The Five Longest Senate Filibusters.

Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) filibustered the tax compromise between President Obama and Senate Republicans for over eight hours yesterday afternoon. It was the longest Senate filibuster of the 21st century and the longest since New York Senator Al D'Amato's 15 hour speech in 1992.

However, the Senator from Vermont didn't even come close to breaking the top five United States Senate filibusters of all time.

1. Strom Thurmond (D-SC) - 1957 - 24 hours & 18 minutes.
2. Alfonse D'Amato (R-NY) - 1986 - 23 hours & 30 minutes.
3. Wayne Morse (I-Oregon) - 1953 - 22 hours & 26 minutes.
4. Robert LaFollette (P-WI) - 1908 - 18 hours & 23 minutes.
5. William Proxmire (D-WI) - 1981 - 16 hours & 12 minutes.

Talk about long winded!

Senator Strom Thurmond's 24 hour filibuster/speech will probably never be surpassed in our lifetime, but then again Senator LaFollette's record breaking speech in the opening decade of the 20th century stood for almost fifty years until Senator Wayne Morse outdid his mentor by over four hours.

What do you think?

Special notes:

Senator Thurmond's filibuster was against the Civil Rights Act of 1957.
Senator Morse grew up in Wisconsin, and deeply respected LaFollette.
Senator D'Amato is both second and seventh for the longest filibusters.
Senator Byrd's historic filibuster lasted only for 14 hours & 13 minutes.

A Born Again Bush Booster and the Stealth Stimulus

President Barak Obama faced the nation as a born again Bush Booster as he reversed years of personal commitment and regurgitated rhetoric presenting the extension of the Bush tax cuts as his plan for recovery.

Lurking beneath the über partisan vitriol in President Obama’s announcement and serial defense of his post-partisan compromise with the Republican leadership he admitted that raising taxes is counterproductive when growing the economy is your goal. 

Does it make anyone else wonder why when the bubble burst we didn’t cut taxes and get out of the way?  For approximately the same cost of the TARP slush fund, which was used to pay for everything except toxic assets or the non-stimulating stimulus slush fund, every working American could have been given a one-year tax holiday.  Just think about it, if you were getting the gross instead of the net every week do you think you would have spent any more money?  Do you think the economy would still be in the doldrums a year and a half after the Great Recession is “over”?  Come to think, of it why don’t the unemployed just go out and get one of those shovel-ready jobs?  Oh, that’s right two years after the razzle-dazzle sales pitch the pitchman learned they never existed.  Then we learned he knew it all along.

Don’t be fooled as the Democratic Progressives race the Republican Progressives to the microphones complaining they were rolled in Mr. Obama’s Great Compromise.  What they’re really arguing about is how much of the money we earn they can afford to let us keep.  If either side was really ready for the heady wine of liberty they’d talk about eliminating taxes not just about letting us keep the pittance George II agreed to let us hold for a few years. 

Three generations ago, back at the dawn of the 20^th century before the Creature from Jekyll Island and its mad creator, the Congress that devoured a nation began their present reign as the Central Bank and the Central Planning Board most of the taxes that Americans presently bear were nonexistent.  Was the Federal Government broke?  Were millions starving to death because food stamps hadn’t been invented?  Were our citizens wallowing in ignorance because the Education Department hadn’t been created?  Were the States declaring bankruptcy because they didn’t receive grants, bail-outs, or subsidies?

No. Before the creation of the Federal Reserve, which was supposed to safe guard the value of the dollar and end the boom and bust of the business cycle, America was the most prosperous, innovative, and growing nation on earth.  Before the Progressives managed to shackle the capitalist engine of growth, dumb down the best informed public, and make dependent the most independent population the world had ever known America was the can-do capital and the go-to place.

We have witnessed our erstwhile messiah and media darling turn into a whining, complaining prima donna who after spending two years saying Bush’s tax cuts were the cause of the Great Recession now he says if we let them expire it will make the economy worse.  This would give smoke and mirrors a bad name.  After two years vilifying his predecessor instead of ever once taking responsibility for anything the best President Obama can come up with is, “Let George do it”?  We need to impeach his teleprompter for inconsistency and incompetence.

It’s time to ignore the stewards trying to calm the soon-to-expire passengers by convincing them that the configuration of the deck chairs makes a difference. It’s time to tell the captain, the navigator, and the helmsmen we need to turn our ship-of-state before it hits the iceberg of insolvency.  It’s time to take our eyes off the riveting debate between the Democrat whiners, and Weiners, the Republican Snow-jobs and Cantors, and realize these people are more interested in perpetuating the current progressive pyramid of power than in resuscitating our Republic.

The American system doesn’t need bureaucrats tinkering with the tax code.  We need bold patriots ready to make hard choices.  We don’t need gimmicks like cutting the Social Security tax for a short period to make people feel like they’ve received relief from crushing taxation.  We need to admit Clinton’s mythical lock-box and every other band aide our federal masters have used for the last two generations doesn’t change the fact that the Social Security scam has always been a ponzi scheme that makes Madoff look like a piker.

If our generation is to step up we’re going to have to turn off the game, put down the adult beverage, and become profiles in courage if we’re to be the conscious of a conservative for a nation lost in the lunacy of liberalism.  None dare to call it treason, but the fact of the matter is we’ve been and are being sold a bill of goods.  The money is gone: squandered on vote buying social engineering programs that have debilitated our population.

If generations of central planning to safeguard the dollar have turned it into wallpaper, if 100 years of regulating the economy to eliminate the business cycle has produced numerous recessions, a Great Depression, and now the Great Recession what have we gained?  What have we lost?

We gained an increasingly intrusive central government which has subdued the States in contravention to the Tenth Amendment and is regimenting the populace in contravention to the Declaration of Independence.  We gained a judicial system that thinks it can legislate from the bench, a legislature which has all but abdicated their responsibility to a bureaucratic nomenclature, and an imperial presidency filled by executives who start wars without declarations, issue signing statements that reverse the meaning of laws, and refuse to secure our borders, our markets, or even the communication of our diplomats.  We gained a burdensome tax system that even the people who write it can’t understand.  We gained a regulated economy unable to compete with communist countries that strangely seem to be more capitalist than we do.

We lost a free society and a limited government based upon a written Constitution and traditions of individual liberty and responsibility.  We lost a free economy where each citizen contributed and each citizen had the opportunity to fail forward into all that they could be.  We lost ourselves and stand in wonder watching leaders who just don’t get it work feverishly to turn us into someone else.

Don’t buy the hype.  This latest compromise isn’t about putting America on track to revival it is a stealth stimulus pouring money into the economy so both sides of the Progressive bandwagon can roll it to the polls one more time.  In addition, who knows what other surprises are hidden in the unread pages of this omnibus Frankenstein.  Don’t drink the Kool-Aide; instead demand the heady wine of freedom and the re-birth of limited government which is the mother’s milk of liberty!

Dr. Owens teaches History, Political Science, and Religion.  Get the latest dispatches from the History of the Future and find books by Dr. Owens @ http://drrobertowens.com View the trailer for Dr. Owens’ latest book @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ypkoS0gGn8 © 2010 Robert R. Owens dr.owens@comcast.net Follow Dr. Robert Owens on Facebook.

Yogi Bear: The Worst Movie Ever?

The 'worst movie ever' is a term often thrown around when terrible movies are released.  The upcoming 3D film Yogi Bear takes its inspiration form a classic cartoon and apparently wrecks it. The acting seems staid and the jokes in the commercials are embarrassing. It could possibly be the worst feature film in history.

My personal favorite, of course, is Tommy Wiseau's masterpiece The Room.  Yet at least The Room has some redeeming features, mainly the fact that it is so bad, it is good.  For example, please enjoy this quick summary of the movie:


The soon to premier Yogi Bear, unlike The Room, looks to have absolutely no merit.  It looks absolutely atrocious.  Dear God, just look at the trailer:


I think my eyes are bleeding.


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Chris Christie on Tenure in NJ

 

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The Bernie Sanders Filibuster.

UPDATE: Senator Sanders filibuster lasted eight and a half hours today.

TALK BERNIE TALK! The more time Bernie talks....The less time the Senate votes!

Bernie Sanders, the self admitted Socialist Senator from Vermont, has been filibustering the tax cut compromise between President Obama and Washington Republicans for over six hours now. The Senator* first launched his filibuster at 10:25 this morning (according to CSPAN), and has been lambasting the wealthy ever since.

The Senator has been the most talked about subject on twitter this afternoon, and his own staff has been using the social media outlet to update his 13,000+ followers since the filibuster started this morning. He also received some help from two fellow Senators - both Sherrod Brown of Ohio and Mary Landrieu of Louisiana have filled in for Sanders for over an hour on the Senate floor.

How long can he go? Tune into CSPAN for the free entertainment.

* - Elected in 2006.

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Don't Repeal DADT.

I oppose the repeal of the highly successful Don't Ask, Don't Tell law for several reasons:

1. The United States Army & Marines oppose repealing the law.
2. Repealing the law would effect troop morale and unit cohesion.
3. 70% of combat Marines: Repeal would have a negative impact.
4. The United States Military is not the place for social engineering.
5. Don't Ask, Don't Tell has been a resounding success since 1993.

I would rather stand with the United States Marines against homosexuals openly serving in the United States Military* (a policy first implemented by George Washington), along with the Army and Air Force, than with social liberals who believe everyone has a right to serve in the Military, despite an amazing lack of such a right in the Constitution, every day of the week.

One liberal writer with the Washington Post obviously disagrees with me, and his reasoning isn't based on one piece of evidence anchored to reality, or even honesty. Here's what Jonathan Capehart wrote this morning on the subject: "In short, gay men and lesbians serving in silence in the military may have to wait for the courts to liberate them".

You have got to be kidding me. I wonder if Capehart cared about the Iraqi people who needed to be "liberated" from Saddam, or was that just another example of American Imperialism? This is another one of these liberal ploys: If you can't beat them on the facts; beat them on emotions. I don't think Military policy should be based on emotional hogwash, but rather on cold hard facts, and those hard facts oppose repealing the Military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy on the basis of unit cohesiveness, effectiveness, and morale.

What say you?

* Check out this amazing article by Mackubin Thomas Owens on DADT.

Only one foreign-born Congressman votes against DREAM act.

There are not too many foreign-born American Congressmen in the House of Representatives, in fact there are only eight currently serving in the lameduck session of the 111th Congress, but as a group they could have stood together in unity, and helped defeat the nightmarish "DREAM Act" yesterday evening with only two additional "nay votes" from natural born Citizens. They didn't.

When the United States House of Representatives voted to grant amnesty to millions of illegal aliens last night, only one foreign-born Congressman stood against the immoral legislation that mocks both natural born and naturalized Citizens. The legislation passed the House 216-198: 38 Democrats voted with House Republicans against it, while 8 Republicans joined House Democrats in voting for it.

So who is this brave foreign-born Representative who places America above all else?
Representative Pete Hoekstra (R) of Michigan's 2nd district, who unlike the rest of his very small yet unique group of Congressmen, was born in Europe. Born as a Dutchman, raised as an American, and votes as Conservatively as anyone can, that is the simplest description of Pete Hoekstra you will ever hear. It is a shame that the rest have not Americanized the same way, especially on immigration.

Representatives Lincoln Diaz-Balart* (R), Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R), and Albio Spires (D) of Cuba; Mazie Hirono (D) of Japan; Ciro Rodriguez (D) of Mexico; and Joseph Cao (R) of South Vietnam all voted for the anti-law DREAM Act, while Pete Hoekstra (R) voted against it, and David Wu (D) of Taiwan was not present to vote on it. What a disgrace to all naturalized American citizens who risk it all coming here.

Pete Hoekstra deserves a personal celebration for standing up for America.

* Not to be confused with his American born brother, Mario Diaz-Balart.

Final 2010 Tallies

With the last of the 2010 races being decided, The Green Papers has put together an unofficial tally of all ballots cast in the historic election last month, and the numbers are not dramatic at all. In fact, relative to the number of registered voters still lingering around from the 2008 election, voter turnout might actually be lower.

2006 House of Representative elections

Democrats: 42,082,311 - 52.0%.

Republicans: 35,674,808 - 44.1%.

Total votes - 80,975,537 - 100%.

2010 House of Representative elections

Republicans: 44,103,309 - 52.2%.

Democrats: 37,810,704 - 44.7%.

Total voters - 84,563,209 - 100%.

You have got to be kidding me. All of the media coverage, momentum, and enthusiasm brought a grand total of 3.5 million more Americans to the ballot box than in 2006? Perhaps, I'm impatient because not all the results are out for us to count, but even if we reach 5 million more than 2006, it still doesn't feel dramatic to me.

However, there is one bright spot: Republicans gained 8.5 million more votes, and half of those, I can take great pleasure from, are from new voters.

The Johanns amendment failed 61-35.

Last week Senator Michael Johanns of Nebraska introduced an amendment to the FDA FOOD SAFETY MODERNIZATION ACT that if passed, would have repealed the 1099 requirement in the new health care law for small businesses and would have used unused federal funds to pay for it.

Common sense? You betcha! Did it pass? Absolutely not.

61 Senators (40 Republicans, 21 Democrats) supported the amendment, 35 Democrat Senators opposed the amendment, and four Senators were absent (Brownback, Burr, Lieberman, Pryor); three of them would have supported the amendment. It needed 67 yeas to become apart of the legislation.

So what happened this time?

1. 31 Senators who opposed the Johanns amendment supported the Baucus amendment, a similar amendment that would have repealed the 1099 requirement for small buisnesses, but would not have paid for it - adding $19 billion to the debt.
2. The Johanns amendment would have empowered the OMB Director to slash $39 billion in appropriated spending, while the Baucus amendment did not. Senator Baucus even took to the Senate floor to denouce the Johanns amendment for that very reason.
3. It did not pass.

House votes to pass DREAM Act.

CALL YOUR U.S. SENATORS AND TELL THEM TO VOTE NO!

The United States House of Representatives voted to pass H.R. 5281 earlier this evening, legislation better known as the pro-illegal alien, pro-amnesty "DREAM Act". 216 Representatives (8 Republicans included) voted for the bill, while 196 Representatives (38 Democrats included) voted against it. The legislation is now heading to the Senate, where it is expected to die a well deserved death.

Any thoughts?

The 8 Republicans who voted for the pro-illegal alien, pro-amnesty legislation:

Joseph Cao.
Mike Castle.
Lincoln Diaz-Balart.
Mario Diaz-Balart.
Charles Djou.
Vern Ehlers.
Bob Inglis.
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

Video: Issa to Investigate Stimulus Funds

Republican Congressman from California, Darrell Issa, told CNN that he would investigate potential abuse in the disbursement of stimulus money:




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Who leads in 2012 GOP opinion polling?

So who is leading in the 2012 Republican Primary fight?

According to opinion polls (mainly Public Policy Polling) the race is divided between three main candidates: former Governor Mitt Romney (leading in eleven states), former Governor Mike Huckabee (leading in nine states), and former Governor Sarah Palin (leading in seven states). The most fascinating result is that Mike Huckabee is leading in Sarah Palin's Alaska.

Three other candidacies are limited in their appeal to certain regions: Newt Gingrich (leading in two states), Tim Pawlenty (leading in one state), and Senator DeMint (leading in one state). Three of the four states are their own, and nineteen states have not even been polled on the election, according to a recent review of all available data, which I hope is updated in the near future.

So who is leading?

Absolutely no-one.

Each of the three main candidates have huge prizes* in their corner, but that could change as none of the three main candidates, or even the three second level candidates are guaranteed to run for the GOP Nomination. Meaning the above created map (Wikipedia is thanked for their blank map section), could have just been a massive waste of my time. Only time will tell.

* - Romney: California, Florida, and New Hampshire. Huckabee: Iowa, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Palin: Ohio, Texas, and Wisconsin.

Elizabeth Edwards Dies at 61

Courageous cancer-fighter Elizabeth Edwards has succumbed to breast cancer at the age of 61.  I wish to extend my condolences to the Edwards family, except for that scumbag John Edwards.  We need more women like Elizabeth Edwards to fight the good fight in the future and not blink when cancer is staring them in the face.

Rest in peace

Poll: Are Democrats Racists Now that they are Bashing Obama?

We've heard it for over two years now: anyone that disagrees with Barack Obama is a racist.  Jimmy Carter, well known for putting his foot in his mouth, said it thusly:

"I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he's African American."

But the real question is: is turn-around fair game?  This past weekend, President Obama compromised with Republicans in order to secure extra votes for his economic policy.  That has led to comments like this on the Huffington Post:

Now that Democrats are out-right bashing the President, are they officially racist too?  Or was the cry of "racism" just a cheap political trick Democrats used to portray Republicans as radicals, and neither Republicans nor Democrats who slam the President are necessarily racists?  You decide:



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A Look at Obama's Approval Ratings

This is your roundup of the major polling of the President's approval ratings. In this edition we can see that Obama's numbers are largely stagnant but rising slightly. The effects of the unemployment rate rising have not been fully factored in.

So let's take a look at some of the top pollsters:

Gallup:Approve: 47%
Disapprove: 45%

Rasmussen:

Approve: 47%

Disapprove: 53%

It appears that overall, Obama's approval ratings are becoming a bit more positive with his disapproval dropping four tenths of a percent. We also see him gaining in Gallup. A CBS News poll has him at 48-42 which appears to be out of sync with the other polls, throwing off the average slightly.

Approve: 46.2%

Disapprove: 48.4%

Keep a sharp eye out for this week's polling. The tax rate deal could have an impact either way.

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Assange Arrested in Britain

Julian Assange, the Wikileaks tool, has been arrested in Britain over rape charges in Sweden. Assange has denied the charges but voluntarily gave himself in to police. Even though he is going to jail he will not stop his outing crusade:

“Today’s actions against our editor-in-chief Julian Assange won’t affect our operations: we will release more cables tonight as normal,” a posting on the WikiLeaks Twitteraccount said.

The defiant tone seemed to draw ever clearer battle-lines by supporters of Mr. Assange who cast him as a crusader, and foes, including the Obama administration, who have been infuriated by revelations of sensitive material whose publication, his critics say, could threaten American security interests, alliances and lives.

None of this is surprising, although we'll have to see what happens at the trial.
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Liberal Democrats Revolt Over Obama Compromise, Call him a piece of "S**t," Demand Primary Challenge

President Obama has compromised with Republicans over the last several days.  You read that right.  In order to secure some of his economic policies, Obama conceded Republicans that taxes for higher-earners should remain cut.  In return, despite the fact that they did not get all of their economic wishes, some Congressional Republicans have promised their vote.

While President Obama may be trying to give himself a pat on the back now that he has secured more votes, one group of people are furious with the President:  his base.  Once the compromise was announced, across the internet thousands of liberal democrats took to their keyboards to bash the Commander in Chief they so blindly followed for the last two years.

For example, the liberal site The Huffington Post had over 20,000 comments on their article announcing the deal.  The liberal site Daily Kos had nearly 1,000 comments on their article, entitled "President Obama announces deal to continue Bush tax policy."  Here are just a few comments from Daily Kos that show the tremendous displeasure that liberals have with their President (with some language cleaned up):

And:

And:

Comments on the Huffington Post were not much kinder:

And:

And:

Clearly those that supported the President just two years ago are starting to leave him in droves.  This could lead to an incredibly interesting 2012 primary season and could be extremely beneficial to Republicans that election year.

By the way, now that Democrats are harshly criticizing the President, are they racists?  Because, according to Jimmy Carter and a slew of other liberal nut-jobs, those who criticize Obama are racists.

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Hey Doc, My Wiki Leaks......

Several things are immediately clear. This is not a case of urethritis, hemorrhagic cystitis, prostatitis, or syphillitis (new word). There is no evidence to support the diagnosis of appendicitis, renal cell carcinoma, transitional cell carcinoma, or bladder canceritis (another new word). This is a clear case of pissantitis (on a roll). Luckily, there is a cure. You need only consult Dr. Soros and Nurse Practitioner Obama for treatment.....

"Julian Assange is expected to voluntarily attend a police station within the next 24 hours, and will then appear in a magistrates’ court. He is wanted over allegations of sexual assault in Sweden."

For everyone else, the next time you are in Sweden, use a condom......

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Reid: Dems Want Tax Cuts, Republicans Like Lucy in Charlie Brown

There are times where I sit and think just who Democratic Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid fools with his ridiculous statements about Republicans.  Just last month Reid openly demanded that Republicans work with him, stating that he "welcomes every opportunity to work with...Republican colleagues."  Of course, as the Majority Leader, Reid had never before asked for Republican support before the 2010 Mid-term elections in which Democrats were trounced.  Smartly, most analysts saw Reid's statement as a political ploy.

Now there's this: according to the newly re-elected Majority Leader, Republicans do not want to give tax cuts to the middle class.  According to Reid, Democrats are the ones who wanted tax cuts and it is the Republicans that never really did.  Don't believe he could say something so stupid?  It's all in his article Reid: Republicans Playing Cynical Games Instead Of Cutting Taxes For The Middle Class on his government website:

“Mr. President, There’s a recurring gag in the comic strip Peanuts that we’re all familiar with.  Charlie Brown is getting ready to kick a field goal.  Lucy is holding the ball while Charlie runs up to it.  But at the last second, Lucy pulls the ball away and Charlie Brown flies up into the air, comes crashing back down and lands flat on his back.

“What made this gag funny is what made it famous.  It wasn’t so much that Lucy was tricking Charlie Brown.  It was that it kept happening over and over again.

“It’s obvious by now that our Republican friends have drawn their political strategy from this cartoon.

“We’ve all heard Republicans weep for the deficit they say they fear.  Democrats agree that we need to do something about it.

“So we have said: OK, how about cutting the deficit by admitting we can’t afford a tax break for millionaires and billionaires?  A tax break that would add $4 trillion to the deficit.  It’s a tax cut many admit they don’t need – a tax cut billionaires like Warren Buffett say they don’t even want.  M. President, when was the last time you heard an investor ask for less money?

“But what did Republicans do?  They pulled away the football and said: Rather than reduce the deficit, we’d really rather give an unnecessary, unwanted and unaffordable handout to the richest of the rich."

Who honestly believes this crap?  I can't even believe that Reid believes this because no one can be this stupid and get re-elected, right?  Right?  But obviously thousands of people in Nevada believe what he is shoveling.

Speaking of shoveling, here's something Reid recently wrote on Twitter:

I need to stop writing this article.  All of these lies and BS is making my eyes start to bleed.

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More Ethics Charges Against Rangel

 Disgraced New York Congressman Charles Rangel looked like he had escaped serious punishment. The censure by the House of Representatives was comparatively a slap on the wrist and it appeared that this would be the end. However, the New York Post is reporting that new ethics charges may be filed against the Democrat.

The FEC is acting on a complaint by the National Legal and Policy Center filed after The Post reported last month that Rangel paid nearly $400,000 from his PAC.
Lawmakers are only allowed to use money in their individual campaign funds for legal fees, or they can set up legal defense funds for such costs.
Rangel appeared before the House Ethics Committee last month saying he could no longer afford legal counsel after already burning through $2 million. 

This is becoming interesting....

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Deal Near on Tax Cuts?

 The spirited debate over whether or not to extend the Bush tax cuts is kicking into overdrive. According to the New York Times the Democrats and the Republicans may be close to a deal. This deal is apparently to extend all of the tax reductions while also passing unemployment benefits beyond the now-maximum of 99 weeks.

White House officials, meanwhile, expressed hope of sealing a deal swiftly, perhaps by midweek, and clearing the Congressional calendar for a long list of other priorities that they aim to accomplish by the end of the year, including ratification of the New Start arms treaty with Russia and the repeal of the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy for gay service members as part of a wider Pentagon policy bill.
Administration officials said the negotiations were focused on the question of extending the tax rates for one or two years, with a three-year extension highly unlikely, even though that time frame would probably eliminate the tax fight as an urgent issue in the 2012 elections.

Of course, the deal is not final, but it would appear that this is the beginning of the end. But that's been said about a lot of things in politics.

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The Top 2012 Republican Fundraiser is?

Money will not win the 2012 Republican Nomination battle for any potential candidate, but it will help them make their case for the general election later that year. It's true new media has a growing influence in the electorate, and in Conservative ranks, but when running against the human fundraiser, Barack Obama, the amount of dollars a candidate can counter-fundraise is absolutely crucial to victory.

So who leads on the fundraising front in the 2012 GOP Presidential field? Jim DeMint.

Senator Jim DeMint's Senate Conservatives Fund raised $9.1 million during the 2009-10 cycle, beating out former Governor's Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, and Mike Huckabee, all of whom are expected to run in 2012. DeMint also has $1.3 million cash on hand, which is second in the GOP Presidential field to only Paul Ryan.

The worst fundraiser of all was Governor Haley Barbour with only $1.1 million raised, but his main job in last month's election was to raise money for the very vital Republican Governors Association, which left the aspiring candidate with little time to focus on his own Political Action Committee: Haley's PAC.

In other GOP 2012 candidate fundraising news.....

Huckabee raised $1.8 million, Pawlently raised $3.3 million, Paul Ryan raised $3.9 million, Palin raised $5.4 million, and Romney* raised $8.8 million. Paul Ryan currently has more cash on hand than any other potential GOP candidate with $3.1 million, Mike Huckabee has the smallest amount of cash on hand with $194,578.

Any thoughts?

* - Fundraising means little to Romney; he already has stacks of cash at home.

Menendez Compares GOP with 'Terrorists'

 Corrupt New Jersey Democrat Robert Menendez has really outdone himself this time. One of the most divisive and partisan figures on Capitol Hill, Menendez (not one of the brothers) seems to jump overboard on the debate about taxes.

“Do you allow yourself to be held hostage and get something done for the sake of getting something done, when in fact it might be perverse in its ultimate results?” Menendez said, when asked whether he and other Democrats would compromise with Republicans. “It’s almost like the question of do you negotiate with terrorists.”

Wow. Hopefully but unlikely will the people of New Jersey throw this bum out.

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Where's Huckabee in 2012?

 One of our writers, Mr. K, supports former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee for the Republican nomination in 2012. He's been making the right moves to run so far, so Politico takes a look at his options:

“I just don’t understand how it is that a person can read these polls day after day and the narrative is constantly everybody but me,” he told POLITICO. “Whether I do it or not, the fact is that if one looks at the overall body of information that’s available, nobody would be in a better position to take it all the way to November.”

He's setting himself up as the outsider trying to represent that GOP as a whole. Not a bad strategy but he has to win over other cores of the GOP other than the religious folks.

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Quick Link of the Day

Over at Slate, there is a interactive map that chronicles the rise of diabetes in the United States.


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