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Warren Buffett, in a recent interview with CNBC, offers one of the best quotes about the debt ceiling:
"I could end the deficit in 5 minutes," he told CNBC. "You just pass a law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election.
The
26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only 3
months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded
it. That was in 1971 - before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc.
Of
the 27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took one (1) year or
less to become the law of the land - all because of public pressure. http://www.snopes.com/politics/quotes/buffett.asp
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Writing for the Huffington Post this afternoon, Andy Ostroy says the Occupy movement "is as good as dead."
It's one of the few HuffPo pieces I agree with, he calls to attention Occupy's obsession with tent cities, its inability to elect candidates to office, the unfocused agenda, and its insistence on class warfare.
There is one glaring omission in his piece: the takeover of the movement by violent Black Bloc anarchists--with a supporting cast of socialists and communists. http://marathonpundit.blogspot.com/2012/05/huffington-post-occupy-movement-is-as.html
It's one of the few HuffPo pieces I agree with, he calls to attention Occupy's obsession with tent cities, its inability to elect candidates to office, the unfocused agenda, and its insistence on class warfare.
There is one glaring omission in his piece: the takeover of the movement by violent Black Bloc anarchists--with a supporting cast of socialists and communists. http://marathonpundit.blogspot.com/2012/05/huffington-post-occupy-movement-is-as.html
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Louisiana is embarking on the nation's boldest experiment in privatizing public education, with the state preparing to shift tens of millions in tax dollars out of the public schools to pay private industry, businesses owners and church pastors to educate children.
Starting this fall, thousands of poor and middle-class kids will get vouchers covering the full cost of tuition at more than 120 private schools across Louisiana, including small, Bible-based church schools.
The following year, students of any income will be eligible for mini-vouchers that they can use to pay a range of private-sector vendors for classes and apprenticeships not offered in traditional public schools. The money can go to industry trade groups, businesses, online schools and tutors, among others.
Every time a student receives a voucher of either type, his local public school will lose a chunk of state funding.
"We are changing the way we deliver education," said Governor Bobby Jindal, a Republican who muscled the plan through the legislature this spring over fierce objections from Democrats and teachers unions. "We are letting parents decide what's best for their children, not government.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/01/us-education-vouchers-idUSL1E8H10AG20120601
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"I believe that If we're successful in this election, when we're successful in this election, that the fever may break, because there's a tradition in the Republican Party of more common sense than that. My hope, my expectation, is that after the election, now that it turns out that the goal of beating Obama doesn't make much sense because I'm not running again, that we can start getting some cooperation again." http://www.buzzfeed.com/zekejmiller/obama-well-get-things-done-when-the-republican
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Unions bosses may be to blame, but the solution is found in reforming our archaic, Depression-era federal labor laws. That's exactly what Americans can accomplish with the Employee Rights Act, a piece of legislation sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Rep. Tim Scott, R-S.C. Instead of struggling on their own to endure union exploitation, workers would be empowered by the ERA to retake control of their own destiny.
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Labor Relations Board indicate that less than 10 percent of currently unionized employees voted for the union that represents them in their workplace. Meanwhile, when employees vote on whether to unionize or recertify the union in their workplace, they often lack the secret ballot Americans hold as a sacred right. The ERA enshrines and protects the right of all workers to a secret-ballot vote on whether to unionize or recertify their union. http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/2012/05/obamas-suicide-pact-big-labor/676121
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Overall, "U.S. adults, on average, estimate that 25 percent of Americans are gay or lesbian," Gallup found. Only 4 percent of all those surveyed in 2011 and about 8 percent of those surveyed in 2002 correctly guessed that fewer than 5 percent of Americans identify as gay or lesbian. "My first reaction to that, aside from a little chuckle, is that it's actually a sign of the success of the movement for LGBT rights," said Stuart Gaffney, a spokesman for the group Marriage Equality USA. "We are a small minority, and we will never have full equality without the support of the majority, and a poll like that suggests the majority is extremely aware of their gay neighbors, coworkers, and friends."[So - the centuries-old sanctity of marriage being between a man and a woman is being overturned by a mere 4% of the population? My guess is that they must be thrilled that America does not govern via a democracy. In the same way, the 40%+majority of Americans describing themselves as conservatives are being man-handled by the 20% of those describing themselves as liberal.] http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/05/americans-have-no-idea-how-few-gay-people-there-are/257753/
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Since 2009, the Obama administration has awarded more than $1 billion to American companies to make advanced batteries for electric vehicles. Halfway to a six-year goal of producing one million electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, auto makers are barely at 50,000 cars.
The money funded nine battery plants—scattered across the U.S. from Michigan to Pennsylvania and Florida—that have few customers, operate well below capacity and, so far, have created less than a third of the jobs promised by 2015. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304791704577420350163856824.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
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The law banning all outdoor feedings of large numbers of people on City parkland went into effect on Friday.
Mayor Michael Nutter has said the ban will protect the dignity of the homeless, cleanliness of the parks, and eliminate food health concerns. But dozens of opponents testified at a City Council Committee hearing on Thursday, calling the Mayor’s reasons for the ban misleading.
“These regulations are clearly designated not with the intent of protecting the health and dignity of the homeless, but are designed to tuck the homeless in a corner and pretend that the problem does not exist in our city,” said Reverend Brian Jenkins of Chosen 300 Ministries.
For years, the group has held feedings for the homeless along the Ben Franklin Parkway. http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2012/06/01/city-begins-enforcement-of-ban-on-outdoor-feeding-programs/
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Louisiana is embarking on the nation's boldest experiment in privatizing public education, with the state preparing to shift tens of millions in tax dollars out of the public schools to pay private industry, businesses owners and church pastors to educate children.
Starting this fall, thousands of poor and middle-class kids will get vouchers covering the full cost of tuition at more than 120 private schools across Louisiana, including small, Bible-based church schools.
The following year, students of any income will be eligible for mini-vouchers that they can use to pay a range of private-sector vendors for classes and apprenticeships not offered in traditional public schools. The money can go to industry trade groups, businesses, online schools and tutors, among others.
Every time a student receives a voucher of either type, his local public school will lose a chunk of state funding.
"We are changing the way we deliver education," said Governor Bobby Jindal, a Republican who muscled the plan through the legislature this spring over fierce objections from Democrats and teachers unions. "We are letting parents decide what's best for their children, not government.
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/01/us-education-vouchers-idUSL1E8H10AG20120601
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"I believe that If we're successful in this election, when we're successful in this election, that the fever may break, because there's a tradition in the Republican Party of more common sense than that. My hope, my expectation, is that after the election, now that it turns out that the goal of beating Obama doesn't make much sense because I'm not running again, that we can start getting some cooperation again." http://www.buzzfeed.com/zekejmiller/obama-well-get-things-done-when-the-republican
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Unions bosses may be to blame, but the solution is found in reforming our archaic, Depression-era federal labor laws. That's exactly what Americans can accomplish with the Employee Rights Act, a piece of legislation sponsored by Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, and Rep. Tim Scott, R-S.C. Instead of struggling on their own to endure union exploitation, workers would be empowered by the ERA to retake control of their own destiny.
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the National Labor Relations Board indicate that less than 10 percent of currently unionized employees voted for the union that represents them in their workplace. Meanwhile, when employees vote on whether to unionize or recertify the union in their workplace, they often lack the secret ballot Americans hold as a sacred right. The ERA enshrines and protects the right of all workers to a secret-ballot vote on whether to unionize or recertify their union. http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/op-eds/2012/05/obamas-suicide-pact-big-labor/676121
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Overall, "U.S. adults, on average, estimate that 25 percent of Americans are gay or lesbian," Gallup found. Only 4 percent of all those surveyed in 2011 and about 8 percent of those surveyed in 2002 correctly guessed that fewer than 5 percent of Americans identify as gay or lesbian. "My first reaction to that, aside from a little chuckle, is that it's actually a sign of the success of the movement for LGBT rights," said Stuart Gaffney, a spokesman for the group Marriage Equality USA. "We are a small minority, and we will never have full equality without the support of the majority, and a poll like that suggests the majority is extremely aware of their gay neighbors, coworkers, and friends."[So - the centuries-old sanctity of marriage being between a man and a woman is being overturned by a mere 4% of the population? My guess is that they must be thrilled that America does not govern via a democracy. In the same way, the 40%+majority of Americans describing themselves as conservatives are being man-handled by the 20% of those describing themselves as liberal.] http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/05/americans-have-no-idea-how-few-gay-people-there-are/257753/
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Since 2009, the Obama administration has awarded more than $1 billion to American companies to make advanced batteries for electric vehicles. Halfway to a six-year goal of producing one million electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, auto makers are barely at 50,000 cars.
The money funded nine battery plants—scattered across the U.S. from Michigan to Pennsylvania and Florida—that have few customers, operate well below capacity and, so far, have created less than a third of the jobs promised by 2015. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304791704577420350163856824.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
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The law banning all outdoor feedings of large numbers of people on City parkland went into effect on Friday.
Mayor Michael Nutter has said the ban will protect the dignity of the homeless, cleanliness of the parks, and eliminate food health concerns. But dozens of opponents testified at a City Council Committee hearing on Thursday, calling the Mayor’s reasons for the ban misleading.
“These regulations are clearly designated not with the intent of protecting the health and dignity of the homeless, but are designed to tuck the homeless in a corner and pretend that the problem does not exist in our city,” said Reverend Brian Jenkins of Chosen 300 Ministries.
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