I've just figured out the real reason for Republican candidate Mitt Romney's sporadic behavior. He's actually an Avatar. No really, this makes sense. If you didn't see the movie Avatar, it's simple. An avatar is a biological vessel that can be inhabited and controlled by the mind of the "occupant". This is probably some sort of final test drive by the NSA or CIA.

In Mitt Romney's case it seems he's been driven by a wide variety of well known conservative players, most recently, George W. Bush. Apparently, all it takes to drive the Mitt Machine is money, lust for power or political desperation. This explains why we didn't see Bush at Mitt's convention or on the campaign trail. It seems the GOP felt that Bush needed a third term and so now it's his turn in the Avatar Mitt.  Remember "corporations are people" or "I enjoy being able to fire people" and my favorite "I’m not concerned about the very poor"? That's sooo Bush, but only the handsome Mitt could make such outrageous statements really fire up the Republican crowd when campaigning.
 
Romney's claim that cutting taxes for the rich would promote job and economic growth while reducing the deficit is just as false, as it so clearly was under Bush, but nearly word-for-word a Bush statement. Don't forget, the Bush tax cuts did in fact blow a $2.5-trillion hole in the federal budget. Romney's tax cuts are even more expensive, clocking in at a cost of more than $10.7 trillion over the next decade and reducing revenue to a paltry 15 percent of GDP. Just like under Bush, the same policy would achieve the same results. I don't quite understand why the GOP think that deficits are good for America, but obviously they do. And they're great at creating them.

The Neocons, when choosing to put Bush behind the controls of the Mitt Machine, felt his foreign policy strategery just needed more time. That's why Avatar Mitt has chosen the heart of Bush's old foreign policy people, and quite a hawkish list it is; John Bolton (once suggested a nuclear attack against Iran), Eliot Cohen (Dick Cheney's advisor, pushed hard for the Iraq war and pushing hard now for a war with Iran), Michael Haden (one of the most vigorous defenders of torture), and Max Boot (called for “America to embrace its imperial role, staying in Afghanistan, invading Syria and bombing Iran). I'm guessing that just the face of George W. Bush is so politically toxic as to turn away the electorate, but the same ideas coming from Mitt Romney? These will sell.

The Mitt Romney presidential model Avatar is essentially Dubya 2.0; more tax cuts for the rich, more war, and more debt but with a great smile! So, if you're one of those people who miss the good ole Bush years, you'll get another chance by voting for Bush's Avatar, Mitt Romney.

Thanks, Bill Vana

I cynically believe that electing Mitt Romney may be our only real option for getting this country back on track. And there's really only one reason for this. Extortion. I'll get to that later.

The problem with Obama getting elected in 2008 is simple. There's still too much hate and ignorance in our political system and community to tolerate a black man as president of the U.S.A. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R) statement after Obama was sworn in tells the whole story in one sentence. "The single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president". Not "fix the economy" not "create millions of jobs" not anything beneficial to the struggling American people. Just pure politics and regaining power and control. Also, look at the coincidental and simultaneous rise of the Tea Party. Their stranglehold on The House of Representatives clearly caused the credit rating of the US to take a hit after the last debt ceiling debate. Even $10 of spending cuts for every $1 of tax increases was too much of a compromise for the anti-tax idealogues.

Does that sound like a political party who wants to improve our economy and create jobs or one that will obstruct, impede, block and delay any and all programs that will move us forward? Consider the record number of filibusters that were used to prevent passage of meaningful and helpful legislation. On the other hand, conservatives have passed plenty of bills to restrict voter turnout and attack women's health care.

Mitt Romney is our best chance. He's done a 180 on every possible policy position that's relevant. He's weak, pliable and a windsock. Who knows what he really believes in?  Will he flip flop again, this time on the side of common sense and wisdom? This may actually work in the country's favor.

Our only hope is that if Mitt gets elected and Republicans take control of congress, that THEN they'll actually pass some sensible legislation to get us back on track again. Their view being, if it's our guy in charge we can then take credit for fixing the problems (that our policies have caused) and maintain political power and control. But, if you elect those guys, will just ram a stick in the spokes of ANY progress whatsoever. Screw the economy. Screw all the job seekers. Screw all the problems facing this country. It's our way or NO WAY.

That sounds like extortion. Or even kidnapping. "Vote for Mitt or the kid get's it!" They've done it before and there's no reason to believe they won't do it again.

Thanks, Bill Vana
p.s. this was satire and not an actual endorsement for Mitt Romney

time 24 minutes

Broncos owner Pat Bowlen introduced Peyton Manning to reporters today at the team's headquarters at a news conference, which was aired live locally and nationally on ESPN2.

The news conference was schedule for 1 p.m. and started about 20 minutes late.

Bowlen said "this is sort of a historic meeting today. We're glad to have two Hall of Fame quarterbacks.

"Our goal has always been to win Super Bowls. Peyton gives us another chance to win a world championship.

John Elway came up next and thanked Bowlen for the chance to get Manning.

"We are fortunate to work for a guy like Mr. Bowlen. Without the commitment of Mr. Bowlen we wouldn't have Peyton here today," Elway said.

Elway

said he thinks Manning has "a lot of great years" to play football.

"My goal is to make Pm the best quarterback to play the game," Elway said. "He's a guy that will make our football team better, just because of the type of person he is," Elway said.

Manning likes Broncos best

Manning thanked the teams he visited, but "In the end, I felt the Broncos were just a great fit. Elway is one of the best quarterbacks to play. Talking football with John, coach Fox and his staff made me realize this is a great place to be."

Making the pick

Manning said he woke up Monday morning and "first called the two other teams that were finalist in the process to let them know I appreciated the time.

"Having my first visit here, I felt very comfortable here. John and Coach Fox felt comfortable, and hopefully that leads to many wins."

Solid staff to join

Manning said he was going to meet today with the training staff and also "I'm going to stay there through the week and get situated."

After meeting with the Broncos staff, Manning said "I knew these guys knew what they were doing and were committed to winning."

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Federal authorities announced Monday night that they are opening a full-scale criminal investigation into the slaying of an unarmed black Florida teenager whose death provoked an outcry from African American leaders and sparked calls for gun-control reforms in Florida.

A Justice Department spokeswoman said in a statement that its Civil Rights Division, in conjunction with the FBI, planned to conduct an investigation into the death last month of Trayvon Martin and to work with local groups in the Orlando area to soothe rising tensions over the matter.

“The department will conduct a thorough and independent review of all of the evidence and take appropriate action at the conclusion of the investigation,” spokeswoman Xochitl Hinojosa said in a statement. “The department also is providing assistance to and cooperating with the state officials in their investigation into the incident.”

National figures such as the Rev. Al Sharpton and members of the Congressional Black Caucus have charged that local authorities have failed to deliver justice for the family of Martin, who was shot by a neighborhood watch volunteer. The volunteer told a police dispatcher that the 17-year-old appeared suspicious.

“I am outraged by the way in which this case has been handled by the Sanford Police Department in Florida,” said Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II (D-Mo.), chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, in a statement issued Monday before the Justice Department announced its investigation. “Those who are meant to protect us and our children have blatantly turned their backs on fairness and justice.”

After an enormously successful campaign to stop the Keystone XL Pipeline from being built, 350.org and numerous allies are gearing up for a major new fight to end four billion dollars in subsidies the fossil fuel industry receives each year.

There’s no way to move to renewable energy sources like wind and solar without ending the subsidies to an industry that’s already earning record-breaking profits: Exxon-Mobil is currently the most profitable corporation in the history of capitalism.

These subsidies are delivered through the tax code but they are essentially no different from government spending programs that provide money directly. As Seth Hanlon explained on Think Progress: “Some of these tax earmarks have been around for nearly a century, and the deep-pocketed industry has successfully challenged previous repeal attempts. But today’s high gas prices and inflated profits have undermined the industry’s argument that their tax breaks benefit consumers. Meanwhile, federal budget deficits have sharpened Congress’s focus on eliminating wasteful government spending—of which oil subsidies are one of the worst examples.”

So, the time is right to challenge the longstanding advantages the fossil fuel industry has enjoyed in this country. If you’re ready to join this fight, sign on with 350. Over the next month, the group will issue a series of alerts designed to ramp up the pressure on elected officials by having them publicly declare where they stand on the question of subsidies.

The first step is this petition, designed to show Congress how important this issue is, and to alert every member of Congress that an army of concerned citizens are taking this issue very seriously. As Bill McKibben says in this stirring video message, “This fight is a lifetime fight.” Join the battle now.

Just before the vote, McConnell took to the senate floor and praised the lead sponsors, Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Jim Inhofe (R-OK) for their bipartisan effort. “They have worked together in a collegial way to bring us to this point on the highway bill,” he raved.

Moments later, McConnell joined 21 other Republicans — and no Democrats — in voting against the bill. The House is expected to take up a similar version in April, rather than the far inferior House Republican version.

In early March, the Laborers’ International Union of America launched a radio and mail ad campaign aimed at prodding Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) to pass the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act, a highway and transportation bill.

Their ads, focused on Kentucky and Ohio, included children singing “America’s bridges falling down, all around the country,” to the tune of the song “London Bridge is Falling Down.” A narrator warned:

The average age of a U.S. bridge is 45 years, dangerously close to the life span of 50 years. More than a quarter of our bridges are structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. Because of tight budgets, bridge maintenance is in jeopardy. and if Republican leaders in Congress have their way those budgets will get cut even more. Text “Bridge” to 69866 and let Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell know we need a real highway bill to save our bridges and our lives.

This got the attention of McConnell’s staff, who posted a refutation on his campaign website. McConnell professed his support for the highway bill and slammed Laborers for its support of Democratic candidates and the “radical” Occupy movement.

“Contrary to the assertion in the ads,” McConnell’s staff claimed, “Senator McConnell has been working to pass the highway bill in the U.S. Senate, which is currently slated for a vote on final passage next week.” A McConnell spokesman also told a Louisville, Kentucky radio station that the minority leader was working with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) to pass the highway bill.

Just before the vote, McConnell took to the senate floor and praised the lead sponsors, Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Jim Inhofe (R-OK) for their bipartisan effort. “They have worked together in a collegial way to bring us to this point on the highway bill,” he raved.

Moments later, McConnell joined 21 other Republicans — and no Democrats — in voting against the bill. The House is expected to take up a similar version in April, rather than the far inferior House Republican version.

McConnell’s office did not respond to a request for comment on why he voted against a bill he’d pledged to support and no explanations were apparent on his senate or campaign websites. But it would certainly appear that the Republican leader owes the Laborers an apology.

WASHINGTON — For more than two years, a handful of Democrats on the Senate intelligence committee have warned that the government is secretly interpreting its surveillance powers under the Patriot Act in a way that would be alarming if the public — or even others in Congress — knew about it.

On Thursday, two of those senators — Ron Wyden of Oregon and Mark Udall of Colorado — went further. They said a top-secret intelligence operation that is based on that secret legal theory is not as crucial to national security as executive branch officials have maintained.

The senators, who also said that Americans would be “stunned” to know what the government thought the Patriot Act allowed it to do, made their remarks in a letter to Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. after a Justice Department official last month told a judge that disclosing anything about the program “could be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to the national security of the United States.”

The Justice Department has argued that disclosing information about its interpretation of the Patriot Act could alert adversaries to how the government collects certain intelligence. It is seeking the dismissal of two Freedom of Information Act lawsuits — by The New York Times and by the American Civil Liberties Union — related to how the Patriot Act has been interpreted.

The senators wrote that it was appropriate to keep specific operations secret. But, they said, the government in a democracy must act within publicly understood law so that voters “can ratify or reject decisions made on their behalf” — even if that “obligation to be transparent with the public” creates other challenges.

“We would also note that in recent months we have grown increasingly skeptical about the actual value of the ‘intelligence collection operation,’ ” they added. “This has come as a surprise to us, as we were initially inclined to take the executive branch’s assertions about the importance of this ‘operation’ at face value.”

The dispute centers on what the government thinks it is allowed to do under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, under which agents may obtain a secret order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court allowing them to get access to any “tangible things” — like business records — that are deemed “relevant” to a terrorism or espionage investigation.

There appears to be both an ordinary use for Section 215 orders — akin to using a grand jury subpoena to get specific information in a traditional criminal investigation — and a separate, classified intelligence collection activity that also relies upon them.

The interpretation of Section 215 that authorizes this secret surveillance operation is apparently not obvious from a plain text reading of the provision, and was developed through a series of classified rulings by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

The letter from Mr. Wyden and Mr. Udall also complained that while the Obama administration told Congress in August 2009 that it would establish “a regular process for reviewing, redacting and releasing significant opinions” of the court, since then “not a single redacted opinion has been released.”

Members of a spiritual band are suing The Durango Herald, accusing its Arts and Entertainment Editor Ted Holteen of sending an allegedly threatening email to the group’s booking agent prior to a show it played last July in Durango.

The lawsuit, filed Feb. 22 in U.S. District Court in Arizona, seeks damages in excess of $1.3 million. The plaintiffs accuse Holteen of making threats, inflicting emotional distress and targeting band members because of their religious beliefs.

The four plaintiffs are members of a spiritually based community supported by Global Community Communications Alliance, a church based in Tubac, Ariz., according to the lawsuit. The band performs songs with spiritual lyrics conveying the community’s message.

Herald Managing Editor Don Lindley said the Herald will defend the lawsuit.

“We have referred this matter to our attorneys, and we expect them to defend it,” he said.

Holteen declined to comment for this story.

According to the lawsuit, Holteen sent an email to the band’s booking agent from his Herald email account July 8. In the email, Holteen was critical of the band’s musical talents, mocked its use of spiritual names and expressed hope that band members suffer bodily harm or death.

“If there was a hell I’d wish you to burn there for eternity, but since no such place exists, I can only hope that you suffer horribly painful deaths,” he wrote.

The email was sent in reply to an email from the band’s booking agent sent to Holteen offering to help arrange an interview with band members if Holteen wanted to write a story.

The email was sent June 9, and Holteen replied on July 8 – the day the band was scheduled to play at the Fort Lewis College Concert Hall in Durango.

The booking agent was “very shaken up,” the lawsuit says, and forwarded the email to the band members. The band members found the email to be painful, traumatic and distressing, the lawsuit says.

A trumpet player showed the email to the spiritual leader’s bodyguard, “who viewed the message as a serious threat of violence,” the lawsuit says.

The spiritual leader notified the Durango Police Department which referred the matter to the Fort Lewis College Campus Police. An officer viewed the email and assured there would be heightened security for the concert, the lawsuit says.

A band member tried to obtain a restraining order against Holteen prior to the show, but no judge was immediately available to issue an order, the lawsuit says.

The band performed its show July 8 in Durango.

But the spiritual leader canceled the band’s previously booked shows in Denver, Santa Fe and Phoenix. The tour was canceled based on concern for the safety of the band and the spiritual leader’s family, the lawsuit says.

Each of the four plaintiffs is seeking in excess of $75,000 in compensatory damages. In punitive damages, they collectively are seeking $1 million.