All politicians are traitors to the Constitution Article XIV if they question public debts, and I quote the Constitution, "The validity of public debt shall not be questioned."

Milton Friedman's economic dogma has been destroying economies around the world for forty years. Friedman has designed a complex ponzi scheme for the wealthy and powerful.

Mr Luskin is either disingeuous about his pushing of ID or his abilities as a scientist. Of course the field of of evolutionary biology has controversies. All actively growing scientific disciplines have controversies. As new data is discovered or old data reinterpreted old ideas are questioned or new ones rejected. It's the "scientific method". There are questions over how gravity works, yet we stay stuck to the earth.

Mr. Luskin states the tree of life is falling apart. It is just being rearranged as genetic research needs to be reconciled with the old phylogenetic model. His attempts to claim that there are major flaws in the broad evoltionary theory. The flaw is instead his understanding of science.

I never argue religion with people. It is pointless. You either believe or you don’t and if you do believe, nothing can or will change your mind. And if your religious conviction spills over to your politics, “God does not want us to raise taxes” then political debate and discussion become pointless also. Such is the republican party today. It is the same problem dealing with theocratical governments like Iran. Arguing the separation of church and state to people in those theocratic systems is as foreign to them as a democratic system without the right to vote is to us. It should frighten every American that republicans are quickly moving towards a theocratic stance on governing. It means we will continue to deal with the intransigence seen today on the debt ceiling issue. Republicans have been given a mission from god so to compromise would be to go against god’s will and as long as republicans are doing his will, god will protect us which means they can ignore economists, business leaders and other real smart people when they say you don’t raise the debt ceiling and it will be disastrous. Republicans just say, “No, the lord will provide.” Then a month from now when the stock market has crashed, the credit rating is tanked and the economy is in a tail spin, they will start scrambling like the guy that was predicting the end of the world for sometime last June for an excuse. Maybe then it will be because of planned parenthood or there are too many gay people or woman should have more children. Religion is fine when you pray in your closet but when you use it as an excuse for political policy and you hurt me and my fellow Americans you are no different than the religious zealots that rule Iran.

We do not need a deal. Just raise the damn debt limit all by itself. All the rest of this kabuki dancing and noise is meant to simply entertain the unwashed masses. Getting those 47 thousand troops out of Iraq ASAP, now that is something worthwhile to yell about. Peace

Thanks for sharing your thoughts Thom. I am hesitant to give up on Pres. Obama just yet. I really believe we have to be patient. Our oppressors are in the process of being isolated and alienated. The tea party and GOP are not in control of their own destiny. They are very much being subjugated by a higher power. At this point in time I pray that you give Pres. Obama the benefit of the doubt that he is actually serving as a positive element of change. It is very complicated but Pres. Obama is not a servant of the anti-Christ. He is a firm believer in government transparency. We need to focus on isolating and alienating this tea party agenda. That is where are energy needs to go. If the weight of their political power is removed I am confident that Pres. Obama will turn our country in the right direction. Right now their is an anchor on his boat that calls itself the GOP. I do believe that miracles can happen. I've been witnessing a lot of them in my personal life lately. I do believe we can all work together to remove this GOP and this tea party movement from power. At that point in time we will be able to make a more objective account of what are the Presidents real desires. Right now his desires are being held hostage. We will not be able to see that until that anchor is removed. So please keep working hard on alienating and isolating the tea party agenda as you have been doing. And please try to give Pres. Obama the benefit of the doubt for the time being. It is a chess match right now and the Pres. in his heart does not want to sacrifice these essential obligations. He is simply calling the GOP's bluff with this maneuver. It is our job as consciencious observors to analyze the situation and analyze how the GOP is reacting. They are becoming more and more divided every day and their trust in each other is breaking down. Many are calling for Boehner to step down. Their legitamacy as a party is very much being challenged right now. It's time to drive a stake in their heart. Anyhow, that's my one and 1/2 rupees on the matter. Just food for thought. So many people are listening to you Thom. Be strong and go for the juggler.

"I hope we shall crush in its birth the aristocracy of our monied corporations which dare already to challenge our government to a trial of strength, and bid defiance to the laws of our country." Thomas Jefferson

"Everyone recognised that the weakness of a democracy was that its government had to do broadly what the people wanted it to do". Lord John Hope, Tory politician/Under Secretary of State for Scotland. Guardian newspaper April 25-26 1950

The Constitution and Amendments have been open to interpretation; but this nation's citizens depend upon the document for the protection and rights that are provided. The men who intiated the document realized that money is corruptive when individuals or corporations are given opportunities to manipulate and change rights.

McConnell, like Lord Hope, is merely saying that the voters have the power of the ballot box and that changes are driven by the ordinary citizens from the poor and middle working class, represented by the Democratic Party and the Independents; to the disadvantage of the conservative Republican Party. Out of frustration, McConnell is proposing that the balance be changed to benefit the corporists by re-writing the foundation of our democratic process.

The residents on the state of Michigan are witnessing a similar situation, Governor Rick Snyder, has begun the experiment by removing elected officials in communities that are targeted because of fiscal crisis. Michigan has high unemployment numbers, we have been part of the Rust Belt for decades and communities are impovished through no fault of their own. In fact, this governor has become wealthy by bleeding companies dry and moving any valuables to his Chinese interests. Appointed managers have authority over all community public functions and the idea that private companies are better equiped to run services less costly; such as, schools, police, fire departments, road maintenance, libraries, etc. is being promoted. Community self rule through democratic elected officials is being challenged. Citizens are in the process of recalling Gov. Snyder.

It never really stopped, and it's getting common again. I work as a consumer bankruptcy attorney and we get people in all the time who are being offered the same old cock and bull story about buying into homes they can't afford and "refinancing later," loans with terrible terms, ARM loans, interest only loans, the works. Just crap. I also hear ads on the radio all the time from different mortgage companies making the same bs promises. We need a super crash to get everyone's attention. Maybe then they'll actually fight for change instead of sitting by and letting it happen.

Thom...Judging by the number of bible quoting morons, it seems the far right has mounted a terrangilist attack on whatever you have to say. I wonder what they"ll believe in when Murdoch and Fox go under...

Peace and Prosperity to everyone..

tD

I'm 60 years old. I've signed a zillion petitions, hundreds (if not thousands) of letters, made phone calls, demonstrated, etc., etc., etc. trying to get government (currently Obama) and our Democrat "representatives" to do the right thing and stand up for the working people of the U.S. instead of the wealthy and corporations. I've watched people like Bernie Sanders (a hero!) trying to shame the Republicans into stopping their attacks on the "bottom" 2/3 of the country.

For a long time I assumed it was unrestrained greed that was drving the insane dismantling of our social systems, health care, education, etc. Very recently I've had a sobering realization. The Republicans, their wealthy owners, the corporatists and bankers are, for the most part, fully aware that we live on a finite planet that is being destroyed by humans (in large part by capitalism). Resources are being depleted at a totally unsustainable rate. What is happening now worldwide with "austerity measures" is a very CONSCIOUS DECISION by the ruling elite to try and kill off a significant portion of the world's population. You see the numbers of annual deaths in the U.S. listed above as a result of increasing inequality. This number is going to skyrocket as the middle class disappears, the working poor become even poorer, access to education is affordable only to the rich, climate change causes increasing horrors, etc. It does no good to raise these issues to the Republicans (and in many cases Democrats also) in an attempt to make them care or shame them into it. They simply don't care. They WANT the poor, the unemployed, the homeless, to die. It's going to take a lot more than signing petitions and making phone calls to congress to change this direction.

Thom and others may think this idea is over the top, but I hope he'll consider it and even discuss it. Looking at what's going on, I believe it's becoming clearer every day.

I'm not sure any of the republicans in the so called leadership group like democracy. It goes the wrong way too often, and the repubs don't like that. W in China mused that he would like to have the kind of power of the Chinese leader.

This way, they really have to work to keep us all in line--but it is working.

As I try to prepare my soul for judgment day, I realize now that I am an obsolete American. Satan’s disciples have orchestrated a plan to make you and I throw away Americans.

http://www.salon.com/news/us_economy/index.html?story=/news/feature/2010/07/27/american_people_obsolete

Obama will be leaving the WH at 12:00 noon on January 20, 2013 with more money than the $270 million chest that I have shared with you. Obama is a corporatist and an elitist!!! He played us for suckers!!!

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/obama-raised-86-million-2012-election-effort-130027481.html

Will Obama be leaving the WH with $400 million in a trust fund???

Mary Magdalen was one of Jesus’ disciples as He walked on earth. She has also been vilified as a harlot. She was not a harlot. She was a woman of means and her friends were persons of means. They, to some degree, helped to fund the Jesus Movement during His three year ministry. Mary followed Jesus because she became mesmerized by Jesus brilliant language skills for His day. His words had a positive impact on His followers. We, too, need to be mesmerized by Jesus’ words. If more persons were mesmerized by His words, we would have more justice and peace in our world.