South Carolina GOP Debate Covers Drugs, Obama and the Economy; Herman Cain Declared the Winner

If past political history is any judge ... then the Republican Party will select businessman Herman Cain as their candidate in 2012 to run for the presidency against incumbent Barack Obama. After all, the GOP voters in South Carolina primaries have been right on the GOP presidential candidate in every election since 1980 and the GOP voters in a focus group following last night's South Carolina GOP presidential debate OVERWHELMINGLY indicated that Herman Cain was the winner of the debate.

See for yourself:

It was a surreal event in many respects. There were five candidates on the stage at this debate: Rep. Ron Paul, Herman Cain, former governor Tim Pawlenty, former senator Rick Santorum and former governor Gary Johnson.

Herman Cain

• Ron Paul - Paul is like your crazy uncle at the Thanksgiving dinner. You're never quite sure what he's going to say in front of the kids ... and you're never quite sure if he's right in the head. Last night, Paul made a passionate defense of the need to legalize heroin. His rant seemed to get the largest audience response of the night.
• Herman Cain - The focus group says that he won the debate. I smiled when one of the focus group members noted that Cain was 'articulate'. White folks are still amazed when they see a Black man who knows how to correctly use verbs and adjectives in a sentence. Quite frankly, the best part of last night's debate for Cain was the Fox News focus group afterwards. He was the definite winner in the minds of those 29 folks.
• Tim Pawlenty - He had the highest profile of any participant in last night's debate. I thought that the others might pile on him ... but, Pawlenty managed to hold his own last night. His roughest moment came when he tried to squirm his way out of a question about 'Cap and Trade' legislation in Minnesota. It turns out that he was for it before he was against it.
• Rick Santorum - He is still a cultural warrior. He doesn't have many ideas on any of the economic or foreign police issues ... but, he had a lot to say last night about family values.



Gary Johnson

• Gary Johnson - I need to be honest. I had never seen or heard about Gary Johnson until last night. Who knew that he was a governor in New Mexico? Who knew that he admits to smoking marijuana and feels that marijuana use should be legalized? Who knew that he doesn't care for the reality shows of either Donald Trump or Sarah Palin? Who knew that one of his life goals is to climb the highest mountains on each of the 7 continents? These were all things that we learned during the debate last night!

BY http://electronicvillage.blogspot.com/

South Carolina GOP Debate Covers Drugs, Obama and the Economy; Herman Cain Declared the Winner

If past political history is any judge ... then the Republican Party will select businessman Herman Cain as their candidate in 2012 to run for the presidency against incumbent Barack Obama. After all, the GOP voters in South Carolina primaries have been right on the GOP presidential candidate in every election since 1980 and the GOP voters in a focus group following last night's South Carolina GOP presidential debate OVERWHELMINGLY indicated that Herman Cain was the winner of the debate.

See for yourself:

It was a surreal event in many respects. There were five candidates on the stage at this debate: Rep. Ron Paul, Herman Cain, former governor Tim Pawlenty, former senator Rick Santorum and former governor Gary Johnson.

Herman Cain

• Ron Paul - Paul is like your crazy uncle at the Thanksgiving dinner. You're never quite sure what he's going to say in front of the kids ... and you're never quite sure if he's right in the head. Last night, Paul made a passionate defense of the need to legalize heroin. His rant seemed to get the largest audience response of the night.
• Herman Cain - The focus group says that he won the debate. I smiled when one of the focus group members noted that Cain was 'articulate'. White folks are still amazed when they see a Black man who knows how to correctly use verbs and adjectives in a sentence. Quite frankly, the best part of last night's debate for Cain was the Fox News focus group afterwards. He was the definite winner in the minds of those 29 folks.
• Tim Pawlenty - He had the highest profile of any participant in last night's debate. I thought that the others might pile on him ... but, Pawlenty managed to hold his own last night. His roughest moment came when he tried to squirm his way out of a question about 'Cap and Trade' legislation in Minnesota. It turns out that he was for it before he was against it.
• Rick Santorum - He is still a cultural warrior. He doesn't have many ideas on any of the economic or foreign police issues ... but, he had a lot to say last night about family values.



Gary Johnson

• Gary Johnson - I need to be honest. I had never seen or heard about Gary Johnson until last night. Who knew that he was a governor in New Mexico? Who knew that he admits to smoking marijuana and feels that marijuana use should be legalized? Who knew that he doesn't care for the reality shows of either Donald Trump or Sarah Palin? Who knew that one of his life goals is to climb the highest mountains on each of the 7 continents? These were all things that we learned during the debate last night!

BY http://electronicvillage.blogspot.com/

Offshore Oil Drilling after Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill — No New Safeguards, GOP Push for Less Oversight

One of the worst environmental disasters in history struck one year ago today — the “Deepwater Horizon oil spill,” or “BP oil spill.” Haven’t kept up with the details of offshore oil drilling much lately and curious where things stand? Well, I can’t say that we’ve learned from our lesson.

While no legislation has been passed to make offshore oil drilling safer, “the House Natural Resources Committee pushed forward three bills to expand offshore drilling and reduce safeguards,” Frances  Beinecke of the Natrual Resource Defense Council (NRDC), who served on the National Commission on the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling, writes.

Seriously, let’s make it easier to have another oil spill catastrophe? This is what the “House Natural Resources Committee” wants? Yes, the U.S. has been hijacked by political extremists who don’t understand the government’s role in ensuring a safe and livable environment.
More from Beinecke:

These bills would allow big oil companies to sidestep proper environmental analysis, rush permits and drill virtually anywhere off the U.S. coastline.

Have we learned nothing from the largest peacetime oil spill in history? Eleven men died in that disaster. More than 170 million gallons of Louisiana crude spewed into the water, and 1,053 miles of shoreline got oiled.

The impacts have been devastating. Gulf Coast fishermen lost $62 million in dockside sales because of the spill, while tourist businesses lost $1.5 billion in earnings. Oil remains in marshes and underwater plumes, and it will take years to determine the ecological damage.

Yet, it’s more important that oil companies be left alone to do what they wish wherever they wish.
The National Commission on the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling that Beinecke found, after an “exhaustive review of the evidence” that “the root cause of the spill was systemic failure in industry management and government oversight.” Of course it was.

Completely ridiculous that these supposed leaders of our country are interested in ignoring the findings, the need for change, and are actually pushing for further deregulation in this dangerous arena.

Will less regulation of offshore oil drilling help the U.S. become more energy independent? Not enough that anyone would even notice. This is one of the least effective ways of pushing for energy independence and doesn’t get at the root of our problem at all. My grandfather was the Chief Excavation Geologist for Exxon for the U.S. (not including Alaska or California) before he retired — the guy in charge of finding oil. He mentioned a couple years ago that we’ve just gotten spoiled, that we don’t have the oil available to support our current demand.

Here’s more on that from Beinecke as well.

Turning back the clock on offshore drilling will do little to relieve America’s oil addiction.
According to the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration, drilling in America’s previously closed ocean areas “would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production…before 2030.” Even then, “because oil prices are determined on the international market …any impact on average wellhead prices is expected to be insignificant.

The U.S. cannot drill its way out of oil dependence. We can, however, turn to a host of clean energy solutions that could cut our oil imports almost in half in just 14 years. We don’t have to wait for technological breakthroughs to get started. Things like cleaner cars, more transportation options, high speed rail, and sustainable, homegrown fuels already exist.

Seriously, this is the route we need to go down. We don’t live in caves any more. We found a better option. We can find a better option for our energy supply as well (we already have). Increasing the risk of workers, the environment, and the whole world in order to try to live on an energy source of the past makes no sense (unless you are a Congressman bought by an oil industry trying to increase its profits for a few more years and don’t have any concern for what’s actually best for the American people).

Tea Party becoming albatross for GOP?

In case you haven’t noticed, the Tea Party movement pretty much has the Republican establishment exactly where it wants it.

And in case you haven’t noticed, the Tea Party movement pretty much has the Republican establishment exactly where the Democrats want it, too.

As the American public takes an increasingly negative view of the Tea Party (HERE), Democrats are becoming ever more eager to paint the GOP as a captive of the Tea Party. And a captive it is.

Yes, Republicans benefitted from the Tea Party insurgence in last year’s midterm elections. But the relatively moderate GOPers (if you can actually call them that) now live in mortal fear of facing primary challenges if they dare defy the Tea Party extremists on matters of spending cuts or social issues. The GOP regulars are, in effect, captives.

Witness the SQUIRMING by House Speaker John Boehner in the face of possible Tea Party wrath if he dares make any deal with the demon Dems on the budget.

And witness the INSTRUCTIONS from Sen. Chuck Schumer to his Democratic colleagues the other day to portray Boehner and the Republicans as painted into a box by the Tea Party.

Barack Obama to Sign Package Extending Tax Breaks for the Rich
THE GUARDIAN: Passage of bill reflects weakness of both the presidency and the Democratic party after Republican wins in November elections

Barack Obama was forced to sign the bill despite admitting that he opposed some of its provisions. Photograph: The Guardian
The US president, Barack Obama, will today sign into law measures approved by Congress extending tax cuts introduced by George Bush amid Democratic complaints that the breaks favour the rich.

Despite objections from many of Obama's fellow Democrats, the House of Representatives passed the $858bn (£548bn) package of renewed tax cuts last night. The package, which also extended benefits for the long-term unemployed for 13 months, was passed by 277 votes to 148. On Wednesday the Senate passed it by an overwhelming 83-15 margin.

Passage of the bill reflects the relative weakness of both the presidency and the Democratic party after the Republican sweep in November's congressional elections, giving them a majority in the House and big inroads into the Democratic majority in the Senate.

Obama has been forced to bend to the resurgent Republicans, his current position on taxes contrasting sharply with his stance earlier this year when he and his fellow Democrats fought against renewing tax reductions for the wealthiest Americans – those with household incomes above $250,000 – while supporting continued cuts for middle-class taxpayers. >>> Mark Tran | Friday, December 17, 2010