President Obama has a lot on his plate as he continues to battle unemployment and cold relations with what may well be the worst Congress in U.S. history, all while Americans begin to weigh him against the Republican incumbents. He made the case that the nation has progressed and laid out some plans for the future last night in his State of the Union address.

“We can either settle for a country where a shrinking number of people do really well, while a growing number of Americans barely get by. Or we can restore an economy where everyone gets a fair shot, everyone does their fair share, and everyone plays by the same set of rules.”

Obama’s been on the path of economic fairness before, now he is proposing a 30% effective income tax rate for millionaires and billionaires, otherwise known as the “Buffett Rule.” It’s interesting to not that what counts as wealthy continues to creep upward in his proposals, before he was targeting $250,000, now it’s millionaire or billionaire. Besides the rich and the confusing number of rich apologists and sympathizers I think most can agree that when the rich are getting richer by the day while the middle class quickly dips there exists a problem. “Trickle down economics” isn’t happening and letting the rich hold on to more and more of their money isn’t creating more jobs. It’s time for Obama to get real about economic fairness in the U.S. tax code.

“Let there be no doubt: America is determined to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and I will take no options off the table to achieve that goal. But a peaceful resolution of this issue is still possible, and far better, and if Iran changes course and meets its obligations, it can rejoin the community of nations.”

Obama has had many foreign policy successes. He ended the war in Iraq, a team of U.S. Navy SEALs killed Osama bin Laden, and the U.S. led the ousting of Moammar Gadhafi and liberation of Libya. Not bad, but one giant problem lies ahead. Iran. The GOP incumbents have hammered Obama on his Iran policy. If the GOP can succesfully run a campaign of fear this could be a huge hit for Obama. It’ll be interesting to see if the American people will stand behind Obama and the sanctions he has placed on Iran or if they will stand behind the GOP who sound ready to “glass” the country of Iran on day 1 in office.

“Nowhere is the promise of innovation greater than in American-made energy. Over the last three years, we’ve opened millions of new acres for oil and gas exploration, and tonight, I’m directing my administration to open more than 75% of our potential offshore oil and gas resources. Right now, American oil production is the highest that it’s been in eight years. That’s right — eight years. Not only that — last year, we relied less on foreign oil than in any of the past sixteen years.”

Rebutting GOP criticisms of his energy security policy, the president called for developing a roadmap for safe extraction of shale gas – which he said could create 600,000 jobs. Even with his decision to reject the Kystone XL pipeline under president Obama U.S. dependence on foreign oil is below 50% for the first time in 13 years.

“I’m sending this Congress a plan that gives every responsible homeowner the chance to save about $3,000 a year on their mortgage, by refinancing at historically low interest rates. No more red tape. “

It’s a nice idea but as many Americans have found out, it’s hard to refinance a house that is worth less than the mortgage payoff, even if the rate is below 4%.

“If you’re an American manufacturer, you should get a bigger tax cut. If you’re a high-tech manufacturer, we should double the tax deduction you get for making products here.”

As we’ve very well learned and as economists say tax breaks to encourage specific investment decisions are a bad idea. The market would probably be better off with reduced corporate tax rates and fewer deductions.

Where to even begin?

The Old Milwaukee slogan says it best, It doesn’t get any better than this!

Rick Santorum is always good for a good laugh.

The Family Leader, a conservative Christian organization based in Iowa, wants all the GOP candidates to sign their pledge, entitled “The Marriage Vow – A Declaration of Dependence Upon Marriage and Family.” The vow asks candidates to affirm a pro-marriage stance, oppose same-sex unions, defineshomosexuality as a “choice” (stating there is no empirical scientific proof that being gay is genetic), and notes that marriage is undermined by adulterous factors like quickie divorces and pornography.

And pornography? A federal law or amendment banning pornography could become a problem in an industry that is disseminated in hard copy formats and on the Internet (not to mention via phones). But these guys, Bachmann and Santorum, are free-market Republicans, correct? A ban on porn would facilitate the emergence of an illegal underground industry (considering the 40 million Americans access porn sites regularly). It is already a multi-billion-dollar per year industry (and that’s just on the Internet). Perhaps a return to the days of Prohibition (just substitute sex for alcohol) might be necessary for the government to begin regulating the adult industries (which are already regulated — but aren’t Republicans against most governmental regulating of businesses?). Besides, banning pornography for these guys would be simple. Unlike many who use pornography as a sexual stimulant and relationship enhancer, Bachmann and Santorum obviously do not need such in their lives, having eleven children between them in their respective marriages.

http://news.yahoo.com/santorum-joins-bachmann-pledges-ban-porn-same-sex-214900881.html

This is where our current pool of Republican presidential candidates gets really scary.  On one hand they’ll tell you that they want lower taxes and less government intrusion in our lives.  Then they are telling us they want to control what we do with our bodies, what we do in the bedroom, how we get married, how we get divorced, what religion we conform to and what we look at on the internet.  They keep using the phrase “free market” but apparently you only get to participate in the free market if you are a billion dollar per year oil firm and you lobby like crazy.

Now, here’s where it gets really interesting.  You see Rick Santorum is one dangerously confused denialist.  He is opposed to abortion under any and all circumstances when it comes to you, your daughter or your wife.  But, he will make an exception for his own wife:

Here’s the Santorums’ description of their second trimester abortion, written by Steve Goldstein, Philadelphia Inquirer,  May 4, 1997

Karen was in her 19th week of pregnancy. Husband and wife were in a suburban Virginia office for a routine sonogram when a radiologist told them that the fetus Karen was carrying had a fatal defect and was going to die.

After consulting with specialists, who offered several options including abortion, the Santorums decided on long-shot intrauterine surgery to correct an obstruction of the urinary tract called posterior urethral valve syndrome.

A few days later, rare “bladder shunt” surgery was performed at Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia. The incision in the womb carried a high risk of infection.

Two days later, at home in the Pittsburgh suburb of Verona, Karen Santorum became feverish. Her Philadelphia doctors instructed her to hurry to Pittsburgh’s Magee-Women’s Hospital, which has a unit specializing in high-risk pregnancies.

After examining Karen, who was nearly incoherent with a 105-degree fever, a doctor at Magee led Santorum into the hallway outside her room and said that she had an intrauterine infection and some type of medical intervention was necessary. Unless the source of the infection, the fetus, was removed from Karen’s body, she would likely die.

At minimum, the doctor said, Karen had to be given antibiotics intravenously or she might go into septic shock and die.

The Santorums were at a crossroads.

Once they agreed to use antibiotics, they believed they were committing to delivery of the fetus, which they knew would most likely not survive outside the womb.</strong>

“The doctors said they were talking about a matter of hours or a day or two before risking sepsis and both of them might die,” Santorum said. “Obviously, if it was a choice of whether both Karen and the child are going to die or just the child is going to die, I mean it’s a pretty easy call.”

Shivering under heated blankets in Magee’s labor and delivery unit as her body tried to reject the source of the infection, Karen felt cramping from early labor.

Santorum agreed to start his wife on intravenous antibiotics “to buy her some time,” he said.

The antibiotics brought Karen’s fever down. The doctor suggested a drug to accelerate her labor.

“The cramps were labor, and she was going to get into more active labor,” Santorum said. “Karen said, `We’re not inducing labor, that’s an abortion. No way. That isn’t going to happen. I don’t care what happens.’ ”

As her fever subsided, Karen – a former neonatal intensive-care nurse – asked for something to stop the labor. Her doctors refused, Santorum recalled, citing malpractice concerns.

Santorum said her labor proceeded without having to induce an abortion.

Karen, a soft-spoken red-haired 37-year-old, said that “ultimately” she would have agreed to intervention for the sake of her other children.

“If the physician came to me and said if we don’t deliver your baby in one hour you will be dead, yeah, I would have to do it,” she said. “But for me, it was at the very end. I would never make a decision like that until all other means had been thoroughly exhausted.”

The fetus was delivered at 20 weeks, at least a month shy of what most doctors consider viability.

http://oursilverribbon.org/blog/?p=188

Isn’t it interesting how opinions change when you’re the one effected by the outcome.  Rick Santorum would like to ban abortion in all cases meaning that if your wife is raped she’ll be forced to carry the rapists child, if your daughter becomes pregnant at age 15 because Rick Santorum banned preventative birth control and the morning after pill she’ll have no choice but to have her child because Santorum’s religion and personal beliefs will dictate the laws that rule you.

Santorum:

“They have this idea that people should be left alone, be able to do whatever they want to do, government should keep our taxes down and regulations low, that we shouldn’t get involved in the bedroom or in cultural issues. That is not how traditional conservatives view the world.”

“Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” you may remember this well-known phrase from the United States Declaration of Independence these three aspects are listed among the “unalienable rights” or sovereign rights of man.  Santorum apparently would like to throw what makes America great right out the window.

Didn’t know a fish could scare me more than the Piranha, I was very wrong. The Pacu Fish not only bites, it loves to bite off testicles. If you’re going to bite off my balls you might as well eat the rest of me. I hate the thought of a slow, ball-less death.

According to The Telegraph, the Pacu Fish is actually better-known as the ‘Ball Cutter’ in Papua New Guinea where locals have reported two deaths due to the Pacu Fish’s testicle biting. Look at those damn teeth, now imaging them clamping down on your beloved family jewels. Ouch.

The difference between the pacu fish and piranhas is that pacus don’t have the underbite and have more dull teeth than piranhas do, which give their mouths an eerie human-like appearance. [Telegraph UK via Neatorama, Image Credit: Yapaboon, SWNS]

50 years ago the world was in a pretty rough transitional state. The post-World War II era had faded into the Cold War and the Space Age, civil rights were born and John F. Kennedy was in charge of the nation.

The Atlantic published a series of photos from 1961 and they’re a stunning look into the past the world back then.

Check out all the photos at The Atlantic.

Get a gun for Christmas? You wouldn’t be alone if you did.

Based solely on the number of background checks performed against the NICS database so far this month, the FBI says that more Americans purchased firearms in December than any other month in history. As in ever. Gun dealers made an incredible 1,534,414 NICS inquiries since December 1 – and the month isn’t even over yet. Oh and in case you were wondering, the previous record was just set last month.

Is there some planned uprising I haven’t heard about? NDAA and SOPA pushing people over the edge?

Check out the “Strong” ad if you haven’t seen it already:

The video has ~680,000 dislikes at the time of writing this and about 21,000 likes.  Apparently, America has spoken and they don’t like bigoted assholes.  I’m a bit confused on the political strategy – belittle homosexual Americans, belittle the U.S. Armed Forces, belittle every religion but Christianity = win the white house…

As if laughing at a White, Rich, Christian Male complain that himself and his values are being persecuted in America isn’t already funny enough, I collected 10 of my favorite parodies that really help the Perry burn spread.

There are dirtbags, and there are mega-dirtbags.  Newt Gingrich is a member of the later – more prestigious – group.  He is a man that has and always will be for sale to the highest bidder.  Exactly what we need in our next president…

“Conservative – Christian” GOP candidate Newt Gingrich signed a “no adultery pledge” offered by conservative supporters, vowing that he’ll remain faithful to his present wife, Callista.  Nope, not a joke.

Let us not forget how he met Callista.  Newt Gingrich – the dirtbag in the picture up top – was cheating on his wife with Callista while leading the impeachment against Bill Clinton for – ya, you remember CHEATING.

Newt was asked to sign the pledge by the conservative Iowa organization, The Family Leader, awhile back and he originally declined.

That was then.  But now that he is gaining momentum, and Ron Paul has begun to put the heat on the Gingrich’s campaign he apparently decided he was prepared to sign the 14 page document – and start denying all the ladies trying to climb into his pants…. The legally binding document holds him to the responsibility of sticking with, Callista, wife number three and asks him to abandon his old ways – you know, pounding other chicks in random acts of fornication.

Remember the document was 14-pages and it doesn’t take 14-pages to say “don’t cheat.”  What other goodies were hiding in there?  The document he signed also requires that he work to pull funding from Planned Parenthood, campaign vehemently against abortion and push for a federal gay marriage ban.

Oh, what a Newt will do for votes.

Common, embodies every bit of what is means to be a Renaissance man.  The 39-year-old rapper is probably best known as a hip-hop heavyweight with a signature style responsible for churning out such classics as the Grammy-winning “Love of My Life.”  But it doesn’t stop there the Chicago native is also an author, after his recently released memoir One Day It’ll All Make Sense, and an actor, thanks to memorable roles in films like Wanted, American Gangster.  With plenty to discuss, Common sat down with online lifestyle magazine, Interview, to give some insight as to what makes him so damn cool. Check out an excerpt below and the full article through Interview Magazine.

Did you act when you were growing up?
I acted when I was young—there was one play that I did. I felt I did well, but I remember my mother raving over my friend’s performance [instead]. I kinda lost my faith at that point in acting, and I had interest in other things. I loved plays, I loved films, but I had no desire to act until I had just put out my album Like Water for Chocolate. Creatively, I felt like I’d hit a ceiling, and I needed something else to express myself, and I just decided to take acting classes. The first opportunity that came up was with Girlfriends—someone that I work with was just talking about that, saying, “See how far you’ve come, from Girlfriends to Hell On Wheels. We’re very proud of you!”

But you’ve also done some acting in your videos.
Yeah. Technically, my first acting job was in one of my videos for a song called “Retrospect For Life,” which Lauryn Hill directed and featured an actress by the name of N’bushe Wright, who played my girlfriend who was about to be pregnant. I remember being so nervous about it, but now I feel like I can conquer the world with it. I got a long way to go—I want to keep growing, but it’s something that I’m very into.

What made you decide that it was time for you to write a memoir? You’re quite young.
I felt like I had experienced a lot of things in the first chapter of my life, and I wanted it to inspire and motivate people, so I just started writing.

There’s a part in the book where you talk about living with J Dilla.
Yeah, we had an apartment together in LA. It was incredible to have J Dilla in your dining room making beats—it was one of the greatest experiences I’ve had. I used to get really, really excited when I was getting a JD beats CD. But to have that access and see him create things live every day. There were times when he was sick and couldn’t work as much, but every time he was able to, he would work. He loved music.

What do you think made him so special?
God gifted him with that talent, and then he just loved it so much—he was born to be that creative. One thing that allowed him to continue to be special was that he wasn’t controlled by the industry. He didn’t care if it was the popular rapper calling him or the label telling him they wanted something, he really did stay focused on the music. He had a unique perspective—he was brought up in the hood in Detroit, but he was into jazz music, and sampling Bobby Caldwell and people like that. He had a wide variety of information and talent.

It’s winter once again.  It’s the holiday season when families come together to celebrate their traditions be it Christmas, Kwanza, Chanukah, the Solstice or whatever their tradition might be.

The holiday season also means we all get to hear about how there’s a War on Christmas.  Fox News, Glenn Beck, Michele Bachman and a slew of idiotic Facebook re-posters posting this:

Not to offend anyone but this is what I BELIEVE. I am sick and tired of every year when CHRISTMAS comes around, there are people who want to take CHRIST out of CHRISTMAS because it might offend someone. Well, how about all of the CHRISTIANS? What about offending US because you are taking our CHRIST out of CHRISTMAS!?!? CHRIST IS CHRISTMAS!!! If you aren’t celebrating CHRIST then WHY are you celebrating? CHRISTMAS is about the Birth of Our SAVIOR! CHRISTMAS is one of a few holidays left that celebrate “MY” CHRIST! Leave “MY” Holiday alone!!! And tell everyone MERRY CHRISTMAS, not Happy Holidays! Re-post if your not ashamed…..♥ Thanks

They’ll all lead you to believe that Christmas and thusly Christ are under attack.  But, really they aren’t….

Strawman

I don’t know how wishing anyone a happy or merry anything can be offensive, because quite simply it is not.  I spent many years working the front lines of retail and customer service.  I have never once, ever, heard of anyone complaining about being told Merry Christmas.  Ever.  It doesn’t happen.  But, we are told all the time that people find Merry Christmas offensive right?  It’s why there is a War on Christmas!

Simply put it’s a strawman argument that has been blown out of proportion by people wanting to play the victim/martyr card and pretend that they are under attack. Nothing unites a group like a common enemy, real or imagined.

People can say Merry Christmas to me and I will take it as meant; good wishes during this festive time of year.  I also enjoy wishes of Happy Chanukah, Happy Holidays and Happy Solstice or whatever you want to throw at me.

War

So why do some stores choose to use terms other than “Merry Christmas?”  Because they have the right to do so.  Oh and it may blow your mind but probably because not everyone in this country is Christian.

Think of “Merry Christmas!” to you and your Christian family and friends the words inspires images of the season – both religious and not – and thoughts of giving.  But what do the words “Merry Christmas” mean to an atheist, a Buddhist, a Jew, or a Muslim.  Probably very little other than a nice gesture.  Saying Merry Christmas simply is not a gift that they can really use.

In the spirit of Christmas it’s more about what the receiver of the gift wants, right?  So, the best option and best gift is to figure out what greeting the hearer wants; what would be meaningful to them. If the person is Jewish, “Happy Hanukkah!” might mean a lot more, for example.

Now, in this world with so many people, you can’t always know what gift someone will want.  If you don’t know cousin Billy very well, you wouldn’t run to Toys R’ Us and randomly pick a toy; a pink Barbie doll, a G.I. Joe, a Harry Potter book, or a pad of paper and some crayons.  No.  But, you still want to show her you care so you get her something, a gift card or some cash is a good choice – that way Billy can look around and figure out what she’d like the best, and it will still have come from you.

“Happy Holidays!” is like the gift-card of wellwishes. It says, “I don’t necessarily know what if any holiday you celebrate, but I want to wish you a happy one, whatever it is.”

That’s where retailers come in.  They aren’t waging war on Christmas.  No their intentions are actually quite kind.  They are being inclusive to everyone.  But, this is a Christian nation you say.  We celebrate Christmas and if you don’t like it you can leave!

A Christian Nation

It’s always an interesting argument.  ”The founding fathers were Christian, therefore this is a Christian nation,” we’ve all heard  it at one time or another.  If it’s true then tell me, why did the founding fathers feel it necessary to write this as the very first amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America?

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The U.S. has no nationally recognized religion and to argue otherwise is futile.  Oddly enough the founding fathers actually left us with some of their feelings on religion as well:

“And the day will come when the mystical generation of Jesus, by the supreme being as his father in the womb of a virgin will be classed with the fable of the generation of Minerva in the brain of Jupiter. But we may hope that the dawn of reason and freedom of thought in these United States will do away with all this artificial scaffolding, and restore to us the primitive and genuine doctrines of this the most venerated reformer of human errors.” — Thomas Jefferson’s letter to John Adams, April 11 1823

“The way to see by faith is to shut the eye of reason.”  – Benjamin Franklin

“The divinity of Jesus is made a convenient cover for absurdity.  Nowhere in the Gospels do we find a precept for Creeds, Confessions, Oaths, Doctrines, and whole cartloads of other foolish trumpery that we find in Christianity.”  – John Adams

A quote from George Washington seems most potent in the context of the current dispute over the War on Christmas:

“Religious controversies are always productive of more acrimony and irreconcilable hatreds than those which spring from any other cause.  Of all the animosities which have existed among mankind, those which are caused by the difference of sentiments in religion appear to be the most inveterate and distressing, and ought most to be depreciated.  I was in hopes that the enlightened and liberal policy, which has marked the present age, would at least have reconciled Christians of every denomination so far that we should never again see the religious disputes carried to such a pitch as to endanger the peace of society.”

Happy Holidays!

Tell us your thoughts on the War on Christmas in the comments below!

The holiday season is in full swing and with Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and their current “Flurry” of deals you can imagine that Amazon.com has lot of packages to get out the door.

Their fulfillment centers have to manage an almost incomprehensible number of packages on a daily basis, the system is simply incredible. Buzzfeed had an look inside their Swansea, Wales, warehouse and the endless rows of boxes is a little mind-boggling. Check them out:

Photography: Getty Images/Matt Cardy

When I was a kid I love making models. Cars, war planes and my personal favorite estes rockets were all a good way to pass my pre-video game world time. The extent to which some people can take the hobby has always blown my mind.

This video makes me want to book a trip to Hamburg just to see Miniatur Wunderland. The exhibit took 20,800 days of man hours and required the help of skilled artists and engineers. Those planes I made as a kid look a little less impressive.

Interview Magazine recently spoke to Scarlett Johansson in Glasgow on the set of her next film Under the Skin.

Check out an excerpt of the interview below and you can read the full interview here.

How are you?
I’m good. I’m in dry, sunny Glasgow right now, enjoying the tropical weather. [laughs] I’m doing a film here called Under the Skin. It’s a project that I’ve been talking about with Jonathan [Glazer] for a few years now—I think he’s actually been working on it, in different incarnations, for about eight or nine years.

What is it about?
It’s hard to give a kind of warm-up line for the story because it’s almost like giving the plotline of a Bergman film, but I’m playing a character called Laura, who is an it that becomes a she . . .That’s what the story’s about—it’s about that transformation . . . It basically has no written dialogue, and I don’t think it’s really character-driven. Jon is an incredible visionary, and in the place I’m in right now, it feels really fresh. It might be an impossible project . . . [laughs] We’ll see.

How is your brother, Hunter?
He’s great. He’s been working on Scott Stringer’s campaign for a couple of months now, so he’s super busy with that. He’s really happy to be working with Scott—and, you know, the family’s proud.

I remember he promised to blog for us. I’ll invite him into the newsroom to meet our editors.
He’d absolutely love that. He always has so much fun when we’re out together. I’m already planning what I’m going to wear to the next White House Correspondents’ dinner.

I loved being at the dinner with you, watching all of those senators from both sides lining up to meet you.
Next time I go I’m going to find Anderson Cooper’s table and camp out there. My brother was totally geeked-out by Katie Couric. I think he followed her around the entire night. I was chasing after him, and I turned around, and I had a bunch of Republican senators chasing after me. [laughs] But honestly I think it’s the best party in town. I’d rather go to the White House Correspondents’ dinner than any awards show.

“Extraodinary personality” is an understatement. In 1958, Salvador Dali appeared on Mike Wallace’s ABC television show The Mike Wallace Interview. During the 30 minute interview, Dali responded to Wallace’s questions in an endearing and completely surreal manner.