Hasta La Gadget!

“For the sake of our children and our future, we must do more to combat climate change,” President Barack Obama declared in his 2013 State of the Union address. “Yes, it’s true that no single event makes a trend. But the fact is, the 12 hottest years on record have all come in the last 15.”

Environmentalists were quick to react, offering support for the president’s expressed commitment to combatting climate change. The League of Conservation Voters, Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club and others wrote in a joint statement, “We applaud President Obama for restating in no uncertain terms, in tonight’s State of the Union address, the obligation he and the nation have to address climate change.” They added, “More than 3.2 million comments have been collected from Americans that support limiting carbon pollution from existing power plants.”

The Huffington Post’s Lynne Peeples previously reported that environmentalists held high expectations going into Tuesday’s speech. Yet, “as many experts also note, such hopes should probably be tempered. Obama is constrained by a ticking clock and partisan politics.”

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WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama hailed his signature health care reform law in his State of the Union address Tuesday night, even as he pledged to pursue further reductions in health care spending.

“Already, the Affordable Care Act is helping to slow the growth of health care costs,” Obama said, referring to slowing cost increases that recently prompted the Congressional Budget Office to cut some $200 billion from the projected growth of Medicare and Medicaid costs.

“The reforms I’m proposing go even further,” Obama said. “We’ll reduce taxpayer subsidies to prescription drug companies and ask more from the wealthiest seniors. We’ll bring down costs by changing the way our government pays for Medicare, because our medical bills shouldn’t be based on the number of tests ordered or days spent in the hospital — they should be based on the quality of care that our seniors receive.”

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Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) gives the GOP rebuttal to President Barack Obama’s 2013 State of the Union address Tuesday night.

Rubio’s remarks come after Obama speaks in front of a joint session of Congress.

Read the full text of Rubio’s remarks as prepared for delivery in English below:

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It always seemed like a scare tactic that fat fearing parents would tell their sugar loving kids: if you drink too much Coke, you could die! (okay, maybe in a not so morbid way) But a woman actually died from drinking too much Coke. The coroner blamed the 30-year-old woman’s 2.2 GALLON a day Coke problem—as in Coca Cola—as the reason for her death. More »

President Barack Obama urged Congress during Tuesday’s State of the Union address to enact legislation ensuring that men and women receive equal pay for equal work.

“I ask this Congress to declare that women should earn a living equal to their efforts, and finally pass the Paycheck Fairness Act this year,” Obama said, referring to a bill blocked by Senate Republicans last June.

Passing such legislation would revolutionize the retail sector and, possibly, bring big changes to the country’s largest retailer: Walmart. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics retail sales jobs have the second largest gender pay gap of any profession. The job with the widest pay gap is insurance agent, according to BLS, but far more Americans are working retail: Around 4.5 million people work in retail sales in the U.S., half earn less than $21,000 per year, according to the BLS.

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