Secretary

The White House announced a new social secretary Saturday. Julianna Smoot, who is chief of staff for the office of U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, will replace Rogers who planned to step down from the office. Obama is glad to have her join their team. She first came under scrutiny when that couple 'crashed' the white house party, she said it wasn't the social secretary's job, but the secret service's.

Broken?

86 percent of americans believe the u.s government is broken, that is up 8 percent since 2006. Of all these people, 81 percent believe that the 'broken' government can be fixed, that means the other 19 percent have lost hope. The increase is highest among higher-income Americans and people who live in rural areas. I wonder what the definition of broken is...
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69 Percent + Joe Lieberman

Joe Lieberman is going to support the repeal of the Don't Ask Don't Tell Policy this coming monday. He believes that to exclude one group of Americans from serving in the armed forces is contrary to our fundamental principles as outlined in the Declaration of Independence. Lieberman is going against his close friend McCain who opposes banning the policy. Lieberman also told New York Daily News on Monday that he sees repealing the policy "as an extension, the next step of the civil rights movement."

Nearly seven in ten Americans think that people who are openly gay or lesbian should be allowed to serve in the military, according to a new national poll. Support for allowing gays in the military is much higher among Democrats than Republicans, but the policy wins support from a majority of Republicans as well.

Jobs Bill?

84 percent of Americans believe Congress is not doing enough to tackle the nation's jobs problem. So what are they doing? There are suspicions, stalling, bull, and the new jobs bill being pulled. Reid pulls his support from the new jobs bill because of a conversation Reid had with McConnell, minority leader. The conversation consisted of McConnell saying he would not agree to bring the bipartisan jobs bill to the floor quickly and Reid became concerned the Republican leader would drag out the process and the bill would ultimately fail. Reid feels that the republicans put a few supporting the bill, butt all the others will drag out the bill and cause it to fail, a bit like the health care bill. It is apparent McConnell and Reid had very different timetables for the jobs bill. Reid wanted it passed before the Senate went on break last week. McConnell told CNN last week he thought it would "take a few weeks" and "we're not quite ready to go forward." Why delay when 84 percent think congress is sucking.

Nukes!

Joe Biden staked out a middle ground on nuclear weapons policy Thursday, trying to reassure critics claiming the administration's disarmament efforts are either too fast or too slow. Biden had a 23 minute speech at the National Defense University in Washington. He said that the spread of nuclear weapons is the greatest threat facing the country and maybe even humanity. Also that the weapons' reliability had been neglected and underfunded in recent years. One arms control analyst warns, however, that the administration may be pushing forward on too many nuclear fronts simultaneously. I do agree with Biden on the fact that the nuclear weapons are a big problem.

GOP + Gay Pride = GOProud

GOProud is participating in a roundtable on Saturday about technology and outreach, not about gay rights. They are also an unlikely sponsor at this year's annual conservative conference and are hoping to not only promote the issues that set it apart from many Republicans, but also draw attention to the beliefs they share. GOProud was founded by former members of the Log Cabin Republicans, a gay and lesbian Republican grass-roots organization. The funny, and slightly ironic, part is their booth at the convention is just two spaces away from the exhibition for the National Organization for Marriage, which wants the government to define marriage as between a man and a woman. The members' nontraditional conservative views are pissing some attendees off who are at the convention, even though they are not going to be talking about gay rights at the roundtable.

"Gays and lesbians have the right to live as they choose, but they don't have the right to redefine marriage for the rest of us," Plante said. But yet the other group, National Orangization for Marriage who wants to define marriage, doesn't get any criticism.

Biden gives his opinion

Joe Biden was on Larry King Live Wednesday night and talked about terrorist attacks in general and the christmas bomb threat. In Joe Biden's opinion there will not be another 'massive' attack like 9/11. He said there will probably be more "small-bore but devastatingly frightening attacks," like the christmas one. Biden said he expected Congress to pass a jobs bill to stimulate employment growth. "I think you're going to see net creation of jobs every month" starting in the spring, Biden also said.

Power to the states!

The 'Tenther' movement, in reference to the tenth amendment, is all about: "Big government is out of control; states need to take back their constitutional rights". The tenth amendment, which states "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people" is the main basis for their two year urging on the States to use their constitutional rights. 37 states have passed resolutions that assert their rights. While the resolutions have no legal teeth, they're intended to carry a message: States' rights are being trampled on. Activists say that federal government's forcing policies on the states- most notably on health care reform, economic recovery measures and social issues.

Meghan McCain gets fiesty

Meghan McCain, daughter of thee McCain, spoke out agians Former Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colorado, who slammed President Obama on the first night of the Tea Party convention last week in Nashville. Tancredo, known for his outspoken views on illegal immigration and his disdain for Sen. McCain,said: "Thank God John McCain lost the election," and some innate racisim about Obama. She had to say that the party didn't appeal to the youth and that, without the youth, the party will not get going. Whether she is upset or not about Tancredo's attack on her father, I believe she is right.

Tea Party Nation?

Is it a real tea party group, like the one ron paul created, or is it a way to bash obama and a scam for money. The tea party nation is a for-profit organization you should join to "quench your thirst for freedom." This group believes in: "Limited Government, Free Speech, the 2nd Amendment, our Military, Secure Borders and our Country!" as stated on their homepage. They have three-day convention that is already underway. The former U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo of Colorado used his kickoff speech to slam President Obama: "People who could not even spell the word 'vote,' or say it in English put a committed socialist ideologue in the White House. His name is Barack Hussein Obama." Many of the forums on their site are 'obama bashing'. They are going to have a guest speaker Sarah Palin, who is getting paid 100k to be there. Two other speakers backed out because of the groups for-profitness. 600 people have paid $549 each to attend the convention and that the event is sold out. But they add that tickets costing $349 are still available for Saturday night's banquet, where Palin is going to speak.
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TPN: tea party nation

Brown

The election victory of Massachusetts Sen.-elect Scott Brown is expected to be certified Thursday, which could allow him to be sworn in as early as Thursday. He broke the magic numbers, and has some democrats fearing re-elections that are coming up. I wonder if the rep. will now filibuster the health care bill and cause more delays? They will be better obstructionists now though.


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Obama's kickin butt and takin names

Are the Republicans being obstructionists? Whatever the real answer is Obama is calling out Republicans, he criticized them on the GOP's increased use of filibuster during the past year and "when (Democrats) extend a hand and get a fist in return". "If you want to govern, you can't just say no," Obama argued. "It can't be about just scoring points." It can't just be about winning and losing, everyone needs to get out of that mentality and, why I don't know, GOVERN. People need to get over being a rep. or a dem. and actually do something. They need to stop thinking about, will I get reelected? and focus on the issues and do something.

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