Late last week, Republicans in the House or Representatives unveiled H.Res.1553, a resolution providing explicit support for an Israeli bombing campaign against Iran. The measure, introduced by Texas Republican Louie Gohmert and forty-six of his colleagues, endorses Israel's use of "all means necessary" against Iran "including the use of military force".

"We have got to act," Gohmert has said in regard to the measure. "We've got to get this done. We need to show our support for Israel. We need to quit playing games with this critical ally in such a difficult area."

But Gohmert's resolution may be an unprecedented development -- Congress has never endorsed pre-emptive military strikes by a foreign country. What's more, this is the minority party signaling to Israel that they can count on Republican support should the President object to Israeli strikes on Iran -- as did George W. Bush in 2008. The resolution also explicitly endorses "any means necessary", a carte blanche for the use of nuclear bunker-busting bombs.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs seems to have forgotten that his boss has already broken his central campaign promise – a “firm pledge” that “no family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes.”

Responding to a question during his daily press briefing today, Gibbs said, “The President believes raising taxes on the middle class during this economic time would not make a lot of economic sense.” But President Obama has already broken his “firm pledge” at least eight times:

1. 156% Federal Tobacco Tax Hike (took effect April 1, 2009)
2. 10% Tax on Indoor Tanning Services (took effect July 1, 2010)
3. The “Medicine Cabinet Tax” (takes effect Jan. 1, 2011)
4. The HSA Withdrawal Tax Hike (from 10% to 20%) (takes effect Jan. 1, 2011)
5. The“Special Needs Kids Tax” ($2,500 cap on FSAs) (takes effect Jan. 1, 2013)
6. The Obamacare Medical Prosthetics and Devices Tax (takes effect in Jan. 1, 2013)
7. The Medical Itemized Deductions Cap (from 7.5% to 10%) (takes effect Jan. 1, 2013)
8. The Obamacare Individual Mandate Excise Tax (up to $2,085 or 2.5% of AGI) (takes effect Jan. 1, 2014)

A federal judge's decision barring police in Arizona from demanding immigration documents from people they suspect of being in the country illegally was a dramatic victory for the Obama administration and civil rights groups that may be hard to overturn, at least in the short run. U.S. District Judge Susan Bolton in Phoenix issued an injunction blocking Arizona from implementing the heart of its new immigration law Wednesday, less than 24 hours before it was to have taken effect, and endorsed the administration's argument that the state would be interfering with the federal government's enforcement of immigration laws. The law's key provision would require local police to ask for proof of legal residency from people they stop for other reasons and reasonably suspect of being here illegally. Those detained would have stayed in custody until their legal status was verified. Houston Chronicle: Legal fight begins over Arizona immigration law. USA Today: Mexico braces for effects of Arizona immigration law.

[Editor's Comment:] The Right see the immigrants as foreigners. The Left see them as people. The conspiracy theorists see them as pawns. We think all of these groups may have a point. We would like to add though, that ultimately there's no such thing as the "integrity" of the United States. This is a figment of fantasy pushed by special interest. Arizona is a temporary political unit built upon land stolen from another temporary unit, Mexico. The latter ultimately wants it back; the former wants to have its cake and eat it. -Something's gotta give.

About Wikileaks: There is no doubt that Obama himself, his top aides in the White House and Pentagon and the leading circles in the media were well aware of these atrocities. That makes all the more criminal the president’s decision to escalate the war in Afghanistan. AWIP: US funds billions more for Afghan war.

The US Congress has approved an extra multi-billion dollar fund to pay for President Barack Obama's increase in US troop numbers in Afghanistan. The House of Representatives voted 308 to 114 in favor of the $60bn war-funding bill. The Senate had already passed the bill, which will now go to Obama to be signed into law. The package provides roughly $33.5 billion for the additional 30,000 more troops in Afghanistan and nearly $4 billion for other programs in Afghanistan and neighboring Pakistan. The bill also covers some expenses for military operations in the war-torn Iraq. The new money is in addition to about $130 billion the Congress already approved for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq this year. The US Congress has appropriated over $1 trillion for the two wars since 2001.

Antiwar: House Approves More Afghan War Funding: Congressmen Embrace Escalation as Evidence of War's Folly Grows. Though one would have expected that the massive release of some 92,000 classified documents Sunday underscoring just how poorly the war is going would have changed some minds, the Obama Administration has gotten its way once again, with the House of Representatives approving the $59 billion emergency funding bill to keep the war going by a 308-114 vote. House Roll Call Vote on War Funding

[Zionist-infiltrated Congress wants war. Ever more wars for Israel:] Resolution Green-Lighting Israeli Strikes on Iran Introduced by House Republicans (HuffPo)

As the Australian federal election campaign enters its second week, the major political parties and corporate media, followed obediently by the Greens and “ex-left” groups, have already sharply narrowed the terms of permissible debate. As usual, the issues most critical to the working class—including chronic underemployment and the lack of basic services—are off the list for the August 21 poll. So is discussion of planned austerity measures. The campaign’s most notable feature is the pretence that beyond Australian shores nothing at all exists. Australian “exceptionalism”—the notion that Australia is separate from and unaffected by global processes, especially economic ones—is reaching dizzy heights.

Can we have our Nobel Peace Prize back, please? We got most of our decisions wrong. We should have laid much more emphasis on abolishing the military and outlawing wars, but we didn't. Such is the message about to go out to the more undeserving winners of one of the world's most coveted awards. More than half the Nobel Peace Prizes awarded since 1946 have been awarded illegally, says Fredrik Heffermehl, a Norwegian lawyer and peace activist, because they do not follow the expressed will of the millionaire inventor of dynamite. He says all but one of 10 prizes awarded since 1999 are illegitimate under Norwegian and Swedish law. Mr Heffermehl's verdict, which caused controversy when it was set out in his book Nobels Vilje (Nobel's Will) published in Norwegian in 2008, is likely to stir up passionate discussion next month when Greenwood Press publishes "The Nobel Peace Prize: What Nobel Really Wanted".

Mr Heffermehl's book emphasises that Nobel's will concentrated on rewarding the struggle to end wars through an international order based on law and abolition of military forces. Few of the recent winners can be seen to have engaged in that struggle. Among those awards he names as illegitimate are: Mother Teresa (1979); Lech Walesa (1983); Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin (1994); Iranian human rights activist Shirin Ebadi (2003); Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Maathai (2004); and Al Gore (2007). The will, dated 27 November 1895, disbursed large sums to various relatives, friends and servants before leaving the bulk of the estate to establishing the awards that bear his name. The relevant sentence setting out the terms of what he called a prize for the "champions of peace" is: "One part to the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses."

The United States and South Korea have kicked off a large-scale joint military exercise in the Sea of Japan, officials say. The US and South Korea on Sunday launched the major naval exercise that would involve about 20 ships, including the aircraft carrier USS George Washington, and some 200 fixed-wing aircraft. Some 8,000 service personnel from the two allies haven taken part in the show of force. "The USS George Washington left the southern port of Busan around 7:00am Sunday (2200 GMT Saturday). It's sailing towards the Sea of Japan (East Sea) for the exercise," AFP quoted a US military spokesman as saying. Officials at Seoul's defense ministry said other navy ships had also left from Busan and the nearby port of Jinhae for the drill, with some from the US 7th Fleet set to join them off the peninsula's east coast. South Korea's Defense Ministry announced that the drill has been relocated from the sensitive Yellow Sea in response to China's protests. ABC News: Bronze Kim Jong-il sparks rumours of despot's end.

When a national police association accuses its government of what amounts to treason it is time to sit up and pay attention. Michael O'Boyce, President of the Garda Representative Association (GRA), said at its annual conference in Limerick, at the end of April, 2010, that the Irish Government had been 'corrupted' and had been 'bought' by developers and bankers. (A garda is an Irish policeman, gardaí in the plural.) Mr. O'Boyce, speaking on behalf of the country's 11,000 gardaí, charged government ministers with sacrificing the country to protect 'wealthy cronies' who had bankrolled the leading government party, Fianna Fáil. Such criticism of a serving government by its police force is unprecedented in Irish history and extremely rare in any western democracy.

Coalition in confusion as deputy prime minister pronounces invasion 'illegal' at dispatch box. Nick Clegg was tonight forced to clarify his position on the Iraq war after he stood up at the dispatch box of the House of Commons and pronounced the invasion illegal. The deputy prime minister insisted he was speaking in a personal capacity, as a leading international lawyer warned that the statement by a government minister in such a formal setting could increase the chances of charges against Britain in international courts. Philippe Sands, professor of law at University College London, said: "A public statement by a government minister in parliament as to the legal situation would be a statement that an international court would be interested in, in forming a view as to whether or not the war was lawful."

Voters still have more confidence in President Obama than they do in either party in Congress, but that's not saying much. According to a new Washington Post/ABC poll, confidence in Obama's decision-making has fallen to the lowest point of his presidency, with 58% of respondents saying they have "just some" or no confidence that the president will "make the right decisions for the country's future." Voters' view of Congressional Democrats? 68% say they have "just some" or no confidence in them. They have the least confidence in Congressional Republicans with 72% saying they have no or "just some" confidence in the party to make the decisions that will improve things in this country.

Controversy over job 'offers' for election favors boils over again. The controversy over allegations White House officials at least as high as Obama Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel offered two congressional candidates jobs in return for campaign favors, which apparently would violate the law, is reheating – with a claim that one of the candidates colluded with the White House on what story to tell. Judicial Watch, a government watchdog organization, has filed a congressional ethics complaint targeting Pennsylvania Rep. Joe Sestak, a Democrat who has confirmed he was offered a post. Sestak has said publicly he was offered the job if he would agree to withdraw from a Senate primary campaign against Obama favorite Sen. Arlen Specter, another Pennsylvania Democrat. Sestak stated he declined the offer and subsequently won the nomination. Republicans also have called for investigations into ethical issues involved in the White House offer.

60 Minutes interview (Jan. 2004) with former Bush Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neil reveals the secretive nature of the Bush White House, and the clear fact that Bush was determined to invade Iraq long before 9/11.

The leaders of the political coup that last month removed Labor Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and installed his former deputy, Julia Gillard, were not just “faceless numbers men”, as sections of the media have insisted. Nor can the role of Rudd’s dispatchers—including Bill Shorten, Mark Arbib, David Feeney, Paul Howes and Gary Gray—be explained by the fact that, in the main, they are representatives of Labor’s so-called right-wing Centre Unity faction. Rather, the critical point is the direct connection of these Labor “heavies” to big business, especially the mining industry. Their personal histories reveal a seamless movement between the Labor machine, including the unions, and the boardrooms of Australia’s largest companies. In toppling Rudd so swiftly—the coup was executed within the space of just 15 hours—Labor’s faction bosses were simply taking action on behalf of the mining chiefs and other corporate executives, and their opposition to Rudd’s proposed 40 percent resource super-profits tax (RSPT). That the faction bosses felt no need to argue their case within the ranks of the party or the trade unions simply underscores the fact that the working class is not a factor in the machinations of the Labor bureaucracy.

Making up less than 2% of the US population, Jews have insinuated themselves into the highest chairs of American government. How did they do this? With billions of dollars at their disposal to pour into Jewish candidates through a plethora of Political Action Committees known as PACS, Jewry has the financial edge over the Gentiles. And, with their synagogue buddies who own ALL of the mass media, Jewry gets their Jewish candidates a good press while Gentile opponents are either smeared or ignored. Money and media are the keys to Zionist political hegemony. In other words, America has the best Congress Jewish money can buy…

Popular disgust is mounting over revelations that, while demanding huge social cuts from working people, top French officials took money from billionairess Liliane Bettencourt and helped her evade taxes. The 87-year-old Bettencourt’s net worth of €17 billion, largely in holdings of stock in cosmetics giant L’Oréal, makes her France’s richest woman. Yesterday, the news web site Mediapart published interviews implicating President Nicolas Sarkozy in the Bettencourt affair. It interviewed Claire T., Bettencourt’s former accountant, currently under investigation, after she testified to police the night before. The accountant’s testimony suggests that Bettencourt illegally funded Sarkozy’s election campaign. Daily Mail: Sarkozy and the envelopes of cash: President denies taking money from L'Oreal heiress. AWIP: What the butler heard. The Guardian: Nicolas Sarkozy denies campaign took illegal donation.

It's one thing for a coterie of liberals at a late-night Washington soirée to say that George W. Bush was the worst president in their lifetimes. It's another thing when the same is said by the nation's 238 leading presidential scholars, who have been polled annually for the last 28 years. President Bush ranked worst among modern presidents -- and the fifth worst in history, according to the poll by the Siena Research Institute. Ranking first? President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who led the country from 1933 until his death in 1945. You can read the full PDF of the survey HERE.

The failure of Congress to pass a bill containing Medicaid relief to the states and jobless benefit extensions to millions of long-term unemployed workers ensures that the social crisis will intensify in the coming weeks and months. The decision will result in a new wave of foreclosures, evictions, homelessness, and hunger, while states will be compelled to further slash social spending. The $33 billion bill would have extended federal long-term unemployment benefits and provided states with $24 billion in emergency funding for Medicaid, the joint federal-state medical insurance program for the poor. Most commentators believe that final passage of the bill, which has been delayed for a month, is unlikely.

In a series of extraordinary events over the past 24 hours, the Australian Labor Party leader Kevin Rudd has been ousted as prime minister through a campaign orchestrated by multi-national mining companies, the Murdoch media and other corporate and financial interests and implemented through a series of backroom manoeuvres by right-wing factional warlords and trade union bureaucrats. Deputy prime minister Julia Gillard was elected unopposed as Labor Party leader at a special meeting of the party’s parliamentary caucus this morning after Rudd was pressured not to re-contest the leadership position.The political coup began several weeks ago when right wing factional leaders began organising support for a leadership challenge. On June 15 former Australian Workers Union national secretary Bill Shorten, now a Victorian MP, urged Julia Gillard to challenge the leadership. Gillard insisted that she did not want to stand—a position she maintained at Tuesday’s caucus meeting, from which Rudd emerged confident of remaining Labor leader. Key right-wing faction leaders, however, initiated a series of manoeuvres behind the backs of the caucus and the party to effect a leadership challenge. By Wednesday evening, the coup against Rudd was in full swing. The ousting of Rudd—the only time a Labor prime minister has been removed during his first term—was not carried out as a result of a movement of the working class, but by key sections of the financial and corporate elites.

PressTV: First female PM takes Australia's helm. Once known as the most popular premier to lead the Australians in three decades, Rudd suddenly was confronted with a fall in support after he decided to drop a strategic emission trading scheme. He faced even further remonstrations after picking a fight with the resources sector over his plans for a super tax on their super profits.

Even in the context of America's wretched civil liberties abuses over the last decade, the case of Mohamed Hassan Odaini stands out. He was 17 years old in 2001 when his father sent him from Yemen to study at a religious university in Raiwand, Pakistan, and when a campus house in which he was staying there was raided by Pakistani authorities in early 2002, he was turned over to the U.S. and shipped to Guantanamo, where he has remained without charges for the last eight years (he's now 26). A federal court this month granted his habeas petition for release, finding that the evidence "overwhelmingly supports Odaini's contention that he is unlawfully detained." Worse, the court described the multiple times over the years -- beginning in 2002 and occurring as recently as 2009 -- when the U.S. Government itself concluded that Odaini was guilty of nothing, was mistakenly detained, and should be released.

Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, is expected to leave his job later this year after growing tired of the "idealism" of Barack Obama's inner circle. Washington insiders say he will quit within six to eight months in frustration at their unwillingness to "bang heads together" to get policy pushed through. Mr Emanuel, 50, enjoys a good working relationship with Mr Obama but they are understood to have reached an understanding that differences over style mean he will serve only half the full four-year term.

Americans are losing faith in US President Barack Obama over his failure to handle the oil spill disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, results of a new poll shows. Almost a half of Americans believe Obama is not tough enough to handle the crisis, according to the CNN poll. The poll, released on Thursday, shows that the public's view of Obama's leadership is following the same pattern that former President George W. Bush experienced after Hurricane Katrina. Being conducted after the president's Tuesday night prime-time address, the poll indicates that the number of people who currently think Obama is a strong and decisive leader has dropped from 60 percent in January to 53 percent now. The results show that Americans' belief in Obama being tough enough to handle crisis and also in his ability to manage the government effectively is less than before. The belief in Obama's ability to manage the government also experienced a nine point drop compared to last year; currently being 49 percent.

Media critics and linguists are criticizing CNN for running a story claiming that President Obama's Tuesday night address to the nation on the Gulf oil spill "may have gone over the heads of many in his audience." What's more, critics say, the story was based on an analysis carried out by a linguistics "expert" of dubious credentials who once claimed that Sarah Palin speaks at a higher language level than Vice President Joe Biden. [AWIP/Barry Grey: Obama’s Oval Office speech: A cowardly cover-up of BP’s crimes.]

Flemish separatist N-VA party on course to win most seats in a result that could complicate efforts to form coalition government. The Flemish separatist N-VA party which wants to divide Belgium was on course last night to win the most seats in parliamentary elections. Such a result could also complicate attempts to form a coalition that can bring the budget under control in a country plagued by rising national debt. With 86% of the votes counted by late last night, the interior ministry predicted the New Flemish Alliance, which wants to gradually split the country between Dutch-speaking Flanders and French-speaking Wallonia, would win 28 of the 150 seats in the lower house of parliament, compared with just eight now. That would narrowly push the mainly French-speaking Socialists into second place. Heavy losses were expected for the Christian Democrats and the Liberals. "The N-VA has won the election today," the party's leader, Bart De Wever, told jubilant supporters. "We stand before you with a party that has some 30% [of the Flemish vote]."

As BP’s latest efforts to stem the flow of oil from the leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico continue to face difficulties, there are new details emerging about attempts by BP and the Obama administration to cover up the true size of the disaster. It has been revealed that the US Department of the Interior intentionally misrepresented the results of a recent survey of the spill by federal scientists in an attempt to minimize the scope of the disaster. Last week the Interior Department released a statement to the press with a new estimate placing the amount of oil leaking into the Gulf at 12,000 to 19,000 barrels per day. The numbers came from a survey conducted by the National Incident Command’s Flow Rate Technical Group, a team consisting of government scientists and representatives from universities across the US. The White House stood by the new estimates and BP executive Robert Dudley appeared on national television to promote them. In reality, the scientists conducting the survey reported this estimate only reflected the “lower bounds” of their findings, meaning that the numbers represented the very least possible amount of oil flowing into the Gulf. The National Incident Command scientists had not yet arrived at an estimate for the “upper bounds” when the Interior Department released its statement and the scientists say the upper estimate could be “significantly larger.” AWIP/Stephen Lendman: BP and Administration Lies, Deceit, and Coverup in the Gulf. + Obama's Gulf Commission: Distortion, Obstruction and Whitewash Assured.

Raw Story: James Cameron: US shouldn’t be relying on BP’s underwater intel. James Cameron offered to help BP find a solution to their leaking well in the Gulf of Mexico but the company turned him down. Now the Academy Award-winning director is taking his suggestions directly to the media.

What Really Happened: Please remember; even though James Cameron is a director, his brother is a highly respected oceanographer, and I would be willing to bet that they talked extensively about what the possibilities were before he ever went to BP, or went public with to the media.

Calls have been growing within the Democratic Party of Japan for his resignation after a recent plunge in the cabinet's approval rating and his awkward handling of the relocation of a U.S. military base in Okinawa, reports WSJ. Polls this week showed that support for. Hatoyama's government had fallen to around 20%, compared with levels above 70% in September. The main cause of the collapse in polls was the result of his backtracking last month on a pledge to relocate U.S. troops stationed on Okinawa. BBC: Japanese PM Yukio Hatoyama resigns amid Okinawa row. AWIP: Japan minister fired over US airbase.

A week after the tea party favorite lost the special election in Pennsylvania’s 12th congressional district to a Democrat — and six days after Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul, a tea party favorite, imploded his campaign by coming out against the Civil Rights Act, results from Idaho’s primary yesterday produced yet another tea bagger snafu. AlterNet: The Tea Party: At Last a Citizen Movement the Corporate Media Can Love. AWIP/Bob Altemeyer: Comment on the Tea Party Movement.

Right-wing darling Sarah Palin accused US President Barack Obama on Sunday of leading a lax response to the Gulf of Mexico spill because he is too close to the big oil companies. The former vice presidential candidate and Alaska governor, who champions off-shore drilling, criticized the media for not drawing the link between Obama and big oil and said if this spill had happened under former Republican president George W. Bush the scrutiny would have been far tougher.

Candidates with roots in the tea party movement - including congressional candidate Gloria Carlineo - were on the losing end of battles over sample voter ballots. A rift between the GOP establishment and newly energized conservative Republicans in Bucks County split wide open Tuesday when endorsed candidates for the Republican State Committee obtained a court order to bar distribution of fliers urging voters to elect tea party candidates. AWIP/Bob Altemeyer: Comment on the Tea Party Movement

Political novice Rand Paul rode support from tea party activists to a rout in Kentucky's Republican Senate primary Tuesday night, jolting the GOP establishment. Democratic Sen. Arlen Specter lost his struggle for political survival in Pennsylvania, a five-term incumbent offering experience to voters clamoring for change. Another Democratic incumbent, Sen. Blanche Lincoln, led narrowly in early returns in her race for nomination to a third term in Arkansas, but she risked being thrown into a costly run-off. NYT: Specter Loses Pennsylvania Senate Seat.

Communities across America have been asking whether leading Republicans would choose racism or reform in the debate over Arizona's new racial profiling immigration law. This weekend, we got the answer when Sarah Palin endorsed the Arizona law, a placebo solution focused on racialized police targeting. They're choosing racism. Palin also took the odd step of making it personal; she told her supporters to personally email me. Many took the opportunity to send me racist and hateful messages. Though I'm an American citizen, several said they wanted me to leave "their" country. The tone reminded me of Sen. John McCain's recent advertisement where he's praised by a white sheriff's deputy as "one of us." The message of the advertisement and Sarah Palin's supporters is clear: America belongs to white people and us colored folks ought to just get out.

The UK's Liberal Democrats have abandoned their agenda in a bid to join in a coalition with the Conservatives, says a former British Member of Parliament. The Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron and his Liberal Democrat Deputy Nick Clegg both echo the same sentiments about a "united" and "strong" coalition government. Yet, the former Respect MP from Britain told Press TV that what they remain to be united about are unfortunately the war in Afghanistan and the savage reduction in the public services and a system that makes working people pay for an economic crisis they have not created. "In fact the Liberal Democrats have abandoned the policies which made them different. The policies of, for example, not wishing to replace the Trident nuclear weapons system, at least no replica of that system," George Galloway said.

Galloway went on to criticize the hereditary nature of government in Britain, saying it is not as eulogizing as some describe it. He said that a system "where the head of state is hereditary, where the House of Lords is packed with unelected people" cannot be described as a democratic system. Galloway said that the Government in the United Kingdom "is not as good as, for example, the United States of America, which has had a written Constitution and which has proper checks and balances within its system." "If you get 36 percent of the votes, you should get exactly 36 percent of the seats in the parliament, and if you get 5 percent, as we might do, then you get 5 percent of the seats."

London, England (CNN) -- British Prime Minister David Cameron started his first full day of work Wednesday, walking through the black lacquered door of his office at No. 10 Downing Street and into a raft of decision-making. High on the agenda will be appointing ministers to as many as 20 Cabinet positions. Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg, whose party entered a coalition with Cameron's Conservatives on Tuesday, was named deputy prime minister. In addition to Clegg's appointment, a Conservative Party source said Conservative Parliament member George Osborne has been named Chancellor of the Exchequer -- which is equivalent to treasury secretary -- and former Conservative Party leader William Hague has been appointed foreign secretary. Four other Cabinet posts will be filled by Liberal Democrats, Downing Street said. Formal announcements of Cabinet posts were expected later Wednesday. Reuters: UK's Cameron brings party in from the cold. James Delingpole: If Cameron's Tories won't admit their mistakes, they don't deserve power. Craig Murray: Lib-Cons Get Off Virtually "Scot Free". + Very Bad Signs for the LIb Dems - Cameron, Osborne, Hague, Fox and May dominate the great offices of state from the far right. New Statesman: All change at No 10. WSWS: The Tory press and “democracy”. + Labour brings Tory-Lib Dem coalition to power.

Gordon Brown has announced he will step down as Labour leader by September - as his party opens formal talks with the Lib Dems about forming a government. The PM's continued presence in Downing Street was seen as harming Labour's chances of reaching a deal. Labour and the Tories are both trying to woo the Lib Dems with promises on electoral reform as the battle to run the country reaches its critical phase. No party won a Commons overall majority at Thursday's general election. The Tories, who won the most seats and votes, reacted to Mr Brown's announcement that he was standing down as Labour leader by making a "final offer" to the Lib Dems of a referendum on changing the voting method to the Alternative Vote (AV) system. Labour are offering to put the AV system into law and then hold a referendum asking voters to approve it. NYT: Brown Says He'll Resign to Help Labour. The Guardian: David Miliband and Ed Balls set to launch Labour leadership bids. Belfast Telegraph: Queen appoints Cameron prime minister. The Guardian: Gordon Brown has resigned -David Cameron is the new prime minister.

As the scale of the disaster caused by the explosion at an oil rig off the coast of Louisiana became more apparent last week, right-wing radio talker Rush Limbaugh unleashed a conspiracy theory suggesting that someone intentionally blew up the rig in order to “head off more oil drilling”.

These are the 98 U.S. senators for voted in favor of the US Patriot Act of 2001 (Senator Landrieu (D-LA) did not vote). Senator Russ Feingold of Wisconsin was the only senator who voted against the Patriot Act on October 24, of 2001.

Gordon Brown was fighting for his political life today after he delivered a potential knockout blow to his own election hopes just hours before the crucial final live television debate. The Prime Minister will desperately try and draw a line under the 'bigotgate' scandal when he is expected to apologise again for insulting grandmother Gillian Duffy in tonight's debate. In a tumultuous day for Labour, the Prime Minister tore up his plans and returned to Mrs Duffy's terrace house to beg for forgiveness after he was caught calling her a bigot because she questioned him about immigration.

Palin on Fox News refers to something the "lamestream media" did. Turns out it was Fox News. On last night's Hannity, Fox News contributor Sarah Palin did what she does best-complain about the "lamestream media throughout our country." This time, the media's "lame[ness]" was revealed through their coverage of Arizona's new controversial immigration law. Palin sniffed: "One of the media outlets the other day just-was killing me on this one, Sean, where they had a caption across their screen that said Arizona law will make it illegal to be an illegal immigrant? Some bizarre type of headline like that where it was just this illustration that they just don't get it."

The British leader said he was unaware that a television microphone was still live. Asked by an aide about his conversation, Brown said "she was just a bigoted woman." He suggested Duffy had questioned the number of eastern European migrants in Britain. Duffy then asked for an apology from Brown and said she would no longer vote for his Labour Party in Britain's May 6 election. Brown later apologized "profusely." Daily Mail: Brown caught describing disgruntled life-long Labour voter as a 'bigoted woman'.

Jaroslaw Kaczynski, the twin brother of Poland's former president, who was killed in a plane crash in Russia earlier this month, has said he will run in presidential elections called for June. The elections were called early after Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria and 94 others were killed on April 10 in Smolensk, Russia, en route to a memorial service for a second world war massacre. Kaczynski, the leader of Poland's main opposition, the conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, said on Monday that he would be standing in the contest in order to continue his brother's policies.

Thailand's pro-establishment Yellow Shirt activists are now threatening to take to the streets to shut down the anti-government Red Shirt rallies paralysing Bangkok. Thailand's pro-monarchist Yellow Shirts say they will take action to protect the country if the government does not put an end to the Red Shirts' protests. The Yellow Shirts are a pro-establishment group who shut down Bangkok's airports in 2008 before a court verdict removed the government and the current administration was installed. They are fiercely opposed to exiled prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his poor rural allies, the Red Shirts.

Tim Phillips, lobbyist and chairman of Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is in Europe and Oslo to endorse and teach the Norwegian right wing party (Fremskrittspartiet) how to organize so-called grassroots campaigns. But the grass root campaigns such as those the Tea Party Movement and AFP holds aren't bottom-up crowds, but pure lobbying campaigns financed by billionaires with a clear political agenda.

Ben Smith points out that Sarah Palin has come out in defense of evangelist Franklin Graham, Billy Graham’s son, who was disinvited by the Army from an official ceremony because of his history of anti-Islam remarks. For once, this counts as Palin making real news: She’s siding with someone who unequivocally said Islam is a “very evil and wicked religion” in 2001. In defending Graham, Palin claimed that Graham’s remarks were directed only at radical and violent Jihadists. Actually, no, his comments weren’t aimed only at those radical enough to kill and subjugate women. They were directed at all of Islam. Here, according to the Charlotte Observer on November 19th, 2001, is what Graham said:

“We’re not attacking Islam but Islam has attacked us. The God of Islam is not the same God. He’s not the son of God of the Christian or Judeo-Christian faith. It’s a different God and I believe it is a very evil and wicked religion.”

BRUSSELS, April 22 (Reuters) - Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme's government collapsed on Thursday after the Flemish liberal party pulled out of his five-month-old coalition, causing a crisis that could damage its fragile economy. Leterme, 49, tendered his government's resignation to King Albert after an emergency cabinet meeting, but the monarch did not immediately decide whether to accept it. "The king and the prime minister jointly underlined that, in the current circumstances, a political crisis would be inopportune and would seriously damage both the economic and social well-being of the citizens and the role of Belgium in Europe," the palace said in a written statement. Political analysts said Leterme might be persuaded to stay on. Otherwise parliament would have to be dissolved and an election held within 40 days.

Campaign contributions from Goldman Sachs employees to President Obama are nearly seven times as much as President Bush received from Enron workers, according to numbers on OpenSecrets.org. President Bush's connections to Enron were well-hyped during the company's accounting debacle that rippled through the economy. Time magazine even had an article called, "Bush's Enron Problem." The Associated Press ran with the headline, "Bush-backing Enron makes big money off crisis." David Callaway wrote that Enron for Bush was worse than Whitewater for Clinton.

The Observer: Now we know the truth. The financial meltdown wasn't a mistake –IT WAS A CON:

The global financial crisis, it is now clear, was caused not just by the bankers' colossal mismanagement. No, it was due also to the new financial complexity offering up the opportunity for widespread, systemic fraud...

Beneath the complexity, the charges are all rooted in the same phenomenon – deception. Somebody, somewhere, was knowingly fooled by banks and bankers – sometimes governments over tax, sometimes regulators and investors over the probity of balance sheets and profits and sometimes, as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) says in Goldman's case, by creating a scheme to enrich one favoured investor at the expense of others – including, via RBS, the British [and U.S.] taxpayer.

This is just my attempt to use statistical analysis to determine which congressman is bought and (if so) by which special interests they are likely bought by. It attempts to do this by looking not only on how much money a congressman receives from an interest, but if he/she also votes with that interest on bills.

AP-GfK Poll: Obama slips, other Dems slide, too. President Barack Obama's national standing has slipped to a new low after his victory on the historic health care overhaul, even in the face of growing signs of economic revival, according to the latest Associated Press-GfK poll. The survey shows the political terrain growing rockier for Obama and congressional Democrats heading into midterm elections, boosting Republican hopes for a return to power this fall. Just 49 percent of people now approve of the job Obama's doing overall, and less than that — 44 percent — like the way he's handled health care and the economy. Last September, Obama hit a low of 50 percent in job approval before ticking a bit higher. His high-water mark as president was 67 percent in February of last year, just after he took office.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, a former Democratic vice presidential nominee who campaigned for the Republican presidential ticket in 2008, called Sarah Palin a "powerful force" who speaks for "a lot of people out there." Daily Dish: Palin the most potent force in American politics since Obama.

Boston hosted yet another Tea Party - but instead of revolutionaries disguised as Native Americans, this one had Sarah Palin. The former Alaska governor and soon-to-be reality TV star energized the thousands of anti-tax activists just a stone's throw from the bay where the true Boston Tea Party was held more than 200 years ago. "Let me ask you, Massachusetts: Do you love your freedom?" Palin belted out.

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT), the poster child of liberal bloggers' ire, has done it again. Once the darling of Democratic political heavyweights -- he campaigned in 2000 as the vice presidential running mate of then-Vice President Al Gore -- the Connecticut senator now appears to enjoying sparring his his former party at every opportunity.

Conservative media spent much of Friday attacking Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) for breaking up a GOP meeting Thursday evening in his Orlando district. Rush Limbaugh talked about the confrontation for good chunks of his show and Fox News hit the story several times, as did Michelle Malkin. Though the media outlets didn't make it clear, Grayson had a specific objective in attending the meeting. Grayson had obtained an email from Ron Janssen, the District One Republican Chairman, telling fellow Republicans that at the next meeting there would be a guest speaker who had "snuck behind enemy lines into an Organizing For America Meeting." He wanted to know if the Orange County Republicans approved of the tactic. Raw Story: Grayson crashes GOP meeting, says Republicans spying on Obama group. MyFoXOrlando: Is Rep. Alan Grayson a party crasher?

[Editor's Comment:] In spite of their occasional animosity on a personal level, we should not be misled: the Republicans and the Democrats are nothing but the two wings of the same corporate party. -The US is a one party state.

"We can’t get this weakling out of the WH fast enough."

Meet Don Blankenship, CEO of Massey Energy Company. Blankenship is also on the Board of Directors of the US Chamber of Commerce. In this speech above, he denies climate change, derisively refers to Speaker Pelosi, Senator Reid, and others as "greeniacs", and calls them all crazy. Watch the speech, you'll see. In his mind, "the greeniacs are taking over the world."

British prime minister Gordon Brown defended his handling of the economic recovery overnight as he prepared to fire the starting gun on a general election that opinion polls suggest he could lose. Mr Brown is expected to visit the Queen on Tuesday (local time) to dissolve parliament and kick-start a month-long election campaign culminating on May 6 in what many predict will be a close-run battle. Campaigning has effectively been in full swing for weeks, but the looming official announcement will sharpen the fight in a contest where the Conservatives, led by David Cameron, are bidding to oust Labour from power after 13 years in opposition. The UK has edged out of its longest recession on record and the economy is set to dominate the campaign.

Other U.S. presidents have bonded with foreign leaders, but Obama so far has no such ties. Does that matter? "It really is striking about Obama: Most presidents have had a special or close relationship with a foreign leader they could turn to," says Thomas Henriksen, a US foreign-policy scholar at the Hoover Institution in Stanford, Calif. "But it appears to be his nature or personality, the so-called no-drama-Obama thing."

Eyes closed and lips pursed, Imelda Marcos leans forward to plant a ghoulish kiss on the glass coffin containing her husband's embalmed corpse. Many believed the former Filipino first lady, still elegant at 80, had cloistered herself away to spend her remaining days in anonymous ignominy. They were wrong. At the last possible moment - and with her trademark taste for the theatrical - Marcos has exploded back into political life.

Though not opposed to healthcare reform most Americans do not want this KIND of reform which is a dangerous UN-AMERICAN UNCONSTITUTIONAL We want reform that makes sense and that is helpful for all not a destructive death warrant for the unborn and the elderly. We want government to stay out of our personal life decisions period. This is America !!

With the Senate working through an all-night session on a package of changes to the Democrats’ sweeping health care legislation, Republicans early Thursday morning identified parliamentary problems with at least two provisions that will require the measure to be sent back to the House for yet another vote, once the Senate adopts it.

Quadrant Online: Breaking America: Obamacare and the decline of a nation:

“Obamacare is a major weapon to carry out Obama's plan to transform America into a country of incredible debt, government control of industries, redistribution of taxpayers' earnings and savings to non-taxpayers, and massive authority exercised by weirdo czars. The American people - and the various states - are not going to accept Obama's transformation.”

Climategate exposed the greatest scandal in the history of modern science but you’re never going to hear this from any of the official investigations. Andrew Orlowski at The Register has uncovered why. Turns out, that there’s this well-funded SPECTRE-like advocacy group called GLOBE (Global Legislators for a Balanced Environment) International which has co-opted leading parliamentarians from the main parties in both the Commons and the Lords into advancing the AGW agenda.

An aide to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki today insisted that his State of Law party will not recognize the final election results, expected later this week, because the election commission declined their request for a manual recount. The aide, Ali al-Adib, declared that the party had “strong, clear evidence” of fraud against them, though the only evidence cited was the “surprising” gains by the opposition Iraqiya party of former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.

Suggests Grand Coalition Government Remains Possible, if Maliki Changes. Former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi today vowed that the process for forming a government would not be a quick one, and that his Iraqiya faction would prevent the return to the “one-man rule” of the Maliki government. Allawi said he wasn’t particularly concerned with “what kind of shape the government will take or how long it’s going to take,” but insisted that a quick resolution was a recipe for disaster.

Stephen Byers, Patricia Hewitt and Geoff Hoon are under investigation over their apparent willingness to help a lobbying firm in return for cash. It is understood that Mr Butterfill has referred himself to the standards commissioner and Baroness Morgan has already referred herself to the sub-committee on Lords' interests. Ms Moran, already deselected by Labour as an election candidate following revelations over her expenses, has been suspended by the Parliamentary Labour Party. Under Commons rules MPs can work for companies, but must declare payments and may not lobby ministers directly. Mr Byers, a former transport secretary, was filmed saying he was like a "cab for hire" who would work for up to £5,000 a day and claimed to have saved millions of pounds for National Express, which wanted to get out of its East Coast mainline franchise.

As Democrats secure historic healthcare reforms, fresh details emerge of proposed climate change bill. The chances of US climate change legislation passing this year received a major boost after President Obama secured victory in his historic battle to pass healthcare reforms late last night. The successful House vote on the legislation following over a year of intense and fraught negotiations will clear a path for the administration to turn to its next large piece of administrative business: climate change. Some senior Democrat Senators have suggested that following such a long battle to pass healthcare legislation the Senate will have "no appetite" to deal with a climate change bill that is likely to prove equally contentious.

Sometimes things are a little clearer in retrospect. Now that health care reform has passed in the House, it seems there are two main questions in people’s minds: What’s next? Why, procedurally, was the legislative process so confusing and painful to watch? Let’s answer that second question first. To help do that, we’ve drawn up some helpful infographics. AWIP/Chris Hedges: The Health Care Hindenburg Has Landed.

Last Night, the House passed the Senate Health care bill by a vote of 219-212. It will now be sent to the President for his signature. The Reconciliation bill, which also passed the House, now heads to the Senate for debate in that body. CNN: Democrats cheer and chant "Yes We Can" as healthcare is passed -Video. Wagist: List of Democrats Who Voted ‘No’ on the Senate-Passed Health-Care Bill. CSM: Attorneys general in 12 states poised to challenge healthcare bill.

WSWS: An attack on health care in the guise of reform:

■ After months of closed-door negotiations with insurance CEOs and pharmaceutical executives, Obama made the absurd claim that the measure came “from the bottom up.” In fact, the legislation was entirely dictated from the top. It represents the opening shot in a sweeping attack on health care for working people. ■ The main features of the bill include hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to Medicare, and the requirement that individuals and families obtain insurance or pay a fine, thus providing a new influx of cash-paying customers for private insurance companies. Businesses are under no obligation to provide their workers with insurance, paying only minimal fines if they do not.

AWIP/Stephen Lendman: The Death of American Populism:

Current legislation doesn't "provide universal, comprehensive or affordable care to the American people. It shovels hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money (to predators that) created the problem: the Aetnas, CIGNAs" and other insurers. It requires no contractual accountability or other benefits for people denied coverage under a "pay-or-die system that is the disgrace of the Western world."

Natural News: Health care reform bill dooms America to Pharma-dominated sickness and suffering:

Today the medical mafia struck another devastating blow to the health and freedom of all Americans. With the support of an inarguably corrupt Congress that has simply abandoned the real needs of the American people, the sick-care industry has locked in a high-profit scheme of disease and monopoly-priced pharmaceuticals in a nation that can ill afford either one.

[Editor's Comment:] How many of the Dems had actually read the bill before they passed it? -Probably none of them. (We're not considering the republicans here because they can't even read.)

You Tube: Know the TRUTH about the Government Health Care Bill H.R.3200 - Key Points FDL: Fact Sheet: The Truth About the Health Care Bill. The Health Care Bill (.pdf)

The decision by Rep. Dennis Kucinich, Democrat from Ohio, to vote and campaign among his fellow members of Congress for the White House health care bill falls under the heading of the entirely predictable. Anyone who has paid attention to the career of this phony populist knew more or less how the process would unfold. Kucinich would slam the regressive measure until close to the end, then fold his tent and meekly bow to the pressure exerted by the Obama administration, and through the latter, the most powerful sections of the American ruling elite.

Kucinich now promises to vote for a reactionary bill that unashamedly protects the profits of the giant insurance and pharmaceutical interests while sharply reducing and rationing care for the majority of the American people. The Obama administration, in the guise of “reform,” has crafted a measure that will enable the health insurance companies to rake in untold revenues from millions of new customers forced to purchase bare-bones health coverage. Moreover, hundreds of billions of dollars will be cut from Medicare, the program for the elderly and disabled. There is nothing progressive about the health care measure; it is not a step or half-step forward. It represents a full-scale social regression. WaPo: Kucinich Sells Out On Health Care After Ride In Air Force One. Chris Floyd: Pressure Drop: Brave Sir Dennis Ran Away.

Dissident Voice: Kucinich’s Healthcare Sell-out:

Most of all, Kucinich’s betrayal points to the burning need for political activity, both electoral and social movement based, independent of the Democrats and Republicans. The political system is already so saturated with corporate money that Democrats and Republicans are structurally incapable of acting in the interests of working people in America. Now is the time for a green and red rebellion at the ballot box and on the streets. Only then can we can be done with the wavering Kucinichs of the world and get down to the task of creating a society that values human needs over corporate profits. We need a single-payer healthcare system now and only an uncompromising movement made up of everyday people will get us there.

You Tube: Know the TRUTH about the Government Health Care Bill H.R.3200 - Key Points

So Markos Moulitsas over at Daily Kos wants to primary Dennis Kucinich author an advocate of HR 676 Single Payer Health Care! Reckon Markos Moulitsas is looking for more air time on MSNBC? Surely Markos Moulitsas isn't trying to increase his blog traffic and advertising revenues from folks like JPMorgan Chase & Co., by pulling a stunt like this. Or is he?

On Friday night, Sarah Palin came to Orlando, and attacked Rep. Alan Grayson. This is what she said: "I got to meet quite a few candidates who are lining up in a contested primary who want to take out Alan Grayson. And I think Alan Grayson -- what can you say about Alan Grayson? Piper is with me tonight, so I won't say anything about Alan Grayson that can't be said around children.

Grayson said that the Alaskan chillbilly was welcome to return to Central Florida anytime, as long as she brings lots of money with her, and spends it. "I look forward to an honest debate with Governor Palin on the issues, in the unlikely event that she ever learns anything about them," Grayson added, alluding to Politifact's "liar, liar, pants on fire" evaluation of much of what Palin has said. Scientists are studying Sarah Palin's travel between Alaska and Florida carefully. They hope to learn more about the flight patterns of that elusive migratory species, the wild Alaskan dingbat. You Tube: Sarah Palin at the Lincoln Day Dinner. (Part 1) Tampa Bay: Ever outlandish, Alan Grayson tops himself with Sarah Palin rant. Raw Story: Grayson goes for the jugular: ‘Alaskan chillbilly’ smartest GOP leader since W.

The British eurosceptic MEP, Nigel Farage, was accused of using personal insults to win publicity after he called the EU’s new president a “damp rag” and dismissed his native Belgium as a non-country. Nigel Farage made a hurl of insults at Herman van Rompuy’s maiden parliamentary speech in the chamber as soon as the new EU leader sat down. AWIP: Who are you Mr President ? Nigel Farage asks Van Rompuy -VIDEO.

Nigel Farage was later was called to the office of the President of the European Parliament, and told to publicly apologise to Mr Van Rompuy and Belgium “or else”, to which he replied:

The only people I am going to apologise to are bank clerks the world over. If I have offended them I am very sorry indeed.

What marvellous news to learn that the UN secretary general Ban Ki Moon is to launch a thorough investigation into the science behind climate change! It’s the equivalent of Kenneth Lay promising to organise a full and frank investigation into the accounts at Enron, or Herod ordering an urgent inquiry into the appalling and mysterious slaughter of infants in Judaea: all it will do is end up confirming the prejudices of the person who commissioned the report.

Make no mistake, we are accelerating at breakneck speed towards hell. There are now so many political entities dedicated to creating a regulatory system predicated on the existence on AGW – besides the UN these include the European Union, the Obama administration, the EPA, the terrifying Carbon Disclosure Project, the Labour government and the forthcoming Heath administration – that none of them is remotely interested in hearing any answers they don’t want to know. It will be like another of those EU referenda where the only acceptable answer is “Yes”, even when the people keep saying “No.”

Faced with the dilemma of how they could possibly justify their year-long claimed support for the public option only now to fail to enact it, more and more Democratic Senators were pressured into signing a letter supporting the enactment of the public option through reconciliation; that number is now above 40, and is rapidly approaching 50. In other words, there is a serious possibility that the Senate might enact a public option if there is a vote on it, because it's very difficult for these Senators to vote "No" after pretending all year long -- on the record -- that they supported it. OpEdNews: Dennis Kucinich, an unwavering progressive Democrat, is saying that he will vote against the the Health Reform bill.

Sour Gropes: Glenn Beck's interview with Eric Massa wasn't a total waste of time -- he got a new sign-off phrase.

The House voted down a challenge to President Obama's conduct of the war in Afghanistan Wednesday, rejecting a measure that would have compelled U.S. armed forces to leave the country within 30 days. Introduced by Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, the measure failed by a vote of 356-65. Five Republicans joined 60 Democrats in voting for the resolution. AWIP: Kucinich orders Afghan War debate, vote: “Trillions for war, no money for Americans!” -Video. WSWS: Congressional Democrats back expanded war in Afghanistan: The brieaf debate and swift defeat of the resolution were a demonstration of the enormous gulf between the great mass of American people and the representatives of big business who comprise the congressional delegations of both parties. AWIP: Your "Representatives" in Congress + Congress Is Teeming With Millionaires.

This visualisation of political differences is interesting. It shows what the differences are but does not explain why they've come about. If you'd like to know why, Bob Altemeyer's internet book "The Authoritarians" seems to be the best one so far.

Heidi Beirich, director of research for the SPLC says that they consider these groups to be extreme because they tend to be confrontational with illegal aliens, “where they gather and protest right in their face and scream at them.” The SPLC claims that groups such as the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps to be just one step below a "hate group".

After the rather slanderous report came out, Dexter told the Virginian-Pilot: “I’m real surprised that they used those terms so loosely with people who care about their state and the nation. That’s unfortunate that they would publish something that sounds more like hatred related scare tactics.” Dexter continued: “It’s funny they should refer to us that way. It is absolutely not true. There’s no extremism.”

Do you know how awkward it is to have a political argument with a naked man?' asked Massa. He described the scene: 'I am showering, naked as a jaybird, and here comes Rahm Emanuel, not even with a towel wrapped round his tush, poking his finger in my chest, yelling at me because I wasn’t going to vote for the president’s budget.' Marco Villa: The Biggest Congressional Phony. HuffPo: Nancy Pelosi: Massa Is 'A Very Sick Person'.

Former prime minister John Major has accused Mr Brown of "profoundly unbecoming conduct" for a prime minister, saying Mr Brown used the troops as a cynically timed pre-election backdrop. Sir John said Mr Brown did the same thing two years ago "before the election that never was; now he's doing so on the eve of the election he cannot avoid". Sky News: Tory Lead Over Labour Extends In Latest Polls.

Rahm Emanuel, President Barack Obama's outspoken chief of staff, has become embroiled in a public row with his critics amid accusations he has damaged the standing of the presidency and undermined his boss. Emanuel has become the subject of an intense war of words between those who blame him for the failings of Obama's tough first year in office and those who insist Obama should have listened to him more. If the controversy deepens, some feel he may be forced to resign.

AWIP: Dennis Kucinich "This Bill Is A Sellout To Insurance Companies!" -VIDEO

Reporting from Washington - Ronald Reagan is honored by, among other things, an airport, a freeway, an aircraft carrier and -- ironically for a critic of big government -- one of the biggest federal buildings in Washington. Now, some of the late president's admirers are launching a new effort to add another honor: printing his likeness on a $50 bill in place of Ulysses S. Grant's. In polls of presidential scholars, Reagan consistently outranks Grant, said Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.), who introduced legislation to make the change. But at least one Democrat who serves on the House Financial Services Committee, where the proposal has been sent, isn't ready to jettison Grant for "someone whose policies are still controversial." "Our currency ought to be something that unites us," said Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks).

In the wake of last week's "bipartisan summit" -- which proved that no Republicans in Congress will vote for health care reform -- an avalanche of Democratic senators are announcing today that they will vote YES for the public health insurance option if it is brought up in "reconciliation." Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Patty Murray (D-WA), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Ben Cardin (D-MD), and Amy Klobuchar (D-MN) are the latest to announce their support, raising the number of senators on record from 0 to 30 in under 2 weeks. LA Times: The question everyone should be asking: What do we need health insurers for anyway?

CIA officials briefed at least 68 U.S. lawmakers between 2001 and 2007 on enhanced interrogation methods like simulated drowning that were being considered or used against captured al Qaeda members, according to declassified documents released on Tuesday. The once-secret CIA papers, obtained in a lawsuit by the conservative legal foundation Judicial Watch, shed new light on which lawmakers knew the details of the controversial interrogation program and when. Human rights groups have argued the harsh interrogation methods torture were forms of torture and violated U.S. obligations under the Geneva Conventions on treatment of war prisoners. President Barack Obama banned the techniques shortly after taking office in January 2009.

"Exasperated House Democratic leaders have compiled a list showing that they have passed 290 bills that have stalled in the Senate. The list is the latest sign that Democrats in the lower chamber are frustrated with their Senate counterparts. ... The list of stalled bills includes both major and minor legislation: healthcare reform; climate change; food safety; financial aid for the U.S. Postal Service; a job security act for wounded veterans; a Civil War battlefield preservation act; vision care for children; the naming of a federal courthouse in Iowa after former Rep. Jim Leach (R-Iowa); a National Historic Park named for President Jimmy Carter; a bill to improve absentee ballot voting; a bill to improve cybersecurity; and the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act."

A new Rasmussen poll finds: The founding document of the United States, the Declaration of Independence, states that governments derive “their just powers from the consent of the governed.” Today, however, just 21% of voters nationwide believe that the federal government enjoys the consent of the governed. Seventy-one percent (71%) of all voters now view the federal government as a special interest group, and 70% believe that the government and big business typically work together in ways that hurt consumers and investors.That helps explain why 75% of voters are angry at the policies of the federal government, and 63% say it would be better for the country if most members of Congress are defeated this November...

On January 21st, Lloyd Blankfein left a peculiar voicemail message on the work phones of his employees at Goldman Sachs. Fast becoming America's pre-eminent Marvel Comics supervillain, the CEO used the call to deploy his secret weapon: a pair of giant, nuclear-powered testicles. In his message, Blankfein addressed his plan to pay out gigantic year-end bonuses amid widespread controversy over Goldman's role in precipitating the global financial crisis. The bank had already set aside a tidy $16.2 billion for salaries and bonuses — meaning that Goldman employees were each set to take home an average of $498,246, a number roughly commensurate with what they received during the bubble years. Still, the troops were worried. AWIP/Stephen Lendman: Selling Out America to Wall Street.

Americans of both parties overwhelmingly oppose a Supreme Court ruling that allows corporations and unions to spend as much as they want on political campaigns, and most favor new limits on such spending, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll.

It's possible that Sarah Palin's best quality is that she has none at all. She exists for both her friends and enemies as a fantasy figure. For the left, she is a harbinger of the hard-right government takeover they fear is coming. And for the right, she is the leader -- all instinct and no sophistication -- that they knew would someday lead America out of its current socialist wilderness. The pity for them both is that in reality, not to mention the polls, she sorely disappoints.

The Obama administration has announced it will now rule by fascist decree and ignore Congress and the American people. “With much of his legislative agenda stalled in Congress, President Obama and his team are preparing an array of actions using his executive power to advance energy, environmental, fiscal and other domestic policy priorities,” reports The New York Times. “We are reviewing a list of presidential executive orders and directives to get the job done across a front of issues,” said Rahm Emanuel, the White House chief of staff who is fond of cracking his knuckles in Obama’s face. According to The New York Times, ruling in authoritarian fashion is normal and acceptable. “Any president has vast authority to influence policy even without legislation, through executive orders, agency rule-making and administrative fiat.”

A heated exchange took place during NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday when MSNBC host Rachel Maddow accused Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.) of hypocrisy for railing against a spending bill in public while touting its benefits in his home district. Appearing alongside each other during a panel session, Maddow pivoted from a discussion on job creation to note that Schock had appeared at an event on Friday touting a grant program that he had voted against.

Ok, admittedly, the picture of her in front of the New York City skyline in Mickey Mouse ears may not exactly be what most consider "normal," but Tina Fey swears she is. The actress and comedienne is featured in Vogue's March issue, and she wants everyone to know that in a world run rampant by celebrity craziness, she's a champion for the average. "I feel like I represent normalcy in some way," she said in the interview.

"What are your choices today in entertainment? People either represent youth, power, or sexuality. And then there’s me, carrying normalcy.” Well, okay, “me and Rachel Ray," Fey admitted. But however normal she tries to be, that doesn't mean that everyone's a fan - especially after all of those Sarah Palin impressions that she did all through 2009. "People started projecting politics onto me,” she said. “There are people who hate me now because of that.” Could part of that hate be because she and Palin are both women? Fey thinks it's a possibility.

How Christian Were the Founding Fathers? I give you a hint, very little. Part of the founding of the US was because they were tired of the Church of England's bullshit, along with Vatican. AWIP/Wasserman: Our Founders Were NOT Fundamentalists.

The most famous female politician in the world today is a vain and sanctimonious woman of boundless ambition and no vision. If anyone had wanted deliberately to undermine the presence of women in public life, they couldn't have chosen better than Sarah Palin.

The moment during last weekend’s Tea Klux Klan conclave in Nashville when, on live television, Sarah Palin stole a glance at crib notes on her palm of her own talking points has become a classic — right up there with George Bush I’s impatient check of his watch during his 1992 presidential debate with Ross Perot and Bill Clinton. We have posted the gallery of photos of Palin and her teleprompters on Facebook, which you can see by clicking here.

Two-thirds of Americans are "dissatisfied" or downright "angry" about the way the federal government is working, according to a new Washington Post-ABC News poll. On average, the public estimates that 53 cents of every tax dollar they send to Washington is "wasted." AWIP: 75% Are Angry At Government’s Current Policies.

Ukraine's Yulia Tymoshenko on Thursday defiantly refused to concede defeat to rival Viktor Yanukovich in a presidential election, throwing Ukraine into turmoil that threatened chances of a swift return to stability. Al Jazeera: Ukraine PM attacks election rival.

HuffPo: Matthews went on to say that Palin "has nothing going on mentally... I'd be afraid of her because I think she's an empty vessel ready to be filled by ideology she doesn't understand. And that is really scary." (VIDEO). The MSNBC host slams the former GOP vice presidential nominee over her Iran remarks. HuffPo: I have been ignoring Palin, hoping that like a small scratch she would eventually heal and go away. Instead, she has turned out to be a drug-resistant staph infection intent on destroying our body politic. + For all the morons and criminals and bigots we've been subjected to, has there been anyone else who has combined all of the fetid qualities -- the proud ignorance, the sadistic viciousness, the shameless hypocrisy, the arrogant laziness, the congenital dishonesty, the unctuous sanctimony, the bilious resentment, and whichever others I'm forgetting for the moment -- that this morals-free harridan so relentlessly displays?

Here's another frightening politician: Bachmann: America ‘cursed’ by God ‘if we reject Israel’

A non-partisan Research 2000 survey of 2,000 Republicans has found that a majority believe Sarah Palin is more qualified to be president than Barack Obama and that nearly two in three believe Mr. Obama is a socialist.

IN DEPTH: Left vs. Right That pretty much sums it up (Infographic). Bob Altemeyer's - The Authoritarians

Marine Colonel Tapped for Detainee Policy Post Worked for Top Rumsfeld Aide. A key behind-the-scenes architect of the Bush administration’s first version of the military commissions for terrorism suspects — which the Supreme Court found to unconstitutionally restrict the legal rights of detainees — will take a central Pentagon position dealing with detainee policy for the Obama administration. William Lietzau, a Marine colonel who currently serves as deputy legal counsel to the National Security Council, is poised to become the Pentagon’s new deputy assistant secretary for detainee affairs in the next several weeks.