The sequester, from what President Obama states, seems an attack on regulation as well.

I can't help believe there are 'side effects' of the debt cuts that serve the Republican agenda. If there are less inspectors, that serves their cronies. After all the last thing the horse meat canning facility in Oklahoma needs is an FDA inspector.

...Indeed, Gov. Bob McDonnell, R-Va., (click here) wrote in a letter urging the White House to tender an alternative - the cuts would have a "potentially devastating impact" on his Commonwealth of Virginia and would likely "force" his and other states into recession....

...among other things, reduced unemployment benefits for over 3.8 million people jobless for six months or longer; (there is extended unemployment available) 70,000 Head Start students removed from the pre-kindergarten program; (Republicans hate Head Start) layoffs of 10,000 teachers and other school staffers; (Republicans want to end the Department of Education) and fewer border security agents and facilities for detained illegal immigrants. (Republicans want a wall) ...

...Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., countered with a statement: "Surely the President won't cut funds to first responders when just last year Washington handed out an estimated $115 billion in payments to individuals who weren't even eligible to receive them, or at a time when 11 different government agencies are funding 90 different green energy programs. That would be a terrible and entirely unnecessary choice by a president who claims to want bipartisan reform."...

Same ole, same ole. The Republicans believe rhetoric works for them, so why change their rhetoric now when so much of what they are hoping for is the economy still tanking and being able to point to the President as a failure.

If the Republicans can discredit the President they can discredit the Democrats that supported his policies. The statement by McConnell offers no facts, but, simply statements of false accusations. $115 billion to First Responders that didn't deserve them? Where did that happen, because the American Jobs Act never passed the Congress.

And defeating Green Jobs is a goal for the Republicans. So, while their precious military is going to have to sustain furloughs, that is not as bad as the glee of undermining the Green Jobs on behalf of the petroleum industry. Why recover the economy in a way that doesn't serve their crony interests? So, while the cuts will be painful for the Republicans, they are counting on it falling into favor for many reasons, including, propaganda that this is the failure of President Obama and the Democrats.

They don't care. They are still stuck in campaign mode. They are still playing the same old game and will forever. They run campaigns. They don't governor. So, President Obama can call every Republican in Congress, but, they are listening with campaign ears, not governing ears. It is a waste of time. He should go another round with Tiger.

For eight years and two wars, all the American people heard was campaign propaganda. What makes anyone think they will do anything except continue to hold the USA hostage? They are still attempting to punish the nation while they pout.

Everything is Karl Rove's fault, if it is not President Obama's fault. Denial is a beautiful thing.

...The continuing resolution (CR) of 2013, which, as a stopgap, has only set funding for the federal government until March 27 instead of through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.  Congress must extend the CR by March 27 or else it risks completely shutting down the government....

This is too much governing for the Republicans. They don't work that hard at their jobs. This is far too much to get their minds around, UNLESS, it has a political benefit. Every measure they carry out has to have a political bottom line, otherwise, they don't 'get it.' 

They are going to do their darnest to make the political stand that everything RECESSION from here out is due to the re-election of President Obama and election of Democrats. They don't care about the economy. Look, if 2008 wasn't going to hurt their crony banks would the Republicans have bailed out the Middle Class. No way. As a matter of fact, the only measure Bush took to intervene for the Middle Class is to offer the car manufacturers a measure to tide them over until the new President and Congress was in place. AND that was risky business. Get that close to sustaining a union? Bush was leaving office, otherwise, the auto industry would still be blowing in the wind.

So, don't think for one minute there is going to be some kind of awakening for the Republicans. The only awakening there will be is for the promotion of Rubio for 2016 so he can be a good Vice Presidential candidate. They want in roads with Hispanics. That is politics. Now, if the debt cuts can be proven to hurt Hispanic populations, that might work, otherwise forget it.

Was John McCain talking about debt cuts and their repercussions in his town hall? No. He was talking about immigration reform. Why? Because he wants the Hispanics of Arizona to believe they are important to him where nothing else is.

Rand Paul stated he wants $4 Trillion in debt cuts, not just the $1.2 Trillion on the line on March 1st. Where is the bill? Where is the bill Senator Paul has written to promote responsible debt reductions? Is it reasonable? Does it spell out real alternatives other Republicans can appreciate? Talk is cheap. Talk is what power brokers have as their tool. Propaganda. 24/7. That is what the Republicans are capable of. Now, effect the propaganda and they might even be moved to govern as with Immigration Reform.

Republicans do not govern. Economically, Reagan did nothing except deregulate and hacked away at environmental law. The Bush/Cheney administration and their Republican Congress declared war and ran up the debt. Every bill was a jobs bill and banking deregulation. They don't govern. 

If a party has dominated the American economy for four decades and don't govern, where is the model/methodology they use to carry out economic outcomes? Cut taxes and allow the private sector to grow? That methodology has tanked the USA economy and cast our people into poverty for decades. The destruction of unions is a complete parallel to the fall in Middle Class income. The Republicans don't govern. They write checks and benefits to cronies and pin the bill on future generations of American, while they build propaganda for elections. 

What was it McConnell said about the Social Security tax cuts? Oh, yeah, tax cuts don't have to be paid for. That is not governing. Okay? President Obama wanted to continue those cuts but to have them paid for. It was working to grow the economy. But, to not pay for them was to cause damage to Social Security. No President would do that willingly. What President Obama did was governing. He found where he could put more money into the budgets of households while maintaining the integrity of Social Security. It was brilliant. That is governing. McConnell doesn't govern and rather than risk having it happen a second time, President Obama abandoned that measure. He was right to do that.

I proud to be an American where at least I know I'm free and free of horsemeat in my diet. The rest of the world doesn't matter.

Any excuse is a good excuse to seek to start a meat packing plant in Oklahoma. No morality, no social conscience, just money.

The horse slaughterhouse industry kills anything. Mares, pregnant mares and foals. They don't care. If it has hooves they kill it and grind it up. No conscience about anything.

John Schoneberg, a Nebraska breeder who has taken in hungry horses, says a slaughtering ban has not improved horses' lives. Photo credit: Brian Lehmann for The New York Times.

WE don't need the return of horsemeat to the USA. I am sorry to hear there is still animal cruelty, but, it is not happening in the USA and the meat products are not finding a market here either.

The Horse Shelter (click here)

Phone: 505-471-6179; Toll Free: 888-471-4677; 1012 Marquez Place, Ste 201B, Santa Fe, NM 87505

This is just one of the many horse sanctuaries all over the USA. If an owner cannot afford to keep their horse anymore, simply give a donation when it is left in the care of people that can do more with less.

Lily has officially graduated from Level Two Parelli Natural Horsemanship at the "Double HP Horse Help Providers" (click here) in South Dakota.

When cruelty is made convenient by those that seek money over conscience the USA loses a piece of it's integrity. When a state's economy is so desperate it treats animals nothing short of their next paycheck there are serious issues that have to be solved and it is called morality. Every creature great and small. That is not a childhood slogan, it is a profound understanding of RESPONSIBILITY for the life one claims to care for as their own. These are moral issues, no different than spay and neuter. Same thing. It is all too convenient to remove the problem than to deal with it. In this case, horse slaughter in Oklahoma will become a profiteering business, otherwise, the legislature would not have bothered.

Being a 'church goer' does not exempt anyone from having a conscience.

October 26, 2011 Tazi Phillips
...That shift is one of the many unintended consequences (click here) of a de facto federal ban on horse slaughter, according to a recent federal government study. As the domestic market for unwanted horses shrinks, more are being neglected and abandoned, and roughly the same number — nearly 140,000 a year — are being killed after a sometimes grueling journey across the border.

“When they closed the plants, that put more of a hardship on our horses than the people who wanted to stop the slaughter can imagine,” said John Schoneberg, a Nebraska horse breeder who recently took in three horses from a nearby farmer who said that he was unable to pay for feed and would otherwise turn them loose.
The study’s findings have been fiercely contested by animal welfare groups, which argue that most of the problems stem from the economic downturn and the high price of feed. The study also breathed new life into the long-smoldering battle over whether to allow the resumption of domestic horse slaughter or, alternatively, to prohibit the animals from being shipped abroad for their meat....

Do Red States always have to be this disgusting and amoral? Did I say we don't do this here in the USA anymore? So, Oklahoma is going to slaughter and ship. Well, why not encourage more irresponsible breeding for the sake of some kind of economic uptick. Yuk! I mean for real. This is about as disgusting as it gets. 

Posted: Feb 20, 2013 7:16 PM ESTUpdated: Feb 20, 2013 7:19 PM ESTNewsOn6.com and Wire ReportsOKLAHOMA CITY -

Two separate bills (click here) to end Oklahoma's ban on the slaughter of horses for human consumption have sailed through the House and Senate.

The state Senate passed a bill 38-6 Wednesday, while the House measure was approved on an 82-14 vote.
Senate Bill 375 and House Bill 1999 repeal the section of Oklahoma law prohibiting the slaughter of horses for human consumption. With their passage, horse meat can now be produced and packaged in Oklahoma, only if it is to be exported internationally and only if the horses are sold through a livestock auction and purchased by a livestock dealer.
The bills were proposed with the intention of cutting the number of abused and neglected horses across the state....

That is a lie. There are horse shelters all over the country. This is anexcuse for an economy in Oklahoma. They are disgusting people to allow this level of cruelty to animals.
So, while horsemeat is not good enough for Americans to eat, it sure isokay for the rest of the world, huh? The USA, the country of doublestandards.As the list of food companies involved in Europe's meat crisis grows, it may be time to rethink \what we eat (click here)

BY TARA LOHANIt turns out there is a lot we can learn from Europe’s surplus of horse burgers.1. The Mighty FallThe most recent news surfacing today is that Nestlé, one of the largest foodcompanies in the world, has now been entangled in the scandal. The New YorkTimesreports that Nestlé is pulling two products sold in Italy and Spain:Buitoni Beef Ravioli and Beef Tortellini, as well as Lasagnes à la BolognaiseGourmandes sold to catering companies in France....
2. A Tangled WebHorse meat has ended up in so-called beef products to varying degrees some have been found to contain traces of horse DNA, which may have been the result of processing plants not properly cleaning equipment. And someproducts have been found to contain upward of 80 to 100 percent horsemeat,which signals a much larger problem....
3. Trouble in RomaniaIt just so happens that Romania may have an excess of dead horses on itshands. John Lichfield of the Independent reports that a change in traffic rulesis to blame:Horse-drawn carts were a common form of transport for centuries in Romania, but hundreds of thousands of the animals are feared to have beensent to the abattoir after the change in road rules....
4. Blame the MafiaFrom here, the story just gets weirder. Jamie Doward reports for theObserverthat organized international gangs are suspected of involvement inthe scandal. Doward writes:Experts within the horse slaughter industry have told the Observer there is evidence that both Polish and Italian mafia gangs are running multimillion-pound scams to substitute horsemeat for beef during food production. There are claims that vets and other officials working within abattoirs and food production plants are intimidated into signing off meat as beef when it is in fact cheaper alternatives such as pork or horse.…
5. Rethinking Our FoodSo, we found out that beef products may contain horse, and also pig, andpossibly donkey, as well. What to do with that information? For some people,it means buying less meat or from different sources. Reuters reportedthat 60 percent of people it surveyed in the UK said they were turning tolocal butchers for their meat and 25 percent said they would buy different cutsinstead of processed meat....

Courier Bag, Russet Horsehide LeatherSHELL AND INTERIOR POCKET constructed of genuine LOST WORLDS chrome-tanned Russet Brown/Black Front Quarter AMERICAN HORSEHIDE, FiNNISH MOOSEHIDE or 100% BALLISTIC NYLON. For which we're renowned. The toughest, highest-performing hides and materials anywhere, with terrific water and abrasion resistance. And gorgeous grain, unmatched anywhere. Horsehide -- the performance leather of choice since frontier days, now practically non-existent.Made in the USA - $485.00Just have to have one in every breed under the sun, ya know? American Quarter Horse, Standardbred, Saddlebred, Throughbred, Appaloosa, Palamino and there just ain't nothing like the Pinto handbag.
SUPPORT Local Economies.
Know what is on your dinner table!
Can we secede from the Red States?

Do cheaters ever stop cheating?

Drugs of chocie:  (click here) The Cream and The Clear.  Yes, Romo was a BALCO child. 

Montana sized ego?  Check!  Which brings up a question.  Does the go drive the drug use or does the drug use drive the ego?  It's the chicken and egg argument for steroids.  I can see both sides easily, but without solid proof on either side I will choose to lean towards the drug drives the ego.

Excuse used:  “I took it (human growth hormone) for a brief period and I didn’t receive any great benefits from it. I compromised my morality to play another two years in the NFL.”  I don't buy it.  His incidents go back to 1989 and they all reek of roid rage.  Again we stand in a place where we will never know the truth so we are forced to speculate if we want to deal with the situation.

What's he doing now?  Selling supplements....

This past year the Baseball Hall of Fame didn't induct anyone. I thought at first that was a bad decision. I saw steroids as a bad habit and sports is more than bad habits. There are plenty of bad habits by anyone, including athletes.

...Jeff Katz (click here) wants everyone to know that Cooperstown will be OK.

The mayor of the small village in upstate New York that houses the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum says that not having a living inductee this summer, for the first time since 1965, won't put his town's stores out of business.

"The idea that this will seriously hurt our town is just not true," Katz said....

But, taking drugs to enhance the performance of one's profession is not simply a habit, it is a character issue. So, I rethought the idea that 'the steroid age' was simply a category the Hall of Fames would have to reflect. As if the choice to use performance enhancing drugs was not a choice at all, so much as a victimization of naive athletes caught in a meat grinder.

That is wrong. Being an alcoholic is a bad habit. But, to take drugs that are to enhance the performance of a well paid athlete is corruption. It is a character issue. Character issues are more than a 12 step program could reverse.

Below, is an example of how a character issue follows a person. There is no need to make that an example as the best athletics has to offer.

By Andrew Zajac - Feb 21, 2013 12:10 AM ET

Former National Football League player Bill Romanowski (click here) can’t deduct costs of a horse-breeding operation, the U.S. Tax Court ruled, upholding a $4.7 million levy by the Internal Revenue Service.

Romanowski and his wife, Julie, didn’t try to make a profit on horse-breeding activities in 2003 and 2004, and as a result, the expenses they incurred aren’t deductible, Judge Joseph Goeke in Washington said in yesterday’s decision.

The couple’s involvement in a horse-breeding program “was almost entirely motivated by tax benefits available to them through such participation,” Goeke wrote....

I like that. Average people should understand the law that governs their lives. I think he's right.

..."One of my best friends was a quadriplegic, and I watched how a two-inch curb was like The Great Wall of China for him."

Then a pause.

"I think we do that with the opinions we write," he said. "We write them in a way that they're inaccessible to the average person." With that fascinating segue, he explained the logic behind his writing:

What I tell my law clerks is that we write these so that they are accessible to regular people. That doesn't mean that there's no law in it. But there are simple ways to put important things in language that's accessible. As I say to them, the beauty, the genius is not to write a 5 cent idea in a ten dollar sentence. It's to put a ten dollar idea in a 5 cent sentence. 
That's beauty. That's editing. That's writing. ...

...I didn't grow up speaking standard English at home... 

I grew up with people who were not lettered people, most of whom couldn't read at all. It was not uncommon, when someone was signing something, they would simply make their mark. Or they would take your word for it. Or they would be upset if you asked them to sign a contract because their word was the contract. So in that environment these people, my relatives, my neighbors, treasured education in a way that people who were hungry would treasure food. 

Secretary Kerry has help in finding solutions for other nations if he wants it.

The global community is attempting to quantify disease and its' etiology. Impoverishment breeds health risks and disease. So, to realize our foreign policies may not be hitting the mark to relieve the suffering should be a point of interest to our new Secretary of State.

19 February 2013
...Initiatives such as the Global Burden of Disease study (click here) — published in The Lancet last December by an international consortium led by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle, Washington — have helped. They have sucked up what data are available from demographic health surveys, papers and other sources, and brought unparalleled scientific expertise and advanced modelling to bear on extracting meaning from the sparse and heterogeneous data — and filled in gaps where no data exist at all (see Nature 492, 311–312; 2012). But even the researchers involved are the first to admit that this situation is far from ideal, and that what is really needed is more and better raw data....

Alito can't get the basics right? Double jeopardy is a given in the USA.

Alito is an activist judge.

Posted Feb 20, 2013 11:06 AM CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss

A directed verdict of acquittal by a judge who misunderstood the requirements of Michigan’s arson law has saved a defendant from a retrial.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in an 8-1 decision on Wednesday that double jeopardy barred a retrial for arson defendant Lamar Evans. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote the majority opinion, while Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. dissented.

Evans was accused of burning down an unoccupied house. He was charged with arson of “other real property” rather than the arson of a “dwelling house.” A trial judge had issued a directed verdict of acquittal because prosecutors had failed to prove that the targeted home was not a “dwelling house,” a decision based on a mistaken interpretation of the law. Evans later conceded that arson of “other real property” is a lesser included offense under Michigan law, and there is no need to disprove the greater offense....

There is a difference when "other real property" is torched rather than a home where people live. When a home is burnt murder can result. That is a huge difference than wrongfully seeking monies from insurance companies. Money and life of a human being does not equate. While the Michigan judge may have misinterpreted the law, it doesn't mean the law is incorrect either.

When reading through Alito's Dissent it is obvious he is attempting to retry the case from the level of the prosecutor. That is not what the Supreme Court does. The Supreme Court in this case is suppose to determine if this is Double Jeopardy for the defendant. It doesn't matter that he admitted guilt when caught. Alito is not suppose to judge the defendant, he is suppose to judge the actions of the judiciary. This is profound malpractice at the level of the Supreme Court and it is very obvious.

On second thought, saying Alito is an activist judge is giving him too much credit.

Israel was right and Iran is desperate.

When Israel bombed the truck with munitions headed for Lebanon it was in national defense to prevent a larger war in the Middle East.

By Haaretz and Reuters
Feb.21, 2013
9:21 AM 
The Free Syrian Army (click here) gives Hezbollah 48-hour deadline to stop shelling 'Syrian lands, villages and civilians from inside the Lebanese territories', according to statement posted on Facebook and carried by various media outlets.

..."We [FSA] are announcing and warning that if Hezbollah will not stop shelling the Syrian lands, villages and civilians from inside the Lebanese territories within 48 hours of issuance of this statement, we will respond to the sources of fire by our hands and eliminate it from inside the Lebanese lands," the Free Syrian Army posted on its Facebook page early Wednesday, according to a CNN translation....

The Free Syrian Army is very capable. I would never understand estimate them. They have successfully isolated Assad. If the Free Syrian Army continues to take on Hezbollah, they might find themselves receiving help they didn't expect.

It is remarkable how successful this liberation army is within Syria. They have had victory after victory and just when they appear to be defeated their victories prove it all wrong. They are very invested into their best outcome. It is a shame what the Syrian people have had to endure for their freedom. 

This was not a choice. Assad was venturing into ethnic genocide. His attacks on his people had a methodology to destroy Sunnis.

February 21, 2013 - 10:59PM

...A powerful car bomb (click here) has exploded near the offices of Syria's ruling Baath party in Damascus, killing at least 31 people, wounding dozens and shattering buildings.

The mid-morning blast, which rocked the city centre and sent thick smoke scudding across the skyline, came as Syria's opposition was meeting in Cairo to discuss proposals to hold conditional talks with Syria's regime.

Shortly after the Thursday blast, a nearby military headquarters came under mortar attack, state television said, without giving details.

The official SANA news agency said a "large number" of civilians were killed or wounded in a "terrorist attack", while the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights put the initial toll at 31 dead and dozens wounded....

John McCain always 'gets em'. In the 2008 campaign he had to put a Right Wing Nut in her place at a town hall, too.

Nothing like being confronted on a regular basis by a FOX News or Glen Beck audience member.

The NYTimes is correct it is time to move on. the style of the two papers are diverging. The Globe has maintained it's stalwart integrity while the Times has changed since the years of the Bush White House.

NY Times To Sell Boston Globe (click here)

February 20, 2013 4:27 PM

By Beth Healy, Globe Staff

The New York Times Co. said Wednesday that it plans to sell the New England Media Group, including The Boston Globe and its related online properties, and has hired an investment banker to find a buyer.

The Times Co. has hired Evercore Group, a New York-based firm that has been involved in other newspaper transactions, to help solicit bids from potential buyers.

“Our plan to sell the New England Media Group demonstrates our commitment to concentrate our strategic focus and investment on The New York Times brand and its journalism,” said Mark Thompson, chief executive of the Times Co., in a statement.

He said the Times was “proud of our association with the Globe” and Worcester Telegram & Gazette, but that “given the differences between these businesses and The New York Times, we believe that a sale is in the best long-term interests of these properties and the employees who work for them as well as in the best interests of our shareholders.”...