We all know someone who loves to talk politics but sounds like a jerk every time they do. Talking about politics may be taboo for many of us but it doesn't have to be.
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Ever wonder why it is that Fox News can lie over and over again - yet continue to call itself "News"? It's because Fox News is a corporation - and ever since...
Coffee Party USA's insight:
A must see. This video gives a brief but concise explaination of corporate personhood and its control of media. I understand a lot clearer now why the Koch brothers want to buy news outlets. Thanks for this suggestion, Marianne Castiglis. 
Rhett Rebold's curator insight,
March 17, 5:52 PM
It's a challenge to prosecute slander and liabel since corporations are now US Citizens. Not letting them lie with impunity would infringe their free speech. 
J'nene Solidarity Kay's curator insight,
March 19, 5:45 PM
A quick and concise explanation of how personhood is infecting "news". Delete the scoop?
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NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. -- Former Florida Gov.''Every time I hear that "because National Security" excuse, what I really hear is "normally docile taxpayers and voters would be outraged to the point of revolutionary activity if they actually understood how their taxes and votes were being applied." Delete the scoop?
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James McAvoy unleashes his evil side in ‘Macbeth.’ He talks to Abby Haglage about the painful experience.
Coffee Party USA's insight:
It has been some time since I read the Four Tragedies of William Shakespeare and having seen only one performance, I enjoyed this review. James MacAvoy's description of his emotional involvement in performing MacBeth, a very evil character, with the descriptive stage setting leaves me yearning. I'm ready to fly to London to see the production. Maybe I'm running away with myself, how about you. Delete the scoop?
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I wanted to take a moment to follow up on a post I recently wrote on James O'Keefe III and the ACORN scandal.
Coffee Party USA's insight:
While I feel there is no real comparison between Acorn and Romney, this is a well written and intelligent look at the legal side of the infamous 47% statements made during the last presidential campaign. As of last night the person who did it has given his side, giving thIs writers' conclusion credence. Delete the scoop?
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The U.S. housing market is still a ward of the state. Almost all new mortgages — $1.6 trillion last year alone — are guaranteed by taxpayer dollars.
Coffee Party USA's insight:
We are still on the hook. Delete the scoop?
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The purpose of the media, the press, is to be the unbiased source of information for the citizens. Americans would never accept government controlled media, for they would be assured that government would have no entity to police it. Delete the scoop?
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Her plan would leave the country with a $566 billion shortfall after 10 years. Delete the scoop?
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Enlarge IT WAS bound to be a messy combination and, according to a new report on censorship in China, it is. The country has an estimated 600m internet users who are...
Coffee Party USA's insight:
Since cyber security is coming to the forefront here, a look at Chinas' controlled internet and its possible consequnces make this worth reading. Not so much for criminal charges as much for simple spying. Delete the scoop?
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Excerpt from Editorial from the NY Times
The budget, which will surely fly through the House, was quickly praised as “serious” and job-creating by the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, though it is neither. By cutting $4.6 trillion from spending over the next decade, it would reverse the country’s nascent economic growth, kill millions of real and potential jobs, and deprive those suffering the most of social assistance. All the tired ideas from 2011 and 2012 are back: eliminating Medicare’s guarantee to retirees by turning it into a voucher plan; dispensing with Medicaid and food stamps by turning them into block grants for states to cut freely; repealing most of the reforms to health care and Wall Street; shrinking beyond recognition the federal role in education, job training, transportation and scientific and medical research. The public opinion of these callous proposals was made clear in the fall election, but Mr. Ryan is too ideologically fervid to have learned that lesson.
There’s no need, of course, to balance the budget in 10 years or even 20; these dates are arbitrary, designed solely to impress the extreme fiscal conservatives who now compose the core of the Republican Party.
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Did you know HSBC bank helped Al Qaeda launder money? Watch Sen. Warren demand accountability -- and then sign the petition telling the SEC to end "too big for trial." Delete the scoop?
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Coffee Party USA's insight:
Interesting,...as Paul Harvey use to say, "And here's the rest of the story". 
Nomad 's comment,
March 14, 11:26 AM
Yes, that the problem with so much pre-packaged, carefully selected news. To be fully informed, I think takes a lot of work and is next to impossible when there's a slant written in to the information.
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It’s time for one of our annual political rituals — CPAC, the American Conservative Union’s conference, begins this Wednesday. Delete the scoop?
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Stephane Hessel's ideas are lived on by Europe's new, fringe political parties. Will they stain or sustain his legacy?
Coffee Party USA's insight:
The birth of fairness in Eurpoe began with this man. I note and agree with the concepts of "Time of Outrage", understanding why plutocrats use socialism as a dirty word.This mans passing is both a loss and reminder to all of us; for what he laid out and with it how to continue. Delete the scoop?
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By Lisa Gilbert and Kelly Ngo “There are moments in our lives when we have an opportunity to ignite tremendous positive change—not just in the lives of the customers and communities we serve every day, but in our country.” Those … Continue reading...
Coffee Party USA's insight:
"Coffee not contributions"... There's a nice sound to that motto! Delete the scoop?
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By Sen. Matt Smith, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Op-Ed The Pennsylvania Legislature has more important issues to focus on than an unnecessary and misguided proposal masquerading as Electoral College reform. Senate Bill 538 should be rejected by Republicans and Democrats alike. ... S.B. 538 would change the commonwealth's current "winner-take-all" presidential election system to one in which 18 of Pennsylvania's 20 electoral votes would be distributed proportionally based on the presidential candidate vote count. The final two votes would be awarded to the overall state election winner. As Democratic chair of the Senate State Government Committee, I intend to work in Harrisburg with both Democrats and Republicans to advance ideas to increase voter participation. Several initiatives before the committee would do this. These commonsense measures include allowing individuals to register online up to 30 days before an election, allowing voters to register on Election Day and vote at certain locations before Election Day (i.e., early voting) and voting by absentee ballot without being required to provide a specified reason. Rather than dealing with maneuvers aimed at tilting election results in one party's favor, the Legislature should take action to restore the public's faith in our electoral system. To that end, comprehensive campaign finance reform and mandatory online filing of campaign reports are goals we should pursue. Rather than ramming a partisan electoral scheme through the Legislature, both sides should work together to increase voter access, confidence and participation. The last thing we should be doing is changing the rules of the game to benefit one team. Let's make sure the rules benefit all Pennsylvanians.
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Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fla.) introduced a constitutional amendment on Tuesday, aimed at reversing the Supreme Court's ruling on Citizens United.
Coffee Party USA's insight:
Sen. Bernie Sanders joins the movement to undo the Citizens United decision. Introducing the Democracy for People Amendment, senate bill S 535, he joins Rep. Theodore Deutch in the House who introduced Saving American Democracy, house bill HJ Res. 34. If we are going to remove corporate personhood and its corrosive effects on government we must support them both. By the People, for the People means living, breathing, human beings. Delete the scoop?
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Excerpt from analysis by EZRA KLEIN, Washington Post The CBO has come back with two projections. One is a simple, mechanical projection of future deficits based on current law. Everyone pretty much ignores this analysis, because, in recent years, current law has been a poor predictor of future policy. The law said, for instance, that all the Bush tax cuts would expire at the end of 2012 and that huge Medicare cuts would be imposed. Everyone knew that Congress wouldn’t let that happen, and that the current-law projection was wrong.
Policy makers, pundits and others almost exclusively use this model to stoke Washington’s deficit anxieties. This model, too, is wrong. Although most of the Bush tax cuts were extended permanently, some weren’t — producing more than $600 billion in revenue over 10 years. Likewise, sequestration’s budget cuts have actually begun, and the costly wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are ending. At the left-leaning Center for American Progress, Michael Linden pulled together an illuminating analysis of exactly what assumptions lurk behind the alternative fiscal scenario’s odd projections. [MORE]
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Senators Kerry, Harkin, and Levin all decried the state of campaign finance in retiring remarks. (Retiring senators Carl Levin, John Kerry, & Tom Harkin all agree: money is ruining the Senate. Delete the scoop?
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At a Senate Banking Committee hearing on Thursday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) rebuked Republicans for blocking Richard Cordray’s confirmation as director of her brainchild, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Delete the scoop?
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An influential senator who has sought to place a moratorium on new Internet cafes said Wednesday that criminal allegations of racketeering and other wrongdoing in the industry should spur lawmakers to close the storefront businesses.
Coffee Party USA's insight:
Drawn to this aricle by the idea someone would "ban internet cafes,' places I really like, I was surprized it involved not cafes but their use for gambling. My first reaction is, punish all for wrong doing of a few. Until you read about the political contributions. More money in politics, does it ever end? Delete the scoop?
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Jeanene Louden and co-host Debilyn Molineaux discuss current affairs and systemic changes that are needed in the Unitied States. Live callers are encouraged to propose their own solutions and engage with the host and/or guests.
Coffee Party USA's insight:
Pleasent conversation and thoghtful incite. Listen in online and call in with comments. Delete the scoop?
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by JAKE MILLER, CBS News The Huffington Post reports that the company for which the yet-to-be-named bartender worked had previously catered an event where Mr. Clinton spoke. When the former president was done with his remarks, he stepped into the kitchen to thank the staff - waiters, bartenders, busboys - who had helped put the event together.
Nomad 's comment,
March 14, 11:24 AM
Thanks for scooping this. The most important part is the comparison between Clinton and Romney. Paying attention to the little guy (not the fat cats) is the most honest way to win an election. Romney discovered that the hard way.
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by CARL GIBSON, Huffington Post
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Excerpt from article by by Thomas C. Hall, Washington Business Journal "One of the think-tank's former clients, RJR Nabisco Inc., sought Campanella's advice on environmental issues. Then Monsanto Corp., General Electric Co., Amoco Corp. and other big-names came calling; Stateside now has more than 80 clients. "In the middle of these projects, I started asking why these big companies needed help with issue expertise," Campanella said.
When the light bulb went on, Campanella was well prepared. She had been immersed in legislative issues for more than a decade already, serving on the staffs of former Reps. Jack Kemp, R-N.Y., and Mickey Edwards, R-Okla., before a brief stint at the Department of Transportation in the Reagan administration.
Coffee Party USA's insight:
The regular folks that really get only a single vote once every so many years in shaping influence really need to start getting together with a better plan than that. The collection and union of business owners....otherwise known as a corporation are all too often busy undermining the individual citizen and worker's interest in the interest of their collective and personal profits. Wonder who they are overcharging and underpaying and benefit cutting to have the cash flow to do that? This is a short sited plan for short term profits and one cannot undermine the public hand that feeds them and end up in a good place for anyone. Citizens really need more than ever to join together in a balanced pushback for their own interest and we really need to rethink how business in National, State and Local government offices is running. If we don't stand up against these influences for our own collective interest (like corporations can afford to do for their interest) than we may deserve to be a open cadaver for corporate and officail vultures and vampires. They may not be bad guys as individuals but their "Gang" (which is this case is corporate) just won't let them be nice and stay in the group, so they need us to help them do the right things..We cannot allow these corporate influences to be unchallenged bullies in our democracy. Delete the scoop?
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Some very common sense practical advice on talking politics. I particularly like, "finding flaws in your own position", It can help strengthen it and lets you empathize to become more flexable in discussions. I also find the fact check sources quite useful. Over all this is an excellent way to have an an informative and productive dialogue on issues.