Headlines - Monday August 22

US Park Police Seek to Intimidate Oil Pipeline Protesters.

 

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U.S. Military Aid and the Israel/Palestine Conflict

 

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Charles Koch responds to Warren Buffett's op-ed calling for higher taxes on the rich by claiming that being one of the nation's top polluters makes him a boon to mankind. To paraphrase Spiderman; with great power comes a great big freakin' ego.

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What Republican voters -- and especially Tea Partiers -- believe is 100%, perfectly bass-ackward wrong. Example; Republicans want to raise taxes, while President Obama works to stop them.

 

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The Holy Ghost Will Come On You 

 

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"We need someone who does not just talk the talk, but walks the walk on marriage. That is why we asked all the GOP candidates to sign NOM's 5 point marriage pledge. Bachmann, Santorum and Romney have. Why hasn't Herman Cain? President Obama claimed he supported traditional marriage but then failed to follow through. If Herman Cain wants to distinguish his position from President Obama, he should commit to concrete actions, not just rhetoric in support of marriage." - Slaggie Gilamonster.

RELATED: NOM's anti-gay hate pledge includes a promise to establish a presidential commission to investigate the "harassment" of anti-gay Christians. Hey, stop hassling all those Christians beating you with bats! You're infringing on their religious liberties!

 

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A tax cut they don't like

These guys are just going all-in on the class warfare:

News flash: Congressional Republicans want to raise your taxes. Impossible, right? GOP lawmakers are so virulently anti-tax, surely they will fight to prevent a payroll tax increase on virtually every wage-earner starting Jan. 1, right?

Apparently not.

Many of the same Republicans who fought hammer-and-tong to keep the George W. Bush-era income tax cuts from expiring on schedule are now saying a different "temporary" tax cut should end as planned. By their own definition, that amounts to a tax increase.

The tax break extension they oppose is sought by President Barack Obama. Unlike proposed changes in the income tax, this policy helps the 46 percent of all Americans who owe no federal income taxes but who pay a "payroll tax" on practically every dime they earn.

There are other differences as well, and Republicans say their stand is consistent with their goal of long-term tax policies that will spur employment and lend greater certainty to the economy.

"It's always a net positive to let taxpayers keep more of what they earn," says Rep. Jeb Hensarling, "but not all tax relief is created equal for the purposes of helping to get the economy moving again." The Texas lawmaker is on the House GOP leadership team.

He's right. The payroll tax is far more effective at stimulating the economy than giving the Koch brothers and the Wall Street money boys more money to buy another yacht.

This is all about making sure the economy is as bad as possible for 2012, protecting the rich, and making sure the Republicans can pretend they are the party of "fiscal responsibility."

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A federal appeals court ruled Friday that a California teacher could not be sued for criticizing Christianity and Creationism during a college-level European history course.

 

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Maxine Waters: "The Tea Party can go straight to hell!"

 

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The $13 billion, 1,700 mile pipeline proposed by TransCanada, the Keystone XL, would begin in Alberta in western Canada and pass hrough the US states of Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas and Oklahoma before ending up in Texas at the Gulf of Mexico. It will be used to carry oil from Texas to Canada and socialized medicine from Canada to Texas.

 

And in a related story: 110 people were arrested over two days of environmental protests this weekend at the White House. The protesters are calling for President Obama to reject TransCanada's proposal for a 1,700 mile-long tar sands pipeline that would stretch from Alberta, Canada to refineries in the United States. See ThinkProgress coverage here.

 

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Jill: Head, Desk, =Thunk=

And another one about how clueless Willard Romney is.

 

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"During a press availability following a speech in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, Friday, Michele Bachmann was asked about a narrative that hasn't gone away during the seven weeks she has been a presidential candidate: verbal gaffes. ... "When you speak six times a day, slip-ups can occur," Bachmann said."

 

I don't know about you, but I'd like my president to be gaffe-free at least 6 times a day.

 

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The word you're looking for is "Chutzpah" "A Wisconsin firm shuttered after massive recalls of alcohol wipes blamed for illnesses and deaths is suing a vendor who canceled orders and refused payment after reports of bacterial contamination became public. ... The Triad Group of Hartland, Wis., claims that a St. Louis firm breached its contract when officials from Vi-Jon Inc. canceled nearly $500,000 in orders for Germ-X, the company's popular line of antibacterial wipes and other products. In addition, Vi-Jon refused to pay Triad nearly $145,000 for products already delivered, according to a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Wisconsin. ... Vi-Jon canceled its orders on Feb. 22, more than a month after Triad and its sister company, H&P Industries Inc., recalled millions of alcohol pads because of possible contamination with a rare bacterium, Bacillus cereus."

 

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From "Serve and Protect" to "Hide and Sue"

 

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Mitt Romney's presidential campaign has received donations from 67 Wall Street executives who gave to President Obama in 2008, The Hill reported today. Romney, who has often criticized the Dodd-Frank financial reform law signed by Obama, collected $147,000 from the donors, whose employers include Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, and other banks, equity firms, and hedge-fund managers.

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Huntsman slams Perry on global warming and secession; Bachmann on $2 per gallon gas.

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Funny stuff: Help keep crazy constitutional.