Stephen Lendman

Expect nothing positive ahead on his watch. The worst is yet to come.

Obama's annual State of the Union addresses reflect beginning-to-end doublespeak duplicity. Empty rhetoric signals business as usual. Policy prioritizes corporate empowerment, rewarding rich elites, letting popular needs go begging, funding America's war machine, and cracking down hard on non-believers. Obama does what his supporters thought impossible. He governs to the right of George Bush.

He's beholden to powerful monied interests. They own him. He's their man in Washington. Whatever they want they get. He mocks rule of law principles. He deplores democratic values. He prioritizes wrong over right. He's waging multiple direct and proxy wars on humanity. He's waging social and economic ones domestically. He's creating unprecedented levels of poverty, unemployment, homelessness, hunger and deprivation.

Ahead of his address, White House blog contributor Macon Phillips called it "just the beginning." Citizen Response will be introduced. It lets listeners and viewers explain how they're "connected to (issues) and then share (what's on their mind) with friends."

Question & Answer will follow. Theater will substitute for substance. Handpicked hundreds will "join a special #WHSocial in person, and 100 White House followers on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ representing more than 20 states" nationwide. They were "invited to watch the speech live from the White House and participate in a panel discussion."

On February 14, Obama will initiate "Fireside Hangouts." They'll imitate Franklin Roosevelt's fireside chats. He delivered dozens on radio from 1933 - 1944. Obama's no FDR. Obamanomics substitutes for New Deal fairness. What Roosevelt created, Obama helps put asunder. The difference between them is stark.

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Patrick Martin

President Obama devoted his Saturday radio and Internet address to the sequester, warning of thousands of federal layoffs or furloughs and a “huge blow to middle class families and our economy as a whole” if the cuts took effect.

In the days leading up to Tuesday night’s State of the Union address, the Obama administration has combined calls for austerity measures to slash social spending with demagogic attacks on congressional Republicans for advocating even larger cuts in domestic social programs.

Obama’s speech comes as back-room discussions continue between the White House and congressional leaders of both parties, driven by two imminent deadlines: the March 1 “sequester,” when $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts take effect, and the March 27 expiration of authorization for spending by all federal government departments.

The sequester is a consequence of the 2011 Budget Control Act, a bipartisan deal between Obama and congressional Republicans, while the March 27 cutoff comes as a result of the expiration of another bipartisan agreement, the six-month “continuing resolution” passed last October to avoid a shutdown of the federal government during the 2012 election campaign.

If the sequester takes effect, budget cuts will hit both defense spending and a wide range of domestic social programs. The military cuts would have only a marginal effect in the vast Pentagon budget, which dwarfs the combined military spending of the next 15 countries in the world. The domestic cuts largely spare the major entitlement programs, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, but will devastate smaller programs like Head Start education for pre-kindergarten children.

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Stephen Lendman

Do it now before it's too late! We the People must act. Institutionalized tyranny approaches. It's a hair's breath away. Freedom's on the chopping block for elimination. Humanity may not survive Obama's second term.

America's Declaration of Independence states:

"(W)hen a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, (it's the right of the people, it's) their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security."

■ Straightaway as president, Obama violated his sacred trust. He betrayed his constituents. He's a serial liar. He broke every major promise made. He serves illegitimately.

■ He institutionalized tyranny. He's a war criminal multiple times over. He's guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors.

■ He menaces humanity. He's heading America for WW III. He wants America's social contract destroyed. He wants millions impoverished, unemployed, left hungry and homeless. He's beholden to powerful monied interests that own him.

■ He spurns fundamental civil and human rights. He mocks democratic values. He's contemptuous of essential needs.

Law Professor Francis Boyle is unequivocal. He told Progressive Radio News Hour listeners he should be impeached. He urged House Republicans to so. He's offering his services pro bono.

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