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

To: Alighieri who wrote (619254)	7/14/2011 10:08:01 AM
From: i-node	Respond to of 1576600

>> If there is a "god" it has nothing remotely to do with the ones the absurd human superstitions have described to date... The authority on God and Everything Else has spoken.

To: Alighieri who wrote (619254)	7/14/2011 10:54:47 AM
From: Brumar89	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1576600

A god would be okay as long as he doesn't care about what we do. No morality or anything. No demands. See, what I said was right. Message 27491815

To: Alighieri who wrote (619254)	7/14/2011 11:48:00 AM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1576600

Analysis: Republicans own worst enemy in debt talks By Andy Sullivan WASHINGTON \| Thu Jul 14, 2011 8:28am EDT WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican leaders trying to wrangle deep spending cuts from President Barack Obama face an even more implacable negotiating partner: their own rank and file. As they struggle to reach a budget deal that would allow Congress to extend the nation's borrowing authority beyond an August 2 deadline, Republican leaders in the House of Representatives must keep an eye on a back bench that has shown a marked distaste for any sort of compromise. Republican leaders use a telling phrase when they reject Democratic proposals: any deal that includes taxes "can't pass the House." Junior lawmakers have not been afraid to let their leaders know where they stand and even undercut them at times. At times it's not clear who's in charge. "The internal negotiations among the Republicans themselves in Congress, whether it's just the House or between the House and the Senate, are in an abyss," said Ethan Siegal, an analyst with The Washington Exchange, which tracks Congress for investors. Republican leaders say no plan at this point has the votes to pass the House, and an aide said they don't see how a deal can get done. One senior Republican said talks will go right up to -- and perhaps beyond -- the brink of default. "I think we'll be here in August," said Representative Pete Sessions, the House Republicans' top campaign official, as he left a meeting with newly elected party members. "We are not going to leave town until a proper deal gets done." House Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, was quietly working on an ambitious "grand bargain" with President Barack Obama, until rank-and-file members objected to the $1 trillion in tax increases that would have accompanied $3 trillion in spending cuts. Boehner's deputy, Eric Cantor, has pitched a $2.5 trillion plan as a more modest, realistic option, but members so far have not embraced it. Dozens aren't interested in any sort of deal at all. That means Boehner will have to rely on Democratic votes to get a deal passed, which is weakening his hand at the bargaining table even as he takes an increasingly hard-line stance. UNNERVING ALLIES Boehner's troops are also undermining his efforts to reassure allies in the business community that Congress will avert a default that could disrupt debt service, retirement payments, military salaries and other obligations. "The Speaker is getting bad advice," Republican Representative Louie Gohmert said at a news conference on Wednesday. "I would encourage our Speaker, quit believing the president when he uses these scare tactics." House Republicans may present a unified bloc on taxes, but they are far from unified on tactics. Representative Charlie Bass told Reuters Congress should pass a short-term debt ceiling increase to buy negotiators more time. But Representative Jeff Flake said he saw no need for immediate action because he thought the Treasury Department could stave off a debt default well beyond August 2. Even a backup plan that would pin the blame for any debt-ceiling increase on Obama isn't catching on because conservatives say it would sacrifice a chance to win deep spending cuts. That plan was proposed by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who is known as one of Congress' foremost tacticians, but it is not expected to pass the House as lawmakers there believe it would pass up their best chance to win deep spending cuts. Republicans in the House and Senate face diverging pressures as the 2012 election cycle gets under way. read more.............. reuters.com

To: Alighieri who wrote (619254)	7/14/2011 11:50:05 AM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1576600

Was it a blow up? Obama, GOP get tense in talks By Joshua Norman Topics Economy As negotiations continue over raising the nation's debt ceiling to avoid any potential default on America's fiscal obligations, the daily meetings at the White House on the subject have been getting more tense, people familiar with the negotiations tell CBS News. Wednesday's meeting was the most tense meeting of the week, a GOP aide told CBS News. In fact, the president ended the meeting by abruptly leaving the room. A White House official, however, told reporters that President Obama did not actually storm out of the room. Instead, Obama reportedly gave an impassioned statement to the congressional leaders at the end of the meeting, saying "enough's enough" with respect to delay and refusal to compromise. The president reportedly told the group, "I've been very patient" and that he wants agreement now. The official said the president ended his statement, stood up and headed back to his office. Obama's speech was reportedly in response to House Majority Leader Eric Cantor's repeated insistence that only a short-term, smaller deal on debt savings was possible. Following the meeting, Cantor told reporters that after the GOP rep.'s third time insisting that his party wouldn't budge, the president reportedly said: "Eric, don't call my bluff. I'm going to the American people with this." During the meeting, Speaker of the House John Boehner reportedly challenged the President to offer real spending cuts. He said the gimmicks and accounting tricks that Washington has used for decades are not applicable here, according to a GOP aide. When White House officials allegedly attempted to justify budgetary gimmicks, Boehner said pointedly: "We're not doing that anymore," according to the GOP aide. White House and Democratic officials said the Republicans characterizations of Wednesday's meeting were dramatic and overblown. They instead described the meeting in different terms to CBS News, saying the participants - who are party leaders from both the Senate and the House - had a constructive conversation on the numbers, and talked specifics. Democrats agreed that Cantor reportedly kept pushing for a short-term deal, which President Obama promised to veto if it reached his desk. Responding to reports that he interrupted the president during the meeting, Cantor told CBS News: "I never interrupted the president, and in fact was deferential, seeking his permission to speak to him, Jack Lew or whomever. I made the point in my opening that they were walking back the spending cut number, that we were nowhere close. At the end, I said because we were nowhere close, I would walk back our position of no short term in order to reach agreement if the President would agree not to veto it." White House officials say the president is still eager for a large compromise, even though their Republican counterparts insist that is impossible. Both sides will resume negotiations Thursday afternoon. cbsnews.com

To: Alighieri who wrote (619254)	7/14/2011 12:50:57 PM
From: bentway	1 Recommendation Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 1576600

If I come close to worshiping anything, it's the Hubble pictures. When I look at those marvels, I think that if there IS a God, how could we not be just totally beneath His notice? So, if there is a God, there might as well NOT be one, as far as being "special" is concerned. So, atheism isn't a bad way to see things. Such a God would have no time for the prayers of sub-sub-sub-microscopic creatures living on the skin of an insignificant planet. Religions that make us "special" to God were conceived when we believed the Earth was flat, EVERYTHING in the sky rotated around it, and it was the center of the universe. WE WERE the most "special" creatures in THAT universe. SO, let's move ON bible-thumpers! We know BETTER now, don't we?