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Stating the Obvious
Author: BobR    Date: 02/18/2011 13:22:40

Money, money, money... It always seems to be at the center of controversy. Listening to the debate about the deficit, taxes, jobs, and the budget, one can almost picture a family arguing around the dinner table. Mom thinks Dad should earn more, or get a second job (increase taxes), Dad thinks Mom should learn to get by with less (cut spending), and the kids want more allowance, while the credit cards get maxed out every month.
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61 comments (Latest Comment: 02/18/2011 20:38:50 by Raine)

2012? What about 2011?
Author: Raine    Date: 02/17/2011 13:51:21

There is much talk about the FY 2012 budget. It's painful, it's belt tightening and as I have previously said -- no one likes it. That is completely understandable. I think, however we are getting ahead of ourselves. Why? There is no budget for Fiscal year 2011. We, as a nation, are currently running on 2010 spending levels. So what is congress doing about it?
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54 comments (Latest Comment: 02/18/2011 01:17:05 by livingonli)

Squatting in the Peoples' House
Author: BobR    Date: 2011-02-16 12:05:49

We've all heard mention of coworkers who "live at the office". This is often meant as a subtle put-down against over-achievers, those who are willing to sacrifice their personal lives to get ahead in their professions, where most people prefer a more balanced lifestyle. Imagine, though, if you worked with someone who actually lived at the office? Imagine that at the end of the day, they roll out a sleeping bag and sleep right there on the floor? You know they're getting paid enough to have their own home... why would they do that?
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55 comments (Latest Comment: 02/17/2011 01:24:24 by TriSec)

Ask a Vet
Author: TriSec    Date: 02/15/2011 11:36:30

Good Morning.

Today is our 2,890th day in Iraq and our 3,418th day in Afghanistan.

We'll start this morning as we always do; with the latest casualties from our ongoing wars, courtesy of Antiwar.com:

American Deaths
Since war began (3/19/03): 4436
Since "Mission Accomplished" (5/1/03): 4297
Since Handover (6/29/04): 3577
Since Obama Inauguration (1/20/09): 208
Since Operation New Dawn: 18

Other Coalition Troops - Iraq: 318
US Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 1,476
Other Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 849
Contractor Employee Deaths - Iraq: 1,487
Journalists - Iraq : 348
Academics Killed - Iraq: 448

For the second week in a row, the "Cost of War" website seems to be unresponsive. I hope it's not going away; this is important information. Nevertheless, the home site of the National Priorities Project is up and running, so I urge you to spend some time poking around.

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64 comments (Latest Comment: 02/15/2011 21:38:36 by Raine)

Budget Balancing: Axe & Blindold Vs. Scalpel & Lasers
Author: Raine    Date: 02/14/2011 13:52:18

The President will be offering his Budget proposal this morning. The Washington Post reports:
Obama also would raise hundreds of billions of dollars in fresh revenue, which Republicans adamantly oppose. He would increase taxes on the wealthy by limiting the value of their itemized deductions and by allowing the recently extended George W. Bush-era tax breaks to expire in 2012. He would end subsidies for oil and gas companies, and would eliminate certain tax breaks for corporations that do business overseas. And he assumes that Congress will develop a plan to pay for a $556 billion transportation bill, a measure traditionally funded by increasing the federal tax on gasoline.

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51 comments (Latest Comment: 02/15/2011 01:12:06 by TriSec)

C-SPaCK
Author: velveeta jones    Date: 02/13/2011 15:31:53

The Republican wing of the Tea Party recently had a little to-do over in Washington D.C. Seems that despite their utter hatred of everything BIG and GOVERNMENTAL, they still can't find their way out of the beltway.

CPAC stands for Conservative People Against Community, I think. I may have to double check that. But if you were to look at some of the straw poll votes, you'd have to believe that is basically what they want.
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5 comments (Latest Comment: 02/13/2011 20:14:23 by trojanrabbit)

Saturday Open
Author: TriSec    Date: 02/12/2011 14:52:18

Good Morning!

Well, the sun is shining and we're expecting temps to approach 30 today. Of course, there are some flurries that may visit.

Speaking of visit, I'll be off soon to Mt. Auburn hospital to visit my father-in-law. When it rains, it pours. He was scheduled to be in-hospital on Thursday for a surgical procedure related to a fall and mild concussion he had back around Thanksgiving. Then me Mum went all acute and landed in Melrose Wakefield on the same day.

I had planned a blog this morning on the fragility of life, and how we're all on borrowed time anyway, but a certain Gordon Sumner wrote the definitive song about that quite some time ago.

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3 comments (Latest Comment: 02/13/2011 04:55:03 by BobR)

From Leak to Gusher
Author: BobR    Date: 02/11/2011 13:47:19

When WikiLeaks first started to make a name for itself, it seemed like an amazing idea. Here was a place where whistle-blowers could "leak" documents in order to right wrongs they felt were not seeing the light of day. It was a noble idea, and a threat to power, which is why you would expect the powers-that-be to try and take them down. That seems to have happened, although their meteoric appearance on the websphere has been cause for internal problems as well.
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61 comments (Latest Comment: 02/12/2011 12:37:58 by Scoopster)

The Party of No Jobs
Author: Raine    Date: 02/10/2011 14:20:15

This is the House of Representatives schedule for the rest of the week. Go ahead, click. I had to refresh it a few times, as I could not believe it my self. Here is a picture of the days the House is supposed to be in session. Today being the 10 of February shows to me that they have 7 days left to work on Capitol Hill. According to this:
House Schedule
January 31 - February 4 Constituent Work Week
February 21 President's Day
February 22 - February 25 Constituent Work Week
Three major provisions of the Patriot act are set to expire February 28. One would think, no matter the opinion on the Act, there would be some sort of rush to get something passed. So What has the House been focused on?
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45 comments (Latest Comment: 02/11/2011 03:12:16 by livingonli)

Optimism in the News
Author: BobR    Date: 2011-02-09 11:19:09

Since the election debacle of 2010, it's been hard to find those little golden nuggets of good news for liberals. Some among us have become "glass half empty" types, looking for the dark cloud for every silver lining. I guess I am more of the "glass half full" type. So here are a few otherwise unrelated stories that help reinforce hopes for Democrats and liberals.
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49 comments (Latest Comment: 02/10/2011 02:34:45 by TriSec)

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