GOP lawmaker: Gay people “don’t have a right to be served in every single store” Oklahoma's Joseph Silk defends anti-LGBT "license to discriminate" legislation http://www.salon.com/2015/03/05/gop...e_a_right_to_be_served_in_every_single_store/ Under the guise of protecting religious liberty, conservative lawmakers across the country are proposing bills that would allow businesses and individuals not to serve gay people, provided that they discriminate based on their religious beliefs.
Its Pete Fu***** Townsend windmilling power chords at 111 decibels on all the awesome songs he wrote for Roger F**** Daltrey to scream. It's the last effort of the best live rock show that ever was or ever will be. Since the scalpers took over the concert business and you cat get a decent ticket to anything for under$250 I just don't go anymore. I won't sit in the back or on the goofy sides. I want to be in that sweet spot where the stage monitors and venue sound blend, where the volume is balanced between both ears and you can see the emotion on the faces of the performers. I now settle for concert videos but there is nothing like the power and glory of a full rageing tower of Marshall stacks. For me, that is ecstasy on Earth. But being old and retired, invested in O&G, it's probably not prudent to drop a grand for one 3 hour show. See I'm really the conservative.
I love The Who and Pete Townshend but I doubt he can windmill power chords at 111 decibels or Roger Daltrey can scream. He can probably still scream but probably not for very long.
Did something happen in the last year? <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/PYYbX51x77Q" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Gov. LePage's effort to make Maine first state to tax nonprofits draws concern across the US http://www.startribune.com/politics/national/295474461.html AUGUSTA, Maine — Nonprofit organizations across the country are closely watching Maine as it considers becoming the first state to impose property taxes on hospitals, private colleges and summer camps under a plan being pushed by Gov. Paul LePage. The Republican's contentious proposal has sparked a fiery debate in Maine over what impact nonprofits have on their communities and whether they should have to shoulder the costs for municipal services they consume. It's also raising questions about whether other states will follow suit if LePage's effort is successful.
The key word in that phrase is "me". They're not gay so they're OK with it. It's fine to "tread" on others, just not them.
It's not my ticket, but I was at this concert in the Music Hall and had my mind blown by The Who. My ticket stubs, most of them, were lost in a big Houston flood in the early 1970's, while I hitched a ride home to my pad in Montrose via a passing canoe. Check the ticket price. Here's a photo of the inside of the Music hall, the finest place to listen to music in Houston during the 1960's and '70's, if one cared about music quality. The acoustics were superb, the ticket prices were cheap, and you didn't have "ticket services" that charged you an absurd amount of bread to simply purchase your seat. Hell, tickets were often sold at Foley's, among other outlets. The Music Hall held about 3,000 people. Nirvana, people, and I don't mean the excellent group. Yes, places like The Catacombs or Love Street were far better, but they were clubs. This was easily the best major venue. I went there dozens of times. Spoiler
Republicans Warn Iran -- and Obama -- That Deal Won't Last http://www.bloombergview.com/articl...cans-warn-iran-and-obama-that-deal-won-t-last A group of 47 Republican senators has written an open letter to Iran's leaders warning them that any nuclear deal they sign with President Barack Obama's administration won’t last after Obama leaves office. Organized by freshman Senator Tom Cotton and signed by the chamber's entire party leadership as well as potential 2016 presidential contenders Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul, the letter is meant not just to discourage the Iranian regime from signing a deal but also to pressure the White House into giving Congress some authority over the process. “It has come to our attention while observing your nuclear negotiations with our government that you may not fully understand our constitutional system … Anything not approved by Congress is a mere executive agreement,” the senators wrote. “The next president could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen and future Congresses could modify the terms of the agreement at any time.” Arms-control advocates and supporters of the negotiations argue that the next president and the next Congress will have a hard time changing or canceling any Iran deal -- -- which is reportedly near done -- especially if it is working reasonably well. Many inside the Republican caucus, however, hope that by pointing out the long-term fragility of a deal with no congressional approval -- something Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has also noted -- the Iranian regime might be convinced to think twice. "Iran's ayatollahs need to know before agreeing to any nuclear deal that … any unilateral executive agreement is one they accept at their own peril,” Cotton told me. The issue has already become part of the 2016 GOP campaign. Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush came out against the negotiations in a speech at the Chicago Council last month. Former Texas Governor Rick Perry released a video criticizing the negotiations and calling for Congressional oversight. “An arms control agreement that excludes our Congress, damages our security and endangers our allies has to be reconsidered by any future president,” Perry said. Republicans also have a new argument to make in asserting their role in the diplomatic process: Vice President Joe Biden similarly insisted -- in a letter to then-Secretary of State Colin Powell -- on congressional approval for the Moscow Treaty on strategic nuclear weapons with Russia in 2002, when he was head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. The new letter is the latest piece of an effort by Senators in both parties to ensure that Congress will have some say if and when a deal is signed. Senators Bob Corker, Lindsey Graham, Tim Kaine and the embattled Bob Menendez have a bill pending that would mandate a Congressional review of the Iran deal, but Republicans and Democrats have been bickering over how to proceed in the face of a threatened presidential veto. Still, Senators from both parties are united in an insistence that, at some point, the administration will need their buy-in for any nuclear deal with Iran to succeed. There’s no sign yet that Obama believes this -- or, if he does, that he plans to engage Congress in any meaningful way.
That's amazingly crazy, more so because it's not just a niche of the party. It's 47 of the 55 or whatever Republican Senators. They have all lost their mind.
This undermines the word of the US as a country. Imagine if the Democratic Senate does the same for any treaty a Republican president might enter. Knowing the US congress changes majority all the time, who would want to enter to any treaty we make?
http://iranprimer.usip.org/blog/2015/mar/09/part-ii-iran-responds-gop-letter Asked about the open letter of 47 US Senators to Iranian leaders, the Iranian Foreign Minister, Dr. Javad Zarif, responded that “in our view, this letter has no legal value and is mostly a propaganda ploy. It is very interesting that while negotiations are still in progress and while no agreement has been reached, some political pressure groups are so afraid even of the prospect of an agreement that they resort to unconventional methods, unprecedented in diplomatic history. This indicates that like Netanyahu, who considers peace as an existential threat, some are opposed to any agreement, regardless of its content.” Zarif expressed astonishment that some members of US Congress find it appropriate to write to leaders of another country against their own President and administration. He pointed out that from reading the open letter, it seems that the authors not only do not understand international law, but are not fully cognizant of the nuances of their own Constitution when it comes to presidential powers in the conduct of foreign policy.
It is. Straight from the senate.gov website below. Like I said, they have all lost their mind! An open letter signed by 47 Rep Senators with these simple mistakes is just nut. Of course, the optics of the letter itself is as nut.
"Bad Faith Negations... BAD FAITH NEGOTIATIONS MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" HOLY ****ING **** IT'S BAD FATIH NEGOTIOATIONS!!!
Ted Cruz double header today: <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"><p>Federal govt has no business sticking its nose in education. We need to repeal every word of Common Core! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/nhpolitics?src=hash">#nhpolitics</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MakeDCListen?src=hash">#MakeDCListen</a></p>— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) <a href="https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/577256218504245248">March 15, 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
To my surprise, Ted Cruz does have a lucid moment in this article, which will go in the "Republican Rationality" thread.
House Republican Budget Overhauls Medicare and Repeals the Health Law http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/17/u...auls-medicare-and-repeals-the-health-law.html ....Spending on Medicaid would be cut substantially over 10 years, with the money turned into block grants to state governments, which in turn would have much more flexibility in deciding how it is allocated. The budget “repeals all of Obamacare,” Representative Diane Black, Republican of Tennessee, said the same day the Obama administration announced that the law had provided coverage to 16.4 million previously uninsured people. To placate advocates of the military who say strict budget caps are hurting national defense, the House budget adds “emergency” war spending through the “overseas contingency operations” account, which does not count against the spending limits. The budget will also include language that orders members of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee to draft a “fairer, simpler tax code,” said Representative Todd Rokita, Republican of Indiana. And it will include parliamentary language — called “reconciliation” — aimed at allowing legislation to repeal the Affordable Care Act to pass the Senate with a simple majority. If that bill is passed, it will still be subject to a presidential veto. Impasse Over Sex Trafficking Bill Shows Depth of Rancor in Congress http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/18/u...cor-in-congress.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&_r=0 The bill in question, sponsored by Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, is a modest measure with broad support in Congress that seeks to create a victims’ fund from fines collected from perpetrators of sex trafficking. A similar measure has passed the House and was expected to pass easily in the Senate. Senator John Cornyn, Republican of Texas, is a sponsor of the sex trafficking bill. A similar measure has passed the House and was expected to pass easily in the Senate. Credit Drew Angerer for The New York Times But a provision in the Senate bill would prevent the fees from being used for abortions for the victims. Democrats say Republicans sneaked it into the bill. Republicans firmly deny the charge. And Democrats now say they will not vote for it unless the language is removed, something that Republicans decline to do....
