Obama Meets With Netanyahu

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is back at the White House.

Obama meets with him at 11 am eastern. At 12 pm, they'll a joint press conference. Look for a live stream at msnbc.com. Then they'll have lunch together.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will fly to Washington on Monday evening to meet with President Barack Obama for the fifth time since the two leaders took office.

A senior source in Jerusalem said that Netanyahu hoped the meeting would enable him to regain Obama's trust after months of tension regarding West Bank settlement construction. Netanyahu was planning to present Obama with a number of proposals for coordinating progress in the Middle East peace process, said the source. Haaretz

The only other scheduled meeting on Obama's public schedule is at 4:30 pm with Robert Gates.

Fourth of July Celebration at the White House Video

Obama's full remarks July 4th:

The fireworks on the National Mall:

Obama's Independence Day Remarks July 4 2010 Video

Joe and Jill Biden Celebrate July Fourth in Iraq

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Cultural Right Has Taken Over Economic Right

Paul Krugman voiced that observation: The cultural right has taken over the economic right. This Week's roundtable was especially good this morning. And finally, some truth on the stimulus. Politics aside, the stimulus worked. More stimulus would've worked better.

Cynthia Tucker calls Michael Steele the republicans' "affirmative action hire gone bad." If you ask me, Steele represents exactly how republicans feel about non-whites.

McCain was also on.

Michelle Obama's Independence Day Message About Military Families

Tonight at 7 pm eastern, the Obamas will host military families at the White House.

The Impact of Unregulated Oil Companies on the Niger Delta

Republican Joe Barton apologized for Obama's BP "shakedown" of a $20 billion fund to pay claims. Barton's apology was despicable, but it showed where republican alliances lie.

We're fortunate that we have a government that can "shakedown" the oil companies. In Nigeria, the government isn't strong enough to stand up to the oil companies. Oil companies have abused, devastated and left the Niger Delta trashed and the people in poverty.

Kpor is a world away from the Gulf of Mexico.

In the Niger Delta, there is little independent monitoring of spills, and the companies themselves disclose virtually no data about their own pollution.

But, according to the Nigerian Government, there were more than 7,000 spills between 1970 and 2000. Environmentalists believe spills - large and small - happen at a rate of 300 every year.

Site after site visited by the BBC - in both Bayelsa State and Ogoniland - had happened months before, and still not been cleaned up.

In May, an Exxon Mobil pipeline in Akwa Ibom State spilled more than a million gallons over seven days before the leak was stopped.

"The Gulf of Mexico has drawn the attention of the whole world," says Erabanabari Kobah, a local environmentalist.

"Even the President of the United States must go there to see it. The people there get compensation. But here, you must go to court. You cannot win against the oil companies in court." Read it all at Africa Review

Profits first:

Nigeria produced more than two million barrels of oil a day last year, and in over 50 years thousands of miles of pipes have been laid through the swamps. Shell, the major player, has operations on thousands of square miles of territory, according to Amnesty International. Aging columns of oil-well valves, known as Christmas trees, pop up improbably in clearings among the palm trees. Oil sometimes shoots out of them, even if the wells are defunct.

“The oil was just shooting up in the air, and it goes up in the sky,” said Amstel M. Gbarakpor, youth president in Kegbara Dere, recalling the spill in April at Gio Creek. “It took them three weeks to secure this well.” NYT

Obama's Speaks on Solar Energy Jobs in Weekly Address

Obama Speaks at Robert Byrd's Memorial Video

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Bill Clinton

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Other bigwigs spoke at the memorial service:

West Wing Week Video July 2

This is a rundown of Obama's week. There is video clip of an animated Obama watching the U.S. team lose to Ghana. There's another funny clip of a visiting math student who asks Obama: where are the foci of the oval?

Obama Speaks on June Jobs Report July 2

Private employers still added jobs, even though the number was smaller than expected. Apparently, Census jobs don't matter when they add to the economy, but they do matter when they take away from the economy.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that nonfarm payrolls fell by 125,000, but that was distorted by a 225,000 drop in temporary Census workers. The more closely watched number of private-sector jobs rose by 83,000. The unemployment rate dropped to 9.5% from 9.7% in May.

While the jobs numbers were worse than the consensus produced in a Dow Jones Newswires survey, which predicted a 110,000 drop in the headline number and 110,000 gain in private-sector jobs, markets were gearing up for an especially bad result in the wake of a slew of other weak data that have fanned fears of a second half slowdown in the U.S. economy. With an average of 150,000 jobs per month added throughout the first half, the economy was still adding enough jobs to cover new entrants into the work force, albeit at a pedestrian pace. WSJ

Obama is speaking from Andrews Air Force Base. He's on his way to Charleston, W.V. for Byrd's memorial.

Obama's Schedule July 2 2010

Obama leaves for Andrews Air Force Base at 9:20 am eastern where he'll make a statement at 9:35 am about the monthly jobs report, which is expected to be bad.
He'll then head to Charleston, W.V. to attend Sen. Byrd's memorial.
At 11:30 am eastern, Obama and Biden will both speak. Live audio stream here. Look for a live video stream at msnbc.com.
At 3 pm, Obama heads back to Andrews, where he will leave to meet up with his family at Camp David.
Obama will stay at Camp David until Sunday, when he's expected back to the White House for Fourth of July festivities to be announced.

Obama Signs Iran Sanctions Act Video

Transcript

Thad Allen Joins White House Press Briefing July 1

Obama Welcomes Sky Blue Soccer Champs Video

Republicans Vote Against Unemployment Benefits Extension Again

Republicans (and one democrat, Ben Nelson) vote once again against extending unemployment benefits. Millions will have lost their unemployment benefits by the time Congress returns to work July 12. Republicans believe that unemployment benefits shouldn't be extended until cuts are made to the nation's debt. Many republicans also believe that people are too reliant on unemployment and that they abuse unemployment. Orrin Hatch wants people collecting federal benefits to pee in a cup first.

Benefits ran out for some people June 1. It confounds me that so many people are so willing to vote republicans back in office after the huge economic crisis we've had, which has left many people jobless. Unfortunately, most people don't connect the dots. They don't realize that the lack of federal oversight of Wall Street (republican ideology) led to the economic meltdown.

Somehow, republicans have made huge strides in selling the ideas: 1) the economy is Obama's fault 2) republicans are the fiscally sound party 3) cutting the deficit is the top priority.

It's all ironic to me.

The Senate adjourned Wednesday night after falling two votes short of passing an extension of unemployment benefits after a protracted battle about the nation's debt.

The vote failed 58-38 on the two-pronged measure -- 60 were needed to end a Republican filibuster -- that included a $34 billion six-month extension of unemployment benefits.
....
Reid expects the bill will get through the upper chamber once a replacement is named for Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va.) who died early Monday. Senators return to Washington for legislative business July 12.

The Senate did agree to a separate bill to give homebuyers an extra three-months to close on a purchase that qualifies for a federal tax credit of up to $8,000.

By the time Congress returns, more than 2 million people who have been out of work for six months or longer will have lost their extended benefits, up to 99 weeks in some states with high unemployment, according to the Labor Department. The Hill

Here's a good summation:

Frustrated with the inability of Barack Obama to magically fix in 18 months what it took years of right-wing incompetence, neglect and corruption to conjure, America has shifted its notoriously short attention span to the next shiny object -- the austerity fetish -- and collectively said "ooh, I want that." Politicians, typically followers as opposed to leaders by nature, are falling in line. The U.S. Senate last week couldn't even pass a scaled down, sheepishly modest bill to extend unemployment benefits and provide more aid to cash-strapped states. LVCL

Obama and Biden to West Virginia for Byrd July 2

Obama and Biden were in West Virginia not too long ago for the coal miners' memorial.

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden will deliver remarks at the late Sen. Robert Byrd's memorial service Friday in West Virginia.

Byrd, a Democrat from the Mountain State, was the longest-serving lawmaker in the history of the U.S. Congress. He died early Monday morning at the age of 92.

In a statement Monday, Obama, the nation's first black president, praised Byrd, who was once in the Ku Klux Klan, for having the courage to change. The Hill

Boehner on Our Ant Problem

If the republicans wanted to fix the problem--any problem--then it seems they should stop throwing rocks from the sidelines. They ought to do something. They ought to accept that Obama is president and work with him.

Obama's Speech on Immigration at American University July 1

This is the full video. Read the transcript here.

WH immigration reform roundtable, including the proposed Dream Act. Many kids were brought here by their undocumented parents and discover that they themselves aren't legal residents when they try to get a job or go to college:

Obama's Schedule July 1 2010

Obama meets with Timothy Geithner at 10 am eastern.

At 10:50 am, Obama speaks on immigration. It's being called a "major" speech. Watch it live here.

12:15 pm, Obama meets with business leaders.

1:30 pm, Thad Allen and Carol Browner join Robert Gibbs to update the press on the oil disaster.

3:05 pm, Obama and Biden meet with Harry Reid.

3:35 pm, Obama and Biden get briefed on the oil disaster.

4:20 pm, Obama welcomes Women's Professional Soccer champs to the White House.

5:35 pm, Obama and Biden meet again.

6:15 pm, Obama signs Iran sanctions bill.