A Buckingham Palace spokesman who asked not to be identified because of palace policy said he could not remember the last time the queen had displayed such public affection with a first lady or dignitary.
"It was a mutual and spontaneous display of affection," he said. "We don't issue instructions on not touching the queen."
Got that?
And please shut it concerning Barack bowing to a Saudi King too. At least he didn't do this:
Or this:
And about that iPod they gave the Queen?
The Politico {among other conservatard sites} reported that President Obama presented Queen Elizabeth II with "a personalized iPod," and added, "The bestowing of the Royal iPod brought a cringe from one top etiquette expert, who said it confirmed that Obama hasn't figured out presidential gift giving." But while the Politico noted criticism of the gift by "etiquette expert" Anna Post of the Emily Post Institute, Henderson did not mention that Queen Elizabeth asked for the iPod that Obama gave her.
Indeed, while the Politico article reported that "perhaps surprisingly for folks in the U.S. the queen is no stranger to the iPod, because she already has one," it did not point out that according to the White House, the queen requested a video iPod because she did not yet have one of that type.
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The creeping fungus of religion in government: http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2009/04/the_creeping_fungus_of_religio.php
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If Stevens conviction was dropped due to prosecuterial misconduct, why wasn't political prisoner former governor Don Siegelman's?
"There seems to be substantial evidence of prosecutorial and other misconduct in my case, that would dwarf the allegations in the Stevens case," the former Alabama governor told TPMuckraker in an interview moments ago. - tpm muckracker
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Why does Bobby Jindal want poor people to suffer and die?
...Jindal announced his next assault on the poor: rejecting the stimulus's health care funding. Jindal, widely recognized for his health policy acumen, "plans to reject some federal health-care dollars for the poor and uninsured." - think progress
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Wow. The irony meter I keep on my desk just exploded: http://theygaveusarepublic.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=78B489CD16A627858403B91178D6605D?diaryId=2545
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The House and Senate both passed Obama's $3.6 TRILLION dollar budget yesterday.
Not one Republican voted yes, and twenty House Democrats voted against the budget.
Also yesterday, by a vote of 247-171, the House passed the Pay for Performance Act. This legislation: prohibits:
Paying any executive or employee any compensation that is "unreasonable or excessive"
Paying any bonus or other supplemental payment that is not directly based on performance-based standards
Entering into new contracts for compensation that are "unreasonable or excessive or not performance-based
Only 10 out of 178 Republicans thought that was worth voting for. They really do want to give a blank check to their corporate cronies. In GOP world, it's okay to get rich on taxpayer dollars and to profit from failure.
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Most people would think protecting child molesters and harboring Nazi apologists would be extremely embarrassing for an organization. But, most people aren't leaders of the Catholic Church, which has incredibly misplaced priorities:
Cardinal Francis George is urging Catholics "to call, to e-mail, to write letters" about the "extreme embarrassment" the University of Notre Dame has caused by inviting President Barack Obama to speak at its commencement next month.
But George acknowledged, at a weekend conference on human dignity and infertility, that the South Bend university is "not going to disinvite the president ... no matter what you do."
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Take yer lumps
I don't want to hear any crying from the people who invested with Bernie Madoff. Most of his investors had a pretty good inkling (except for the SEC, it seems) he was up to no good but their greed trumped their common sense. Sorry, but I ain't bailing your asses out.
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Remember during the campaign when the Republicons decided that the Obama Achilles heel was his wife, Michelle? Remember when we heard loads of nonsense about her "proud" remarks and the Neanderthals in the Tennessee GOP cut a couple of ads going after her? And when McCain trotted out his wife to tell us she has always been proud of her country? Remember all that?
Like everything else the last few years, this endeavor has turned out really well for the GOP:
Americans have very positive impressions of both President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama. But in the latest Gallup Poll, Mrs. Obama receives a slightly better favorable rating, 72% to 69%.
These guys have the reverse Midas touch.
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It seems as if the Financial Accounting Standards Board is on the verge of letting the banks do this: Price their "toxic assets" at whatever they think they might be able to get for them in a hypothetical future.
That is just insanity. Things are worth what someone would pay for them in an arm's-length transaction right now, not at some future time when the seller may pray that the market improves. This change means that when a bank (or a large company) says its assets are worth a certain value, that number has been generated by the Rectal Extraction Method.
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"Arctic sea ice is melting so fast most of it could be gone in 30 years," according to a new government-backed study. "The Arctic is often called the Earth's refrigerator because the sea ice helps cool the planet by reflecting the sun's radiation back into space," said researcher Muyin Wang. "With less ice, the sun's warmth is instead absorbed by the open water, contributing to warmer temperatures in the water and the air.
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Yesterday, the Alaska Republican Party called for Sen. Mark Begich (D-AK) to step down and allow for a new election, in the wake of Attorney General Holder voiding former senator Ted Stevens's guilty verdict, due to the Bushies screwing it up. Sarah Palin "absolutely agrees."
Sarah Palin/Michele Bachmann 2012!
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Just days after receiving an email asking me to donate to Leahy because he was standing up for the truth ...
In a meeting on Monday with Vermont citizens, Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT) admitted that the truth commission he has advocated to examine Bush administration crimes like torture most likely won't happen.
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The Bush Legacy
In 2004, Bush Department of "Justice" officials agreed to not to prosecute AIG for fudging company books. House Democrats would like to know more...
House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Towns (D-N.Y.) said that former AIG CEO Hank Greenberg should be able to identify Bush misadministration officials involved in the decision-making around the settlement.
Asked if he would be directly pursuing Bush administration officials, Towns said: "No doubt about it. That's the reason I want to talk to Greenberg first. He might even point some folks out. That's of great interest to us."
Criminal charges could result from the investigation, Towns said.
I'm not holding my breath.
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As crisis loomed, Geithner too close to Wall Street to take steps to prevent it:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/04/02/AR2009040203227.html?hpid=topnews
Is this a surprise to anyone?
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The Queen greets Obama with a Royal Flush of Bush
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Entitlements for the non-elite are bankrupting the country...... Bailouts don't count, THEY are much too complicated for the rubes to understand ......Especially Social Security!!
The Treasury Department has for decades borrowed money from the Social Security trust fund to finance government operations. If it is no longer able to do so, it could be forced to borrow an additional $700 billion over the next decade from China, Japan and other investors. And at some point, perhaps as early as 2017, according to the CBO, the Treasury would have to start repaying the billions it has borrowed from the trust fund over the past 25 years, driving the nation further into debt or forcing Congress to raise taxes.
The world as we know it will ends in HOURS if this great war-mongering "nation" has to stop raiding the Social Security fund. $700 Billion? That figure sounds somewhat familiar.
Where have we heard that number before?
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Headline: Bush-era diplomacy is over.
Article: Obama greeted in London by "crowds cheering and waving with all five fingers."
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