US POLITICS SPRING 2011: Let's just call off this country.

probably

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_legislation_sponsored_by_Ron_Paul

Sanctity of Life Act of 2007. H.R. 2597 , 2007-06-06, originally H.R. 776 , 2005-02-10. For the purposes of statutory construction over the jurisdictional limitation imposed, declares that "human life shall be deemed to exist from conception". Removes federal court jurisdiction over abortion cases arising from state laws and effectively negates Roe v. Wade as binding legal precedent.[63] Such a law returns to each state the power to decide whether or not abortion should be allowed, banned, or regulated.

^^^dick move

hates the federal gov't, except for when it takes over women's uteruses

lol

The cover for the new transportation reauthorization bill put forward by house GOP.

http://streetsblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/cover-300x194.jpg

“If you approve our bill, then our highways will look like this … because we won’t be able to maintain them, and engineers will have to close them off because the overpasses are structurally unsound.”

At least Mac is honest!

The Senate's top Republican said Tuesday that he did not see a way for Republicans and Democrats to come to agreement on meaningful deficit reduction as long as President Obama remains in office.

"After years of discussions and months of negotiations, I have little question that as long as this president is in the Oval Office, a real solution is probably unattainable," Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said in remarks on the Senate floor.

http://streetsblog.net/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/cover-300x194.jpg

no don't you see the gop is secretly pushing mass transit

'this can be our amazing future when everyone takes the train'

"Removes federal court jurisdiction over abortion cases arising from state laws"

OK gl trying to overturn Art. III of the Constitution let me know how that goes.

kind of a dumb idle thought here but, we shouldn't raise the debt ceiling, we should repeal it. we shouldn't have a 'debt ceiling'.

inclined to agree here

Obama seems to be taking a much harder tack, well aware of the political peril GOP is flirting with. but man if SS checks actually fail to go out, and interest rates skyrocket - even for a couple days.... hooboy

Here's why victory doesn't matter.

I don't care about the debt ceiling debate, which will get settled, as I do about taxes and SS.

uh aren't those things kind of all bound up together at the moment

No. That's what the GOP wants us to thin. Like I said, Kabuki.

*think

anyway what does it matter if Obama "wins" this fight if it means destroying Medicare and SS?

i might've said this before but "kabuki" is way too close to "bukkake" for me to feel comfortable reading the word

"ah you know, just the typical republican bukkake theater"

anyway, SOTO OTM

wait so Alfred you think the GOP is just going to vote to raise the debt limit and not get any concessions on SS/Medicare

xp

KABUKI, THE ART FORM, HAD ACTUAL MEANING YOU KNOW

it's a worse saying than "under the bus" imo

somebody mentioned this, right?

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20078789-503544.html

Obama says he cannot guarantee Social Security checks will go out on August 3

that's playing some kind of card.

Of course they will! I gave up weeks ago. The Dems did too – it's their fault for allowing the two problems to get conflated.

KABUKI, THE ART FORM, HAD ACTUAL MEANING YOU KNOW

it's a worse saying than "under the bus" imo

yes but Boehner and Macca look like they're actually wearing makeup.

that's playing some kind of card.

otm

at first i was like, why not make that really clear a long time ago? but nobody was paying attention then

i feel like this dumb argument has been grinding on for like 6 mos but we're not exactly "normal"

I say Noh to all this Kabuki talk

"i think im turning japanese"

I can see them doing a smaller 1.2 trillion set of spending cuts now (with no revenue or a token small deduction to close in 2014 if it receives support from both houses in that year). That would include the medicare cuts previously agreed to but not Social Security cuts.

Then I picture the Dems not letting the Bush tax cuts expire in 2012 but a group of Bluedog and moderate Dems voting with Republicans to make the Bush tax cuts permanent, and Obama signing it.

The Social Security cuts will then come in 2013 because noone is courageous enough to suggest that we can get more payroll tax income by raising the rate from $105,000 or whatever it is now to say double that.

So the real kabuki theater will be dragged out for years and drip drip drip on us like water torture instead of all happening now.

So the real kabuki theater will be dragged out for years and drip drip drip on us like water torture instead of all happening now.

― curmudgeon, Tuesday, July 12, 2011 2:53 PM Bookmark

This combined with Jordan's bukkake mention produces a really horrible image.

BREAKING: McConnell Opens the Escape Hatch
from Talking Points Memo by Josh Marshall

We're just getting the first word on this. So the details may be subject to clarification. But Senate Minority Leader has just suggested the GOP will give President Obama his debt limit increase without any spending cuts with a legislative maneuver that in essence allows Republicans to say it's all Obama's fault.

If that sounds bizarre, well, it is pretty bizarre. But that's what he said. More in a moment.

whaaaaat

eating peas at the kabuki theatre- my life under the bus

Seems like a huge loss for the gop tho?

not buying it

xxxpost

Just saw that too, not sure if I'm ready to believe it or not. Seems too simple and straightforward for republicans to agree to.

seems so painfully obv to me -- there's no way the GOP would let the country default

pretty sure the base would throw a shitfest if something like that happened

the funny thing is that if that actually happened, the storyline would not be "obama stands his ground, finally wins a negotiation!" but instead "wtf mitch mcconnell you incompetent idiot"

if we're looking at this purely w/r/t bargaining, it'd be true!

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2011/07/the-big-blink-mcconnell-proposes-giving-obama-authority-to-raise-debt-limit-alone.php

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has proposed a sort of escape hatch for Congressional Republicans, who have threatened not to raise the national debt limit -- and trigger a default -- if Democrats don't agree to trillions of dollars in cuts to popular social programs.

The plan is designed to give President Obama the power to raise the debt limit through the end of his first term on his own, but to force Democrats to take a series of votes on the debt limit vote in the months leading up to the election.

The development confirms suspicions that the GOP was unwilling to truly use the looming debt ceiling as leverage to force conservative-friendly changes to popular entitlement programs, but suggests strongly that Republicans plan to continue politicking on the issue of debt and deficits through the 2012 elections.

haha this is transparently cunty

"i'll give you what you want, but you have to... wear this stupid shirt!!!"

mcconnell should remember "transparently cunty" for when he writes his memoirs

Forcing Dems to vote on debt limit next year seems like nothing compared to the massive cuts that were on the table. I don't see how Repubs can agree to this without looking like complete failures.

that's his whole thing, man

xp

Obama would have to notify Congress of his intent tor raise the debt limit -- a high-sign to Congress that would be subject to an official censure known as a "resolution of disapproval," and which Obama could veto. If he vetoed the resolution, and if Congress sustained the veto, then Obama would also have to outline a series of hypothetical spending cuts he'd make, equal to the amount of new debt authority he gives himself.

this weird kinda pr shit only makes sense in a world where people pay a lot of attention to politics, but are also idiots

you may have noticed that there are a lot of those people

if i'd have just put "http://politico.com"; it would have been funnier

Late Update: I'm not at all certain this proposed cave from McConnell is going to survive the heat from the right. But if it does, obviously it has vast political and economic implications. What really strikes me though is this: whoever wins politically, wouldn't this amount to an epic and pretty much open admission of the rankest cynicism on the part of Republican leaders? We'll let you do pretty much anything as long as we're got the politics wired to help us. That's pretty much the message. I know, I know. Haven't I been been watching? But, still ...

— Josh Marshall

http://www.beyondmytwocents.com/wp-content/uploads/Mitch-Mcconnell.jpg
"just make me look cool"