
Amen.
Agreed, Piggy!
I hope the Secret Service provides that scumbag Nugent with very personal and up close service by keeping a laser pointed between that big brainless space between his ears.
AlaskaGirl-759554 -
I agree, the secret service should push Nugent through an X-ray machine or cat-scan to see if he has any brain or any brain activity to comprehend what President has to say.
.
The early result is not good - Nugent is brain-dead.
Who is Ted Nuisance?
Hey, Ted, don't be such as Pest. Or I will apply my Pest Control on you.
We don't need a President to be a "rock star", we need a President to be a leader. By a leader I mean someone with the moral character, intellegence, and experience to help guide us out of this obvious mess that we are in. We need a leader that will realize that we can't spend our way out of our debt trouble. We need a leader that will stand by his decisions (IE- Sequestration, his demand in the last deal, not the GOP's) and not turn on them just to politicize a moment against the GOP. We need a leader whom will use real facts and figures to evaluate a problem and fix it, rather than creating false statements and figures to get a press moment and create a crisis that he can "fix" and further his agenda. We need a leader whom will actually meet with his advisors and the committees that he formed to inform him of solutions to the issues of the day. We need a leader that will make tough decisions without depending on every day's polls for the right position to take. We need a leader that can have press conferences often and take actual, unscreened, tough questions. We need a leader whom won't parade out groups of kids and victims to propoagandize his wishes.
We need a leader, not a Presidential "rock star". Too bad we've got the latter.
Yep, better place.
Food Stamp Rolls in America Now Surpass the Population of Spain
February 11, 2013
By Elizabeth Harrington
(CNSNews.com) – Since taking office in 2009, food stamp rolls under President Barack Obama have risen to more than 47 million people in America, exceeding the population of Spain.
"Now is the time to act boldly and wisely – to not only revive this economy, but to build a new foundation for lasting prosperity," said Obama during his first joint session address to Congress on Feb. 24, 2009.
Since then, the number of participants enrolled in food stamps, known as the Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program (SNAP), has risen substantially.
When Obama entered office in January 2009 there were 31,939,110 Americans receiving food stamps. As of November 2012—the most recent data available—there were 47,692,896 Americans enrolled, an increase of 49.3 percent.
According to the 2011 census, Spain had a population of 46,815,916.
Furthermore, between January 2009 and November 2012 the food stamp program added approximately an average 11,269 recipients per day.
President Obama will deliver his fourth State of the Union address Tuesday evening. Obama is expected to focus on jobs and the economy.
Yep, better place.
The U.S. debt was more than $14.3 trillion during the so-called debt crisis of 2011, when the level of borrowing reached its statutory limit and the president warned of a potential default if the cap wasn't raised.
So who owns all that U.S. debt?
About 32 cents for every dollar of U.S. debt, or $4.6 trillion, is owned by the federal government in trust funds, for Social Security and other programs such as retirement accounts, according to the U.S. Department of Treasury.
China and U.S. Debt
The largest portion of U.S. debt, 68 cents for every dollar or about $10 trillion, is owned by individual investors, corporations, state and local governments and, yes, even foreign governments such as China that hold Treasury bills, notes and bonds.
Foreign governments hold about 46 percent of all U.S. debt held by the public, more than $4.5 trillion. The largest foreign holder of U.S. debt is China, which owns more about $1.2 trillion in bills, notes and bonds, according to the Treasury.
In total, China owns about 8 percent of publicly held U.S. debt. Of all the holders of U.S. debt China is the third-largest, behind only the Social Security Trust Fund's holdings of nearly $3 trillion and the Federal Reserve's nearly $2 trillion holdings in Treasury investments, purchased as part of its quantitative easing program to boost the economy.
Criticism of China Owning U.S. Debt
To put China's ownership of U.S. debt in perspective, its holding of $1.2 trillion is even larger than the amount owned by American households. U.S. citizens hold only about $959 billion in U.S. debt, according to the Federal Reserve.
Other large foreign holders of U.S. debt include Japan, which owns $912 billion; the United Kingdom, which owns $347 billion; Brazil, which holds $211 billion; Taiwan, which holds $153 billion; and Hong Kong, which owns $122 billion.
Yep, better place.
The U.S. debt was more than $14.3 trillion during the so-called debt crisis of 2011, when the level of borrowing reached its statutory limit and the president warned of a potential default if the cap wasn't raised.
So who owns all that U.S. debt?
About 32 cents for every dollar of U.S. debt, or $4.6 trillion, is owned by the federal government in trust funds, for Social Security and other programs such as retirement accounts, according to the U.S. Department of Treasury.
China and U.S. Debt
The largest portion of U.S. debt, 68 cents for every dollar or about $10 trillion, is owned by individual investors, corporations, state and local governments and, yes, even foreign governments such as China that hold Treasury bills, notes and bonds.
Foreign governments hold about 46 percent of all U.S. debt held by the public, more than $4.5 trillion. The largest foreign holder of U.S. debt is China, which owns more about $1.2 trillion in bills, notes and bonds, according to the Treasury.
In total, China owns about 8 percent of publicly held U.S. debt. Of all the holders of U.S. debt China is the third-largest, behind only the Social Security Trust Fund's holdings of nearly $3 trillion and the Federal Reserve's nearly $2 trillion holdings in Treasury investments, purchased as part of its quantitative easing program to boost the economy.
Criticism of China Owning U.S. Debt
To put China's ownership of U.S. debt in perspective, its holding of $1.2 trillion is even larger than the amount owned by American households. U.S. citizens hold only about $959 billion in U.S. debt, according to the Federal Reserve.
Other large foreign holders of U.S. debt include Japan, which owns $912 billion; the United Kingdom, which owns $347 billion; Brazil, which holds $211 billion; Taiwan, which holds $153 billion; and Hong Kong, which owns $122 billion.
Yep, better place.
The 86 million invisible unemployed
By Annalyn Censky@CNNMoney May 4, 2012: 10:39 AM ET
Last year, 86 million Americans were not counted in the labor force because they didn't keep up a regular job search. Most of them were either under age 25 or over age 65.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- There are far more jobless people in the United States than you might think.
While it's true that the unemployment rate is falling, that doesn't include the millions of nonworking adults who aren't even looking for a job anymore. And hiring isn't strong enough to keep up with population growth.
As a result, the labor force is now at its smallest size since the 1980s when compared to the broader working age population.
"We've been getting some job growth and it's been significant, but it hasn't yet been strong enough that you start to get people re-engaging in the labor market," said Keith Hall, a senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center and former commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Job market dropouts
A person is counted as part of the labor force if they have a job or have looked for one in the last four weeks. As of April, only 63.6% of Americans over the age of 16 fell into that category, according to the Labor Department. That's the lowest labor force participation rate since 1981.
It's a worrisome sign for the economy and partly explains why the unemployment rate has been falling recently. Only people looking for work are considered officially unemployed.
Jason Everett, for example, wouldn't be counted.
Out of work for nearly three years now, Everett has given up his job search altogether.
Instead, the unemployed plumber and Air Force veteran takes a few community college courses and looks after his two children while his wife is the primary breadwinner.
"I'm not even totally convinced the college degree is really going to help at this point, but I figure at least I'll be doing something," he said.
Yep, better place.
Obama's green energy handouts costing billions
companies cited were: (Money listed is how much was offered, and does not include other state, local or federal tax credits and subsidies. Asterisk notes that the company has filed for bankruptcy)
1.Evergreen Solar ($24 million)*
2.SpectraWatt ($500,000)*
3.Solyndra ($535 million)*
4.Beacon Power ($69 million)*
5.AES's subsidiary Eastern Energy ($17.1 million)
6.Nevada Geothermal ($98.5 million)
7.SunPower ($1.5 billion)
8.First Solar ($1.46 billion)
9.Babcock and Brown ($178 million)
10.EnerDel's subsidiary Ener1 ($118.5 million)*
11.Amonix ($5.9 million)
12.National Renewable Energy Lab ($200 million)
13.Fisker Automotive ($528 million)
14.Abound Solar ($374 million)*
15.A123 Systems ($279 million)*
16.Willard and Kelsey Solar Group ($6 million)
17.Johnson Controls ($299 million)
18.Schneider Electric ($86 million)
19.Brightsource ($1.6 billion)
20.ECOtality ($126.2 million)
21.Raser Technologies ($33 million)*
22.Energy Conversion Devices ($13.3 million)*
23.Mountain Plaza, Inc. ($2 million)*
24.Olsen's Crop Service and Olsen's Mills Acquisition Company ($10 million)*
25.Range Fuels ($80 million)*
26.Thompson River Power ($6.4 million)*
27.Stirling Energy Systems ($7 million)*
28.LSP Energy ($2.1 billion)*
29.UniSolar ($100 million)*
30.Azure Dynamics ($120 million)*
31.GreenVolts ($500,000)
32.Vestas ($50 million)
33.LG Chem's subsidiary Compact Power ($150 million)
34.Nordic Windpower ($16 million)*
35.Navistar ($10 million)
36.Satcon ($3 million)*
The total? More than $10 billion.
What are you, the copy/paste king? Have any original thoughts of your own? Thought not.
the right to KEEP and bear ARMS, SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED......
What is so hard about that?
Guess you have to be a community organizer to misunderstand the words........
Yep, just a gathering of Obama campaign stops surrogates to show Public Opinion support for his Progressive spending agenda NOT mandated by 48% of Americans:
More taxes, more spending (infrastructure, Unions, R&D, "Go Green" energy), more regulations (Executive Orders or Progressive Cabinet member's "refined" regulations), and immigration AGAIN.
No spending cuts and larger government controls.
Just more of the same 2009 rhetoric we have heard before.
Of course, have to include "Gun Control" into the muddle because of recent "gang activity".
Pigotry and Alaska girl, better place? The numbers posted show otherwise.
Hmm...... Celebrity Rocker Guy who threatened to kill the President of the US invited by a Republican
Invited by Democrates.....
Military Medal of Honor Marine - Victims of violence, Female Engagement Team Instructor/Military
and a bunch of other feel good type people -
Seems like the guest list says it all......
Too bad the Marx brothers are no longer with us. They might have enjoyed an Obama speech for its comedy value and irony.
I like the fact that a lot of the wasted things added to our debt problems are caused from "riders" on bills being passed through the House and Senate and then blamed on Obama.
I am not an Obama fan, but let's put the real blame on those responsble. As far as what some feel about the supposed "Big Ted" - What a piece of scum...
Who else but a crazy Texas politician would invite Ted Nugent anywhere?
A sample of Stockman's "thinking" includes this quote: "'The Branch Davidians were executed … because they owned guns that the government did not wish them to have,' he warned in Guns and Ammo magazine."
Yeah, Dumbama the three ring circus master with zero talent to control anything. Yup, Piglet and the likes lefties, you sure got yourself one useless idiot on the rudder of America!
Hah, and the circus he and his wide-a..ed amazon are putting together is definitely a freak show not worth watching. But, that is what his mentally deprived followers need in order to understand anything. A freak show and more lies.
Make sure you watch a channel that does not carry this crap.
Yea, Stockman's thinking also includes the belief that those racist, antisemitic "militia" groups are the true patriots, while the vast majority of Americans, that think that all citizens, regardless of race, gender, religious belief, and gender identity are entitled to equal rights are traitors.
He's a 'rock star' in your own mind Pig-woman. In your own mind.
The sad reality is that our country is in serious trouble thanks to the party of spend spend spend. Look for the majorityof tonite's little speech to center on hype; topics that rouse the most passion such as illegal immigrants, gay rights and the like. Watch for the crucial matters such as our national debt to be ignored entirely.
Keep in mind that this is the party of smoke & mirrors who uses the media to spread propaganda (like certain paid posters on here, oink!) to make themselves look like heroes while pointing fingers for their own ineptitude at others. Take tonite with a grain... take time out to vacuum a carpet, read, surf the 'net- something more useful.
And which party would that be again, PF? Are you perhaps referring to the party who left the bill for two wars, tax breaks and medicare part D to be paid by the next administration? Or perhaps you're talking about the party that actually put those things on the books and had to invest in getting this country out of a recession. You pretenders crack me up - not a peep out of you from 2000 to 2008 when Dick Cheney was crowing about how "deficits don't matter"... I guess they matter now that a Democrat is in the White House, eh? Smoke and mirrors indeed.
AlaskaGirl . .
Who invited Ted Nugent, the one hit wonder of nothing? It does make you wonder if he will be able to sit quietly or will have to be removed for standing up and yelling the comments he so loves to make on stage . . .
NoMoreTax: I wonder why you mentioned the money invested in energy companies, but failed to put what is the amount of money allocated for defense contracts, which have increased systematically since 2001? I did a report on Lockheed-Martin for my doctoral research and based on the annual reports from LM (you can request them by going to their page and they will send it to you for free), and before 2001, Lockheed was in the red. Lo and behold, after 2001 their profits sky-rocketed (wonder why), yet 75% of the income from LM derives from...? Yeah, Defense contracts!!! So, stop patronizing for investing in companies which want to invest in the US, instead of looking why we are investing in companies that in the end will bring our people in body bags. Why don't you ask yourself why a contractor watching at a TV monitor in a military installation can get paid $ 120,000 a year?
NoMoreTax: If the money the government had in surplus at the end of Clinton presidency would have used by his successor to pay out some of the interest and even part of the original debt with those countries, we would not be in that situation. But it was easy to give tax credit to the rich while the middle American receive a mere $600. It was easy to embark in two wars that consumed almost a billion dollars a day... make your numbers, and then stop b**ching for pocket change. Stop complaining and ask yourself why companies such as HP, Apple, and the other big ones moved their operations abroad because it was profitable while the American worker suffered the consequences.
IDO: The agenda was mandated by the 52% that re-elected him, so stop your moaning, sore loser.
The promotion of rewards and special treatment for immigration lawbreaking is morally reprehensible and counterproductive to economic growth. ILLEGALS are a catastrophic drain upon American taxpayer resources!
Guess Michelle doesn't need former Sgt. Kimberly Munley anymore....... she served her purpose & has now been cast aside by the Obama administration......
Well pedestrian in SF while your examples may hold some merit the fact is this current administration has yet to resolve the serious fiscal crisis that we are in NOW. Go to usdebtclock.org and watch the numbers change over a few minutes. Consider that these numbers are unprecedented and not going in the direction they should be going. If this administration's policies were workable the picture would be a lot healthier looking.
Ideas such as raising the minimum wage to $9/ hour is a horrible idea, considering the impact of inflation that would follow. That is just one example of the thoughtlessness that has abounded for the last 4 years; now we have four more to watch the deluge unfold.
AngelicaS - It is informative to remember here that the Republican god Reagan granted amnesty to illegals and GW tried to do the same. Why? Follow the money. Who hires undocumented workers at below minimum wage and without providing benefits? Big Ag, big sweatshop, and rich people who want someone to tend their grounds and take care of their children - mostly Republicans in other words.
Theo-- I am fully aware of what Reagan did. Your comments indicate that you believe that enforcement of our immigration laws is a left-right issue. To the contrary, it is not. I suspect that the main-stream media, which completely avoids the realities of the impacts of ILLEGAL immigration in its coverage, has gotten to you. Don't let it.
(1) I am a registered (and life-long) Democrat although I did not vote for Obama in '12 because of his pledge for rewards and special treatment for immigration lawbreakers;
(2) Regan's 1986 Amnesty is Exhibit A establishing the fact that granting amnesty and rewards for immigration lawbreaking only serves to incentivize exponentially millions more immigration lawbreakers who will later start demanding to be above the very laws by which 1 Million LEGAL IMMIGRANTS play each year; so, Reagan's amnesty is a REASON NOT TO GRANT AMNESTY NOW;
(3) the Republican backed Chamber of Commerce is one of the loudest proponents of mass immigration and granting rewards for violating the law because the Chamber sees this as an endless pool of cheap labor and a wage devastation source-- an objective that serves that group's low-wage agenda;
(4) granting rewards and special treatment for immigration lawbreakers serves to harm poor American citizens and middle class workers (including, especially, minorities) the very most, thus displacing their job opportunities and devastating the prospect of a living wage;
(5) Continuing to reward and grant special treatment for immigration lawbreaking serves as a source of corporate welfare to the lawbreaking business profiteers, as they pay their ILLEGAL labor force low wages and no benefits. Consequently, American taxpayers are forced to fund the healthcare and subsidize the other expenses of the ILLEGAL blackmarket labor force.
Think of the implications of the policies your support and don't simply gravitate to the left-right rhetoric!
A GOVERNMENT WHICH REFUSES TO ENFORCE ITS OWN LAWS IS INTOLERABLE!
Angelica - I think you and I are in agreement 90+%. But most of the posters who complain about Obama trying to somehow address the current situation are very partisan to the right but they don't understand as you do that the right has historically contributed to the problem rather than tried to solve it. I believe they continue to stall for the reasons you list - cheap labor. But they sure will take advantage of the issue to stir up their base as they do with guns, god, abortion, etc. which gets the supporters to vote against their own economic self interest
I agree. I am soooo pissed at Obama because at the same time he's repeating his pro middle class rhetoric ad nasuem, he's pledging to reward the immigration lawbreakers with his executive-de facto amnesty agenda and pledging to strong-arm Congress (although they may be willing co-conspirators given the threats). This agenda is completley insulting and harmful to the middle class (and the media is not at all exposing he innumerable ways that it is so). O has gone out of his way to pander to ILLEGALS and their insufferable advocates in a way that other politicians have not. Believe me, I was not simply a supporter of O in '08--- I volunteered many hours for his campaign, had anti-Bush signs on my car, and put attorney poll watchers in the polls for the '08 election for O. The media has really distorted this issue though. It was only a few months ago, that a CNN poll reported that over 70% of Americans supported Arizona's ILLEGAL immigration law. Now they are reporting that Americans favor amnesty. I don't buy it! Americans who favor it don't understand the cost! Further, I personally know that many Democrats reject amnesty, and I simply don't believe that a majority of Americans support it. Moreover, those who do support it, do so out of ignorance because it comes with enormous (and exponentially escalating) cost, and if those costs were accurately relayed, believe me most Americans would reject any notion of amnesty! Stand and be counted!
My story is similar to yours - traveled to Tucson on my own dime to stump for Obama in 08. I now give him a C- for his first term on a number of issues on accomplishment, a little higher for effort and I know there are severe limitations on what he can do given the congress and filibuster, etc.
That said this immigration problem is huge and complex and I don't see a sweet clean answer for it - one that will make everyone happy AND be workable. I don't care so much how "they" handle the folks already here but we can't just continue to stick our heads in the sand hoping it will go away or fix itself - it won't. But we sure do need a rational plan for the future so we don't repeat this cycle.
And yeah I voted for Obama again because Romney/Ryan were totally ridiculous - lessor of two evils sad but true.
Theo-- Thank you for your thoughtful comments. My main point it is dishonest to pledge our intention to begin strongly enforcing our laws by granting rewards and special treatment for breaking those very laws now. Those concepts are mutually exclusive. Granting amnesty will only serve to invite a subsequent amnesty demand in the forseeable future. This agenda is extremely insulting to LEGAL Immigrants, as they paid a high price, waited an extended wait, and went through a background check (and many are currently waiting patiently to upgrade their status to "citizen"). Meanwhile, our leaders are pledging special treatment to the lawbreakers. It's unjust and only serves to transmit the dishonorable message that if you break our laws, you will be rewarded with better treatment than those individuals who have honorably complied with them.
The State of the Union is excellent...Thanks, Mr. President. Americans are the smartest and the Fairest of all, overwhelmingly electing twice.
.
I can't get enough....as the lyric goes. Why can't we get a 3rd Obama Term.
Guess you can't count...... overwhelmingly? How about BOUGHT, BRIBED and LIED his way into the office
Pigotry..... "Why can't we get a 3rd Obama Term."
Typical Progressive thinking and apparently a failure to listen during your school classes. You may want to do some research to find out WHY Presidents are limited to TWO TERMS.
BTW: the SOTU is nothing more than a "wish list" speech and pats on the backs of supporters.
Some scientists claim that hydrogen, because it is so plentiful, is the basic building block of the universe. I dispute that. I say there is more stupidity than hydrogen, and that is the basic building block of the universe.
PIG, Obama is going to finish this country off in 2 terms he doesn't need a 3rd.
@Pigotry....how do Obama's testicles taste?
Look who the Democrats invite: the NASA guy, combat veterans, LGBT activists, civil rights activists, gun violence survivors and victims, etc.
The Republicans: Ted Nugent
'Nuff said.
When you make threats against the president--either directly or indirectly, you shouldn't even be allowed to be in the same city as the president, let alone be invited to be a guest of a senator at the most important presidential speech of the year.
I'm wondering if Teddy can keep his mouth shut for an hour while Obama speaks. I'm guessing he won't be able to last the hour without saying or doing something to embarrass himself.
So.. the GOP has invited poison...and Republicans have invited Nugent The Nuisance.
Michael.... maybe they will let him give a 'rebuttal', that would be fun. :-)
But Ted Nuisance as no 'butt', how can he 'rebutt' with his 'rebuttal'?
When they call Ted Nugent a "rock star" I assume that means he likes to throw stones.
You should just shut up and read the Constitution. You might learn something. Nugent may not be my first pick, but at least he is an American. Just think, I spent 20 years of my life defending the Constitution so idiots like you can speak freely. This administration wants to take our way of life away. More government, less freedoms.
TO: Michael L-2295838 who wrote:
I think that's the whole purpose of inviting Ted Nugent, so that he can be disruptive and say something very embarrasing, very stupid, or both.
TO: steve-1602797 who wrote:
Ha! Republicans read the U.S. Constitution out loud to themselves in the well of the Senate and still don't understand a word.
All of the men in my family served in the military "so idiots like you can speak freely", but apparently Republicans can't seem to muster up any "class" when doing so.
Republicans: Determined to turn the State of the Union address into another Republican freak show.
Well I would say "Thank You for your service to my brothers in arms". To bad nothing they did opened your eyes to the tragedy that is happening in this country. I really don't care who is in charge, I just want someone who can fix the mess that we are in. This administration has ruined this country and made us a welfare and entitlement society. JFK's words are being thrown back at him, "ask not what your country can do for your, but what you can do for your country." Now it's "ask not what you can you can do for your country, but what can your country do for you."
TO: steve-1602797 who wrote:
Well we certainly would be able to do a whole lot more for our country if your previous Republican Administration hadn't bankrupt the American People first by over-charging us for gas, and then crashing the entire United States Economy causing millions to lose their jobs and their homes.
I see clearly what Republicans did to this country and to the American People when Republicans were in charge, but I don't understand why you can't see it.
Now that we're beginning to make real progress and to get on our feet, all Republicans seem to want to do is to find a way to stop the progress.
Here's one for all of the let's ban knives too folks.
http://msn.foxsports.com/collegebasketball/story/wife-kills-former-pennsylvania-player-matthew-white-final-four-team-child-pornography-021213
As everyone who says don't blame Obama for the situation seems to think that everything that happened under Bush's watch was all his doing, I must inform you that most of what happened under Bush's watch was the result of Clinton. I'm not joking. Do some research. Clinton may have left office with a booming economy, but only because it was built of sticks. It wasn't intended to be a long term solution and that was known. The housing market was something that Bush tried to deal with early on, but the Democrats shut him down. That situation was entirely the fault of the Clinton administration, who set it up to begin with. 9/11 was probably not just a bunch of Jihadis that got organized. Too many pieces dont fit. WTC 7 being "pulled", ie. DEMOLISHED, when no damage had been done to it by the terrorists. The pancaking effect of that building and the twin towers, the disputed lack of an airplane at the Pentagon. My personal favorite is Biden, THE DAY BEFORE, saying in detail that the new threat wasn't conventional war, but terrorists flying planes into buildings. Dems called it prophetic, of course. Foreknowledge seems much more probable. It was highly likely instigated by various people in the government through the use of Jihadis (Saddam and Osama used to be CIA). Guess who had been in office for 8 years prior to 9/11 (which came after less than a year of Bush being in office)? Bush's reaction (the war) was what everyone was clamoring for. If you say that you didn't think at the time that it was the best possible reaction, I say you're a liar. Shock and Awe was one of the most watched things in recent TV history, at the time. Everybody wanted blood after someone had taken ours. The fact that this action caused an upsurge in gas prices as a direct result of the subsequent massive instability in the richest oil producing region on the planet is not Bush's fault. The president has no control whatsoever in gas prices, even if he is in the business himself privately. OPEC makes that call and it's up to the various industry participants to pay what OPEC wants. In order to continue to make money to pay for upkeep, supplies, transportation, regulatory fees and inspections, contingency savings (if a refinery burns down and there's no money saved to rebuild it, it's gone), and employees salary, the industry raises prices. That is simple economics. A business cannot function if it has no income. If you think Bush was really behind that, you're truly deluded. And if you can't even begin to think about something other than throwing palm fronds in Obama's path as he rides his jackass into town, can't even fathom the possibility that maybe the 48% that didn't vote Obama just to be on the bandwagon might have an idea that something is, has been, and will continue to be seriously wrong with the way the country has been moved by the Democrats in the last 2 decades, you are undeniably sheep. Blind being lead by the blind.
Yup. The guy who literally pissed himself and sat in it for days in order to avoid honorable service is now the GOTea poster boy. The guy who runs around on stage waving his gun and a deer liver around and shouting slurs about a democratically elected president is now a "patriot." Honestly. Y'all have lost your freakin' minds.
Asstaroth, did you actually think all that bull sh%$ up or did you get it from one of the conspiracy theory mavens? Clinton tried to warn Bush about OBL when the transition team was there. Bush opted to ignore the warnings. There was plenty of actionable intel in the weeks prior to the attack, that was also ignored. Clinton admitted that the biggest mistake he made during his administration was NAFTA, which he passed after being hounded by a Republican congress. Granted, Clinton did miss a chance to neutralize OBL during his term, but that was before OBL was known to be the enemy he turned out to be. Not like when Bush let him go free in Tora Bora.
Ashtaroth: How can it be Clinton's doing if the Congress was Republican? Joe Scarborough spend most of his day bragging that his Republicans (with Newt) worked together with democrats and together balanced the budget? Care to explain what we missed? Or it's just a maneuver to deviate the fact that Junior fumbled the ball on the first down?
Such a ban "deserves a vote in Congress because weapons of war have no place on our streets or in our schools or threatening our law enforcement officers,”
I agree Mr. President but banning calling a rifle a weapon of war is an over reach. I was issued a .45 cal handgun, and a K- Bar in addition to my M16 as my weapons of war. Learned to protect myself and my squad with all 3.
I can't believe that they really invited Ted Nugent to such as auspicious event as this. It's like having a shrine to Hitler in the Holocaust museum.
No it's not
Did Ted Nugent murder millions of Obamas? If not, then no it's not.
What about the victims of US military war crimes and invasions?
I find it kind of hypocritical to not invite gun packing hero's. you know the ones that save lives everyday from the criminals out there...... That's Okay, Obama's lips will be moving.
Sgt. Carlos Evans, a combat veteran who sustained injuries in Afghanistan, and Sgt. Sheena Adams, a recipient of the Combat Action Ribbon for her completion of leadership and deployment last year.
These look like heros to me.
Some hero, who pissed himself and sh$% his pants to stay out of Vietnam. Some patriotic hero you picked to be your posterchild. Now, when he's too old to be eligible for military service, he's all about defense. Too bad he wasn't that patriotic when it would have counted. Just like Bush, Cheney, Romney, Ashcroft, Rumsfeld.
A name that is starting to get dropped. R.I. democrat represenative Jim Langevin who, as pointed out in a few NBC articles, is a quadrapalegic due to a gun accident.
The gun accident was back in 1980 when a gun accidentally went off while he was volunteering at a RI police department.
Pulling out all of the stops.
Ted Nugent is to patriots what John Wayne Gacy is to clowns.
I see the left is as blindly hatefilled and as ignorant as they say the right is. You think the secret service should violate an invited guests civil rights with violence and intimidation? You feel the man however odd and obnoxious needs to be killed, tortured? Nugent is obnoxious but he will protect your constitutional and civil rights to the death. Term limits are there for your protection against tyranny. The State of the Union is not excellent. We are undereducated, underfunded, overspent, under or unemployed. we are also more and more divided on issues every day. Obama didnt win in a landslide, and the attitude on BOTH sides is the problem. HE needs to set an example and call EVERYONE his people, not just the ones he is getting votes from. Its a scam. Hes the pied piper.
Yes, Nugent will protect our rights. Like he did in Nam.
Well, I never put killed or tortured on the table. Would have rethink that one. However, Nugent did in fact cause an investigation by the Secret Service as to things he said about this president which were taken very seriously, so yeah, I do in fact hope that they single the piece of @!$%# out and keep a line of sight on his filthy ass. Oh, FYI: Nugent is a paid puppet, so don't think he spouts of the Constitution out of righteousness.
RHIdiotPositive
Speak for your uneducated, Roger Ailes, Rush Limbaugh copulated self...
Ted Nutcase needs to be a rug...
...and Steve Cracker a mantelpiece trophy...
Your dumb a$s just needs to be fertilizer...
If this was 8 years ago and Nugent was a liberal, he wouldn't be allowed within ten miles of the SOTU. So who is trying to take away our rights?
@big papa - Wow, so much for being non-violent.
No matter how reasonable Obama speaks, people like RHNegative and Ted Nugent will turn the tables on him and continue calling him a dictator, communist, anti-Christ, you name it. What exactly has Obama said in his State of the Union speech so far is so outrageous and non-sensible????
ROCK STAR??? Ted Nugent??? You make us laugh way too much.
Charlie,
Hate him or not. He's got more musical talent in his little finger than you'll ever have in your entire being.
Yes, his decades of hits attest to this. Oh, wait... nothing new since 1970. He's a washed up has-been who has to count on his big mouth and his hatred to get attention.
And way too arrogant for my taste, but he still has more musical talent than you will ever have. Has been or not, he was a rock star.
this guy is dividing our country. Not sure why people can't get over the Obama love fest. I did.
What's with pandering to the entertainment industry? Run the damn country already and quit with the hob knobbing with sports stars and celebrities.
TO: magnetik who wrote:
I am happy to report that President Obama doesn't need any permission from anybody to either go wherever he wants to go, or to entertain his supporters.
I think your previous Republican Administration did more to divide the country than I've even seen in my lifetime beginning with taking the White House when they couldn't win it by votes.
And quit trying to blame President Obama because the American People don't agree with Republican policies that have repeatedly failed the United States and the American People in the past.
If I'm correct I don't see where the President has invited any "rock stars" - the Republican's have done so and as for dividing the country?! Methinks you don't know what you're talking about.
Magnetik: You're sadly misinformed and blinded by illogic. The "rock star" is sitting with the Republicans tonight with his gut bursting out from his shirt. And if you may recall, Daddy and Junior Bush (and Republican hero, Reagan) prolifically made their rounds on loads of TV talk shows. Keep up your pig headedness. It's helping the Dems and progressive society more than you realize.
Inviting a "rock star" who has indirectly threatened violence against a President and a political party is making this event a circus. But bring it on. Teddy just cements the GOP's loser platform for the next 12 years minimum.
Yes... because launching your career in the home of an avowed communist, unconvicted domestic terrorist and cop-killer makes you a hero in obama's eyes. Having the media owned by a Nazi-collaborator support your idiocy and cover-up your failures doesn't suck for obama either.
navysh!t98
You're just another ungrateful, racist POS...
...I hope we cancel your disability pension-- you're obviously mentally diminished-- and deport your treasonous a$s back to Poland...
...you unintelligent, deluded, confederate skank...
You made your living off the government, still receive a government check, and support Republican-Tea Party traitors...
...who would destroy our country...
...Your kind are exactly why we need a drone program...
So "big papa's" response to someone disagreeing to him is calling them 1. racist 2. retarded 3. treasonous 4. physically disabled 5. stupid 6. promiscous and then telling him he should be killed. I haven't seen a tantrum like that since my kids left preschool. And not a single fact or arguement, just pure name-calling, pretty awesome..
Why don't BP and NavyVet go and scream at each other somewhere else, while the adults have a rational discussion? Naw just kidding, I am guessing ol' big papa is instead going to confirm everyone's low opinion of him by trying to go PAST seven rabid, frothing insults instead.. It is easy to try and avoid a real conversation by calling someone a name isn't it? Look up "Facism" BP, then get a mirror.
@big papa - It would just make your day if Obama could order drone hits on all conservatives in this country, and commit mass genocide, wouldn't it? YOU are a disgrace to this nation, and I doubt many Democrats would even agree with your idiocy.
If threatening Americans is a just cause.... then half of Congress would be banned......
Last time i checked Mccain was a Repub and he invited a gunshot victim. My point is, THE ENTIRE PARTY didnt invite Nugent, one guy did. The list is fairly long but Nugent is the most controversial.
Ted Nugent never threatened the life of the President. If he had, then the SS would of done something about it so libbies get off of this thread. I think Ted is pretty intelligent on the subject of gun control. It was a pleasure to see him take apart Piers Morgan on CNN. Pelosi might want to rethink Tony Bennett...great singer but not much else going on up there in the grey matter.
Let's hope that the white supremacist, republican-tea party confederate traitors Ted Nutcase and Steve Cracker...
...are both "accidentally" neutralized by the Secret Service tonight...
...and that L'il Dick Cheney and every right wing scumbag in America who voted for him, TWICE, is officially added to the terrorist drone kill list...
Republican-Tea Party cundtfederates hate America, want to bring our government and nation down, and are the "domestic enemy" the Constitution alluded to...
We must therefore defend ourselves against the John Boehners, Mitch McConnels, Roger Ailes, and their treasonous white supremacist cohorts...
Last thing: Seriously? Marco Polo and Randy Pol to rebut our brilliant CIC? Those two ceeracka crackheads should both be auditioning for the latest Broadway production of "Wizard of Oz", for Munchkin roles...
I can definitely see Randyboy growling, "Follow the yellow brick road"...
I think wishing someone dead is against the rules here Big Blue Gum Papa. You sound just like some of the Chicago scum. Maybe you should take some of your Panther friends & go do something about these Elected Officials. Civil Rights have been around for over 50 years & your still stuck on stupid. Then people wonder why we want to keep our guns?
Deermurderercoward1
I want you to keep your guns too...
...I want people like you, Ted Nutcase, and Steve Cracker to lead the revolution...
...But like your gods Georgie Bushwaka and L'il Dick...
...you're all hat and no cattle...
Sure I am Big Spook, You just keep telling yourself that. Me & Texas are just shaking by your threats.
Put your leadership skills...
...and that "gun" you love so much...
...out front in "the Cundtfederate Revolution"...
Moderators, please ban BIG PAPA for making death threats and name calling.
Big Papa.....please seek therapy urgently.........I worry about your mental state....and yes, moderators, please ban big papa.
Please, Nugent isn't a rock star - never was. He's a @!$%#ing musical hack! His ramblings today are no different from his songs years ago. If he's such a big talent why hasn't he put out anything new for decades?
Strider1954
Then again he is rich, on TV all the time & going to Washington to sit in on the Speech. Just what was your claim to fame again?
Deermurderercoward1
Hero worship must be your claim to fame...
...Ted Nutcase is a has been bi&ch...
...like your gods Bushiva and L'il Dick...
I would love to see you walk up to him & tell him that. All talk & no ass.
By the way, I'll pick back up with your mouth later. I have a J O B. You ever had one of those?
That's where you're wrong Deermurderercoward...
...I wouldn't say jack to Ted Nutcase...
...and that would be the last silence he ever heard...
I despise cowardly draft dodging, traitors who talk gunsh!t...
...but run from it when it's their turn to step up...
Much like "hunters" who kill defenseless deer...
Deerhunter, on TV? when? only when he embraced the ridiculous stand of the right wing idiots that think he knows something. Clint Eastwood's empty chair is nothing compared to Ted Nugent's empty head.
@ big papa -
What do you have against hunters? Deer hunters and the DNR have done far more in the past few decades to maintain an ecological balance than any of you tree-huggers ever will. Do you WANT deer to overpopulate, starve to death, and contract painful diseases?
If I'm correct I don't see where the President has invited any "rock stars" - the Republican's have done so and as for dividing the country?! Methinks you don't know what you're talking about."
uh.. read much? Check out the title of the article and look at the guest list and his history of pandering to the "entertainment" industry..
https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn1/s480x480/549360_433103380105232_168550580_n.jpg
If Tennessee Ernie Ford was still around he would be the perfect guest. He could sing "16 Tons" (another day older and deeper in debt) and everyone could go home early. By the way the tune could be renamed "16 TRILLION Dollars".
Rock Star?!?!? I hope you weren't referring to Ted Nugent. Children that were born when Nugent was still relevant in the music scene are now in their mid-30s; halfway to their Social Security checks.
Now if you were referring to Tony Bennett, well, that's another story. At age 86, the man still sings like a bird, and every major artist that either won or was nominated at Sunday's Grammys would record with him IN AN INSTANT if he called. Now THAT's star power.........
So has what Obama actually has to say become so unimportant (or maybe fraudulent) that the puppeteers in Washington have to roll out this freakshow to make it A. interesting enough to watch or B. distract people from the fact our economy is in the toilet, taxes have increased on the middle class (promises?) and nothing is getting any better?
go barry.....
I won't say that Ted Nugent has no place in the Capitol Building: Our government belongs to all Americans, even hate-spewing imbeciles whose guitar solos are hopelessly mired in pentatonic scales. But I will say this: Were you to average-up the IQs of the guests of the Republicans and compare them to the average IQs of the guests of the Democrats, you would find yet another reason for John Boehner to cry.
Every true American should support American infrastructure improvements...
...Make the confederate south a parking lot...
Move to Europe.
Survey of best countries in the world to live in based on social and economic standards.
1. Norway
2 Denmark
3 Sweden
4 Australia
5 New Zealnd
6 Canada
7 Finland
8 The Netherlands
9 Switzerland
10 Ireland
Moving to Europe may not be such a bad idea.
Nobody gives a damn who is on the "guest list". We all know that the Feckless One is going to stick the screws to us again.
SOTU is the new Jerry Springer?
Just waiting for the Republican Party (old white men) to die off...as for Ted Nugent, didn't he say he would be in jail or dead if Obama is re-elected? Well, we're waiting!
nugent is there as the token NRA idiot.. he is so far out of his element. who is he anyhow?
We need the President to be a LEADER not a dumb rock star.. What about the men and women in the MIlitary that get Get shot at every day in the Rich mans wars. The troops fight Gun Violence every day and I haven't heard th state of the union speech yet, Probably same OLD BS that all politicans put our just to make a few happy and let theem post the dumbest posts!!!!!