Joe Biden. Michele Bachmann. Tim Pawlenty. Donald Trump.
Many of President Obama’s friends and foes alike got shellacked — as expected — on Saturday night when Mr. Obama took to the stage at the gussied-up White House Correspondents’ Dinner at the Washington Hilton. But none so much as Mr. Trump, reality television star, birther and Republican presidential aspirant.
As a hair-gelled, grimly unsmiling Mr. Trump sat at a nearby table — a guest of the Washington Post — Mr. Obama ripped one punch after another at the real estate tycoon.
“Donald Trump is here tonight,” the comedian in chief said, grinning. “Now, I know that he’s taken some flak lately, but no one is prouder to put this birth certificate to rest than The Donald. Now he can get to focusing on the issues that matter. Like, did we fake the moon landing? What really happened at Roswell? And where are Biggie and Tupac?”
It was almost painful to watch, the juxtaposition of the president, flexing his new post-birther comedy chops, and the real estate mogul-cum-politician, grimacing at his table as Mr. Obama basked in his post-long-form-birth-certificate glow.
“All kidding aside, we all know about your credentials and experience,” Mr. Obama said, as people in the room either chortled or grimaced nervously, all depending on their proximity to Mr. Trump.
In “Celebrity Apprentice,” Mr. Obama told Mr. Trump, teeth flashing, “the men’s cooking team did not impress the judges from Omaha steaks, but you recognized that this was a lack of leadership, so you fired Gary Busey.”
“These,” Mr. Obama said, “are the kinds of decisions that would keep me up at night. Well-handled, sir. Well-handled.”
The birther issue gave Mr. Obama lots of fodder for the evening, including a video of his birth, which he mentioned before cutting to a clip from “The Lion King.”
But in the end, it was Mr. Trump who served as the punching bag for the evening. As it turned out, Mr. Obama’s swipes were just the warm-up act for Seth Meyers, the headliner for the evening, who spent most of his routine going after Mr. Trump, who sat at the Washington Post table, grimacing.
This Year Potential GOP Presidential Candidate Donald Trump Has Revealed Not Only To American Citizens But To The Global Community Something Very Negative, very Ugly About The Republican Party, i.e., GOP.
Mr. Trump's Actions & Apparent Racist Rantings Against Black People And Chinese People, Has Indeed Revealed The GOP's Most Vulnerable Political Faults.
1)The GOP Appears To Despise Or Show Very Little Interest In Real Diversity. Especially As It Relates To Working With Or Helping People Of Color, i.e., Mainly Black People.
2) The GOP Also Appears To Care More About Protecting Greedy Corporate Titans Than Fighting For Their Constituents.
Unless Of Course Those Constituents Are Billionaires & Millionaires.
But If You Are A Middle Class & Lower Income Citizen Take A Hike!!
At One Time I Thought That The GOP Had Returned To Its Former Roots.
You Know Like When It Welcomed With Open Arms Thousands Of Black Voters.
The GOP Appears No Longer To Be A Bastion For Racial Equality As It Was In The 50's & 60's.
Instead Today It Appears To Proudly Support Ideals Of The Klu Klux Klan.
Much More So In The Southern States/ Southeastern Region Of This Country.
At One Time In American History It Was The Democratic Party That Hated Black People.
Now Its The Republican Party. (Or Appears To Be)
Does This Mean I Will NO Longer Support Republican/ GOP Candidates Again?
To The Contrary!
As An Independent Registered Voter Who Still Believes In Bi-Partisan Leadership, I Will Continue To Support Republican Leaders Who Actually Deserve My Vote.
Ex: Pat McCrory Of North Carolina.
However NOT At The Expense Of Hurting The Entire American Black Community!!!
How Sad That So Many Voters Were Tricked Last November.
In 2010 The GOP Ran On A Platform Of Job Creation & Common Sense Reforms.
However After Winning A Historic Election, They Have ONLY Demonstrated Interest In Getting Rid Of Pres. Obama By ANY Means Necessary!
Even If It Means Via Blatant Lies, Racism Or Death!
As It Relates To Jobs, GOP Lawmakers Seem To Only Be Interested In Killing Jobs Via Their Fake Deficit Reduction Budget.
Since the election of Barack Obama, the Republican Party has proved that one of its central intellectual arguments was right all along. They have long claimed that evolution is a myth believed in only by whiny liberals -- and it turns out they were onto something. Every six months, the Republican Party venerates a new hero, and each time it is somebody further back on the evolutionary scale.
Sarah Palin told cheering rallies that her message to the world was: "We'll put a boot in your ass, it's the American way!" -- but that wasn't enough. So they found Michele Bachmann, who said darkly it was an "interesting coincidence" that swine flu only breaks out under Democratic presidents, claims the message of The Lion King is "I'm better at what I do because I'm gay," and argues "there isn't even one study that can be produced that shows carbon dioxide is a harmful gas."
That wasn't enough. I half-expected the next contender to be a lung-fish draped in the Stars and Stripes. But it wasn't anything so sophisticated. Enter stage (far) right Donald Trump, the bewigged billionaire who has filled America with phallic symbols and plastered his name across more surfaces than the average Central Asian dictator. A survey suggests he is the most popular candidate among Republican voters. It's not hard to see why.
Trump is every trend in Republican politics over the past thirty-five years taken to its logical conclusion. He is the Republican id, finally entirely unleashed from all restraint and all reality.
The first trend is towards naked imperialism. On Libya, he says: "I would go in and take the oil... I would take the oil and stop this baby stuff." On Iraq, he says: "We stay there, and we take the oil... In the old days, when you have a war and you win, that nation's yours." It is a view that the world is essentially America's property, inconveniently inhabited by foreigners squatting over oil-fields. Trump says America needs to "stop what's going on in the world. The world is just destroying our country. These other countries are sapping our strength." The U.S. must have full spectrum dominance. In this respect, he is simply an honest George W. Bush.
The second trend is towards dog-whistle prejudice -- pitched just high enough for frightened white Republicans to hear it. Trump made it a central issue to suggest Obama wasn't born in America (and therefore was occupying the White House illegally) -- even though this conspiracy theory had long since been proven to be as credible as the people who claim Paul McCartney was killed in 1969 and replaced with an imposter. Trump said nobody "ever comes forward" to say they knew Obama as a child in Hawaii. When lots of people pointed out they knew Obama as a child, Trump ridiculed the idea they could remember that far back. Then he said he'd "heard" the birth certificate said Obama was Muslim. When it was released saying no such thing, Trump said: "I'm very proud of myself."
The Republican primary voters heard the message right -- the black guy is foreign. He's not one of us. Trump responded to these charges by saying: "I've always had a great relationship with the blacks."
The third trend is towards raw worship of wealth as an end in itself -- and exempting them from all social responsibility. Trump is wealthy because his father left him a large business, and since then companies with his name on them have crashed into bankruptcy four times. In 1990, the Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Clay Johnson studied the Trump accounts and claimed that while Trump claimed to be worth $1.4bn, he was actually worth -$600m. That is, he owed $600m more than he owned. You and I were worth more than him.
Johnson says that in fact most of Trump's apparent fortune comes from "stiffing his creditors" and from government subsidies and favours for his projects -- which followed large donations to the campaigns of both parties, sometimes in the very same contest. Trump denies these charges and presents himself as an entrepreneur "of genius."
Yet for the Republican Party, the accumulation of money is proof in itself of virtue, however it was acquired. The richest 1 percent pay for the party's campaigns, and the party in turn serves their interests entirely. The most glaring example is that they have simply exempted many of the rich from taxes. Johnson studied four of Trump's recent tax returns, and found he legally paid no taxes in two of them. In America today, a janitor can pay more income tax than Donald Trump -- and the Republicans regard that not as a source of shame, but of pride.
How are these tax exemptions for the super-rich paid for? Here's one example. The Republican budget that just passed through the House slashed funding to help premature babies to survive. The rich riot while the poor shrivel. Trump offers the ultimate symbol of this -- he won't even shake hands with any ordinary Americans out on the stump, because "you catch all sorts of things" from them. Yes: the Republican front-runner is a billionaire who literally won't touch the poor or middle class.
The fourth trend is to insist that any fact inconvenient to your world-view either doesn't exist, or can be overcome by pure willpower. Soon, the U.S. will have to extend its debt ceiling -- the amount of money the government is allowed to borrow - or it will default on its debt. Virtually every economist in the world says this would cause another global economic crash. Trump snaps back: "What do economists know? Most of them aren't very smart."
Confront the Republicans with any long-term social or economic problem, and they have one response: it would go away if only we insisted on our assumptions more aggressively. So Trump says "it's so easy" to deal with rising oil prices. He says he would call in OPEC, the cartel of oil-producing nations, as if they were contestants on his show 'The Apprentice', and declare: "I'm going to look them in the eye and say 'Fellows, you've had your fun. Your fun is over.'... It's so easy. It's all about the messenger." It's the same, he says, with China. He will order them to stop manipulating their currency. When he was told they have some leverage over the US, he snapped: "They have some of our debt. Big deal. It's a very small number relative to the world, OK?"
This is what the Republican core vote wants to be told. The writer Matthew Yglesias calls it "the Green Lantern Theory of Geopolitics." It's named after the Marvel comics superhero the Green Lantern, who can only use his superpowers when he "overcomes fear" and shows confidence -- and then he can do anything. This is Trump's view. The whiny world simply needs to be bullied into submission by a more assertive America -- or the world can be fired and he'll find a better one.
Trump probably won't become the Republican nominee, but it won't be because most Republicans reject his premises. No: it will be because he states these arguments too crudely for mass public consumption. He takes the underlying whispered dogmas of the Reagan, Bush and Tea Party years and shrieks them through a megaphone. The nominee will share similar ideas, but express them more subtly.
In case you think these ideas are marginal to the party, remember -- it has united behind the budget plan of Wisconsin Representative Paul Ryan. It's simple: it halves taxes on the richest 1 percent and ends all taxes on corporate income, dividends and inheritance. It pays for it by slashing spending on food stamps, healthcare for the poor and the elderly, and basic services. It aims to return the US to the spending levels of the 1920s -- and while Ryan frames it as a response to the deficit, it would actually increase it according to the independent Center for Budget and Policy Priorities. Ryan says "the reason I got involved in public service" was because he read the writings of Ayn Rand, which describe the poor as "parasites" who must "perish", and are best summarized by the title of one of her books: 'The Virtue of Selfishness.'
The tragedy is that Obama needs serious opposition -- but not from this direction. In reality, he is funded by similar destructive corporate interests, and has only been a few notches closer to sanity than these people. But faced with such overt lunacy, he seems like he is serving the bottom 99 percent of Americans much more than he really is.
The Republican Party today isn't even dominated by market fundamentalism. This is a crude Nietzsheanism, dedicating to exalting the rich as an overclass and dismissing the rest. So who should be the Republican nominee? I hear the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse were considering running -- but they are facing primary challenges from the Tea Party for being way too mild-mannered.
As a big fat thank you for his relentless attacks on Barack Obama, for disrespecting the office of the presidency and for his despicable accusations regarding Obama's citizenship and college records, we should boycott anything and everything Donald Trump.
It's time to send a clear message to this race-baiting, arrogant, self-aggrandizing fool that what he's been doing in his attempts to delegitimize Obama's presidency is not only irresponsible and reprehensible, but unpatriotic as well. For that there must be a price to pay. And what would hurt Trump most is a swift kick to his ego and his wallet.
So what I propose is this: if you've been offended by the unconscionable claims Mr. Dreadful Hair has made regarding Obama's birth certificate and his Columbia and Harvard degrees, stop watching Trump's reality show The Apprentice.
Let the show fail. Show him and NBC that it's not ok to do and say anything to attack our president, especially in such a manner intended to stoke the flames of hatred and racism.
Stop going to Trump's casinos in Atlantic City, which are listed here.
There are plenty of other casinos which are owned and run by decent people who probably don't question Obama's citizenship or whether he's properly earned his degrees.
Stop buying Trump's Signature Collection clothing line. Do you really want the brand of ignorance and anti-Americanism stamped on your back now?
Stop staying at Trump Hotels in New York, Chicago, Las Vegas and Hawaii. There are so many respectable hotel chains who'd happily take your money while not claiming that President Obama's an illegal alien who cheated his way through college and grad school.
Take a stand, America, and let Donald Trump know that there are consequences to his shameful actions. Let's see how proud and honored we can really make him.
After an online petition was launched urging a boycott of companies that advertised with NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice in order to protest Donald Trump’s recent political statements, Groupon announced yesterday that they would not place ads on the show’s website in the future so as to “[avoid] intentionally upsetting a segment of our customers.”
Groupon was careful to explain that it “had never been a sponsor of The Apprentice on TV or on the web,” according to a post on their blog. “We invest heavily in online advertising through networks that place ads on a rolling basis, meaning that we know one will appear on NBC.com, but not specifically which page.
We know that some advertising appeared on the Apprentice home page a few weeks ago. Enough consumers have contacted us to warrant ensuring that we don’t place ads on the Apprentice homepage in the future. It’s the same reason we don’t run deals on guns or abortion… this isn’t a political statement, it’s avoiding intentionally upsetting a segment of our customers.”
Groupon’s spokesperson Julie Mossner tells EW, “We contacted the ad provider and requested that the Apprentice homepage be omitted from the list of places our ads appear. We are continuing to run ads planned for NBC.com.”
NBC officials and representatives for the Celebrity Apprentice did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
"I'm not leaving my country. No one can force me to leave my country and no one can tell me not to fight for my country." Col. Moammar Gadhafi; April 2011
i.e., He Would Rather Sacrifice His Life & The Lives Of His Entire Family Before He Voluntarily Chooses To Step Down.
At Least He Will Die With Honor. (I Guess)
But Is It Honorable To Sacrifice The Lives Of Your Entire Family Just For The Sake Of Power?
Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi survived a NATO missile strike Saturday that killed his youngest son and three grandchildren and wounded friends and relatives, Libya's spokesman said.
Gadhafi and his wife were in the Tripoli house of son Saif al-Arab Gadhafi, 29, when it was hit by at least one missile fired by a NATO warplane, according to Libyan spokesman Moussa Ibrahim.
Libyan officials took journalists to the one-story house in a wealthy residential neighborhood. Some areas of the roof were caved in, leaving strings of reinforcing steel hanging down among chunks of concrete.
A table football machine stood outside in the garden of the house.
Ibrahim said the villa was attacked "with full power."
"This was a direct operation to assassinate the leader of this country," the spokesman added.
"The leader himself is in good health," Ibrahim said. "He was not harmed. The wife is also in good health."
Saif al-Arab Gadhafi, the colonel's sixth son, had spent much of his time at a German university but had not completed his studies, Ibrahim said.
Saif al-Arab "was playing and talking with his father and mother and his nieces and nephews and other visitors when he was attacked for no crimes committed," Ibrahim said.
On Tuesday, British Defense Minister Liam Fox and U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates told reporters at the Pentagon that that NATO planes were not targeting Gadhafi specifically but would continue to attack his command centers.
Heavy bursts of gunfire were heard in Tripoli after the attack.
Gadhafi had seven sons and one daughter.
The Libyan leader also had an adopted daughter who was killed in a 1986 U.S. airstrike on his Bab al-Aziziya residential compound, which was separate from the area struck on Saturday. That strike came in retaliation for the bombing attack on a German disco in which two U.S. servicemen were killed. The U.S. at the time blamed Libya for the disco blast.
Saif's mother is Safiya Farkash, Gadhafi's second wife and a former nurse.
The strike came after Gadhafi early Saturday called for negotiations with NATO powers to end airstrikes on Libya.
"We did not attack them or cross the sea ... why are they attacking us?" Gadhafi said in a live television address. "Let us negotiate with you, the countries that attack us. Let us negotiate," he said, adding that if it was oil the coalition countries were after there was no problem in negotiating contracts.
Gadhafi said he was amenable to a cease-fire but only if it involved all sides and not only his own forces who are fighting against rebels in the east.
Libya "is ready until now to enter a cease-fire ... but a cease-fire cannot be from one side,'' Gadhafi said. "We were the first to welcome a cease-fire and we were the first to accept a cease-fire ... but the crusader NATO attack has not stopped.''
Gadhafi also said: "I'm not leaving my country. No one can force me to leave my country and no one can tell me not to fight for my country."
At the end of his rambling speech, Gadhafi reportedly snagged his microphone while picking up papers and tossed it away.
NATO warplanes bombed a government complex in the Libyan capital Tripoli including the television building as Gadhafi gave the address, Libyan state television said.
"A building adjacent to the Jamahiriya building was bombed during the broadcast of Moammar Gadhafi's speech and that implies a target on the leader of the revolution himself,'' the television said after Gadhafi had finished speaking.
The screen flickered more than once as Gadhafi was speaking.
The NATO strike damaged offices of parliamentary staff and a building officials said housed a commission for children and women.
A policeman at the scene said three people were hurt, one seriously.
A rebel spokesman, Jalal al-Galal, called the cease-fire offer a publicity stunt.
"We don't believe that there is a solution that includes him or any member of his family. So it is well past any discussions. The only solution is for him to depart," he said.
NATO: Attacks must end
NATO said Gadhafi's forces would have to end their attacks on civilians before it considered the cease-fire offer.
A NATO official said Saturday that the alliance wanted to "to see not words but actions."
The official said Gadhafi's regime had announced cease-fires several times before and then continued attacking cities and civilians.
The official, who could not be identified in line with standing regulations, said just hours before Gadhafi proposed the truce, his forces indiscriminately shelled the besieged port city of Misrata, Libya, killing several people.
"All this has to stop, and it has to stop now," the NATO official said, adding that a cease-fire must be "credible and verifiable."
This Afternoon At An Undisclosed Hospital In Los Angeles, Celebrity Entertainers Mariah Carey (41) & Nick Cannon (30) Welcomed The Birth Of Their Twins.
A Healthy Girl Weighing In At 5lbs, 3oz & 18 Inches; A Healthy Boy Weighing In At 5lbs, 6oz & 19 Inches.
Poor Nick Was So Excited He Went To The Wrong Area Of The Hospital.
But Alas All Is Well!
The Happy Couple Plans To Raise Their Children In Both California And New York City.
Mariah Carey and Nick Cannon celebrated their fourth anniversary with another milestone — becoming parents to a baby girl and boy.
Carey's representative, Cindi Berger, confirmed the births to The Associated Press. The singing superstar gave birth Saturday at 12:07 p.m. EDT at an undisclosed hospital in Los Angeles. Berger says the baby girl was born first, weighing 5
pounds, 3 ounces, and was 18 inches long; her brother was next, at 5 pounds 6 ounces, and was 19 inches.
Berger says the couple has not named the children yet. Cannon drove Carey to the hospital in their Rolls-Royce Phantom. Berger said the 41-year-old Carey, who had gone through false labor, was calm, thinking that it was another false alarm.
Meanwhile, the 30-year-old Cannon was so nervous he went to the wrong department at the hospital, and was guided to the maternity ward by a nurse.
"It was like right out of an 'I Love Lucy' skit," said Berger.
Berger says they were listening to Carey's "We Belong Together" after the children were born.
The couple are expected to renew their wedding vows on Sunday. The pair got married in 2007 after a whirlwind romance. They were the subject of endless baby rumors, and the couple actually were expecting shortly after their marriage, but Carey had a miscarriage; they did not reveal the miscarriage until she announced her pregnancy last fall.
The couple plan to live a bi-coastal life, and have luxurious nurseries in both New York and Los Angeles.
As far as more children, Carey recently declared she's done.
Looks Like A Tough Political Showdown Between Pres. Obama & GOP Leaders Over Tax Breaks & Subsidies Is Headed Our Way.
You See The GOP Wants To Keep Throwing Money At Big Oil Companies In The Form Of Tax Subsidies In Exchange For BIG Campaign Checks From Oil Company Lobbyists.
President Obama On The Other Hand Wants To Cut Off Those Unfair Tax Subsidies & Tax Breaks.
In Fact GOP Lawmakers On Capitol Hill May Even Attempt To Use The Debt Ceiling As A Bribe Against Stopping Those Unfair Tax Subsidies To Big Oil Companies.
Excuse Me But Aren't Bribes What The GOP Accused Democrats Of Back In 2009 & 2010???
This Brutal Showdown Among Both Democrat & GOP Leaders Reveals One Of The Reasons Why Key GOP Lawmakers Are Trying To Kick Pres. Obama Out Of The Oval Office.
Can You Say: "The GOP Is More Likely Than Not As It Relates To Being Responsible For American Gas Price Gouging??"
That's Right!
It Appears As If The Republican Party Is Contributing To America's Current High Gasoline Prices, Yet NONE Of Them Want To Stop Giving Big Oil Companies Huge Tax Subsidies & Tax Breaks!
Just Another Logical Reason To VOTE OBAMA IN 2012!!
President Obama repeated his call Tuesday for an end to $4 billion in oil industry tax breaks as gas prices approach $4 a gallon and after a top lawmaker indicated a possible shift in Republican policy.
In a letter to congressional leaders, the president said the oil industry is profitable enough without the tax incentives and that the money should be spent on alternative energy sources and conservation.
"CEOs of the major oil companies have made it clear that high oil prices provide more than enough profit motive to invest in domestic production without special tax breaks," said Obama. "As we work together to reduce our deficits, we simply can't afford these wasteful subsidies."
This week those profits are going to be front and center. BP (BP) is expected to report earnings on Wednesday. Exxon (XOM, Fortune 500) is slated to announce its results on Thursday. Some analysts expect the company's profits to jump 50% from last year. Chevron (CVX, Fortune 500) is scheduled to make its earnings announcement on Friday.
The oil industry and many of its supporters in Congress have long argued that the tax breaks encourage domestic oil production and provide jobs for millions of Americans. Republicans in particular have resisted efforts to eliminate these tax breaks, something many Democrats have been trying to do since at least 2008.
But on Monday night, Speaker of the House John Boehner indicated he might be open to taking some of those breaks off the table.
Drill baby drill won't lower gas prices "I don't think the big oil companies need to have the oil depletion allowances, but for small, independent oil and gas producers, if they didn't have this, there'd be even less exploration in America than there is today," Boehner said on ABC's World News Tonight. "It's certainly something we need to be looking at."
Depletion allowances let oil companies treat the oil in the ground as capital equipment, and they can write off a certain percentage for each barrel that comes out.
On Tuesday the speaker appeared to backtrack from those comments, with an aid telling CNN that "what the President has suggested so far would simply raise taxes and increase the price at the pump."
Nonetheless, Obama took the chance to pounce, saying in his letter that he was "heartened that Speaker Boehner yesterday expressed openness to eliminating these tax subsidies."
This all comes as the price of gasoline surges above $4 a gallon in many states, making it increasingly difficult politically to defend Big Oil.
As gas prices approach their record highs set in 2008 they are threatening to derail the nation's nascent economic recovery.
The tax breaks in question The Obama administration is targeting nine tax breaks, according to a paper from the left-leaning Center for American Progress. Four account for the lion's share of the money:
Domestic manufacturing tax deduction: This is the largest single tax break, and would save over $1.7 billion a year if eliminated.
The tax deduction, passed in 2004, is designed to keep factories in the United States. Companies that manufacture here can deduct 9% of their income from operations that are attributed to domestic production.
But some question if that incentive is really appropriate for oil companies. "What are they going to do, move the oil field to the North Sea," said one staffer at the Center for American Progress said in an interview earlier this year.
No, but higher costs in the United States may make them move the drill rigs to the North Sea or some other place.
Eliminating the tax breaks "would actually discourage new energy projects and new hiring in one of the nation's most dependable job-creating industries," the American Petroleum Institute said in a statement at the time, noting the industry currently supports over 9 million jobs.
The percentage depletion allowance: This lets oil companies deduct about 15% of the money generated from a well from its taxes. Eliminating it would save about $1 billion a year.
The deduction essentially lets oil companies treat oil in the ground as capital equipment. For any industry, the value of that equipment can be written down each year.
But critics say oil in the ground is not capital equipment, but a national resource that the oil companies are simply using for their own profit.
The foreign tax credit: This provision gives companies a credit for any taxes they pay to other countries. Altering this tax credit would save about $850 million a year.
Foreign governments can collect money from oil companies through royalties -- fees for depleting their national resources -- and income taxes.
A royalty would be deducted as a cost of doing business, and would likely shave about 30% off a company's tax bill. Categorized as income tax, it is 100% deductible.
Foreign governments long ago grew wise to the U.S. tax code. To reduce costs for everyone involved and attract business, they agreed to call some royalties income taxes, allowing oil companies to take the 100% deduction on a bigger slice of their bill.
Intangible drilling costs: This lets the industry write off about $780 million a year for things like wages, fuel, repairs and hauling costs.
All industries get to write off the costs of doing business, but they must take it over the life of an investment. The oil industry gets to take the drilling credit in the first year.
After Such An Elaborate Wedding Ceremony One Can Only Wonder Where The Duke & Duchess Of Cambridge Will Spend Their Honeymoon.
Perhaps Kenya, Africa? The Location Where He Supposedly Proposed To Her Last Year?
So It Looks As If Waity Katie's Cinderella Dreams Have Finally Come True!
Yesterday Morning I Watched The Wedding Of Prince William & Kate On Television.
Considering The Fact It Was Broadcast On Every Major Network, How Could I NOT See It?
I Initially Thought I Wouldn't Be The Least Bit Interested In The Royal Nuptials.
To My Surprise I Was Extremely Interested!!
I Must Admit I Did Enjoy Seeing What Appeared To Be Another Happy Couple Making It Legal!
In Today's World Marriage Is No Longer Of Great Importance.
To Avoid Commitment Many People Just "Shack Up".
How Nice To See The Marriage Union Is Still Being Honored.
So After 9 LONG Years "Waity Katie" Is Now The Duchess Of Cambridge!!
How Wonderful!
Sometimes I Guess Waiting For Prince Charming Is Worth It!
Smart Girl That Kate!
And Vice Versa When It Comes To Men Waiting For "Mrs. Right".
As For President Obama & Michelle NOT Being Invited To Witness This Blessed Occasion, Here's My Take On The Situation. You Don't Have To Agree.
No Personal Offense To Michelle, However I Sincerely Believe Prince William & Kate Wanted President Obama There.
But Since Michelle Obviously Broke Royal Protocol When She Publicly Hugged Queen Elizabeth II During The Obama's Visit To See The Monarch, Michelle Wasn't Welcome Again.
And Since The Windsors Are Sticklers For Protocol It Would Have Been Impolite To Invite President Obama But Not His Wife.
Thus It Was Better Not To Invite Them Both.
Again Just My Take On The Situation. You Don't Have To Agree.
Now Let's Just Hope That "Waity Katie" Adjusts To Royal Married Life Much Better Than Her Late Mother-In-Law Princess Diana.
Congrats!
God Bless The Marriage Union, No Matter The Couple!
Prince William may have spent Friday exchanging historic vows and driving a decked-out Aston Martin, but come next week, he’ll be reporting back to duty. (It’s all fun and palace games till one's back to being a search-and-rescue pilot.)
The bikinis and bubbly will have to wait as royal officials announced that the newlywed will postpone a honeymoon abroad with his new wife.
"The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have chosen not to depart for a honeymoon immediately," St James's Palace said in a statement, referring to the couple by their new titles bestowed by Queen Elizabeth.
"The locations of both their private weekend before The Duke returns to work and their future honeymoon, which will be overseas, will not be disclosed in advance," it said, adding that the couple will spend the weekend in Britain, although not at their Welsh home.
Looks like the royal couple are keeping with tradition: Prince Charles and Princess Diana spent the first part of their honeymoon at the royal family's home in Hampshire, England.
Prince William and Catherine Middleton sealed their wedding vows with a traditional kiss on the balcony of Buckingham Palace Friday as millions in London and around the world roared their approval.
The short peck — and a slightly longer smooch a couple of minutes later — followed a glittering service at Westminster Abbey in which the prince and the newly created Duchess of Cambridge were pronounced husband and wife.
The kisses were followed by a traditional fly-by of vintage and modern planes from Britain's Royal Air Force.
About two hours later, the couple surprised crowds gathered outside the palace by emerging in a blue convertible Aston Martin and driving around for a few minutes. The car was decorated with a multicolored ribbon across the hood and dragged what appeared to be tin cans, a traditional British touch.
The couple took their vows at about 11:15 a.m. (6:15 a.m. ET) with the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, officiating.
The prince, 28, dressed in the resplendent red tunic of the Irish Guards, appeared to initially struggle to get the wedding ring, made of Welsh gold, onto the elegant, tiara-bedecked Middleton's finger.
William said "I will" in a clear confident voice, when asked if he would "love, comfort, honor and keep" Middleton, 29. She appeared slightly emotional as she repeated her vows.
The prince was spotted winking at his new bride — the first "commoner" to marry a prince in close proximity to the throne in more than 350 years — after they exchanged vows.
Middleton had arrived at the abbey on time at 11 a.m. and, as soon as she did, Buckingham Palace issued the long-awaited details of what she was wearing: a long-sleeved lace gown and veil, designed by Sarah Burton, creative director for Alexander McQueen.
According to the U.K.'s Press Association, Prince William told a joke at the altar before the ceremony, saying: "We were supposed to have just a small family affair."
The line was spotted by Tina Lannin, lipreader for O'Malley Communications, the Press Association said. She also spotted Prince Harry, William's best man, nervously comment "Right, she is here now," as Middleton arrived.
An estimated million well-wishers — as well as some protesters — flooded into the areas surrounding Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey and other London landmarks.
Some were up at dawn waving flags for television cameras under steely gray skies and cool temperatures.
Cheers erupted as huge television screens showing the service began broadcasting at Trafalgar Square and Hyde Park.
'She is Beautiful'
Brenda Hunt-Stevenson, a 56-year-old retired teacher from Newfoundland, Canada, said there was only one thing on her mind.
I want to see that kiss on that balcony. That's going to clinch it for me. I don't care what Kate wears. She is beautiful anyway," she said.
Even astronauts on the International Space Station offered best wishes to the couple in a video posted on YouTube.
Some 8,000 reporters and support staff have descended on the capital to capture the occasion in words and images, and, while some question a British government estimate of a global audience of two billion, hundreds of millions are certain to tune in.
Security was tight and as of 11 a.m. local time, police reported 18 arrests had been made for a variety of offenses including, possessing an offensive weapon, sexual assault, assault, criminal damage, a drug offense and being drunk and disorderly, NBC News reported.
Ecstatic crowds The ceremony ended at about 12 noon (7 a.m. ET) and the newly wed couple traveled along street lined with even more ecstatic crowds in an open carriage.
Both smiled and waved as they made the journey, surrounded by cavalry soldiers in dress uniforms to Buckingham Palace. Advertise | AdChoices
The palace announced early Friday that the couple would be known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
Middleton will now be "Her Royal Highness" and also Princess William of Wales, but the latter title will not be used.
The second duke of Cambridge, Prince Adolphus Frederick, was the seventh son of King George III. Defying the Royal Marriage Act, he married his mistress, Sarah Louisa Fairbrother, an actress and a commoner, in 1847. Since the marriage wasn't legal, his children were all illegitimate.
In contrast to the clamor outside, inside the abbey all was airy and calm during the service. The long aisle leading to the altar was lined with maple and hornbeam trees as light streamed in through the high arched windows.
Some 1,900 guests filed into the abbey before the wedding, the vast majority of women in hats, some a full two feet across or high. Some looked like dinner plates.
One woman wore a bright red fascinator that resembled a flame licking her cheek. A BBC commentator noted there were some "very odd choices" in fashion walking through the abbey's door.
The guests included some 50 heads of state, British Prime Minister David Cameron, diplomats from around the world, along with celebrities such as Elton John, David Beckham and even the comic actor Rowan Atkinson, known for his portrayal of "Mr. Bean."
Light relief
The marriage is providing some welcome light relief amid general economic gloom in the U.K.
The year-old Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government is in the process of introducing swinging spending cuts designed to cut the deficit.
New figures for the first three months of 2011 showed that the U.K.'s GDP grew by just 0.5 percent, prompting the leader of the opposition Labor Party, Ed Miliband, to claim Wednesday that the economy had "flat-lined."
But while the wedding might lift the spirits of many in the country, some slightly dour economists have estimated that the extra public holiday created to allow people to join in the celebrations will cost billions of pounds, with one even saying it will knock a quarter of a percentage point off second-quarter GDP growth.
And not all Britons are celebrating. An Ipsos MORI poll for Reuters this month found 47 percent of Britons were either not very or not at all interested.
"It's just a wedding," said 25-year-old Ivan Smith. "Everyone is going mad about it. I couldn't care less."
However, for the majority, the marriage between William, second in line to the throne, and Middleton, dubbed "Waity Katie" for their long courtship, has cemented a recovery in the monarchy's popularity.
Three-quarters of those polled by Ipsos MORI on the wedding said they favored Britain remaining a monarchy.
A series of scandals involving senior royals, Britain's economic difficulties and Princess Diana's death in 1997 aged 36 in a car crash after her divorce from Prince Charles led many to question the future of an institution rooted in the imperial past.
But William's image as a more rounded, less distant figure than his father, and the fact that Middleton is the first "commoner" to marry a prince in close proximity to the throne in over 350 years, appear to have worked in the monarchy's favor.
William has deliberately tried to keep the memory of his mother alive and gave Middleton his mother's sapphire and diamond engagement ring.
"Their marriage will breathe new life into the monarchy as the queen enters the twilight of her reign, bringing new blood and a fresh perspective to an institution that faces criticism for being elitist and out of touch," royal biographer Claudia Joseph told Reuters.
Yesterday While Visiting Alabama Pres. Obama Declared That Region To Be A State Of Disaster After It Was Ravaged By "Epic", Unusually Violent Tornadoes Which Struck The Southern States Twice Within A 2-Week Period Of Time.
For The Record God Hates Racism & He Loves Black People!
The SAME Black Man Many White Southern Governors Have Bashed Only Due To His Race, Is The SAME Black Man Who They Must Now Seek Help From To Assist The Citizens Of Their States.
Isn't That Something?
Thank God Pres. Obama Is A TRUE CHRISTIAN Who Doesn't Easily Hold A Grudge!
Words Of Wisdom To Southern Lawmakers & Leaders:
Get Rid Of The Klu Klux Klan & Stop Practicing Centuries Old Racism Against People Of Color, Mainly Black People Or.....
Hopes of finding trapped survivors dwindled Friday evening in Alabama, the epicenter of storms that obliterated neighborhoods and towns and claimed scores of lives across the South.
Gov. Robert Bentley, speaking in Birmingham, said the long road to recovery will now begin.
"We've gotten past the rescue stage," Bentley said. "We have begun the recovery stage."
Earlier Friday, President Barack Obama toured rubble-strewn neighborhoods in Tuscaloosa, declaring the devastation brought by a series of powerful storms and tornadoes was beyond anything he had ever seen.
The storms killed at least 326 people in six states and left entire neighborhoods in ruins. Obama promised expedited federal aid to states affected by the tornadoes.
"We're going to do everything we can to help these communities rebuild," he said.
Wednesday's outbreak of severe weather brought what the National Weather Service categorized as a rare EF-5 tornado to one Mississippi town.
And according to the weather service, it's possible another twister was on the ground for 200 miles from Mississippi through Alabama.
The extent of the devastation became evident by Friday, when the death count in Marion County in northwest Alabama rose from three to 21, according to the state Emergency Management Agency. It said 20 people were missing.
Marion County Sheriff Kevin Williams put the number even higher -- 29 people dead in the city of Hackleburg and six in Hamilton. The Hackleburg fatalities included 16 on the scene and 13 who died at several hospitals, he told CNN.
"It's pretty much wiped out," Williams said of the town. "It looks like a war zone."
The possible tornadoes destroyed a Wrangler clothing plant, a pharmacy, doctor's office and three schools, officials said.
Alabama suffered the greatest of loss of life, with fatalities in 19 counties confirmed by the state Emergency Management Agency. The agency reported Friday evening that the state's death toll had risen to at least 238.
In Tuscaloosa, Obama's motorcade passed street after street of homes reduced to splinters, crushed and flipped cars, and widespread debris on the way to his first stop to visit with families affected by the storms that pounded the region Wednesday and Thursday.
"I've gotta say I've never seen devastation like this," Obama told reporters.
Tuscaloosa city officials reported 45 deaths as of Friday afternoon, but later revised that to 39 because of a counting error. That change was not immediately reflected in the state's total.
Nearly 450 people were unaccounted for Friday afternoon in the city, although they were not necessarily missing.
The president's visit took place as emergency responders in Alabama and five other states continued to assess the damage wreaked by one of the worst outbreaks of violent weather in the southeastern United States in decades, experts said. The storms leveled neighborhoods, rendered major roads impassable and left nearly 800,000 customers still without power Friday evening.
CNN iReporter Stephen Bozek, a broadcast news major at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, snapped a photo of a U.S. flag affixed to an overturned vehicle.
"The neighborhood is torn to pieces and the flag flying represented the unity (of) this town," Bozek wrote.
In Mississippi, where 34 were confirmed dead, Gov. Haley Barbour told reporters that some people remain unaccounted for and rescuers could still find bodies in the rubble or in the waters surrounding Smithville, where 14 of the state's known death's occurred.
He said the city was a scene of "utter obliteration."
On Friday, the National Weather Service said the tornado that struck Smithville on Wednesday was an EF-5 storm with peak winds of 205 mph. The last such tornado recorded in the United States struck May 25, 2008, in Parkersburg, Iowa.
The tornado, the Weather Service said, destroyed 18 homes, a post office, a police station and a water treatment system. In addition to the 14 deaths, it caused 40 injuries, the weather service said.
Obama issued a federal disaster declaration for seven Mississippi counties.
The storms also left 34 people dead in Tennessee, 15 in Georgia, five in Virginia and one in Arkansas.
In Alabama, emergency management officials said Friday that 35 teams have been deployed to Tuscaloosa and six other counties hit hardest by the storms to assist in recovery efforts.
Officials also warned Tennessee motorists not to cross the Alabama state line without filling up their tanks first. Widespread power outages and devastation from the storms have likely rendered functioning gas stations in northern Alabama hard to find, according to a statement released by officials in both states.
The storms cut swaths of death and destruction along U.S. Highway 72 in northern Alabama and Interstate 59 from Tuscaloosa County to the northeastern corner of the state.
Tuscaloosa Mayor Walter Maddox said at least one strong tornado swept through the city, leaving dozens of roads impassable and destroying hundreds of homes and businesses.
"It literally obliterated blocks and blocks of the city," Maddox said.
The city remained under a curfew for Friday night that was scheduled to expire at 6 a.m. Saturday. City officials early Friday also advised Tuscaloosa residents who live south of the Black Warrior River and east of McFarland Boulevard to boil their tap water.
Obama had signed a disaster declaration for Alabama, which enables storm victims and damaged businesses in eight counties to seek federal aid.
Such aid will be critical, Birmingham Mayor William Bell told CNN affiliate WBMA.
"It's beyond our local resources so we're going to have to get the federal government involved," Bell said. "The president assured us that he would do that."
The storms are being compared to the "super outbreak" of tornadoes on April 3 and 4, 1974, Craig Fugate, the FEMA administrator, said Thursday.
In that period, 148 tornadoes were reported in 13 states, and 330 people died. States affected were Alabama, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.
President Obama repeated his call Tuesday for an end to $4 billion in oil industry tax breaks as gas prices approach $4 a gallon and after a top lawmaker indicated a possible shift in Republican policy.
In a letter to congressional leaders, the president said the oil industry is profitable enough without the tax incentives and that the money should be spent on alternative energy sources and conservation.
"CEOs of the major oil companies have made it clear that high oil prices provide more than enough profit motive to invest in domestic production without special tax breaks," said Obama. "As we work together to reduce our deficits, we simply can't afford these wasteful subsidies."
This week those profits are going to be front and center. BP (BP) is expected to report earnings on Wednesday. Exxon (XOM, Fortune 500) is slated to announce its results on Thursday. Some analysts expect the company's profits to jump 50% from last year. Chevron (CVX, Fortune 500) is scheduled to make its earnings announcement on Friday.
The oil industry and many of its supporters in Congress have long argued that the tax breaks encourage domestic oil production and provide jobs for millions of Americans. Republicans in particular have resisted efforts to eliminate these tax breaks, something many Democrats have been trying to do since at least 2008.
But on Monday night, Speaker of the House John Boehner indicated he might be open to taking some of those breaks off the table.
Drill baby drill won't lower gas prices "I don't think the big oil companies need to have the oil depletion allowances, but for small, independent oil and gas producers, if they didn't have this, there'd be even less exploration in America than there is today," Boehner said on ABC's World News Tonight. "It's certainly something we need to be looking at."
Depletion allowances let oil companies treat the oil in the ground as capital equipment, and they can write off a certain percentage for each barrel that comes out.
On Tuesday the speaker appeared to backtrack from those comments, with an aid telling CNN that "what the President has suggested so far would simply raise taxes and increase the price at the pump."
Nonetheless, Obama took the chance to pounce, saying in his letter that he was "heartened that Speaker Boehner yesterday expressed openness to eliminating these tax subsidies."
This all comes as the price of gasoline surges above $4 a gallon in many states, making it increasingly difficult politically to defend Big Oil.
As gas prices approach their record highs set in 2008 they are threatening to derail the nation's nascent economic recovery.
The tax breaks in question The Obama administration is targeting nine tax breaks, according to a paper from the left-leaning Center for American Progress. Four account for the lion's share of the money:
Domestic manufacturing tax deduction: This is the largest single tax break, and would save over $1.7 billion a year if eliminated.
The tax deduction, passed in 2004, is designed to keep factories in the United States. Companies that manufacture here can deduct 9% of their income from operations that are attributed to domestic production.
But some question if that incentive is really appropriate for oil companies. "What are they going to do, move the oil field to the North Sea," said one staffer at the Center for American Progress said in an interview earlier this year.
No, but higher costs in the United States may make them move the drill rigs to the North Sea or some other place.
Eliminating the tax breaks "would actually discourage new energy projects and new hiring in one of the nation's most dependable job-creating industries," the American Petroleum Institute said in a statement at the time, noting the industry currently supports over 9 million jobs.
The percentage depletion allowance: This lets oil companies deduct about 15% of the money generated from a well from its taxes. Eliminating it would save about $1 billion a year.
The deduction essentially lets oil companies treat oil in the ground as capital equipment. For any industry, the value of that equipment can be written down each year.
But critics say oil in the ground is not capital equipment, but a national resource that the oil companies are simply using for their own profit.
The foreign tax credit: This provision gives companies a credit for any taxes they pay to other countries. Altering this tax credit would save about $850 million a year.
Foreign governments can collect money from oil companies through royalties -- fees for depleting their national resources -- and income taxes.
A royalty would be deducted as a cost of doing business, and would likely shave about 30% off a company's tax bill. Categorized as income tax, it is 100% deductible.
Foreign governments long ago grew wise to the U.S. tax code. To reduce costs for everyone involved and attract business, they agreed to call some royalties income taxes, allowing oil companies to take the 100% deduction on a bigger slice of their bill.
Intangible drilling costs: This lets the industry write off about $780 million a year for things like wages, fuel, repairs and hauling costs.
All industries get to write off the costs of doing business, but they must take it over the life of an investment. The oil industry gets to take the drilling credit in the first year.
Hi,
My name is Laurel.
I Am A Grassroots Activist, Blogger, Pro-Life, Intelligent, Registered Independent Voter, Wife, Mother, Daughter, Sister, Loyal Friend.
My native hometown is Brooklyn, NY. (Bed-Stuy)
I care deeply about the well being of Children.
I'm blood-related to a well-known Charlotte Politician. (He's currently serving in Public Office.)
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R.I.P. Dad (Mr. Peter Kelly)
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