I live in Texas CD 22 which is the former home of Tom Delay. pete
Olson is my current congresscritter. Pete is a Rice grad and went to UTLaw but Pete cannot speak in public. Jon had a clip of pete on tonight and sounded even dumber than normal

Boehner made his bed and should have to sleep in it. However, Senate Republicans are slow playing the negotiations to give Boehner a chance to save some face http://talkingpointsmemo.com/dc/senate-republicans-we-have-to-save-john-boehner

John Boehner needs saving. Or at least needs the chance to save himself. That's the message from some Senate Republicans as the House takes back the ball in the ongoing negotiations over re-opening the government and raising the debt ceiling.

Rather than be stuck with a bipartisan Senate plan and a clock ticking toward a Thursday debt ceiling breach, Senate GOPers said after a Tuesday caucus meeting, Boehner needs a chance to come up with a deal that will be acceptable to House conservatives. Nothing less than his speakership is at stake.

"The best thing for the country is for John Boehner to deliver," Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told reporters. "He would establish himself as the leader of the House, which is good for the country."

This is stupid. The House Republicans made this mess and Boehner backed them up. The country may suffer a default and decrease in credit rating solely to help Boehner save some face.

The polling explains why the GOP is willing to play with the full faith and credit of the United States http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/poll-huge-majority-of-tea-partiers-think-debt-limit-is-no-big-deal

As the United States moves closer to the debt ceiling, a poll released Tuesday found the vast majority of tea party Republicans don't think the looming deadline is all that significant.

The latest findings from Pew Research Center showed that while a slight majority of all Americans — 51 percent — believe that it is "absolutely essential" for Congress to raise the debt limit before the Thursday deadline, 69 percent of tea partiers said the U.S. "can go past the deadline...without major economic problems."

Thirty-six percent of all Americans believe that the U.S. can safely go past the deadline, while just 23 percent of the tea party said it's essential to raise the debt ceiling. An overwhelming majority of 67 percent of Democrats called raising the debt ceiling essential, while 52 percent of Republicans said that the deadline could pass without triggering economic problems.

The teabaggers live in a different world compared to the rest of us. In their world, default and the collapse of the world economy is no big deal so long as they can show up the non-white guy living in the White House.

Palin is joining in Gohmert's claim that President Obama is committing a high crime by not agreeing to the GOP's ransom demands http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/palin-obama-is-flirting-with-impeachable-offenses

Former Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin accused President Barack Obama on Monday of coming dangerously close to "impeachable offenses."

In a post on her Facebook page, Palin wrote that Obama is trying to create a sense of fear over Thursday's looming debt limit deadline. Obama warned Monday that the United States faces "a good chance of defaulting" unless Republicans in Congress "set aside some of their partisan concerns."

"It’s also shameful to see him scaremongering the markets with his talk of default," Palin wrote. "There is no way we can default if we follow the Constitution. The Fourteenth Amendment, Section 4, requires that we service our debt first. We currently collect more than enough tax revenue to service our debt if we do that first."

Both Gohmert and Palin have less than a half of a brain each. This is sad but to be expected

Jon Stewart has been on a roll this week. Last night he had a great segment on the failure of states to expand Medicaid
http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-october-10-2013/medican-t

Jon Stewart on Thursday blasted Republican governors and lawmakers who reject expanding medicaid in their states, singling out the most egregious offenders as "moochers."

Stewart added "total dickishness" to the list of obstacles facing the implementation of Obamacare, citing the 26 Republican-controlled states that declined federal dollars to expand Medicaid out of "spite."

"All but three of those 26 states they represent already take more money from the federal government than they contribute in tax dollars. They are already burdens on the systems," he later added. "I believe they are referred to by those Republicans as moochers. Moocher states. And if statehood was health care, Mississippi and Missouri would be rejected as having that as a pre-existing condition."

You can also view the segment by going to this link http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/11/jon-stewart-republican-governors-medicaid_n_4084198.html?utm_hp_ref=politics&ir=Politics

This major news, fidelity is the largest manager of mutual fund . Fidelity is worried about a default http://www.jsonline.com/business/fidelity-sells-short-term-t-bills-b99117195z1-227151731.html?ipad=y

As a matter of full disclosure, Kirk is a friend. I have known him since he was a high school student at a debate camp and we were on law review together.

Kirk is correct about Goodhair and Texas being stupid in not accepting the ACA's medicaid expansion http://www.chron.com/opinion/outlook/article/Watson-Gov-Perry-s-political-health-care-circus-4879402.php?cmpid=opedhprr

By refusing to secure health coverage for about 1.3 million-1.7 million Texans, those in control are costing Texas about $90 billion over 10 years in tax money we'll send to Washington. A Perryman Group study found that expanding Medicaid would boost Texas' economic output by $270 billion.

Texas already leads the nation in the percentage of residents without health coverage. We should put these billions of dollars to work keeping Texans healthy and cutting down on pricey emergency room visits that, in many cases, are ultimately paid for with local property taxes.

And then there are all the lost economic benefits.

Expanding Medicaid in Texas would create nearly 200,000 jobs, according to a study conducted by Billy Hamilton (Texas' renowned former deputy comptroller) and the nonprofit religious advocacy group, Texas Impact.

If private enterprise were offering that kind of boom, Perry and other officials would pursue it with dizzying abandon.

For example, the governor's ballyhooed deal to bring Caterpillar Inc. to Seguin - a deal the state spent $10 million to consummate - was projected to create just 1,400 jobs. Why not put far more people to work simply by accepting the return of Texans' tax money, especially to serve the dual purpose of keeping Texans healthy?

Texans are smart. They understand the implications - on a family and on the state - when their friends and neighbors try to go without health insurance. In fact, a recent Texas Hospital Association survey shows a majority of Texans think the state should take this money.

Expanding Medicaid would give more than a million Texans more alternatives to taxpayer-funded emergency rooms when they have serious injuries and illnesses.....

Texans deserve that economic benefit. They deserve better health care. And they certainly deserve better than the political circus they've been getting.

Given the increase possibility that the tea party will impeach President Obama, I found this article on the possible effects of the impeachment interesting.http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/ten-miles-square/2013/10/post047213.php The basic premise is that when you pick on one person, it is easy to dismiss that person's complaints but it is harder to dismiss these complaints when there is a pattern. Given the fact that the GOP wrongfully impeached President Clinton, there is a pattern that can be exploited.

As virtually no one remembers Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton stood alone in the dock in the public’s mind when he was impeached. That would have made it easy for his accusers to make his impeachment about him even if he hadn’t engaged in sketchy behavior.

But if the Tea Partiers impeach President Obama, it will be hard to persuade anyone not suffering from epistemic closure that two Democratic Presidents in a row just happened to deserve impeachment. The public’s attention and attributions would shift to the radicals in the Republican ranks: Why have these people impeached every Democratic President elected in the last 20 years?

Even if they didn’t have that psychological phenomenon in their favor, the Democrats would have two huge advantages in convincing the public that an Obama impeachment case was really about the Tea Party rather than the President: Barack Obama and Bill Clinton. That’s as politically talented a pair as exists in the U.S. today, and it’s hard to think of anyone in the House of Representatives who could take them on and successfully frame an impeachment debate in the Tea Party’s preferred fashion.

Presidential impeachment would thus, like everything else the Tea Party is currently doing, be popular in their echo chamber but help convince the rest of the country that they are a dangerous and irresponsible force in U.S. politics. It’s not therefore something that Obama should fear. Indeed, he might even welcome it.

I believe that the tea party and GOP will eventually impeach President Obama. Such a step hurt the GOP with President Clinton and that hurt will be worse if this stunt is tried on President Obama. We need to be prepared to respond to any impeachment attempts by the GOP or Tea Party with a simple question:

Why is it only Democratic Presidents who are being impeached?

The more we point out the pattern of GOP conduct, the more painful it will be for the tea party and the GOP when they get around to this tactic

My middle child is still in law school and just turned 26 a couple of months ago. She had been on my policy at my firm and we started looking for coverage. In addition, my youngest child is on my policy but now I am paying $590 a month for family coverage for one dependent. One of my friends from my congregation's men service club is an insurance agent and h e found a policy for my daughters. He found some policies from blue cross and we applied only to have both kids turned down due to pre-existing health issues (this did not matter for the youngest child and the middle child is getting on the law school policy). Today, he sent me a link through his firm for a Blue Cross Silver PPO plan that is at a good rate. I can cover both daughters for less than I am paying for one. This is an exchange type policy that is silver level for the exchanges. The rates for this policy is $10 higher per month than the rate quoted for the non-ACA policy.

Anyone who is going through the exchanges can also talk to insurance agents. I do not feel bad about not going through the exchange given that I am getting an exchange qualified plan that is under the ACA

The 2012 Texas Democratic Party platform had a plank on the legalization of marijuana. This polling is interesting http://blog.norml.org/2013/10/08/everything-is-bigger-in-texas-including-support-for-marijuana-legalization/

PPP’s polling found that 58% of Texans support regulating marijuana like alcohol and only 38% were opposed. This change in policy was supported by 59% of women, 70% of Democrats, 57% of Independents, a majority of all racial demographics, and a majority of all age demographics.

The survey also reported that 58% of Texans supported medical marijuana and 61% supported the decriminalization of possession of an ounce or less.

- See more at: http://blog.norml.org/2013/10/08/everything-is-bigger-in-texas-including-support-for-marijuana-legalization/#sthash.llC90anI.W0oXK2fD.dpuf