I have an assignment for the political capital of McCain and Graham.

Help the budget and deficit, chase down all the Bridge to Nowhere monies. People might even appreciate it. You know, rather than cutting SSI, Medicare and Medicaid.

McCain and Graham should be able to handle at least that.

The sign on Pike's Peak highway in Chipita Park, Colorado photographed on July 5, 2011 mentions sightings of Bigfoot, but science doesn't back up those claims.

By Ryan Richardson

Jeff Meldrum wants to search for Bigfoot (click here) by using a remote-controlled blimp. Because when you're looking for a mythical creature famous for eluding all who search for it, a giant, buzzing, looming balloon is clearly the way to go. Meldrum, a tenured Idaho State University anthropologist who established his career studying primate foot anatomy before shifting his focus to monsters, expects he'll have to raise $300,000 to get the project airborne. He's trying (and so far failing) to get funding from private sources. (No surprise that his home institution wants nothing to do with the endeavor.) That's a lot of money and effort for what will undoubtedly turn out to be a collection of blurry photographs that look like Instagram snapshots from a visit to the Pacific Northwest woods....

"...sharped tonged Susan Rice..." is a bigoted statement.

There is nothing 'sharped tongued' about Susan Rice. She is a diplomat and used to straight talk. She is not a politician. She has never exhibited anything but professional conduct and straight forward statements regarding any of the duties in her capacity. The description plays to hatred and bias.

The word to describe Ambassador Rice style of speech is terse. She is devoid of superficiality. Not sharped tongued. Kindly remember that.

That really describes the style of the Obama administration, now that I think of it. His State of the Unions have been terse. The American people aren't used to that. They like Hollywood, not straight forward facts. The Republicans like hate in their speech. Viciousness.

Sat Nov 24, 2012 10:41am EST

* Rice's chances of replacing Clinton damaged by Benghazi (click here)

* Her behavior at U.N. seen as blunt, rude by some diplomats

* Supporters say has the credentials to be top U.S. diplomat

* Has had some impressive successes for U.S. at the U.N.

By Louis Charbonneau and Susan Cornwell

UNITED NATIONS/WASHINGTON, Nov 24 (Reuters) - Susan Rice has had a series of diplomatic triumphs as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. President Barack Obama, an old friend, showed he has her back when last week he publicly challenged her Republican critics over the Benghazi controversy to "go after me" rather than her. She knew former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright from the age of 4...

The so called heavy weights of the party. You know the ones with all the 'political capital' believe they can carry out an agenda of lies and manipulation.

Ripping U.N. Amb. Susan Rice (click here) for telling the American public that the Sept. 11 Benghazi terrorist attack was due to rioting from a viral YouTube video defaming the Prophet Mohammed, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) and Sen. Lindsay Graham (S.C.) accused her of either incompetence or deliberately misleading the public....

Senator McCain has little political capital with the GOP. He is primarily an icon of war and therefore able to speak about it with an authority due to his service and POW years which left him somewhat paralyzed. But, political capital? I do believe he had quite a run for his money during his last election. He sort of ranks in there with Newt; useful but not endorsable.

Graham on the other hand amounts to nothing more than a bad habit. He was some kind of lawyer in the military and that has provided him an easy seat in DC. But, I can't he has done much in the way of improving the circumstances of the country; especially the past four years. Are most of his cronies and contsitutents white guys or something?

Another natural gas explosion. No one died, but, it was due to dumb luck.

Between seismic activity due to fracking and gas line leaks and explosions one might ask a state representative if this is a good combination.

11/23/2012 8:40 PM

By Derek Anderson and Melanie Dostis, GLOBE CORRESPONDENTS

SPRINGFIELD -- A natural gas explosion (click here) rocked downtown Springfield on Friday evening, injuring at least 18 people after leveling a downtown strip club in the city’s entertainment district, fire and hospital officials reported.

None of the injuries was considered life-threatening, according to spokeswomen at Baystate Medical Center and Mercy Medical Center in Springfield. Three of the injured were gas workers, two were firefighters, and at least one was a police officer, according to hospital officials and the New England Gas Workers Assocation, a nonprofit that promotes gas safety.

The explosion at 453 Worthington St., happened about 6 p.m., leveling the Scores Gentlemen’s Club, punching a large hole in the street, and blowing shards of glass and other debris through downtown streets. The Springfield Republican website reported that a nearby day care and five-story building were heavily damaged.

It was “just a mushroom cloud of an explosion -- big and orange,’’ said Victor Bruno, who owns Adolfos Italian Restaurant in the district. “It’s just a bad scene.”

Residents in Wilbraham and South Hadley felt the explosion, according to the Republican.

About 4:30 p.m., gas workers were reportedly finishing an investigation after receiving several calls about the smell of gas. Having evacuated the street during the investigation, workers were getting ready to let people back in when the explosion happened, according to Mark McDonald of the New England Gas Workers Association.

“It’s a good thing the people were still evacuated,’’ McDonald said. “If there were people in the building, it would have been a real catastrophe.”

The area is a bustling entertainment and residential area. It was quiet Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, although Bruno and other witnesses said it would have been crowded later in the night....

Magnitude 3.6 - ILLINOIS (click here)

2012 November 20 23:28:22 UTC

Seismic Hazard Map (click here)

%g - (click here) When there is an earthquake, the forces caused by the shaking can be measured as a percentage of gravity, or percent g.

I don't believe President Morsi will do anything strange.

I do not believe he has a strange agenda. I think he demonstrated that already, hasn't he? What do the Egyptian people expect a Jeckle/Hyde kind of thing? I don't think that is going to happen.

This is democracy. President Morsi needs to take a very cool approach to the demonstrations. He doesn't want to cause the people alarm more than they are already worried about.

Opponents of Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi (click here) have ransacked an office of the Muslim Brotherhood, burning books and chairs in the street....

5:03PM GMT 23 Nov 2012

...President Morsi's decree puts his decisions above legal challenge until a new parliament is elected, which has caused fury amongst his opponents who have accused him of being the new Hosni Mubarak and hijacking the revolution....

The USA has no room to criticize. There are generals that retire and leave for a lot of reasons all the time. All one has to do is examine the number retiring during the Bush years. So, I am more concerned about the fact Egypt was experiencing militarized leadership over civilian leadership.

1:07PM BST 13 Aug 2012

Mohammad Morsi (click here) dismissed Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi as Egypt's defence minister and head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces on Sunday night in a dramatic attempt to stamp civilian control over an institution that has run the country for almost six decades.

The general's forces helped remove the former dictator Hosni Mubarak from power during the popular uprising last year. Tantawi then acted as Egypt's de facto head of state for 17 months.

However, in a clear signal that the balance of power is shifting away from the generals, Mr Morsi has issued a decree cancelling an army declaration that restricted the powers of the presidency.

Damien McElroy said the timing of the confrontation had come as a surprise in Egypt just a week after a Cabinet reshuffle....

There is some discussion by Morsi to replace the constitution and retry Mubarak. I guess. He is sentenced to life in prison now. There were many police and/or military actually carrying out the deaths of citizens that have gone untried. It may very well include the generals. Mubarak was tried and found guilty of complicity. I suppose, but, it was the military that removed Mubarak and replaced his authority until the elections when Morsi was elected. So, I don't really see Mubarak the greatest danger to the new government. All this assuming the new government is going to remain benevolent.

In some Arab nations there are Moral Police. I don't recall their formal names.

I always thought it helped with 'self talk,' 'self identity,' when people were reminded of the glory of their religious values while carrying out every day activities. I didn't think it was a bad idea, just something the leadership saw as important in assisting the sophistication of their country's to move forward.

Muslims pray five times a day and with that in mind it is easy to understand how person to person reminders of 'values of the day' would be very important. Their devotion to their theocratic authority is paramount to their lives. They are not 'thought' police so much as reminders of the way things are.

At this point in Gaza, where so many do not understand this is a ceasefire leading to larger summits of power to define borders and assist the Palestinians to autonomy, it might be a very good idea if there were Moral Police within Gaza.

The idea that Hamas had a victory against Israel is what brought on this movement of Palestinians to the border fence. How many Palestinians actually understand Israel, want to understand Israel and know there is a lot of tolerance by Israel to seek a peaceful solution? Probably not many.

The Palestinians have come a long way from the earliest years of Arraf. They are recognized as a peoples, a homeland while moving toward sovereignty. Yet, the Palestinian people do not comprehend their achievements or their 'place,' if you will. They chronically 'rage against the machine' when in fact the machine exists because they rage against it.

I have no doubt there are many Palestinians and those belonging to Hamas that absolutely hate Israel and Hebrews and the Jewish faith. That will only change with time and generational acceptance. But, today, Hamas and Palestine have an opportunity to live without violence while being supported by the global community. Today, their opportunity, if well done, will live for generations and generations. But, if they throw away this opportunity they will suffer as in times past because they are unable to reach an understanding of tolerance and peace.

There sincerely needs to be a connection to the leadership of Gaza and its people. If roving holy men without guns will work, then do it. Be sure the Palestinians understand they are moving forward without violence and it is a good thing. Let them know their children are not in danger and should be studying books of math, language, rules of writing well and science like biology, physics and the natural world to prepare for the future. Tell them the days of hatred and anger are ending. Allow them to be grateful for those that died in promoting their lands and bringing about calm. Redirect their anger to ceremony of celebration of the sacrifice and allow them to understand they are not alone in the world and their future has a great of hope.

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli troops fired Friday (click here) to push back Gaza crowds surging toward Israel's border fence with the Hamas-ruled territory, killing one Palestinian and wounding 19 in the first violence since a truce between Israel and Hamas took hold a day earlier.

Hamas security tried to defuse the situation and keep the crowds away from the border, signaling the incident is unlikely to jeopardize the Egyptian-brokered cease-fire.

The truce, which calls for an end to Gaza rocket fire on Israel and Israeli airstrikes on Gaza, came after eight days of cross-border fighting, the bloodiest between Israel and Hamas in four years....

And give some real thought to ending, or at least reducing, celebratory firing of guns and anti-aircraft guns. The weapons are no longer necessary to secure their place on the Mediterranean, but, instead peace and an economy that will rob poverty of its power.

This backlash is exactly what has Israel vulnerable in the first place. It is outrageous !

Can't Israel accept the decisions of its own leaders? That is crazy. What is wrong with everyone?

How long have I heard from the Prime Minister of Israel there can be no pre-conditions to any ceasefire? It seems like forever. That is exactly what has occurred here and now people are stating he is not worthy of their loyalty? That makes no sense.

All these people are heroes to their nations. The leaders involved have done the impossible. Secretary Clinton, President Morsi, the leadership of Hamas that lent their loyalty to the Egyptian President and Prime Minister Netanyahu. They have done the impossible. There are no winners or losers here, there are simply people alive. Haven't enough died? Over decades, haven't enough died?

Benjamin Netanyahu, (click here) Israel's prime minister, was forced to defend his decision to cease hostilities in Gaza against a public and political backlash in which he was at one point dubbed a "loser" by his own troops.

By Damien McElroy, Jerusalem and Richard Spencer in Cairo

7:46PM GMT 22 Nov 2012

Both Israel and Hamas claimed victory after a truce brokered by Egypt and the United States brought an end to the week-long bombardment over the Gaza border.

But Mr Netanyahu faced allegations he had boosted the popularity of Hamas without achieving his military goals.

"Deterrence was not restored," said Shaul Mofaz, head of the centre-right Kadima party, rival to Mr Netanyahu's Likud. "There was no resolution. Hamas achieved exactly what it wanted.

"There is no security for the residents of southern Israel and of central Israel."

Mr Netanyahu's handling of the operation was, however, praised by security experts who said it had achieved the limited objectives that the prime minister had set down....

This may be linked to the bus explosion in Israel.

Gaza

( Mahmud Hamsa / AFP/Getty Images )

Palestinians search the debris of the al-Dallu family home following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City, on Sunday.

CNN's Carol Costello read a remark by those responsible for the bombing of the bus stating it was in revenge of the deaths of the al-Dallu family. I ran across this picture in the Los Angeles Times. Ms. Costello also asked, "Who is the al-Dallu family?" during her broadcast.

This was one of the homes hit during the targeting of militants in Gaza. From reading reports there were four children involved. 

I am grateful for #Occupy

Since early (cick here) Wednesday morning, Norman Kai Lee, owner of Stable House Bar and Café in Bedford-Stuyvesant, has been busy overseeing nearly 30 food preppers at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Fort Hamilton. Some cooks chopped fruits and vegetables while others cleaned, seasoned and brined turkeys in what has become a major hub of food distribution for Occupy Sandy. At last count, the crew was preparing to cook 340 turkeys for distribution on Thanksgiving morning to victims of Hurricane Sandy....

The NLRB should have a process to examine directives of management.

In the case of Hostess, as soon as the debt load to the company increased without a basis of improving their market share or other valid reasons there is probably a process to invoke through the NLRB. 

The motives in the case of Hostess was to liquidate the company and destroy the union. There needs to be a way to impose a review of management practices that will adverse the USA sovereign economy and the rights for unions to exist in longevity.

Along with that management should be a review of union practices as well to be sure they are benevolent to their membership. Not to impose rollbacks, but, simply a review of practices for the longevity of the union. If unions want to examine management priorities for union longevity it is only fair to provide the NLRB with reassurances the union is capable of longevity with benevolence to their members.

A sovereign nation with an economy based in capitalism principles relies on taxes to pay for its operations, military and otherwise. If a private sector can carry on by destroying companies to liquidate their assets and provide huge returns to investors, it is an assault on this nation.

Companies are given every reason to exist in the USA. They are provided breaks by local governments in many instances so they build and stay in operation to provide a way of life to their citizens. 

When companies close down they contract economies and reduce tax bases. There has to be a way of handling this through the NLRB. Has to be.

Vulture capitalism. Just that simple. Who's next? THINK LOCAL ECONOMIES to preserve our way of life and Middle Class jobs.

Mediation was never going to work this late in the game. The companies indebtedness is too overwhelming and that was intentional. If unions want to stop this, they have to nip it in the bud. The unions have to take action against a company with increasing debt that will endanger workers careers. Hostess is the best example of Romney vulture capitalism. It doesn't matter how big they are or how hard they fall. Americans need to take notice of their 'Amerikana' slipping through their fingers with this form of vicious capitalism.

People have to ask, how did Hostess ever get here? Then they have to ask is what other companies in the USA are following the same path? People need to stop it. Vulture capitalism contracts the economy.

A quote from the lawyer below:

...received a "flood of inquiries" from potential suitors.

The Hostess products are still in demand and have a whole lot of others seeking the power of 'the brand names.' This is vulture capitalism. There is no reason why Hostess should have entered bankruptcy except it was managed to achieve that goal. Like, what? Citizens are ridiculed for declaring bankruptcy and they never have that as a goal. The management of Hostess had bankruptcy as a goal. Why are they rewarded by our laws to do so?

There is no moral content in this management style. There are huge ethical issues. The management style deceives the employees and unions as if they will avoid adverse outcomes at all costs when it was their goal from the beginning. Planning the destruction of companies for the sake of pocketing the cash, changing the paradigm of manufacturing in the USA has to be viewed as a draconian methodology allowed within our democracy. It should not be tolerated.

It is one thing for a company to face adverse problems and seek bankruptcy. An example is the airline industry. They are so customer service dense and are impacted by weather, etc., they do suffer deficit episodes that lead to exponential problems. When airline companies are impacted by circumstances outside of their control, they pay for hotel rooms, meals, rerouting passenger traffic and on top of all the respect the passengers receive; they still look elsewhere in the future. How do they not eventually file for bankruptcy? 

That is not at all the case with Hostess. There are huge ethical issues and I'll go so far as to say, legal issues as well. The motives alone are criminal.

By Tiffany Hsu, Los Angeles Times
November 21, 2012

Twinkies maker Hostess Brands Inc. (click here) won court approval to start shutting down operations, selling its assets and laying off its 18,500 workers, after the failure of an 11th-hour mediation to try to resolve a labor dispute.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain gave Hostess the go-ahead Wednesday to sell its plants and brands after he presided over the closed-door talks Tuesday with the company and the striking Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco and Grain Millers Union, which represents about 5,000 Hostess workers.

Heather Lennox, a lawyer for Hostess, said in court that the company has received a "flood of inquiries" from potential suitors.

Among the possible bidders are Nature's Own parent Flowers Foods Inc., Sun Capital Partners Inc., Sara Lee owner Grupo Bimbo, Pabst Blue Ribbon owner C. Dean Metropoulos & Co. and investment firm Hurst Capital, according to reports and analysts....

Too cute. Get the feeling it is feeding time?

Speaker Boner is nominated for the next Speaker of the divided Republican House.

Obamacare will not be repealed. The Bush Tax Cuts will expire and the sequester will go forward. 

When have Republicans ever acted in the best interests of the country rather than Wall Street? When have the Republicans ever been able to reduce the cost of health care? We are in the mess we have now because of forty years of Republican policy.

I hope they replace Boner. If he is weak enough to play politics to win an election in the House there is no hope the House will ever be anything but divided.

The House had an illegitimate majority due to gerrymandering. They need to get over it. They lack moral content.

...The tactics of our repeal efforts (c;ick here) will have to change. But the strategic imperative remains the same. If we’re serious about getting our economy moving again, solving our debt and restoring prosperity for American families, we need to repeal Obamacare and enact common-sense, step-by-step reforms that start with lowering the cost of health care....

Boner doesn't pay attention, poor man. He has a very short memory. Are you hurtin' for your cronies, Boner?

• JULY 31, 2012

Tomorrow, August 1 (click here) health insurance companies throughout the country will be refund $1.1 billion dollars in premiums to 12.8 million of their subscribers. This is because of a rule that goes into effect tomorrow, thanks to the Affordable Care Act....

• ...Administrative costs for private health insurance, which were $90,000,000,000 in 2006, added up to anywhere between 26 and 30 percent of premiums in individual and small group markets....

A ceasefire. It is enforceable. The missiles and rockets have to stop.

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Amr hold a news conference in Cairo to announce a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. (Egyptian State Television / November 21, 2012)

That is magnificent work and in relatively short period of time. President Morsi is a reliable partner.

By Emily Alpert
November 21, 2012

Egypt announced a cease-fire agreement (click here) between Israel and Hamas effective Wednesday evening local time, the Associated Press reported.

In details of the agreement obtained by the news agency, Israel will cease all military activity against the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip at 9 p.m. local time (11 a.m. PST) and Palestinian militants will cease rocket attacks into Israel. After 24 hours of quiet, Gaza's border crossings with Israel will be opened further to allow freer movement of goods and people.

The announcement by Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Amr and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton followed talks in Cairo between Clinton and Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi....

Congratulations to all parties and all peoples. Thank you.

Is there confusion about the attack on the Israeli bus? There should not be.

This attack is consistent across Islam. We still witness it in Iraq where a central government doesn't mean much to their personal revenge. It is part of the culture of violence within Islam that has replaced the Muslim faith.

The 'sects of faith' that has replaced the Muslim faith do not give governments validity. It is more difficult to have the people within Islam come to the government to solve their problems when those governments are corrupt as we witnessed when returning focus to Afghanistan.

The focus to stop these attacks is nearly impossible when conducting negotiations. There is no way the USA is going to recognize terrorists as a legitimate authority because it literally undermines the very negotiations. It is the sovereign authority of the countries involved that have to handle the violence. The problem has been the same for a long time, it is the violence.

The violence makes leaders hapless in their ability to control the peace within their country and enforceable in treaties. One of the most stark examples of this haplessness was Musharraf. Heck, he was nearly blown up twice crossing the same bridge inside Pakistan.

So the violence of terror groups is a real commodity that compromises country's leadership while providing autonomous economies, like the Afghanistan poppy economy or the USA drug economy. These economies accommodate violence and power through money. These acts of violence have to be contained by sovereign authorities.

Secretary Clinton has her hands full. She has to be able to negotiate a treaty between all the parties involved while making the enforcement measurable. It won't do anyone any good if the day after the signing of a treaty or peace agreement Israel continues to receive violence and returns to a defensive posture. The agreements have to be enforceable. Literally, the sovereign authority have to return their 'sects' to a civilized content and focus on their future and not revenge over the past. It is why it is taking so long. All are hopeful President Morsy can open new dimensions in peace to bring about sincere treaties between all the nations involved. Time will tell.

A bus exploded in Israel. I am sure President Morsy is familiar with the violence of the extremists.

The bus explosion is a form of retaliation to sabotage any peace negotiations. What else is new? It would not be negotiations without them. Sympathies to the families losing family members.

The talks have to go forward and President Morsy is in danger of being a target no different than those before him. Welcome to the reality of the Middle East and its neverending story. 

21 November 2012 Last updated at 09:10 ET

The BBC's Wyre Davies (click here for video) reports on the situation in Gaza City after eight days of exchanges of fire between Israel and Gaza.

At least 10 people have been injured in an explosion on a bus in Israel's commercial capital, Tel Aviv, in what one Israeli official described as a "terrorist attack".

After the incident, near military headquarters, huge blasts were heard in Gaza - an apparent Israeli strike on the football stadium.

A love triangle is the definitive reason for the explosion.

It is a gas explosion. Whether it was a love triangle or not it was another gas explosion. Natural gas is a weapon in many crimes of passion including children in the middle of a custody battle. We don't have to have these disasters in our lives. So, why continue it?

Indiana Neighborhood Explosion: Two Questioned in Connection to Blast (click here for video)

ALEX PEREZ (@perezreports) and ANDY FIES

Nov. 21, 2012

...Police won't say who they are questioning, but cell phone video captured by Brad Horton and his girlfriend Whitney Essex shows a SWAT team descending on a mobile home park in southwest Indianapolis.

"These people came in tanks with people on top of them," Essex told ABC News.

The couple says their neighbor Bob Leonard was led away for questioning. Leonard is the brother of Mark Leonard, who is dating Montserrate Shirley, who along with Mark Leonard, lives in the home that exploded.

"It was pretty serious. They don't pull those [tanks] out for just anything," Horton said.

Much of the attention since the explosion has centered on Shirley and Leonard, who lived at the house in the center of the blast area. The two ignored questions from reporters on Tuesday.

The couple says they were at a casino, and the home was empty when the explosion rocked the quiet neighborhood, killing the Longworths and damaging nearly 100 homes....

Rubio doesn't know how old our planet is? Really? He is a Senator? Really?

The United States of America Geological Survey has it figured out and it is not breaking news.

What the electorate stated in 2012 is that we are not interested in iconic morons in the Executive Branch.

The ages of Earth (click here) and Moon rocks and of meteorites are measured by the decay of long-lived radioactive isotopes of elements that occur naturally in rocks and minerals and that decay with half lives of 700 million to more than 100 billion years to stable isotopes of other elements. These dating techniques, which are firmly grounded in physics and are known collectively as radiometric dating, are used to measure the last time that the rock being dated was either melted or disturbed sufficiently to rehomogenize its radioactive elements.
Ancient rocks exceeding 3.5 billion years in age are found on all of Earth's continents. The oldest rocks on Earth found so far are the Acasta Gneisses in northwestern Canada near Great Slave Lake (4.03 Ga) and the Isua Supracrustal rocks in West Greenland (3.7 to 3.8 Ga), but well-studied rocks nearly as old are also found in the Minnesota River Valley and northern Michigan (3.5-3.7 billion years), in Swaziland (3.4-3.5 billion years), and in Western Australia (3.4-3.6 billion years)....

Okay, so Rubio ADMITS he is not a scientist. He is not an MD, he is not a physicist, he is not a woman best we all know, he is not a laborer, he is not a Castro exile immigrant, he is no longer a Mormon since moving out of Las Vegas to Miami, so what! His excuse as a USA Senator for not knowing the USA government absolutely has proof of the age of Earth is that he is not a Scientist? People vote for this? Why? The man holds federal office and can't get out of his own way in knowing what the federal government already knows?

Everyone knows Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio has been a so called "Dream Team" for the Executive Branch. We all know that. So we all should be threatened and be preoccupied with this mess? They are out there looking for money. That is new for the GOP? They are always looking for money.

The age of the Earth is NOT a theory and if Rubio wants to be Veep to Jeb's Prez, then he needs to realize the nukes they'll hold near and dear to their heart has a scientific understanding of HALF LIFE. Now, if Rubio accepts the USA has nuclear weapons with materials with a half-life then the argument the age of Earth is a theory is OVER. It is very, very over. If he wants to pander politically to old, white guys, he might want to ask how many will kick the bucket by 2016.

Come 2016 Rubio will run for the Veep Stakes for the same reason Ryan did, to maintain the office he already holds.

“I’m not a scientist, man,” (click here) Rubio, a member of the Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, said. “I can tell you what recorded history says; I can tell you what the Bible says; but I think that’s a dispute amongst theologians, and I think it has nothing to do with the gross domestic product or economic growth of the United States.”

It just won't be freedom in the USA if children weren't toting guns to school.

Governor Chris Christie needs to declare his re-election bid.

I saw his SNL debut. It was great. It clearly illustrated his ability to reach across divides in communication and make an impression. When Governor Christie declares his re-election bid, the GOP will straighten up.
Governor Christie needs to realize how important he is as an icon of change within the GOP. HE DID HIS JOB without  PARTY FIRST. It is the way the USA works best. He may have broken the mold as well and I congratulate him. I don't live in New Jersey, but, I know many people there and he deserves to be re-elected. He needs to stand out as an important person in the GOP and I am confident he is able to convey that to all residents of New Jersey.
November 20, 20123:20 p.m.By James RaineyRepublicans (click here) seem to have no lack of understanding about how badly their presidential nominee, Mitt Romney,  damaged the party brand by demonizing a good chunk of the electorate as “victims” and “gift” grabbers — the slothful masses who just can’t wait to take a government handout.

The party faithful might also want to reconsider their recent demonization of one of their previous favorites, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, if they hope to recapture the heart of America. And have a better shot in the next presidential election.

The New York Times’ Michael Barbaro reported Tuesday on how the immensely likable, plain-talking governor remainspersona non grata among GOP mainstays following the lost presidential election. His crime: suggesting that President Obama performed admirably in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy....

Politics is local in many instances. President Obama was going to win New Jersey with or without Superstorm Sandy. To believe Governor Christie would have a national reach is hideous. There are actually voters in the USA whom do not know Governor Christie. He is known among the Tea Party and some interests in the GOP, but, not the nation. 

Murdoch and Rush Limbaugh are the worst thing that happened to the GOP, when they wake up to that reality they might actually have a party worth the attention of Americans.

Could it be the 'political control' of the nation is more a mirage than the one Murdoch and his piers can admit. The USA electorate has finely gotten the message, "Images created by ideologues is not the way to measure a leader."

Murdoch is scared of 'the truth.'
Governor Christie is different than many other Republican Governors. He never saw a benefit to assailing Voter ID. The current NJ Voter laws fall in with existing federal standards.
Pursuant (click here) to the federal "Help America Vote Act of 2002" (HAVA), if you registered to vote by mail in your county after January 1, 2003, and never voted in a federal election in the county, you were required to provide your county commissioner of registration with identification.

Governor Chris Christie also never saw the reason to lend brevity to Gerrymandering as other scared Republican governors have. He stands on his own as someone worthy of the vote and not the best manipulator of power that sincerely belongs to the people anyway.
The symbol to the left is regarded as an icon to gerrymandering. (click here) It first appeared in a newspaper in 1812. (see to the right) There is an understanding in the country, albeit not widely, that gerrymandering is demoralizing to the electorate.
There is an article (click here) in the Harvard Law Review, Vol. 117, No. 4, Feb., 2004, that might be helpful for those seeking a deeper understanding of the demoralizing effect of gerrymandering.
"Poor Elbridge Gerry. Certainly, this is not how the distinguished Vice President of the United States of America and Governor of Massachusetts wanted to be remembered..."

Elbridge Gerry (click here) was born in Marblehead, Massachusetts, on July 17, 1744. He studied at Harvard to be a merchant, graduating in 1762. He was elected to the Massachusetts Legislature in 1773 and was selected to attend the Provincial Congress in 1774. He was then appointed to the Continental Congress, where he was engaged in committee work on commercial and naval concerns. He attended the Constitutional Convention in 1798 but was opposed to the new Federal Constitution, refusing to sign it....