OBAMA TO DELIVER FINAL SOTU ADDRESS; TUESDAY, JAN 12, 9PM ET (HIS LEGACY & HILLARY'S CAMPAIGN)

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OBAMA DELIVERS FINAL SOTU ADDRESS; TUESDAY, JAN 12, 9PM ET:

SPEECH WILL HIGHLIGHT HIS LEGACY & HELP HILLARY

*** OBAMA'S PRESIDENTIAL LEGACY (GOOD & BAD):

ELECTED IN NOV 2008 (FIRST BLACK PRESIDENT)

RE-ELECTED IN NOV 2012

ORDERED DEATH OF OSAMA BIN LADEN

PULLED TROOPS OUT OF IRAQ

REAL COMPENSATION FOR FAMILIES WHOSE LOVED ONES ARE MURDERED BY POLICE

BAILED OUT WALL STREET

BAILED OUT AUTO INDUSTRY

STIMULUS PACKAGE

REPEALED "DON'T ASK, DON'T TELL"

DODD-FRANK

FORECLOSURE PREVENTION

CONSUMER PROTECTION

APPOINTED NEW MEMBERS TO FEDERAL LABOR BOARD

OBAMACARE

CLIMATE CHANGE

LEGALIZED MARIJUANA

POLICE BLUE-LIGHT POLICE PROTECTION ACT

NEW GUN CONTROL LAWS

REPEALED "NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND"

HELPED GOV NIKKI HALEY IN REMOVING CONFEDERATE FLAG AFTER CHARLESTON MASSACRE.

~ How To Watch President Obama's Final State Of The Union

President Obama will deliver his final State of the Union address Tuesday at 9 p.m. and is expected to focus on the future, with the 2016 presidential election at stake later this year.

The president previewed the address in a video last week and said he wants his speech to highlight not only the progress the U.S. has made and what he wants to accomplish in his final year, but "what we all need to do together in the years to come."

The White House has invited a number of people to sit in the box with First Lady Michelle Obama during the address, and one seat has been reserved and will be left vacant to represent "victims of gun violence who no longer have a voice."

Mr. Obama spent all of last week highlighting his new set of executive actions on gun violence.

Other White House guests include Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy (D); the CEO of Microsoft, Satya Nadella; Jim Obergefell, the lead plaintiff in the landmark Supreme Court same-sex marriage case; 

Spencer Stone, one of the three Americans who thwarted a potential terrorist attack on a Paris-bound train in August; one of the partners of a San Bernardino terrorist attack victim; and a Syrian refugee who moved to the U.S. with his children in December.

The speech, which will be the first with Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, as speaker, will come just weeks before the 2016 primary season kicks off in Iowa and New Hampshire.

Mr. Obama wants to ensure that a Democrat succeeds him, but he also is focused on plans he'd like to fulfill in his final year in office.

The president, for example, is intent on delivering a plan to Congress that would permanently close the Guantanamo Bay prison.

He has challenged Congress to consider a new war authorization against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS). Criminal justice reform and getting approval for the Trans-Pacific Partnership are also among Mr. Obama's final priorities.

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) is scheduled to deliver the Republican response after the address.

** What: President Obama's final State of the Union address
Time: 9 p.m. ET

Where to watch/listen:

On TV: CBS television affiliates or on CBSN streaming on Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Android TV and Xbox One
Mobile: CBSN streaming on the CBS News apps CBS News for Android and CBS News for iOS
Online: CBSNews.com
On radio: CBS Radio News affiliates

** Who attends: Vice President Joe Biden will sit behind the president, next to Speaker Ryan. Members of the House and Senate will file into the House chamber for the speech.

Some of the 2016 GOP presidential candidates will be there. Sens. Marco Rubio and Rand Paul will attend, but Ted Cruz is skipping it in favor of his own campaign event in New Hampshire.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will be delivering his state of the state address on Tuesday.

A number of Supreme Court justices usually show up, as well as members of the president's cabinet.

There's always a "designated survivor," who is a member of the cabinet designated to be at an undisclosed location when he delivers the speech, in case something happens to the president, vice president and speaker.

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx was the designated survivor last year.

Kentucky Clerk Kim Davis who spent five days in jail defying a court order to license same-sex marriages will be in the chamber, although no one has revealed which lawmaker invited her.

Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, on Tuesday said he won't be there, and further, he has reserved an empty seat in the House chamber's gallery during the State of the Union to represent "the lives of more than 55 million aborted babies."

Sources: CBS News, NBC News

"Repeal & Replace", "Fire Nancy Pelosi!" Paul Ryan & Michael Steele Team Up

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Paul Ryan Will Push "Repeal and Replace"


Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), one of his party’s top voices on fiscal matters, calls the newly passed health reform plan a “fiscal Frankenstein” that will “make insurance more expensive,” providing an opening for the GOP to push for a partial repeal.

Ryan, the top Republican on the House budget committee, said the plan will help “a very small segment of the population,” such as people with pre-existing conditions, but make life more expensive for “the vast majority of the population.”

“What matters to people is: Are their premiums going up or are their premiums going down?” Ryan said in an interview as his Capitol Hill office for the POLITICO video series, “Health Care Diagnosis.”

Ryan, who calls himself “a numbers guy” and resists talking about political strategy, said he’ll be pushing for what he calls a “repeal and replace” approach to rolling back the law Obama signed on Tuesday.

“You’re going to see sticker shock,” Ryan said. “You’re going to see lots of premium increases. You’re going to see people in the individual market losing their premiums, losing their insurance. … All brokers of insurance are gone in a year, in my personal opinion.”

“Obviously we’re not for keeping this law,” he continued. “We should repeal it and replace it with reform … but not just to go back to the status quo that we knew yesterday. That wasn’t sustainable, either. We’ve been saying all along we want to fix what’s broken in healthcare without breaking what’s working in healthcare. So repeal and replace it with something better.”

Asked if Republicans had overplayed their hands with dire claims about the plan, Ryan replied: “The problem I see with this bill is: Is this bill socialized medicine today? No, but it think it clearly puts us on the trajectory for that. ... So what I’m worried about is in our nation, we’re reaching a tipping point in this country where more Americans are more worried about their government benefits and dependencies than they are about their own securities. … They’re more relying on the government for their livelihoods than they do on themselves.”

Ryan said he’s begun laying the groundwork for his role as one of his party’s appointees to President Barak Obama’s newly formed deficit-reduction panel, the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.

“I’m mailing them my entitlements plan,” he said. “We’re sending them some things that we’ve already written, … just so you know who I am and what I’ve been saying, to be very candid. Anybody who knows anything about me knows I’m not a tax increaser . . . . spending, in my opinion, is the problem.”



Ryan acknowledged speculation that the commission was designed to provide cover for recommendations for tax increases, but he said he’s willing to wait until the group gets going because deciding what he thinks of it.

“I want to get something done, I want to be constructive, I want to approach it with a good attitude,” he said. “If this thing, this commission can help us get spending under control, I want to help, and that’s what I’m going to be offering.”

Last month, Ryan introduced a “2.0” version of his “Roadmap for America’s Future,” which includes proposals for health care, retirement savings, job training, and tax and budget reform. The plan made Ryan a convenient target for Democrats, who claim it’s a sugarcoated attempt to partially privatize Social Security and Medicare.

“President Obama kind of elevated it and then [Budget Director Peter] Orszag came after it and the DCCC and the DNC , so now I’m sort of the punching bag,” he said. “I’m OK with that. I’m actually very, very much at peace with it because what the Democrats … are trying to do is win this next election by tearing down Republicans and making us seem worse than they are.

“They don’t want an election as a referendum on their performance; they want an election based on fear and if they can disperse fear into the mind of a voter about Republicans, they can stay in power. So what’s comforting to me: In order for them to attack my plan, they have to completely demagogue it -- meaning mischaracterize it -- and that’s good, in my mind. … [I]t tells me that I put up a viable alternative to the social welfare state they want to create for America.”

Ryan said the “new media economy” makes it easier for a minority party to promote its alternative ideas. “You have a [presidential] bully pulpit that heretofore could kind of concentrate and control the media,” he explained. “This bully pulpit it not as singularly effective, because of all the new media that’s out there.

“So when I get demagogued by the president and the Democrats, … I have avenues where I can get the truth out about this plan. The point I’m trying to make is when people find the facts, they know there’s something wrong, they know debt’s getting out of control and they know we’ve got to do something to fix it.”

“I don’t care if I lose this job for trying to do what I think is right,” he added. “The way I look at this is: Every term you should act like it’s your last term. And what matters to me is that you sleep well at night.”

The congressman paused and grimaced. “OK,” he said. “Last night I didn’t sleep very well because of this health-care bill.”

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

10 Reasons To Fire Nancy Pelosi


1.) Pelosi Called Opponents Of Government-Run Health Care Experiment "Un-American." (Speaker Nancy Pelosi & Rep. Steny Hoyer, "'Un-American' Attacks Can't Derail Health Care Debate," USA Today, 8/10/09)


2.) Last Night, Pelosi Once Again Ignored The Will Of The American People And Voted Again To Pass Their Government-Run Health Care Experiment. (H.R. 3590, Roll Call Vote #165, Approved 219-212; D 219-34; R 0-178, 3/21/10)


3.) Yesterday's Vote Came Just Four Months After Pelosi Rammed Through $1.2 Trillion Health Care Bill On A Saturday Night. (H.R. 3962, Roll Call Vote #887; Approved 220-215; D 219-39; R 1-176, 11/7/09)


4.) Leading Up To The Vote, Pelosi Made Clear Once Dems "Kick Open That Door ... There Will Be Other Legislation To Follow ... We'll Take The Country In A New Direction." (Greg Sargent, "Pelosi: Passing Health Reform Will Set Stage For Great Debate With GOP," The Plum Line, 3/15/10)


5.) Pelosi Claims To Be Unaware Of The Behavior Of Disgraced Former Rep. Eric Massa, And Continued To Defend Rep. Charlie Rangel Despite Ethics Committee Admonishment. (James Hohmann, "Nancy Pelosi Defends Charlie Rangel, Again," Politico, 2/26/10; MSNBC's "The Rachel Maddow Show," 3/11/10)



6.) In June, Pelosi "Laid Down The Gauntlet" To Rush Through Cap And Trade National Energy Tax. (Steven T. Dennis and Tory Newmyer, "Pelosi Flexes Muscle," Roll Call, 6/24/09; H.R. 2454, Roll Call Vote #477; Approved 219-212; D 211-44; R 8-168, 6/26/09)


7.) In February Of Last Year, Pelosi Passed President Obama's $862 Billion Stimulus, Promising To Create Jobs; Yet Since Then, America Has Lost 3.3 Million Jobs. (H.R. 1, Roll Call Vote #70: Passed 246-183; R 0-176; D 246-7, 2/13/09; U.S. Bureau Of Labor Statistics, www.bls.gov, Accessed 3/5/10)


8.) Pelosi Has Failed To Run House In Spirit Of Bi-Partisanship, With Democratic Members Being "Explicitly Told Not To Work With Republicans." (Rep. Jim Cooper, "Reconciliation Rules - Not Bipartisanship - Will Kill Health Care Reform," The Huffington Post, 6/18/09)


9.) Despite Pelosi Promising "The Most Open And Honest Government In History," Even Dem Member Admits "Caucus Is A Real Disappointment" Because They "Aren't Transparent." (Rep. Nancy Pelosi, "Pelosi: 'We Will Create the Most Open and Honest Government in History'" Press Re lease, 1/18/06; Glenn Thrush, "Sestak Blasts Pelosi, Obama On Transparency," Politico, 1/7/10)


10.) Pelosi Accused The CIA Of Lying To Her And To Congress On Use Of Interrogation Techniques. (David Espo, "Pelosi on CIA: 'They Mislead Us All the Time,'" The Associated Press, 5/14/09)









Obamacare: Time To "Fire Pelosi"


This weekend, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi ensured that the 111th Congress will live in infamy. Instead of listening to the people she used every procedural trick at her disposal to pass her health care legislation. She must be stopped.

Over the last year, the American people have witnessed a Speaker who will stop at nothing to achieve her vision of a Leftist government. She believes that she is no longer accountable to congressional rules, and national laws. Those are just guidelines that can be tossed away on a whim if determined they will prevent her from accomplishing her goals.

On Sunday, she cast them aside with reckless abandon and forced through her government takeover of health care.

Nancy Pelosi has no regard for public opinion. Even in a hostile electoral environment, she asked members of her caucus to fall on their swords so that she might add another achievement to her increasingly shameful legacy. Her actions are deceptive, dishonest, and simply unconstitutional, but she shows no remorse. To her, the ends justify the means.

Let there be no doubt: Nancy Pelosi’s sole priority in this entire health care drama has been authorizing a government seizure of the American health care industry and nationalizing a full one-sixth of our economy. She ignored the cold hard facts of the federal budget. Plainly put, you cannot add $1 trillion dollars to the budget and then claim that it’s revenue neutral, cut $500 billion from Medicare, and won’t affect recipients.

The math simply doesn’t work. But Nancy Pelosi doesn’t seem to have any problem with fudging the numbers when it’s to her advantage.

Worse yet, Speaker Pelosi has claimed that she would preside over the most ethical and transparent Congress in history. She has repeatedly denied Americans their Constitutional right to know what Washington is doing in their name, because she knows that if they find out, they will hold her caucus accountable.

For the sweetheart deals and arm-twisting tactics; for this unconscionable dereliction of her duty; for this gleeful defiance of the Constitution; and for the utter contempt with which she has repeatedly treated the American people, Speaker Pelosi MUST be fired.

The time has come for Americans to speak out. If you believe that American government should be open, honest, and transparent; if you believe that individual Americans, not the federal government, are best equipped to make their own medical decisions; if you believe that the Constitution of the United States – not this radical leftist agenda – is still the ultimate authority in our land, I am asking for your help to fire Nancy Pelosi.

I am asking you to pledge your support to punish her and every Democrat who joined her in this abomination and help Republicans regain the majority in the House.

The voice of the people was ignored on health care, but with your help we will make sure they hear it loud and clear when we remove Speaker Pelosi from her throne this November.


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Sources: Politico, RNC, SWAC Girl, Big Government.com, Youtube, Google Maps

Conservatives Are Fired Up & Ready To Win Again

Conservatives, Fired Up!


A frisky, fun keynote by Beck, an encouraging straw poll that left Palin with a happily meager 7 percent—CPAC showed that for better or worse, the GOP is fired up and ready to go.

There’s a joke they used to tell in Franco’s Spain: two guys in bar. First guy says to the other, “What do you think of Generalissimo Franco?” Second guy looks around nervously to see if anyone is listening, then says to the guy, “Follow me.” They leave the bar, walk down a deserted alley. The second guy finally stops, looks around again to see if they were followed, then whispers to the first guy: “I like him.”

I thought of it Saturday while listening to—brace yourselves—Glenn Beck, giving the keynote at the Conservative Political Action Conference.

I’ve not been a fan of Beck’s. (Rather the opposite, in fact, while conceding that he is at least a very talented demagogue.) But there was something refreshing in his fundamental message, to wit, We have seen the enemy, and it is us. Or at least, Not just us.

Using a personal trope—Beck is recovering alcoholic—he likened the Republican Party’s big-spending habit to the appetite of a drinker who can’t stop himself. He also indulged in a daring bit of palimpsest, rewriting one Ronald Reagan’s most memorable lines: “It is still morning in America. It just happens to be kind of a head-pounding, hungover, vomiting-for-four-hours kind of morning in America.” Not bad. Beck may not be the first repentant Republican, but he is certainly the most operatic, a kind of comic Pavarotti of the right.

It’s perhaps worth noting that last year’s CPAC keynoter was Rush Limbaugh, who, like Beck, is in recovery. What is it, one wonders, about these two bigfoot thunderers on the right that they share this personal history? Whatever else, it is a humanizing trait, and on Saturday night, it allowed Beck to be frisky and have fun, as he taunted Republicans, urging them to come clean themselves about their own recent boozing. If the Republican Party, he noted, had given a Tiger Woods-type apologia, he’d go all out for it. (Not, really, that he already hasn’t.)

The other encouraging surprise of the conference was the concluding straw poll. Ron Paul came in first, with 31 percent, to Mitt Romney’s 22 percent and—hallelujah—happily meager Sarah Palin’s 7 percent.

Thirty-one percent is, to be sure, several bricks shy of a landslide. It may, really, amount to a “none of the above.” Aside from his borderline-kooky isolationism, there are appealing aspects to Dr. Paul. (He is, in addition to being a Texas congressman, an Air Force flight surgeon and OB-GYN who has delivered 4,000 babies over the years; some politicians kiss babies, this one brings actually them into the world.) But he is never going to be president. That at least will free him up to go on being authentic, a quality in short supply among our pols.

So what’s the takeaway from CPAC 2010? Only this: It’s going to be messy between now and November, but conservatives are, for better or worse, fired up and ready to go. Funny—the phrase sounds vaguely familiar. Where can I have heard it before?







Rep. Ron Paul Surprise Winner Of CPAC Presidential Straw Poll



U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, a stalwart foe of government spending, won a blowout victory Saturday in the annual Conservative Political Action Conference presidential straw poll.

With participants naming "reducing the size of federal government" as their top issue, the 74-year old libertarian hero captured 31 percent of the 2,400 votes cast in the annual contest, usually seen as a barometer of how the GOP's conservative wing regards their potential presidential candidates.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney finished second with 22 percent of the vote, ending a three-year winning streak at CPAC. Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin finished third with 7 percent of the vote, followed by Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty at 6 percent and Indiana Rep. Mike Pence at 5 percent.

They were followed by former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who tied at 4 percent. Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, South Dakota Sen. John Thune and Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour rounded out the results.

Five percent of participants voted for "Other" and 6 percent was undecided.

The announcement of Paul's win, a surprise victory unlikely to have a major impact on the 2012 presidential contest, drew a volley of loud boos from the CPAC audience.

That discontent could be seen in the poll results: A majority of participants said they wished the Republican Party had a better field of candidates to choose from.

But Paul's victory might be seen, in part, as a result of his support among anti-establishment Tea Party activists -- who turned out in force at this year's conference and expressed some frustration with the Republican Party.

Reflecting the college atmosphere of the annual event, young people dominated the voting: 54 percent of participants were between the ages of 18 and 25.

The poll also contained a bit of bad news for Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, who made an under-the-radar appearance at CPAC late Friday.

Participants were asked to rate their opinions of several top political figures, including Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and House Minority Leader John Boehner, both of whom received a majority favorable rating.

But Steele was the only Republican to garner an upside-down rating, with 44 percent giving him an unfavorable rating and 42 percent rating him favorably.

The three-day meeting Saturday that has featured speeches by Republican leaders, training sessions for local political activists and a renewed purpose to stand firm behind their principles heading into the midterm elections.


Sources: The Daily Beast, CNN, CPAC, Politico, Youtube

"By The People" Trailer...Obama's Election (HBO Documentary)

HBO Documentary Films presents "By The
People: The Election of Barack Obama." It premieres Tuesday, November 3 at 9pm only on HBO. For more information, log onto HBO.com













Pres. Barack Obama's Idea of "Government Transparency" Would Make Dick Cheney Proud


Remember when Barack Obama was running for president and he promised that, unlike secrecy-obsessed George Bush and Dick Cheney, he would insist on a “transparent” administration that wouldn’t hide information from the American people unless it was absolutely necessary?

That would have been nice. But of course it turns out it was just talk. Obama has only been president for 10 months and already he is just as casual as his predecessors about demanding secrecy for things that have no good reason to be kept secret at all.

Why, for instance, is the Obama White House fighting so hard to prevent the release of documents about who lobbied Congress to give immunity to the telephone companies that cooperated with Bush’s warrantless wiretapping program?

A federal court concluded that there is no reason for the administration to keep that information from the public. It’s not classified. There aren’t precious national security secrets at stake. It’s a list of names of those who spent money to influence our elected officials into voting their way on the passage of a law.

The names on that list might somehow turn out to be politically embarrassing to some members of Congress, or even to some members of the Obama administration—remember, as a Senator Obama voted in favor of giving telecom companies immunity from prosecution. But embarrassment shouldn’t be a good enough reason to keep something secret, especially not in Obama’s new promised land of transparency.

Yet the administration has refused to obey the court’s order. First the White House asked for a 60-day delay. The court knocked that down. Then they tried for a 30-day delay. Again, the court said no. So they then filed an emergency motion to prevent the release of the documents. Once more, the court turned them away.

But this week, after administration lawyers tried yet again, the court finally caved and agreed to postpone the order to make the documents public.

A proud day for democracy. High fives all around at the White House.

Eventually, we’ll find out what’s going on here. Or, maybe we won’t. Cheney pulled all kinds of tricks like these to forever keep secret the names of the big oil lobbyists experts who dictated the outcome he consulted on his energy task force.

Back then, of course, Democrats were outraged that the Bush White House would try to hide that information from the public. One of the angriest was Rahm Emanuel, then a congressman and now Obama’s chief of staff.

“The vice president’s willingness to ignore the rules remains just as strong as ever,” Emanuel fumed. “Democrats are prepared to hold the vice president accountable and ensure that no one in our government is above the law.”

So why isn’t Rahm just as furious at his own boss, seeing how he is doing the same thing?



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Sources: HBO, TIME, Newsweek, The Gaggle, Youtube, Flickr, Google Maps