Democratic National Convention 2012 Schedule of Events: Speakers, Performers Lineup, Live Stream Information

The Democrat Convention has started... under the cloud of a House Investigation into stimulus funds being given to leftist news outlet MSNBC (NBC and parent company GE) for Obama’s ‘Green Jobs’ Initiative Ads; the national debt clock clicked over to $16 Trillion just an hour before the DNC Convention began… which certainly explains why they have no debt clock up at the event like the GOP had; and the jobs report to be released just hours after President Obama’s speech on Thursday is expected to be negative… again.

Also Just released: The Dems have taken out any and all references to Israel from their platform. The platform used to say that Israel was America’s (the Dems) strongest ally… The designation of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, has also been removed.  Everyone interviewed about the changes on Israel said the party went along with President Obama’s lead and beliefs. The word ‘God’ also no longer appears anywhere in the Democrat platform. Wake up Americans and wake up American Jews!

(Photo : DemConvention) Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The 2012 Democratic National Convention just kicked off in Charlotte, North Carolina where the party will nominate President Barack Obama and Vice President Biden for President and Vice President candidates.

I waited until the last minute to post this hoping the DNC would post a final or at least comprehensive schedule… they never did. Perhaps it is because they are still making changes???

The three-day convention is expected to draw tens of thousands of people including nearly 6,000 delegates from across the country. Performers include the Foo Fighters, Mary J. Blige and Marc Anthony.

During the first two days at the Time Warner Cable Arena, First Lady Michelle Obama, Keynote Speaker and San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro and former President Bill Clinton are expected to speak. DJ Cassidy, Ledisi, Amber Riley, former American Idol contestant Jessica Sanchez and Branford Marsalis will also take the stage. The Dems have been much less forthcoming than the Republicans as to details about their convention.

About 15,000 people are expected on the first two days, according to the convention's website.

High-profile speakers include Chicago Mayor and former Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, Senate Candidate Elizabeth Warren.

On Thursday, Obama will accept the nomination at the Bank of America Stadium which has capacity to seat over 73,000 people. Marc Anthony will sing the National Anthem and other musicians performing are the Foo Fighters, Mary J. Blige, Earth Wind and Fire, James Taylor, Delta Rae and Inspire the Fire.
Live Streaming will be available on the Democratic National Convention 2012 website www.demconvention.com/live in English and Spanish.

Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney accepted his party's nomination Thursday night amid heavy fanfare but people wonder if the Democrat's big party will diminish his momentum.  "Whatever there is, I think we can blunt that pretty quickly," an official with President Obama's campaign told CNN.

Most politicos from both parties are saying that while the Republican National Convention was overall positive, with only intermittent barbs at President Obama, that they expect the Democratic convention to be much more negative and full of attacks on Romney and Ryan.

FULL LIST OF SPEAKERS:

Congresswoman Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin
Congressman Xavier Becerra of California
Newark Mayor Cory Booker
Congressman G.K. Butterfield of North Carolina
Former President Jimmy Carter (via video)
San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, who will be the first Latino keynote speaker at a Democratic National Convention
Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Chafee
Congresswoman Judy Chu of California
Congressman Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri
Former President Bill Clinton
Congressman James Clyburn of South Carolina
Former Republican Governor of Florida Charlie Crist
Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina Walter Dalton
The Honorable Arne Duncan
Congresswoman Diana DeGette of Colorado
Former Assistant Secretary, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Tammy Duckworth
U.S. Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois
Congresswoman Donna Edwards of Maryland
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel
Georgetown Law School Graduate Sandra Fluke
Charlotte Mayor Anthony Foxx
Congressman Barney Frank of Massachusetts
Former Charlotte Mayor Harvey Gantt
Former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm
Congressman Charlie Gonzalez of Texas
U.S. Senator Kay Hagan of North Carolina
California Attorney General Kamala D. Harris
Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper
Congressman Steny Hoyer of Maryland
Former Governor of North Carolina Jim Hunt
DCCC Chairman Congressman Steve Israel of New York
Montana State Superintendent of Public Instruction Denise Juneau
Former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine
Lieutenant General Claudia Kennedy (ret.)
Congressman John Larson of Connecticut
Congresswoman Barbara Lee of California
Congressman John Lewis of Georgia
CarMax co-founder and former CEO Austin Ligon
President of NARAL Pro-Choice America Nancy Keenan
Caroline Kennedy
U.S. Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts
Women's rights activist Lilly Ledbetter
Obama Campaign Co-Chair Eva Longoria
Connecticut Governor Dannel Malloy
Delaware Governor Jack Markell
Boston Mayor Tom Menino
The Honorable Karen Mills
U.S. Senator Patty Murray of Washington
Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter
U.S. Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland, together with the women of the U.S. Senate
Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley
Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi
House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi will also lead a presentation of the women of the House: Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro of Connecticut Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney of New York Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez of New York Congresswoman Gwen Moore of Wisconsin Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz of Pennsylvania Congresswoman Donna Edwards of Maryland Candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives Joyce Beatty of Ohio Candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii
California Assembly Speaker John A. Pérez
Congressman Jared Polis of Colorado
Congressman David Price of North Carolina
Illinois Governor Pat Quinn
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada
President of Planned Parenthood Action Fund Cecile Richards
Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak
The Honorable Ken Salazar
Journalist Cristina Saralegui
U.S. Senator Charles Schumer of New York
Montana Governor Brian Schweitzer
The Honorable Kathleen Sebelius
Costco co-founder and former CEO Jim Sinegal
Former Ohio Governor Ted Strickland
Congressman Chris Van Hollen
Los Angeles Mayor, Democratic Convention Chair Antonio Villaraigosa
The Honorable Tom Vilsack
Senate candidate from Massachusetts Elizabeth Warren
DNC Chair Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida
Congressman Mel Watt of North Carolina

Tuesday, September 4 (Time Warner Cable Arena)

DJ Cassidy, LedisiAmber Riley (national anthem)

Wednesday, September 5 (Time Warner Cable Arena)

DJ Cassidy, Jessica Sanchez, Branford Marsalis (national anthem)

Thursday, September 6 (Bank of America Stadium)

Foo Fighters, Mary J. Blige, Earth, Wind and Fire, James Taylor, Delta Rae, Inspire the Fire and Marc Anthony (national anthem)

IS MT. RUSHMORE NEXT?

Three artists need 15 tons of sand to create an Obama sand sculpture ahead of the DNC

A torrential downpour that struck Charlotte Saturday afternoon damaged the Mount Rushmore-style sand sculpture bust of President Obama — an ominous beginning to what many fear is a plagued convention.

Workers were trying Saturday afternoon to reform the base of the sculpture, built from sand brought in from Myrtle Beach, S.C., pounding and smoothing out the sand that had washed off the facade of the waist-up rendering of the chief executive.

The sand sculpture was protected from above, and Mr. Obama’s face didn’t see too much damage. But the storm was so strong that its heavy winds blew the rain sideways, pelting the president’s right side and leaving the sand pockmarked and completely erasing his right elbow.

Don’t count on too much truth from MSNBC or the mainstream media about the Democrat National Convention… During the Republican National Convention MSNBC purposely cut away almost every time there was a person of color speaking and away from many of the women to make it look like the GOP was nothing but white men and to support Democrat fake war on women concept.

Related:

Mitt Romney gains traction among Latino voters… They are not fooled by DNC political games

RNC boosts Romney among the GOP women

Remember Jumah… The Muslim Prayer Event Listed as an Official Event at the Democrat National Convention….

Mitt – A Big Hearted Caring and Decent Guy… Who Can Fix the Economy

Mitt Romney Gets Personal in Fiery and Poignant Speech – Gave America a True Choice

Team Obama to unions: Bail out our convention, will ya? And While you are at it… bus in and pay people to attend

Welcome to Charlotte and the 2012 Democrat National Convention

Israel: Time’s Up

Romney Tells Israel: “You Built That!”

Monday was National Empty Chair Day!

Famous Painter Jon McNaughton’s Controversial painting… Obamanation

The Hope and Change Movie – A Must Watch! - 40 Democrats and Independents who voted for Obama in 2008 but won’t in 2012

You Know It Is Over When Michael Moore Says: "I Think People Should Start To Practice The Word’s President Romney"

Shocking Newsweek Cover: ‘Hit the Road, Barack – Why We Need a New President’ – Updated

Sometimes It Is the Small Things That Tell You the Real Truth… Obama’s Already Planning Move to Hawaii and Hillary is MIA for Convention

Technorati Tags: DNC,Democrat National Convention,Obamaland,Election 2012,2012 Eelction,Jon McNaughton,Unvetted,Obamanation,jobs,national debt,Israeli American relations,Israel,God,Mitt Ronney in 2012,Romney-Ryan

Governor Palin’s WSJ Editorial: ‘How Congress Occupied Wall Street’

A Wall Street Journal editorial:

Mark Twain famously wrote, “There is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.” Peter Schweizer’s new book, “Throw Them All Out,” reveals this permanent political class in all its arrogant glory. (Full disclosure: Mr. Schweizer is employed by my political action committee as a foreign-policy adviser.)

Mr. Schweizer answers the questions so many of us have asked. I addressed this in a speech in Iowa last Labor Day weekend. How do politicians who arrive in Washington, D.C. as men and women of modest means leave as millionaires? How do they miraculously accumulate wealth at a rate faster than the rest of us? How do politicians’ stock portfolios outperform even the best hedge-fund managers’? I answered the question in that speech: Politicians derive power from the authority of their office and their access to our tax dollars, and they use that power to enrich and shield themselves.

The money-making opportunities for politicians are myriad, and Mr. Schweizer details the most lucrative methods: accepting sweetheart gifts of IPO stock from companies seeking to influence legislation, practicing insider trading with nonpublic government information, earmarking projects that benefit personal real estate holdings, and even subtly extorting campaign donations through the threat of legislation unfavorable to an industry. The list goes on and on, and it’s sickening.

Astonishingly, none of this is technically illegal, at least not for Congress. Members of Congress exempt themselves from the laws they apply to the rest of us. That includes laws that protect whistleblowers (nothing prevents members of Congress from retaliating against staffers who shine light on corruption) and Freedom of Information Act requests (it’s easier to get classified documents from the CIA than from a congressional office).

The corruption isn’t confined to one political party or just a few bad apples. It’s an endemic problem encompassing leadership on both sides of the aisle. It’s an entire system of public servants feathering their own nests.

None of this surprises me. I’ve been fighting this type of corruption and cronyism my entire political career. For years Alaskans suspected that our lawmakers and state administrators were in the pockets of the big oil companies to the detriment of ordinary Alaskans. We knew we were being taken for a ride, but it took FBI wiretaps to finally capture lawmakers in the act of selling their votes. In the wake of politicos being carted off to prison, my administration enacted reforms based on transparency and accountability to prevent this from happening again.

We were successful because we had the righteous indignation of Alaskan citizens on our side. Our good ol’ boy political class in Juneau was definitely not with us. Business was good for them, so why would they want to end “business as usual”?

The moment you threaten to strip politicians of their legal graft, they’ll moan that they can’t govern effectively without it. Perhaps they’ll gravitate toward reform, but often their idea of reform is to limit the right of “We the people” to exercise our freedom of speech in the political process.

I’ve learned from local, state and national political experience that the only solution to entrenched corruption is sudden and relentless reform. Sudden because our permanent political class is adept at changing the subject to divert the public’s attention—and we can no longer afford to be indifferent to this system of graft when our country is going bankrupt. Reform must be relentless because fighting corruption is like a game of whack-a-mole. You knock it down in one area only to see it pop up in another.

What are the solutions? We need reform that provides real transparency. Congress should be subject to the Freedom of Information Act like everyone else. We need more detailed financial disclosure reports, and members should submit reports much more often than once a year. All stock transactions above $5,000 should be disclosed within five days.

We need equality under the law. From now on, laws that apply to the private sector must apply to Congress, including whistleblower, conflict-of-interest and insider-trading laws. Trading on nonpublic government information should be illegal both for those who pass on the information and those who trade on it. (This should close the loophole of the blind trusts that aren’t really blind because they’re managed by family members or friends.)

No more sweetheart land deals with campaign contributors. No gifts of IPO shares. No trading of stocks related to committee assignments. No earmarks where the congressman receives a direct benefit. No accepting campaign contributions while Congress is in session. No lobbyists as family members, and no transitioning into a lobbying career after leaving office. No more revolving door, ever.

This call for real reform must transcend political parties. The grass-roots movements of the right and the left should embrace this. The tea party’s mission has always been opposition to waste and crony capitalism, and the Occupy protesters must realize that Washington politicians have been “Occupying Wall Street” long before anyone pitched a tent in Zuccotti Park.

By Sarah Palin

Related:

REVEALED:  Nancy Pelosi Blocked Credit Card Reform While Investing Millions in Exclusive Visa Stock

Muslim Brotherhood Announces Plans to Form Political Party

Image Credit: Wikipedia.org

By Lee Keath and Hamza Hendawi, AP

Egypt's long banned Muslim Brotherhood said Tuesday it intends to form a political party once democracy is established, as the country's new military rulers launched a panel of experts to amend the country's constitution enough to allow democratic elections later this year.

The panel is to draw up changes at a breakneck pace - within 10 days - to end the monopoly that ousted President Hosni Mubarak's ruling party once held, which it ensured through widespread election rigging.

By LEE KEATH and HAMZA HENDAWI

CAIRO (AP) - Egypt's long banned Muslim Brotherhood said Tuesday it intends to form a political party once democracy is established, as the country's new military rulers launched a panel of experts to amend the country's constitution enough to allow democratic elections later this year.

The panel is to draw up changes at a breakneck pace - within 10 days - to end the monopoly that ousted President Hosni Mubarak's ruling party once held, which it ensured through widespread election rigging. The initial changes may not be enough for many in Egypt calling for the current constitution, now suspended by the military, to be thrown out completely and rewritten to ensure no one can once again establish autocratic rule. Two members on the panel said the next elected government could further change the document if it choses.

The military's choices for the panel's makeup were a sign of the new political legitimacy of the Muslim Brotherhood, the fundamentalist group that was the most bitter rival of Mubarak's regime. Among the panel's members is Sobhi Saleh, a former lawmaker from the Brotherhood seen as part of its reformist wing.

The eight-member committee, which met with Defense Minister Hussein Tantawi on Tuesday, also includes a Christian supreme court judge, along with other judges and legal experts, one of its members Mohammed Hassanein Abdel-Al, a legal scholar told The Associated Press. The panel is headed by Tareq el-Bishri, a widely respected former judge and scholar who was once a secular leftist but later became one of the most foremost thinkers of what Egyptians refer to as the "moderate Islamic" political trend and is seen as a bridge between the movements.

The panel's convening indicated the military was trying to push ahead quickly with a transition after Mubarak resigned Friday in the face of 18 days of unprecedented popular protests that massed hundreds of thousands. The military is now also urging an end to labor strikes that spread wildly across the country Sunday and Monday, unleashed by the turmoil.

The strikes, many hitting state agencies and industries, are a further blow to Egypt's economy, damaged by the three weeks of upheaval. Egypt's Foreign Minster Ahmed Aboul Gheit called on the international community to provide aid to boost Egypt's economy.

Throughout Mubarak's rule, his regime kept a stranglehold on Egyptian politics. Any opposition parties had to be approved by a commission run by his ruling National Democratic Party. The constitution his leadership drew up puts stiff restrictions on who can run for president, effectively preventing a real challenger. It also lifted almost all independent supervision of elections, opening the door to vote rigging that ensured the most recent parliament - now dissolved - was almost entire made up of the NDP.

As a result, the existing political parties are hollow shells, with little public following. The constitution also explicitly bans any parties formed on a religious basis. The Muslim Brotherhood, legally banned for decades, was prevented from forming a party but ran candidates for parliament as independents. In 2005, it made a surprisingly strong showing, winning 20 percent of parliament's seats, but it was pushed out completely in the most recent election in November and December, plagued by fraud.

The Brotherhood announced Tuesday that it would form a party once promised freer laws are in place.

"The Muslim Brotherhood group believes in the freedom of the formation of political parties. They are eager to have a political party," spokesman Mohammed Mursi said in a statement on the Brotherhood website.

Essam el-Arian, a prominent Brotherhood figures, said the movement would not run any candidate for upcoming presidential elections, acknowledging that such a move would be too controversial.

"We are not going to have a candidate for the upcoming presidential elections. Its time for solidarity, its time for unity, in my opinion we need a national consensus," he said. But he said the Brotherhood's top leadership had decided on the creation of a party.

The Brotherhood's charter calls for creation of an Islamic state in Egypt, and Mubarak's regime depicted the Brotherhood as aiming to take over the country, launching fierce crackdowns on the group. Some Egyptians remain deeply suspicious of the secretive organization, fearing it will exploit the current turmoil to vault to power.

But others - including the secular, liberal youth activists who launched the anti-Mubarak uprising - say the Brotherhood has to be allowed freedom to compete in a democracy alongside everyone else. Support by young cadres in the Brotherhood was key to the protests' success, providing manpower and organization, though they never came to form a majority in the wave of demonstrations.

The new constitutional panel is mandated to draw up amendments to the current constitution within 10 days to be put to a referendum, paving the way for elections. The military specified six articles to be amended or thrown out "along with changes to any connected articles that the committee deems necessary," according to the military's statement to the panel, read to the Associated Press by Abdel-Al.

"This is a critical moment and things have to be dealt with on a priority basis," he said of the decision to focus on those select articles, which are the main ones imposing restrictions on elections. "This is a preliminary requirement top hold free democratic elections ... our task is to make it feasible for that to happen."

"The future parliament and government can decide whether to make further amendments or rewrite the whole thing," he said.

Saleh, the Brotherhood member on the panel, said the goal was to "cleanse" the constitution to ensure freedom of political parties and other rights ahead of the election. "After the transition to a democratic life and freedoms, parties and political forces can get together and work on a complete constitution," he said.

The Armed Forces Supreme Council, grouping the defense minister and top generals, has vowed to hand over power to an elected civilian government. It has dissolved parliament and suspended the constitution - steps that encouraged protest leaders because both were pillars of the Mubarak regime. But it has kept in place the last government installed by Mubarak as a caretaker until a new one is named.

On Monday, the coalition of activists who organized the protest movement pushed the military for further steps. In a list of demands Monday, they called for the dissolving of Mubarak's National Democratic Party and for the creation of a Cabinet of technocrats within 30 days. They want it to replace the current caretaker government.

"It is unacceptable that the same government which caused this revolution with its corrupt ways oversees the transitional period," said Ziad al-Oleimi, a member of the coalition.

Source: Fox News

Video:  GB: A Must Watch Show – 02.14.11

Who is Egyptian VP Suleiman?