Obama made a calculated gamble, first floating the idea with VP Biden’s testing of the waters on national TV, then coming out with his own awkward comments on the issue.

Presidential support? Sure. Obama looked like he was birthing an elephant while delivering that comment. Remember, at the time of the speech, he was doing something that no sitting President had every done and he was not sure if it meant re-election or political disaster.

Mitt Romney’s Response

So what has Romney done to capitalize on this opportunity? Nothing.

As the president traveled to the West Coast on Thursday, where in Seattle he said Americans should have the chance to succeed “no matter who you love,” his presumptive challenger, Mitt Romney, and Republican leaders in Congress, tried, with limited success, to steer the focus of the presidential campaign back to the nation’s sluggish economy.

¶ When Mr. Romney addressed hundreds of donors and other supporters at a pair of campaign stops in Nebraska, one of the nation’s most reliable Republican states, he steered clear of the topic of same-sex marriage, underscoring Republican caution over the shifting politics of the gay marriage debate. On Capitol Hill, Speaker John A. Boehner deflected questions about same-sex marriage, declaring: “The president can talk about it all he wants. I’m going to stay focused on what the American people want us to focus on, and that’s jobs.” more…

“I’m going to stay focused…”? Really Mitt? That’s the best you can muster? Sure the Gay Marriage issue can be tricky for Republican candidates, but you just side step it and mumble something about your focus?

It’s The Economy Stupid!

Someone once said that and that guy won a Presidential election.

Mitt needs to ATTACK Obama on Gay Marriage, but he won’t, at least not effectively.

He could say:

• Obama has been in office for almost 4 years and now he changes his position for an obvious election boost
• Obama has driven programs like health care that only spend money and don’t create jobs
• Obama has added 4 trillion dollars to the Nation’s debt and has no plan to stop it
• Obama is proposing programs and raising issues to divert his pathetic response to job creation and the economy

He could visit the Sunday talk shows and say “4 years in office with millions of people unemployed and people more worried today about their future than ever before and the President’s most pressing issue is support for Gay Marriage? Really? This is why we need a change, this is why I should be elected!”

But he won’t.

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos and the gang up in Seattle have smacked one out of the park with an exclusive deal for all of the Harry Potter books in the US.

Amazon can now, exclusively, offer free e-book lending of the Harry Potter saga through its Kindle lending library to Amazon Prime members.

“Through an “exclusive license” with Pottermore, Amazon will make all seven Harry Potter e-books free through the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library starting June 19. KOLL allows Amazon Prime members who own a Kindle to borrow one e-book free each month. The e-books will be available in all languages, though the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library is U.S.-only. more…

To validate the idea of “try before you buy,” Amazon had reported that in the case of the Hunger Games trilogy, which is available through the lending library, nineteen percent of customers who borrowed the first book in the trilogy went on to purchase one of the later books instead of waiting another thirty days to borrow it.

The fact that both of these bestsellers are exclusive to Amazon for e-book lending is a trend that both authors and publishers should take note of, as well as Amazon’s competitors.

Bezos is laughing all the way to the bank.

The world needs to pay attention to some of the statements appearing in the official Chinese press.

“The South China Sea has become a major testing ground of China’s foreign policy and its growing maritime power, even as the top Communist Party leadership is preoccupied by a power struggle before the 18th Party Congress to be held this fall. Some Western analysts have suggested that Beijing’s increasing belligerence with the Philippines is aimed at shoring up domestic public opinion during a delicate transition period by using the issue of sovereignty as a popular rallying point.

The People’s Liberation Army Daily, the newspaper of the army, ran a tough editorial on Wednesday saying that China would not stand for anyone snatching the sovereignty of Huangyan Island. “Not only the Chinese government will not agree, neither will the Chinese people, and the Chinese Army will disagree even more,” the editorial said.” more…

We’re sure this will not be the last we’ve heard from China in its expansionist zeal for resources throughout the Pacific rim, and the world.

Casper centers all of his activity on Lopez and treats her like a queen quote sources.

“Dating six months, the fast-moving couple – Smart moved into the Hidden Hills, Calif., mansion that Lopez shares with her 4-year-old twins Max and Emme at the start of the year – haven’t let their 17-year age gap slow them down. (She’s 42; he’s 25.)”  more…

At a recent press conference Lopez laughingly summed up her view on love: “I’m a bit of a romantic, if you hadn’t noticed.” The American Idol judge, who recently announced her plans for a summer tour that Smart will help choreograph, seems just fine with her relationship.

Some friends caution that the wedding-loving superstar should take things slowly for a change. Worrying that Casper will take advantage of her.

Lopez and Casper are scheduled to perform a set together on American Idol Thursday night.

This weekend I heard another mother’s horror story about how her 11 year old daughter had opened a Facebook account without her knowledge and had been receiving terrible, abusive messages. The fact that her daughter had a learning disability only compounded the outrage.

An older daughter had found out about the account (which had been set up with the help of an 11 year old classmate). The mother quickly got access to the account and was appalled to read some of the messages posted on her daughter’s wall by “friends.” She also could not believe the ages of some of her daughter’s new male “friends.”

Facebook Inflated Friends

The number of “friends” was artificially driven by the fact that the daughter had listed her age as 13 and that the default Facebook security/privacy setting is “wide open.”  Children are the least informed on internet privacy settings.

It is also not lost on us that gaining new friends, gaining male friends, and growing the total number of friends is considered “cool” and an emerging status symbol for prepubescent children.

As I reviewed Facebook’s Registration and Account Security terms, I was struck by two adjoining items. Number 5 says “You will not use Facebook if you are under 13″ and number 6 says “You will not use Facebook if you are a convicted sex offender.”

However, there does not seem to be any enforcement of these policies aside from trusting and relying on the word of the user.

Let’s looks at some facts:

• If a user lies on their application, it is not Facebook’s responsibility.
• If an 11 year old girl lies on her application, it is not Facebook’s responsibility.
• If a convicted sex offender lies on his application, it is not Facebook’s responsibility.
• If a convicted sex offender targets and friends “13 year old” girls by pretending to be a good looking 17 year old boy, it is not Facebook’s responsibility.

Not Their Job

“We just provide a platform for users” is a simple way of saying that all they care about is “eyeballs” and membership numbers. They really don’t guard against your 11 year old daughter lying about her age and putting herself at risk from other liars. That, they say, is your responsibility.

Nobody claims that the technology does not exist for verification. After all, you bank online, purchase online, and apply for loans online, don’t you? So why doesn’t Facebook toughen their enforcement?

It’s All About The Money

Facebook’s responsibility is to their shareholders. Their responsibility is to make a profit. This is why identification verifications are virtually nonexistent. This is why the “default” level of security and sharing is “none.” All of these rules make it easier for users to join and share.

The lack of rules make it easier for Facebook to claim higher user numbers in the teenage demographic ahead of an IPO.

Throughout this process, advertisers are getting duped, investors are getting duped, and our children are put at risk – all in the name of Facebook’s profit.

What’s A Mother To Do?

Get mad and guard your children and their activity as you have never done before.

Facebook accounts and smartphones put every pervert and deviant outside of your child’s school and right in your neighborhood.

Technology provides this access on an unprecedented level.

The only real solution is for consumer outrage to rise up and drive public opinion and legislation to stop these predatory practices and make corporations like Facebook accountable for the services that they provide.

It’s fraud and quite illegal to sell a 20 year old car as new to an 11 year old, so why do we allow Facebook to profit from providing false information to that same child?

It’s time for Facebook to act responsibly.

In today’s virtual world, we need corporate governance and, perhaps, legislation that keeps up with all aspects of technology.

Democratic leaders, who had doubted their odds against Mr. Lugar, a Republican so moderate that even the leaders admitted that plenty of Democrats liked him, sounded giddy about their November opponent: Richard E. Mourdock, a Tea Party-supported Republican who seized a remarkable 61 percent of the vote in part by denouncing bipartisanship and pledging to an unwavering conservative approach. more…

What both parties are failing to understand is that Mr. Mourdock got 61 percent of the vote.

That is not a radical fringe, it is a movement.

Republican leaders had also better change their tune, or quit right now.

State Republican leaders, calling on Wednesday for party unity following Mr. Lugar’s loss, stood beside Mr. Mourdock on a stage here and seemed eager to play down his Tea Party ties and emphasize his traditional Republican credentials. Complicating the efforts, Mr. Lugar, who was not in attendance at the gathering, issued a sharp statement condemning what he suggested was a rising trend of rejecting political independence and bipartisan conversation.

The Republican candidates for President of the United States are locked together in a death spiral which, as sure as day follows night, means doom and defeat for the Republican party in 2012 and an economic blight on America.

In case you missed it, President Obama’s stride is a little more spry these days as he sees economic indicators improving (of course, total jobs are not) and the closest thing to a contender in the fall will be Romney, or now most probably, Santorum.

Can you imagine that campaign? Obama campaigning against someone who is defending his “Satan” comments? Does Santorum think this makes him a more appealing candidate? It will be like watching a professional football team play against the cheerleaders.

It is the lack of a compelling mainstream national candidate like a Reagan, Clinton, or even Obama that makes this election all but a fait accompli for Democrats.

If you remember, in 2008, the Republicans were unable to put forth a candidate whom anyone could vote for. McCain’s irratic temper and behavior worried a lot of people and, God forbid, if something happened to him, we would have had President Palin. Really Republicans? 300+ million Americans and that was the best you could do?

In case anyone in the Republican party has missed it, NO ONE wants Mitt Romney. He’s only won four out of nine primaries and is on the verge of losing Michigan, his home state.

His pathetic attempt at a “across the board tax cut” proposal hours before the Arizona debate shows how desperate the  “frontrunner” is:

In the hours leading to the event, Romney called for a 20 percent across-the-board cut in personal income taxes as part of a program he said would revitalize the economy and help create jobs. The top tax rate would drop from 35 percent to 28 percent, and some popular breaks would be scaled back for upper-income taxpayers. However, aides provided scant details. more….

This is why the “front runners” keep changing state by state. There is no viable alternative candidate and there certainly is no one to get excited about. If Mitt Romney didn’t have all that money, no one would even know his name.

Unless the Republicans (and all of us) have a last minute miracle, Barack Obama will enjoy another 4 years in the White House courtesy of Rick Santorum.

In his second term, Barack Obama’s policies and proposals will help create a national debt of more than 21 trillion dollars.

God help us all.

A loose connection between a timer and a computer led some of the world’s smartest particle physicists to conclude that certain tiny particles called neutrinos moved faster than the speed of light — a declaration that shocked the science world and would have called into questions Einstein’s theories.

Citing sources familiar with the experiment, Science magazine’s website reported Wednesday that the 60-nanoseconds discrepancy that led to the startling speed conclusion came from a bad connection in a fiber optic cable connecting a GPS receiver (used to correct the timing of the neutrinos’ flight) and a computer.

After tightening the connection and then remeasuring the time it takes data to travel the length of the cable, researchers found that the data arrive 60 nanoseconds earlier than assumed, the website said.

We are lucky enough to live in a remarkable time when an unremarkable man envisioned the soul of creation in his mind’s eye.

Let’s all give a toast to Albert as he wins another one.

We received our Republic Wireless Optimus Cellphone yesterday and have made a video of the unboxing as part of our series of reviews on the cellphone and service provider.

The video is provided below, some of the highlights were:

• Environmentally friendly packaging
• Minimal packaging
• Fedx delivery

Contents included:

• Optimus Cellphone w/ 3.2 MP camera and 2GB microSD card installed
• Power adapter
• USB cord for power
• Battery
• SD card adapter for microUSB card
• Republic Wireless stickers
• Card with link info to their website for MyAccount, Forums, etc.

 

 

 

Additional photos:

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The former Governor had spent the last few years publicly promoting his innocence on television and in news reports.

Blagojevich, in a last plea for mercy, tried an apology. After years of insisting he was innocent, the twice-elected Democrat told the judge he’d made “terrible mistakes” and acknowledged that he had broken the law — even as he maintained that at the time he did not know he was breaking the law.

As the judge announced the sentence, which includes a $20,000 fine, Blagojevich hunched forward and his face appeared frozen. Minutes later, his wife, Patti Blagojevich, stood up and fell into her husband’s arms. He pulled back to brush tears off her cheek and then rubbed her shoulders.

On his way out of the courthouse, Blagojevich said it was a time to be strong, to fight through adversity and be strong for his children. He said he and wife were heading home to speak to their daughters, and then left without answering any questions.

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