July 1, 2011 · 5:00 pm

VA Congressman Eric Cantor Could Rake in Windfall If Debt Ceiling Isn’t Raised

Talk about a conflict of interest….

This guy was one of the lead negotiators for the Republicans until he took his toys and went home…

And it seems a just a wee bit unpatriotic to bet against the interests of the U.S.A.  And a little stupid, from a PR and political standpoint, for a sitting U.S. Congressman to make this kind of investment.  But with the GOP, money trumps everything else….

Another reason Eric Cantor tops the very long and competitive list of Republican slimy jerks.

From RawStory.com:

Economists have said that failing to raise the debt ceiling could be catastrophic for the U.S. economy, but at least one lawmaker stands to gain financially if the country defaults on its debts.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor’s (R-VA) latest financial disclosure statement indicates that he owns up to $15,000 of ProShares Trust Ultrashort 20+ Year Treasury EFT, a fund that will likely skyrocket as U.S. debt becomes less desirable.

“If the debt ceiling isn’t raised, investors would start fleeing U.S. Treasuries,” Motley Fool’s Matt Koppenheffer told Salon. “Yields would rise, prices would fall, and the Proshares ETF should do very well. It would spike.”

“Cantor’s involvement in the fund and negotiations is not ideal,” he added. “I don’t think someone negotiating the debt ceiling should be invested in this kind of an ultra-short… It looks pretty bad.”

Cantor pulled out of negotiations to raise the debt limit last week saying, “Now is the time for these talks to go into abeyance.”

Since that time, ProShares ETF is up 3.3 percent.

“Cantor’s office claims the investment is simply part of a balanced portfolio,” noted Washington Monthly’s Steve Benen. “It’s hardly a stretch, though, to suggest prominent officials should avoid these kinds of conflicts of interest.”

via Cantor could rake in windfall if debt ceiling isn’t raised | The Raw Story.

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July 1, 2011 · 3:47 pm

John Lennon: Reagan Loving, Closet Republican?

Say it isn’t so!!!!

If it is true, it will probably freak out even more Republicans than Liberals….

From NPR:

The same man who wrote “Imagine;” who dreamed about a world without religion, just a “brotherhood of man;” the man who conducted naked sit-ins in bed to protest the Vietnam War; the long haired, pot smoking, peace loving hippie; the front man of the Beatles—yes that man, John Lennon, might have been a Reagan loving, closeted Republican. Sounds too crazy to be true? It just might be, but a new documentary based on interviews with Lennon’s personal assistant, Fred Seaman, claims that the iconic rock star’s political views had evolved by the end of the 1970’s and that by the time Ronald Reagan was running for office Lennon had morphed into a Republican. As told in the new documentary “Beatles Stories,” the assistant Seaman said, “John, basically, made it very clear that if he were an American he would vote for Reagan because he was really sour on Jimmy Carter.” Could one of the most famous and noteworthy progressive peace activists of all time, John Lennon, have been a secret GOPer?

MORE:   John Lennon: Reagan loving, closet Republican? | 89.3 KPCC.

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June 28, 2011 · 4:08 pm

What Princess Diana’s Life Might Look Like Now

Princess Diana’s death was kind of like the Kennedy Assassination for me and my generation.  We were young adults when it happened and most of us remember exactly where we were when we heard.

Steve and I were sitting on the patio of a long-closed restaurant on Tate Street having dinner and cocktails with friends when the waiter interrupted our merriment to tell us the  news.  We all rushed into the bar to see the TV…

Today, I saw this interesting article from Tina Brown in Newsweek on what Diana, Princess of Wales, might have evolved to being had she lived….

It’s fun to speculate.  It would have been much better if she had lived to fascinate us a lot longer…

Diana would have been 50 this month. What would she have been like? Still great-looking: that’s a given. Her mother, Frances Shand Kydd, with her cornflower-blue eyes and striding sexuality, was a handsome woman to the very end. Fashionwise, Diana would have gone the J.Crew and Galliano route à la Michelle Obama, always knowing how to mix the casual with the glam. There is no doubt she would have kept her chin taut with strategic Botox shots and her bare arms buff from the gym. Remarriage? At least two, I suspect, on both sides of the Atlantic. Always so professional herself, she would have soon grown exasperated with Dodi Al-Fayed’s hopeless unreliability. After the breakup I see her moving to her favorite city, New York, spending a few cocooned years safely married to a super-rich hedge-fund guy who could provide her with what she called “all the toys”: the plane, the private island, the security detail. Gliding sleekly into her 40s, her romantic taste would have moved to men of power over boys of play. She’d have tired of the hedge-fund guy and drifted into undercover trysts with someone more exciting—a high-mindedly horny late-night talk-show host, or a globe-trotting French finance wizard destined for the Élysée Palace. I suspect she would have retained a weakness for men in uniform, and a yen for dashing Muslim men. (A two-year fling with a Pakistani general, rumored to have links to the ISI, would have been a particular headache to the Foreign Office and the State Department.) Davos and the Clinton Global Initiative would have become her new post-palace power circles. She would perhaps have caused a press sensation with an unplanned pledge from the CGI stage to raise $50 million to help educate women in South Sudan.

via What Princess Diana’s Life Might Look Like Now – Newsweek.

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June 27, 2011 · 8:01 pm

Cost of Air Conditioning for U.S. Troops in MidEast More Than Entire NASA Budget

This is amazing….

It’s time to end these wars and bring these folks home…

This is getting too ridiculous on too many levels…

From RawStory.com:

The United States spends $20.2 billion annually on air conditioning for troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan — more than NASA’s entire budget, NPR reported.

In fact, the same amount of money that keeps soldiers cool is the amount the G-8 has committed to helping the fledgling democracies in Tunisia and Egypt.

The necessary cooling costs so much because of the remote locations and danger involved in delivery equipment and fuel, Steven Anderson, a retired logistician who served under Gen. David Petraeus in Iraq.

“When you consider the cost to deliver the fuel to some of the most isolated places in the world — escorting, command and control, medevac support — when you throw all that infrastructure in, we’re talking over $20 billion,” Anderson told NPR. “You’ve got risks that are associated with moving the fuel almost every mile of the way.”

And it’s a long way to move the fuel: 800 miles of “improved goat trails” separate Karachi, where the fuel is shipped in, to Afghanistan. The transport takes 18 days.

By embracing green practices, Anderson said, money and soldiers’ lives could be saved: more than 1,000 troops have died while transporting fuel. Their trucks are a popular target, and commanders have to stop their operations to leave and go on fuel runs. When they’re gone, he said, the insurgents know they’re gone, and the U.S. troops lose ground in their missions.

Experiments have been conducted using polyurethane foam insulation in the tents to shield soldiers from the 125-degree heat of the Middle East, cutting energy use by 92 percent. However, nobody is enthusiastic about taking initiative to green the military.

“A simple policy signed by the secretary of defense — a one- or two-page memo, saying we will no longer build anything other than energy-efficient structures in Iraq and Afghanistan — would have a profound impact,” Anderson said.

via Cost of air conditioning for U.S. troops in MidEast more than NASA budget | The Raw Story.

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June 27, 2011 · 6:12 pm

Michele Bachmann Claims Spiritual Kinship with Serial Killer

She really is an idiot…

Chris Wallace should take back his apology for calling her a “flake” on Fox News…

From Huffington Post.com:

In Waterloo, Iowa on the eve of her official presidential campaign announcement, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) told Fox News that she has “the spirit” of John Wayne.

The presidential hopeful — who was born and grew up in Waterloo as a child before moving to Minnesota — said, “Well, what I want them to know is just like, John Wayne was from Waterloo, Iowa. That’s the kind of spirit that I have, too.”

The Washington Times points out one slight problem with the Tea Party favorite’s remarks: The John Wayne with roots in Waterloo is John Wayne Gacy, a serial killer who was executed by lethal injection in 1994 after being convicted of 33 murders.

John Wayne — the late movie star, director and producer — was born in Winterset, Iowa, but appears to have no specific connection to Waterloo.

via Michele Bachmann Flops ‘John Wayne’ Reference In Waterloo, Iowa (VIDEO).

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June 27, 2011 · 11:18 am

Michele Bachmann Asked If She Accepts Chris Wallace’s Apology For ‘Flake’ Question (VIDEO)

Michele Bachmann is more than a flake, she’s totally nuts!

Who cares if a Fox News Anchor insults her?

Well, I guess Fox viewers do…

Yet Fox News Anchors have been incredibly rude to President Obama and many, many Democrats.  How come they never apologize to them?

I guess they only apologize to Republicans.  Not only do they believe in situational ethics, situational “facts”, but also, apparently, situational manners.

They really are just a propaganda outlet for the GOP and everyone should have recognized that by now…

Still, I can’t believe they were as rude as they were to the President of the United States, on more than one occasion, never apologized, yet they apologize for a much lesser offense to this woman…

From The Huffington Post:

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) says it’s “insulting” that Fox News host Chris Wallace asked her if she’s a “flake” when she appeared on his program on Sunday morning.

Wallace apologized for the question in a web video after he interviewed the presidential hopeful.

“A lot of you were more than perturbed, you were upset and felt that I had been rude to her,” says Wallace in the clip posted online. “And since in the end it’s really all about the answers, and not about the questions, I messed up, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean any disrespect.”

Asked if she accepts the apology by ABC News’ Jon Karl, Bachmann said, “I think that it’s insulting to insinuate that a candidate for president is less than serious. I’m a very serious individual.” When pressed on the matter further she said, “Those are the small issues. I’m focused on the big ones.”

via Michele Bachmann Asked If She Accepts Chris Wallace’s Apology For ‘Flake’ Question (VIDEO).

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June 26, 2011 · 11:09 am

The Road to Gay Marriage in New York

This is a fascinating front page story in today’s New York Times about the behind-the-scenes political machinations that pushed through Gay Marriage in New York.

I encourage those of you who are interested to read the entire article.  It really shows how politics work-when it works-in America.

It’s also interesting in that the Wall Street guys had more clout than the Religious Right.

Money always wins in America….

 

The story of how same-sex marriage became legal in New York is about shifting public sentiment and individual lawmakers moved by emotional appeals from gay couples who wish to be wed.

But, behind the scenes, it was really about a Republican Party reckoning with a profoundly changing power dynamic, where Wall Street donors and gay-rights advocates demonstrated more might and muscle than a Roman Catholic hierarchy and an ineffective opposition.

And it was about a Democratic governor, himself a Catholic, who used the force of his personality and relentlessly strategic mind to persuade conflicted lawmakers to take a historic leap.

“I can help you,” Mr. Cuomo assured them in dozens of telephone calls and meetings, at times pledging to deploy his record-high popularity across the state to protect them in their districts. “I am more of an asset than the vote will be a liability.”

Over the last several weeks, dozens of lawmakers, strategists and advocates described the closed-door meetings and tactical decisions that led to approval of same-sex marriage in New York, about two years after it was rejected by the Legislature. This account is based on those interviews, most of which were granted on the condition of anonymity to describe conversations that were intended to be confidential.

via The Road to Gay Marriage in New York – NYTimes.com.

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June 25, 2011 · 8:30 pm

Brady Bunch Mom Got Crabs in Affair with NY Mayor

Did we really need to know this???

From Reuters:

This would have made an interesting episode of “The Brady Bunch.”

Florence Henderson, the actress who played perky mom Carol Brady in the beloved family sitcom, says she once got crabs after a one-night-stand with career politician John Lindsay, who was the mayor of New York City at the time.

Henderson, now 77, recounts in her upcoming memoir that she was cheating on her husband during the 1960s, and gave in to her better judgment when her married and unattractive friend put the moves on her over drinks at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

“I was lonely. I knew it wasn’t the right thing to do. So, what did I do? I did it,” she writes in “Life is Not a Stage,” set for publication in September.

Henderson went home later that night, and awoke to a grisly surprise the next day as she saw “little black things” crawling over her bed and body.

An urgent call to a doctor took care of the problem, known medically as pubic lice, and Lindsay sent her flowers and a note of apology.

“Guess I learned the hard way that crabs do not discriminate but cross over all socioeconomic strata,” Henderson writes. “He must have had quite the active life. What a way to put the kibosh on a relationship.”

Lindsay, who died in 2000, was was mayor of New York from 1966 to 1973. Before that, he was a U.S. congressman. He launched a brief bid for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1972. His wife of 51 years died in 2004.

Henderson is probably best known for her work on “The Brady Bunch,” a comedy about a blended family that ran between 1969 and 1974 and remains popular worldwide.

More:   Brady Bunch mom got crabs in affair with NY mayor | Reuters.

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June 25, 2011 · 6:50 pm

Majority Of U.S. Babies Are Non-White For First Time

This is great news.

Old White People have done enough.  We can thank them for the Republican House of Representatives, Ronald Reagan and Jerry Falwell.

They can go now….they all just need to sit down, watch Fox News and let the younger folks take us forward…

I’m looking forward to seeing how the new multi-racial, multi-cultural U.S. shapes up politically….

If we can just get through the next few years…

From The Huffington Post:

 

For the first time, minorities make up a majority of babies in the U.S., part of a sweeping race change and growing age divide between mostly white, older Americans and predominantly minority youths that could reshape government policies.

Preliminary census estimates also show the share of African-American households headed by women – made up of mostly single mothers – now exceeds African-American households with married couples, a sign of declining U.S. marriages overall but also continuing challenges for black youths without involved fathers.

The findings, based on the latest government data, offer a preview of final 2010 census results being released this summer that provide detailed breakdowns by age, race and householder relationships such as same-sex couples.

Demographers say the numbers provide the clearest confirmation yet of a changing social order, one in which racial and ethnic minorities will become the U.S. majority by midcentury.

“We’re moving toward an acknowledgment that we’re living in a different world than the 1950s, where married or two-parent heterosexual couples are now no longer the norm for a lot of kids, especially kids of color,” said Laura Speer, coordinator of the Kids Count project for the Baltimore-based Annie E. Casey Foundation.

“It’s clear the younger generation is very demographically different from the elderly, something to keep in mind as politics plays out on how programs for the elderly get supported,” she said. “It’s critical that children are able to grow to compete internationally and keep state economies rolling.”

Currently, non-Hispanic whites make up just under half of all children 3 years old, which is the youngest age group shown in the Census Bureau’s October 2009 annual survey, its most recent. In 1990, more than 60 percent of children in that age group were white.

William H. Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution who analyzed the data, said figures in the 2009 survey can sometimes be inexact compared with the 2010 census, which queries the entire nation. But he said when factoring in the 2010 data released so far, minorities outnumber whites among babies under age 2.

via Majority Of U.S. Babies Are Non-White For First Time, Census Finds.

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June 25, 2011 · 12:47 pm

The Scary Faces of Gay Marriage

Neil Patrick Harris, David Burtka To Marry: Gay Marriage Passage Enables Stars To Wed

Good for them!

Is this what the conservatives are so scared of????

From The Huffington Post:

As Americans of all stripes celebrated the passage of marriage equality in the New York State Senate, gay New Yorker couples affirmed their commitments to one another and began the 30-day countdown until they could finally say “I Do.” Amongst them, one of New York’s most famous gay couples jubilantly announced that they were getting married.

Neil Patrick Harris, the “How I Met Your Mother” star and Tonys host, became engaged late Friday night to his longtime partner, actor/chef David Burtka. Earlier in the night, Harris tweeted words of encouragement to the State Senate and said he’d “sure love to get married,” and following the law’s passage, Burtka took to Twitter and announced that the two were getting hitched.

“I’d sure love to get married. Please, NY Senate, vote in favor of marriage equality today. My family would really appreciate it,” Harris wrote before the vote; once it was passed, he tweeted his excitement, saying, “It PASSED! Marriage equality in NY!! Yes!! Progress!! Thank you everyone who worked so hard on this!! A historic night!”

Burtka then gave the big news in a tweet to a fan. “I’ve already purposed, he said yes! Thank god!” he wrote, before adding, “he proposed to me as well. I said yes! Thank god!”

Of course, it only makes sense that the pair should be allowed to marry; together for at least five years, the pair are fathers to fraternal twins, Gideon Scott and Harper Grace, born via surrogate in October 2010.

Congratulations to the happy couple, and all the other loving pairs finally granted equal rights in New York State.

via Neil Patrick Harris, David Burtka To Marry: Gay Marriage Passage Enables Stars To Wed.

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