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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jlallen who wrote (565372)	5/10/2010 9:17:03 AM
From: one_less	Respond to of 1577886

(AP) Germany's Merkel acknowledges "bitter defeat" By GEIR MOULSON Associated Press Writer BERLIN Acknowledging a "bitter defeat" in a state election, German Chancellor Angela Merkel abandoned hopes Monday of pushing through tax cuts for Europe's biggest economy and said her government would concentrate on keeping Germany's debt down. Merkel's center-right coalition lost control of Germany's most populous state, North Rhine-Westphalia, in an election Sunday that also erased its majority in the upper house of parliament - making the country harder to run. "There's no talking around it - we suffered a bitter defeat," Merkel told reporters. The defeat followed a stumbling start for Merkel's new national coalition government, which took power in October. It has squabbled constantly over the wisdom of cutting taxes to stimulate the economy and faced sharp criticism for its handling of the Greek debt crisis. "Many arguments were avoidable," Merkel said of her government's first few months. "The ... coalition in Berlin must now set its priorities clearly," she said. "That means, from my point of view, firstly that tax cuts cannot be implemented for the foreseeable future - discussions about the euro, about (loan) guarantees and a lot of other things show us that." "Consolidating the budget will become the priority," she said. Merkel said tax cuts likely wouldn't be possible for at least the next two years. Early and big tax cuts were a pet project of her junior coalition partner, the pro-business Free Democrats. However, they are opposed by opposition parties, which will now be able to block legislation in the upper house. Frank-Walter Steinmeier of the opposition Social Democrats told n-tv television on Monday that Merkel should learn from the defeat in North Rhine-Westphalia. He said Merkel's government will no longer be able to simply push through its plans. The upper house represents states and must approve much major legislation. Sunday's vote was the first electoral test for Merkel since she and her new national government took office.

To: jlallen who wrote (565372)	5/10/2010 1:46:52 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1577886

LOL. Did you know that according to one of your winger pundits, Kagan is not qualified to be USSC judge because she didn't learn to drive until she was in her late 20's. Seriously. Ed Whelan smears New Yorkers in attack on Kagan May 10, 2010 11:09 am ET by Matt Gertz In the latest evidence that National Review Online's Ed Whelan is just throwing everything he can at the wall and hoping something sticks to Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, Whelan is now attacking her for... not learning to drive until her late 20s. According to Whelan, this "nicely captures Elena Kagan's remoteness from the lives of most Americans." Huh? Putting aside for a second the deeply bizarre idea that one's ability to drive should be a qualification or disqualification for high office, as the article Whelan quotes from points out, Kagan grew up in New York City, which is one of the most walkable cities in the country and has one of the best public transportation systems nationwide. You don't need a license if you live in NYC, and in fact a large percentage of New Yorkers don't have one: New York City has 5.6 million residents over age 25, but only 3.3 million residents have drivers' licenses. My 90-year old grandmother is one of those New Yorkers without a license; in fact, all four of my grandparents lived in the city either from birth or since immigrating to the U.S., and none of them ever learned to drive. My parents grew up in New York City, and also did not learn to drive until their late 20s. Whelan, though, wants his readers to think this makes Kagan deeply weird, and somehow unsuitable to be a Supreme Court justice. And the only way that works is if he tars a large percentage of New Yorkers as being different from "real Americans." mediamatters.org

To: jlallen who wrote (565372)	5/10/2010 1:50:29 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1577886

Germany (and possibly France too) will get tired of "paying the freight" for the others....at least that what I hear from my friends in Germany....and Merkel has lost a lot of her clout in the last election there.... Yes. She loses party control of the upper house, the Bundesrat. And do you know why this is a big issue? Merkel wants to get tax cuts through this session......in order to encourage consumer buying in Germany. Now how hard do you think it will be for her to get tax cuts through the Bundesrat? Seriously.