Friday, April 30, 2010
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Nice.
1. Republicans are not always your friend
2. Some Tea Partiers like big government
3. Democrats are not always your enemy
4. Smaller government demands restraint abroad
5. Leave social issues to the states
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
You Idiot.
Kentucky Sen. Jim Bunning called Harry Reid an “idiot” during a lunch meeting with other Republican senators this week — the latest sign that the Senate majority leader is getting under the skin of his GOP counterparts. Bunning’s harsh words — confirmed by several people in the room — came in the midst of Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander’s presentation about Reid’s handling of the Senate floor. Bunning rose from his seat and, speaking loudly, read fundraising data that singled out Reid and other Senate Democrats for taking more money from Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street firms than Republicans had. After Bunning called Reid an “idiot,” another voice yelled out: “He is acting like an idiot.”..Link
Financial reform? How about some indictments?
I really get upset when people offer suggestions with no thought behind them. Everyone in Washington keeps insisting that to fix the financial markets we need more rules and regulations and a lot more bureaucracy. My idea is that all we need is for the alphabet soup to start doing their job...Link
White House press corps gripes pile up.
One of the enduring storylines of Barack Obama’s presidency, dating back to the earliest days of his candidacy, is that the press loves him. “Most of you covered me. All of you voted for me,” Obama joked last year at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. But even then, only four months into his presidency, the joke fell flat. Now, a year later, with another correspondents’ dinner Saturday night likely to generate the familiar criticism of the press’s cozy relationship with power, the reality is even more at odds with the public perception...Link
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
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Nazi beatdown......
How did they Nazi this coming? Three men who showed up in full Nazi regalia to a hardcore punk show at an Old City bar Friday night were attacked by as many as 50 people on the streets after leaving the venue, according to witnesses and club management. The headlining band at the Khyber that night was Murphy's Law, led by front man Jimmy G, who formerly went by the moniker Jimmy Gestapo. In an e-mail to the Daily News, Jimmy G confirmed that some guys had showed up to the concert in "full Nazi field dress." "And they did get their asses kicked," he wrote. "Again." Khyber owner Stephen Simons, who was not at the show, said he had been told that the crowd inside "largely ignored and mocked" the three men. But after they exited the club, on 2nd Street near Chestnut, they were attacked by a group of up to 50 people, he said...Link
Monday, April 26, 2010
Economists: The stimulus didn't help.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The recovery is picking up steam as employers boost payrolls, but economists think the government's stimulus package and jobs bill had little to do with the rebound, according to a survey released Monday. In latest quarterly survey by the National Association for Business Economics, the index that measures employment showed job growth for the first time in two years -- but a majority of respondents felt the fiscal stimulus had no impact...Link
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Friday, April 23, 2010
Thursday, April 22, 2010
4/20 poll.
As with many instances in politics, actuality can often be obscured behind the wrong frame: ask a question just the right way and results can be wildly tilted, one way or another. Take the case of an Associated Press/CNBC poll released on April 20, 2010, detailing Americans' opinions on legalizing marijuana. The poll was widely reported as declaring that 55 percent in the U.S. are opposed to ending prohibition. Make no mistake, "oppose" is exactly what 55 percent of the people said when asked: "Do you favor, oppose or neither favor nor oppose the complete legalization of the use of marijuana for any purpose?"..Link
Spending is their Favorite.
Both the national Democratic and Republican party committees spend about two-thirds of the money they take in on the care and comfort of committee staffs and on efforts to raise more funds, with lavish spending on limousines, expensive hotels, meals and tips, an analysis of the latest financial disclosure data shows. Monthly committee spending reports, like those that were due by midnight Tuesday, illustrate cultures in which vast sums are consumed with limited accountability, a Washington Post review has found. Neither committee appears to have clear internal spending guidelines, and their reports do not explain hefty expenditures in categories such as "office supplies" and "tips" that consume tax-exempt party funds...Link
Value-added tax may be an option.
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama suggested Wednesday that a new value-added tax on Americans is still on the table, seeming to show more openness to the idea than his aides have expressed in recent days. Before deciding what revenue options are best for dealing with the deficit and the economy, Obama said in an interview with CNBC, "I want to get a better picture of what our options are." After Obama adviser Paul Volcker recently raised the prospect of a value-added tax, or VAT, the Senate voted 85-13 last week for a nonbinding "sense of the Senate" resolution that calls the such a tax "a massive tax increase that will cripple families on fixed income and only further push back America's economic recovery."..Link
Banks Should Pay for Future Bailouts.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The International Monetary Fund is recommending that banks and other financial institutions pay fees to cover the cost of any future government bailouts.
The proposals were requested by the "Group of 20" countries with the largest economies and will be discussed at a meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors in Washington this week...Link
The proposals were requested by the "Group of 20" countries with the largest economies and will be discussed at a meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors in Washington this week...Link
Wednesday, April 21, 2010
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
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| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
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Tuesday, April 20, 2010
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
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Rudy Giuliani, Ron Paul Spar.
Rudy Giuliani and Ron Paul are clashing over 9/11 again, this time in Kentucky. Today, Giuliani endorsed the primary opponent of Ron Paul's son, Rand Paul, in the high-profile Kentucky Republican Senate primary. In endorsing Secretary of State Trey Grayson, Giuliani fired some shots at Rand, perhaps stirred by a 2007 confrontation with his father over the 9/11 attacks. Ron Paul, in turn, has fired back. In a long statement released by Grayson's campaign this morning, Giuliani praised Grayson as "not part of the 'blame America first' crowd"--a reference to Ron Paul's sentiment that al Qaeda perpetrated the 9/11 attacks because of America's interventionist foreign policy. Giuliani took offense to Paul's statements about 9/11 during a 2007debate...Link
Monday, April 19, 2010
Sarah Palin vs. Ron Paul.
Tea party activists are divided roughly into two camps, according to a new POLITICO/TargetPoint poll: one that’s libertarian-minded and largely indifferent to hot-button values issues and another that’s culturally conservative and equally concerned about social and fiscal issues. The survey, an exit poll conducted Thursday by Edison Research at the massive Tax Day protest on the National Mall, found that the attendees were largely hostile to President Barack Obama and the national Democratic Party — three-quarters believe the president “is pursuing a socialist agenda.”..Link
Run Ron, Run!
Normally, a septuagenarian obstetrician with a penchant for lengthy disquisitions on monetary policy would not seem a promising presidential candidate. And in 2008, Ron Paul raised millions of dollars and galvanized thousands of passionate supporters but failed to win a single Republican primary or caucus. The evidence is nevertheless mounting that the quirky libertarian-leaning congressman from Texas should make another go at it in 2012. Paul came within one vote of besting former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference (SRLC) straw poll. This strong showing came despite reports from the Daily Caller that Paul backers experienced difficulties registering for the conference or voting in its nonbinding poll...Link
Reckoning With Ron Paul.
No sooner did Congressman Ron Paul emerge in one of latest opinion polls as neck-and-neck with President Obama in 2012 than he came in for a new round of critical postings on the internet. One of them is quoted by Powerline’s John Hinderaker, who writes that he detects something “off” about the physician, who is a Republican from Texas. Mr. Hinderaker quotes an email from one of his readers who had heard Dr. Paul speak at a Tea Party event and concluded that he “ is a nut, out of touch with reality seemingly.”..Link
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Fresh crisis without new financial rules....
WASHINGTON – The U.S. is destined to endure a new economic crisis that sticks taxpayers with the bill unless Congress tightens oversight of the financial industry, President Barack Obama said Saturday. The overhaul is the next major piece of legislation that Obama wants to sign into law this year, but solid GOP opposition in the Senate is jeopardizing that goal. "Every day we don't act, the same system that led to bailouts remains in place, with the exact same loopholes and the exact same liabilities," Obama said in his weekly radio and Internet address. "And if we don't change what led to the crisis, we'll doom ourselves to repeat it...Link
Friday, April 16, 2010
Judge: Bush wire-tapping illegal.
In a repudiation of the Bush administration's now-defunct terrorist surveillance effort, a federal judge ruled Wednesday that government investigators illegally wiretapped the phone conversations of an Islamic charity and two American lawyers without a search warrant. U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker said the plaintiffs provided enough evidence to show "they were subjected to warrantless electronic surveillance" by the National Security Agency. The judge's 45-page ruling focused narrowly on the case involving the Al-Haramain Islamic Foundation, touching vaguely on the larger question of the program's legality...Link
Thursday, April 15, 2010
"We Can Do Better With Peace Than With War".
This will not win me any hoorays from Republican conservatives, but the best thing for the party would be to distance itself from Palin as quickly and as much as possible. Palin may not be viewed as a divisive force within the GOP, but the GOP badly needs independents and Reagan Democrats to win. In that group, Palin most assuredly is a divisive force. Palin is hugely responsible for the solid trashing McCain received in the last election. She is a hopeless speaker, completely devoid of any knowledge of foreign policy...Link
Oklahoma Legislators Support Militias.
Today, as we approach the 15th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing by militia movement sympathizers and anti-government terrorists Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, an attack that killed 168 Americans, including 19 children under the age of 6, Oklahoma Tea Party leaders and state legislators are calling for a private volunteer militia to defend the state against the federal government...Link
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
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Wednesday, April 14, 2010
What about printing the money.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) --
The debate over how to reduce U.S. debt levels has generated a lot of partisan huffing and puffing in Congress, but no meaningful action. Enter President Obama's bipartisan fiscal commission, which will hold its first meeting in a few weeks.The panel's goal is not to erase the deficit -- that would be far too difficult at this point. Rather, the commission will recommend policies that can slow the growth rate of debt to a "sustainable" level. Among other things, that means making sure annual deficits don't grow faster than the economy. The commission's first task is to figure out what lawmakers can do to bring the annual deficit as a percent of gross domestic product (GDP) down to 3% starting in 2015...Link
The debate over how to reduce U.S. debt levels has generated a lot of partisan huffing and puffing in Congress, but no meaningful action. Enter President Obama's bipartisan fiscal commission, which will hold its first meeting in a few weeks.The panel's goal is not to erase the deficit -- that would be far too difficult at this point. Rather, the commission will recommend policies that can slow the growth rate of debt to a "sustainable" level. Among other things, that means making sure annual deficits don't grow faster than the economy. The commission's first task is to figure out what lawmakers can do to bring the annual deficit as a percent of gross domestic product (GDP) down to 3% starting in 2015...Link
End the Mandate Act...............
Madam Speaker, today I am introducing the End the Mandate Act. This legislation repeals the sections of the recently-passed health reform bill that force all Americans to purchase federally-approved health insurance plans. Forcing every American to obtain health insurance is a blatant violation of the Constitution. Defenders of this provision claim the Congress’s constitutional authority to regulate “interstate commerce” gives Congress the power to mandate every American obtain a federally-approved health insurance plan. However, as Judge Andrew Napolitano and other distinguished legal scholars and commentators have pointed out, even the broadest definition of “regulating interstate commerce” cannot reasonably encompass forcing Americans to engage in commerce by purchasing health insurance...Link
Barack Obama 42%, Ron Paul 41%.
Pit maverick Republican Congressman Ron Paul against President Obama in a hypothetical 2012 election match-up, and the race is – virtually dead even.A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of likely voters finds Obama with 42% support and Paul with 41% of the vote. Eleven percent (11%) prefer some other candidate, and six percent (6%) are undecided. Ask the Political Class, though, and it’s a blowout. While 58% of Mainstream voters favor Paul, 95% of the Political Class vote for Obama. But Republican voters also have decidedly mixed feelings about Paul, who has been an outspoken critic of the party establishment...Link
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Monday, April 12, 2010
Sunday, April 11, 2010
Conservatives ‘like the empire’........
Texas Rep. Ron Paul proved once again Saturday that his politics continue to divide the Republican Party. He was met with both disapproval and applause during the Southern Republican Leadership Conference for describing conservatives as hypocritical when they call for a return to Constitutional values while supporting foreign wars. The conservatives and the liberals, they both like to spend. Conservatives spend money on different things. They like embassies, and they like occupation. They like the empire. They like to be in 135 countries and 700 bases. Don’t you think it’s rather conservative to say, ‘Oh it’s good to follow the Constitution. Oh, except for war. Let the President go to war anytime they want.’ We can do better with peace than with war...Link
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Polish leader, 96 others dead.
SMOLENSK, Russia – An aging Russian airliner carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski and members of his country's military, political and church elites crashed in thick fog Saturday as it took them to a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the slaughter of thousands of Polish military officers by Soviet secret police. Poles wept before their televisions, lowered flags to half-staff and taped black ribbons in their windows after hearing that the upper echelons of the establishment lay dead in woods a short drive from the site of the Katyn forest massacre, one of Poland's greatest national traumas...Link
Friday, April 9, 2010
On the rise in Senate race.
Peter Schiff has a stock tip for you -- bet on me. Despite running a distant third to Linda McMahon and Rob Simmons in the most recent Republican Senate poll, the brash-talking Ron Paul consigliere and money manager from Weston said he expects to cut into that lead now that his campaign espousing smaller government and lower taxes is on television. "I would put a million bucks on me 20 to 1," Schiff said. "Scott Brown was a longshot. Who thought he was going to win?" Schiff, 47, addressed his prospects of going from widely perceived also-ran to viable darkhorse during a recent sit-down with Greenwich Time, in which he articulated his views on the economic meltdown that he said he predicted and his fixes for health care, Social Security and the federal tax code.Link
Thursday, April 8, 2010
GOP gathering a 'jump-start'.............
New Orleans, Louisiana (CNN) -- Nearly 4,000 GOP insiders are descending Thursday on New Orleans for the start of the Southern Republican Leadership Conference, thought by many to be the unofficial kickoff to the 2012 presidential cycle. Along with speeches from party leaders, the conference's agenda includes strategy sessions and even a GOP-themed film festival -- not to mention behind-the-scenes networking and a sampling of the city's abundant food and drink. The conference is taking place just steps from Bourbon Street. The Republican National Committee and Republican Governors Association, eager to fill their coffers in a midterm election year, also are holding fundraisers to piggyback off the gathering, which takes place every four years...Link
Obama authorizes assassination of U.S. citizen.
In late January, I wrote about the Obama administration's "presidential assassination program," whereby American citizens are targeted for killings far away from any battlefield, based exclusively on unchecked accusations by the Executive Branch that they're involved in Terrorism. At the time, The Washington Post's Dana Priest had noted deep in a long article that Obama had continued Bush's policy (which Bush never actually implemented) of having the Joint Chiefs of Staff compile "hit lists" of Americans, and Priest suggested that the American-born Islamic cleric Anwar al-Awlaki was on that list. The following week, Obama's Director of National Intelligence, Adm. Dennis Blair, acknowledged in Congressional testimony that the administration reserves the "right" to carry out such assassinations...Link
Wednesday, April 7, 2010
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
America the Pacified.
If the U.S. public looked long and hard into a mirror reflecting the civilian atrocities that have occurred in Afghanistan, over the past ten months, we would see ourselves as people who have collaborated with and paid for war crimes committed against innocent civilians who meant us no harm. Two reporters, Jerome Starkey (the Times UK), and David Lindorff, (CounterPunch), have persistently drawn attention to U.S. war crimes committed in Afghanistan. Makers of the film “Rethinking Afghanistan” have steadily provided updates about the suffering endured by Afghan civilians. Here is a short list of atrocities that have occurred in the months since General McChrystal assumed his post in Afghanistan...Link
Monday, April 5, 2010
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