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kpete's JournalRon Paul adviser: 'Of course' we'd trade our delegates to Mitt Romney for putting Rand on the ticket
THU MAR 15, 2012 AT 11:00 AM PDT
Ron Paul adviser: 'Of course' we'd trade our delegates to Mitt Romney for putting Rand on the ticket
byJed Lewison
TIME:
The Texas Representative might also be enticed, says campaign chairman Jesse Benton, by the prospect of serving as a presidential adviser, a Cabinet position for someone in his orbit or “perhaps a vice presidency.”
Not for himself, but rather his son. Rand Paul, the junior senator from Kentucky and a Tea Party icon, is expected to launch his own White House bid in 2016. Being on the ticket now – or even being mentioned for it – would be a helpful step. Says one Paul adviser: “If you’re talking about putting Rand on the ticket, of course that would be worth delivering our people to Romney.”
http://swampland.time.com/2012/03/14/why-ron-paul-may-cut-a-deal-with-mitt-romney/
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/03/15/1074699/-Ron-Paul-adviser-Of-course-we-d-trade-our-delegates-to-Mitt-Romney-for-putting-Rand-on-the-ticket
TRUDEAU: Most Pleased With His Own Daughter's Comment: "You're a good friend to the ladies, Dad."
Slate: I'd argue that by taking on this topic, and especially by skewering "middle aged, male state legislators" for getting behind the ultrasound bills, you're having a feminist moment. Do you see it that way?
Trudeau: The comment that pleased me the most this week came in an email from my daughter: "You're a good friend to the ladies, Dad."
I used to self-identify as a feminist, simply as a matter of principle. But now I'm also a father and a husband. This is about the health and rights of people I love.
http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2012/03/garry_trudeau_interview_his_doonesbury_strip_about_the_virginia_and_texas_ultrasound_laws_.html
Nun sides with Fluke “That awful man should be fired for what he said"
It’s tempting to say that the timing of these events—and the eighty new restrictions on abortion rights that were enacted by state legislatures in 2011, up from twenty-three in 2010—is not unlikely at all, and that it is precisely because women are on the ascendant in the public sphere that conservatives seem so eager to undermine them in the private one. But that seems more systematic than is probable. The real attraction of the birth-control issue was that it could be used to bash Obamacare. It’s not proving to be a very effective weapon, however. When birth control is uncoupled from the religious-freedom argument—and when conservatives start talking in ugly ad-hominem language, like Limbaugh’s, or clueless anachronistic language, like Santorum’s—women, in particular, do not respond well. Just after Limbaugh lashed out at Fluke, a Georgetown professor attended a reunion at a Catholic school in Queens. An elderly nun asked her, “Do you know that girl?” She added, “That awful man should be fired for what he said. How’s she holding up?”
Read more http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2012/03/19/120319taco_talk_talbot#ixzz1pClVvqbj
I rather see Cheney hang, but...
Cheney and Manning: A Modest Proposal
By Henry Farrell
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On the one side of the balance sheet, we have Richard B. Cheney. This gentleman, now in private life, is a self-admitted and unrepentant perpetrator of war crimes – specifically, of ordering the torture of Al Qaeda detainees. Along with other senior members of the Bush regime, he is also guilty of the outsourcing of even viler forms of torture through the extraordinary rendition of individuals to regimes notorious for torturing prisoners (including the dispatch of Maher Arar, who was entirely innocent, to the torturers of Syria). The Obama administration has shown no enthusiasm whatsoever for prosecuting Cheney, or other Bush senior officials, for their crimes. While Obama has effectively admitted that they were torturers, he has indicated, both through public statements and continued inaction, that he would prefer to let bygones be bygones.
On the other, we have Bradley Manning. He appears to be a confused individual – but his initial motivation for leaking information, if the transcripts are correct, were perfectly clear. He was appalled at what he saw as major abuses of authority by the US, including incidents that he witnessed directly in Iraq. There is no evidence that his leaking of information has caused anything worse than embarrassment for the US. Yet he is being pursued by the Obama administration with the vengefulness of Greek Furies. While Manning was being kept in solitary confinement, and treated in an inhuman fashion, Richard Cheney was enjoying the manifold pleasures of a well-compensated private life, being subjected to no more than the occasional impertinent question on a Sunday talk show, and the inconveniences of being unable to travel to jurisdictions where he might be arrested.
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So here’s my proposal. It’s perfectly clear that Richard B. Cheney will never be prosecuted because a prosecution would be politically inconvenient. If that’s the Obama administration’s decision (and it’s pretty clear that it is the Obama administration’s decision), then the administration should own it. The president should grant Richard Cheney a pardon for his crimes. Simultaneously, as an acknowledgement that the high crimes of state officials should not go unpunished while the lesser crimes of those who opposed the Iraq war are exposed to the vengefulness of the military tribunal system, Bradley Manning should receive a complete pardon too.
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the rest:
http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/ten-miles-square/2012/03/cheney_and_manning_a_modest_pr036024.php
PA GOP Governor Defends Ultrasounds Bill: Tells Concerned Women ‘You Just Have To Close Your Eyes’
PA GOP Governor Defends Ultrasounds Bill: Tells Concerned Women ‘You Just Have To Close Your Eyes’
By Amanda Peterson Beadle on Mar 15, 2012 at 10:32 am
More than 10 state legislatures are considering or have passed bills forcing women to receive an ultrasound before having an abortion. And Pennsylvania lawmakers are considering one of the most far-reaching ultrasound bills in the nation.
Gov. Tom Corbett (R) reaffirmed this week that he supports the anti-abortion measure so long as it’s not obtrusive because women could simply close their eyes during the procedure:
QUESTION: Making them watch…does that go too far in your mind?
CORBETT: I’m not making anybody watch, OK. Because you just have to close your eyes. As long as it’s on the exterior and not the interior.
http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/03/15/444999/pennsylvania-governor-supports-ultrasound-bill/
Jobless rate for veterans plunges
Source: CNN
NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- More veterans are coming back from war and getting back to work in the civilian job force, thanks to efforts by both employers and the government, as well as the improving economy.
The jobless rate for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans has fallen to 7.6%, well below the overall U.S. unemployment rate of 8.3%, and nearly five percentage points below the 12.5% rate for veterans a year ago.
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Some firms have formal military recruiting programs, and others are creating or expanding them. This week Disney (DIS, Fortune 500) announced "Heroes Work Here," a program it says will recruit 1,000 vets over the next three years.
The government wants to encourage more efforts like this. "This past year saw the passage of a number of bills specifically designed to support veteran hiring and training," said Adriana Kugler, chief economist for the U.S. Department of Labor, which produces the BLS statistics.
Kugler cites the Returning Heroes and Wounded Warriors tax credits, both of which went into effect in November.
Returning Heroes provides a credit of up to $2,400 to employers who hire a vet who's been unemployed for at least four weeks. It was expanded to give $5,600 to employers who hire veterans who've been jobless for over six months.
Read more: http://money.cnn.com/2012/03/15/news/economy/veterans-jobs/index.htm?iid=HP_Highlight&hpt=hp_t1
BIDEN:"We're a fair shot, and a fair shake. They're about no rules, no risk. And no accountability,"
"We're a fair shot, and a fair shake. They're about no rules, no risk. And no accountability,"
In Speech, Biden Moves to Frame Fall Campaign
Vice President Joe Biden, delivering the first of four campaign speeches, will attack Republicans as advocates for an irresponsible, privileged brand of capitalism that leaves behind the middle class, according to excerpts of a Thursday speech released by the campaign.
“We’re about promoting the private sector. They’re about protecting the privileged sector,” Mr. Biden says in remarks prepared for delivery at the United Auto Workers Local 12 Hall in Toledo, Ohio. “We’re a fair shot, and a fair shake. They’re about no rules, no risk and no accountability.”
His comments echo a heavily populist speech by President Barack Obama in December, in which he decried the Republican philosophy as irresponsible and said he was fighting for the middle class. Republicans decried his remarks as class warfare.
“The president and I have a fundamental commitment to dealing the middle class back in to the American economy. And ultimately that’s what this election is all about. It’s about a choice,” Mr. Biden says in the prepared remarks.
MORE:
http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2012/03/15/in-speech-biden-moves-to-frame-fall-campaign/?mod=google_news_blog
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