Snapler

March 10, 2010

Biden: Palestinians Deserve ‘Viable’ State

(AP) RAMALLAH, West Bank - U.S. Vice President Joe Biden has told the Palestinians that they deserve a "viable" independent state with contiguous territory.

Biden's comments on Wednesday appeared aimed at reassuring the Palestinians of U.S. support a day after Israel announced plans to build 1,600 new homes in disputed east Jerusalem. The Israeli move has overshadowed Biden's visit, which is meant to promote U.S.-led peace negotiations that are set to begin in the coming weeks.

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Gibbs Fires Back At Chief Justice Roberts Over Obama Criticism

The White House fired back at Justice John Roberts Tuesday night, after the Supreme Court Chief told a crowd that he found it "very troubling" that President Barack Obama would criticize the court during his State of the Union address.

In a statement sent to reporters, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said that the only troubling thing was the 5-4 ruling by the court, which said that corporations could spend unlimited amounts of money advocating on behalf of candidates in elections. Roberts leads the court.

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March 9, 2010

Vetting Obama’s Judges: The Case for Chris Schroeder

Barack Obama has appointed fewer judges in his first year than any president in modern history. There are over 100 empty federal benches across the 860 member judiciary. Many jurisdictions face formal emergencies and certain court districts are overwhelmed.

It should be no surprise that Republican confirmation obstruction of judicial nominees is to blame. The indirect causation of bench vacancies, however, is that GOP obstruction has left the Justice Department's Office Legal Policy without a head for the past year. Senate Republicans have stalled Obama's nomination for the very office responsible for vetting, selecting, and lobbying for judicial selections.

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DO WE REALLY NEED TO BLOW UP THE PLANET FIVE TIMES OVER?

Can the nearly bankrupt United States afford to spend billions more of borrowed money on nuclear weapons that are unlikely to ever be used, and which serve no useful military purpose?

That is the weighty question confronting President Barack Obama as he prepares his overdue Nuclear Posture Review. Each new American president must by law review his nation's nuclear weapons and strategy.

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Bart Stupak, Dem Threatening To Kill Health Care Bill Over Abortion, Says Deal Looks Likely

TAWAS CITY, Mich. (AP) -- Prospects are good for resolving a dispute over abortion that has led some House Democrats to threaten to withhold support of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul, a key Michigan Democrat said Monday.

Rep. Bart Stupak said he expects to resume talks with House leaders this week in a quest for wording that would impose no new limits on abortion rights but also would not allow use of federal money for the procedure.

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March 8, 2010

The Way Forward on Health Care

Democrats in Congress are between a rock and a hard place on health care, and so, too, are the American people.

On the one hand, if Democrats do not pass health care legislation, they will be seen, rightly or wrongly, as unable to deliver on anything of substance to the lives of everyday Americans despite a Democratic president, a supermajority in the Senate, and an overwhelming majority in the House. The American people twice voted to "throw the bums out," in 2006 and then again in 2008. Bush and the Republicans had done more damage in eight years than any president since Herbert Hoover, and the American people had had enough of the ideology of unregulated greed that was the core philosophy of the Republican Party during the Great Depression and remains their core philosophy today.

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March 7, 2010

From “Fired Up and Ready to Go” to “Tired Out and Staying Home”

There's been a lot of commentary about President Barack Obama's failure to construct a winning "narrative" for the elections of 2010. In 2008, there were millions of people "fired up and ready to go." But after a year plus of the Beltway-Rahm Emanuel strategy of never exposing oneself to political risk the grassroots energy of the campaign has been allowed simply to dissipate. Robert Reich argues that "if there was ever a time to connect the dots and make the case for government as a means of protecting the public from [corporate] forces. It is now." But at this point, about seven months before the midterms, transforming Americans' view of government is a tall task, especially when many of the George W. Bush policies have clearly prevailed. The problem with Obama's "narrative" lies in the substance of what has transpired over the past year.

1). Those who wanted single-payer health care didn't even get a seat at the table, (even though it's the most fiscally responsible of the choices over the long term). And then those who wanted a "public option" or a "Medicare buy-in" had their hopes dashed. These decisions didn't do much to keep health care reform advocates fired up and ready to go.

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Mitch McConnell On RNC Fundraising Presentation: ‘I Don’t Like It,’ No One Does

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) blasted the Republican National Committee on Sunday for producing a fundraising presentation that mocked the President and congressional leadership as cartoon villains and socialists.

Asked about the document -- which outlines how "ego-driven" wealthy donors could be persuaded to take out their checkbooks -- the Kentucky Republican called it "certainly not helpful" to the Republican cause.

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March 6, 2010

Caro Dorvil: A Great American Story (For Now)

Carl Dorvil started Group Excellence in his SMU dorm room. The son of Haitian immigrants, Carl never took his education for granted. He was the first African American president of his high school and balanced four jobs while completing a triple major and starting a business as an undergraduate.

Some good advice from the founder of Macaroni Grill led Carl to pursue an MBA. But when his professor saw the revenue projection for Group Excellence, he suggested a semester off to work on the business.

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The Top Five Reasons I’d Boff Dick Cheney

In honor of his, fifth, yes count em, fifth heart attack, I've decided to salute former vice president and 2010 CPAC hero, Dick Cheney, by proclaiming to the world (or at least the half dozen folks who read this blog) my top five reasons I'd fuck Dick Cheney:



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