The Defense of Marriage crying game.

Time Magazine cover says " Gay Marriage already won"
is it more about Taxes than Civil Rights?

Well , Ed Schultz said it right. " I find it ironic in the holiest week of the year in the Christian faith, this is what the Supreme Court is talking about,  **Proposition 8 and the Defense of Marriage Act. " Marriage is, in fact, a civil AND religious status. Unfortunately, our country historically made the mistake of codifying religious status into civil statute AND even awarded ministers and priests CIVIL authority to grant that status.  My self  can't believe how our government wastes it's own self in legal matters . Reason DOMA became a law is because the Dems convinced the stupid Republicans that they would vote for this, but would not vote for a Constitutional amendment. Now you can see how trustworthy a liberal is. There is always a legal catch-22 . ## I believe that it's not the governments job to regulate marriage , nor it as much to sanction religion . When President Bill Clinton signed DOMA into law in 1996, after it passed overwhelmingly in Congress -- by a 6-1 margin in the Senate and 342 to 67 in the House. Of those 85 votes in the Senate, 32 came from Democrats. (Who knew so many were right wingers?!). Over in the House, more than a third of the votes, 118, were cast by Democrats. (Ditto!) The Democrats of today cannot claim to be the historic pioneers of the emancipation of slaves, nor of women’s rights: their entire history is devoid of the pursuit or defense of freedom. So in recent years, Democrats have hijacked traditionally conservative values and achievements, specifically “civil rights” and “freedom.” This was not only to gain more power and influence among the populace, but to cloak one cause in particular – gay marriage. This has led conservatives to believe gay marriage is a conservative cause because it promotes freedom. This has also led Americans to believe that gay rights are akin to civil rights by conflating the black struggle during the civil rights movement to the homosexual’s struggle for gay marriage. Only, the civil rights struggle and the “struggle” for gay marriage are incomparable, and gay marriage does NOT promote freedom.  SO no one is seeing the obvious connection in how uncle sam is also going to be collecting MORE taxes from all of these gay couples if this actually passes while they continue to cut benefits scross the board for everyone? This is actually about money people (as usual) not rights, plenty of examples throughout history of this including how the Rockefellers actually FUNDED the Women's liberation movement back in the 70's NOT to give women more rights as is claimed but in order to tax the women half of the population and further indoctrinate our children into government sponsored thinking all while breaking up the family..all part of more devious agendas here and gay 'rights' are no exception. If the gov. doesn't serve to profit in some way shape or form they really wouldn't care or even be considering something that AT THE VERY LEAST should be decided ON THE STATE LEVEL not the FEDERAL LEVEL....systematic demoralization and 'fleecing of the flock' is happening as we speak and gay rights are the biggest hot button issue the supreme court can spend it's time on . Yes it's all about Taxes .

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

** A lot of Obama/Yes-on-8 voters? The Associated Press exit polls showed that African Americans and Latinos backed Proposition 8 in good numbers. Details here from AP:

California's black and Latino voters, who turned out in droves for Barack Obama, also provided key support in favor of the state's same-sex marriage ban. Seven in 10 black voters backed a successful ballot measure to overturn the California Supreme Court's May decision allowing same-sex marriage, according to exit polls for The Associated Press.

More than half of Latino voters supported Proposition 8, while whites were split. Religious groups led the tightly organized campaign for the measure, and religious voters were decisive in getting it passed. Of the seven in 10 voters who described themselves as Christian, two-thirds backed the initiative. Married voters and voters with children strongly supported Proposition 8. Unmarried voters were heavily opposed.

## The legal issues surrounding same-sex marriage in the United States are complicated by the nation's federal system of government. Prior to 1996, the federal government did not define marriage; any marriage recognized by a state was recognized by the federal government, even if that marriage was not recognized by one or more other states (as was the case with interracial marriage before 1967 due to anti-miscegenation laws). With the passage of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in 1996, a marriage was explicitly defined in federal law as a union of one man and one woman.^[19]

On the Democrats.....

Democrats are looser's  too.

When we voted the Democrats into power ( over and over again ) , we thought we were getting progressive leadership. So far we have had "political dead ends". So the political pundits, as always, want to know:  ^^ What's wrong with the Democrats?We all assumed with the election of Barack Obama that some how we would have affordable healthcare . Some jumped the gun on it, yes they believed that they were getting a healthcare system like Canada's . ** Wrong , we did not.  The Democratic party had it's real boost with former President Clinton  who in all respects was a "genius" , perhaps the last of the good ole boys of the Party. Like the Republicans . The Democrats are in trouble , they have no body to take up the mantle in 2016 .Watching the Democrats stumbling around in search of a "message" is the only thing more agonizing than watching the Republicans destroy this country. Pres. Obama is is their last poster boy . Why I am saying it . I just feel that both parties have out did themselves , and the American public has gotten really tired of both Democrats and Republicans. The two party state is a failure . What we got was watered down bills and spineless leadership. Leadership is as important as intelligence and good policies. To get anything done in Washington requires beating the Republicans and getting the message out, and the Democrats have failed repeatedly to do that. As Anthony Weiner put it, the “Democrats come to a knife fight with library books.” The fault lies with leadership in both the House and Senate.The Democrats are highly to blame, but let’s not forget the Republicans. Republicans were given an opportunity they are squandering, by sitting on their hands and doing nothing.The result is that the Democrats have a real image problem. They came in with great promise, raising hopes for change, and now they are shown that they aren't especially more efficient than the Republicans were. The Democrats appear to have compromised too much, and having compromised with the Republicans, the Democratic leadership in Washington have bought into much of the Republican disaster. Why has this image developed? Look at the way the politics look. The Democratic leadership clearly feels that they have to cater to both groups, and more to the late deciders than to the political junkies if they are to win elections. It is not enough that a politician be correct. First he or she has to get elected. The result is that the Democratic leadership is not doing anything to rock the boat. Rocking the boat makes it more likely that the politician will lose the election. Unfortunately, more and more of the American public wants change, and change means rocking the boat.The satirical Onion headline earlier said it all: “Democrats Vow Not To Give Up Hopelessness.” If the voters turn to the Democrats in 2016, it will only be as the lesser of two evils. America needs a less self-destructive Democratic Party, if just to keep Republican officeholders on their toes.The Democrats’ fundamental weakness is that even after four decades of their strenuously celebrating the moral supremacy of every organized minority, our political system remains, more or less, one of majority rule. It’s hard to win a majority if you don’t personally want to be part of the majority because your ego centers around visualizing yourself as better than the average American. If you don’t like the American majority, either in principle or in person, the majority won’t like you. The long-term trends are almost all bad news for the left wing of the party. If Democrats are doomed – then Republicans are damned.

NOTES AND COMMENTS: 

^^ The problem with Democrats is that they're too liberal. Or not liberal enough. They talk too much (or not enough) about abortion or torture or gun control. They're too condescending, too cosmopolitan, too secular, too wonkish, too weak. They've been captured by their interest groups, their contributors, their pollsters, their consultants. They're on the wrong side of a demographic revolution.** Health insurance companies across the country are attempting to increase their premiums for customers by over 25 percent - even though Obamacare was introduced to stem the rising cost of health careAt risk from the rising rates are small businesses and those who do not have their health care plan offered by their employer and are left to find their own insurance.In California, Anthem Blue Cross wants to hike the cost of their premiums by 26 percent and in Florida and Ohio, some insurers want to raise their prices by at least 20 percent - leaving customers several hundred dollars a month worse off.

The "weak" GOP.

For the GOP are they going the way of the
Dinosaurs ?

The Wall Street Journal Peggy Noonan wrote recently how the Iraq war may have damaged the Republican party as a whole. The Truth is far from the war. The Republican party it's self is "burned out" , if you look at some of the Republican's themselves with the exception of Mitt Romney , they all sound like Sarah Palin . If that's the case the GOP is full of young Reagan wannabees who have 
" conservatism" so wrapped up like a Gordian knot that the party has no flexibility on any issues. Conservatives are doubling down on the same thing they've done for the last four years. Their biggest problem isn't the President, their biggest problem is the rift in the party that is being caused by American demographics and social views shifting towards more Democratic views while "Tea Party" types are pulling in the opposite direction. One side of the Republican split is going to have to give up on these issues and secede them to the Democratic Party which has the electoral calculus on its side. Given the Republican warming to immigration reform that virtually mirrors the President's plan, it seems the TP Republicans are the ones that are going to have to put a sock in it. Next, it'll be bills like the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and same-sex marriage, unless the courts manage to save Republicans the trouble and declare DOMA and Prop 8 unconstitutional.

Peggy Noonan added :

NOONAN: You know, I tend to think that the go GOP's central problems have to do with things we don't talk all that much about. One is what happened in 2008 and the continuing repercussions of the crash. The repercussions where the party stands, what its positions are on how to create growth, that is becoming in part within the party, a rising disagreement -- not disagreement, but a rising difference of emphasis between those who are saying the way we have to go is growth right now and those who are saying we've got to handle this debt and deficit thing. They're sort of different approaches.
Another is that I think the Republican Party has to make clear what its foreign policy is. It has had two wars for the past 12 years, people are still settling in and thinking -- I mean, the voters have said, we don't like that. We're not for that. The Republican Party has to make clear what it stands for and it's going to have to have a little bit of debate to get there.So I think those two big things, and the policies that spring from them, will make all of the difference and so will an eventual compelling presidential candidate, somebody who is involved right now is going to work his way through. At the end of the day, it is the candidates who resolve a lot of unresolved things by taking a stand and speaking for forcefully for it.

The Voter's sent a message with the Obama
win .

Most of  all the GOP has  a lot of weak candidates that ran for  for office . Read a few statistics about the "Red" States.  They are the least educated, the fattest, the most divorced, have the highest poverty rates and suck the most assistance out of the Federal Government...consistently taking more out than they pay in.  So you can add to those statistics.."the most ignorant" . Most all the dirty laundry has been at the GOP's door step . Recently . The Office of Congressional Ethics is investigating alleged "improprieties" in Michele Bachmann's campaign for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, according to the Daily Beast's John Avlon. I always get a chuckle when I see the words Senate and Ethics combined in the same sentence. It seems that the Party has fizzed out . In today's Washington Post, Republican scribe Michael Gerson makes yet another case for Republican reform: A Republican recovery in presidential politics will depend on two factors. First, candidates will need to do more than rebrand existing policy approaches or translate them into Spanish. Some serious rethinking is necessary, particularly on economic matters. In our Commentary essay, we raise ideas such as ending corporate welfare, breaking up the mega-banks, improving the treatment of families in the tax code, and encouraging economic mobility through education reform and improved job training. Whatever form Republican proposals eventually take, they must move beyond Reagan-era nostalgia.

So I beat up the GOP here, next I am tell you about The Democratic Party. Until then............

NOTES & COMMENTS:

The war bankrupted the country, financially at home and politically on the world stage; confirmed the Middle East's worst fears of American imperialism and anything-goes-in-the-name-of-oil; gave haters reason to hate us; and gave a new generation of otherwise moderate Middle Easterners a reason to grow up disliking and mistrusting us, and to not feel terribly upset when American men, women and children were killed there or elsewhere. The war also marked the extreme rightward tilt of the Republican party (thank you for noting how the warmongers attacked the anti-war folks as unpatriotic. In retrospect, those who stood up to this were the true patriots, and those who beat the drums of war - especially those who profited from it, were the real traitors). The economic calamity at home that followed was exacerbated by the financial misadventure of the war, and gave the extreme right wing's anti-government voice the opportunity to further hobble those things that government can and should do well. Imagine how much weaker support for Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden would have been had there been no Iraq! Imagine how many hundreds of billions of dollars could have been saved, and how many thousands of lives could have been saved, had we not provided so much fuel for the Bin Laden hate. Imagine how much more achievable Middle East peace would have become. Imagine the hundreds of billions of dollars that could have instead either never been spent, or could have been invested in America's future (affordable college, early childhood intervention [healthcare, literacy, etc], repair of crumbling infrastructure).

So many of the challenges we'll face for the next generation will be traced back to this war as the tipping point where Republicans (and Democrats too) sold out America. It will be seen as the moment America lost her way trying to serve as the world's oil-protecting policeman, all while the rest of the world invested at home to educate their kids to kick our butts on the world economic stage.

It's time for Republican's and Democrats alike to admit that blind ideals of American exceptionalism are counterproductive to our future. We're fast becoming a third rate country by so many measures: graduation rates, literacy, math skills, the number of engineers/scientists/mathematicians graduated per year, infant mortality. Wake up people. Better days are ahead only if we own up to what needs to be fixed.

Closer to a budget "deal".

In order to avoid a government shutdown . Congress and the House was left to scramble a "deal" about the budget just to avoid a government shutdown. The Senate passed a short-term budget measure this afternoon to fund the government beyond March 27, which would avert a government shutdown but keep most of the budget cuts under sequestration in place.

Passing the Senate on a 69 to 30 vote, the Continuing Resolution would fund the government for the next six months, and it’s widely expected to pass the House tomorrow. It makes a number of select adjustments to the $85 billion in spending cuts that took effect March 1, attempting to soften the blow of the across-the-board reductions. The changes including higher funding levels for a handful of different programs, including meat inspection and tuition help for military service members, in addition to tweaks to military and defense that the House included in its original CR. The U.S. House narrowly approved a conservative budget plan authored by Wisconsin Rep. Paul Ryan, 221-207, on Thursday on a largely party-line vote.The fiscal blueprint does not have the force of law but outlines the GOP's priorities over a 10-year budget window to reduce the deficit and overhaul the Medicare system.No Democrats voted for the plan. "House Republicans decided to double down on the failed policies that the American people rejected just a few months ago," said Senate Budget Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash. The bill doesn't reverse the sequestration cuts that have hit federal agencies, including the Defense Department, across the board. It does, however, give the Defense Department and other domestic programs extra funding. Additionally, an amendment was added to stop from furloughing meat inspectors. The Senate, however, rejected an amendment that would have allocated money to keep White House tours from shutting down -- one of the unpopular effects of sequestration. Nobody in Washington has earned the right to pat themselves on the back for ANYTHING, and That includes Obama, Congress and the Senate.! Instead of a pat on the back; every last one of these dunderheads should get hit in the head with a shovel as they flee Washington for another unearned vacation. "We the People" need to keep in mind that; in addition to paying for our own destruction; through the stalling machinations of these corrupt politicians;are also paying them to take these vacations. I think it's about time Americans demand that; for every dollar we send to Washington, we should get our moneys worth from these jerks. This is the way it will be from now on in the United States. Neither major political party is capable of putting together a reasonable budget because they own their allegiance to various business groups but do not want to alienate too many voters so they will just continue with the funding bills and thereby dodge the difficult issues that would be necessary to address our continued defict spending. The Democrats refuse to cut spending and the Republicans refuse to increase revenue. There is currently an impasse and it will never, ever be resolved. Plan your life accordingly.

The Cyprus effect. Obama's Israel visit.

Any thing wrong here? A warning about American
Capitalism .

The nation  island of Cyprus has sent some markets in a worrisome mode . Do we as Americans need to look at Cyprus a little more closely. Sure the Government sizing your personal assists can be a reality , it's happening all the time in America . Government intrusion into personal banking accounts is not so far off  right here . America is going bankrupt , it's government pretty much dysfunctional . We know that all hell will break loose in the public streets if our nation government did it to us like the Cypriot did.  Warning to us is this . When a nation’s treasury empties, democracy tends to fail. The decision of the tiny island statelet of Cyprus to grab 10 percent of every private bank account should be an alarm-bell to America and the wider West.When will people get their heads out of the sand and realize we are still in a world wide economic crisis? Cyprus is just one place where they have hit a rough patch. They are just the ones in the news right now. In North America there are problems, they just manage to sweep them under the rug and find a way to bail out another big corporation. Until the world acknowledges those who actually are the fuel that drives the corporate world we are going to have these financial crises. Yes, we need corporations and big business, but not at the cost of those who make it work. Just ask anyone who is unemployed in USA because the bail out for the company did not include them as an employee. Balance has been sadly lost.

The time for real Peace is NOW . Should be Obama's
message . Not pandering to the same politic.

There is an Irony here as well. Way back when President Obama took office . If you recall news wise . The President avoided Israel . His first term in office was a trip to the middle -east meeting with Islamic leaders in Cairo Egypt. At Egypt's Cairo University, Obama quoted from the Quran as he expounded on Islam's glories and rights, the legitimate rights of Israel and the Palestinians, Iranian nuclear aspirations, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, women's rights, economic development, and religious rights and democracy in the Muslim world. Mr. Obama was trying to "appeal" to Muslims that America has changed somewhat . It was this vary act that trying to appeal to the Islamic ideal may have given him critical observation . Our President bowed down to the Muslim theocracy in a first in a series of apologetic tours . Four years later , having like all the Presidents before him . Sweeping the middle-east process under the rug . Now as later as ever Mr. Obama heads to Israel like a movie star catering to the Israelis . Its like  saying and buttering them up . Next , he's going to meet with the Palestinian leaders making "jesters" , and "ho hum's". That's  if the President really wanted lasting piece . Our government should be playing hardball really  for PEACE . **Insisting "peace is possible," President Barack Obama on Thursday prodded both Israelis and Palestinians to return to long-stalled negotiations with few, if any, pre-conditions, softening his earlier demands that Israel stop building settlements in disputed territory. With the deteriorating Syrian situation.  it's going to be a wild card around the corner . American-Israeli ties remained sour.   Remember. Two months after Biden’s visit, Obama refused to hold a photo op with Netanyahu when he visited the White House. The next year, when the president agreed to share the stage with Israel’s prime minister, Netanyahu lectured him before the cameras in the Oval Office on why Obama’s (hardly original) idea that the 1967 borders could be a baseline for peace negotiations with the Palestinians was bunk. In 2012, Netanyahu—frustrated that he couldn’t goad  # Obama into saying when the U.S. would bomb Iran—Obama has called the use of chemical weapons in Syria a “red line” possibly prompting U.S. military action. Asked about the matter during the press conference, Obama said the U.S. would investigate whether the weapons were used and that “the Assad regime must understand that they will be held accountable for the use of chemical weapons or their transfer to terrorists.” Obama, in other words, is entering a war zone, not a playground for peace fantasies. Although his visit to Palestinian Authority headquarters and address to Israeli university students on Thursday may yet hold surprises, indications so far are that he has sobered up about Israel’s neighborhood and the real issues it faces.

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

** For four years the administration has been telling Bibi that construction of settlements on the west bank is contrary to a commitment made by Israel years ago, and is a major roadblock to peace. In private conversations, and in White House meetings the message was the same. In going to Israel Mr. Obama had an opportunity to tell the Israeli people directly what the American position is with respect to West Bank settlements. The position was first articulated by Carter, signed off on by Reagan, Bush Sr., and Bill Clinton. Then, with the election of George Jr. the position of the U.S. changed significantly - this time supporting West Bank development.

ON IRAN . If you figure that behind closed doors . President Obama has discussed with Bibi about a possible strike on Iran . These kind of two faced diplomacy is at  the center why the United  States is so hated in the Middle- East .  # It seems that the Israeli  government was trying to get America to war with Iran. Possible provoking a preemptive strike by the Israeli's  . Trust me Like Iraq . Iran has no WMD's . It obvious to anyone that it is   another pretext for war that America can't afford.

Shirakawa and others..............

George Shirakawa got what was coming to him , but
what about the rest?

George Shirakawa Jr pleaded guilty 12 times,  But who else is guilty of abusing the public office ? Tip of the iceberg, and it will go nowhere. Too many people in power taking 'campaign contributions' has been going on a long time. So why punish Shirakawa when the whole house needs cleaning out?  And if an election were held today, he'd probably be re-elected. Wake up Santa Clara County! Hold your elected officials accountable and stop re-electing people who have misused public funds and then say "Oh I am sowwy for being bad, I won't do it anymore." According to the Mercury News : The District Attorney's Office investigation concluded that Shirakawa gambled away more than $100,000 in political and public funds over the past five years -- a pattern of "prolonged deception" aided by a secret slush fund, untraceable cash, forged signatures and false and perjured campaign filings. George Shirakawa Jr. never should have been elected a county supervisor. He's made a shambles of his tenure, lurching from one embarrassment to another -- an office budget out of whack, a personal bodyguard job to an old friend, campaign payments to relatives, and now a repeated failure to file election statements.Hypocrisy is amazing.. ** chuck Reed stole over $40,000 gave it back and not a word was said. Most of the media outlets under pressure removed any work of his theft. The District attorney turned a blind eye to the entire event. But in this case they unleashed the hounds to go after George. right or wrong why is the District attorney not investigation every single elected official in the county. One look at Pete constant and you can see he has charged the city for thousands of dollar worth of meals. It us rumored that he even made the city pay close to $100,000 for medically supervised weight lose which he claimed was caused from eating to many big mac's. Figone routinely charges the city for food which amounts to theft. This is not about right or wrong it is about political posturing. This is simply tatic to endure shirakawa is out of the way come the next election. If the DA had an integrity he would investigate all of them and charge Chuch Reed for his past thefts..... that is what justice demands and the voters should expect no less. In November, Shirakawa won a second term as supervisor after running unopposed while the district attorney's office investigated his alleged spending of campaign and public funds over the past decade. Sinunu-Towery said taxpayers funded Shirakawa's casino trips, golf outings and lavish meals."His actions brought a lot of shame to the political community and this county," Sinunu-Towery told the Associated Press. "We hope it sends a strong message that we won't tolerate corrupt government.

"It's just a pathetic story," Sinunu-Towery said.

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

** Although Shirakawa, belatedly, reimbursed the county for some of the expenses -- so far $7,049 -- it is illegal to "borrow" from public funds, even if an elected official later reimburses those expenses."

The Mercury News did not have this opinion when Councilman (now Mayor) Rufas Reed did it. he was allowed to pay back the money he used inappropriately. Not long after, his father-in-law (a honcho at Mercury News) helped him cause a scandal with Ron Gonzalez. Gonzalez was relieved of Mayorship and Reed was elected in his place, running on a platform of "sunshine" and accountability. Although Reed payed back the taxpayers for his indiscretions, he should be put in jail next to Shirakawa.

 

The New Pope , and what it means.

The Catholic Church has a new Pope , but is this a sign
of a break with Catholic tradition?

The Roman Catholic Church now has a new Pope . There are some startling facts about Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina. There is already "talk" that the new Pope is hiding a vary liberal veneer underneath . First of all is the name he chose. He called himself Francis I. That is a break from along tradition  of Latin dominated names of Popes . We have had our Leo's , Pius's , Benedict's and Clement's. Centuries of European dominated Popes came to a crash with the election of Cardinal Bergoglio. Is that a sure sign of a turn around for the Catholic Church . Will this Pope bring the Church into the 21st Century and  reform a rather backward institution ? Here is some investigative reporting on Francis I. Why was everyone talking about liberation theology? Because Francis comes from Latin America, the cradle of (one iteration of) the liberation theology movement. The new pope has also made some pretty progressive-sounding statements -- to American ears, anyway -- about neoliberalism, the poor, and Argentina's debt. But as the story worked its way through the news cycle, an examination of Francis's record showed public attempts to distance himself from liberation theology. And the Argentinian priest who publicly embraced a progressive social justice agenda has been labeled a conservative by many -- in some cases, relabeled by the same media outlets that asked earlier if he was a progressive.This pope's more "liberal" than the last. He's more of a 16th century man than a 12th century one. More seriously, though, viewing this pope or any institutionalized church as "liberal" or "conservative" in sociopolitical terms, as the media tends to do all too often, is misleading at best. World leaders were quick to welcome the new Catholic leader. Argentine President Cristina Fernández was among the first to congratulate the new Catholic leader. British PM David Cameron said Wednesday was "a momentous day for the 1.2 billion Catholics around the world." In a statement, U.S. President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle, too, offered their best wishes to the new Pope.  **Obama added:

As a champion of the poor and the most vulnerable among us, he carries forth the message of love and compassion that has inspired the world for more than two thousand years—that in each other we see the face of God. As the first pope from the Americas, his selection also speaks to the strength and vitality of a region that is increasingly shaping our world, and alongside millions of Hispanic Americans, those of us in the United States share the joy of this historic day.

 Come Tuesday, St. Peter's Square will again bustle with the faithful, tourists and locals during the official Mass to inaugurate Francis as the bishop of Rome.The choice of day to anoint him as the holy father of the Roman Catholic Church carries a rich symbolism: It is the day that Catholics celebrate the Feast of St. Joseph to honor Jesus' father on Earth, the carpenter Joseph. It also happens to be Father's Day in Italy.Foreign dignitaries and heads of state are welcome to attend but by tradition don't receive a specific invitation, Lombardi said.U.S. Vice President Joe Biden is to lead the U.S. presidential delegation for the Mass, the White House said Friday, with House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi also among the party. On Friday, House Speaker John Boehner, a Republican, said he will send a separate bipartisan congressional delegation. Only a few weeks after his questionable attempt to spread world peace via bringing “basketball diplomacy” to North Korea, eccentric 90s-era basketball star Dennis Rodman has announced an ambitious follow-up: an audience with the new pope. Rodman, who came back to the U.S.singing praises of one of the most reviled men on Earth, Kim Jong Un, told TMZ, “I want to be anywhere in the world that I’m needed … I want to spread a message of peace and love throughout the world.”.  Rodman is on his way to Rome...........

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

** The reason Obama thinks it’s o.k. to send Joe is because it doesn’t matter. Obama has no respect for the Pope or the Catholic Church. The Pope is a "political head of state" For the matter of fact . Not as much as a religious leader for many. VATICAN CITY is less than a mile as a nation within a nation . The Pope (pontiff ) is treated almost as if we were dealing with a 'King' . Stranger still . The MORMON church leaders,The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints welcomed Pope Francis and said they hope the two faiths can continue to work together on issues of faith, morality, and service to the poor and needy. “We look forward to pursuing together, as the Apostle Paul wrote, all things that are true, honest, just, pure, lovely and of good report,” said a statement from the Mormon church. The Mormon Church once held that the Catholic Church was "The Great and Abominable Church" in the Book of Mormon and now the Mormons want to play nice?

Palpable irony.

Paul Ryan’s budget.

Sen. Paul Ryan's budget has too many flaws , is this the
best Congress can do?

It's time for some obstructionism again . Sen . Paul Ryan begins to unravel his budget , which contains the usual repeal of Obamacare . First, Paul Ryan released an update to his conservative vision of America, proposing trillions in spending cuts, mostly to health care. Yesterday, Senate Democrat responded with their own budget, which cuts about $1 trillion, raises about $1 trillion in taxes mostly by limiting deductions for richer families, and throws in a $100 billion stimulus. It's time for a budget , but to repeal Obama-care is a bit too risky on Ryan's part .Paul Ryan is, for whatever reason, batting his head against the wall with a proposal to do away with Obamacare. Ryan's plan actually attempts to cut spending, which means there is no chance it will actually pass. Trust me,  Sen. Paul Ryan's budget is the best we have now , but to blow it up by paving the way for more obstructionism from the ** Democrats is sure to shut the Government down on March 27th. I don't know of any first world nation like America which doesn't have heavy doses of what has been called the Great Society programs. Where are the experts, where are the projections if Ryan were to get his budget rammed thru? What would our nation look like? Would wealth inequality increase? Is this budget of Ryan's more 'voodoo economics' as coined by George H.W. Bush? Name other countries so that the American public can compare and contrast .... all in see so far is the cruelty and throwing the middle class under the bus... and devastation for the lower class and the poor. I don't know folks . President Obama will fight the Ryan budget, but what has he done ? . Just where is Obama's action plan ? . I know that the President has made some  " proposals"  to the GOP . ##  In four years nothing has come out of it . Ryan's plan claims to want to avoid turning America into Greece, but the real goal is to turn us into Peru: a nation with a few billionaires and a land of peasants with a shrinking middle class. Investment in infrastructure and education are no longer deemed the responsibility of government, let alone consumption for the welfare of the public. The government will mainly exist to protect the rich from riots and kidnappings by the poor, but the US will no longer be a 1st world power capable of influencing or shaping the future.

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

** The White House announced Tuesday it would not release its budget request until early April, and unloaded on the GOP’s 10-year budget plan, which was designed by House budget chief Rep. Paul Ryan. Ryan’s budget would punish middle-class Americans by cutting taxes on the wealthy by a third, claimed White House press secretary Jay Carney. “The burden is doubled or even tripled on everyone else,” he claimed. ## Obama for failing to pass a budget.  was correct that the two times Congress voted on the president’s budget requests, both times they were voted down. But the job of passing a budget resolution is not the president’s. That responsibility falls to Congress, and even then the president doesn’t sign it. As Ellis, our expert, put it: "The president has no role in passing a budget. The president can cajole Congress about passing a budget and advocate for positions and funding levels, but in the end, Congress approves the budget resolution for their own purposes." That’s the difference between this and other claims we’ve rated which blamed Congress for inaction on the budget.

Truth about North Korea.

 Does he really want a war ? Have American sanctions been
driving North Korea to the Brink? 

Well North Korea may have sunk to a level of madness assured . Now -- if North Korean state media is to be believed -- the man is itching to do so. North Korea cut off a telephone hot line to the South and "declared invalid" the Korean War armistice, as South Korea and the U.S. began Monday a second phase of their annual joint winter military exercises. Later Monday, Washington slapped a series of new sanctions on North Korea, reflecting its deepening concern over Pyongyang's weapons activities. Just what is wrong with North Korea ? Are they in such desperation that they would want a war? If you just think about it. The American media may had given us the wrong perception of the North Korea . Our American government is responsible for the North Korean reactions . The years of sanctions for example , and the starving children of North Korea where a political tool. Recently North Korea formally rejected a U.N. Security Council resolution on Saturday that demands an end to its nuclear arms programme, signalling it would defy international sanctions and pursue its goal of becoming a full-fledged nuclear weapons state. Unfortunately, the U.S. has accepted North Korean nuclear weapons and development of an intercontinental ballistic missile. Now that the first is a fait accompli and the second well underway, pretending to be a satellite launching capability, the only solution is a pre-emptive strike to decapitate the North Korean leadership. It would have been much easier to have nipped this in the bud 20 years ago. The White House made it clear that it would not provide nutritional assistance to starving children in North Korea because their government launched a rocket in violation of United Nations sanctions. It is no secret that the North Korean regime has misguided priorities. The long history of human rights abuses, political gulags and broken promises towards denationalization are widely known – and rightly criticized. Likewise, it is well known the people of North Korea are underfed, malnourished and starving. We know they are powerless within their own country. For them to publicly assign blame, or advocate for change, will result in their own personal imprisonment as well as the arrest and imprisonment of up to three generations of their family. According to Ambassador Steven Bosworth (the former Obama administration official responsible for North Korea), it has been known since last May that a food program was “very appropriate for children.” Despite the evidence, the White House delayed action on responding to the requests for many months and gave misleading statements to the press and public that they were analyzing those reports. It was revealed through the “Leap Day Agreement,” however, that the administration used the growing needs of hungry children to leverage a political deal on uranium enrichment and missile tests. Did the White House or State Department seriously think that tying the humanitarian needs of children to a policy of Korean denuclearization was in the interest of anyone, least of all the hungry kids?

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

Even then America did not learn, it has played a dangerous game of insults, condemnations, sanctions, threats and provocations. North Korea will have seen how the US and Israel bomb Iran whenever they feel like it, invade Iraq against the will of the UN with impunity and turn on former friends like Gadhafi and fund revolutions when they are no longer useful. North Korea has also experienced US politicians attacking them verbally and threatening their destruction, it is no different for a North Korean politician to threaten to nuke America than it is for American politicians to threaten to nuke them. Seen from their angle, US threats against them are just as worrying (and worryingly credible) from them as their threats are for us.
America does not have some God given right to launch pre-emptive strikes around the world, in fact it has no more legitimacy to do so than North Korea. 

American society's lack of Empathy.

The United States of America is nation that is showing signs of crumbling within . There so many signs of it . The word for it might be lack of empathy within our society . Yes, Empathy - supposedly a spontaneous reaction to the plight of our fellow humans -is now channeled through self-interested and bloated non-government organizations or multilateral outfits. The vibrant world of private empathy has been replaced by faceless state largesse. Pity, mercy, the elation of giving are tax-deductible. It is a sorry sight  .Here is an example The parent company of a Bakersfield senior living facility where a staff member refused to perform CPR , because of "company" policy .The staff member said it was against the facility's policy for her to perform CPR, according to a 911 tape released by the Bakersfield Fire Department. Initially, Glenwood Gardens said the staff member followed protocol. This woman calls herself a "NURSE"? Outraged!! Families put their loved ones in facilities to get  care and support.

IN another STORY that caught my eye this week was the story of a Surrogate mother who refused to have an abortion , she was being reportedly offered 10,000 $.  Crystal Kelley ran through the calendar once again in her head. It was August, and if she got pregnant soon, she could avoid carrying during the hot summer months -- she'd done that before and didn't want to do it again. There was no time to lose.When a Connecticut couple learned their surrogate mother was carrying a fetus with developmental disabilities, they offered her $10,000 to have an abortion, reported CNN. This is what happens when people play God. The first couple, not content with the three children they already had - perhaps because they weren't born perfect? - "desperately" wanted a fourth which the mother couldn't carry, and apparently, didn't even have an egg for. The surrogate wanted the money, not the baby, except when it became clear to her that the supposed real parents no longer wanted the baby. Only then did she develop an attachment, which lasted only until she found someone willing to take this fragile, special needs baby off her hands. She couldn't take care of her, not without a job or lot of financial support, not when she had two other mouths to feed. When push came to shove (pun intended), she did her research and fled to a state where she could instantly apply for medicaid to care for the child, where the state would allow her to make the decisions of where this baby should go. This wasn't a miracle of life, it was the miracle of modern science creating a malformed child destined to a short life of round the clock care. Isn’t it amazing that” Pro Choice ” people think it is okay so long as one makes only one of the choices?? Verce the baby was adopted out to a loving family who was willing to love a baby unconditionally.

Another aspect to this . Is how "detached" everything is in America . Our Nation has poverty , there are poor , and homeless that need help . Yet no one is helping them . Detachment is alarming when we perceive all is well , but it is not well .  The Stock Market gains  after 4 years at an alarming rate . It's so much fun to own stocks these days, with the Dow Industrials and Wilshire 5000 index setting one new high after another, and the Standard & Poor's 500 within 1% of doing the same. Watching the value of your portfolio rise is such a delightful indoor sport. All this happiness and moneymaking (if only on paper) are what make Saturday's anniversary so interesting and educational. What anniversary, you ask? Why, the fourth anniversary of the market bottom, reached by all three of the major indicators on Mar. 9, 2009. You remember those days, don't you? It was a hideous time, with people losing their jobs, house prices collapsing, the world financial system teetering on the brink, and the U.S. stock market, as measured by the Wilshire, down a sickening 57% -- or $11.2 trillion—from its high 17 months earlier.Stock prices are "propped up" by millions of buyers who want to own stocks at these prices. Those of you who see another market crash just around the corner should stay out of the market. Those of us who moved money off the sidelines into stocks four years ago are pleased with our choices.Who believes this garbage is sustainable. The ONLY reason stocks are this high is because of Bernanke and his printing press. If you think an 8 trillion increase in debt and devaluation of the dollar is worth it, have at it. The stock market is generally a poor proxy for the economy. Both, however, are characterized by extreme inequality, with large amounts of spending power concentrated at the extremes. "Companies know and they've sort of noticed that the consumers in the middle are not doing so well,” said Chris Christopher, an economist at research firm IHS. “However, they've realized that the upper income brackets are doing fine. Then there's people that are living paycheck to paycheck that are always looking for a good deal," As Christopher portrayed it, that has produced a "bifurcation" of the stock market, with companies harvesting profits by targeting customers at either end of the income spectrum. “Those companies that stick to the middle tier just suffer,” he said. Central bank prints $85 billion every month. How much of that money makes it into the middle class pockets? In the town that launched the War on Poverty 48 years ago, the poor are getting poorer despite the government's help. And the rich are getting richer because of it.The top 5 percent of households in Washington, D.C., made more than $500,000 on average last year, while the bottom 20 percent earned less than $9,500 - a ratio of 54 to 1. That gap is up from 39 to 1 two decades ago. It's wider than in any of the 50 states and all but two major cities. This at a time when income inequality in the United States as a whole has risen to levels last seen in the years before the Great Depression. The federal government does redistribute wealth down to struggling Americans. But in the years since President Lyndon Johnson took aim at poverty in his first State of the Union address, there has been an increasingly strong crosscurrent: The government is redistributing wealth up, too - especially in the nation's capital.

The Two Dinners.

Obama's new ambassador to North Korea !

Will the Government Shutdown again? 

If there is anything BIZARRE in the world . One should take note of  Dennis Rodman's flashy visit to North Korea.The trouble with useful idiots like Dennis Rodman is that they never have a clue how idiotic they really are.  **Dennis Rodman was given full dignitary treatment during his visit to North Korea, which included a ridiculous presidential feast ...Mean while the starving people of North Korea were eating insects and roadside weeds to fill their empty stomachs The regime is continuing its dangerous weapons tests, treating its population terribly and starving countless people. On Tuesday, North Korea issued new hostile threats, this time to nullify the armistice agreement that ended the Korean War in 1953. The regime has made threats in the past, but the intensity of its recent belligerence is unusual. MEANWHILE things are just salivating here at home . Republicans pushed legislation through the House on Wednesday to prevent a government shutdown this month while easing the short-term impact of $85 billion in spending cuts — at the same time previewing a longer-term plan to erase federal deficits without raising taxes.Legislation easily passed the US House of Representatives on Wednesday to avert another partisan budget battle and a possible government shutdown, and a dinner meeting between President Barack Obama and Senate Republicans offered signs of a thaw in relations. By a vote of 267-151, the House passed a measure to fund government programs until the end of the fiscal year on September 30. The Democratic-controlled Senate is expected to pass a similar bill next week. Funny how 'quickly' they can all agree on something when it insures that their paychecks keep coming! While they fail to find that same 'magic formula' when it comes to our economic and financial fate! I can't figure out how our stupid politicians made it past the 3rd grade, let alone into the White House.  # President Obama also had a dinner , While the meal was not intended to be a negotiation, it was an opportunity for Obama to make clear he is willing to consider some difficult spending cuts that are unpopular with his fellow Democrats in Congress, the official said. Those could include cuts to programs that include the Social Security pension system and Medicare for the elderly. Obama is due to discuss his other legislative priorities, including immigration reform, gun control and tackling climate change, at meetings with members of both political parties on Capitol Hill next week. Republicans in the House are expected Thursday to pass their own legislation to keep the government's lights on until September. Their version of the bill would fund the government through the end of the fiscal year with roughly $980 billion, a number that takes into account the $85 billion in cuts from sequestration. The legislation includes a full year appropriations bill for the Department of Defense and Veterans Affairs to give the agencies a bit more flexibility to reallocate some of the across-the-board cuts that began March 1. Democrats in the Senate have signaled they'd like to give domestic agencies affected by sequester more ability to reallocate the cuts as well. Other Democrats say she will follow Obama's lead on Medicare, setting up a contrast with Republicans that her party hopes to exploit in the 2014 elections. Obama's own budget has been delayed repeatedly this year, and it is not clear if he intends to release it before the House and Senate hold their debates this month. If the administration waits until April, it could avoid certain embarrassment at the hands of Republicans. It is a ritual of budget politics for the party out of power in the White House to demand a vote on the president's budget, knowing it will fail, sometimes ignominiously.

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

** In his first interview since returning to the U.S. from an unprecedented visit to North Korea last week, former NBA star Dennis Rodman said he bears a message for President Obama from the country’s oppressive leader, Kim Jong Un. “He wants Obama to do one thing: Call him,” Rodman told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on “This Week.” “He said, ‘If you can, Dennis – I don’t want [to] do war. I don’t want to do war.’ He said that to me.” The athlete also offered Kim some diplomatic advice for potential future talks with President Obama. # And this new poll out that the national media keeps hyping about the president's declining poll numbers on the sequester, is a question asked differently than all the other previous polls, where they add the democratic party along with the president in the question...thereby altering who they feel is to blame. But you won't hear them mentioning that either or taking note of the change. The national media are in the hands of Wall Street, and they're doing swimmingly. No one should ever forget that either.