Following President Barack Obama's public announcement backing gay marriage last week, Newsweek magazine has featured him on its front cover with the headline, "The First Gay President."

With Obama's face pictured looking skyward and a rainbow-colored halo above his head, the controversial cover leads to a story written by gay writer Andrew Sullivan -- a self-described political conservative -- who analyzes the president's backing of gay marriage.

Obama said Wednesday he supported gay marriage, reversing his position on a controversial social issue just six months before the November election and adopting a stance fraught with uncertain political implications.

The president said that after years of lengthy discussions with friends and family, including his wife and two young daughters, he now "personally" believes gays and lesbians should have the right to marry. Read more:

Mitt Romney has just clinched the Republican nomination, and according to GOP strategist Karl Rove, he has a lot of catching up to do. In fact, according to Rove, if the election were held today, Obama could destroy Romney by as many as 100 electoral votes:

Rove’s map shows that for Romney, even in the event that he wins all of the as-yet undecided 82 electoral votes, he would still have to flip a state that leans toward Obama in order to win – the most likely prospects being Pennsylvania, Ohio or Michigan.

Fortunately for Romney, he has at least one home court advantages in all of those states – all of them have Republican Governors. Unfortunately for Romney, Obama also has a home court advantages in those states. Read more;

The American public has significant disdain for political advertising, especially those citizens living in battleground states where television and radio airwaves are flooded with campaign ads in the months leading to Election Day.  This election season, in addition to advertising sponsored by candidates, political parties, and issue groups, the American public is likely to witness a new form of political ads: corporate political advertising.  While corporations view their right to sponsor political ads as a victory for the First Amendment, political observers caution that such ads could drown out citizen voices in our political process.

In a controversial 5-4 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year removed a century-old ban against direct corporate spending on political campaigns.  The Courtoverturned the long-standing ban through its ruling in the case of Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission(FEC).  Citizens United v. FEC stems from the 2008 Democratic presidential primary campaign in which Citizens United wanted to air Hillary: The Movie, a 90-minute, feature-length documentary film critical of then-Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY).  The FEC disallowed Citizens United from airing the film on the grounds that it violated existing campaign finance laws by expressly advocating for Clinton’s defeat. 

Under prior campaign finance laws established in Buckley v. Valeo (1976), the Supreme Court distinguished between “express advocacy” and “issue advocacy.” Read more;

The first step in controlling a population and installing a communist/socialist society is controlling the media and information available to the public.  If you watch closely, it's plain to see that Republicans want this bill passed badly so they can begin their fascist rule in America.  While Democrats are withdrawing their support, Republicans like Harry Reid and Patrick Leahy continue to try and push it through against the will of the people.  Yet one more example of why Republicans can't be trusted!  Republicans have no interest in what the people want as they serve lobbyists and outside interests first.  That's where their money comes from, so Republicans like Harry Reid and Patrick Leahy need to be stopped and removed from office.  As long as Republicans like Reid and Leahy push against the will of the people, the people must push back.  Certainly if these Republicans can find a sneaky way to push this through behind closed doors again, the current Republican White House will sign it into law and we will be sunk!  This bill certainly explains why the Republican White House is able to throw all of these weekly and bi-weekly star studded parties!  Republicans owe Hollywood and are more concerned with their interests than the interest of the people that elected them!

Yes, I realize that President Obama was opposed to the war in Iraq and I am aware that he did everything he could to undermine the mission there, but I believe the President deserves some credit for seeing the error of his ways once he got into office.  I applaud him for staying the course and allowing the plans that Bush had put in place to unfold. 

So for all the Obama haters out there, can't you just admit...this once, that the President was right in leaving the Iraqi plans that were in place after he took office?  Just this once, can you at least give the President credit for continuing the Bush Administration policies and outline for withdrawal.  Can't you admit that perhaps he didn't have all the facts when he opposed the war and was trying to undermine our efforts in Iraq?  Don't you understand that he had to whip up people into an emotional frenzy before, because the base of his party demanded it? Can you imagine how much worse things could have been if he had followed through with all the rhetoric from his campaign? 

My hat is off to you Mr. President.  For having the courage to stay the course and continuing the plan to end the war and withdraw our troops that the former President left in place for you.  Job well done!

Rep. Barney Frank, the first openly gay serving member of Congress and a powerful Democrat whose name is attached to the sweeping Wall Street reform bill, will announce today he doesn’t plan to seek reelection.

Frank became the first openly gay member of Congress six years after he first took office, coming out in 1987 and breaking an important barrier in American politics.

He survived scandal to become one of the most powerful Democrats on Capitol Hill during 30 years in office. The Massachusetts congressman chaired the House Financial Services Committee when Democrats were in the majority from early 2007 until early 2011, becoming the main House Democrat overseeing the financial industry during one of the most turbulent economic eras of U.S. history. Read more;

One year out from the 2012 elections, House Democrats say that a combination of recruiting successes, positive movement in generic ballot polling and redistricting puts the party on the path to regaining the majority.

At a briefing with reporters Friday, Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman Steve Israel (N.Y.) said  that after last year’s crushing midterm defeat, the party is winning back independents and seniors because of policies supported by the GOP majority.

This week Jon Stewart said if presidential candidate Mitt Romney was a color, he’d be “beige.” 

But that may change — and not likely to the color green.

According to CBS News, the former Massachusetts governor’s recent reputation for changing positions continues with a move farther to the right on the issue of climate change and human impact.   

As recently as June, Romney acknowledged a human impact on climate change, and even advocated for reducing emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases. But by August, candidate Romney was saying that he didn’t know whether or how much humans were contributing to global warming. And at fundraiser in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Thursday, Romney reportedly put forth a still different view. Read more;

In his weekly column for the Wall Street Journal, Karl Rove has written about how Obama is jeopardizing his chances for re-election by appearing too liberal or too populist...

American Crossroads, the big money GOP group founded by Karl Rove, is warning Republicans that President Obama's new campaign to raise taxes on millionaires is a political winner.

More Seeds :: JCAtom

Occupy Wall Street protestor:

I never saw the Tea party as a negative phenomenon.

And then he goes on to explain why he feels that way. (Also some interesting thoughts on participatory democracy-- and how to effect change).

Congress would never agree to Republican presidential front runner Herman Cain’s 9-9-9 tax plan. Cain’s bold tax plan would put Congress out of its tax-wheeling-and-dealing business, as pork-barrel-tax politics are their stock-in-trade.

 

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Rick Perry loves to talk about all the jobs he's created in Texas... but that's only part of the story... and a bit misleading at that.

The other part of the Perry story is that nearly 1 in 5 Texans in the state where he is the governor are living below the poverty line; and that the poverty rate is growing faster in Texas than the national average.

CNN Money reports that Texas ranks 6th in terms of people living in poverty.

Both demographic and economic factors play into this high poverty rate - more than half the state are minorities and many Texans have little education. Especially in southern Texas, many families live in shanty housing with no electricity or indoor plumbing. In 2011.

Also, the poor in Texas don't get much help. The state has one of the lowest rates of spending on its citizens per capita; and it has the highest share of those without health insurance. Read more:

Jon Stewart is amazing-- as always!

The proposal would replace the range of tax deductions for wealthy people, oil companies and other businesses that the president had proposed to end to offset the cost of the job-creation initiatives in his plan.

Democratic leaders said they hoped to bring the revised plan to the Senate floor next week for debate. But assuming they keep all of their votes, they would need at least seven Republicans to vote in favor of any effort just to start debate on the legislation.

 

More Seeds :: JCAtom

FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:

Just what President Obama needs, another fire threatening to burn out of control.

The Democrats' loss in New York's special congressional election this week could signal serious trouble for Obama and the Jewish vote in 2012.

District 9, made up of parts of Brooklyn and Queens, is one of the most Jewish in the nation. And many believe that if the Democrats lost there, Obama could be in jeopardy in key states like Florida, Ohio and Pennsylvania. It's nearly impossible to win a presidential election without those states.

The problem is, a lot of American Jews feel neglected by this president and think he has been too tough on Israel.

In the New York race, former Mayor Ed Koch – a Jewish Democrat – endorsed the Republican. Koch cited Israel as the main reason why. He says he likes the president and helped get him elected, "but Obama threw Israel under the bus."

And it's not just Obama's policy toward Israel. A recent poll shows that other issues that trouble many voters – like the economy, Social Security and Medicare – are more important than Israel among Jewish voters.

Republicans smell blood in the water here and will no doubt make Israel a wedge issue in 2012.

In 1980, Jimmy Carter was the last Democratic candidate to not get an overwhelming majority of the Jewish vote. All Obama needs is another comparison to Carter.

Obama's approval rating is about 60% among Jews nationally. In 2008, exit polls showed nearly 80% of Jews voted for him.

This makes Jews just one more group to start deserting Obama. He's also lost support among other key voting blocs like blacks, women and independents.

Here’s my question to you: How can President Obama save the Jewish vote?

FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:

The Republican presidential debates are turning into lively affairs. Maybe too lively.

For the third time in as many debates, crowd members have either booed or cheered at what some say are inappropriate moments.

Most recently, former Sen. Rick Santorum was asked about the repeal of "don't ask, don't tell."

When an openly gay service member asked what the candidates' intentions were for gays in the military, members of the crowd booed loudly.

After the fact, Santorum said he condemned those who booed the gay soldier. He said he didn't hear the boos in the debate hall.

In another debate, Rick Perry was asked about the death penalty and the more than 200 executions that have happened under his watch as Texas governor. The crowd cheered that question.

Another GOP debate crowd got worked up when Ron Paul was asked a hypothetical question about a 30-year-old uninsured man. The crowd cheered when Paul was asked if that man should be allowed to die.

President Barack Obama has criticized the reaction of some of these audience members at the GOP debates; and Vice President Joe Biden calls the booing of the gay soldier “reprehensible.”

Politico asks in an online conversation if the GOP debate crowds are bloodthirsty.

Critics say these debates promote extremism within the Republican Party, and show “the mean season is upon us.”

They fault the candidates themselves for not stamping out the behavior when it happens. They should. Also, some suggest the booing or cheering could turn off moderate and swing voters in the general election. It should.

Here’s my question to you: Are Republican debate crowds bloodthirsty? 

See Caffertys' Blog;

FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has shut the door on a 2012 presidential run, saying "now is not my time."

Christie says he won't abandon the commitment he made to his state as governor – you know, unlike a certain half-term dropout governor of Alaska.

Christie put it this way: "New Jersey, whether you like it or not, you're stuck with me."

This also means that whether Republican voters like it or not, they are stuck with the current crop of Republican candidates.

Unless, that is, Sarah Palin decides she'll get in. But it's getting a little late for that. Plus, more than two-thirds of Republicans say they don't want Palin to run for president.

So with Christie out, it looks like Republicans will nominate either Mitt Romney or Rick Perry, who's sinking fast in the polls.

A new Washington Post/ABC News poll shows Romney leading the pack at 25%.

Perry is now tied for second place with businessman Herman Cain at 16%.

For Perry, that's a whopping 13 percentage-point drop in this poll.

The Texas governor's stock has been falling after a shaky debate performance and questions about where he stands on Social Security and immigration.

Cain, on the other hand, has been surging in national polls after his surprise win in the Florida straw poll – and a flurry of media attention.

Ron Paul is the only other candidate receiving double-digit support in this survey, at 11%.

With primary season sneaking up on us, it's time for Republicans to pick their poison. Go to Caffertys' Blog

Since Republicans won control of many statehouses last November, more than a dozen states have passed laws requiring voters to show photo identification at polls, cutting back early voting periods or imposing new restrictions on voter registration drives.

With a presidential campaign swinging into high gear, the question being asked is how much of an impact all of these new laws will have on the 2012 race.

State officials, political parties and voting experts have all said that the impact could be sizable. Now, a new study to be released Monday by the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law has tried to tally just how many voters stand to be affected.

The center, which has studied the new laws and opposed some of them in court and other venues, analyzed 19 laws that passed and 2 executive orders that were issued in 14 states this year, and concluded that they “could make it significantly harder for more than five million eligible voters to cast ballots in 2012.” Read more;

Businessman Herman Cain on Sunday called it "insulting" that the family of Rick Perry owned a hunting camp with a racially charged name well into the 1980s and possibly even later.

According to a Washington Post article that appeared Sunday, the hunting camp owned by the Texas governor was branded with the name "N-----head." The word -- reportedly on a rock at the entrance of the 1,070-acre parcel -- has been painted over and the camp renamed.

Perry has said it was changed in 1983 or 1984, but others suggest it may not have been covered until later -- with one person estimating for the Post that it was as late as 2008. Read more: 

The one African-American running for the GOP presidential nomination said Wednesday the black community was 'brainwashed' for traditionally siding with liberal politicians.

"African-Americans have been brainwashed into not being open minded, not even considering a conservative point of view," Godfather's Pizza executive Herman Cain said on CNN's "The Situation Room" in an interview airing Wednesday between 5-7 p.m. ET. "I have received some of that same vitriol simply because I am running for the Republican nomination as a conservative. So it's just brainwashing and people not being open minded, pure and simple."

(Oh Really? I'll bet that's going to over big with the Black voters.)

More shocking than Cain's victory (and Perry's defeat) in the Florida Straw Poll, was the utter collapse of Rep. Michele Bachmann. 

Somehow, in a state chock full of tea party groups, Bachmann finished dead last, with 1.5 percent of the vote. Once a frontrunner in early GOP presidential polls, Bachmann has sunk so far, so fast that even moderate Jon Huntsman, the former governor of Utah, and former House speaker Newt Gingrich, whose campaign imploded months ago, placed higher than her. It's all unraveling for Michele. 

Bachmann advisor and veteran GOP strategist Ed Rollins, said Bachmann's chances of claiming the nomination are slim. Rollins said Bachmann lacks the "resources or ability at this point in time" to challenge for the nomination after Iowa. Her last-place finish in Florida raises questions about whether even winning Iowa is realistic for Bachmann, especially given Rick Perry's support among the social conservatives who dominate the GOP in the Hawkeye State.

The U.S. House of Representatives unexpectedly defeated a bill that would fund the federal government past September 30 on Wednesday as dozens of Republicans broke with their party to push for deeper spending cuts. 

More Seeds :: JCAtom

As of September 2010, the Affordable Care Act allowed young adults up to the age of 26 to remain on their parents' health insurance plans. Previously, adult children could stay on their parents' plans only if they remained in college or lived in a state with laws similar to the Affordable Care Act. HHS estimated that 650,000 people would sign up for the new coverage.

However, through the end of March, the number of young adults ages 19 to 25 with health insurance rose by about 900,000.

More Seeds :: JCAtom

A decade after 9/11, American politics continues to be polarised by some rather unexpected figures. The latest Republican fire-thrower is a Christian conservative from Bandra, finds Shougat Dasgupta -->

IT IS easy to make a convincing case that Dinesh D’Souza, the prominent conservative commentator and Christian apologist, is a loon. Many already have. His recent book, The Roots of Obama’s Rage, is brandished by the prosecution as more, perhaps even clinching, evidence. The book’s case was made in miniature in an article in Forbes, remarkable for its half-baked thesis that Obama is a ’50s-60s style anti-imperialist. Like any student clutching his dog-eared Fanon or Said reader, Obama, D’Souza contends, believes his country to be the oppressor and is acting to subvert its power.

Except, and this is the nub, Obama is not motivated simply by ideology but by the spirit of his Kenyan father who, in absentia, infected his son with a Third World Weltanschauung unbalanced by hatred and rage for the white and wealthy. D’Souza’s evidence? Read More;

Remember how Glenn Beck promised that at last summer’s rally in Washington, D.C., he would reveal “God’s plan….well, not really a plan”? 

Well, this is what Perry said to that audience, “He who knows the number of drops in the ocean, He counts the sands in the desert, He knows you by name?? He doesn’t require perfect people to execute His perfect plan. As spiritual beings, we are meant to live in relationship with our creator and with one another. And the happiest moments of every experience are when I am in communion with God and in community with others.” 

Using Moses and King David as examples, Perry said, “God uses broken people to reach a broken world. The mistakes of yesterday say nothing about the possibilities of tomorrow.”

“His perfect plan”? So, just like Glenn Beck, Rick Perry believes that he knows God’s plan and was chosen to implement it? Do we know which denominations of the Protestant faith fail to teach that pride is one of the seven deadly sins?

Perry’s speech was a combination of “aw shucks” memories of a Lincolnesque Texas prairie childhood, acknowledgment that he was an inadequate student and a testimony of his rebirth in Jesus. And he did describe his “born again” period as “wrestling with God.” Read more;

The Texas Tribune has a story on how important federal stimulus money has been to Rick Perry as he balanced the last two budgets. 

The Lone Star State has spent $17.4 billion in federal stimulus money through the second quarter of this year. Ross Ramsey's story notes that "the governor famously refused $556 million in federal stimulus funds for the state's unemployment insurance program...but Texas happily accepted the rest...

In the second quarter of this year alone, federal stimulus money in the state budget helped create or retain 40,411 Texas jobs, according to the Legislative Budget Board, which keeps a quarterly accounting of the money and how it's spent.... As it turned out, instead of getting Texas through a short rough patch, the stimulus money merely bought the state some time, which ran out when lawmakers turned to the 2012-2013 budget earlier this year." Read more;

"You don't accuse the chairman of the Federal Reserve of being a traitor to his country. Of being guilty of treason,"....

...... Karl Rove, who has clashed with Perry before, told Fox News (via TPM). "And, suggesting that we treat him pretty ugly in Texas — You know, that is not, again a presidential statement."

Rove continued: "If Rick Perry were to be elected president he'd be saddled with Ben Bernanke who has a term. He's an independent chairman of the Federal Reserve Board, appointed by president and confirmed by Congress and serves for a term and the president couldn't even ask him to resign. So, this is — I hope this is not the first of sort of over the top statements." Read more;

President Barack Obama placed the blame for Washington's current political paralysis squarely at the feet of his Republican opponents Tuesday, telling CNN that the GOP's "ideological rigidity" is standing in the way of compromises necessary for stronger economic growth.

In a wide-ranging interview with Wolf Blitzer, the president said the inability of GOP leaders in Congress to support a recent $4 trillion deficit reduction deal focused more heavily on spending cuts than revenue increases is evidence of a party placing political considerations before national interests.

Americans want to see "Democrats and Republicans putting country before party," he said. "The fact that Speaker (John) Boehner and folks in his caucus couldn't say yes to that (deficit deal) tells me that they're more interested in the politics ... than they are in solving the problem." Read more;

DECORAH, Iowa — US President Barack Obama went head-to-head with a prominent conservative Tea Party activist, in a microcosm of a political clash that will play out in the 2012 election.

Ryan Rhodes, a leader of the group in Iowa, took on Obama during an open-air town hall meeting, which marked a moment of new intensity in the president's campaign for a second term.

  Nice people those Tea Partiers -------->

Rhodes shouted out that Obamas' call for more civility in politics had little chance of coming to pass after "your vice president is calling people like me, a Tea Party member, a 'terrorist.'"

The clash came as Obama was wrapping up a town hall style meeting in a barn draped with an American flag,in a rural corner of Iowa.

Obama said, "In fairness, since I have been called a socialist who wasn't born in this country, who is destroying America and taking away its freedoms because I passed a health care bill, I am all for lowering the rhetoric."

Obama and Rhodes later engaged in an animated conversation as he greeted supporters on a rope line after the event, and the activist later told reporters that he believed that Obama was indeed a socialist.

(It's gonna be interesting)

Among the 11 declared candidates, polls are beginning to suggest that the Minnesota congresswoman is the one with the best chance of upsetting front-runner Mitt Romney for the GOP nomination, and that has put a target on her back for those with longer-shot hopes.

Candidate Tim Pawlenty has led the attacks on Bachmann. He likened her lack of executive experience to that of Barack Obama at the 2008 election. His campaign slogans include “Results not Rhetoric,” a thinly veiled attack on his fellow Minnesotan, and he constantly suggests that she would have no chance of beating Obama if she were to win the Republican nomination.

He's got that right!

btw, compare the current file photo of Ms. Bachmann (right) to the slightly airbrushed Newsmax photo used in the article.

Recent reports that the therapy clinic co-owned by Republican presidential candidate Michele Bachmann offers “ex-gay” therapy are raising questions about the extent to which federal dollars are subsidizing the widely discredited practice.

John Becker, a gay activist with Truth Wins Out, an LGBT group dedicated to fighting “ex-gay” conversion therapy, posted a report last week detailing his experience seeking reparative therapy with Bachmann & Associates, a Minnesota-based clinic operated by Bachmann’s spouse, Marcus Bachmann.

Feigning a desire to change his sexual orientation, Becker caught on tape sessions with counselor Timothy Wiertzema, who told him he could change from being gay to straight. Major psychological and other medical organizations have refuted the idea that people can change their sexual orientation.

Rick Perry is watching 2 Things: Bachmann's excitement And Romney's money.

With a Republican primary electorate not entirely satisfied with its field of candidates, this man is eyeing a run for the Presidency. 

The Texas state legislature special session is over (without a win on the anti-TSA bill), and Texas Gov. Rick Perry will now enter the intensive phase of his deliberations over whether to run for president. As he does so, he will be closely watching two things: Michele Bachmann's grassroots excitement and Mitt Romney's money.

Both Janice Hahn, the Democratic candidate for Congress in California’s 36^th district and her opponent, Republican Craig Huey, have condemned a Web ad (see video below) created by an outside conservative group that some have labeled sexist and offensive.

But such viral videos, as the label suggests, take on a life of their own and are hard to kill. The ad, which features a street-gang motif, superimposes Hahn’s face on a stripper dancing on a pole, and suggests that the Los Angeles councilwoman coddled gang members.
[James Oliphant / LA Times]

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann came into Monday night’s presidential debate in the Queen City as an unknown commodity. She left it as the most talked-about candidate in the 2012 GOP field.

Bachmann stole headlines at the start by announcing that she had filed to run for president — skipping the exploratory phase entirely — and then proceeding to command the stage in the first hour of the CNN-sponsored debate with quotable answers on every question asked of her. 

The crowd assembled at Saint Anselm College broke into spontaneous applause after several of Bachmann’s answers

FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty:

For Republicans to keep conservatives happy, social issues - like abortion, gay marriage, "don't ask, don't tell" - manage to work their way into every political conversation. And that may prove to be a problem for Republicans once we head into the general election campaign.

According to a CNN Opinion Research Corp. poll, nearly three-quarters of Republicans and Republican-leaning independent voters say they want a real contender who can defeat Obama in 2012, even if that nominee doesn't agree with them on every issue. More importantly, that's up 7 percentage points from January.

With the president's approval ratings near all-time lows, our national debt sky-high and climbing, and unemployment above 9%, it would certainly seem it's the Republicans’ race to lose.

Jacks Question;

Will Republicans have to lighten up on social issues in order to succeed in 2012?

Today the media seems to be focused on Anthony Weiners' weiner. I know, he's a Democrat and he's not running for president .... but that's what everybody is talking about, because it's a scandal, and we never want to pass up on a good scandal! And then there is Sarah Palins' emails from when she was governor of Alaska ....... like that's important! Actually the emails are revealing that she was a more engaged governor than most people thought and will likely help her more than hurt her, but because there's no juicy scandal there, the media will quickly loose interest and move on to ...... Newt Gingrich, .... because his staff quit. (Surrendered is a better term .... there is no way he's going to get the nomination)

Maybe we'll find out something tonight when the GOP holds it's first debate and although Sarah Palin will not be there, Michele Bachmann will be. Actually, between the two of them, Bachmann is the more articulate, she is always absolutely clear about her lack of knowledge regarding American history, where Sarah hem's and haw's as she re-writes history. I mean even I know Paul Revere was Americas' first silversmith!

So what do you think the candidates should be discussing? The debt ceiling? Oh, now that's exciting! Who cares if they have to put a new ceiling in the accounts payable department of the Treasury Department? They need someplace to store all those bills, don't they? And then there's the deficit, another exciting issue that requires math to understand. So what if we have a deficit, we're Americans, we always spend more than we make. It's a tradition! So what's to discuss?

JOBS! They can discuss jobs! Even though 91% of Americans that want jobs, have jobs .... the politicians insist it's an important issue. Because, everyone knows the reason the economy is bad is because we need more jobs, and the way to get more jobs is to fix the economy, so as soon as we create more jobs the economy will be fixed! (Hey, we're talking about politics here, we're supposed to go in circles aren't we?) 

So take the poll and tell us what you think is important, after all it's your opinion that's important here!

While serious competitors for the Republican presidential nomination have dropped out of the running. Romney has flexed his financial muscle with a $10 million-plus one-day fundraising haul. 

Most of all, his narrow, economy-focused message appears to be resonating amid growing alarm about the unemployment rate – which rose above 9 percent the day after Romney declared his campaign.

Add it all together and Romney has had his best political month in nearly four years. He increasingly looks like the 2012 election’s marathon man, a steady and durable candidate who enters Monday’s New Hampshire presidential debate with a better shot than ever at becoming his party’s nominee.

We're not sure what's more laughable -- the fact that the South Florida Tea Party can't keep up on its bills for a Donald Trump rally they held in Boca Raton, or the fact that they held a rally for The Donald to begin with.

The city has sent invoices for the $6,145 the Tea Party owes for barricades set up and police security, but they haven't been paid since the April rally.

   The Donald "I hope they don't expect me to pay it" -->

Even better, the Tea Party would stick Boca Raton with the bill if they don't pay it -- so those real "fiscal conservatives" would be causinggovernment spending. .......... Whoops!

For the first time, voters feel the agenda of congressional Republicans is nearly as extreme as that of Democrats in Congress.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 39% of Likely U.S. Voters say it is more accurate to describe the agenda of Republican members of Congress as mainstream. Slightly more voters (43%), however, believe it’s more accurate to label the GOP agenda as extreme. Eighteen percent (18%) are undecided.

Not surprisingly, strong majorities of Democratic and Republican voters describe their own party’s agenda as mainstream. A plurality of voters not affiliated with either major political party views the agendas of both parties in Congress as extreme.

Rudy Giuliani said in an interview today that if Sarah Palin decides to become a presidential candidate, she should not "fall into the trap that I fell into" during the 2008 campaign, ......

..... thinking that national popularity automatically means victories in early primary and caucus states.

The Republican former New York City mayor agreed that, like him, but "for different reasons," Palin has high national name recognition.

I would say to her, don't fall into the trap that I fell into (in 2007 and 2008) in thinking it's about how nationally popular you are.

Giuliani said that while he won't decide until later summer whether to run for President because he wants to see "how the field develops," if he does, "I'd never run the campaign like the one I ran three years ago. That was a big mistake."

Of course The Donald would invite The Sarah up to his New York penthouse. She is, after all, taking her Clampett bus expedition to American shrines, and that's what Donald Trump considers himself.
Sarah Palin and Trump also share two interests: presidential politics and sham reality shows.

(Actually, that's just one.)

They both also have a remarkable ability to turn reporters into shills who chase after them to snap up whatever crumbs they toss.
Palin can even keep a straight face when she tells her Fox News BFF Greta Van Susteren that her bus jaunt isn't "a publicity seeking tour." All the while she's getting disproportionate publicity from the very news people she disparages.
"I don't owe anything to the mainstream media," she gloats.

Thursday Palins' "One Nation," traveling road show stopped in Boston, where the former Alaska governor, her parents, her husband, and little Piper visited Paul Revere's house, the Old North Church, and Bunker Hill. Palin posted photos of that leg of her trip on the SarahPAC blog.

One moment that you won't find posted on the blog is Palin's response to reporters when they asked her who Paul Revere was. she stammered while saying this;

"He who warned, uh, the British that they weren't gonna be takin' away our arms, uh, by ringing those bells, and um, makin' sure as he's riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be sure and we were going to be free, and we were going to be armed."

Needless to say, the lamestream media are having a field day with that gaffe.

After months of relatively robust job growth, President Barack Obama and his team must now reckon with the reality that the economy probably won't be on firm ground during the 2012 campaign — and that he must temper some of the Morning-in-America optimism he'd hoped to run on.

The president has been unable to curb the nation's nine percent unemployment rate, so he will be forced to put the best possible face on a sputtering recovery.

Democratic strategists say that means adopting an ungainly three-pronged political approach: Talking up economic gains since the darkest days of 2008 and 2009, highlighting a modest job-creation agenda blocked by Republicans and making the case that things would be far worse if the GOP were in charge.

,

[By Steven Bertioni - Forbes]
Donald Trump just took possession of his big, used Boeing 757 plane. He wants everyone to know about it. His camp sent Forbes this article (yes, I see the paradox of me now writing about it. Does it mean Trump wins?)

     Trump Force One at La Guardia ---------->
     [Photo by Matt Molnar/NYCAviation] 

Naturally, the article very bluntly raises the question of 'will he rejoin the Presidential race he never joined?' America loves reading and debating that question. Plus, Trump can't let Sarah Palin and her bus tour hog the entire election-speculation spotlight.

As Matt Molnar points out; The Boeing 757 is a very presidential plane ...." See article for Molners full comment.

Republican Michele Bachmann is making plans for a presidential campaign announcement next month in Waterloo, Iowa, the city where the Minnesota congresswoman was born.

Bachmann trickled out the details in a conference call with reporters Thursday night, but said she could still reverse course and sit out the 2012 White House campaign.

When describing former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin's tour through Washington D.C. on the back of a motorcycle -- in theory a grand kickoff to her national bus tour of significant historical sites, in actuality a media circus surrounding a creeping crawl through our nation's capital -- perhaps the New York Times said it best: "A short ride with lots of rumbling."

WHERE'S SARAH?  ------>

Palin only took a slow, meandering tour through D.C. on Sunday, but she got more public attention than any speaking engagement could possibly bring. And it all comes back to Palin's greatest strength: her ability to whip the media -- the same "lamestream media" she claims to despise so much .......

The Republican Party flirts should stop complaining about how tough it is to run for president and get in the game

Increasingly, we are told, White House aspirants are horrified by the grueling pace, the relentless attacks, the withering scrutiny, the notion of dragging their families into a slimy swamp that will taint them forever. My response: stop the whining.

First, the presidency is a pretty cool job. You get a nice mansion with backyard, a bowling alley, a chef, your own helicopter, and an impressive pile of nuclear weapons. No one forced these folks to stir up presidential speculation. The agonizing is getting old.

Second,.....

The New Hampshire Republican Party found out Sarah Palin would be coming to town by hearing about it in the news.

Where would she be stopping? They didn't know. Palin's staff wouldn't even return their calls, leaving them to ask reporters for more answers.

And they're not alone: With hours to go before Palin's bus tour is supposed to begin, it's still unclear what she'll be doing when she gets to the first stop. It's even more of a mystery what her second stop will be.

Or when.

Or why.

Michele Bachmann's goal for today? Raise $240,000 in 24 hours

Though the Minnesota Republican says she won't officially announce whether she is running for president until June, it has not stopped the Tea Party favorite from an aggressive grassroots fundraising effort.

"Please make a contribution and join my 24-hour money bomb to raise $240,000 in 24 hours and make Barack Obama a one-term president," Bachmann writes on her website. (And the nit-wits will send it to her)

"....according to a report in New York Magazine that is out today, (Ailes is not at all thrilled with one Republican: former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. The report claims that the Fox News president thinks very lowly of her, thinking she's both an idiot and stupid.

It must be pointed out, though, that this report has to be taken with a grain of salt like the questionable source from which it comes. The source for this, New York Magazine, is a known liberal publication that features stories on apparent matters of interest in local New York City circles, which are overwhelmingly Democrat.

Roger Ailes ----->

When ABC News first reported in January that Bachmann was seriously considering a White House bid, the news was generally treated as either a compelling media sideshow or a savvy fundraising head fake on Bachmann's part. After all, the idea that a third-term congresswoman with a light legislative record and a penchant for controversial statements could become a serious White House contender seemed unlikely at best.

Almost five months after would-be contenders like Mike Huckabee, Haley Barbour and John Thune decided to take a pass -- the notion of a serious Bachmann campaign doesn't seem so implausible anymore, especially in Iowa.

On Tuesday, (May 17th) the Teapot Party announced our biggest endorsement yet – former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson for the Republican presidential nomination.

But not so fast. I sent the press release and coverage links to Nelson. His response took me by surprise: "My position is it too early for me to endorse anyone. And I think every one should vote their own conscience."

".........I think I will wait and see where he stands on other things. My bad. Sorry. I still think he is a good guy but so Is Dennis (Kucinich) and if he decided to run I would personally vote for him. If it came down to either him or Gary I'm already committed to Dennis."

It's a sign of the GOP's straits that the party is depending on the bland, wonkish Daniels for an adrenaline boost.

Top Republicans are increasingly convinced that President Barack Obama will be easily reelected if stronger GOP contenders do not emerge, and some are virtually begging Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels to add some excitement to the slow-starting nomination race.

But interviews this week with longtime party activists and strategists made clear that many in the Republican establishment are unnerved by a field led by Mitt Romney, who could have trouble confronting Obama on health reform; Tim Pawlenty, who has yet to ignite excitement; Jon Huntsman, who may be too moderate to get the nomination; and Newt Gingrich, weighed down by personal baggage and a sense that he is a polarizing figure from the 1990s.

In other words ..... they're desperate.

Stoking more speculation about whether she intends to run for the White House, Sarah Palin is sending out 400,000 direct mail fundraising solicitations for 2012, including to voters in earlier primary states.

First reported by The Washington Post, the solicitations are titled "2012 Can't Come Fast Enough," but make no specific mention of her plans.

"Taking back control of the House last year was only the first step," Palin says in the mailer from SarahPac, sent out nationwide. "Now you and I must fix our eyes on 2012. Our goal is to take back the White House and the Senate."

Palin headed into 2011 with more than $1.3 million in her political action committee. (A mere 997 million short of what Obama plans to raise.)

Billionaire Donald Trump will not be getting any support, moneywise or otherwise, from Billionaire David Koch if The Donald should decide to run for President.

Koch said, "Donald's political positions over the last 10 years have been highly variable and unusual. He's a wonderful guy, but I don't think he should run for office."

Noting Trump's love of press, Koch said the Celebrity Apprentice host is "getting more publicity than he ever dreamed about right now." But, he added, "at some point I think he's going to drop out of the race when he realizes that he's really not qualified to be President."

The glow of national pride seemed to rise above partisan politics, as support for the president rose significantly among both Republicans and independents. In all, 57 percent said they now approved of the president's job performance, up from 46 percent last month.

Though there has been talk in some quarters that the United States military can now leave Afghanistan, the poll showed that public sentiment on the issue seems more complicated.

Nearly half said the nation should decrease troop levels in Afghanistan. But more than six in 10 also said the United States had not completed its mission in Afghanistan.

None of the potential candidates in the Republican presidential field breaks the 20% mark, according to a poll released Wednesday on the eve of the first official debate among some contenders.

"It's difficult to get a handle on the 2012 Republican race," Peter Brown, assistant director of the Hamden, Conn.-based polling institute, said in a statement. "Many contenders are not well-known, and many who are known are not liked."

In interviews with registered voters of various political stripes, 58% said they would never consider voting for Donald Trump or Sarah Palin in a general election. Also, 42% of those surveyed saying they would never consider voting for Newt Gingrich, of Georgia.

Despite last year's midterm shellacking of the Democrats and record low approval ratings for President Obama, there is a big potential problem for Republicans heading into the 2012 presidential election......... Other Republicans."

According to a CNN/Opinion Research poll, just 32% of Americans have a favorable view of the Tea Party, while 46% have a favorable view of the Democratic party and 44% have a favorable view of Republicans.

Herman has been on a whirlwind tour of the country for Tax Day, participating in more Tea Party rallies than any other potential presidential candidate. This week alone, he was in: Jefferson City, Missouri; Lansing, Michigan; Concord, New Hampshire; Orlando, Florida; Des Moines, Iowa; The Woodlands, Texas; and Chicago, Illinois.

Along the way, he has spoken with thousands of concerned citizens about his five-point tax plan that would help supercharge our economy. His message is resonating across the United States, and we've seen spectacular results.

In New Hampshire, Herman spoke at the Tax Day Tea Party in Concord as one of four potential Republican presidential candidates honored to attend. Prior to his speech, the Concord Tax Day Tea Party conducted a presidential straw poll. Herman came in second place with 16 percent of the vote, just a single point behind the winner.

But, at the conclusion of the event, Americans for Prosperity- New Hampshire conducted a presidential straw poll of their own: 62 percent selected Herman Cain.

Whether you like him or not, Donald Trump has already served one very useful purpose: reducing Barack Obama for once and for all, to the redundant, to the inane, to the ignorant and self-absorbed, indifferent, out of touch politician he truly is. Come on folks…he’s still saying “we’re in economic recovery, this is our moment, our time…blah, blah, blah.”

Yes, there was a time I fell for Obama-speak. I will admit I got wound up in the flowery spew of Obama “can-do, hope, change, nothing we can’t overcome” messaging. I got over it with his first lame attempt to pretend he was going to do anything that even remotely resembled what he said in trump…uh, I mean stump speeches.

Now, enter Donald Trump. Businessman first, celebrity second…already an improvement over Obama…all he had was celebrity, and given the extraordinary damage he has done in just over two years to our country because of his lack of business experience, well, need I say more?

Yes. Let’s not fall into the same “soaring rhetoric”…the same tapping into our emotions that got Obama elected. Instead, let’s do our homework on Trump. What do we need to look for?

1. Leadership qualities: Does he have them…I’d say yes. Here’s why:
   1. He fires people for underperformance…rewards performance…sorry, I like that novel approach!
   2. He inspires people to work harder than they perhaps ever have…ie Gary Bussey, Brett Michaels, Meatloaf…I could go on and on, but they all love the guy anyway.
   3. He does not ask of anyone what he wouldn’t or couldn’t do himself. Yes, tall order, but why should we accept demands from someone who has done nothing he asks of us? For example…Obama agenda on obesity…google what they served at their Superbowl party, and see if you can find their families’ own BMI results online…probably not, but well, it certainly leaves “example” open to discussion.
   4. He has an enormous ego…you simply cannot survive in Washington without one. Look again at Obama...he just sold us it as “Audacity” instead.
   5. He holds people accountable. One word describes Obama’s definition of that: Geithner. We could also throw “Obama” in there, or “Summers,” “Nepolitano” or really any one of many Obama cabinet members’ names in there…none of them have ANY accountability whatsoever, and whatever happened to that transparency promised by candidate Obama? Noticeably missing, no?
   6. He makes money…something our country would be better off for IF we knew how to do it. The only thing Obama has shown us he knows how to do is spend money with no regard for where it comes from.
   7. He’s decisive…not afraid to put himself out there to get thrashed by anyone, Republicans or Dems alike. Versus placating Obama, not willing to hang his hat on ANY decision, ANY side of an argument.
   8. Billionaire, willing to give it up to fix our country. Maybe…or keep it while fixing country…makes no difference to me just so he shares the intel.
   9. Says Obama is the worst President ever, when his Republican counterparts cringe and shrink away.
   10. Pretty wife…come on…it helps Sarkozy!
   11. Not ashamed of hair and eyebrows…self confident! Doesn’t trim his “Trumps” and does not care what we say about it!
   12. Pissed off, doesn’t want to take it anymore…shouldn’t we all be?

And here’s the kicker…he said we shouldn’t go into fight other countries’ wars unless we get something in return…ie oil from Iraq. I think that’s sound, pragmatic thinking, right?

That being said, while I certainly like what I hear (beyond birther distraction), I'll be one hundred times more diligent this go-around than I was with Obama. Won't make that "blind love" mistake ever again.

But no matter what happens with “the Donald,” shouldn’t we all thank him for whatever he does to enlighten those still hypnotized by Obama empty rhetoric? I mean really…listen to Trump, then REALLY listen to Obama, and there is no denying the difference.

Obama has been playing a risky game of Euchre with our country, and is soon going to get trumped…his hand, and his “poker” face have been exposed.

A Look at the World's New Corporate Tax Havens

(CBS News) Our government is in knots over ways to lower the federal budget deficit. Well, what if we told you we found a pot of money - over $60 billion a year - that could be used to help out?

When President Obama threatened to clamp down on tax dodging, many companies decided to leave the Caribbean. But instead of coming back home, they went to safer havens like Switzerland.

If Obama talks too tough, he's picking a fight, if he doesn't talk tough enough, he's a wuss.

He's in the worlds all time greatest "no win job"!

What the hell ..... the GOP is going to criticize every speech he makes no matter what he says ..... so he had nothing to lose by telling it like it is when he made his televised speech to the nation about the budget battle.

It was beautiful thing, the way he started with Saint Reagan, depicting how the economy was on a roll from the Reagan era to 2000, (when George W. Bush took office) and we had a surplus. Then, without mentioning any other names or events besides the 2 wars, he brought us to the mess we were when he took office in 2008, saying "That is how we got to where we are today!"

The Republicans bristle whenever someone refers to the Bush 2 area, (can you blame them?) But it is what it is, they think that saying "it's time to stop blaming Bush", it will somehow make it all better and justify their attempts to shift the blame to Obama for the nightmare we are now dealing with.

The Republican leadership has convinced their base that Obama has gone berserk with spending, is hell bent on destroying the Nation, driving us into socialism, ..... bankrupt Socialism at that. They display charts showing how this administration has spent more money than God or any other President in history. What they like to omit however, is the fact that little of the cost of the Bush wars were paid for during the Bush era, but were passed on for the next administration to deal with.

The "spending" that Obama is doing is being used to stimulate the economy by investing in infrastructure, innovation for Green Energy and retrofitting existing facilities to be more energy efficient. But it makes no difference what this administration does, the Right Wing is going to find a way to criticize it. And they don't care if that criticism is factual or not ..... they say anything they want, knowing it will be amplified by the media and bounced around the Right Wing echo chamber until their followers believe it to be true.

Like Senator Kyl saying Planned Parenthood spends 90% of it money and efforts funding abortion, which is what his base already believes to be true, and that comment they heard, however, Planned Parenthood actually only spends 3% of its funding on abortion. When the media pointed out that Kyl was incorrect with his comment, Kyls' office issued a statement that the Senators comment was"Not meant to be a factual statement". (watch the video) But that comment the Right Wing has chosen NOT to hear.

It's about time Obama has started with the "tough talk", it's the only way he will be able to get his message heard in that Right Wing echo chamber. Eventually a few of the more astute Right Wingers will realize they have been listening to the the wrong message and come around to the reality of how we actually got into the situation we are in.

Standard & Poor's Ratings Service cut its outlook Monday on the United States' sovereign debt, saying there is a one in three chance it will downgrade the rating on the debt in the next two years.

The agency lowered the long-term outlook to "Negative" from "Stable."

More Seeds :: JCAtom

A group of millionaires have banded togethor and are asking the president to raise taxes on the wealthy. Laura Ingraham speaks with a couple of them.

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Thinking reporters were out of the room, President Obama opened up Thursday night about the recent budget talks with Republicans and what he called their efforts to sneak in attacks on Planned Parenthood and his health care bill.

"I said (to Republicans), 'you want to repeal health care? Go at it,'" Obama told backers in a private meeting with an open microphone. "'We'll have that debate. You're not going to be able to do that by nickel-and-diming me in the budget.'"

He said he added: "'You think we're stupid?'"

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President Barack Obama extended a fiscal olive branch to Republicans on Wednesday. Then he beat them up with it.

Obama's long-anticipated speech on the deficit at George Washington University was one of the oddest rhetorical hybrids of his presidency – a serious stab at reforming entitlements cloaked in a 2012 campaign speech that was one of the most overtly partisan broadsides he's ever delivered from a podium with a presidential seal.

The centerpiece was a battle cry to his base, a call for $1 trillion in new taxes on the rich – on top of billions saved by allowing Bush-era tax cuts to lapse — in lieu of the deep cuts to Medicare and Medicaid proposed by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) and now identified with the GOP

Here are two numbers to keep in mind when thinking about the House Republicans' budget plan: They want to cut spending on government programs over the next decade by $4.3 trillion. And they want to cut tax revenues over the same period by $4.2 trillion.

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Donald Trump says he will "probably" run for president as an independent if he doesn't win the Republican nomination.

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With tomorrow marking the five-year anniversary of Romney's enactment of health care reform in Massachusetts, Democrats are taking every opportunity to point out that the law was a model for national health care reform.

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So the pundits who praised this proposal when it was released were punked. The G.O.P. budget plan isn't a good-faith effort to put America's fiscal house in order; it's voodoo economics, with an extra dose of fantasy, and a large helping of mean-spiritedness.

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Republicans have hit President Barack Obama for being out of touch, disengaged and unwilling to lead on the budget negotiations — and Democrats aren't wild about his taste for last-minute heroics either.

Administration officials say that's flat wrong and that Obama's team has been quietly working with lawmakers for weeks. The president's late entry into direct talks was a calculated strategy, they say, to avoid overexposing Democrats' sole marquee star and to gain maximum leverage after House Republicans and Senate Democrats fell short of an agreement.

But it's a strategy that chafes against his negotiating partners on both sides of the aisle — and there's no guarantee it will work this time. There are many outstanding issues, from defense dollars to abortion, and the unpredictability of Speaker John Boehner's tea party caucus may defy an Obama-style perils-of-Pauline rescue to prevent a shutdown by midnight..

Oil is a good short-term bet for another five months due to upcoming peak U.S. summer driving season, while prices in the long-term are likely to double along with gold in five years, said a leading fund manager.

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As federal officials began formal preparations for, the Obama administration told House members on Tuesday that their version of a short-term spending budget was a no-go...

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The U.S. will reach its $14.29 trillion legal debt limit no later than May 16 unless Congress acts before then, Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner said today, and he warned of "severe hardship" for Americans if lawmakers fail to act.

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...look at the sheer volume of wealth controlled by the top 1 percent in this country, it's tempting to see our growing inequality as a quintessentially American achievement—we started way behind the pack, but now we're doing inequality on a world-class level

...we'll be building on this achievement for years to come...what made it possible is self-reinforcing. Wealth begets power, which begets more wealth...Virtually all U.S. senators, and most of the representatives in the House, are members of the top 1 percent when they arrive, are kept in office by money from the top 1 percent, and know that if they serve the top 1 percent well they will be rewarded by the top 1 percent when they leave

...a tax bill cannot emerge from Congress unless big tax cuts are put in place for the wealthy...this is the way you would expect the system to work.

More Seeds :: JCAtom

It's not like Republicans need a reminder of the tensions within their own ranks on government spending cuts.

But if they forget what's at stake, all GOP lawmakers need to do Thursday is walk outside the Capitol, where perhaps hundreds of tea party protesters will be urging congressional leaders to hold their ground on major spending cuts.

And inside the Capitol, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) will quietly try to figure out how to negotiate without looking like he's making backroom deals with Democrats and President Barack Obama. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.), tacking right, is seemingly unaware of some of the intricacies of the negotiations between the administration and Senate leadership.

Top House Republicans and Democrats are raising millions of dollars for redistricting fights, opening the floodgates for what could be a $30 million campaign funded in part by unregulated, unreported soft money.

They're doing so with permission from the Federal Election Commission and a waiver from the House Ethics Committee, but campaign watchdog groups worry that it could lead to abuses and a lack of transparency for millions in big money donations.

It was supposed to be one of the clearest messages of the 2010 elections: Voters were finally fed up with government spending.

It felt like the usual rules had changed, and that Americans were worried enough about the size of government to support a new era of belt-tightening. They wanted leaders to make the tough choices – and would stick by the ones who did.

Now, a new wave of polling has challenged that consensus, raising serious questions about whether voters really are yearning for a grown-up conversation about the cost of government — or would simply rather keep punting the problem down the road, just like in the past.

As I read though the vine and the majority of comments from all the biased articles and writings, I have to wonder if people realize how their hatred and biases affect those of us who aren't leaning right or left? Can't you people see that all the hate, name calling, and insults are the problem...not the solution?

Here is the situation folks, we have half the population stuck riding the donkey and the other half stuck riding the elephant, and neither group seems capable of accepting responsibility for the sorry state of affairs we find ourselves in. Can't you see how this division is intentionally designed to keep us fighting with each other? Ever watch those State of the Union speeches, where our politicians scamper for an autograph from the very man they stand in front of the camera and call a devil?

Our politicians are smart. They know if they can keep this division alive and we continue to fight with each other, they can continue to rob us blind with taxes and spend like there is no tomorrow, and stuff as much as they can in their individual pockets and we won't notice because we are so busy demonizing each other.

Our politicians live the lifestyle of the "Rich & Famous", jetting around the world, riding around in limo's, eating steak and lobster tail................all on our tax dollar while attempting to only leave enough leftover for us to eat beans and rice!

Perhaps some of you can help me understand why you support the donkey over the elephant or vice versa, but from where I sit I don't see an ounce of difference between the two. Both talk differently, but once in power they govern the same. Neither the donkey or the elephant care about you or me. We are not the priority. All they care about is more money and power for their particular party......we are an after thought!

...data Thursday showed the improvement in the labor market was becoming sustained, with new claims for jobless benefits falling last week and the four-week moving average dropping to it lowest level in more than 2-1/2 years.

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Watch these videos of Rep. Bachmann in action on "Meet the Press". She claims there is 105 Billion dollars hidden in the the Health Care bill.

(She also at one time said Obamas trip to the Middle East was going to cost over 200 million dollars a day)

She is absolutely unwilling or unable to answer any direct questions during the interview.

[FROM CNN's Jack Cafferty]

There's a pretty good chance now that the federal government will not shut down at midnight on Friday 3/4/11

The House approved a new spending measure (March 1st) that could keep the government running for two weeks past Friday's deadline. Democrats and Republicans agreed to $4 billion in spending cuts - mostly to earmarks and other programs, many of which President Obama proposed in his own budget. The measure now moves on to the Senate.

You can bet those cuts are the easy ones - not any of the heavy-handed cuts House Republicans passed in a bill a few weeks ago that included ending funding to Planned Parenthood and making cuts to education programs and the EPA. And there still isn't total agreement on the $4 billion measure.

The President and some Democrats were hoping for a four to five week extension cutting as much as $8 billion.

Some of the biggest savings could be achieved by consolidating the government's computer data centers, which have multiplied from 432 to more than 2,100 in little more than a decade. Some computer servers have utilization rates of just 5 percent. A private sector study estimates that consolidating data centers could save the government as much as $200 billion over 10 years.

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A bit like the Republican party, they are white, seemingly indestructible and bad for the environment. But after an absence of four years, foam plastic coffee cups have made a comeback in the basement coffee shop of the United States Congress building after Republicans began reversing a series of in-house green initiatives undertaken by Democrats.

The about-turn was announced by a press aide to John Boehner, the speaker of the House of Representatives, who tweeted on Monday morning: "The new majority – plasticware is back".

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(Bloomberg) -- Obama administration officials are rejecting the idea of making major changes to Social Security as part of a debate over reining in the national debt, a stance that's drawing protests from deficit-cutting advocates.

White House Budget Director Jack Lew and Jason Furman, deputy director of President Barack Obama's National Economic Council, both stressed this week that Social Security isn't facing an immediate funding crisis and should be viewed separately from moves to reduce the federal budget deficit.

Washington (CNN) - The high-stakes political maneuvering over government spending cuts continued Thursday as Senate Democrats for the first time said they are readying specific budget cuts they hope will satisfy House Republicans. Unless the two sides reach an agreement, the government will run out of money and shut down at the end of next week.
However, an aide for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, quickly indicated the proposed cuts don't go deep enough to end the stalemate.

Democrats say they would save billions by speeding up proposed cuts in President Obama's budget for 2012 and by getting rid of money for earmarks in the spending bill currently funding the government, according to a Senate Democratic aide who would not speak on the record about the negotiations.

President Obama has the most polarized approval ratings for a second-year president since Dwight Eisenhower

A new Gallup Poll shows 81% of Democrats and 13% of Republicans approved of the job Mr. Obama was doing as president during his second year.

This 68-point gap is up from a 65-point gap during Mr. Obama's first year as president. That was also a record.

Ronald Reagan and Bill Clinton are the only other presidents who had gaps of at least 50 points between party approvals by their second year in office.

President Obama has chosen to fight fire with gasoline.

The Presidents' budget proposal hinges on major cuts that ensure that Republicans get to control the conversation on spending.

On Monday (Feb.14, 2011), Obama poured gas on the Republican flame by proposing a 2012 federal budget that cuts the federal deficit by $1.1 trillion over 10 years. About $400 billion of this will come from a five-year freeze on non-security discretionary spending -- including all sorts of programs for poor and working-class Americans, such as heating assistance to low-income people and community-service block grants. Most of the rest from additional spending cuts, such as grants to states for water treatment plants and other environmental projects and higher interest charges on federal loans to graduate students.

Republicans want America to believe the economy is still lousy because government is too big, and the way to revive the economy is to cut federal spending.

Republican Speaker John Boehner even refused to rule out a government shut-down if Republicans don't get the spending cuts they want.

Every Conservative member of Newsvine needs to watch this video.

On last night's The Ed Show on MSNBC, filmmaker Robert Greenwald (the founder of Brave New Films and the director of Outfoxed) joined host Ed Schultz in a discussion of how Fox News' disinformation and falsehoods damage U.S. political discourse and alter Americans' perceptions of reality.

In an attempt to end the "birther" myth that President Obama was not born in the United States (and thus not qualified to serve as president), five Democrats on the Hawaii state legislature have introduced a bill that would allow anyone to obtain a copy of President Obama's birth records for a $100 fee.

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For those who thought the Tea Party was a passing fad, it might be time to reconsider:

For starters, it seems like the Tea Partiers may be among the only people in Washington who are serious about reining in government spending.

While Democrats and Republicans talk... and talk... and talk about cutting spending and reducing our skyrocketing deficits and $14 trillion national debt, some in the Tea Party have real solutions.

Newly elected Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky is proposing cutting $500 billion from federal spending in just one year. To be sure, he has some drastic suggestions - including cutting $42 billion from the food stamp program and $16 billion from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates warned that Congress was causing a "crisis on my doorstep" by failing to approve a key spending bill, inaction that could create a funding shortfall hurting the military.

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Not one mention of our foreclosure crisis. We are facing four million more foreclosures this year...it will only continue unabated from there,, and NOT ONE WORD? Are you kidding me? Is he really that clueless? Does he not understand that this is the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT FACTOR in our economic recovery?

Oh yeah…he knows. But gosh, he thinks we are already recovered (imagine laugh track inserted here) and any more effort would require some hard choices in our favor over banks. He lost his spine the day he was elected and surrounded himself with Wall Street gang of thieves.

Worse yet…Republicans did not even mention his omission on this either. No side of the aisle will be safe from my scrutiny from this night forward.

How does one even imagine a "focus on economy," without the word “foreclosure” being mentioned even once? How is that even remotely possible? Underwater mortgages, home values falling with every new foreclosure, banks foreclosing on homes without even trying to modify as was “mandated” (using that term veeery loosly) banks robo-signing to illegally foreclose, and foreclosing even on homes with no morgtages on them? See how many times Obama could have used the word foreclosure in one sentence?

Show me where he mentioned anywhere in his speech ONE WORD about our melting middleclass home ownership and wealth. How we have lost 20-40% of our equity in our homes, and the banks are sitting on shadow inventory waiting to pounce on those of still standing. He only spoke of stock market soaring, corporate profits soaring…Corporate tax breaks for those he just said were doing so well? Really? That, as millions lose their homes and jobs. Here’s complete transcript:

http://www.wwl.com/Full-transcript-of-Obama-State-of-the-Union-addres/9057791

Now, if you don’t want to read the whole transcript, that’s okay…it is not worth ANYONES time…none...no matter which side of aisle you're on, or who you're sitting by. If, however, you want to read something that is worthy of your time, here are a couple of articles you may find enlightening:

http://mandelman.ml-implode.com/2011/01/gmac%e2%80%a6-payments-or-not-the-foreclosure-machine-that-just-won%e2%80%99t-stop/

http://mandelman.ml-implode.com/2011/01/160-million-to-defend-fannie-freddie-now-if-i-could-only-find-that-damn-rabbit-hole-i-must-have-slid-down/

He has a bunch of other ones too that will make you want to run to the bathroom holding in your vomit at the indifference of our government, and I encourage you to read each and every one of them.

To further insult our intelligence, Obama spoke of lofty goals in our kids’ education, even as states are closing schools in record numbers around the country, and laying off our teachers. He spoke of investment in infrastraucture…roads, highways already being needlessly fixed as teachers are laid off. Student loans…what is the outcome of the governments takeover of deciding who gets help and who doesn’t, and since it was folded into HCR, does any of us really know how much was cut?

Republicans should have seized on foreclosure crisis…they did not. More hot air, just like Obama’s speech. I am so disappointed…this should be their moment, their time. BOTH parties showed us they are completely ignoring the massive amount of foreclosures that have already taken place, and those that are coming.

And did you catch the hint at Cap ‘n Trade coming soon?

Over the last two years, I have tried to hope this President would wake up and prove me wrong on his agenda, his motives. Tonight, he proved me right yet again. His agenda is to destroy the middleclass, and on that, he is succeeding tremendously. What I found out tonight that is equally scary…Republicans aren’t going to do anything to stop him.

Oh boy, we’re in BIG trouble.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs says a senator's proposal that Democrats and Republicans sit together rather than divided by party during the President Barack Obama's State of the Union speech is "an interesting idea."

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After months of back-and-forth over whether he might run for president, Donald Trump is now telling friends he will definitely throw his hat in the ring in 2012.

The billionaire real estate mogul has said he will announce his candidacy as a Republican when the current season of his hit NBC show "The Apprentice" ends in the spring, Newsmax reported Thursday.

Earlier this week, Trump told Forbes he was encouraged by surveys that found his business acumen would be seen as a positive by voters.

"Polls have come out and have been very strong," Trump said. "A recent poll came out where Trump and [Bill] Gates are the only two that beat [President Barack] Obama. Gates isn't running obviously, but they put names on it, and we're the only ones who beat Obama."

Justice Antonin Scalia, is courting controversy by accepting Representative Michele Bachmann's invitation to speak to the House's Tea Party Caucus about the constitution, specifically on the topic of "Separation of Powers."

Addressing concerns that, by accepting, Scalia is essentially suggesting that "an alliance between the conservative members of the court and the conservative members of Congress," as one law professor phrased it to The Los Angeles Times, Bachmann's people pointed out that the event, while organized by the Tea Party Caucus, is nonpartisan and open to Democrats and Republicans alike.

"This is not a game. You know, the debt ceiling ... is not something to toy with," Goolsbee told the ABC News program "This Week." "If we hit the debt ceiling, that's ... essentially defaulting on our obligations, which is totally unprecedented in American history."

"The impact on the economy would be catastrophic. I mean, that would be a worse financial economic crisis than anything we saw in 2008," he said.

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Twas the Night before Christmas

And all through the country

Not a creature was counting

Our huge debt…growing plenty.

The Obamas were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of depression danced in their heads;

And Michelle in her nightgown, and Barack in his lei,

Wondered just how much the middleclass would pay.

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,

Obama sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the Lanai he flew like a flash,

Tore open the doors and dropped all his cash.

‘Oh my dear, it seems that they know my agenda

I got what I wanted, the tax cuts were splenda!

I’m really a Republican, it does readily appear,

Even FOX News seems to have halted their smear.

I better move fast, I better move quick,

The angry mob below leaves no time to be thick.’

More rapid than eagles his base they came,

And he laughed, and he crowed, and thought they looked lame;

"Now, taxes! now, war! now, the stimulus and banks!

On, mortgage backed derivatives! on foreclosures…Now is the time to give thanks!

To the top of the Lanai! To the top of the world!

Now I will win! I’ll destroy the middleclass…that flag is unfurled!"

As congress sped through with nary a quack,

How long will it take for us to feel the smack?,

So up to the Lanai the coursers they flew,

With the sleigh full of anger, and plenty of boos.

And then, in a twinkling, he heard on the roof

The prancing and pawing of one little goof.

As he drew in his head, and was turning around,

Down the chimney Beck came with a bound.

He was dressed all in gold, from his head to his foot,

So happy with this Prez, and a Dem to boot!

A bundle of gold he had flung on his back,

The de-valuing of the dollar was right on track!

His eyes -- how they twinkled! His dimples how merry!

His cheeks were like roses, his nose well, just scarey!

His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,

And the awe in his eyes shone with a glow;

Obama braced himself, and gritted his teeth,

The baggage he’d endure he’d have to wear like a wreath;

Beck had a rotund face and a little round belly,

That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,

And Obama laughed when he saw him, in spite of himself;

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,

Soon gave Obama to know he had nothing to dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,

And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,

And laying his finger aside of his nose,

And giving a nod, up the chimney he arose;

He sprang to his Escalade, to his driver gave a whistle,

And away they all drove, Obama with nary a bristle.

But he heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,

"Happy Christmas to all, and to all a good-night."