kpete
kpete's JournalNo Low Is Too Low For Hannity, Who Compares the Poor to Animals
Apparently there is a sign. National Park Service, the US Department of the Interior, and it says "Please do not feed the animals. And the reason: The animals will grow dependent on handouts and will not take care of themselves.
Well, I -- - "You don't want to help people who are poor. And starving. See?" No, it's -- the dependency issue is a lot different. You teach people how to fish, how to be independent, you create an environment where jobs are plentiful, versus people being dependent on government."
http://crooksandliars.com/karoli/no-low-too-low-hannity-who-compares-poor-an
Picture of moment President Obama was told of Sandy Hook massacre is released
http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1232940.1357298112!/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/landscape_635/article-obama-newtown4n-0104.jpghttp://cncnws.com/blog/2013/01/04/picture-of-moment-president-obama-was-told-of-sandy-hook-massacre-is-released-as-elementary-school-students-go-back-to-class-for-first-time-since-tragedy/
Rep. Grayson: Republicans using debt ceiling as ‘legislative terrorism’
Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) blasted Republicans on Thursday night for planning to use the federal debt ceiling as leverage in the ongoing battle over government spending.
He said Republicans saw the debt ceiling as “a device to extract concessions they would otherwise never be able to accomplish.”
“That is why it is legislative terrorism,” Grayson continued. “They are using the debt ceiling as a means to cut Social Security benefits, cut Medicare benefits, cut unemployment insurance, cut anything of any use to any ordinary human being in this country simply because they want more money for tax cuts for the rich.”
Republicans previously refused to raise the federal debt ceiling in 2011 unless Democrats agreed to significant budget cuts. The battle over the debt ceiling resulted in the United States having its credit rating downgraded and ultimately lead to the so-called fiscal cliff crisis.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/01/03/rep-grayson-republicans-using-debt-ceiling-as-legislative-terrorism/
The Left's Sequester Leverage: "We choose to honor sequester limits of the 8/11 deal YOU AGREED TO"
FRI JAN 04, 2013 AT 05:03 AM PST
The Left's Sequester Leverage
byWineRevFollow
(PLEASE READ THE WHOLE THING - i could not edit - it is too good)
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So all this means Obama/Shumer/Sanders/Pelosi/Reid/the Left HAVE THE LEVERAGE TO SAY, "We choose to honor the sequester limits of the August, 2011 deal YOU AGREED TO, since they make sense to begin cutting our long-term debt that you turkeys are mostly responsible for.
"But YOU stinking bastards on the other side want to WEASEL OUT OF the deal you made in August 2011. YOU were LYING then and we can assume you are LYING NOW. Your word means NOTHING.
"Nonetheless, ABIDING BY THE EXEMPTIONS AGREED TO IN 2011 THAT WE ARE NOT THEREBY GOING TO EVEN TALK ABOUT, as far as other NON-Defense cuts that total $50 Billion in 2013, we propose whacking $4Billion right off the bat by ENDING all oil and Gas and coal and nuclear subsidies, since we believe they are no longer infant industries in need of help or protection from foreign competitors.
"We propose ending $3bill./year in cotton subsidies, $3.5 Billion/yr. in sugar subsidies, another $3billion in wheat subsidies.
"So far we are $15 billion cut and economic efficiency improved. Agriculture starts with "A" and we have 25 letters left to go......"
Screaming? Oh yeah. Spending Cuts available? Piece of cake.
Shalom.
(LOTS MORE DETAILS - this is our baby now):
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/01/04/1176216/-The-Left-s-Sequester-Leverage
A Court Ruling Todd Akin could love
A Court Ruling Todd Akin could lovehttp://rising-hegemon.blogspot.com/2013/01/a-court-ruling-todd-akin-could-love.html
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Judge: Law won't protect unmarried victims in rape
A panel of judges reversed the trial court's conviction of Julio Morales and remanded it for retrial, in a decision posted Wednesday from the Los Angeles-based court.
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Morales pretended to be her boyfriend in the darkened room, and it wasn't until a ray of light from outside the room flashed across his face that she realized he wasn't her boyfriend, according to prosecutors.
"Has the man committed rape? Because of historical anomalies in the law and the statutory definition of rape, the answer is no, even though, if the woman had been married and the man had impersonated her husband, the answer would be yes," Judge Thomas L. Willhite Jr. wrote in the court's decision.
http://news.yahoo.com/judge-law-wont-protect-unmarried-victims-rape-012941200.html
Suicides Outnumber Battle Deaths-Every 80 minutes, a US military veteran commits suicide in the US
Suicides Outnumber Battle Deaths in the Armed ServicesFriday, 04 January 2013 09:24
By S.E. Smith
Approximately every 80 minutes, a US military veteran commits suicide in the United States; for Iraq and Afghanistan, the numbers of veterans lost to suicide now outstrips casualty lists of those killed in action. The suicide rate for active duty personnel isn’t so shockingly high, but it’s still significant; in the first half of 2012, almost one soldier a day took his or her own life. Both veterans and combat personnel have experienced a steep rise in suicide rates since 2005, which notably marked a sharp increase in the intensity of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This is a public health crisis and an epidemic; veterans alone account for 20% of US suicides. Clearly, the measures the Department of Defense is using to cope with this problem are inadequate, and it’s time to think about how to approach suicide prevention for this particularly vulnerable population. While the DOD is targeting privately-owned weapons, which are a common culprit in military suicides, clearly this is only the beginning of a long and complex approach.
While on duty, soldiers deal with high stress on a constant basis, with limited opportunities for decompression and processing. While counseling services are available and mechanisms are in place to flag soldiers as “high-risk,” such systems come with significant stigma, which can make people reluctant to report suicidal thoughts and other signs and symptoms of severe depression. They can risk losing their clearances, being discharged or being taken away from their units, which can serve to increase feelings of isolation and depression.
Once discharged, veterans can struggle with reintegration into society, something cited again and again by friends and family of suicide victims. They note that support services were inadequate, especially for those waiting on disability claims and other assistance, and that their loved ones had difficulty adjusting to the civilian world. Many are also coping with traumatic brain injuries — the signature injury of Iraq and Afghanistan — and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, which can complicate their ability to navigate the world even further. Charlie Rangel notes that despite the existence of transition assistance services and mental health programs for veterans, these services are underutilized, and may not meet the needs of servicemembers.
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MORE:
http://truth-out.org/news/item/13702-suicides-outnumber-battle-deaths-in-the-armed-services
Coulter On Guns; Wants List Of Women Who Had Abortions So Mothers Know Who Would 'Murder a Child'
Ann Coulter Loses It On Guns; Wants List Of Women Who Had Abortions So Mothers Know Who Would 'Murder A Child'......................
"Why can't we get a record of women who have had abortions?" Coulter asked. "They get money from Planned Parenthood; they get money from Medicare and Medicaid, much of these are tax subsidies. I think mothers might want to know what other women on the street might be willing to murder a child."
And then she started wondering about Manhattan real estate. "How about a list of the rent-controlled apartments in New York?" she asked. "And by the way, if we're producing lists of gun permit owners, I want 'em for Manhattan! I want to know how many rich liberals with their bodyguards have gun permits."
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She then likened gun control advocates to "hysterical women" who "refuse to go after criminals." She said:
"They will not do anything about manifestly crazy people—no, no, no—we have to let [them] walk the streets of Manhattan, defecate in the street, you have the ACLU defending crazy people. All of these shoot-ups, this precious protection for obviously mentally-disturbed individuals, there is certainly no effort to reduce single-motherhood, something that is also a contributing factor in many of these cases. In New York City, you can't take a subway without somebody getting pushed onto the tracks by mentally disturbed individuals. And liberals won't let us go after the criminals, no they specifically go out and try to harm people who by definition do not have criminal records so that they're guns can be stolen by criminals!"
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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/04/ann-coulter-guns-women-abortions-mothers-murder-child_n_2408584.html
Regular Order
FRI JAN 04, 2013 AT 05:01 AM PST
Regular Order
by brooklynbadboy
No matter where you stand on the fiscal cliff, or its previous or subsequent promontories, there should be universal disgust with how this country is being governed. What we have is not crisis management, but management by crisis. I may be an idealist, by I suspect that our Founding Fathers did not design our government policies to essentially come down to private negotiations between two men. Joe Biden and Mitch McConnell can't lay claim to any great constitutional powers, yet both men have written the tax policy of this country for the next 4 years. This kind of thing can't continue if we are going to have a functional republic. We need to restore normalcy to the process of policy making in this country.
Perhaps I'm an idealist, but I still think the Schoolhouse Rock way of making a bill a law is the right way to go. Some folks back home get an idea. A courageous congressperson spends years fighting for it. Some enterprising politician makes it a national issue. A committee of jurisdiction takes up the bill for markup. There is a floor debate, and a conference committee, a vote and a presidential verdict of some sort. It isn't too much to ask that this be done. That public issues are thoroughly and publicly weighed and considered via the Constitutional process. It is sad day when our Republic teeters on the secret discussions between two old men while the rest of America serves as a rubber stamp of their agreement.
Perhaps we've reached a point in the history of this country where the Constitution no longer works effectively. It is something to consider. The most recent change to our tax law was never considered for one day by the House Ways and Means Committee, a committee whose very name was created in the Constitution. It is the oldest standing legislative committee in the world, the first committee that the 1st Congress created. And yet, this committee, whose very existence is generated by the exclusive power of the House to originate any form of tax, did zero work on our tax policy. No hearings. No horse trading. Not even a chance for lobbyists to bend and shape and cajole. Forget about the public reaction. Instead, it was written by the Vice President and the Senate Minority Leader in secret negotiations over a 48 hour period. I'm not arguing that any of this is legally unconstutional. Technically it isn't. But, this isn't ethically constitutional.This isn't how American government is supposed to work. It isn't the right way to make laws.
This form of national management is starting to set a bad precedent. Today it is tax policy, but tomorrow it will be the bill of rights. One day many other important policies will be written by two men in secret, whose motivations and interests will never be known to any of us. They'll decide we must go to war, they'll pass the declaration at 2am and have an electronic pen sign it into law by dawn. Congress will play no other role other than to approve it in order to avoid some other manufactured calamity that will befall us if they do not. This is what will happen if crisis government becomes the norm. This sort of thing is what leads republics to things like the Enabling Act, which was sold, of course, as a temporary measure to prevent an even worse calamity.
It is incumbent that the American people, of all political stripes, begin to demand a return to regular order: a normal process of policy making that reflects our small r republican values and respects the Constitutional vision of lawmaking.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/01/04/1176210/-Regular-Order
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) Juggles Kid, Bible, Mussed Hair During Swearing In
They may be getting sworn into the Senate today, but for Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas), their kids were the ones who stole the show.
First was Gillibrand's son, held atop his mother's hip as she lightly touched the Bible during a mock swear-in with Vice President Joe Biden.
Midway through the oath, Gillibrand's son reached out his hand and ruffled his mom's hair. With a big smile, Gillibrand proceeded with the oath as she tried to tamp down her hair.
http://news.yahoo.com/senators-kids-steal-show-mock-swear-203214139--abc-news-politics.html
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