I am an admirer of you Lawrence. Keep up the stellar commentary regarding these miserable republicans. They border on unpatriotic idealogues and make my stommack ill.

Much as I hate Republicans, I have to feel sorry for Boehner. Inviting the support of the Tea Party is a bit like soliciting the support of some motor cycle gangs or the Mafia. They may provide some energy, but it is not long before they take over. They don't respect their minority position.

This fight is much more profound than a fight over spending and taxes. It is a fight over the meaning and essence of America’s soul. We hear a lot about our Constitution and the Founding Fathers; so let’s start with a short history lesson.

There was a real concern on the part of our Founding Fathers that the rich and powerful would control everything to the detriment of the rest of the people. Most who read this will realize like me, that they are part of this larger group. States
had this same concern; big rich populated states would ride rough-shod over the
smaller ones. Their genius in addressing this is what we call our Constitution; the masses of Americans were represented by the House of Representatives and states were afforded representation by population. The States concern for equal power was represented by giving each state two senators, no matter how small or large. Like I said genius! Finally the branch of the President was to be the overseer.

The vote in the legislative branches was to be decided by the majority. That’s right one more than half and it is a done deal, or at least it is supposed to be. The unbiased arbiter was to be our judicial branch. The Founding Fathers recognized
that some changes were so important; that for a change to occur, a super majority
would be required. It was already decided by the founders what would require something more than plus one.

The Founding Fathers would puke if they saw what has been done to their work of genius; the absolute corruption of the intent of the Constitution! This was done gradually over the years by the collection of near-brights that we call our congress.

The near-brights added all kinds of procedural rules; this was originally to facilitate an orderly process. Over the years other elected near-brighters added more rules that allowed anonymous obstruction by a single elected official. That is real genius alright!

Is there anyone that really benefits when a government ceases to function? You bet there is by- golly! It’s the rich and powerful. You know; the scenario the Founding Fathers tried to thwart from day one! The rich and powerful and their minions tell us every day; the cause of our misery is the onerous regulation of the power barons. If they could only be unshackled from big government the good life would roll like manna from heaven. Well we have sampled the manna from no regulation. We are now spending millions trying to clean-up the manna from past deregulation!

They powerful have improved on the request for smaller government. We now have NO GOVERNMENT. The minions of the powerful now insist; that if we want to tax their masters, we have to gut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Hey you near-brights; this may be your last chance to recapture America’s soul, and the genius of our constitution!

They think they have the power when actually WE the people have the power and we should never not VOTE no matter how small the election is. EVERY vote does count. Make your voice heard. The crap these fools are doing to Bone head would never have been allowed under Nancy. She would have buttoned them down like a bunch of spoiled brats.

WELCOME former to the Sane Dem side. Been a Dem since I was old enough to vote. God help us if a Thug gets in at the lead. Bush and Co nearly destroyed this country, we would be done under another thug pres. What is in Congress now are forgetting that they took an oath to protect the Constitution and they are not doing that. Come Nov 2012 they should all join the unemployment line. They are insane. There are some in the Senate who need to go as well. Been there way to long.

CAMPAING REFORM, only by taking the power of money away from our elections, can we once again have a government of the people, for the people, by the people. Can you imagine, politicians who are working for the benefit of the people and our country instead of spending their time raising money for their own job security? Pass it along....CAMPAIGN REFORM!!!!

It is very simple. Section Seven of the U.S. Constitution gives the duty of crafting appropriation and taxation bills to the House of Representitaves. These bills must achieve a >50% vote in both the House and Senate and not be vetoed by the President or gain a 2/3rds majority in both houses. The 14th Amendment Section 4, states that this must occur before the debts and pensions of the federal government can even be questioned. S&P and Moodys have already done so, placeing the entire House of Representitives, especially those with majority power, in willful violation of the Constitution. Every member of the U.S. Military, past and present, has sworn to protect the Constitution from all enemies, foreign and domestic, and are given training on how to do so. Let's hope our active military and vets vote to remove those who have pledged to violate the Constitution, and not protect this sacred document with the training they have received. This "Rambo" arguement may be the only one the House GOP members can understand.

If there were jobs this mess would not even be under discussion. What we need at this point in this economy is the WPA that was enacted in 1935. People would work, our infrastructure would see badly needed repairs, and taxes would be paid and people would be spending. How hard is it to understand that. A little research and the cry babies in the House would surely see the light, nay that is asking way to much of idiots.

For the last few years, the "Tea Party" wackos have been asserting that our president is a socialist. What will they say now that our DEMOCRATIC president has offered up entitlement programs on a silver platter, like John the Baptist's head being delivered to Herod Antipas?

I have, in the past, defended our president against the crazy claims of the Tea Party that he is a foreigner, a criminal, a socialist, a Muslim, amd that he hates America and wants to destroy it. Now it appears that he really MAY destroy America, but he will do it in a way that the Tea Party approves of. He will throw American poor, American seniors, American disabled people and American veterans under the bus. Why?

The president has performed like a damn fine Republican. He sent more trops overseas; gave us a health plan with no public option; extended the Bush tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires; invaded Libya without Congressional consent; gave money to the financial institutions that caused the financial recession then allowed them to pay their executives huge bonuses; and now has offered to help the Republicans kill the poor slowly by starving them of Social Security and Medicare benefits they've paid for. Sounds like George Bush to me!

Judging from what he says, it appears that President Obama is willing to betray the people he is supposed to represent just so he can prove that he is more "reasonable" than the Republicans. We do not care if he is reasonable or not. We do not care about the pissing contest between him and his opposition, except that we (the poor, disabled, elderly, veterans and the entire middle class) are the ones being pissed on!

The only reason I voted for him was my assumption that he would hold the line against the insane Tea Party Republicans who, for some reason, are passionately devoted to crushing the poor while shoving more money at the 1% at the top of the socio-economic pyramid.

I believe there is something much darker at work here. One of my neighbors says she won't bother voting until there is a candidate who is not a millionaire (or billionaire) and is not indebted to millionaires because the wealthy and those indebted to them are not sufficiently invested in representing anyone who isn't rich, which is most Americans. She has a good point.

Social Security and Medicare, the two most successful programs America has ever had, the two programs that the poor rely upon DESPERATELY and which, as they stand now, are NOT adequate in benefits, are suddenly being offered up by the President, instead of making the wealthy pay their fair share, which they are not doing!

If any politician had been really interested in making Social Security more "solvent," long before now they would have stopped the government from skimming the cream off the top for years. They would have made millionaires and billionaires pay the same percentage of their income into Social Security as the rest of us. As it stands now, millionaires and billionaires have been paying a tiny fraction in Social Security, an almost invisible amount. They pay the same amount (or less) than a person who earns $168,000 a year or less! But no Democrat, and certainly no Republican, is talking about lifting the cap on Social Security payments!

It is puzzling to me why or ow the Tea Party attracte such a big following amongst the middle class, 99.9% of whom will NOT benefit from the Tea Party agenda, all of whom will, instead, suffer an increasingly worsening quality of life, all of this while the overseas bank accounts of the wealthy are bursting at the seams. It is the fault of those people who continue to peddle the fantasy that, in order to succeed in America, all you have to do is work hard and believe in yourself. Most Americans will work hard and will not become wealthy. I can give you a list of DOZENS of jobs that are difficult that will never make you rich, no matter how hard you work.

The current "crisis" of our country, the refusal of Republicans to pass a bill raising the debt ceiling, something the Republicans have done routinely without comment, is an artificial crisis created by the Republican Party.

The president keeps saying that the American people have made it clear that they want a compromise. The polls do not support that. 80% of Americans DO NOT WANT THE BIG 3 cut!

It is time to change the way we elect our representatives so that we have people in office who represent US. Until that time, we will be dictated to by the richest 1%.

The Oslo attacks make me ponder: one way to characterize terrorism is a willingness – even eagerness – to create chaos, injure innocents, and risk widespread destruction in order to further a single-minded goal. Does Grover Norquist come to mind?

Will someone ask Pat Buchanan why the debt ceiling can only be raised for six months? Raising it into 2013 does not preclude the negotiation of a grand bargain.

So he says the debt ceiling is to serious to be trifled with, and in his very next sentence wants to set up a situation that guarantees that it will be trifled with!

Pat Buchanan has outlived his usefulness. He has nothing to say and is a blattering old fool. He makes no sense at all whenever he opens his mouth. Time to send him to a retirement home away from news media. He loves to hear his own head rattle.

I couldn't agree with Suzette more. She said it all. People were practically brainwashed into voting for these idiots who had one campaign promise. Jobs. I think you have seen what their agenda was, when you saw what happened in Wisconsin and Ohio. It was always beyond me as to why a person who is middle class or poor class would be a Republican. We have nothing in common with a Republican. We are not rich. They are not your friend, they are not going to take care of you. I think by now you have seen who they take care of. Hopefully people will think before they vote, more inportantly think for themselves; and stop listening to Rush Limbaugh.