July 2011
Keep The 20 Kids Calm, Blow Off Millions In NYC...
“I made the decision not to jump up immediately and leave the classroom. I didn’t want to rattle the kids. I wanted to project a sense of calm.”
— Former President George W. Bush, quoted by NPR, on why he did nothing for seven minutes after being told that the nation was attacked on 9/11.
He made the decision to do nothing? Should I do something or should I do nothing,...
I think John Boehner is really bad at his job. →
leftish:
I realize that this will probably sound rude, but I think he’s really outstandingly bad at his job. I think that everything he’s done so far has…what’s the opposite of the Midas Touch?
~ Rachel Maddow
GOP House Paints Itself Into Corner
The House of Representatives narrowly passed Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) debt ceiling legislation “after Republican leaders revised it to gain the support of recalcitrant tea party conservatives, but the Senate swiftly moved to block it from consideration in their chamber,” the Washington Post reports. “Instead, senators moved to replace it with a bipartisan plan...
In South Carolina All Politics Is Loco
How Jim DeMint Sunk The Boehner Plan
David Weigel has one of the more interesting sub-plots in the story behind the failure of House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) debt ceiling plan: “of the 25 ‘nos,’ 5 come from the entire GOP delegation from South Carolina.” A Politico report on Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) from June might explain why: “The unspoken reality is that...
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"A Few Right-Wing Nutters": Only In America
ryking:
The [extreme right-wing] rebellion against Boehner’s plan is being driven by Tea Party activists and many of the freshman members they helped elect. For months, the House Republican leadership has been quietly tutoring these members on the intricacies of the federal budget and the need to raise the debt ceiling, using what Politico called a “stunningly simple” presentation of color-coded...
Brooks presided over a newsroom in which “people... →
cheatsheet:
How does a newsroom adopt and normalize a culture of illegal activity to the point where a crime becomes seen as a prank?
Murdoch/Fox house of cards.
Republicans And Their Fake Fiscal Responsibility
Freshman U.S. Rep. Joe Walsh, a tax-bashing Tea Party champion who sharply lectures President Barack Obama and other Democrats on fiscal responsibility, owes more than $100,000 in child support to his ex-wife and three children, according to documents his ex-wife filed in their divorce case in December.
Oddly, Walsh loaned his 2010 campaign $35,000 of his own money, and took foreign vacations...
Victory For Stem-Cell Research: Court Backs... →
csmonitor:
Federal funds can support research using human embryonic stem cells, ruled a D.C. district court Wednesday.
Chief US District Judge Royce Lamberth ruled against two scientists who had challenged the legality of new research guidelines issued by the National Institutes of Health in 2009.
The new NIH guidelines invalidated restrictions imposed by former President George W. Bush and...
Constitution Will Defeat GOP Hostage Politics
WASHINGTON — House Democratic leaders emerged from a Wednesday Caucus meeting with a message for President Barack Obama: Invoke the Constitution to resolve the debt standoff.
If Congress can’t reach a deal on a long-term debt limit increase by August 2, Obama should “sign an executive order invoking the 14th Amendment,” said Assistant Minority Leader James Cyburn...
GOP Lawmakers Eating Their Own
House Republicans called for the firing of Republican Study Committee staffers after they were caught sending e-mails to conservative groups urging them to pressure lawmakers to vote against Speaker John Boehner’s debt proposal, Politico reports.
Lawmakers in the morning meeting started chanting “Fire him, fire him!” as one stood silently at the closed-door meeting.
Said one...
The Activist GOP House: Trying to Make New Laws...
Perry v. United States, 294 U.S. 330 (1935)
Perry v. United States
No. 532
Argued January 10, 11, 1935
Decided February 18, 1935
5. By virtue of the power to borrow money “on the credit of the United States,” Congress is authorized to pledge that credit as assurance of payment as stipulated — as the highest assurance the Government can give — its plighted...
Republicans Borrowed "On The Credit Of The United...
14th Amendment, Sec 4: The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, …shall not be questioned. http://ow.ly/1v2Tg6
Perry v. US [Decided February 18, 1935]: Congress cannot use its power to regulate the value of money so as to invalidate (Government’s) obligations http://ow.ly/1v2Ugn
By virtue of the power to borrow money “on the credit of the...
GOP Politics Never Considers Economics
“America is the only country in the world that has the luxury of creating an economic crisis when there isn’t one. Ours is the only democracy with a debt ceiling, with the exception of Denmark, which raises its ceiling well in advance of when it would be reached. Economists say that our ‘debt crisis’ is an unforced error, because people are more than willing to lend...
““The idea seems to be that if the House GOP refuses to raise the debt...”
– The Wall Street Journal editorial page rips into the House Republicans rebelling against House Speaker John Boehner’s (R-OH) debt reduction plan.
Republicans live in their own world, unaffected by facts or truth. Even the Murdoch-owned WSJ calls out the GOP for lacking any sense of reality.
“This ersatz crisis began when the Republican zealots in Congress decided to use...”
– Robert Borosage ”Speaker Boehner’s Disgrace” | OurFuture.org July 26, 2011 - 7:57am ET (via drwh0)
Can't Even Get His Own Party To Back Him
Roll Call reports Republican Study Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) warned that he is confident Boehner “does not have enough Republicans to pass his debt limit bill.”
For all the Obama haters who say having a majority should imply getting everything you want, how come Boehner can’t even get his Bill out of the House?
Republicans Are The Party Of The I.O.U.
This isn’t in the realm of spin or opinion. The numbers are unambiguous: Republicans took a large surplus, turned it into massive deficit. Republicans could have paid off the debt within a decade, but they instead chose to pursue an ambitious agenda without paying for it.
And now they don’t want the nation to pay the bills.
Fiscally and morally bankrupt.
Republican Leaders Voted for Debt Drivers They...
House Speaker John Boehner often attacks the spendthrift ways of Washington.
“In Washington, more spending and more debt is business as usual,” the Republican leader from Ohio said in a televised address yesterday amid debate over the U.S. debt. “I’ve got news for Washington — those days are over.”
Yet the speaker, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan and...
A Broken House
Number of lawmakers in the 112th Congress who’ve resigned: Five.
Number of jobs bills voted on in the 112th Congress: Zero.
This Congress’ sole public mandate was to focus on job creation, and Republican lawmakers have done the exact opposite, ignoring jobs, focusing on cuts that would make unemployment worse, and creating a debt-ceiling crisis that threatens to crash the economy.
An Open Question to Rich Americans:
motherjones:
Wouldn’t you be willing to pay some more in federal taxes, if it prevented a US debt default…which could trigger another financial crisis…which could reduce your net worth by a whole lot more than if you paid some more in federal taxes?
Just askin’.
Like most Conservatives/Republicans, rather then play the game fair and have everyone enjoy prosperity for years, they would rather...
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Reid's Planned Unveiled
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) proposed a plan for $2.7 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years in return for raising the nation’s debt ceiling through the end of 2012, Reuters reports.
The Wall Street Journal notes the plan would have no increase in tax revenue but would cut both domestic and military spending, but they wouldn’t target entitlement programs such as...
How many times can Boehner bring a bill to vote...
So Boehner either forces his Teabagger caucus to abandon their “principles” or he gets publicly castrated. House Democrats can vote no since they have not been consulted on the plan. And it’s DOA at the Senate, or, at least they will pass their own version and come back with something as a compromise that will lose the teabaggers that they are twisting arms on. But maybe...
Boehner: Ineffective Is His Middle Name
Nate Silver explains Boehner math problem noting Republicans “have 240 members in the House, and 217 votes are currently required to pass a bill. That means they could lose at most 23 votes, or about 10 percent of their caucus, assuming they picked up no Democratic support. Mr. Boehner had previously indicated, however, that at least 59 Republicans would not vote to raise the debt limit...
What’s At Stake - Newsroom: U.S. Senator Bernie... →
When Republican leaders talk about $3 trillion or $4 trillion in spending cuts over the next 10 years, with no new taxes on the wealthy and large corporations, please understand what they mean. While no specific proposals have been adopted, here are some of the ideas which have been discussed.
SOCIAL SECURITY: Revising the formula which determines cost-of-living adjustments. The average...
“When they thought it was a Muslim attacker, Atlas shrieked; when they realized...”
– Seen yesterday at Loonwatch Twitter feed, in response to Pamela Geller’s reaction to the Oslo terrorist acts. (via redlightpolitics)
(via stfuislamobigotry)
U.S. wastes $34 billion in Afghan and Iraq... →
The United States has wasted some $34 billion on service contracts with the private sector in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a study being finalized for Congress.
The findings by a bipartisan congressional commission were confirmed to Reuters by a person familiar with the draft of the study, which is due to be completed in coming weeks.
The analysis by the Commission on...
“Notice how “organized terrorist attack” becomes “lone crazy individual” and...”
– Eric Ward, Former Director of the Center for New Community. (via queerdesi)
The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500...
Republicans are Financial Markets terrorists. How are you supposed to negotiate with terrorists?