Senate overwhelmingly approves tax-cut deal

Insiders Find Pelosi And Palin Lacking Compared To Other Surrogates
By James A. Barnes House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) may have guided Democrats to their majority in the House of Representatives, but according the latest National Journal Congressional Insiders Poll, many of her colleagues are not looking to her to help them win their own races this year. This week, 35 Democratic Members of Congress responded to the poll. They were asked whom they would like to have campaign for them in the fall and given a list of 6 options: Joe Biden , Bill Clinton , ...

"You Elected Me To Do What Was Right"
Obama's Speech to Gen44 tonight knocked my socks off. It's streaming on CSPAN here . If you've forgotten why many of you worked your ass off for this guy, and felt hope for the first time in many years, watch it. He deserves criticism when necessary as this blogazine has not shied from at times. But he remains in my judgment the best option this country still has left - and it's far too easy for the left and far too dangerous for serious Conservatives and Independents to...

Wanker of the Day: David Brooks
David Brooks is living in a fantasy land. [Meg] Whitman is representative of an emerging Republican type what you might call the Austerity Caucus. Flamboyant performers like Sarah Palin get all the attention, but the governing soul of the party is to be found in statehouses where a loose confederation of ber-wonks have become Militant Budget balancers. Just as welfare reformers of the 1990s presaged compassionate Conservatism, so the Austerity brigades presage the national partys next...

Congress Sets Stage For Major Spending Showdown In December
Democrats and Republicans are prepared for a big fight over Spending next year if the balance of power on Capitol Hill changes hands. Some are even forecasting a Government shutdown . But that fight could actually come earlier than anybody expected , particularly if Republicans make huge gains in November. As Congress adjourns for Elections season they've set the stage for a tussle over Spending this year. Late last night, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) lost a little-noticed vote on Government...

2012 hopefuls are not showing the Tea Party candidates the money
Senate GOP Candidates backed by the Tea Party movement have received much less financial support than more established Candidates from their Partys leading contenders for the White House. The GOP figures jockeying for a 2012 bid have largely avoided contributing from their Political action Committees (PACs) to Christine ODonnell in Delaware, Rand Paul in Kentucky, Joe Miller in Alaska, Mike Lee in Utah, Ken Buck in Colorado and Sharron Angle in Nevada. All six won GOP contests against...

Tea Party Senate Leader Jim DeMint Stops Women's Museum
cross-posted at Huffington Post This shouldn’t be surprising, because Republicans were also against the Lily Ledbetter Act. But it’s really remarkable in the 21st century when Right-wing Senate Tea Party leader Jim DeMint puts a hold on a women’s museum, because he thinks the only thing women are known for is being Abortion Rights advocates. Now Sen. Tom Coburn is helping DeMint do it. I wonder if Sarah Palin supports these actions, too? This is what the Republican Tea...

Andrew Sullivan " Rick Sanchez Level Intellectualism, But With Poser Glasses And A British Accent
Maybe people are thrown by the accent, but Andrew Sullivan is not a smart guy. And he’s a conservative like Michael Moore is a pearl diver. From the Daily Dish (ugh) (I feel unclean just fisking stuff he wrote) Obama’s Speech to Gen44 tonight knocked my socks off. It’s streaming on CSPAN here . If you’ve forgotten why many of you worked your ass off for this guy, and felt hope for the first time in many years, watch it. He deserves criticism when necessary as this...

Suddenly, Bill Clinton is Mr. Popular
A new poll came out this week and, as you might have already read , Bill Clinton is America's most popular politician. That's how the findings of the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal survey are being reported, anyway. In reality, the poll only found that Clinton is more popular than Barack Obama, Mike Huckabee, John Boehner, Mitch McConnell, Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich, Harry Reid, Sarah Palin and Nancy Pelosi -- the only other politicians who were included in the mix . Still,...

Obama's 2012 insurance policy?
What may be most notable in the new Gallup Poll on the 2012 Republican presidential race is the significant distance between Mitt Romney, who leads the crowded pack with 19 percent, and the next Candidate without obvious and glaring General Election liabilities.  Just consider the results: Romney   19% Sarah Palin 16% Mike Huckabee 12% Newt Gingrich  9% Ron Paul  7% Tim Pawlenty  3% With the disclaimer that anything is possible (and the obligatory...

David Brooks: Let's face it, Mitch Daniels is likely to be the GOP nominee
He hath seen the crease in the man’s pants and pronounced it good . Whitman is representative of an emerging Republican type what you might call the Austerity Caucus. Flamboyant performers like Sarah Palin get all the attention, but the governing soul of the Party is to be found in statehouses where a loose confederation of ber-wonks have become Militant Budget balancers. Just as welfare reformers of the 1990s presaged compassionate Conservatism, so the Austerity brigades presage...

Federal Court Rejects Atheist Lawsuit Challenging National Motto and Pledge of Allegiance Displays at Capitol Visitor Center
Freedom From Religion Foundation says it won't give up effort to remove carvings. Friday, October 01, 2010 By Pete Winn The U.S. Capitol Visitor Center. (Photo courtesy of U.S. Congress) (CNSNews.com) - A Federal Court Judge in Madison, Wis., has dismissed a lawsuitchallenging the constitutionality of engravings of the National Motto -- In God We Trust -- and the Pledge of Allegiance at the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, D.C. U.S. District Judge William M. Conley ruled...

America's Ready for an Economic Change. But Is She Ready to Maintain It?
tags: Barack Obama , Big Government , Democratic Party , Democrats , Economics , Economy , Fox News , Jobs , Left , Left-Wing , Liberalism , Midterm Elections , Newt Gingrich , Politics , Public Opinion , Sean Hannity , spending , Stimulus , Taxes , Unemployment Not that anybody here needs to be reminded that the Democrats’ agenda is a bust, but heres a handy reminder from last nights Hannity , on which former Speaker Newt Gingrich ran down the case...

Towey's Hypocritical Hooey: Bush 'Faith Czar' Complains About Politicization Of White House Faith-Based Office
Under James Towey, the White House faith-based office was used to promote Republican Candidates in tight House and Senate races. James Towey, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives under President George W. Bush, had an opinion piece in The Wall Street Journal recently carping because President Barack Obama has used his administrations faith-based offices to let Americans know about the New Health-care law. Towey says if he had politicized his...

Johnson and Wales University student Raymond Chase hangs himself in dorm room
How can we make these tragedies stop? It's heartbreaking. Notice no commentary from this White House about a national call to action regarding this relentless string of youth Suicides, particularly those tied to Bullying. For an administration that puts out Press Releases for planting a tree or some minor event, the silence is deafening. (via Perez Hilton ): It is just devastating for us to report that we have learned that Raymond Chase, an Openly Gay sophomore at Johnson and Wales...

Leftovers - September 28, 2010
The CBO says extending the Bush Tax Cuts will hurt The Economy . Sen. DeMint aims to shut down the Senate . Christine O'Donnell gets caught artificially enhancing her academic background.  Rand Paul scares Kentucky's Senior Citizens.  While Republicans demand Tax Cuts for the rich, the Income gap is growing. Yesterday was the Hottest day on record in Los Angeles. Share

September 30
September 30 Thursday, 09/30/2010 - 9:23 am by Tim Price | Post a Comment --> Thursday, 09/30/2010 - 9:23 am by Tim Price | Post a Comment What you need to know to navigate today’s most critical Debates. Consumer Advocate Seeks to Reassure Banks About Protection Agency ( NYTimes ) Elizabeth Warren told Bank execs that she plans to work with them rather than against them, but she’s still determined to stand up for consumers. The Ghost of Full Employment ( TAP ) Jefferson...

Why did Tyler Clementi die?
Durham, North Carolina (CNN) -- What made Rutgers University freshman Tyler Clementi jump off of a bridge to his death? Was it to escape utter panic and humiliation after his roommate, Dharun Ravi, 18, allegedly set up spy cameras in his dorm room, went to fellow freshman Molly Wei's room and fired up the livestream recording of Clementi making out with another Young man, as the Middlesex County prosecutor has charged? The video was distributed over the Social Networking site Twitter. A life...

2009 National School Climate Survey: Nearly 9 out of 10 LGBT Students Experience Harassment in School
hearing homophobic remarks; however, LGBT Students' experiences with more severe forms of Bullying and harassment have remained relatively constant. "In 1999, GLSEN began data collection on the school experiences of LGBT Students in order to fill a critical void in our knowledge and understanding of the ways LGBT issues play out in schools. It could not be clearer that there is an urgent need for action to create safe and affirming schools for LGBT Students," GLSEN Executive Director Eliza Byard...

Insane Stalker Assistant AG Takes Leave Of Absence To Spend More Time With His Hate
Where “too little, too late” meets “better than nothing” and “it’s about time,” we have the announcement that Michigan’s unhinged, obsessed, homophobic Assistant AG is finally taking a leave of absence , probably to devote himself full-time to his stalking career: AfterMichigan Attorney General Mike Cox spent Wednesday night on CNN defending Shirvell’s right to maintain the blog, his office said today that Shirvell’s leave...

Lessons From Gay Pride
I have vocally supported my Gay brothers and sisters. I spoke at a Protest when Proposition 8 passed in California. I have written and encouraged readers to fight against Homophobia. I have preached about the need to become open and affirming communities of faith. With all of that being said, I have been a hypocrite. Until Saturday, I had not been to the Gay Pride Parade in Durham, NC I wish I could say it has been due to some conflict in schedule. Not the case. I would be dishonest if I said it...

Donkey Zombies
By James Taranto (Note: We'll be away on assignment Monday, to return Tuesday.) "Now's not the time to quit. . . . It took time to free the slaves. . . . Ultimately we'll make progress. . . . I need you to be fired up. . . . There better not be an enthusiasm gap, People." So declared the greatest orator of our time last night at a Speech to "DNC Gen44 Event," whatever that is. "Ordinarily, I don't think it's wise to second-guess the communications...

Fascism is coming to the USA... Literally (no kidding)
© Unknown I thought twice before using the word "fascism" in the title of this post, because by now the word "fascism" and "fascist" have become degraded into simply all purpose terms of abuse without any concrete meaning, except disaproval: so perhaps it might be a good thing to go straight to how fascism is defined by former Columbia University Professor Robert O. Paxton in Wikipedia 's article on the subject and see how it fits with some of what we are looking at today: Fascism may...

Where We Went Wrong
Somewhere along the road to a "permanent Majority," the Republican Revolution of 1994 went off track. For several years, we had confidence in our convictions and trusted that the American People would reward our efforts. And they did. But today, my Republican friends in Congress stand on the precipice of an electoral rout. Even the best-case scenarios suggest wafer-thin majorities and a legislative agenda in disarray. With eight days before the Election, House Speaker-in-waiting Nancy...

How Values Priorities Can Get Manipulated and Warped by Power: Here's My Image of this Conservative's Position in the Battle Between Good and Evil
This piece was originally a comment I wrote on the “Evil and Sacred” thread that precedes this. ************************ One thought about who JM is and where he seems to be coming from with his quick sketch of his set of declared values: I cannot, in good conscience, support those who are in favor of Abortion on demand, Gun Control, and Homosexuality, and who make deals with The Devil as did Bill Clinton and the Communist Chinese. I both respect and bemoan what I...