Boehner Pushes Obama To Relocate Fiscal Cliff Farther Down The Road

How about this:



Entitlement aren't touched.



Bush Tax Cuts expire on 01/01/2013 ... no extension.



The Republican House can extend tax cuts for Americans making less than $250,000 by passing the Senate Bill that the President is willing to sign, or the Republicans can raise the taxes of 98% of the American people.



Sounds like a good deal to me.
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Secession Poll: Majority Opposes Their State Seceding From The Union

The irony, that would bring a wry smile to the face of George Orwell, is that the same individuals who favor secession for their state from the United States also likely view themselves as American Super Patriots. What a world.
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Hostess Brands Liquidation: Twinkie-Maker Seeks Court Permission To Liquidate [UPDATE]

You have to be a pretty lousy businessman to drive a company like Hostess, with products with name recognition like Twinkies and Wonder, out of business.
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John McCain Gets Angry Over Questions About Missed Benghazi Briefing

Let's be clear, if McCain was really as invested into the Benghazi investigation as he purports to be he would have been at the meeting in question, and a "scheduling error" wouldn't have sidetracked him.



From the Right Wing perspective this tragedy is little more than gotcha politics directed at the Obama Administration. That's all
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The Reality of Secession and Unicorns

I went back and forth with a Ron Paul supporter on Twitter about secession, and the conversation wound down with the person saying:



"you can have your give me state and I can have my freedom. We both win."



I then asked the person what about the other citizens of your state that don't want to secede?



"they can move on out" was the response.



I was thinking, "Good luck with that."
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Obama Press Conference: President Facing Questions After Election Win

A while back a commenter here made an excellent suggestion. We need to jettison the term "Entitlements" when describing Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Unemployment Insurance, etc, and replace that term with:



"Earned Benefits".



"Entitlements" is a loaded word that insinuates that someone is getting something for nothing. It feeds the Makers vs Takers meme of the Right.



"Earned Benefits" is a far more honest description for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid ... let's use that going forward.



When we are drawn into a discussion of "Entitlement Reform" we are being drawn into a battleground of our opponents choosing. Bad idea.



So, let's consider adopting "Earned Benefits" for the upcoming fight ... and not do our opponents any favors in gutting the beneficial programs that form the United States social safety net.
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Ed Schultz: Reports I May Be Replaced Are 'Media Garbage'

If Ed were to go it would be because the Right Wing ownership of Comcast wants to phase out Progressive content overtime on their network.



It all comes down to the effectiveness of propaganda being harmed when you have an outlier that doesn't echo the agreed upon meme.



Remember when the American people were lied into the Iraq War over Saddam's WMD? You know how that worked? Because the major corporate news media ... print, radio, cable, network ... all presented their viewers with the same falsehood.



See, propaganda requires media collusion to work. If only CBS presented a lie of the magnitude of Saddam's WMD then the public may look at it warily ... but if CNN, NBC, Wall Street Journal, ABC, New York TImes all echo the same falsehood then it becomes legitimate in the minds of enough media consumers to make an invasion of Iraq over nothing palatable.



MSNBC's evening Progressive programming is an outlier to the lockstep collusion of Corporate MSM messaging. If Ed is under threat, then so is Rev Al, Rachel, Lawrence ... all of them.



MSNBC already proved with the firing of Phil Donahue during the Iraq War period that ratings don't matter ... he had a winning show and was canned anyway because he wouldn't cooperate in supporting the meme.



Comcast's goal is to likely bring MSNBC into alignment with the rest of media, so let's see how this plays out.
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Nancy Pelosi To Luke Russert: Question About My Age Is 'Offensive' (VIDEO)

Luke Russert ... dude ... you're going to ask that question of a First Decan Aries? You're nuts. Pelosi's a warrior.
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Jon Stewart Mocks Secessionists: 'Stop. Wait. Don't Go.' (VIDEO)

Corporations want to blackmail Americans to vote the way they desire with threats of layoffs and punitive price hikes? Okay. I have a response.



Revoke their articles of incorporation ... Capital Punishment for Business.



Another business will engulf their market share in a matter of days.



Problem solved.
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Nancy Pelosi Announcement: House Democrat Retaining Role As Party Leader

All the vitriol directed at her by the Right underscores the effectiveness of Nancy Pelosi. I have not seen another member of the Democratic Caucus that was such a lightning rod for the unhinged of the Right Wing.



Nancy Pelosi is very good at what she does ... very good ... and, at this point, any replacement would degrade the Democrats possibilities in the next Congress.
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Obama Appeals To Activist Base For Help With Fiscal Cliff

It is good to hear from both the President and Senator Reid have said the Social Security is off the table since it doesn't add to the deficit ... that is one bitter pill we won't have to swallow, and to go back on the hands off policy towards Social Security would really damage the prospects of the Democrats in the Midterm elections on 2014.



Also, let us remember that the phraseology "Fiscal Cliff" has all the earmarks of a Shock Doctrine Disaster Capitalism cudgel to further an agenda under the guise of an emergency. I think the President and the Democrats need to stand their ground on this and not let some Financial Sector wordsmithing to lead them to give up more ground than is necessary.



The President knows he will have the support of activists on the Left, as long as he stands his ground and isn't drawn to the rocks by the siren song of bipartisanship emitting from the corporate media punditry.
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Bill O'Reilly: 'The Far Left Is A Dangerous Outfit, Bent On Destroying Traditional America' (VIDEO)

The Conservatives own the sorry state of the United States not the Progressives. Since Reagan was elected Conservatives have been at open war with Progressive values and that has degraded the quality of life in the United States for 30 years.



Of course, this is the pontification of Bill O'Reilly, so it's best just to laugh it off.
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Paul Ryan: No Obama Mandate Because Republicans Control House

The thing is, less of an electoral victory than President Obama achieved was viewed as a "landslide" and a "mandate" by many a Republican pundit when ascribed to Mitt Romney.



You can't have it both ways.



President Obama has a mandate.
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Bill Haslam On Secession Petition: 'I Don't Think That's A Valid Option For Tennessee'

Sincerely, does anyone think if a state tried to actively secede the response from the United States would be to simply wave and say:



"Cool! take care, now. Have a nice day!" ?



Secession was driven into extinction by the Civil War. It's a closed book, and it is a cruel game to humor people that secession is still an option.
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Enough With the <i>Mad Men</i> Mores: The Generals Are Not the Victims

There is an inconsistency within the Uniform Code of Military Justice that needs to be addressed. Adultery, as defined in the code, does not include the fraternization of married military personnel with prostitutes. Adultery is viewed as married service members having relationships with each other. Excluding fraternization with prostitutes from the prosecution of Adultery makes a mockery of the statute.



Before there was the phrase "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas" there was "What happens on Float stays on Float." This falls in line with what we saw in the scandal with the Secret Service in Columbia where the phrase "Wheels up, rings off" was revealed.



You can't have a dynamic where cheating on your spouse in one way can bring charges, and in another way is considered part of the culture.



I'm no prude ... in fact I consider myself a satyr at heart ... but when you have inconsistent rules on official conduct the lines become blurred and frail human beings can rationalize self destructive behavior.
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Elmo Sex Scandal: Man Who Accused Kevin Clash, Voice Of Elmo, Of Underage Sex, Recants Story

Sincerely, wasn't there a way to handle this matter that it didn't become a tawdry source of entertainment at Kevin Clash and Elmo's expense?
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Obama Tells Progressives He Won't Budge On Bush Tax Cuts

What higher taxes on the top earners does is move money out of risky speculation and into investment in the real economy. The benefit of Tax Increases on the rich comes from modifying their behavior in terms of money management, not in the revenue from the taxation. It is better for the economy for the wealthy to get financial benefit from investing in the real economy, thus expanding opportunity throughout the economy, rather than have that cash just churning in a hermetically sealed investment environment that provides little value to the American economy and creates tremendous risk for economic collapse.



The higher the taxes on the wealthy the more they are compelled to invest in ventures that expand opportunity for all Americans, and the less attractive it is for them to hoard their idle wealth in investment houses.



An even more beneficial additional taxation would be to declare capital gains as straight income and tax it as such ... that would really invigorate the treasury's coffers and drive down the debt.
About Deficit
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Residents In More Than 30 States File Secession Petitions

Um, I hate to burst anyone's bubble, but you know all those Army, Air Force, and Navy bases around the country (Texas has 15; Louisiana has 4; South Carolina has 8; etc)? Those bases are all Federal and they are also insurance against secession.
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Obama, Progressives Renew Wary Embrace

I think President Obama has more leeway to tack to the left now that he has his second term and doesn't have another election facing him. Also, implementation of Progressive policies that benefit the American people at a level they can personally appreciate will bode well for Democrat outcomes in the Midterm and 2016 Presidential cycle.



It would be wise for President Obama to view Progressives as key allies, he moved the other direction in his first term and it didn't pay dividends for him.
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Residents In More Than 30 States File Secession Petitions

So, these geniuses lose a Presidential Election and they want to exit the Union? Certainly shows the shallow nature of Right Wing Patriotism, doesn't it?
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