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http://swampland.time.com/2013/02/04/the-most-important-chart-in-american-politics/ <img src="http://timeswampland.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/most-important-chart-in-politics.jpg?w=480&#038;h=320&#038;crop=1" alt="Most Important Chart in Politics" title="Most Important Chart in Politics"/> There is a single chart — three colored lines on a grid — that shapes the political reality of this country.

Cantor Speech Aims to Refocus GOP on Middle-Class Stagnation

(MoneyWatch) As people head to the polls today to cast their ballots, a critical "battleground" state in the presidential election faces a last-minute controversy over its voting machines. In Ohio, a lawsuit alleges that Secretary of State Jon Husted and Election Systems & Software, an Omaha, Neb., company that makes electronic voting systems used in the state, improperly approved the use of untested, non-state certified software in voting machines to help tally results. The suit -- filed Monday in federal district court by Robert Fitrakis, a Columbus, Ohio, college professor, voting rights activist and congressional candidate representing the Green Party -- claims that the software could erroneously alter election results or even lead to election fraud. According to the complaint , the suit alleges that the software could introduce mistakes into the vote count, or allow third parties to manipulate the results. http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505124_162-57545531/ohio-faces-controversy-over-voting-machines/

Ohio faces controversy over voting machines

Jon Stewart destroys Sen. John McCain over hypocritical Benghazi outrage

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/02/21/jon-stewart-destroys-sen-john-mccain-over-hypocritical-benghazi-outrage/ By Eric W. Dolan Thursday, February 21, 2013 0:17 EDT Email The Daily Show host Jon Stewart ripped into Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) on his show Wednesday night, using the senator’s statements about the Iraq war to pummel his current outrage over Benghazi.

Bill would define abortion as murder | Ames Tribune

http://amestrib.com/sections/news/ames-and-story-county/bill-would-define-abortion-murder.html State Rep. Rob Bacon believes abortion is murder and he wants the Iowa Code to reflect that. Bacon, R-Slater, and eight other Republicans introduced such a bill in the Iowa House Wednesday. It would alter the definition of a person in murder cases to “an individual human being, without regard to age of development, from the moment of conception, when a zygote is formed, until natural death.”

GOP leaders moonwalk away from debt-ceiling Armageddon | Jay Bookman

Slowly, painfully, political reality has begun to dawn on Washington Republicans and their supporters: If they force a major battle over the debt ceiling — a battle that they have acted oh-so-eager to fight — they are guaranteed to lose, and to lose badly. Such a battle would be fought against superior forces, and on ill-chosen ground. The president’s approval rating are consistently above 50 percent; Congress has an approval rating of 14 percent. While Republicans still hold the House majority, they lost seats in the 2012 election and acknowledge that they held onto the majority only because of gerrymandering. http://blogs.ajc.com/jay-bookman-blog/2013/01/18/gop-leaders-moonwalk-away-from-debt-ceiling-armageddon/?cxntfid=blogs_jay_bookman_blog
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/laura-trice/gop-scared-ron-paul_b_1814846.html Wait, isn't Dr. Ron Paul out of the presidential race? Isn't it all tied up nicely in a bow with the Romney/Ryan ticket? No.

Laura Trice: Why the GOP Is Scared of Ron Paul and 4 Reasons He Might Still Get the 2012 Republican Nomination

http://www.politicususa.com/virginia-republicans-call-armed-revolution-obama-wins-november.html

Virginia Republicans Call for Armed Revolution if Obama Wins in November

By: Rmuse August 20th, 2012 see more posts by Rmuse The author of the Declaration of Independence is often quoted by opposing groups to support their own agenda, but there are few who accurately apply some of his oft-repeated statements. During the healthcare reform debate, angry teabaggers cited Jefferson’s line that “ ,” as proof that revolution against government tyranny was advocated by a Founding Father as an option in 2009, and that sentiment has not diminished three years later heading into a general election. The groups claiming President Obama is a tyrannical leader have never given one example of tyranny, but they, with the GOP’s assistance, have whipped themselves into frenzy and openly called for armed insurrection against the United States government.

Republican Jobs Bills Won't Actually Create Jobs, Say Economists

WASHINGTON -- House Republicans routinely beat the drum about the hard work they have done in passing "more than 30 jobs bills" that are now before the Democrat-controlled Senate, going nowhere, as the economy gasps for air. For almost a year, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) have plugged their jobs package at every opportunity. They regularly bring it up at press events, during floor speeches and in statements in response to just about anything related to the economy. Boehner even carries around in his jacket pocket a 4-by-8-inch card that lists off their jobs bills, and he encourages his members to flash their cards at campaign events. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/24/republican-jobs-bills_n_1687647.html
http://freakoutnation.com/2012/02/18/more-vaginaphobia-goper-proposes-abstinence-for-married-couples/ As if the recent birth control issue isn’t radical enough, now it’s been suggested that if married (yes, married) couples want to use contraception, they should practice abstinence. The hysteria created (deflection) has seemingly brought us back to 1950 — unless Republicans are trying to help President Obama win a reelection. State Rep. Lynne Blankenbeker (R-Concord) has made idiotic statements in the past, but she’s possibly surpassed them all.

More Vaginaphobia: GOPer proposes abstinence for married couples

David Frum, a Republican, says conservatives shouldn't act like student radicals He says GOP dug in on spending cuts and no new taxes, but most Republicans don't buy that He says jobs should be first concern, then let economy recover before fixing deficit Frum: GOP so pessimistic, panic-stricken that it was willing to rush into catastrophe Editor's note: David Frum writes a weekly column for CNN.com. A special assistant to President George W.

Wake up GOP: Smashing system doesn't fix it

http://www.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/08/01/frum.debt.republicans/index.html

Rep. Virginia Foxx to Lead GOP Attack on Higher Education

Earlier this week North Carolina Republican Rep. Virginia Foxx was appointed as chair of the House Higher Education Subcommittee. She’s got actual education credentials. She taught English and sociology before leaving the classroom for a career as a college administrator and eventually head of a community college.

Pensito Review » GOP Tax Plan Costs $36.6 Bil More Than Dems’ – Swing Voters, You’ve Been Had

Here’s more proof that this “new” crop of Republican leaders in Washington — Boehner, Cantor, McConnell, DeMint and the rest — are the same Bush rubberstampers whose stealthy war on the middle class in the 2000s transferred more of the nation’s wealth up from the nation’s entrepreneurial class to the GOP’s corporate sponsors and their friends, the idle rich, and whose policies caused the economy to crash in September 2008, barely a month before they were turned out of Congress by the voters. Households earning more than $1 million a year would reap nearly $31 billion in tax breaks under the GOP plan in 2011. This year they managed to fool swing voters into believing they have changed — that they are against deficits, against spending, against big government — but as this chart clearly shows, their hidden agenda has not changed :

Pensito Review » GOP Now Running Against Wall Street Bailout They Voted for – Here’s a List of GOP Reps and Senators Who Voted ‘Aye’

On MSNBC last night, Rachel Maddow looked at the political rationale behind the White House decision to make House Speaker Wanna-Be John Boehner, R-Ohio, the face of the “Party of No” in the midterm elections. Boehner was chosen, in part, because he is a boozey, overly tanned cartoonish character, but mainly because he was the GOP leader in 2008, back when it was the Bush rubberstamp party. In late September 2008, when the United States financial system was in freefall, Boehner took to the well of the House and tearfully begged the Republican caucus to support the Bush bank bailout of Wall Street and the “too big to fail” banks, officially known as the “Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008″:

The Washington Monthly

October 11, 2010 RICHARD SHELBY, THE NOBEL COMMITTEE IS HOLDING ON LINE ONE.... President Obama sent three qualified nominees to the Senate several months ago to serve on the board of governors of the Federal Reserve.
Okay, I get it. Democratic Congressman Anthony Weiner has been sending lewd photos to women on Twitter, and the details are kinky and weird. To me, it seems like another member of Congress caught in a sex scandal – and as we know, politicians are far more likely to get busted with their pants down than most other professions. But now, leaders in his own Party – like Nancy Pelosi, and DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman-Schultz – want Congressman Weiner to resign; and as more embarrassing photos emerge, it’s probably inevitable.

San Francisco's Alternative Online Daily News » Anthony Weiner and Blatant Republican Hypocrisy