http://chicago.gopride.com/news/article.cfm/articleid/24731296/former-nm-governor-and-gay-marriage-supporter-runs-for-libertarian-presidential-nomination

Santa Fe, New Mexico — Gary Johnson, a gay marriage supporter and former governor of New Mexico, announced on Wednesday he is running for the Libertarian nomination for president.

Johnson had tried and failed to gain traction as a Republican candidate. He said that abandoning the Republican party was both "a difficult decision and an easy one."

"I have a lot of Republican history, but in the final analysis, I am a Libertarian. That is: someone who is fiscally very conservative but holds freedom-based positions on the issues that govern personal behavior."

Aside from supporting gay marriage, Johnson also supports legalization of marijuana. He is also pro-choice.

http://www.miwatch.org/2011/02/_ronald_reagan_and_mental.html

For the next twelve months, the Ronald Reagan image machine will be turning out countless vignettes of the nation's 40th president, the man neighbors called "Dutch." He will be described as no-nonsense yet kindly, remote but avuncular, a movies-star-turned-politician, and remembered as a local lifeguard rescuing people in troubled waters. With dashing good looks, a sonorous tone that became the voice of General Electric, and an affable smile, even those who disagreed with his policies will say he was genuinely kind-hearted.

So what did this mean practically for policies about mental health? Here we need to ask how the image departs from the reality.

Contrary to the spin about trimming government, which he called "the problem," we all know he oversaw increases in federal spending that exploded the national debt, and grew the size of the government he impugned. Another part of the reality, rarely the image, is how he attempted to savage the entitlement system and roll back supports for people with a mental illness.

When Ronald Reagan arrived in Washington, he inherited the Mental Health Systems Act of 1980. One of the last achievements of Pres. Jimmy Carter, this was passed by the House 277 to 15, in the Senate, 93 to 3. With as many critics as there were special interests, it was far from perfect. Yet it expanded the federal government's commitment to services, to research, to training professionals, and to patient rights. It identified stigma as an impediment to seeking and receiving services. It established parity in Medicaid and Medicare. It recognized the link between physical health and mental health. And it dedicated $800 million over 4 years to redress the gross neglect of the commitment to mental health in earlier administrations. In short, it moved an agenda that minimized homelessness, the reliance on expensive nursing homes, jails and prisons, and one that to more hopeful choices for those who needed help.

*much more at link*

This was prompted by this thread in LBN: http://www.democraticunderground.com/10149215

I am afraid there will be a bloody crackdown and I hope I'm wrong.

You go here , click on the Santa Claus icon, then click on the video.

Yes it's childish but I'm guessing children would love it. The NORAD people sound a little bored reading their scripts lol

I've tried different browsers and it looks the same in all of them.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/24/us-russia-idUSTRE7BN04420111224

Thousands of people gathered in Moscow Saturday to call for a disputed election to be rerun, increasing pressure on Vladimir Putin as he seeks a new term as Russian president.

The protesters were heartened before the second big rally in two weeks by the Kremlin's human rights council saying a new election should be held, although it is only an advisory body whose recommendations are regularly ignored by Russia's leaders.

Tens of thousands of people protested in Moscow on December 10 and many more demonstrated across the world's largest country the same day to complain against alleged vote-rigging in the December 4 election won by Putin's United Russia party.

Police said about 5,000 people attended the start of Saturday's rally on Prospekt Sakharova (Sakharov Avenue), named after Soviet-era dissident Andrei Sakharov. But a police source told Itar-Tass news agency the figure was around 20,000.

Before I ask this question, please know that this is a theoretical question and I do not think Cameron and Tories would do this. As some of you know, I have the greatest respect and affection for the UK.

Theoretical question: Let's say the Tories and Lib Dems joined to sponsor a bill in the House of Commons that would replicate the 1933 Enabling Act made famous in Germany. Let's say, for theoretical purposes, that 100% of that coalition's MP's would vote for it.

What recourse do Labour and the other parties have ? Could they defeat it in the Commons ? Thanks for your time.

Of course, I'm referring to the PATRIOT act, the Military Commissions Act and others.

I don't debate conservatives, so I'm not familiar with all their arguments. I'd REALLY like to hear from people familiar with the military and security communities.

My brother lives 4 hours from me and the rest of my family is deceased. So, for Christmas we meet halfway to "celebrate". Neither one of us is highly religious, but it's good just to see each other and talk.

Anyone else do this ?

http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/12/why-ron-pauls-racist-newsletters-didnt-hurt-him-in-texas/250427/

The fact that Texas Rep. Ron Paul once published racist sentiments in his newsletters has been known for quite some time. And yet Paul has managed to keep getting elected in his Houston-area district on the Gulf Coast. A onetime Democratic consultant in Texas, who asked that his name not be used, emails this anecdote from the 1996 general election that returned Paul to Congress after a 12-year hiatus:



*more at link above*