Ann Curry's 'Today' Exit: Steve Capus, NBC News President, Says 'We Gave Her A Year To Prove Herself'

Perhaps NBC News would be better off if Steve Capus were to exit. Seems he has lost his edge, and is looking for scapegoats. Not indicative of a winning corporate executive.
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Ann Curry's 'Today' Exit: Steve Capus, NBC News President, Says 'We Gave Her A Year To Prove Herself'

“We gave her a year to prove herself, and ultimately we came to the conclusion that she had played at the highest level she could," he (Steve Capus) said. "When you’re in the major leagues of our profession, you’ve got to continue to be at peak performance in order to stay there."



Translation:



-We think a young white chick will sell more rolls of toilet paper in that time slot-
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Eric Holder Won't Be Prosecuted For Contempt Charge, Jay Carney Says

Yet another Republican Air Ball.
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Congressional Black Caucus Forces Vote On Darrell Issa's Treatment Of Eric Holder

Issa is a Performance Artist. Had the CBC offered him a spandex uni-tard and a feather boa he would have instinctively performed a llama mating ritual for them ... he'd be unable to restrain himself. Issa has a compulsion to perform.
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Sheldon Adelson Approved 'Prostitution Strategy': Fired Former Sands Executive

In Asia many of these Hotel/Casinos are "Full Service". I remember staying at the Hyatt Terraces in Baguio, Philippines (before it collapsed in an earthquake) and there was a well appointed Casino in the lobby. At one point a beautiful girl, in a hotel bathrobe, knocked on my door, presented me with a copy of the San Francisco Chronicle (my hometown paper) and told me if there was anything I "needed" at anytime of the day or night to call the hospitality line of the hotel, ask for her, and she would come up.
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Health Care Dissent: Here's What The Conservative Wing Wanted To Happen

This quote from Frum's "Did Scalia Scare Off Roberts?" The Daily Beast piece distills the thought process of Right Wing Ideologues to its essence:



"What was written was not measured judicial analysis, but rather an opinion that started with a goal --- throw the bill out --- and then figured out how to get there, blowing by any precedent in its path."



This in particular:



"..an opinion that started with a goal --- throw the bill out --- and then figured out how to get there ..."



What Right Wing Ideologues engage in is Sophistry. They come up with the conclusion they wish ... i.e. to Repeal Obamacare ... and then they fabricate dubious arguments out of whole-cloth to reach their conclusion. We see Sophistry employed by the Right Wing Ideologues all the time. When they manufacture myths like President Obama being born in Kenya, it is through Sophistry that they support their opinion ... not fact.



The Supreme Court should be the one place in the US Government where Sophistry is barred, but as the four Conservative dissenters to the ACA ruling shows ... Sophistry seems to define their reasoning process.
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Drone Hacked By University Of Texas At Austin Research Group

I knew this was going to happen. It is easy to get all excited about drones when they are running amok in primitive areas of the world ... not many hackers in the Hindu Kush, I'd imagine ... but flying them in the United States made this outcome easy to predict.
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Glenn Beck Sells T-Shirts Calling Justice Roberts 'Coward'

The Dr Gene Scott of Right Wing politics.
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Health Care Law: All Hail The Failure Of Conventional Wisdom

What I came away with is that a Coup occurred in the Conservative Wing of the Supreme Court. We know in name this has been "The Roberts Court", but most would contend via tenure that Scalia was the Alpha Male on the Conservative side of the Court. Another article on this site noted that Scalia's dissent read more like a Majority Opinion ... perhaps it was Scalia's understanding that ACA was going to be struck down, but something evidently changed.



Additionally, another example of Conventional Wisdom fell today, that Anthony Kennedy was the swing vote in a galvanized court. For now, at least, that is no longer true.



In one fell swoop, Roberts upheld the ACA when he could have killed it. He also established himself as less than rigid as advertised.



Chief Justice Roberts definitely took the reins of his court.
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Eric Holder Contempt Resolution Over Operation Fast And Furious Passes House

Okay, Issa has had his fun ... but what is the takeaway from this debacle?



Easy.



Permissive Gun Laws in the State of Arizona are allowing gun trafficking from the United States to the Mexican Drug Cartels.



That is a National Security issue. Those same guns could be being stockpiled by Al Qeada or anyone else. Not good for the United States of America and its citizens.



I would take this issue away from ATF and turn it over to DOD. I would set up a base on the southern border and would interdict guns traveling from Arizona and confiscate them like we would in Afghanistan or Iraq. I would then track the guns back to the stores that sold them and issue a warning to the proprietor that the guns they are selling are being trafficked to Mexico, and if it happens again his store would be padlocked by the US Government on National Security grounds. I would then tell the State of Arizona to develop laws to prevent this gun trafficking or have the cost of Military Interdiction on the matter charged to the state.



Americans have a 2nd Amendment Right to keep and bear arms ... nowhere in the 2nd Amendment does it say Americans have the right to aid in the trafficking of guns to Mexico. If the NRA wants to defend trafficking of guns to the Mexican Drug Cartels we can declare it a terrorist organization and shut it down. Easy.
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Ann Curry Announces 'Today' Departure (VIDEO)

Was Ann moved out because of her age? I hope not.
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Mitt Romney On Supreme Court Health Care Ruling: We Must 'Replace President Obama' (VIDEO)

Hearing Mitt's post ACA ruling rant it is now painfully obvious that he has nestled his political future firmly in the bosom of the Tea Party.
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Eric Holder Contempt Resolution Over Operation Fast And Furious Passes House

Another stunning waste of time by John Boehner's 112th Congress. We need action from the House on a myriad of issues affecting the American People and instead we get the Performance Art of Darrell Issa ... and Shields and Yarnell he ain't.
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Supreme Court Health Care Decision: Individual Mandate Survives

I wonder if this move by Robert's was actually part of a power struggle in the Conservative wing of the Supreme Court. I read the article about Robert's switching his vote. It also mentioned that Scalia's dissent seemed to be written as the majority opinion. This is supposed to be "The Robert's Court", but, perhaps, behind the scenes it operates more as the Scalia court. Scalia had a meltdown the other day on the immigration opinion that some commentators thought may have been a reaction to losing in the ACA Ruling. But what if what actually happened was that Robert's saw this high profile ruling as a way to exert his control over a court named for him.



Perhaps the overlooked story here is that Roberts has claimed the Golden Bough from Scalia, through commandeering this ruling.



Siding with the Liberals has actually allowed Roberts to claim the mantle of "Swing Vote" on the High Court from Kennedy, as well.



So, perhaps, more than just a ruling on ACA, this was also a way for Roberts to unambiguously, and publicly take control of HIS court.
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Black Lawmakers To Walk Out On Eric Holder Contempt Vote

All Democrats should walkout ... except those owned by the NRA of course.
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Why Is the Best Attorney General Receiving the Worst Treatment?

The NRA has a good number of Congresspersons from both parties ready to pole dance in g-strings for them in Holder's Contempt of Congress vote, so the outcome will have more to say about the members of Congress than the Attorney General.



I would say one other thing, if, as I suspect, there is Intelligence related information in the documents that AG Holder and the President aren't turning over, one of the Democrat members of Congress should point that out, and not demure about it.



If Issa wants the Administration to expose sources and methods of US Intelligence working with the ATF in Mexico, as I suspect, that fact needs to be clearly read into the record.



Drop the hammer on the Republicans over this ... it is obvious they were willing to out covert CIA Agent Valerie Plame for political reasons, and it looks like the Republicans are willing to do that again for this Fast and Furious nonsense.



Nail the Republicans to the wall on this. It's a street fight, not a soiree.
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Judge Refuses To Block Florida Voter Purge

As long as any American Citizen who is removed from the voter rolls erroneously has the right to sue the State of Florida, the Governor, and Attorney General of the State for civil damages under the Voters Rights Act. Rick Scott is a rich guy, I'm sure he can afford it.
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Texas Republican Party Platform Calls For Repeal Of Voting Rights Act Of 1965

What's the value of a "Free Country" based on "Liberty" if your right to vote is restricted?



Answer:



Such a country has no value whatsoever.
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Single-Payer Health Care Favored By House Progressives If Court Strikes Down Obamacare

Single Payer would be a stabilizing force in American society. Health issues can be promptly addressed before they become more serious concerns. Business will see relief from its current amount of buy in for employee health care. Citizens will no longer have the spectre of bankruptcy hanging over their head when confronted with a catastrophic health occurrence.



The only downside is to investors in the Private Health Insurance Industry, but then their greed based concerns are immoral anyway.
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Single-Payer Health Care Favored By House Progressives If Court Strikes Down Obamacare

Medicare-For-All should have been the goal all along. The President tried to get Pharma and AHIP on board by compromising the Affordable Care Act with the Heritage Foundation's Individual Mandate. The President's reward for accommodating AHIP and Pharma was the wrath of the Tea Party that these two groups built and supported to undermine Health Reform.



If ACA goes down there is no reason not to aggressively pursue a Comprehensive Universal Single Payer Plan like Medicare-For-All.



Americans want quality, affordable, accessible Health Care, and, contrary to the Health Care Industry spin, won't care if it is delivered by the Government or Private Sector.
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The Truth About The Fast And Furious Scandal

People need to understand Issa ... he's an attention addict. A Narcissist. Whether or not there is anything to the allegations, Issa will pursue them simply to be in the spotlight.



Issa really revealed himself in the recall election of Governor Gray Davis in California. Issa was the force behind that recall because, simply, he wanted to be Governor of California. When he was pushed aside in favor of Arnold Schwarzenegger he had a public emotional meltdown.



This Fast and Furious nonsense isn't about Brian Terry. It isn't about Executive Privilege. It isn't about Gun Walking. It isn't about withheld documents. It isn't about AG Holder. It isn't about President Obama ...



It's about Darrell Issa, as Ringmaster, in the Center Ring, with the spotlight and all eyes upon him.



Rep Darrell Issa sobs after Scharwenegger bigfoots him out of 2003 gov recall



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VW0v7wwfkQ
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Single-Payer Health Care Favored By House Progressives If Court Strikes Down Obamacare

I'd call the law The Theodore Roosevelt Universal Care Act.
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Justice Scalia Must Resign

The Supreme Court's Conservative Majority has made a mockery of the institution. I understand E. J. Dionne point of view, but I wouldn't hold my breath on Scalia's resignation.



Scalia was never appointed to the court to be an actual judge. His political commentary makes perfect sense when his placement on the court is taken in the proper context.
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Supreme Court Health Care Decision Will Define The Future Of The American Health Care System

Whatever the outcome, this is just a stop on the path to Comprehensive Universal Single Payer Health Care. There is no "forever" associated with this outcome.
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Young Americans Losing Faith? New Poll Shows 31 Percent Of Adults Under 30 Doubt God Exists

Invocation of God is just another weapon that human beings deploy against one another. I can see if you are indoctrinated by your family and community into religion you would feel "of course there is a God", but without that uniform indoctrination, and by being exposed to other, often conflicting, ideas about ones place in the universe, it is easy to see how organized religion is losing its sway, and unquestioned belief in God is diminishing.
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The Truth About The Fast And Furious Scandal

I think the NRA has jumped the shark on backing this Fast and Furious crusade. When you read the background on Fast and Furious, without the Right Wing ideological component that fuels this attack on Holder and Obama, the picture becomes quite clear.



US Gun Manufacturers are using the permissive gun laws of Arizona to launder weapons to the Mexican Drug Cartels.



What is happening in Arizona is a National Security issue and cost Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry his life.



Why would the NRA want to highlight this? Pure hubris.
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Mitt Romney Promises Economy 'Resurgence' If Elected President

Talk is cheap to Mitt ... never any specifics ... nothing but softball questions from our Private Press.



I'm waiting for the Bishop to promise us all a pony.
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CNN Hits 21-Year Ratings Low; Cable News Ratings For Q2 2012

Move LEFT CNN for as Jim Hightower said :



"There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road but Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos."
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Take The Color Challenge: How Well Can You See Color?

I scored 10. I had a great uncle who was colorblind, after he retired he became an artist. His paintings were amazing, and color blindness didn't affect his creativity in the least.
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Health Care As A Privilege: What The GOP Won't Admit

Of course Medical Care should be a right. And in a civilized society medical care should be provided to all citizens equally by the Government, and supported by taxation. It is such a simple concept even a child should be able to understand it.
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The Economy Will Do More Than Define the Elections

Unemployment is bad, of course, but then we have been in an undeclared Depression since the crash of 2008. Undeclared, because admitting we are in a Depression is touching the third rail of politics. Declaring a Depression means someone screwed up big time ... in both the Government and Private Sector, and, frankly, scalps are due. In the 1930s Wall Street, the Rich, and Politicians learned just how bad a Depression can be. It can cook the Golden Goose of Wall Street and Banking fraud through tough, and responsible, new regulations. Can't have that. So, no Depression declared.



The thing is, the system that caused the Crash and Depression is no less rotten now than it was in 2008 ... and we know the global economy is contaminated with over a quadrillion dollars in derivatives of dubious value.



The honest in the investment community recognize there is another shoe to drop ... but when? And ... how bad will it actually be?



When you have a global economy built on hubris and fraud there is always a risk factor that makes the condition of the economy such it will define more than just the election.
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Five Bible Images You Probably Misunderstand

Translation is important too.



I once read that the same Hebrew glyph stands for Earth and Dust. This bit of information is intriguing for.



"The meek shall inherit the Earth."



Is quite different from



"The meek shall inherit the dust."
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Supreme Court Reverses Anti-Citizens United Ruling From Montana

When faced with a rigged game the wise simply refuse to play it and come up with a new game to replace it.



"No change is permanent, but change is."



Tom Sawyer - RUSH
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How Obama and the Democrats Got Played by the Insurance Industry on the Mandate

The best the Americans can hope for is a complete government takeover of healthcare and the complete elimination of the immoral, unethical For Profit Health Care Industry. Americans need access to health care, they don't need investors polluting the process with profit demands, and damaging the quality of health care deliverables.
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Supreme Court Reverses Anti-Citizens United Ruling From Montana

If we do not replace the current system of financing elections with Public Financing the American Voter will be doing little more than electing fresh meat to brothels, masquerading as public office.
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Allen West Denounces Egyptian Presidential Election As Proof Of 'Radical Islamic Nightmare'

It's a big world and not every nation is going to be run by radical right wing born again Christians ... sorry to break the news to Congressman West.
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Media Mostly Covered The Politics Of Health Care Reform, Which Is Probably Why No One Knows What The Law Does

The MSM is infotainment focused, not journalism focused, so it is extremely rare to find relevant information shared on important issues, because relevant information tends to be too weighty for the 7th grade educational level of most media consumers.
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Achievement Gap Persists For Low-Income Students While Competing Philosophies Vie For Influence

The Red, White and Blue will be worthless if it flies over a nation of uneducated ignoramuses. The most Patriot thing we can do is see those seats are filled and remain filled until American students graduate. The rest of the world that is fixated and focused on educating their students is experiencing prosperity and moving forward, while we talk a good game about Americans future when in actuality we can't compete. Why does the Private Sector want Visa's to bring in skilled labor? Because Americans have decided they are too cool for education.



Try to build prosperous tomorrow on that.
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Jerry Sandusky Guilty: Verdict Reached In Child Molestation Trial Of Former Penn State Football Coach

I read many of the jurors had direct affiliation with Penn State, and this verdict proves that when given evidence of crime responsible jurors will block out all other considerations and do the correct thing. This is truly a victory for the jury system.
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Karen Klein Should Give the Money Back

Let's get straight to the point here. TV commentators won't say it because they need viewers to sell toilet paper to ... but I'm not selling anything. Politicians won't say it because they need votes, but I'm not running for anything so let me make something perfectly clear here. All problems with children begin the same place ... with their parents. It's not the teachers fault that the kids are louses. It's not the bus monitors fault the bus ride becomes a journey with the Lord of the Flies. It is the parent's fault. All problems of children's behavior have the parents fingerprints all over it.



So before we bash the poor Bus Monitor for not controlling the hooligans on the bus. let's remember that if she complained about the "little darlings" some parent would have found a way to sue her for her observation. Many American Parents are more or less garbage, who are so distracted with the petty nonsense that frame their meaningless lives that they, more or less. let their little monsters raise themselves.



I say Ms Klein should take the money and run, these kids are hopeless.
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Obama Executive Privilege Asserted Over Fast And Furious Documents

Let's see if we can use just a little logic to figure out why AG Holder would withhold documents, and the President would asset Executive Privilege.



Hmm.



Fast and Furious had components involved in both the United States and Mexico. That makes it an international operation, not a domestic one. That would lead me to believe the CIA provided support to the operation on the Mexican side of the border. It would not be in the best interests of United States National Security to expose the sources and methods of the CIA operating in Mexico. So that would explain AG Holder's reluctance to release documents, and the President's desire to exert Executive Privilege to limit access to sensitive intelligence information.



The Republicans don't seem to have any problem with information related to the CIA in Mexico becoming accessible by the public. That I find disturbing.
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Ron Paul Admits He's On Social Security, Even Though He Believes It's Unconstitutional

Nice to see Ron Paul is enjoying the Libertarian "Ayn Rand Exemption" in drawing his Social Security. Social Security IS Constitutional, and always has been.
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The F Word

Excellent post. Knowledge is Power, so of course that makes knowledge dangerous as well. I like the sharing a fact with others in a bucket brigade (#InfoBucketBrigade or #FWord), but we need to recognize that these hash tags will become targets for disinformation too, for that is the way the game is played. Who will watch the Watchers? Who will correct non-facts in a crusade to share facts. In a way it is quite daunting.



I have had the opportunity to work with many Russians who immigrated to the US after the fall of the Soviet Union and we discussed life in the USSR. One thing that was pointed out to me over and over again was how the Soviet Government undermined itself with the propaganda it disseminated to the population via TASS and PRAVDA. The information the Russian people received was verifiable as different from the world they actually lived in. This created a cynicism overtime to a point that information the Russian people received from the Government was met with constant skepticism.



More important than correcting the Fact deficit, is for the American people to develop the same level of skepticism towards the information Corporations provide them, that the Russians developed for information provided by the state. You may not be able to replace disinformation with fact, as easily as discrediting the sources for the disinformation itself.
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Obama Executive Privilege Asserted Over Fast And Furious Documents

The Republican 112 Wurm Congress has done Performance Art masquerading as legitimate Congressional business since it was sworn in in January 2011. Darryl "Cry-Baby" Issa is just another novelty act
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Howard Dean Hopes Supreme Court Throws Out Individual Mandate

The most hilarious thing about this Individual Mandate kerfuffle is that the Democrats included it as a giveaway to AHIP, built off an idea fashioned by the Right Wing Heritage Foundation, that would have entrenched the For-Profit Health Care system in a National Health Care Plan, but now the Republicans are attacking it, for it is the weakest link in Obama's ACA. I mean, its like the scene in Catch-22 when Milo Minderbinder, during WWII, uses the US Air force to bomb its own Airbase as part of a contract his Syndicate made with the Germans.



The Republicans are destroying their own concept in going after the Individual Mandate, and screwing their constituents in the For Profit Health Care Industry by doing so ... now that's funny.



I've been against the Individual Mandate from the start ... next thing you know they will be mandating we buy a 2 liter bottle of Coke every day. Same difference.



Throw out the individual mandate and we can improve ACA with a Public Option. Throw out the entire ACA and we can resume the fight for Comprehensive Universal Single Payer Health Care. Keep the whole ACA in place and it is a political victory for Obama, and we can excise the Individual Mandate later.



Anyway it turns out it's good.
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Susan Tyrrell Dead: Cult Film Actress Dies At 67

I'll tell you this, Susan Tyrrell did an amazing job in the psychological thriller "Buddy Boy" ... fantastic.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buddy_Boy



RIP
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Greek Election Results: New Democracy Wins

Forming a coalition with the New Democrats is the last act PASOK will take as a viable political party in Greece. It's time for the fake Socialists to betray Greece ... we're all waiting.
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John McCain: Syrian Rebels Need Our Help

If President Obama doesn't help the Syrian Rebels it's shameful ... if President Obama helps the Syrian Rebels he's overstepped his authority and should be impeached. We know how the Republicans play this game all too well.
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Egypt Elections: First Hours Of Presidential Vote See Smaller Lines And Dampened Enthusiasm

Too much tampering in the current Egyptian Electoral Process by foreign interests. The Egyptians are saddled with a false democracy. We need to see what remedy for that The People of Egypt come up with.
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Greece Elections: Euro Could Be Rocked By Vote

The People of Greece have the choice between US Backed Harvard MBA Antonis Samaras or homegrown man of The People, Alexis Tsipras.



The election comes down to whether Greece will exist for the benefit of the Greeks, or for the benefit of Wall Street.



If I were Greek, I'd vote for my country ... I'd vote for SYRIZA.
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A Time to Choose: DREAM or Impeach?

The Right Wing Republicans have been calling for Obama's impeachment since his inauguration. His crime? Being the first African American elected President. At one point I was under the impression the way the President deployed mustard on a hamburger was being used by American Rightists as a justification for impeachment.



Furthermore, even if the Republicans were to Impeach Obama they face the same problem they had with Clinton. A dog-and-pony show of Rightist Nitwittery in the House of Representatives, turning the United States into an embarrassment in the eyes of the civilized world, followed by a trial in the Senate that is inconclusive, leaving the President in office anyway. A total work of Right Wing Republican Performance Art that wastes the time and money of the American people.



The John Boehner Do-Nothing Congress substitutes Antics for Action and has made a mockery of the United States Government.



You don't let a four year old play with a band saw, and you don't let Right Wingers anywhere near positions of Responsibility. The American People's mistake in 2010.
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Euro 'Is A Bloody Doomsday Machine,' Economics Professor Says

The Greeks need to leave the EURO before Greece is carved up as spoils by the International Bankers. What the Greeks are really voting on is their sovereignty and national dignity. If they vote to abide by the draconian bailout measures Greece is lost. The International Bankers made a bad bet, let them take the loss.
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