Politics

Looks like she is ready to take on Obama. What do you think? Has she got what it takes to get the Republican nomination? http://edition.cnn.com/2011/POLITICS/06/27/bachmann.2012/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

THIS posting is purely meant for entertainment purposes only... In news today, the U.S. government has revealed that they no longer know what the Hell they are doing to the country. Says one anonymous source, "Well I think we had some good ideas..about 200 years ago. Now we're just trying to run the damned nation as far into the ground as we can...somebody else can fix it." This backs up a national survey that asked U.S. citizens, "Do you think the government knows what they are doing?" to which the majority voted for, "I have no friggin' idea but HEY..it sure makes life interesting!" One former President stated, "Yep..I had lots of plans for the country. Wrote them all …

Baby Netanyahoo is visiting the US. Why? He has no interest in a peace settlement, in fact, the only settlements he wants are in area that belong to the Palestinians. Why does he bother to make the trip?

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, declaring that “near-equality is no equality” for gay couples, delivered an uncharacteristically forceful and sweeping speech on Thursday in which he called on New York to “lead the American journey forward” by legalizing same-sex marriage this year. Directly addressing an issue that is roiling the State Legislature in the final weeks of its annual session, Mr. Bloomberg said that the state’s inaction on same-sex marriage was incompatible with its long history of promoting freedom and tolerance. He invoked the riot at the Stonewall Inn in the West Village almost 42 years ago, widely viewed as the birthplace of the modern gay rights movement, …

House Refuses To Vote On Abortion Coverage For Military Rape Victims Laura Basset mailto:lbassett@huffingtonpost.com The House Committee on Rules blocked an amendment from going to vote on Wednesday that would have allowed military rape victims to access abortion care through their government-provided health plans. Earlier this week, Rep. Susan Davis (D-Calif.) and five other House Democrats submitted an amendment to the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act that would reverse the current policy of denying abortion coverage to military women who are raped and become pregnant during their service. As the bill currently stands, servicewomen have to pay out of pocket …

A Reagan Republican Makes A Case Against The War -- And His Own Party Dan Froomkin HuffPost Reporting froomkin@huffingtonpost.com When Paul Craig Roberts watches the U.S. reaction to what's been happening in the Middle East, he is haunted by America's own recent history in the region. "Here we are, we're all concerned about humanitarian concerns in Libya, after we've wrecked two countries ourselves?" Roberts asked in a telephone interview. Roberts, 70, is one of the original Reagan Republicans. From his perch at the Treasury Department, he was a chief architect of Reaganomics. He edited and wrote for the Wall Street Journal editorial page and was a fellow at the …

Hi, just sticking this up here because I found, more than anything, the thing that fascinates me about this whole event is thinking about the political reactions, and the ramifications to the political landscape going forward. Just wanted to know if anyone wanted to kick around some ideas/predictions/whatever. For example, I found it amusing - and when I say amusing, I mean blood-boiling - to read Boehner's and Cantor's comments side by side - here are quotes from both: Boehner: "I also want to commend President Obama and his team, as well as President Bush, for all of their efforts to bring Osama bin Laden to justice." Cantor: "I commend President Obama who has fol…

Congressman John Boehner, Speaker of the House of Representatives, is known to have been raised as a devout Catholic. But now, Catholic professors have united to inform him that his policies violate basic teachings of the Catholic Church. Boehner is to give the commencement address at Catholic University of America, but the professors there are the ones who lead the letter-writing effort. Attendees at the event hope that they will see the famous Boehner tears as the Congressman, notorious for crying in public, will feel shamed by his own church.

Turns out Obama really needs the gays this time around. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0511/54539.html#ixzz1LsN7n4tB

The LA Times is one of the few major newspapers that give big play to soldiers killed in action in one of the many wars this country wages. We know that it's a mix of people who serve, of all races, men and women, fat people, ugly people, cute people, tall, short, thin... ...and very cute. Why is it that the obituary with the picture of the cute guy is the one I notice? Today they wrote of a 19 year old Asian Marine, cute as a button, killed after only 2 months in Afghanistan. And for why? Why do we hurl so many of our young into the face of death, give them post traumatic stress if we allow them to live, and fail to provide them with the best equipment and medical care…

I love that the only two people anyone has ever heard of who showed up for the first Republican Presidential debate were Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and Rick Santorum. Please keep throwing up completely unelectable candidates! It's like the GOP of today has transformed itself into the Democratic party of the 80s.

One month before being arrested himself, Roman Catholic Bishop Raymond Lahey negotiated a settlement with the victims of priestly abuse in his diocese to the tune of $15 million. Apparently he then went on vacation. Upon his return, Canadian customs officials examined his laptop and found 588 graphic images of children, 33 videos, and the texts of stories featuring the enslavement of children. Some of the boys in the photographs were only 8 years old. He faces 1 to 10 years in prison. He now is in his second day in prison. So far he has not beaten or raped. One wonders what caused the authorities to open his laptop. Are bishops now all suspects? The Reverend Bishop …

With all of the talk lately about smartphones and privacy violations, a novel I am reading told me about the term of Prime Minister Harold Wilson, who once told George H.W. Bush that he thought M15 was spying on him through portraits in his offices. Apparently, there was a lot to it. What with James Bond and Judi Dench, we might think of British spy services as benign, but they weren't. A sample from Wikipedia.com on Harold Wilson: n 1963, Soviet defector Anatoliy Golitsyn is said to have secretly claimed that Wilson was a KGB agent.[90] The majority of intelligence officers did not believe that Golitsyn was credible in this and various other claims, but a significant nu…

I give him an A+. It as good as I could hope for. It reflects most of my views about priorities and the necessary urgency of action to lay out a plan. That is change I can get behind. I especially appreciate the vision he painted for our country, past present and future, how the parties came together in the past to solve similar problems and how we came to our present circumstances and need for action. Now for the negotiations and resisting the urge to give it away.

Whether or not you agree we should be bombing Libya, I think we can all agree that the Germans pulling out of NATO and refusing to take part is complete bullshit - particularly since while doing so they are describing themselves as a "pacifist" nation. If it wasn't for NATO - including the British, The French, The Italians, The Spanish and the Portuguese, the Soviets would have fucking taken their entire country instead of half of it. This is the thanks NATO gets for more than 50 years of defending these people.

Debt Ceiling Fight: Democrats See Republicans In 'Blazing Saddles' Strategy Michael McAuliff mike.mcauliff@huffingtonpost.com WASHINGTON -- Are Republicans following a Blazing Saddles strategy in the looming standoff over the nations debt limit? Imagine the scene in the Mel Brooks classic, where Cleavon Little points a gun at his own head and threatens to shoot if the armed townspeople dont drop their weapons. Listen to him, men. He's just crazy enough to do it! one says. Thats how some Democrats view GOP demands for really, really big concessions on spending and deficits in return for raising Americas debt ceiling. They think Republicans are essentially threate…

Jon Kyl Is Sorry If He Gave Anyone The Impression That The Things He Says In Public Are Factual Jason Linkins jason@huffingtonpost.com As you may recall, during today's lengthy Pap Smear Armageddon/Government Shutdown 2011 pageant play, Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) stood on the floor of the upper chamber, telling the C-Span cameras and gathered attendees that abortion was "well over 90 percent of what Planned Parenthood does." That prompted many people to remark, "Uhm, actually, you have got those statistics just about as wrong as you possibly could." But now, Kyl's office has walked back the statement, in perhaps the most hilarious and cowardly way pos…

Inside The Budget Deal: Vulnerable Populations Targeted, But Family Planning Saved First Posted: 04/12/11 01:06 PM ET Updated: 04/12/11 02:17 PM ET WASHINGTON –- Congressional leaders unveiled their final budget deal early Tuesday, a $1.049 trillion spending plan that axes billions of dollars for some of the most vulnerable populations while preserving a handful of priorities for both parties. The budget, which will keep the government funded through the end of September, includes an across-the-board cut of 0.25 percent to every domestic agency. Key highlights include: •$600 million in cuts to community health centers. •$414 million in cuts to grants for state an…

Will President Obama and the House GOP ever agree? Science suggests no By Holly Bailey Mon Apr 11, 11:41 am ET President Obama and House Republicans may have narrowly averted a government shutdown last weekend, but as the two sides prepare to engage in another round of intra-party feuding over budget proposals, a new study suggests that basic brain science might stand in the way of bipartisanship. Using data from MRI scans, researchers at the University College London found that self-described liberals have a larger anterior cingulate cortex--a gray matter of the brain associated with understanding complexity. Meanwhile, self-described conservatives are more l…

I watched the hearing the House Republicans staged today on CSPAN. They were trying, as near as I can tell, to capitalize politically on the repeal of DADT. If so, things didn't go as scripted. There was a good bit of blatantly political grandstanding from the Republican committee members, but the Chiefs themselves pooh poohed any suggestion that the military was encountering any real problems. The Chiefs testified quite firmly that preparations were going remarkably smoothly, with little difficulty or push back from the officer corp or the enlisted ranks. "A GOP hearing aimed at stalling efforts to let gays serve openly in the military backfired Thursday when Pentagon…

Lead Limits In Toys Not Necessary For 8-Year-Olds, Debates House See article at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/04/07/lead-limits-in-toys-not-n_n_846104.html

Asked in another thread but moved here for more appropriate forum placement. Just a guess... but not an uneducated one, I think. No GM or Chrysler. No second half installment of TARP, Wall St bailout, maybe? If so then several big banks MIA along with AIG. No American Recovery and Reinvestment Act with much higher unemployment, probably Depression levels. Country still in recesstion, more likely Depression, probably world-wide. Still record high deficits with more tax giveaways and even lower tax revenues with the increased unemployment, more unpaid-for wars to fight. Right wing social agenda on the rise in goverment policy, regs and laws. More war... probabl…

The words weren't said in the confines of a clubby male locker room, nor were they embodied in a thread on a message board appealing to gay men who hire escorts. Rather, they were said in a very public forum, and involved the head of New Hampshire's Republican legislature and a very important Catholic bishop: A top Republican in New Hampshire on Friday called Bishop John B. McCormack of Manchester a “pedophile pimp” on his Facebook page. The Republican, State Representative D. J. Bettencourt, the House majority leader, was responding to criticism from Bishop McCormack that state budget cuts would hurt the most vulnerable members of society. “Would the bishop like to d…

Former House speaker and possible presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich said he is going to work on slowing down the progress of gay rights, if he is elected president. "I think my emphasis would be pro-classical Christianity," Gingrich said in a video interview with Bryan Fischer of the antigay American Family Association after addressing the Rediscover God in America conference, held over the weekend in Iowa. He cited the end of adoption services in Massachusetts and Washington, D.C., by Catholic-based organizations because their policies limiting the rights of gay and lesbian adoptive parents violated laws put in place after the legalization of marriage equality in both …

Why I didn't sign deficit letter By JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ | 3/28/11 5:24 AM EDT I was asked to sign the letter from a bipartisan group of former chairmen and chairwomen of the Council of Economic Advisers that stresses the importance of deficit reduction and urges the use of the Bowles Simpson Deficit Commissions recommendations as the basis for compromise. The letters signatories believed that their support would show that there was a core to scientific economics that crosses ideological boundaries. While I agree there is a core set of principles to which all card-carrying economists would (or should) subscribe resources are limited, incentives matter I did not sign. …