ALBANY — Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and legislative leaders announced on Tuesday that they had reached an agreement to overhaul New York State’s income tax, creating a higher tax bracket for the highest-income residents and reducing the tax rate for millions of middle-class residents.
...
Pelosi, in an interview with Talking Points Memo, echoed Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) in saying “I never thought I’d live such a good life that I would see Newt Gingrich be the nominee of the Republican Party.”
There’s no better illustration of how ecstatic Democrats are about Newt Gingrich leading the GOP primary pack than Nancy Pelosi’s strategic silence.
...
Pelosi didn’t go into detail about Gingrich’s past transgressions, but she tipped her hand. “One of these days we’ll have a conversation about Newt Gingrich,” Pelosi said. “I know a lot about him. I served on the investigative committee that investigated him, four of us locked in a room in an undisclosed location for a year. A thousand pages of his stuff.”
Pressed for more detail she wouldn’t go further.
“Not right here,” Pelosi joked. “When the time’s right.”
Which is to say that if Gingrich somehow clinches the nomination, there’s one hell of an oppo dump coming.
NEW ORLEANS -- BP has accused Halliburton of destroying damaging evidence about the quality of its cement slurry that went into drilling the oil well that blew out last year and caused the worst offshore oil spill in U.S. history.
In a court filing, the oil company alleged that Halliburton did inadequate cement work. BP also asked a federal judge to punish the oilfield services company.
...
Life’s a happy song, but not when Fox Business is singing along. The network is upset that the new Muppets movie, The Muppets, features an oil tycoon as a villain, with various contributors complaining last week that the film amounts to “indoctrination” of young people into “hating corporate America” that borders on “Communist[ic].” Dan Gainor of the conservative Media Research Center agreed with host Eric Bolling that “liberal Hollywood is using class warfare to brainwash our kids” and the discussion rambled on from there.
...
Republican presidential candidate hopeful Newt Gingrich sounds a little worried that Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi might follow through with her threat to divulge details of his past transgressions.
...
It's the tale about the laudable efforts of a local property owner -- who happens to be a county employee -- with an offensively named creek on her land to drag Nevada County government kicking and screaming into the 21st century by renaming it on current maps -- like the Assessors parcel maps (APN maps). Emphasis on the word current.
For now, the name Negro Creek will remain on federal maps since it was the federal government that removed the word Nigger on all its maps in 1964 and replaced it with Negro. In 1983 (during the Reagan administration) the Board of Names enacted the following: "The Board will not adopt a name proposal that includes the word "Jap" or the word "Nigger" whether or not it is in current local usage and regardless of by whom proposed." That directive, signed by the Secretary of the Interior, whizzed right by Nevada County.
Nevada County's conservative Republican majority on the BOS is famous for declaring its disdain for government in general and its preference for local control over state or federal mandates. OK, so how does that work in this case? Let's see...
What the BOS fails to acknowledge is that the word "Negro" – while hardly as odious as the word "nigger" -- is perceived by many people today of all races as offensive, and not just "outmoded" -- to use Supervisor Weston's inane adjective. "Outmoded" is a word more appropriate for describing unfashionable hairdos and clothing styles like mullets and go-go boots, not to describe what an entire generation of the biggest racial minority in the United States chooses to name itself in view of past discrimination. The term "Negro" is "outmoded" today precisely because it is offensive to many since it is reminiscent of the Jim Crow period. And, it is used by racists today as a replacement for the now "outmoded" term "nigger." Bottom line, the word "Negro" is still used today by people who don't have the guts to use the word "nigger." Does anybody remember the song "Barack The Magic Negro" played ad nauseam on the Rush Limbaugh show during the last presidential campaign? Had he used the word "nigger" on the air, he would have lost his job. He was safe using "Negro," but we all heard the dog whistle.
[...] And then there was the Bosnia-Kosovo war. As Bismarck said, the risk of Europe being set aflame occurs when some damn fool starts a war in the Balkans. And then there was the way it was conducted: $200,000 US missiles were decoyed by the Serbs wiring $100 microwave ovens to operate with the door open.
As if that isn’t bad enough, Newt has decided that not only is he running for president, he is also laying claim to the crown of the King of Making Shit Up (You didn’t think Karl Rove could hold it forever, did you?)
...
Recent cases in point:
...
–He said of the Occupy movement, that they should “go get a job after you take a bath.” Because as everyone is aware, you can then go jump on the back of the job unicorn who will take you to the land of jobs where the man behind the curtain will open the drapes and expose the place where there aren’t 4 job seekers for every job. I think that place is called China.
–Then he pointed out that poor people have no work ethic and no understanding of what it’s like to have a job unless they are involved in an illegal activity. His solution, is to channel Marie Antoinette, ignore child labor laws, turn them into janitors, and let them clean shitters. Nevermind that by far, most poor folk are of the working variety and often have multiple jobs that may just allow them a hand-to-mouth existence.
“We have people who take their food stamp money and use it to go to Hawaii.”
If the food stamp system bars beneficiaries from buying decorative gourds rather than pumpkins, you can be sure it also bars the purchase of airline tickets. (Our guess: The benefit amount would be less than the tickets anyway.)
Yes, you read that correctly, the Food Stamp Program, disallows the purchase of decorative gourds, but according to Newt, you can just take that card and swipe it at the airport and land in Honolulu later in the day, or conceivably, Mordor.
Which leaves us with this question: ”Why would Gingrich make these claims, and what the hell is he thinking when he does?” Well, Newt is laying a bet that becoming the master of the right-wing dog whistle plays well with a republican primary electorate that has little use for pesky things like facts or evidence. And you know what? He’s probably right. The republican field has only one candidate in it that is neither a clown or certifiable and his name is Jon Huntsman (my em). And the former governor of Utah is polling so low nationally, that he has not even qualified to attend the two upcoming Iowa debates.
On second thought, I’m not that worried at all.
After Signaling Support, John Boehner Calls Tax Break For Middle Class ‘Chicken-Shit’
Speaker John Boehner referred to the package he’s putting forward as turning “chicken-sh — into chicken salad,”...
Secret Senate Bill Would Allow Indefinite Detention of U.S. Citizens Without Charge or Trial
To bring our justice system in line with those of other dictatorships.
It's Legal to Buy a Gun if You're on the Terrorist Watch List
When a terrorist can't buy a gun in America the terrorists will have won.
Ignoring Their Concerns, Republicans Line Up Behind Gingrich
Values voters ignore his three marriages, anti-immigration activists ignore his liberal stance, evangelicals ignore his conversion to Catholicism, fiscal conservatives ignore his profligate personal spending and everyone else ignores his pseudo-intellectual bullshit.
Expert: Mayan Tablets Do Not Predict Apocalypse in 2012
They predict slew of 3-D movies about the Apocalypse, which is worse.
New York City Posts New Pedestrian Warning Signs in Haiku
One reads:
Hey you with the hat
Want to walk across the street
Fuhgeddaboudit
...
Think about what it takes to be a viable Republican candidate today. You have to denounce Big Government and high taxes without alienating the older voters who were the key to G.O.P. victories last year — and who, even as they declare their hatred of government, will balk at any hint of cuts to Social Security and Medicare (death panels!).
And you also have to denounce President Obama, who enacted a Republican-designed health reform and killed Osama bin Laden, as a radical socialist who is undermining American security.
So what kind of politician can meet these basic G.O.P. requirements? There are only two ways to make the cut: to be totally cynical or to be totally clueless.
...
...
10) Couldn't tolerate the idea of another one-on-debate with Newt Gingrch, especially one moderated by Donald Trump. Even THE Herman Cain has standards, bitches.
9) Campaign was beginning to seriously cut into his texting and phone sex addiction.
8) Soul-searching turned up no results.
...
Iceland's special prosecutor has taken Larus Welding, the former head of the failed Glitnir Bank, into custody, Reuters reports.
Glitnir Bank was the first of the top three Icelandic commercial banks to fail in 2008.
...
KOBLENZ, Germany — Officials in Germany's western city of Koblenz say some 45,000 residents have to be evacuated as officials try to defuse a World War II era bomb discovered in the Rhine river.
The BBC reported that this is the biggest bomb-related evacuation ever in Germany since the war.
...
Herman Cain announced he's "suspending" his Presidential Campaign. Much like just under a century ago the Titanic suspended floating.
...
The US Republican race is dominated by ignorance, lies and scandals. The current crop of candidates have shown such a basic lack of knowledge that they make George W. Bush look like Einstein. The Grand Old Party is ruining the entire country's reputation.
...
Welcome to the wonderful world of the US Republicans. Or rather, to the twisted world of what they call their presidential campaigns. For months now, they've been traipsing around the country with their traveling circus, from one debate to the next, one scandal to another, putting themselves forward for what's still the most powerful job in the world.
...
