In The Mailbox: 12.11.24 (Afternoon Edition)
16 hours ago
"She lives in a San Francisco environment of very strange fantasies and very strange understands of reality."
As someone who has professionally studied and written about comparative economics, capitalism, and socialism for almost fifty years, the reticence to probe the core beliefs of a political leader seems odd. The question is perfectly legitimate in both an academic and political context as long as we define terms and place the discussion in proper context.
By “socialist,” I do not mean a Lenin, Castro, or Mao, but whether Obama falls within the mainstream of contemporary socialism as represented, for example, by Germany’s Social Democrats, French Socialists, or Spain’s socialist-workers party?
By this criterion, yes, Obama is a socialistPaul Roderick Gregory.
"I say to my daughter, 'That outfit is a little bit too risqué or revealing' and she looks at me and says, 'That's rich coming from you.'"
"should not intrude on private family matters."
"If Newt Gingrich wins the presidency, John King is going to have a gilded seat in the White House briefing room. It's going to be an endowed chair."Too funny.
By completion of the eighth grade, the report says, students should be able to “[d]ifferentiate between gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation,” “[e]xplain the range of gender roles,” and “[d]efine emergency contraception and its use.”
Upon completion of middle school, students should be able to “[a]nalyze external influences that have an impact on one’s attitudes about gender, sexual orientation and gender identity”; “[a]ccess accurate information about gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation”; “[c]ommunicate respectfully with and about people of all gender identities, gender expressions and sexual orientations”; “[e]xplain the health benefits, risks and effectiveness rates of various methods of contraception, including abstinence and condoms”; and “[d]escribe the steps to using a condom correctly.”
And by the time they graduate from high school students should be expected to “[d]efine emergency contraception and describe its mechanism of action” and “[a]ssess the skills and resources needed to become a parent.”
Also included in the guidelines are the following: “Compare and contrast the advantages and disadvantages of abstinence and other contraceptive methods, including condoms”; “Access medically-accurate information and resources about emergency contraception”; “Compare and contrast the laws relating to pregnancy, adoption, abortion and parenting”; and “Describe potential impacts of power differences (e.g., age, status or position) within sexual relationships.”
"The moral fiber in our community is dwindling, if not now, when? Because its pajama pants today, next it will be underwear tomorrow."
“It is fitting this final South Carolina Democratic Presidential debate will take place on the day South Carolina and the nation honor Martin Luther King, Jr.,Former House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn
“What better tribute to the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. than to host such an important educational event on the day we celebrate his birthday,”Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Mississippi
“The Republicans are scheduling their debate [for] Monday, Martin Luther King Day, without any regard, whatsoever, [for] the civil rights issues that this state has faced,
“It is an irony that they are having a debate on Martin Luther King Day, when all of them are running on state’s rights.”
While I do not think it is this horrific act that should ruin their lives forever, it is not an acceptable act whatsoever. We (The United States and Marines) pride ourselves on our professionalism and defending the greatest Country in the World. We became the mighty United States of America by standing on morals and principles that are above this type of behavior. I will probably anger some of my friends by saying this, but if people stop looking at this from an emotional perspective (on both sides of the debate) and start looking at it from a logical one, they will see that if we celebrate this type of behavior we lower ourselves to their level and are no better than the indecent animals we are fighting.Marine Ron.
“It is worse than our immigration policies, you can’t break up rat families or racoons and all the rest, and you can’t even kill them. It’s unbelievable.”
Last summer, we all collectively held our breaths as we watched the debt limit fight in Washington. Today we face a volatile Euro and international unrest.Read the entire speech here.
Uncertainty is the new certainty.While we cannot control what Congress or Europe do, we must prepare as well as possible for the future changes that are certain to come.
That is what I have tried to do in the introduced budget.
The budget does not raise taxes.
Rather, it forces state government to set priorities, live within its means and plan for the future, something I wish our federal government would do.
I am asking you to put $50 million into a newly created Federal Action Contingency Trust (FACT) Fund. This fund will help us to handle impacts from the necessary and likely future federal spending cuts, and to take prudent action to help diversify our economy. I am also proposing we enhance our cash reserves by doubling the Rainy Day Fund to over $600 million by the end of FY 2014.
We will also eliminate the accelerated sales tax policy for 96 percent of merchants, by allocating $50 million in FY 2012. My goal is to get rid of this unfair policy by the time I leave office.
Together, these budget strategies provide structural balance, reduce unfunded liabilities and invest in job creation, transportation and higher education; ideas well received during our visit to the three bond rating agencies in New York last Friday with your money committee leaders.
"I’m very cautious of the fact that those who think he has some second agenda and only if he could be given a second term for us to see the new light, new things will be revealed, new efforts will be made to take us to a place other than where we’ve been and where we languish. I just don’t trust that. I don’t believe that’s a safe way and accurate way to look at this scenario. If there was the kind of moral compass serving Barack Obama the way we hoped, the moral force would have helped him make choices, the absence of that force in his equations, that barometer to guide him when he has to make these decisions that are hugely complicated, he should have come to the table with the things that would have helped us in this moment of crisis."It seems that President Obama hasn't been socialist enough for big Hugo Chavez fan, Harry Belafonte.
“We’ve seen this press report. I would say that it is one member of the Muslim Brotherhood. We have had other assurances from the party with regard to their commitment not only to universal human rights, but to the international obligations that the Government of Egypt has undertaken.”
Neil Coulon, 38, of Brooklyn said the stress of his wife delivering two premature girls was tripled by Beyoncé’s bodyguards treating Lenox Hill Hospital like an exclusive nightclub.
Coulon griped that he’s been repeatedly barred from the sixth-floor neonatal intensive care unit, once for 20 minutes, by the superstar couple’s private security.
He said bodyguards wearing headsets even cleared the sixth floor waiting room, booting his relatives out.
:“I know they spent $1.3 million and I'm just a contractor from Bed-Stuy, but the treatment we received was not okay,” Coulon said. “My wife is just terribly upset. She had a C-section. She gave birth to twins. She is sore. Nobody needs this.”
“If (former President) Bill Clinton had been in the White House and had failed to address this problem, we probably would be marching on the White House, there is a less-volatile reaction in the CBC because nobody wants to do anything that would empower the people who hate the president.”So you see Tavis, it has never been about whether the president is addressing the issues. It is about you knowing your place. You are not allowed to criticize his holiness. You are not allowed to the leave the democratic plantation; pointing out that all the poor get under this president is more handouts that keep them dependent. He is the great black hope, just ignore the fact that his hope and change has been a big fat failure. As I said, welcome to my world.
"When we do march in the street, our intent is largely civil disobedience. People will be arrested, and a permit doesn't really help,"
“Counting the signature of Bugs Bunny is something only a lawyer could make seem OK."
But when Congress refuses to act, and as a result, hurts our economy and puts our people at risk, then I have an obligation as President to do what I can without them. (Applause.) I’ve got an obligation to act on behalf of the American people. And I’m not going to stand by while a minority in the Senate puts party ideology ahead of the people that we were elected to serve. (Applause.) Not with so much at stake, not at this make-or-break moment for middle-class Americans. We’re not going to let that happen.President Obama on why it is ok for him to be a dictator.
"I mean, his numbers (Obama's) are going up as the Republican party's numbers come down. And I think it's due to the fact that the president has more aggressively and more definitively, I would hope, positioned himself as with the people, as with the 99%, or the 99.99% in this case. It's a smart political move on the president's part and I think a sincere move because I do think if you think of his background, for example, he did not lead a privileged upbringing. His family was on food stamps for a while. He earned what he has in life, and I think he appreciates it,"Eugene Robinson on how Obama is the 99%, despite being a multi-millionaire. I guess you can have lots of money and still be the 99% if you were not born into it. Self made millionaire's are exempt from the 1%.
When all of the work being done to understand causes is put together, the question about what causes homosexuality seems best answered as follows.
First, science does not have a firm answer that everyone in the field of science let alone everyone else can agree on. The origins of homosexuality are still not clearly understood by scientists.
Most researchers agree that homosexuality is multi-causal and complex; many factors contribute to the development of same-sex attraction. Most researchers, including Dr. Dean Hamer, the "gay gene” researcher who is himself a gay man, agree that homosexuality is due to a combination of social, biological, and psychological factors. Dr. Hamer has said, "Genes are hardware…the data of life’s experiences are processed through the sexual software into the circuits of identity. I suspect the sexual software is a mixture of both genes and environment, in much the same way the software of a computer is a mixture of what’s installed at the factory and what’s added by the user (P. Copeland and D. Hammer (1994) The Science of Desire. New York: Simon and Schuster.)”
'The bartender failed to attempt to ascertain whether or not plaintiff was already impaired by alcohol consumption when she purchased the alcoholic beverage and made sale to plaintiff even though she was unable to legally purchase the alcoholic beverage, and notwithstanding the possibility that she was already impaired by alcohol consumption,
'suddenly dropped off into a large unmaintained area on the shoulder of Alljoj Road, which caused plaintiff to lose control of her vehicle and causing her to roll the vehicle off the side of the road.'