Angela Corey, Prosecutor In Trayvon Martin Case, Known As Tough

I'm sure Angela Corey will do a great job, or else the DOJ will take the case out of her hands with a Federal charge.
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AARP: Social Security Should Not Be Part Of Deficit Discussion

If AARP doesn't represent the vanguard protecting Entitlements for Seniors than the organization has no inherent purpose. I can pick up an attractive tote bag or key fob anywhere.
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Leon Panetta: Congress 'Put A Gun To Their Heads' By Risking Defense Cuts

Why do we need such a huge "Defense" Budget anyway? Is it the United States goal to rule the world by force? How does the rest of the world feel about that?
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CIA Secret Prison: Polish Leaders Break Silence About Black Site

I think this supports the case that members of the George W Bush Administration are War Criminals, with crimes against humanity hanging over their heads, who intimated and bribed countries like Poland to help cover their tracks.



Let's hope more members of the "Coalition of the Willing" start spilling their guts about what the NeoCons forced them to do. It's time for governments to come clean now. Enough hiding the vile misdeeds of the Bush Administration, which never truly represented American values.
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Trayvon Martin Case: George Zimmerman Was 'Jekyll And Hyde,' Former Co-Worker Says

This George Zimmerman obviously has issues. We know he's prone to stereotyping blacks. We know he is a cop wannabe. We know he has a short fuse. We know he is prone to violence. We know he is paranoid. We know he is not a person anyone would want wandering around in their neighborhood with a gun pretending to be on a neighborhood watch. We know his father is a retired Magistrate Judge. We know the media defense that is being put together to protect him from even being charged with a crime is extremely sophisticated and relies heavily on friend's and family members who act as though they have first hand knowledge of the incident but, weren't there and are really just parroting whatever George has told them or someone has constructed for them to say. I mean, there is an awful lot of concerted effort keeping George Zimmerman from being charged under Florida statute. We know that the Police Chief and first DA has stepped aside, which is, frankly, suspicious. Things that are being vigorously forwarded from the Zimmerman side, simply don't add up.



My guess is that the prosecutor in Florida has been told by the Feds that they have enough evidence of racial bias on the 40 plus 911 calls to charge Zimmerman with a Hate Crime, and that will circumvent the "Stand Your Ground" law, if the prosecutor doesn't bring charges.
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Tom Barrett, Milwaukee Mayor, Jumps Into Scott Walker Recall Race

Alright Wisconsin ... time to score on this drive. Time to send Walker home. Let's get in the end zone. DO IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Travelers Can Save The Next Trayvon Martin By Avoiding Florida

There are a lot of beautiful tourist destinations besides Florida. A friend of mine was planning to take his family to see the Harry Potter attraction in Florida, but opted out in favor of Anaheim, and Disneyland. It really is an additional factor for tourists going to another state on vacation to consider. This ALEC/NRA Westworld Law, pretty much allows anyone to shoot anyone they deem threatening to them. What if merely seeing a license plate on a car from California or New York sets someone off, and gives them a reason to start start an altercation that ends in a dead tourist? You never know what could happen.



It really isn't about punishing Florida at all. Everyone needs to think of the safety of their family first. It is better to go to a tourist destination that doesn't promote an environment where unstable gunowners can make your family a victim on a whim.
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Trayvon Martin Case: George Zimmerman Was 'Jekyll And Hyde,' Former Co-Worker Says

I wonder if Trayvon Martin was carrying a gun, as opposed to Skittles and Arizona Ice Tea, on night of February 26th, 2012, and George Zimmerman confronted him, pulled his gun, but Trayvon was able to kill Zimmerman first, if the cops would have extended the protections of the "Stand Your Ground" law to Trayvon and let him walk without charges that night, and if there would be as many people defending Trayvon's actions as are defending George Zimmerman's now?



Something tells me the headlines of such a reverse situation would read "Black gang-banger murders Judge's son in cold blood", and Trayvon would be in jail.



America.
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France Arrests 19 Suspected Islamist Extremists

It's funny how whenever a NeoCon President or Prime Minister gets in political trouble there is a terrorist attack available to justify his existence.
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The Happiest Countries Are in Northern Europe

It's nice to see a post on the quality of life in the named Northern European countries. These countries are routinely ignored in the US Media because they don't fit the narrative that the "American Way" is the only way that works. it was also very interesting that when the terrible terrorist attack in Norway occurred in 2011 it was splashed across all US Media Outlets, until it was discovered that the perpetrator wasn't a Muslim Extremist, but rather a White Supremacist, and moreover the Norwegians did not go off the reactionary deep end in dealing with the tragedy the way Americans would have. Very telling.



There is a lot the Northern Europeans could teach us about a rational approach to life, if only Americans were willing to learn.
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Whatever the Court's Ruling, the Political Battle Over Obamacare Has Already Been Lost

If ACA is struck down millions of Americans will be immediately impacted. Politics is Luxury; Health Care is Necessity. People will "Rah, Rah, Sis, Boom, Bah" for their political team, but a call from a 23 year-old daughter who is ill and finds she no longer has coverage on Mom and Dad's Insurance and can't get her own with a pre-existing condition will not inspire pom pom cartwheels.



Americans are selfish ... EXTREMELY SELFISH ... on all sides of the political spectrum. Selfishness, it can be argued, is the true foundation of the American Culture.



So, now ... tell me ... how do the Republicans not lose by depriving millions of Americans, including their own constituents of Health Care coverage? You think a petty political victory will offset real pain?



Think again.
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Sean Hannity On Trayvon Martin: Media, Lawmakers Are Being 'Irresponsible' (VIDEO)

Here is a good visual representation of ALEC/NRA's "Stand Your Ground" law:



Westworld - Man vs Machine



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMUaHj6eq_w



Orlando, Florida, where nothing possibly could go worng.
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Milky Way PHOTO Shows Billion-Plus Stars

What a beautiful way to come to terms with how insignificant we are.
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GOP 'War On Women' Loses Momentum In The States

Now would be the time to push for ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment ... only 38 states required to do it, and woman across America have leverage over their men to vote for it.



I'm confident now is the time to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment ... it passed congress decades ago.
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Paul Ryan Budget: House Passes Plan 228-191

The House Republicans are wasting so much of America's time and money. Two years of control of the House and all they have to show for it is costing the United States its AAA Credit Rating for the first time in history with their pitiable antics.
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Trayvon Martin Case: Police Video Shows No Blood, Bruises On George Zimmerman After Killing

Interesting interview with Robert Zimmerman. Why is he in shadow? Is it to protect him or is it to obfuscate the fact he is white while he is trying to sell is son as a Hispanic? Why is so little time being devoted to the fact that George Zimmerman's father is a retired Magistrate Judge? That fact should be declared every time Robert Zimmerman is referenced in relation to this case. We know with Robert Zimmerman's comment on "hate" being directed at him from the President, NAACP, and Congressional Black Caucus that he has an issue with Blacks. Why, when Americans across the racial spectrum have a huge problem with the lack of justice Trayvon Martin is receiving in the wake of his murder? For the record, I'm white.



This whole case stinks of Southern White Privilege stubbornly rejecting justice for a black teenager, and being appalled at being questioned for their actions.



Everyone knows what happened in this case, we don't even need this video. Trayvon Martin was summarily executed by a vigilante hunting African Americans, whose father happens to be a retired judge.
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Supreme Court Might Decide Their Second Election

It will be Hate that determines the outcome of the next election. Hate will have more influence than any policy success or failure of the President. The 2012 Election will pit Fascists, who hate the idea of a Black President, against those who hate the idea of Fascism. President Obama has been adequate in his position, but he has no fear of me voting for the opposition, for I simply hate them with an abiding passion. Those of the American Right represent the same people who exterminated my great grandfather's entire family during the Holocaust. There is no way any policy is going to change that identification of them in my mind. None. The five conservative members of the Supreme Court represent that same Fascism, and I expect them to do evil.



The 2012 election will be determined by whose hate is stronger, and i certainly hope it isn't the hate of the Fascists that wins the day. There is no way to candy coat this reality.
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Health Care Reform Hearings: Court Weighing Whether Law Can Survive Without Individual Mandate

I was discussing this situation at the Supreme Court with a friend, who believes that Conservatives will strike down Obamacare for political reasons but that there will be no valid law to back the decision. His opinion is that the Reactionary Right in the United States is no longer just a political movement but a quasi religion, like Nazism. Leaders in this Reactionary Right Wing Religion don't need to ground their actions or decisions in fact, anymore than members of any other cult need to.



If Obamacare falls to the Conservative Majority in the Supreme Court it will be a Right Wing Religious Act with no basis in the Law or Constitution.
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Health Care Reform Hearings: Court Weighing Whether Law Can Survive Without Individual Mandate

I saw a historian on "Hard Ball" say that if Obamacare is struck down it will be 17 years before another attempt at Health Care Reform occurs and at that time it will be further right than it is now. A couple of things crossed my mind.



First, since when has an Historian's role been to assume mantle of the Oracle at Delphi? No one knows the future. No one.



Second, if Obamacare is struck down it is time for Progressives to DEMAND Democrats cut their affiliation with the For Profit Health Care Industry, forgo all campaign contributions from the For Profit Health Care Industry, and make getting Comprehensive Universal Single Payer Health Care for the American people their primary aim.



If he Democratic Party balks at that, then NOW is the time for Progressives to abandon the Democratic Party, and form their OWN political Party, and get this done.



The world didn't end, as Harold Camping suggested, and claims there will never be Single Payer or a Progressive Party are just as absurd as forecasting the Rapture, or that the next iteration of Health Care Reform that occurs, should Obamacare be overturned, will be further Right.
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Supreme Court Health Care Reform Protest Highlights Opposition's Terrifying Vision Of Future

I think everyone understands that over the past 30 years the Right Wing has been delivering their coordinated propaganda through Right Wing AM Radio Hosts, Fox "News", and even via the pulpits of Christian Churches in poor, white areas of the country. This propaganda is delivered with heaping helpings of fear mongering and hate, sometimes overt, sometimes dog whistled. The low information conservatives in the United States have been conditioned to respond positively to propaganda in this way. When you see this nonsense being spewed about healthcare, or the President, it isn't accidental, and anyone who thinks that politicians like Bachmann came up with the dross they spew on their own is kidding themselves. Bachmann's strength for the Right Wing is that she is a very effective parrot of the ideas of the Right. Does, Bachmann know that she is spewing disinformation? Absolutely, that's her job, and none of us should be taken aback by the lies furthered by the Right Wing ... for lies have always been the stock-in-trade of the Right, and without lies, and minions willing to accept them, the Right has nothing.
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Supreme Court Health Care Law: Justices Come Down Hard On The Mandate

Evidently this interplay occurred in the course of today's proceedings:



SOTOMAYOR: Congress can tax everybody and set up a public health care system? That would be ok?



CARVIN: Yes.



Thanks to Imani ABL on Twitter for sharing this.
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Rush Limbaugh: Obama Is Using Trayvon Martin As 'Political Opportunity' (VIDEO)

And if Trayvon was white and Obama didn't show some emotional connection with him, Rush would say Obama was a racist, Everyone knows how Rush plays the game. By the way, who is still advertising on his show so I can call them and complain?
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Turin Shroud Led Apostles To Believe In Resurrection of Christ, Claims New Book

I actually prefer the story of Gandalf the Grey becoming Gandalf the White after battling the Balrog in the bowels of the Earth. That was cool.
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Day 2 Of Supreme Court Health Care Battle

There will never be a Cure for Cancer as long as there is a For Profit Health Care System.



Cancer treatment will account for over $1 trillion dollars in revenue for the For Profit Health Care Industry and For Profit Pharmaceuticals from 2010 to 2020.



What business would abandon over $1 trillion dollars in guaranteed revenue in 10 years?



We need Comprehensive Universal Single Payer Health Care NOW, lest our health miseries become dividends for the For Profit Health Care Industry.



http://www.cancer.gov/newscenter/pressreleases/2011/CostCancer2020
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Trayvon Martin Case: George Zimmerman Told Police Teen Attacked Him

"The portrayal of George Zimmerman in the media, as well as the series of events that led to the tragic shooting, are false and extremely misleading," his father, a retired magistrate judge, wrote in a letter published in the Orlando Sentinel. "Unfortunately, some individuals and organizations have used this tragedy to further their own causes and agendas."



"George is a Spanish-speaking minority with many black family members and friends," Robert Zimmerman wrote. "He would be the last to discriminate for any reason whatsoever."



his father, a retired magistrate judge, wrote in a letter published in the Orlando Sentinel.



his father, a retired magistrate judge, wrote in a letter published in the Orlando Sentinel.



his father, a retired magistrate judge, wrote in a letter published in the Orlando Sentinel.



http://www.cnn.com/2012/03/22/justice/florida-teen-zimmerman/index.html
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Mitt: I Won't Detail Plans, Because Then I'd Lose

Seriously, Romney has no intention of disclosing his plans because he would lose? Isn't that really an invitation to vote against him from the get go? Does Mitt have a brain?
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Health Care Reform: Opening Day At The Supreme Court

I like that if the Health Care Mandate is declared unconstitutional it not only dooms privatization of Social Security, but clears a path for a Comprehensive Universal Single Payer Health Care System and the ultimately the end of For Profit Health Care in the United States of America.



For Profit Health Care is immoral.
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CNN's Howard Kurtz Goes After Al Sharpton, MSNBC Over Trayvon Martin Coverage (VIDEO)

Well, Mr Kurtz, I seem to recall Anderson Cooper using an injured kid in one of his reports as a prop to elevate the drama of the incident ... I believe that was in Haiti. I've seen Dr Sanjay Gupta jump in and perform a brain surgery that was then included in CNN's New's Entertainment. If Sharpton is guilty of blurring the lines between reporting and participating in a story he would only be following CNN's lead.
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Rick Santorum's 'Bulls--t' Outburst: Jeff Zeleny Says 'He Clearly Knew The Cameras Were Rolling' (VIDEO)

Santorum is just playing the same game as Gingrich, attack the press for cheap points. Does the mediocrity of the Republicans know no bounds? They all operate off the same well-worn script and pretend no one will notice ... but we do.
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Chuck Schumer: 'Stand Your Ground' Laws Should Be Investigated By Justice Department, Congress

When you combine "Stand Your Ground" laws with Concealed Weapons Permits you are empowering premeditated murder. The scenario is so easy to see unfold. An unstable person with a chip on their shoulder gets a gun, picks a fight, gets retaliated against, pulls a gun and murders the person he picked the fight with on the grounds of the person being a threat. I mean, this is too much unrestricted power to give to individuals of questionable morality, questionable mental stability, questionable ethics, and questionable intelligence. A gun is not a toy, and we aren't living in WestWorld.



I know it is a hard lift in the United States these days, but sanity must really gain the upper hand on these "Stand Your Ground" and Concealed Carry Laws.
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Afghanistan Shooting Victims' Families Received Money From U.S.

If you think of how many innocents have been in killed in Iraq and Afghanistan by Americans since the horror of September 11th, 2001 it really causes one of conscience to question the very humanity of the American people. Now, don't get me wrong, tracking down the perpetrators of the 9/11 attacks and bringing them to justice is the perfectly correct thing to do. A thorough investigation into the individuals, and entities behind the September 11th attacks would be an important thing to do as well, though I won't hold my breath on that ever happening. Using the September 11th attacks as an excuse for collective reprisals against innocent Muslims around the world is pure evil, and that is what the United States is engaging in. Using the deaths of more than 2000 Americans in 2001 as a reason to invade, occupy and frankly terrorize populations of innocent people whose only real crime, besides their choice of religion, is that they live in areas of the world with vast troves of unexploited natural resources that American Corporations want, is a betrayal to the victims of the September 11th attacks. It is also tremendously cynical to assume that buying off the next of kin of this horrendous massacre is going to make the situation go away ... it won't.



We need to bring our soldiers home, let our soldiers heal, and prevent the further victimization of innocents.
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Health Care Reform Mandate, How Does It Work?

Look, the best system would be a Comprehensive Universal Single Payer plan that covers everyone and doesn't mandate people buy a private sector product like the Individual Mandate does. I don't like the idea of being told if I don't buy a for profit product I am going to be penalized by my Government. I also think that Health Care being provided by employers needs to be phased out overtime because it is both an economic drag on the business, and it makes the workers virtual slaves to their employers, for fear if they change jobs it might cost themselves and their families their health coverage. There are some very positive aspects to Obamacare as a step towards a CUSP Health Care System, but the Individual Mandate isn't one of them.
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After A Lifetime Of Hard Work, The Indignity Of A Layoff

Our economy is designed to humor the fantasies of immortality through wealth that the rich and competitive young folk have, and fails to address the needs of those who age out of the Rat Race, as we all will.
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Faron Butler Says T-Mobile Deleted His Dead Daughter's Voicemails

Um ... hard to understand why T-Mobile would view this is the appropriate story to run their ad on.
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Geraldo Rivera Doubles Down On Trayvon Martin Hoodie Comments: 'Half Of It Is The Way The Young Men Look' (VIDEO)

Authoritarians cannot apologize. Apology is a sign of weakness for them. Once they make a mistake in reasoning they are committed to it because they are incapable of defending most of the positions they take. Once they apologize for one error it opens everything else they believe in to review by their own followers. This is the problem for Rush, just as it is for Geraldo. The power Authoritarians command emanates from the aura of infallibility they present. When they find themselves against the wall they can't retreat, they have to double down until they are no longer questioned.
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Online Dating Vs. Online Gaming: Would You Have Better Luck In Love On WoW Than OKCupid?

Alas, I've visited all of the Inns and Bars in Azeroth and I've yet to meet the Worgen who would rip out my heart and make me whole ... or the Gnome whose brutal strike would debuff my reluctance for love. I guess it's back to the rated battlegrounds for me.
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Arlen Specter's Memoir: The Five Steamiest Passages

Now we know why so little gets done in the Senate ... they lounge around naked in the Sauna drinking in each other's lean, lanky, sinewy, saggy and corpulent visages ... yuck.



I think I'm gonna urp a platypus ...
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Obama On Trayvon Martin Case: 'If I Had A Son, He'd Look Like Trayvon'

Something for Florida to consider: as a state, you can be a world class tourist destination, or you can be a Free Fire Zone ... you can't be both.
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Meet George Zimmerman: He Is the NRA

America: Guns & Viagra.
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Rush Limbaugh's Three-Week Train Wreck

There is going to be a point, as the pressure on Rush continues, that he is going to go into full Colonel Jessup meltdown mode on air. I'm just waiting.
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Haley Barbour: Despite Victories, GOP Has Not Coalesced Behind Mitt Romney (VIDEO)

My bet for how it plays out (now that the "Stand Your Ground" tragedy in Florida has rendered Jeb toxic this go round, ending the chance he would be snuck in as nominee at the GOP Convention in Tampa) is that Santorum, Gingrich, and Paul stay in the race to the bitter end, since Romney can't seal the deal, robbing Romney of the number of delegates he needs to arrive the convention as anointed nominee. So once at the Convention, Romney, thinking he is about to be screwed out of his chance to run against Obama, will start engaging in the kind of sleazy backroom, corporate boy dealings, that will alienate everyone he comes in contact with. Then, if Mitt has strong-armed enough people into giving him the nomination, the hard feelings will lead to the conservative wing of the GOP bolting from the party and running their own candidates on a third party ticket.



I view this as a plausible scenario under the circumstances.
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Mitt Romney’s Etch-a-Sketch Disaster

It was a tragic Freudian slip, but ... um ... actually .... it was kind of fun to watch in a cruel "America's Funniest Home Videos" kind of way.
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Richard Hanna, GOP Congressman, Tells Women To Give Their Money To Democrats

Let's get the Equal Rights Amendment ratified this November. Now is the time. Let's get it done.



We now have the capacity to keep track of every legislator in every state's support for the Equal Rights Amendment or lack there of, and keep that information on a website that every woman in America can refer to to determine who is their friend and who isn't come election time.



Time to drop the hammer on legislators coast to coast to demand their support for the Equal Rights Amendment or pink slip them come November.



No excuse will be accepted for not moving on this, and any legislator that stands in the way should be looking for a new job come November. Additionally, any Governor that hampers the passing of the ERA when it reaches his or her desk will be inviting full electoral reprisal against their parties in the legislature.



Time to get it done, Ladies and Gentleman, the time for ratifying the Equal Rights Amendment is NOW!!!!!!
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The New Conservatism

The Republicans represent the Reactionary Right. The Democrats are the Conservative Party. If the Left in the United States is to have a voice it requires the creation of an Activist Progressive Party.



I am not persuaded by the notion that the Center is where most Americans are politically. Everyone knows there is a great number of Americans who don't participate in our political system period, and folks I have come across who don't participate generally use the excuse that the whole system is BS anyway, and why should they waste their time?



If we had 100% participation in our democracy then the notion that political outcomes represent the people's will has merit ... but the Americans who don't participate are sending a powerful message as well.



Before we can claim that the United States is a center-right nation there must first be a political party to accommodate voters on the Left, we don't have that, so it is difficult to determine what Americans really think beyond what Corporate Media and Polling Services say they do.
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Jim Jordan Concedes Elections Drive Solyndra Investigation

Takeaway their BS and the Republicans have nothing ... BS is the mortar of a Right Wing Movement, which is great at wasting The People's time, but not much else. Two years of obstinately doing nothing is the reward Republican Voters received for trusting this pack of amateurs.



Solyndra is what the GOP focuses on when it doesn't want to focus on job creation for its own constituents.
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Eleanor Holmes Norton: Rush Limbaugh Comments Should Have Been Condemned By GOP Women

GOP women accept their position as property of their Republican men and defer to their opinions, even if it is self defeating. The emancipated women are found on the Left not the Right.
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Bernanke Cites Stress Tests As Evidence Banks Are Fine, Continuing Stint As Jedi Master

Maybe it's because Bernake knows that the banks were able to offload hundreds of trillions in worthless derivatives to FDIC insured bank accounts that makes him confident to say the banks are no longer zombies ... the FDIC, US Treasury and Federal Reserve? Well, that's another story.
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Saints Bounty Suspensions: Sean Payton Suspended One Year, Team Loses 2nd Round Draft Picks

Injuries happen in the NFL, for it's a dangerous game, but you start putting out hits on players on other teams for cash rewards and you have moved from competing in a sport to committing a crime.
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Joe Walsh, 'Analog Man': Longtime Eagle Releases First Solo Track In Two Decades

I like it! Nice to hear Joe Walsh putting out new music again.
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Tea Party Group Drops Opposition To Romney

The Tea Party was just a corporate front all along anyway, so this belated endorsement of Romney is hardly unexpected. The actual foot soldiers of the Tea Party were just used to further a corporate agenda. Freedom, Liberty, Exaltation of the US Constitution? Suuuuuuuuuuuuure, that's what the Tea Party was always about.
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