Al Sharpton-MSNBC Show Host

MSNBC has named the Rev. Al Sharpton as host of a weeknight program on the network.
Tuesday's announcement comes after the civil rights activist spent several weeks as a tryout in the 6 p.m. Eastern (2200 GMT) time slot.

His new program, to be called "PoliticsNation," will premiere next Monday. Sharpton is a well-known civil rights activist and minister. He calls the hosting job "a natural extension of my life work and growth." In addition to being a guest on MSNBC throughout the network's history, he has also served as an occasional guest host on several of its programs. He hosts a nationally syndicated radio show, as well.

MSNBC has been criticized for considering the longtime community leader to host the show instead of a black journalist.
The 6 p.m. hour serves as an important lead-in to MSNBC's weeknight slate that includes Chris Matthews, Laurence O'Donnell, Rachel Maddow and Ed Schultz.

Source: The Grio

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• Rev. Al Sharpton officially tapped as MSNBC host (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
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Rush Limbaugh, Racist Oreo "Joke"

Rush Limbaugh and President Obama

Radio host Rush Limbaugh has put more controversial comments out onto the airwaves, this time directed at President Obama. On his radio show Wednesday (Aug. 17), Limbaugh says:

"Kraft foods is going to launch a new Oreo ... It's a Triple Double Oreo. Do you like Oreos, is that? Well, it, what it's going to be here, it's actually a biracial cookie. You've got three of the chocolate wafers, and then you've got the white vanilla cream, the cream, and then there's a chocolate cream. So you've got, you've got three -- the stuff, the thing that says Oreo on it, the wafer. And then you've got the white cream, then you've got another chocolate wafer, then you've got the chocolate cream, and then you've got the bottom wafer. The Triple Double Oreo. You wait, it isn't going to be long before it's called the Or-Bam-eo, or something like this. Well, it's a biracial cookie, here ... In the midst of all this talk of obesity. And, I mean, every time Michelle Obama goes out there and talks about healthful eating, the food industry responds with, 'Oh, yeah? Take this.' And Kraft comes up with the Or-Bam-eo, the triple double-dipper."

First off, there is no way that Rush Limbaugh is ignorant of the racial slur "Oreo," which means a black person who "acts white" or is white on the inside. Is this a pointed comment at President Obama being an "Oreo"?

Secondly, people say that Rush Limbaugh is a satirist. What, exactly, is this satirizing?

Related articles

• Rush Limbaugh, racist (dailykos.com)
• Rush Limbaugh Likens President Obama to New Oreo Cookie (thehollywoodgossip.com)
• Limbaugh: New Oreo Cookie Should Be Called 'Or-Ba-Meo' (huffingtonpost.com)

The New Jim Crow: Republican Efforts at Voter Suppression

Attorney General Eric Holder 

Now that the phony debt ceiling crisis is temporarily behind us, we need to turn our attention to Republican efforts at voter suppression.  If you are not aware of the numerous changes legislated by GOP led state legislatures, you'll be surprised at how much these new laws mirror the "Jim Crow" laws during the period 1875 to 1910 which were specifically designed to disenfranchise minorities.

The most popular tactics include new laws requiring voters to bring official identification to the polls.   Estimates suggest that more than 1 in 10 Americans lack an eligible form of ID, and thus would be turned away at their polling location. Most are minorities and young people, the most loyal constituencies of the Democratic Party. The rationale given most often is "reducing voter fraud".

Billionaire Tells Congress: Stop Coddling the Super-Rich

Billionaire Warren Buffett urged U.S. lawmakers Monday to raise taxes on the country's super-rich to help cut the budget deficit, saying such a move will not hurt investments.

"My friends and I have been coddled long enough by a billionaire-friendly Congress. It's time for our government to get serious about shared sacrifice," The 80-year-old "Oracle of Omaha" wrote in an opinion article in The New York Times.

 Buffett, one of the world's richest men and chairman of conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway Inc , said his federal tax bill last year was $6,938,744.
"That sounds like a lot of money. But what I paid was only 17.4 percent of my taxable income - and that's actually a lower percentage than was paid by any of the other 20 people in our office. Their tax burdens ranged from 33 percent to 41 percent and averaged 36 percent," he said.

Lawmakers engaged in a partisan battle over spending and taxes for more than three months before agreeing on August 2 to raise the $14.3 trillion U.S. debt ceiling, avoiding a U.S. default.
"Americans are rapidly losing faith in the ability of Congress to deal with our country's fiscal problems. Only action that is immediate, real and very substantial will prevent that doubt from morphing into hopelessness," Buffett said.

Related articles

• Buffett: Stop coddling the super-rich (msnbc.msn.com)
• Stop coddling the super-rich: Buffett (business.financialpost.com)
• Buffett to Congress: Don't 'coddle' me (money.cnn.com)
• Obama: Warren Buffett Is Right On Taxes (businessinsider.com)

GOP Presidential Debate

Here's the entry from Ezra Klein's Wonkbook that takes a look at last night's Republican Presidential debate.  As always, Ezra get beyond the fluff of regular pundits and gets to the meat of the issue.

The most telling moment of Thursday’s GOP debate wasn’t when Michele Bachmann cooly stuck a knife between Tim Pawlenty’s ribs, or when Rick Santorum plaintively begged for more airtime, or when Mitt Romney easily slipped past questions about his record on health-care reform. It was when every single GOP candidate on the stage agreed that they would reject a budget deal that was $10 in spending cuts for every $1 in tax increases. Even Fox News’s Bret Baier couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing. He asked again just to make sure the assembled candidates had understood the question.

Ames Straw Poll" Lessons from History

Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose.  So goes the Ames Straw Poll.  Does most recent winner Michelle Bachmann have a real chance at winning the top spot on the GOP national ticket?  I think not.

Take a look at the winners and losers in the Ames Straw Poll and you’ll get some food for thought about the 2012 GOP national ticket.

In 1979, the first poll pitted George H. W. Bush against Ronald Reagan. Bush won the Straw Poll but Reagan won the Republican Nominee. Both Bush and Reagan were legitimate possibilities for the national ticket.

Bachmann Wins Iowa Straw Poll

Republican Presidential Candidates

Iowa GOP officials said nearly 17,000 ballots were cast in the straw poll, a closely scrutinized test of each campaign’s organizational muscle in Iowa.

As expected, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann has won the Ames Straw Poll with 29% of the vote, edging out Rep. Ron Paul by 152 votes, or 28%.

Tim Pawlenty, who needed a strong finish, ranked third with 14%.
Rick Santorum, who has campaigned more than anyone, pulled in 10% .
Herman Cain got 9%.
Rick Perry, not on the ballot, but with a concerted write-in effort, got 718 votes, 4% ahead of Romney.
Mitt Romney, the presumed front runner for the nomination, who pulled in 567 votes (3%).
Newt Gingrich 385 votes (2%).
Jon Huntsman 69 votes. 
Rep. Thaddeus McCotter 35 votes.

T-Paw Calls It Quits

Tim Pawlenty and wife Mary

Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty dropped out of the race for the GOP presidential nomination on Sunday, hours after finishing a disappointing third in the Iowa straw poll.

"I wish it would have been different. But obviously the pathway forward for me doesn't really exist so we are going to end the campaign," Pawlenty said on ABC's "This Week" from Iowa shortly after disclosing his plans in a private conference call with supporters.

The low-key Midwesterner and two-term governor had struggled to gain traction in a state he had said he must win and never caught fire nationally with a Republican electorate seemingly craving a charismatic, nonestablishment, rabble-rouser to go up against President Barack Obama.

Romney's Financial Disclosure Report

Mitt Romney, the Republican frontrunner to challenge President Barack Obama in the 2012 election, reported a net worth up to $264 million Friday.

Romney's office said his financial disclosure report showed assets valued at between $85 million to $264 million, but added "a more accurate range is between $190 (million) to $250 million."

Romney, a former head of private equity firm Bain Capital and an ex-governor of Massachusetts, contributed tens of millions of dollars to his failed 2008 campaign for the Republican presidential nomination.

Romney's investments are in areas including consumer staples, energy, financial, health care, industrial companies, information technology and communications, his office said.

Romney raised more than $18 million in the second quarter for his presidential nomination bid. Still, Obama and the Democratic National Committee raised about $86 million in the same period.

Related articles

• Romney’s net worth pegged at $190-$250M (boston.com)
• GOP Hopeful Mitt Romney's Personal Wealth Revealed (huffingtonpost.com)
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Obama's "Hip Hop Bar B Que

Ebony Mom Politics Blog asked some good questions:

Why is the President’s birthday party is not simply a birthday party? Why did Fox News have take the photos of three of the black male guests and label it a hip hop party. When I write about what Fox News does some comment let it go that’s what they do others say oh you are too sensitive. Well, I am not going to let it go and I am not too sensitive. It was a party not a hip hop party, but a birthday party for the President. No his party did not create jobs, but he turned 50 and he was entitled to a celebration.

Here's another set of good questions from Ebony Mom Politics Blog:

What Should the President Be Doing?

Everybody has an opinion on what President Obama should be doing or in some cases not doing. He should not have celebrated his 50th birthday last week. He should not do any fundraisers until the economy stablizes. He should never again say he inherited this mess. He should meet with business leaders, and he should call Congress back from vacation. He should say the word poor. I have listed just a few of the things the pundits and the president’s critics suggest. My question to you is what do you think he should be doing? 

Pray the Bachmann Away

Teens Beat and Kill Black Man-Caught on Tape

Seven teenagers got into Deryl Dedmon's green Ford 250 truck and a white SUV Cherokee and drove 16 miles to the western edge of Jackson, MS, which is a largely black area, just before dawn on a Sunday morning. As they left Interstate 20 they spotted James Anderson in a parking lot beside the exit ramp.

Caught on video, the camera recorded the moment a group of teenage thugs ran over and killed a terrified black car worker after savagely beating him while on a mission to find and hurt a black person, according to prosecutors.

Eighteen-year-old Dedmon of Brandon, Mississippi, is accused of charging at 49-year-old James Anderson in a pickup truck before boasting, 'I ran that n****r over'.

CCTV footage shows the teens driving into a parking lot and beating Mr Anderson while repeatedly yelling racist phrases including, 'white power', according to witnesses.

In the clip, Mr Anderson is shown staggering towards the headlights of the truck after being beaten, before the vehicle surges ahead, running him over and killing him instantly.

The group of teens, led by Dedmon, had been partying and drinking in a middle-class neighbourhood in the predominantly white Rankin County on June 26, when Dedmon told friends they should leave, saying 'let's go f**k with some n*****s', according to police.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2023771/Moment-racist-teenagers-run-kill-black-car-worker-James-Anderson.html#ixzz1UwgQ55uK

Related articles

• Video of White Teens' Attack Sparks Allegations (abcnews.go.com)
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CNN's Don Lemon Claims Bachmann's Husband Shoved Him

CNN anchor Don Lemon reports that members of the campaign team for Michele Bachmann -- including her husband Marcus Bachmann -- shoved him after an event for the candidate in Des Moines on Friday. It's hard to tell exactly what happened, as both sides have a different account, but Lemon is sticking to his story, so here goes:

“She came out, after speaking for just a couple minutes,” Lemon said. “There were other reporters and cameras there. And I asked her very respectful questions: ‘How do you think you did in the debate last night?’ and ‘How do you think you’re going to end up in the Ames Straw Poll?’ And her two campaign aides started elbowing me.”

Lemon continued: “I told them, asked them not to elbow me. And then her husband Marcus started doing the same thing. And then he elbowed me into the cart. And I said, ‘You just pushed me into the cart.’ And he goes, ‘No, you did it yourself.’ It was just, I don’t know, why they would choose to do that."

When Bachmann Press Secretary Alice Stewart was asked if she, or Marcus Bachmann, pushed Lemon, she responded simply, “Our number one priority is the safety and protection of Michele Bachmann.” Things were terribly crowded, and it appears that everyone was struggling to get by in the video below, so this looks to be an accident. But as CNN and The Advocate are both reporting the story, we'll wait and see if Lemon speaks out on the subject again. CNN itself adds:

It’s typical for presidential candidates, especially ones as popular as Bachmann, to wind up in a crush of supporters and reporters at campaign events. But Friday’s episode was unusual.

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Tavis Smiley: Obama Snubbed Me

PBS radio host Tavis Smiley told C-SPAN Wednesday that President Obama is the first president to not invite him to the White House. “Once he got elected and my critique of him about holding him accountable to various things didn’t sit so well with him or the people around him, he has not at this point come on my TV or radio programs one time since he’s been in the White House,” Smiley said. “This is the first president in my professional career that hasn’t invited me to the White House.” Smiley is teaming up with Cornel West, another prominent critic of President Obama from the left, for a bus tour highlighting the nation’s poverty.

Get over it Tavis! Life goes on and you are making a job of knocking the President and we all know why. I haven't been invited to the White House either, but I still support Barack Obama.

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Appeals Court Rules Against Obamacare Insurance Mandate

In the March 23, 2010 file photo above, President Barack Obama signs the health care bill in the East Room of the White House in Washington.

A federal appeals court panel on Friday struck down the requirement in President Barack Obama's health care overhaul package that virtually all Americans must carry health insurance or face penalties.
The divided three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals struck down the so-called individual mandate, siding with 26 states that had sued to block the law. But the panel didn't go as far as a lower court that had invalidated the entire overhaul as unconstitutional.

The states and other critics argued the law violates people's rights, while the Justice Department countered that the legislative branch was exercising a "quintessential" power.

The decision, penned by Chief Judge Joel Dubina and Circuit Judge Frank Hull, found that "the individual mandate contained in the Act exceeds Congress's enumerated commerce power."

Rick Perry Joins Presidential Race

As expected, Texas Gov. Rick Perry has jumped into the 2012 Republican race for president. He told South Carolina voters in a conference call Saturday that he wants to win his party's nomination and take on President Barack Obama.

Word of his entry into the race came about an hour before a planned speech in Charleston, South Carolina, where he was kicking off his campaign.

During the call with supporters, Perry criticized Obama on foreign policy and said he would do a better creating jobs. Perry said he would go to Washington to do his duty and not make friends.

Perry said that "I full well believe I'm going to win."

Personally, I'm not at all excited about the prospect of a guy who talks about his state seceeding from the union running for President. He joins a list of other potential candidates who also scare the daylights out of me with their extreme right wing policy positions and lack of understanding of the issues.  What ever they say about Barack Obama, I'll take my chances with him at the helm of our government.

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Final Three Members of "Supercommittee" Named

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday filled out the final three slots on the joint deficit committee by selecting three members of her leadership team to the panel.

Pelosi (D-Calif.) chose Reps. James E. Clyburn (D-S.C.), Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.) and Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), giving the panel the highest-ranking African-American and Latino lawmakers in Congress with Clyburn and Becerra, respectively. Pelosi reiterated her call for Congress to consider “the grand bargain” of major entitlement cuts matched with increased taxes.

Clyburn is the No. 3 Democratic leader and Becerra is the No. 5 member of her leadership team. As the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, Van Hollen is an adjunct member of leadership and previously spent four years as the party’s campaign strategist as the head of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee.

The three House Democrats complete the 12-member panel, which must turn in its recommendations for $1.2 trillion in additional spending cuts by Thanksgiving or risk pulling an automatic trigger for deep cuts to federal agencies and defense programs.

Related articles:

• Pelosi Picks Loyalists for Debt 'Super Committee' (usnews.com)
• Nancy Pelosi names party stalwarts to super committee (sfgate.com)
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Wisconsin Recall Elections: A GOP Win-Barely

By holding on to four of its six contested state Senate seats, Gov. Scott Walker’s party maintained its majority and a right to claim victory. But that majority is a now precarious one-seat advantage.

E. J. Dionne points out that "Still, this was small comfort compared to what might have been. If only about 1,100 votes had switched in the closest contest, Democrats would have won the extra Senate seat they needed and would now be celebrating their use of Walker’s frontal attack on the collective-bargaining rights of public employees to produce a political realignment.

“You’ve earned this, Wisconsin Democrats. Tonight’s results cost you twenty million, and you didn’t reach your primary objective. Enjoy,” said the conservative blog RedState on Tuesday evening.

Democrats still plan to move ahead with an effort to recall Walker himself. That can’t start until November, under state law. Democrats said that at the least they had begun to take the fight to the other side.

“The fact of the matter remains that, fighting on Republican turf, we have begun the work of stopping the Scott Walker agenda,” said Wisconsin Democratic Party Chairman Mike Tate.

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• Wisconsin Recall: Democrat Seeks 'Political Realignment' in Rural District (blogs.abcnews.com)
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• Wisconsin Democrats say they want to end Scott Walker's 'reign of terror' as 'soon as feasible' (dailykos.com)

"Supercommittee" Named by Congressional Leaders

Congressional leaders have announced their appointments for the deficit-reduction "supercommittee," the group charged with the task of mapping out a long-term debt-reduction deal. House Speaker John Boehner has appointed three Republican members: Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp and Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton, both of Michigan, and Republican Conference Chairman Jeb Hensarling of Texas as the House GOP members. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell also announced Wednesday three Senate Republican members: Jon Kyl of Arizona, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, and Rob Portman of Ohio. Earlier on Tuesday Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid announced three Senate Democratic members of the committee: Patty Murray of Washington, John Kerry of Massachusetts, and Max Baucus of Montana.

Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, will co-chair the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction with Democratic Sen. Patty Murray. The bipartisan panel is supposed to recommend steps to reduce federal budget deficits by at least $1.5 trillion over 10 years by Nov. 23. If the committee fails to issue a recommendation, a series of painful spending cuts will automatically occur, split evenly between defense and domestic programs dear to Republicans and Democrats, respectively. Those automatic cuts are described as an enforcement mechanism to encourage bipartisan cooperation.

Polling has indicated most Americans see a mix of tax increases on the wealthy accompanied by some spending cuts as the best way to trim the US budget deficit.

Still outstanding are three selections from Democratic House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

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S&P Might Have Been Right

Ezra Klein-Washington Post

I read Ezra Klein's Wonkbook from the Washington Post every day and find it informative and reasonable. Here's what Ezra had to say on the S&P downgrade of U. S. credit rating.

S&;P is often wrong, but this time, they got it right, writes Ezra Klein: "Standard Poor’s didn’t just miss the bubble. They helped cause it. They were paid by the banks to award their AAA-stamp of approval to all manner of financial products that were anything but riskless -- which, ironically, makes them an accessory to the resulting explosion of U.S. debt...But that doesn’t make Standard Poor’s wrong in this particular case. 'The downgrade reflects our view that the effectiveness, stability, and predictability of American policymaking and political institutions have weakened at a time of ongoing fiscal and economic challenges,' they explained in the statement accompanying Friday’s decision. After Republicans in Congress spent three months weighing whether or not to default on our debt and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said that paying our bills would never again be a foregone conclusion, can anyone really argue with that? After every Republican presidential candidate save Jon Huntsman either remained silent on, or flatly opposed, the deal to raise the debt ceiling, can anyone really say that U.S. debt is completely riskless? That there’s no chance of a political miscalculation, and if there is such a chance, that they can perfectly predict the outcome of the ensuing chaos?"

Mints For Different Taste Buds

Politics From the Eyes of an Ebony Mom reported the following.:
The University of Tennessee (Knoxville) were selling mints that featured the likeness of the president and they were called ‘Disappoint Mints’. A Democratic state legislator visited the store and saw the mints and told the bookstore to remove them from their shelves. Rep. Joe Armstrong said “When you operate on state and federal dollars, you ought to be sensitive to those type of politically specific products.” he went on to say “if it was a private etity or corporation, (that’s different), but this is a state university. We certainly don’t want in any way to put the university in a bad light by having Political (products), particularly aimed at defaming the president.” So what do you think? Was the legislator right or is this censorship? Tell me what you think.

Another source revealed that the same bookstore sold mints skewering George W. Bush a few years ago.

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Standard & Poor Hypocrites- Shame on You

Standard & Poor should be ashamed of calling U. S. government "dysfunctional" and downgrading it's AAA rating to AA.  It's like the pot calling the kettle "black".

The Daily Beast writer Nomi Prino tells us that "S&P’s downgrade carries a large dose of irony, since the extra debt the U.S. has piled on recently came courtesy of S&P's moronic toxic asset ratings.                                 

Remember: In the run-up to this very financial crisis, for which our debt creation machine at the Treasury Department ramped into over-drive, S&P was raking in fees for factory-stamping "AAA" approval on assets whose collateral was hemorrhaging value.  Banks concocted $14 trillion of toxic assets that S&P rated AAA between 2003 and 2008.

You can read her entire article using the link below.

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Mystery Company Donates $1 Million To Romney and Folds

Mitt Romney

A mysterious company, W Spann, gave $1 million to Restore Our Future, an independent political committee supporting former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney for president and then quickly folded, raising questions about the donation.

The existence of the million-dollar donation — as gleaned from campaign and corporate records obtained by NBC News — provides a vivid example of how secret campaign cash is being funneled in ever more circuitous ways into the political system.

Campaign finance experts say the use of an opaque company like W Spann to donate large sums of money into a political campaign shows how post-Watergate disclosure laws are now being increasingly circumvented.

The Most Hated Congress Ever

Fourteen per cent (14%). That’s the approval rating for Congress in the latest CNN/Opinion Research Corporation national poll. It’s the lowest approval rating ever for Congress in a CNN poll and one of only three times that approval has dipped below 20 percent.

The “people hate Congress” story isn’t new — in fact it feels like it’s always been with us — but the depth of the unpopularity has taken on a different cast.  There has rarely — if ever — been a time in modern political memory where a “throw the bums out” attitude impacted both parties equally".

“Throw out the old play book,” said Tom Davis, a former Virginia House member and two-time chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.
Davis added that the “political establishment has delivered two failed wars, Katrina, an economic meltdown and stagnant wages,” and that “unless the economy improves the political system will go through shock therapy.”

Martin Frost, a former Texas Member and past chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, agreed with Davis saying it could lead to unprecedented results at the ballot box next November.

“This the first time in my political lifetime that significant numbers of incumbents in both parties could lose,” said Frost. “The GOP could win the Senate and lose the House.”
That's a frightening thought!

Related articles

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Congress Strikes Deal Ending FAA Shutdown

Harry Reid

Another stalemate is over, at least for now.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on Thursday announced a deal to reopen the FAA and bring an end to the two-week standoff that had idled tens of thousands of workers and stalled construction projects across the nation.

"This agreement does not resolve the important differences that still remain," Reid said. "But I believe we should keep Americans working while Congress settles its differences, and this agreement will do exactly that."

The Senate on Friday made quick work of the House-passed FAA bill, approving the measure by unanimous consent. (Most lawmakers are already home for August recess, so there was no roll call vote.) The bill resumes funding for the agency through the middle of September, when the partisan fighting is expected to begin anew. The stopgap measure does not address one of the issues at the center of the fight: a recent National Mediation Board decision that makes it easier for airline employees to unionize. (We'll let you guess which side the two parties come down on on that topic.)

Related articles

• FAA Deal Puts Off Reckoning On Labor, Other Issues - NPR (news.google.com)
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S& P Downgrades U. S. Credit Rating

The United States has lost its sterling credit rating from Standard & Poor's. The credit rating agency  lowered the nation's AAA rating for the first time since granting it in 1917. The humbling downgrade of the world's economic superpower came late on Friday night, after news surfaced of a furious rearguard attempt by the White House to convince S&P that its figures were faulty.

Shame on you Congress...enjoy your five week vacation while the country is in the middle of one of its greatest fiscal and legislative difficulties.

The downgrade came less than a week after a gridlocked Congress finally agreed to spending cuts that would reduce the debt by more than $2 trillion — a tumultuous process that contributed to convulsions in financial markets. The promised cuts without revenue increases were not enough to satisfy S&P.

NJ Gov Christie Appoints Muslim American to State Supereior Court

New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie defended his decision to nominate a Muslim judge to the state Superior Court against conservative critics who warned that the new judge will implement Sharia law. The notoriously blunt-spoken Christie calling their fears "crap" and "crazy."
The appointee, Sohail Mohammed, is an American attorney who offered legal aid to New Jersey residents who were suspected after the 9/11 terrorist attacks but were later found innocent of any crimes.
Opponents of Mohammed's nomination have issued warnings, with no evidence, that Christie's nominee, if approved, would base his rulings on Islamic law. Christie was having none of it.

It's Not "Boy", It's Mr. President

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Who you calling a boy?
If we didn't hear him right the first time, MSNBC political analyst Pat Buchanan said it again. He repeatedly referred to President Barack Obama as a "boy" on national television.
Without so much as a whiff of hesitation, and even after being admonished by none other than Reverend Al Sharpton, Buchanan refused to apologize or even acknowledge his mistake. Instead, he answered Sharpton's instant rebuke with a laugh. In fact, he chuckled. And then he said it again.
Not only is President Obama hours away from his 50th birthday, he is today, and will be tomorrow, president of these United States -- still the most economically and politically powerful democracy in the world. While we do not always agree with his policy positions and even take issue with his politics, he is the president -- our president. Duly elected by voters from sea to shining sea in 2008, he now calls 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue home.
But it would not matter if he lived in a tony, gated suburb, in a card box under a bridge or off of MLK Drive. He still is a man. A grown man.

Source: The Grio (be sure to read the entire TheGrio blog linked below)

Related articles

• Pat Buchanan Makes VERY Dicey Comment About Obama (huffingtonpost.com)
• Yeah, this will do it (firedoglake.com)
• Buchanan clarifies 'your boy' (politico.com)
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Chinese Agency Downgrades U. S. Rating

Harry Reid and Mitch McConnell

A little-known Chinese ratings agency has downgraded the rating of the United States from A+ to A. The move is unlikely to affect U.S. borrowing rates but reflects the pessimism Washington's debt battle has generated worldwide.

President Barack Obama signed emergency legislation to boost the debt ceiling ahead of a deadline to avoid an unprecedented national default. Still, China's Dagong Global Credit Rating Co. said Wednesday that the deal doesn't change the fact that U.S. debt growth has outpaced its economy and fiscal revenue. Dagong is little-known outside China but hopes to compete with global ratings agencies Moody's, Standard & Poor's and Fitch. Moody's has said the U.S. will retain its highest bond rating but with a "negative" outlook.

"The squabbling between the two political parties on raising the U.S. debt ceiling reflected an irreversible trend on the United States' declining ability to repay its debts," Dagong Chairman Guan Jianzhong told CNN.

"The two parties acted in a very irresponsible way and their actions greatly exposed the negative impact of the U.S. political system on its economic fundamentals," he said.

Ironically, Dagong's move could hurt not just the United States but also China, the largest foreign owner of U.S. debt with holdings worth almost $1.2 trillion.

Related articles

• China urges US to handle debt responsibly (sfgate.com)
• Fitch: US debt deal alone won't sustain AAA rating (sfgate.com)
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• Chinese agency cuts U.S. debt rating again (marketwatch.com)

Subtle Racism: GOP Relish Their Disrespect for President Obama

The GOP's total lack of respect of President Obama isis downright contemptible — if not unpatriotic. Such contempt, I'm convinced, is rooted in something other than political differences. Today, you might not see the overt actions of racist southern governors like Ross Barnett or George Wallace in the 1960s. But the presence of Jim Crow, Jr. — a more subtle form of racism — is there.

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., the minority leader with the greatest cunning and sharpest knife, signaled his party's true purpose last year when he proclaimed: "The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president." It was not to undo the health care legislation Obama signed into law, or to block another debt limit increase. Even then, two years out from the next presidential election, the Alabama-born senator said the top goal of GOP lawmakers to oust Obama. What he didn't say is that the GOP would pursue that goal, even at the expense of the American people and the U. S. Economy.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., has been especially relentless in the debt-ceiling fight. He attacked this first African-American president with a palpable disrespect not only for Obama personally, but also for his esteemed office.

Congreessman calls President a "Tar Baby"

In the heat of the political debate over the debt ceiling last week, Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO) may have crossed the line when he said that being associated with President Obama would be similar to touching a “tar baby”.
“Even if some people say, well the Republicans should have done this or they should have done that, they will hold the President responsible,” said Lamborn said Friday during an interview on a Denver radio station. “Now I don’t want to even have to be associated with him. It’s like touching a tar baby and you get, you get it, you know… you are stuck and you are part of the problem now and you can’t get away.”
Now critics are questioning his use of that term and are calling it highly offensive to the president.

Airports Lose in FAA Shutdown

The government is likely to lose more than $1 billion in airline ticket taxes because lawmakers have left town for a month without resolving a partisan standoff over a bill to end the partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration. The lack of action means work will continue to be stalled at 200 projects including the new control tower at McCarran International Airport.

And left unresolved is the fate of air service subsidy funding that the airport in Ely receives.
The government has lost more than $200 million since airlines are unable to collect taxes on ticket sales because the FAA's operating authority has expired.

The Senate recessed on Tuesday until September, erasing any possibility for quickly resolving the issue. The House left Monday night
.