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POPSStudent Loans as Big Business This policy is fraud subsidized by government and should be stopped. Conservatives seem to always support welfare to Business but never to working people.
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POPSThe Afghan Quagmire
So what would a rigorous public and internal administration debate have highlighted? First, the more occupation forces there are, the more they fuel the insurgency against the occupation, especially since so many more civilians than fighters lose their lives. Witness the wedding parties, villagers, and innocent bystanders blown up by the U.S. military’s superior weaponry. Second, there was a remarkable absence in Obama’s speech about the tribal conflicts and the diversity of motivations of those he lumped under the name of “Taliban.” Some are protecting their valleys, others are in the drug trade, others want to drive out the occupiers, others are struggling for supremacy between the Pashtuns on one side and the Tajiks and Uzbeks on the other (roughly the south against the north). The latter has been the substance of a continuing civil war for many years. Third, how can Obama’s plan begin to work, requiring a stable, functioning Afghan government—which now is largely a collection
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POPSKucinich: Why I voted NO I'm so torn. I think we should have fought harder for a single-payer bill, even though I know that would have been a much harder battle. But I don't think that voting no on this was the solution, either. As much as I would like BIG CHANGE, I know that can't happen in one fell swoop. Baby steps, unfortunately, will get us to that final goal. Hopefully, the public will realize, soon, that we need single payer!
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POPS75 Democrats Support ACORN Human Trafficking, Child Sex Slavery, Tax Fraud... 
Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif. Robert Brady D-Pa. Corrine Brown, D-Fla. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C. Mike Capuano, D-Mass. Andre Carson, D-Ind. Kathy Castor, D-Fla. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo. James Clyburn, D-S.C. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y. Elijah Cummings, D-Md. Danny Davis, D-Ill. Diane DeGette, D-Colo. Bill Delahunt, D-Mass. Mike Doyle, D-Pa. Donna Edwards, D-Md. Keith Ellison, D-Minn. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y. Chaka Fattah, D-Pa. Bob Filner, D-Calif. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio Al Green, D-Tex. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii Rush Holt, D-N.J. Mike Honda, D-Calif. Jesse Jackson, Jr. D-Ill. Sheila Jackson-Lee, D-Tex. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Tex. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio Rick Larsen, D-Wash. Barbara Lee, D-Calif. John Lewis, D-Ga. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass. Markey, D-Mass. Betty McCollum, D-Minn. McDermott, D-Wash. McGovern, D-Mass. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y. Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va
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POPS75 Congressmen Stand by ACORN Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc. Xavier Becerra, D-Calif. Robert Brady D-Pa. Corrine Brown, D-Fla. G.K. Butterfield, D-N.C. Mike Capuano, D-Mass. Andre Carson, D-Ind. Kathy Castor, D-Fla. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo. James Clyburn, D-S.C. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y. Elijah Cummings, D-Md. Danny Davis, D-Ill. Diane DeGette, D-Colo. Bill Delahunt, D-Mass. Mike Doyle, D-Pa. Donna Edwards, D-Md. Keith Ellison, D-Minn. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y. Chaka Fattah, D-Pa. Bob Filner, D-Calif. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio Al Green, D-Tex. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz. Maurice Hinchey, D-N.Y. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii Rush Holt, D-N.J. Mike Honda, D-Calif. Jesse Jackson, Jr. D-Ill. Sheila Jackson-Lee, D-Tex. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Tex. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, D-Mich. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio Rick Larsen, D-Wash. Barbara Lee, D-Calif. John Lewis, D-Ga. Stephen Lynch, D-Mass. Markey, D-Mass. Betty McCollum, D-Minn. McDermott, D-Wash. McGovern, D-Mass. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y. Alan Mollohan, D-W.Va. Gwen
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POPSObama Joker Artist Unmasked: A Fellow Chicagoan
On Jan. 18, Alkhateeb uploaded the image to photo-sharing site Flickr (shown at right). Over the next two months, he amassed just a couple thousand hits, he said. Then the counter exploded after a still-anonymous rogue famously found his image, digitally removed the references to Time Magazine, captioned the picture with the word "socialism" and hung printed copies around L.A., making headlines. Alkhateeb says he wasn't actively trying to cover his tracks, but he did want to lay low. He initially had concerns about ... ... connecting his name with anything critical of the president -- especially living in Chicago, where people are "very, very liberal," he said. "After Obama was elected, you had all of these people who basically saw him as the second coming of Christ," Alkhateeb said. "From my perspective, there wasn't much substance to him." "I abstained from voting in November," he wrote in an e-mail. "Living in Illinois, my vote means close to nothing . . .
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POPSBlackwater Founder Implicated in Murder I hope they nail this M*****f**ker... Briefed on the substance of these allegations by The Nation, Congressman Dennis Kucinich replied, "If these allegations are true, Blackwater has been a criminal enterprise defrauding taxpayers and murdering innocent civilians." Kucinich is on the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform and has been investigating Prince and Blackwater since 2004. "Blackwater is a law unto itself, both internationally and domestically. The question is why they operated with impunity. In addition to Blackwater, we should be questioning their patrons in the previous administration who funded and employed this organization. Blackwater wouldn't exist without federal patronage; these allegations should be thoroughly investigated," Kucinich said.
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POPS13 Republicans Voted To Allow Single-Payer Systems In States
13 GOP lawmakers voted to allow single-payer plans. In a conference call on Friday, Rep. Miller made direct reference to the amendment as a means of asserting that Republicans weren't honest participants in the health care debate. As one high-ranking Democratic aide in the House put it: "This amendment would allow states to opt out of the exchange and set up their own single-payer plan. Even if they made the states' rights argument -- would that really trump Republicans' opposition to the 'government' run health plan they've been so adamant against through this entire debate?" Rep. John Kline (Minnesota) Rep. Tom Petri (Wisconsin) Rep. Buck McKeon (California) Rep. Peter Hoekstra (Michigan) Rep. Mike Castle (Delaware) Rep. Mark Souder (Indiana) Rep. Vernon Ehlers (Michigan) Rep. Judy Biggert (Illinois) Rep. Todd Platts (Pennsylvania) Rep. Joe Wilson (South Carolina) Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers (Washington) Rep. Tom Price (Georgia) Rep. Brett Guthrie (Kentucky)
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POPSTime for Congress to Start Issuing Subpoenas
Pulling the TARP over taxpayers' eyes By: Michael Barone Last fall, former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson told shocked Americans that the $700 billion TARP had to be passed immediately but not to worry because taxpayers would eventually make money on the investments as banks and other institutions getting bailout money paid it back. To the contrary, Barofsky said, not only are banks hoarding TARP funds, it is "very unlikely" that most of the TARP money will ever be repaid, let alone turn a profit. The hastily passed bill included minimal reporting requirements, so a third of all TARP recipients admit they used the money to repay loans, merge with other banks, and even purchase more mortgage-backed securities from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac - the two institutions at the heart of the housing market collapse. Some companies are even using TARP to pay off other government loans in what auditors call "bailout arbitrage." And it's all perfectly legal.
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POPSCongressman Kucinich Asks ‘Is the Fed Paying Banks NOT to Loan Money?’
Domestic Policy Subcommittee Chair Announces New Probe of TARP If these reports are true, this raises significant questions about who the Fed is working for. There is record unemployment and businesses and consumers across American are starved for capital, if the Fed is paying higher interest rates on term deposits in order to induce banks to keep money at the Fed rather than lend, it would be an outrage,” Kucinich said. Kucinich recounted for Barofsky the policy path which TARP followed when it was first presented to Congress: “First Congress was told that TARP was for the purchase of toxic assets, to help keep people in their homes. Then the Bush Administration switched the program. “Next Congress was told that the TARP funds were instead needed to bail out the banks, in the form of a direct capital infusion, to keep credit markets alive. “If TARP isn’t about keeping people in their homes or providing credit to businesses, what is it for?
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POPSMcCaskill's Office Locks Doors, Pulls Blinds, Calls Cops Forces Obamacare Protesters Off Public Property A staff member opened the door for the police and said they were being threatened. The staff member took some notes from a few protesters while the police were there and said she'd pass them on to Senator McCaskill. Glenn Reynolds has updates on Obamacare protests in Raleigh, Dallas and Cleveland. Steve Sabolich sends an email from Cleveland and says that Dennis Kucinich’s staff was shocked so many concerned working Americans took off work to be there. UPDATE: Donna sent this video from the protest at McCaskill's office today. Police to the Rescue -Tea Party anti-Obama Care video http://www.youtube.com/user/Jonah42946 Posted by Gateway Pundit
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POPSPaulson to Testify July 16 to House Panel He denied that the Fed inappropriately persuaded Bank of America Chief Executive Ken Lewis to continue with the deal, despite Lewis' concern about Merrill's condition. Lewis had told Bank of America's board that federal officials said if he did not go through with the transaction, "the Treasury and the Fed would remove the Board and management of the Corporation," according to a transcript of that meeting. The committee has released hundreds of pages of documents that it subpoenaed from the Federal Reserve, which has shined a spotlight on the internal deliberations that took place during the time the deal was being negotiated. Towns and Kucinich, both Democrats, also said they want Paulson to answer whether the government had any role in persuading Bank of America to acquire Merrill Lynch. Republicans on the committee have accused regulators of strong-arming Bank of America to complete the Merrill acquisition,
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POPSWhite House Browbeats Dem Freshmen On War Money: "You'll Never Hear From Us Again" "This is politics, you know, there's a lot of pressure put on members," he said. "But from what I can see, people are concerned that when they go back home, they're going to have to explain why they voted for the war if their constituency's opposed to it. People who have consistently opposed the war are going to have difficulty explaining why they switched."
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POPS'Audit the Fed' Bill Gets Majority Support in Congress It is only reasonable to audit the Federal Reserve system of PRIVATE banks which controls the money supply and interest rates of the entire nation, and influences the whole wide world! This might be the most important bill Congress will ever pass in US history since the infamous year of 1913 when the Fed was created in stealth over a holiday The largely UNACCOUNTABLE Fed will now be exposed to this "sunshine" law, a historical first. It will pass if introduced in the House but Senate Bill S 604 has no co-sponsors for the same legislation. Call your Senators now and tell them to co-sponsor this important and historical bill.