Good morning!

From CNN:

Republican Party goes round the bend

Editor’s note: Sally Kohn is a progressive activist, columnist and television commentator. Follow her on Twitter @sallykohn. The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN) – In the beginning, one might have considered it bold — even inventive — to oppose every single thing President Obama supported.

But it quickly became tiresome and predictable over the last five years. And now, as House Republicans weigh a resolution to sue President Obama for not quickly enough implementing a law the same Republicans voted more than 50 times to repeal or stall, all hell has broken loose.

Republicans are just being obnoxious now. And dangerous. And nuts.

On Wednesday, the House Rules Committee will debate a draft resolution to file a lawsuit against President Obama, wasting taxpayer dollars in what is plainly a political stunt.

Their complaint? That President Obama did not implement the employer mandate in Obamacare quickly enough. That’s right, that same employer mandate Republicans have berated Obama for, the one in the health care reform law they’vevoted 54 (failed) times to try to repeal or delay or stall – the law, incidentally, that’s working – House Republicans are now using taxpayer money to sue President Obama for not implementing it quickly enough. Yeah.

Readers: I’m going to interrupt here. Did you catch that? Let me repeat: House Republicans are now using taxpayer money to sue President Obama for not implementing it quickly enough.

Meanwhile, at least Republicans aren’t going full-political-stunt and impeaching President Obama … yet. Sarah Palin has thrown her constitutional-scholar-like support behind the idea. Though as Attorney General Eric Holder said of Palin this weekend: “She wasn’t a particularly good vice presidential candidate. She’s an even worse judge of who ought to be impeached and why.”

Republicans bash President Obama for issuing executive orders. But why should facts like the Constitution or how every president in history has used executive orders, and in most cases more than President Obama, stand in the way of a good partisan line of attack, let alone a political stunt? Facts and proportionality certainly haven’t been a barrier for Republicans so far.

For instance, also within the last week, conservative talk radio host Ben Shapiro said on Fox News that the Obama White House is a “borderline Jew-hating administration.”

Republicans had long criticized the President as anti-Israel. For instance, the Romney campaign ran a commercial criticizing Obama for not visiting Israel during the first three-and-a-half years of his presidency, and conservative pundit Mark Levin accused President Obama of “hating Israel.”

But suggesting the White House and by, er, obvious implication President Obama, hates Jews is a whole new level of accusation. It’s also a whole new level of crazy neglect of basic facts.

President Obama has increased security assistance to Israel every single year since taking office and Obama personally championed providing an additional $275 million over its standard foreign military financing aid in order to fund the construction of the so-called “Iron Dome” defense system.”

But facts, schmacts. Republican smears against Obama are even more impervious than the Iron Dome. No logic or reason can pierce their facade of BS.

Witness Texas Republican Sen. John Cornyn, who last week calledPresident Obama “tone deaf” for not visiting the border during his trip to Texas. Texas Gov. Rick Perry also dinged the President along these lines: “The President needs to come to the border, to see it himself.” For his part, President Obama said, “I’m not interested in photo ops, I’m interested in solving a problem.” Which sounds almost like Obama is quoting Cornyn and Perry … back in 2011.

Then, when pressing Congress to pass immigration reform, President Obama went to the border and … Republicans criticized him for doing so.

“What Sen. Cornyn is looking for, President Obama cannot deliver with another speech or photo op, and that’s presidential leadership. Words matter little when there is no action,” a Cornyn spokesperson said at the time. Similarly, in 2011, Perry criticized Obama’s trip to the border, “I was very disheartened when the President came into El Paso a couple of weeks ago (and) had a photo-op.”

In case you’re not good at math, that’s Republicans criticizing President Obama for doing something and then — just three years later — criticizing him for not doing the same thing. Try as you might, there’s just no way to rationalize the difference. Republicans damn President Obama he does it and damned if he doesn’t.

But if you still believe in facts, here’s something for you: Republicans crashed our nation’s economy with their astronomical tax cuts, lax oversight of business and unfunded wars.

But instead of facing the truth and re-examining how their policies systematically harm our nation, Republicans just attack and blame President Obama. They simply don’t know what else to do.

That’s not so say President Obama never does anything wrong or doesn’t sometimes deserve blame. Of course he does and we should have political checks and balances.

But while blaming and condemning President Obama has been Republicans’ sole strategy since the moment he was elected, they’ve taken that crazy irresponsibility to the next level — including suing the President of the United States of America for doing his job and carefully implementing laws, even the ones Republicans hate. That’s what all presidents do.

Meanwhile, Congress is supposed to work with the President and pass laws. Republicans are the ones who aren’t doing their jobs. They’re too busy spending our money on their partisan revenge stunts and inventing new outlandish attacks against Obama to distract the American people from the giant mess the Republican Party has caused — and not only are they not doing anything to fix it, they have no solutions.

The more irrational and hypocritical the Republican attacks get, the more they’re desperately trying to hide this simple truth.

 *****

Readers: Hypocritical repubs doing business as usual.

After watching the Rachel Maddow Show, it seems the Dems are a tickled pink or should I say tickled “blue,” that the repubs are suing Obama.  And they’re trying their best to make sure that everyone knows that the repubs are using taxpayer dollars to sue the president. Alert the media.

And guess what? You’re not going to find out how much it is costing weekly to sue the president because the repubs voted “no” to amendments that would inform you. Alert the media.

Oh…and there’s more. Each amendment the Dems addressed, each got a “no” vote from the repubs. No surprise. Alert the media.

So…Just why is this good news and bringing smiles to the Dem’s faces?

Watch the video.

Thoughts? Blog me.

Peace Baby. 

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

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All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2014

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

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Good morning!

The latest from CNN.

Israel finds Hamas are no longer amateur fighters

Gaza City (CNN) – Israel’s ground incursion into Gaza, which it says is intended to destroy Palestinian militants’ tunnels and stop rocket fire into Gaza, has entered its fifth day with the death toll mounting on both sides and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry arriving in Egypt. CNN’s Ben Wedeman, a veteran Middle East correspondent, puts the incursion into perspective.

How does this incursion compare to previous ones by Israel into Gaza, in terms of military force?

Unlike 2008/09, this incursion seems to be focused on areas with high concentrations of people, initially focusing on the Gaza City neighborhood of Shaja’ia. In ’08/09 the focus was on areas where rockets were being fired, which were typically away from highly populated communities.

And of course at this stage, it’s unclear how many Palestinian casualties there have been in these locations. The people have been warned by the Israelis to leave these areas with phone messages, but while many have left, a significant proportion has stayed behind.

My impression is that Israel has mobilized a much larger military force than in 2008/09 and in 2012. This is part of the picture of the Israelis going into heavily populated areas — which is a much more dangerous operation, as can be seen by the deaths of at least 13 Israeli soldiers on Sunday.

Is Israel likely to achieve its objective of destroying the tunnels, and stopping the rocket strikes?

So far, Israel hasn’t been wildly successful in its stated mission. Since this started, Hamas has been using tunnels in an attempt to ambush and capture soldiers and continues to fire rockets at Israel, although the number fired has gone down. What we see is that as Israel’s capabilities have changed, so have Hamas’. Whenever Israel comes up with new tactics, Hamas and other factions seem to find new ways to counter them, such as by using longer-range rockets to fire at Israel, for example.

What is significant now is that Hamas fighters appear to be better trained, with a new set of skills that I don’t think Israel anticipated. One Israeli soldier who came out of Shaja’ia was quoted in an Israeli publication that Hamas is fighting like Hezbollah, which waged a successful guerrilla war against Israel’s occupation in the 1980s and 1990s, and inflicted high casualties on Israeli forces during the 2006 war between Hezbollah and Israel in Lebanon.

The last serious street fighting I saw in Gaza was in early 2008, and it was almost like it was “amateur hour,” with fighters in Gaza parading around with their weapons but not really able to stop the Israeli forces. Now it appears they’ve learned they must keep a much lower profile. They’ve developed what could be called commando tactics, and are taking full advantage of their knowledge of their turf.

How long do you believe this incursion will last? How soon before it realistically is better described as a war?

This is now a war, in my modest opinion — it’s gone beyond a mere incursion. Hamas shows no sign of backing down, and didn’t jump at Egypt’s cease-fire proposal. They want to show that they’re a military force to be reckoned with, and are in it for the long run.

Israel’s defense minister said it would take two or three days to destroy the tunnels. If this crisis is to end soon, Israel will have to pull back and Hamas needs to stop firing rockets. In Hamas’ opinion, they have achieved one of their objectives, which is to give Israel a bloody nose.

They claim to have captured an Israeli soldier — as yet this is unconfirmed — but if true, it would be a huge feather in their cap, in their own terms. When Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit was captured by Hamas in a June 2006 raid near the Israel-Gaza border, it took five years before he was freed, in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners — so, if true, this will be a huge bargaining chip for Hamas.

Will the death toll already suffered by Israel have a serious impact on public opinion in Israel?

Israelis are used to this sort of death toll from Hezbollah, but not from Hamas. I was on the streets of Gaza on Sunday night, when Palestinians celebrated the claims that an Israeli soldier had been captured.

Shortly afterwards, the guns on Israeli navy boats opened up. The immediate conclusion of everyone in the street was that this was Israel’s response to the capture of one of its soldiers.

How much effect will the pressure/condemnation from the United Nations (and in the off-mic remarks from U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry) have?

I believe the U.N. remarks will have no effect in Gaza. There is a perception there that the U.N. “talks but doesn’t walk” — it’s toothless in other words. Hamas realizes it has few friends in the outside world.

The remarks of the White House last week though will not go down well in Israel, I believe. And the comments of John Kerry on Sunday — which left some wondering whether he was criticizing Israeli assurances that its ground offensive in Gaza would be limited — indicate American patience may be wearing thin. After one of his deputies mentioned the latest number of Palestinian casualties, Kerry was heard to say, “It’s a hell of a pinpoint operation.”

It is estimated that 70% of the more than 500 Palestinians killed in Israel’s assault have been civilians. Washington has tied itself to Israel, and that country’s right to self-defense, therefore the U.S. is going to feel some responsibility. Americans support Israel rhetorically, but this high Palestinian death toll is very problematic for the U.S. This is why Kerry may be feeling uncomfortable — he spent almost a year trying to forge a Mideast peace deal, and what’s he got to show for it now?

*****

Blog me.

Darrel: I suppose you are correct. I’m just frustrated and angry that this is happening so much and not much is being done about it. And the thugs that act this way know that, so they basically get away with it. What about the recent where the man was killed after the cop held him in a chokehold (an illegal maneuver)? The man being choked repeatedly said, “Can’t breathe.” When does it stop? Thanks for commenting.

Steve: I was wondering how long it would be before I was called a man hater again. I’m not surprised when the tiny-dicked men get riled up and say that I am a man hater, because they can’t deal with their own inadequacies.

Let me say it again and perhaps it will seep into your thick head..I don’t hate men, I only hate the things that men do. It is the men that are abusive, raping and murdering women for doing nothing…for just being women…it is the men that hate women not because of anything we do, but just because we are women. If men didn’t do the horrific things they do to women, I wouldn’t have any reason to hate…Period.

PS With respect to your silly comment, about why women make less, read Trish’s comment…I think she’s onto something that probably applies to you.

Peace out. 

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2014

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

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Good morning!

Just noticing…

Americans Have Spent Enough Money On A Broken Plane To Buy Every Homeless Person A Mansion

An F-35 Joint Strike Fighter in its natural habitat: the ground

CREDIT: AP PHOTO/LOCKHEED MARTIN

Just days before its international debut at an airshow in the United Kingdom, the entire fleet of the Pentagon’s next generation fighter plane — known as the F-35 II Lightning, or the Joint Strike Fighter — has been grounded, highlighting just what a boondoggle the project has been. With the vast amounts spent so far on the aircraft, the United States could have worked wonders, including providing every homeless person in the U.S. a $600,000 home.

It’s hard to argue against the need to modernize aircraft used to defend the country and counter enemies overseas, especially if you’re a politician. But the Joint Strike Fighter program has been a mess almost since its inception, with massive cost overruns leading to its current acquisition price-tag of $398.6 billion — an increase of $7.4 billion since last year. That breaks down to costing about $49 billion per year since work began in 2006 and the project is seven years behind schedule. Over its life-cycle, estimated at about 55 years, operating and maintaining the F-35 fleet will cost the U.S. a little over $1 trillion. By contrast, the entirety of the Manhattan Project — which created the nuclear bomb from scratch — cost about $55 billion in today’s dollars.

“The political armor of the F-35 is as thick as the heads of the people who designed the airplane and its acquisition plan,” Winslow Wheeler, a former congressional staffer and outspoken critic of the F-35, recently told Foreign Policy about the longevity of the plane, despite the many setbacks it has endured. The support for the F-35 is so great in Congress that there’s actual a bipartisan Joint Strike Fighter Caucusdedicated to promoting it and keeping it alive. With that in mind, here are just a few of the other things that the insane amount spent on the troubled fighter could have gone towards instead, both at home and abroad:

Buying Every Homeless Person In The U.S. A Mansion

On any given night in 2013, the Department of Housing and Urban Development concluded, there were an estimated 600,000 homeless Americans living on the streets. Numerous studies, however, have showed that rather than putting money into temporary shelters or incarceration, communities have saved millions of dollars by investing in permanent homes for the homeless. A recent report showed that in one Florida community, it cost taxpayers an estimated $30,000 to take the homeless off the streets through traditional methods, but only around $10,000 per person to give them permanent housing and provide job training and other support. Expanding that concept to the Federal level, even taking into account things like varying real estate prices around the country, it’s possible that $7.4 billion would be more than enough to start a program nationwide. With the full amount spent on the F-35 at its disposal, the U.S. could afford to purchase every person on the streets a $664,000 home.

Unilaterally Funding Every Humanitarian Crisis

Overall, the United States less than one percent of its federal budget to foreign assistance. The State Department and USAID in Fiscal Year 2014 set aside about $31.1 billion in foreign aid funding, according to ForeignAssistance.gov. This includes $4.5 billion devoted towards funding the U.S. response to humanitarian crises around the world, including those in Syria, Iraq, South Sudan, and others. Millions of refugees and internally displaced people in these conflicts are struggling to survive, as the United Nations reports that each of these emergencies remain chronically underfunded. This year alone, the U.N. Office of Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA) has raised only 35 percent of the funds it needs. In contrast, the $49 billion per year spent on the F-35 would singlehandedly fund not just UNOCHA’s $16.7 billion request, but also those of UNICEF and other emergency disaster relief bodies, saving countless lives.

In addition, U.N. officials want the situation at the U.S.’ southern border to be classified as a refugee crisis as well, as most of the thousands of children currently being detained fled their homes to escape a myriad number of life-threatening conditions. The Obama administration has requested $3.7 billion from Congress in emergency spending to help staunch the flow and provide for those who have already made it to the United States, but Republicans already appear to be lining up against the proposal. The F-35′s increased cost from last year alone would have easily covered that amount and then some.

Feeding Every Schoolchild In The Country

Earlier this year, President Obama signed into law an compromise version of the Farm Bill after months of deadlock saw the expiration of the former version. As part of the deal, House Republicans demanded huge cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), former known as food stamps, backing down only after a veto threat from the White House. The final bill, however, still included $8.7 billion worth of cuts, equaling about a $90 per month cut for recipients. The F-35′s excess costs for the last year by themselves could have nearly covered all of the losses, prevent state governors from having to scramble to provide families with the assistance they need.

As a backup when food subsidies are cut, low-income families often find themselves turning towards schools to provide meals during the day for their children. The National School Lunch Program feeds approximately 31 million students every year, at the cost of about $16.3 billion in both cash and commodity payments. The full cost of the plane so far would have funded this program as it stands for 24 years. If the amount being dispersed to schools was doubled, allowing the program to reach all 55 million students enrolled in K-12, the F-35 still would be able to cover that for the next decade.

Providing Security Around The World

Under the weighted system used to determine dues, the U.S. pays the lion’s share of funding to the United Nations’ 16 peacekeeping missions around the world. For the coming fiscal year, that works out to about $2.4 billion. That’s quite a bargain, as then-U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice argued in 2009, telling PBS: “If the US was to act on its own – unilaterally – and deploy its own forces in many of these countries; for every dollar that the US would spend, the UN can accomplish the Mission for twelve cents.” Given how cost effective blue helmets are at providing security in areas where conflict has just ended, it would behoove the U.S. to grant even more support to the system. Additional funds would provide better arms and equipment, as well as better training, as the number of peacekeepers required around the world increases. The amount the U.S. has spent on the F-35 could have funded this year’s level of peacekeeping — a record-high $8.6 billion — for the next 46 years.

Boosting Funding Needed To Rebuild America

The United States is falling apart. A lack of funding for bridges, roads, and other infrastructure has led to collapses across the country and the more than 63,000 bridges that have been labeled as “structurally deficient.” The Department of Transportation’s total budget request for next year is $90.1 billion, part of a four-year budget of $302.1 billion with $199 billion set aside to rebuild America’s roads and bridges. Obama has for the last two years called for a $50 billion lump sum to be added to the on top of DOT’s budget to help address the growing need, and twice Congress has rejected this proposal. If the U.S. were to have channeled the $298 billion is has spent so far on the F-35 — and continued spending at that level for the next six years — the U.S. would be halfway towards closing the $1.1 trillion gap in investment needed in infrastructure, according to the American Society of Civil Engineers. In addition, a report from the Center for American Progress, citing Moody’s Analytic’s chief economist, estimates infrastructure investment generates $1.44 of economic activity for each $1 spent. That sort of claim can’t be duplicated in the spending on the F-35.

Along with the United States, seven other countries have committed to purchasing F-35 fighters from Lockheed Martin once they’re completed, which is helping diffuse the costs for the American taxpayer. But these partners are growing increasingly wary of the aircraft’s ballooning price. Australia recently announced that it was scaling back its purchase, as has the Netherlands. Those concerns will likely only be compounded by the current grounding of the fleet. And so, though the British Air Force intended to have the fighter in service a full two years ago, the only place you’ll be able to see the F-35 in action for now remains on the big screen — where its successes have been about equal to those in real life.

*****

Readers: Living in California and especially the Bay Area, I wouldn’t exactly call a $600K home a mansion. But on the other hand, to a homeless person living anywhere in the U.S., it would be. Regardless, I get the point. And obviously housing isn’t the only thing that could be bought with those billions spent on a plane that’s broken. I could certainly think of a few more things too.

What about you – what would you spend it on? You know where to leave your comments. Blog me.

Peace out. 

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2014

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"

Good morning!

Well…it’s Wednesday now, but the write is still relevant.

It’s Only Tuesday

And The Crazy Things Conservatives Have Said This Week Are Piling Up

Is it just us, or does this week seem to already have a particularly large number of right-wing conservatives saying crazy things? Here are six of the most unfortunate:

1. Todd Akin Says He And Joe McCarthy Were Both Victims Of The Liberal Media.Remember Todd Akin? The failed Missouri Senate candidate has recently re-emerged in the public sphere to defend his claim in 2012 that women who were victims of “legitimate rape” could not get pregnant. In a phone interview with St. Louis Dispatch, the former congressman compared himself sympathetically to Sen. Joe McCarthy (R-WI), who spearheaded the infamous Communist witch hunt in the 1950s.

2. Rupert Murdoch Says Climate Change Should Be Approached With Great Skepticism.The chairman and CEO of News Corporation — one of the world’s largest media conglomerates, which includes Fox News and The Wall Street Journal — reflected candidly on climate change in a wide-ranging interview Sunday, saying he thought it should be approached with great skepticism. “At the moment the north pole is melting but the south pole is getting bigger,” he said. “Things are happening. How much of it are we doing, with emissions and so on? As far as Australia goes? Nothing in the overall picture.” Murdoch went on to argue that “we shouldn’t be building windmills and all that rubbish.”

3. Congresswoman Urges GOP To Bring Policy Discussion ‘Down To A Woman’s Level’.Rep. Renee Ellmers (R-NC) is a second-term Congresswoman and chair of the Republican Women’s Policy Committee. In a panel on women and the Republican Party, she suggested that the best way for the party to appeal to women is to talk down to them. “Men do tend to talk about things on a much higher level,” Ellmers said. “Many of my male colleagues, when they go to the House floor, you know, they’ve got some pie chart or graph behind them and they’re talking about trillions of dollars and how, you know, the debt is awful and, you know, we all agree with that.” But, she went on to say, “We need our male colleagues to understand that if you can bring it down to a woman’s level and what everything that she is balancing in her life — that’s the way to go.”

4. Congressional Candidate: Most Energy Problems ‘Are Caused By Environmentalists’.George Cicotte, a Republican candidate for Washington’s fourth congressional district, said at a candidate forum Saturday that if environmentalists hadn’t “stopped nuclear in its tracks” in the 1970s, there would be a lot less greenhouse gas pollution today. “Really, when we talk about energy problems, most of the energy problems are caused by environmentalists,” he said. “Wind energy? I’ll be honest — give me a break.”

5. GOP Congressman: Kids At Border “Gang Members” From Culture Of “Rape”. A Florida Republican congressman called undocumented immigrant children at the border not children at all but gang affiliated persons from a culture of thievery, murder, and violence.
“A lot of these children … quote-unquote … ya know, the first caller mentioned it, ya know, they’re gang members. They’re gang affiliated,” Florida Republican Rep. Rich Nugent said on WOCA radio Monday.

6. TX GOP Lawmaker: Teens He Saw At U.S. Border Looked Like ‘Threat’. The Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security went on “Fox News Sunday” this morning and told host Brit Hume that many of the teenagers he saw at the United States-Mexican border facilities looked like a “threat.” Representative Michael McCaul (TX) said that “it’s very heart-wrenching as a father to see that — mothers with their babies.” He then added, “I also saw some 17-year-olds that I thought looked more like a threat.” McCaul did acknowledge that these teenagers were “caught in the middle, between [administration] policy and what the drug traffickers are doing in Central America.”

*****

Readers: Talk to me.

Kelly S: Thank you, but an apology from you was not necessary. Those who doubted me, and called me “names,” know who they are. And if they didn’t then, they know now thanks to those who have called them out. I really don’t pay much attention to those that oppose me – it’s actually amusing, and of course, I’m not surprised. All I can say is, oh, how different the world would be if all females were girl’s girls, and women supported women. Hey…again, a girl can dream can’t she? :)

That’s all the time I have this morning. Blog me.

Peace out. 

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2014

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

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Good morning!

Readers: LOL…don’t get me wrong, if Obama was single, I would be making the moves big time, if I had an inkling of a chance. :) What girl wouldn’t? I admit, I do admire the man big time, and I do think he is handsome. But you all already know I feel that way.

You should also know, my dear Readers, that I would NEVER ever go after the First Lady’s man, or any other woman’s man for that matter. That would not be the actions of a girl’s girl, which I am. It would be against everything I stand for in women supporting women. So shame on you for even taking me down that road. Perhaps Obama is just grateful for all of the positive press, support, and kudos I give him here, and that is his way of saying thanks and Happy Anniversary. I’d like to think that, but I doubt it. It’s probably just a coincidence, as Donna said. But, yes, I understand the deliciousness of it, as you all speculate. :) And, hey, a girl can dream, can’t she?

Thank you all again for the kind words and the continued Anniversary congrats.

Now…onto today’s write. Since Obama is definitely on my mind, here’s a write from Think Progress:

Turns Out, Republicans Love Obamacare

Conservative groups have invested millions of dollars in opposing the Affordable Care Act, but they appear to have had little success in turning Americans against the law. In fact, according to a new poll from the Commonwealth Fund, individuals and families who enroll in Obamacare — including the overwhelming majority of Republicans — are satisfied with the product:

Overall, 73 percent of people who bought health plans and 87 percent of those who signed up for Medicaid said they were somewhat or very satisfied with their new health insurance. Seventy-four percent of newly insured Republicans liked their plans. Even 77 percent of people who had insurance before — including members of the much-publicized group whose plans got canceled last year — were happy with their new coverage.

The study also found that the percentage of uninsured has dropped, from 20 percent to 15 percent, after the first open enrollment period, with 9.5 million fewer people now uninsured. Latinos, the most likely of any racial group to lack health insurance, are seeing the biggest gains in coverage. “The percent uninsured fell from 36 percent in July–September 2013 to 23 percent in April–June 2014,” Commonwealth reports.

Moreover, states that expanded their Medicaid programs experienced the biggest drop in uninsurance rates for low-income citizens. In the 25 states and the District of Columbia that implemented coverage expansion for poorer residents, the average uninsured rate for people living below the poverty level fell to 17 percent from 28 percent. The 26 states that have rejected Medicaid expansion continue to see the uninsured rate among low income individuals hover at 36 percent.

The number of uninsured young adults dropped the most, the survey found, from 28 percent to 18 percent.

Commonwealth Fund conducted the survey from a July-to-September 2013 period, before Americans began enrolling in the Affordable Care Act, and then again from April-to-June 2014, following the end of open enrollment.

UPDATE: Significantly, the survey also found that more than half of adults — 58 percent — “with new insurance said they were better off now than they were before.”

*G*O*B*A*M*A*C*A*R*E*

Blog me. 

Hello Jason. :)

Doug: Thank you. :)

 Adel: LOL…you’re a riot and perhaps a little ________ :) Launch that blog will ya sister.

Peace & Love…

Lastly, greed over a great story is surfacing from my “loyal”(?) readers. With all this back and forth about who owns what, that appears on my blog, let me reiterate that all material posted on my blog becomes the sole property of my blog. If you want to reserve any proprietary rights don’t post it to my blog. I will prominently display this caveat on my blog from now on to remind those who may have forgotten this notice.

Gratefully your blog host,

michelle

Aka BABE: We all know what this means by now :)

If you love my blog and my writes, please make a donation via PayPal, credit card, or e-check, please click the “Donate” button below. (Please only donations from those readers within the United States. – International readers please see my “Donate” page)

Or if you would like to send a check via snail mail, please make checks payable to “Michelle Moquin”, and send to:

Michelle Moquin PO Box 29235 San Francisco, Ca. 94129

Thank you for your loyal support!

All content on this site are property of Michelle Moquin © copyright 2008-2014

“Though she be but little, she be fierce.” – William Shakespeare Midsummer Night’s Dream 

" Politics, god, Life, News, Music, Family, Personal, Travel, Random, Photography, Religion, Aliens, Art, Entertainment, Food, Books, Thoughts, Media, Culture, Love, Sex, Poetry, Prose, Friends, Technology, Humor, Health, Writing, Events, Movies, Sports, Video, Christianity, Atheist, Blogging, History, Work, Education, Business, Fashion, Barack Obama, People, Internet, Relationships, Faith, Photos, Videos, Hillary Clinton, School, Reviews, God, TV, Philosophy, Fun, Science, Environment, Design, The Page, Rants, Pictures, Church, Blog, Nature, Marketing, Television, Democrats, Parenting, Miscellaneous, Current Events, Film, Spirituality, Obama, Musings, Home, Human Rights, Society, Comedy, Me, Random Thoughts, Research, Government, Election 2008, Baseball, Opinion, Recipes, Children, Iraq, Funny, Women, Economics, America, Misc, Commentary, John McCain, Reflections, All, Celebrities, Inspiration, Lifestyle, Theology, Linux, Kids, Games, World, India, Literature, China, Ramblings, Fitness, Money, Review, War, Articles, Economy, Journal, Quotes, NBA, Crime, Anime, Islam, 2008, Stories, Prayer, Diary, Jesus, Buddha, Muslim, Israel, Europe, Links, Marriage, Fiction, American Idol, Software, Leadership, Pop culture, Rants, Video Games, Republicans, Updates, Political, Football, Healing, Blogs, Shopping, USA, Class, Matrix, Course, Work, Web 2.0, My Life, Psychology, Gay, Happiness, Advertising, Field Hockey, Hip-hop, sex, fucking, ass, Soccer, sox"