Obama's State of the Union: Jobs, re-election time

President Barack Obama sings before speaking at a campaign event, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, at the Apollo Theatre in the Harlem neighborhood of New York. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

President Barack Obama sings before speaking at a campaign event, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, at the Apollo Theatre in the Harlem neighborhood of New York. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

President Barack Obama pauses before shaking hands at a campaign event, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, at the Apollo Theatre in the Harlem neighborhood of New York. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

President Barack Obama speaks at a campaign event, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012, at the Apollo Theatre in the Harlem neighborhood of New York. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Vilified by the Republicans who want his job, President Barack Obama will stand before the nation Tuesday night determined to frame the election-year debate on his terms, using his State of the Union address to outline a lasting economic recovery that will "work for everyone, not just a wealthy few."

As his most powerful chance to make a case for a second term, the prime-time speech carries enormous political stakes for the Democratic incumbent who presides over a country divided about his performance and pessimistic about the nation's direction. He will try to offer a stark contrast with his opponents by offering a vision of fairness and opportunity for everyone.

In a preview Saturday, Obama said in a video to supporters that the speech will be an economic blueprint built around manufacturing, energy, education and American values.

He is expected to announce ideas to make college more affordable and to address the housing crisis still hampering the economy three years into his term, people familiar with the speech said. Obama will also propose fresh ideas to ensure that the wealthy pay more in taxes, reiterating what he considers a matter of basic fairness, the officials said.

His policy proposals will be less important than what Obama hopes they all add up to: a narrative of renewed American security with him at the center, leading the fight.

"We can go in two directions," Obama said in the campaign video. "One is toward less opportunity and less fairness. Or we can fight for where I think we need to go: building an economy that works for everyone, not just a wealthy few."

That line of argument is intended to tap directly into concerns of voters who think America has become a nation of income inequality, with rules rigged to help the rich. The degree to which Obama or his eventual Republican opponent can better connect with millions of hurting Americans is expected to determine November's presidential election.

Obama released his video hours ahead of the South Carolina primary, where Republican candidates fought in the latest fierce contest to become his general election rival.

The White House knows Obama is about to get his own stage to outline a re-election vision, but carefully. The speech is supposed to an American moment, not a campaign event.

Obama didn't mention national security or foreign policy in his preview, and he is not expected to break ground on either one in his speech.

He will focus on the economy and is expected to promote unfinished parts of his jobs plan, including the extension of a payroll tax cut that is soon to expire.

Whatever Obama proposes is likely to face long odds in a deeply divided Congress.

More people than not disapprove of Obama's handling of the economy, and he is showing real vulnerability among the independent voters who could swing the election. Yet he will step into the moment just as the economy is showing life. The unemployment rate is still at a troubling 8.5 percent, but at its lowest rate in nearly three years. Consumer confidence is up.

By giving a sneak peek to millions of supporters on his email list, Obama played to his Democratic base and sought to generate an even larger audience for Tuesday's address. He is unlikely to getter a bigger stage all year.

More people watched last year's State of the Union than tuned in to see Obama accept the Democratic presidential nomination in Denver in 2008.

The foundation of Obama's speech is the one he gave in Kansas last month, when he declared that the middle class was at a make-or-break moment and he railed against "you're on your own" economics of the Republican Party. His theme then was about a government that ensures people get a fair shot to succeed.

The State of the Union will be the details to back that up.

But even so, the speech will still be a framework ? part governing, part inspiration.

The details will be rolled out in full over the next several weeks, as part of Obama's next budget proposal and during his travels, which will allow him more media coverage.

On national security, Obama will ask the nation to reflect with him on a momentous year of change, including the end of the war in Iraq, the killing of al-Qaida terrorist leader Osama bin Laden and the Arab Spring protests, with people clamoring for freedom. He is expected to note the troubles posed by Iran and Syria without offering new positions about them.

Despite low expectations for legislation this year, Obama will offer short-term ideas that would require action from Congress. For now, the main looming to-do item is an extension of a payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits, both due to expire by March.

His travel schedule following his speech, to politically important regions, offers clues to the policies he was expected to unveil.

Both Phoenix and Las Vegas have been hard hit by foreclosures. Denver is where Obama outlined ways of helping college students deal with school loan debt. Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and Detroit are home to a number of manufacturers. And Michigan was a major beneficiary of the president's decision to intervene to rescue the American auto industry.

Republican leaders in Congress say Obama has made the chances of cooperation even dimmer just over the last several days. He enraged Republicans by installing a consumer watchdog chief by going around the Senate, which had blocked him, and then rejected a major oil pipeline project the GOP has embraced.

Obama is likely, once again, to offer ways in which a broken Washington must work together. Yet that theme seems but a dream given the gridlock he has been unable to change.

The address remains an old-fashioned moment of national attention; 43 million people watched it on TV last year. The White House website will offer a live stream of the speech, promising extra wrinkles for people who watch it there, and then invite people to send in questions to administration officials through social media such as Twitter and Facebook.

Obama's campaign is also organizing and promoting parties around the nation for people to watch the speech.

__

AP deputy director of polling Jennifer Agiesta and Associated Press writer Ken Thomas contributed to this report.

__

Online:

White House: http://www.whitehouse.gov

___

Follow Ben Feller at http://twitter.com/BenFellerDC

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-21-US-Obama-State-of-the-Union/id-9e76772ecfda4f1f98a4521a7392509a

power outage snow storm snow storm reggie bush ufc 137 boston news matilda

Turks march in Paris to denounce genocide bill (AP)

PARIS ? Thousands of Turks have marched through Paris denouncing a bill that would make it a crime to deny that the killing of Armenians by Ottoman Turks nearly a century ago was genocide.

Turks waving their country's red flag marched on Saturday to the Senate, where the bill will be debated on Monday after passage in December in the lower house.

They carried banners reading "No to Sarkozy Shame Law" and "History for Historians."

The measure would make it a crime to deny that mass killings of Armenians in 1915 by Ottoman Turks constitute genocide.

Critics claim its real aim is ensuring votes for President Nicolas Sarkozy from French Armenians in the two-round presidential elections in April and May.

Ankara, irate over the bill, has suspended military and economic cooperation with Paris.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120121/ap_on_re_eu/eu_france_turkey_genocide

ron artest deion sanders shld 2012 sec football schedule medifast miami heat pro bowl

Legal Theory Blog: Legal Theory Bookworm

The Legal Theory Bookworm?recommends?Configuring the Networked Self: Law, Code, and the Play of Everyday Practice by Julie E. Cohen. Here is a description:

The legal and technical rules governing flows of information are out of balance, argues Julie E. Cohen in this original analysis of information law and policy. Flows of cultural and technical information are overly restricted, while flows of personal information often are not restricted at all. The author investigates the institutional forces shaping the emerging information society and the contradictions between those forces and the ways that people use information and information technologies in their everyday lives. She then proposes legal principles to ensure that people have ample room for cultural and material participation as well as greater control over the boundary conditions that govern flows of information to, from, and about them.

Source: http://lsolum.typepad.com/legaltheory/2012/01/legal-theory-bookworm-2.html

texas a m ufc 141 lesnar vs overeem appetizer recipes alistair overeem alistair overeem deep impact

Colo. girl escapes apparent kidnapper, calls 911 (AP)

DENVER ? A missing 9-year-old girl escaped from an apparent kidnapper and called 911 herself from a convenience store in Colorado Springs on Friday.

The Pueblo girl was reported missing Thursday night after she didn't return home from school.

The suspect, Jose Garcia, 29, is also a suspect in an alleged molestation involving a different girl, Pueblo police Capt. Eric Bravo said.

The car of the man accused of kidnapping the girl broke down Friday morning in Colorado Springs, and a passerby gave them a ride to a Circle K, police said.

The girl ran into the convenience store and asked to use the phone to call her uncle but instead called 911, which prompted the man to take off, authorities said.

"Once she realized she had that window of opportunity, she became a hero and rescued herself by calling 911," Colorado Springs police spokeswoman Barbara Miller said in a statement.

Efren Vialpando told The Gazette he saw the girl come in the Circle K with two black eyes and a bruise on her lip and face. She had refused to leave the store with the man, saying, "I ain't going nowhere. I'm waiting for my momma." He said the suspect fled after that.

A Circle K employee declined to comment, citing store policy.

Police immediately began a search for Garcia when they arrived at the store and notified transportation hubs. An employee at a bus terminal recognized Garcia and notified police, who quickly arrested the man without incident.

The girl was taken to a hospital Friday morning. Miller said details of the girl's condition won't be released because of her age.

Garcia was in custody Friday. Pueblo police haven't said how they connected him to the kidnapping and where Garcia was with the girl for more than 15 hours overnight. Pueblo police Sgt. Darren Velarde said Garcia is being held on suspicion of kidnapping and could face a charge of sexual assault on a child.

The FBI helped with the investigation.

Pueblo County court records said Garcia was wanted for suspicion of kidnapping and sex assault on a child, and Bravo said allegations in that case involved Garcia's 9-year-old former stepdaughter. Both the former stepdaughter and the girl who escaped Friday attended Columbian Elementary School in Pueblo.

In the case involving the ex-stepdaughter, Bravo said Garcia was listed as an emergency contact at the school and told officials there he was picking the girl up for a dentist's appointment. Bravo said Garcia is suspected of kidnapping and sexually assaulting the girl in about a half hour before he took the girl back to school.

"We don't know if there's a connection to that girl and (the girl who escaped Friday)," Bravo said.

A family member told The Associated Press by phone that Garcia worked construction in Colorado Springs and he had known his ex-stepdaughter since she was about 3 years old.

___

Follow P. Solomon Banda at http://twitter.com/psbanda.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120121/ap_on_re_us/us_girl_escapes

ellen degeneres show ellen degeneres show david guetta david guetta work of art iphone update iphone update

Romney says he doesn't expect to win every contest (AP)

GILBERT, S.C. ? Working to fend off a surging Newt Gingrich in what's become an unexpectedly tight race in South Carolina, presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Friday he expects he will lose some state contests to Gingrich during a prolonged fight for the GOP nomination.

"I expect that Newt will win some primaries and contests and I expect I will as well," Romney said on the Laura Ingraham radio show a day before voting begins in the critical South Carolina primary. "I'm not expecting to win them all."

Romney didn't directly say he expects to lose in South Carolina, and in a separate appearance Friday described the contest as "neck-and-neck." But senior aides acknowledged they wouldn't be surprised if he lost the primary.

Romney's comments were his most blunt acknowledgement yet of the trouble his campaign faced amid a reality much changed from 10 days ago when he won the New Hampshire primary in a landslide. They also recognized the possibility that Gingrich could take a South Carolina victory on to other states and win again.

Romney's campaign appeared visibly rattled the day before voting began. His standing in polls had tumbled after a week of constant attack ads and self-made problems. Senior advisers and campaign hands were preparing for a long fight.

"He will win. It's a question of when," said Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell, who campaigned with Romney on Friday.

Romney came to South Carolina after twin victories in Iowa and New Hampshire, only to see his Iowa victory thrown into question because of problems with the count. He then spent a week trying to answer questions about his personal wealth and when he will release his tax returns.

Romney tried to change the subject from his unreleased tax returns to the ethics investigation Gingrich faced 15 years ago.

Gingrich's House reprimand in 1997 presented an opportunity to talk about something else. When asked if Gingrich should release the Ethics Committee report that resulted in the first such action against a House speaker, Romney replied, "Of course he should."

"Nancy Pelosi has the full record of that ethics investigation," he said. "You know it's going to get out ahead of the general election."

In fact, the 1,280-page committee report on Gingrich is already public. Campaign officials said Romney was referring to other documents that Gingrich has referenced and that Pelosi has also mentioned.

"Given Speaker Gingrich's newfound interest in disclosure and transparency, and his concern about an `October surprise,' he should authorize the release of the complete record of the ethics proceedings against him," Romney spokeswoman Gail Gitcho said.

Romney's campaign was calling South Carolina voters with a recording attacking Gingrich's ethics record and calling on him to release any documents related to the inquiry.

In December, Pelosi told Talking Points Memo that she had served on the committee that conducted the investigation and implied that more information about the investigation could come to light. At the time Gingrich said the House should retaliate against Pelosi if she released any additional information.

"We turned over 1 million pages of material," Gingrich said then. "We had a huge report."

Gingrich's campaign said Romney's criticism represented a "panic attack" on the part of his campaign.

Romney on Friday said again that he wouldn't release his tax returns until April, which would probably be after Republicans choose their nominee.

"I realize that I had a lot of ground to make up and Speaker Gingrich is from a neighboring state, well-known, popular in the state," Romney said as he campaigned in Gilbert. "Frankly, to be in a neck-and-neck race at this last moment is kind of exciting."

Romney's campaign has rolled out endorsement after endorsement this week as he has tried to build a case that he is the most electable nominee. Ohio Sen. Rob Portman joined him on Thursday and McDonnell was with Romney on Friday.

McDonnell said he had been in touch with Romney's campaign for several weeks as they discussed the timing for the endorsement and decided it was most needed now, even as Romney looks ahead to a long campaign.

"It's the first Southern primary. I'm a Southern governor. I thought I could help," McDonnell said.

The campaign's attack message jumped from rival to rival and topic to topic as Romney fought to stay afloat here.

At the beginning of the week, Romney attacked rival Rick Santorum over voting rights for felons. Then he went after Gingrich's claims that he created jobs under President Ronald Reagan, saying Gingrich was living in "fantasyland." Meanwhile, his surrogates held a series of conference calls attacking his rivals, first calling Gingrich an unreliable leader and then pivoting to attack his ethics record.

In Thursday night's GOP debate, Romney continued his string of off-message remarks about his wealth, saying he has lived "in the real streets of America." A multimillionaire, he has three homes, one each in Massachusetts, California and New Hampshire.

Romney held three campaign events Friday in his last-ditch push to stem Gingrich's momentum. After stopping in Gilbert, he held a rally in North Charleston and flew to Greenville in the conservative upstate for a nighttime rally and a stop at his campaign headquarters before an evening event in Columbia, the state capital.

On a plane between events Friday night, Romney was outwardly cheerful in spite of a difficult day ahead, gamely bantering with reporters as he served pastries from Panera Bread.

"Pain au chocolat, smart move!" he said to one, proferring the box and a pair of tongs to take the desserts.

As he moved farther back into the plane, though, he dispensed with the tongs.

"Just use your fingers," he said. "To heck with it!"

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120121/ap_on_el_pr/us_romney

fracking fracking drosselmeyer drosselmeyer pacific standard time local time when is daylight savings 2011

Libya had undeclared chemical weapon stockpile (AP)

AMSTERDAM ? International inspectors have confirmed that late Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi had an undeclared stockpile of chemical weapons, the organization that oversees a global ban on such armaments announced Friday.

The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons said inspectors who visited Libya this week found sulfur mustard and artillery shells "which they determined are chemical munitions," meaning the shells were not filled with chemicals, but were designed specifically to be loaded with chemical weapons.

"They are not ready to use, because they are not loaded with agents," OPCW spokesman Michael Luhan said.

He would not divulge the amounts of chemicals in the previously unknown stockpile, except to call it "a fraction" of what Gadhafi disclosed in the past.

Libya's new rulers told the Hague-based organization about the chemicals last year after toppling Gadhafi from power. The longtime Libyan strongman was killed in October after being captured by rebel fighters.

The newly confirmed chemical armaments are stored at the Ruwagha depot in southeastern Libya together with chemical weapons that Gadhafi had declared to international authorities in 2004 as he tried to shake off his image as an international pariah and rebuild relations with the West.

He declared his regime had 25 metric tons (27.6 tons) of sulfur mustard and 1,400 metric tons (1,543 tons) of precursor chemicals used to make chemical weapons. His regime also declared more than 3,500 unfilled aerial bombs designed for use with chemical warfare agents such as sulfur mustard, and three chemical weapons production facilities.

Those stockpiles were being destroyed until a technical problem halted destruction last year at the same time as the popular uprising began that led to Gadhafi's ouster and death.

Libya was to have completed destruction of its chemical weapons by April 29 of this year, but can no longer meet the deadline after the turmoil that roiled the country last year. The country's new government now has until that date to file a plan and proposed completion date for destroying its entire chemical weapon stockpile.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120120/ap_on_re_eu/eu_libya_chemical_weapons

joost joost how to get ios 5 how to get ios 5 eric holder eric holder avengers trailer

'Red Tails' Cast Learned From Real Tuskegee Airmen

'They were there to validate and chastise our decisions at the same time,' Elijah Kelley said of airmen's role.
By Kevin P. Sullivan

David Oyelowo in "Red Tails"
Photo: Jiri Hanzl

There was a lot of pressure on the cast of the upcoming true-life World War II drama, "Red Tails." Not only did they have to honor the legacy of the Tuskegee Airmen, the first African-American air regimen in the U.S., but they also had to appease the actual airmen who worked as consultants on the film.

MTV News sat down with Tristan Wilds, Elijah Kelley and Ne-Yo to discuss the relationship between the actors and the real-life historical figures.

Wilds explained that having some of the real Tuskegee Airmen on the set of "Red Tails" made things both easier and harder. With the added pressure came a real sense of insurance.

"It's hard. It definitely is pressure because you're holding the historical importance of these guys basically in your hands while you're creating this film," Wilds said. "But I think having them on set and being there with us and helping us with everything, it kind of made everything so much easier."

Kelley summarized the airmen's dual role on the film, saying, "they were there to validate and chastise our decisions at the same time."

Ne-Yo learned the hard way that when you want to portray real-life figures, you're responsible to them for even the smallest of details. "A few of the existing Tuskegee Airmen were on set making sure that everything was as genuine and authentic as possible to the point where they would grab you and shake you and straighten your tie and pull your pants up and pull your belt," Ne-Yo said. "They would go that far, and you basically just had to take it."

All the men agreed that when it came to taking orders from the real deal, you had little choice but to accept their tips. "An 80-plus-year-old man grabs you and fixes your belt, you might just want to let him do it," Ne-Yo said.

Wilds agreed, saying, "It's a lot of years of strength." Are you planning on seeing "Red Tails"? Let us know in the comments.

Related Videos

• MTV Rough Cut: Red Tails

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677553/red-tails-movie-tuskegee-airmen.jhtml

r. kelly x factor finale pro bowl voting kindle fire update college board pasco county rooney mara