Jan Brewer proves that Republicans face a new political and economic reality.

Gay people have spending money just like everyone else and the Chamber of Commerce knows it. Republicans are getting their new marching orders even if they find it hard to swallow. It will be fun watching them come to grips with it.

Dingell's wife and likely successor provided talking point to NRA after Newtown.

Sound familiar?

Since last week’s shootings, our country is once again shocked at another senseless tragedy for which there is no rationalization or explanation. Unless we change the conversation, we will not find the answers.

Demonizing the NRA or gun owners in general gets us nowhere. A fresh round of old proposals for gun-control laws won’t work and will be followed by the renewed frustration of different factions going to their respective corners to fight instead of seeking real solutions.

We, as Americans, need to be willing to acknowledge that we have serious social problems and have to get at the root causes for so many of these horrific scenes: mental illness, failing educational systems, lack of job opportunities, the disintegration of families. We need communities more willing to identify behavior problems early on, to express zero tolerance for bullying, to implement processes that protect individual liberties yet flag potential problems.

Most important, we must remove the stigma of mental illness so that those who need help get help. We need law enforcement agencies that understand problems when they are identified, along with systems that support parents, teachers and employers in intervening and getting help to those who need it.

Debbie Dingell expected to run for husband's congressional seat

Rep. John Dingell’s Monday retirement announcement has opened a rare congressional seat for younger party members in the Democrat-leaning district, where wife Debbie Dingell is considered the front runner.

House Democratic aides and Michigan political figures said Monday that Debbie Dingell, 60, a Democratic power broker and chairwoman of the Wayne State University Board of Governors, has been having preliminary conversations about running for her husband’s seat in Michigan’s 12th Congressional District, which covers parts of Wayne and Washtenaw counties. The Cook Political Report said she is an early favorite to win if she runs.

“She would be the prohibitive favorite in the race,” said Lansing-based political consultant T.J. Bucholz.

But political analysts say Debbie Dingell should expect a contested primary and general election.

“Even though Debbie Dingell obviously has an incredible organizational base of support, she’s also made a lot of enemies,” said Bill Ballenger, associate editor of the Inside Michigan Politics newsletter. “The idea that she’s going to be anointed, I tend to doubt that.”



http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20140224/POLITICS02/302240054#ixzz2uIflYjms

Jim Jones’ sinister grip on San Francisco

Privately, San Francisco political leaders expressed doubts about Jones and his strange church. One day a friend of Milk’s named Tory Hartmann dropped off some boxes of campaign brochures at Peoples Temple, so that Jones’s army could distribute them. Hartmann was immediately unnerved by the uptight, high-security atmosphere inside the temple, where sentries stood at attention outside each room, like the palace guards in the Wicked Witch’s castle. “This is a church?” Hartmann said to herself. Later, after she sped back to the Castro and told Milk about her bizarre experience, the naturally cheery politician turned deadly serious. “Make sure you’re always nice to the Peoples Temple,” he told her. “They’re weird and they’re dangerous, and you never want to be on their bad side.”

Cleve Jones, a young Milk aide, accompanied him to Peoples Temple for a couple of Sunday services. “Harvey told me, ‘Be careful, they tape everything.’ Everyone knew Jim Jones was creepy, everyone knew he was a megalomaniac. But everybody also saw this church full of black and white people — black people from the Fillmore who had been subjected to apartheid-like policies and seemed to finally be getting some respect.”

Members of Moscone’s staff were also beginning to hear troubling reports about Peoples Temple. One day mayoral aide Dick Sklar suggested to his family maid — an African-American woman who had followed the Sklars to San Francisco from Ohio — that she attend a Sunday service at Peoples Temple. “I didn’t know anything about it,” Sklar said, “but she was a churchgoing woman, and I thought she might like it. Afterward she came back and said it was the scariest place she’d ever been. They searched her, asked her questions. I had no idea.”

Moscone himself could not ignore how peculiar his political ally was. “I was at every meeting that Jim Jones ever attended with the mayor,” said Moscone press secretary Corey Busch. “I can tell you that after every one of those meetings, the reaction was, ‘This is one weird bird.’ He always wore the dark glasses. You couldn’t predict Jonestown, but he was definitely weird. In retrospect, maybe we should have seen that, but we didn’t.”


http://www.salon.com/2012/05/01/jim_jones_sinister_grip_on_san_francisco/

I often forget that San Francisco has a real hero in Congress.

I am watching a CNN documentary on the Jonestown Massacre and am reminded that Congresswoman Jackie Speier, who represents that western side of San Francisco was shot five times and left for dead on a runway in Guyana (as an aide for Congressman Leo Ryan) for investigating the infamous cult. I am forever in awe at her strength.

Bush: I 'Get Slightly Emotional' Talking About Vets (VIDEO)

Former President George W. Bush teared up during an interview about veterans and post-traumatic stress disorder.

"I have a duty. I obviously get slightly emotional talking about our vets because I have an emotional -- I'm in there with them," he told ABC's Martha Raddatz in a segment that aired Sunday on "This Week". "But my spirit is always uplifted when I visit with vets."

Bush, who is promoting his initiative to help returning war veterans adjust to civilian life, commended American veterans.

"They don't say, 'Woe is me,'" Bush said. "They say, 'What can I do to continue to serve.'"

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/bush-tears-up-veterans

Covered California exceeds 2014 exchange enrollment goals

WASHINGTON — Well before the March 31 deadline to buy insurance, California announced Tuesday it has already exceeded its 2014 enrollment goals for its health care exchange.

By the end of January, 728,410 people had enrolled in private health plans through Covered California, and 100,000 more signed up in the first two weeks of February. About 26% are 34 and younger.

"These enrollment numbers mean that with six weeks to go, California has already exceeded its projected base enrollment for the 2014 open-enrollment period," said Covered California executive director Peter Lee. "While this is a strong showing, our goal is not pinned to meeting projections, but to making sure every Californian gets covered."

Eighty percent of enrollees have paid their first month's premium, Lee said, and another 877,000 are eligible for Medicaid in California.



http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/02/19/california-exceeds-2014-exchange-enrollment-goals/5610531/

Boehner: 'I'll commit suicide before I vote on a clean minimum wage bill'

Speaker John Boehner is so against raising the minimum wage that he once said he would rather commit suicide than vote for a “clean” increase.

The Ohio Republican and son of a barkeep has repeatedly opposed federally mandated hike increases, which have been a constant in the Democrats’ election-year playbook.

Boehner has “always believed that it's a job killer,” former Ohio Rep. Steve LaTourette, a labor-friendly Republican who is close to Boehner, told The Hill. He pointed to the Congressional Budget Office’s recent report that found that increasing the minimum wage could cost the economy 500,000 jobs.

Some Democrats are optimistic Boehner will cave and allow a vote this year, but the record shows there is little if any daylight between the pro-business Speaker and his conservative conference on this issue.



http://thehill.com/homenews/house/198856-boehner-id-rather-kill-myself-than-raise-the-minimum-wage#ixzz2tyHD8IO9
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Wtf does Peggy Noonan know about 'everyday Americans'?

The queen of the DC party circuit has the gall to write this:

They’re making their videos, holding their parties and having a ball. OK. But imagine you’re a Citizen at Home just grinding through—trying to do it all, the job, the parenthood, the mowing the lawn and paying the taxes. No glamour, all responsibility and effort. And you see these little clips on the Net where the wealthy sing about how great taxpayer bailouts are and you feel like . . . they’re laughing at you.

NC: Jury finds GOP Senate misled investors Read more here

RALEIGH — U.S. Senate candidate Greg Brannon may owe two investors in his failed startup company more than $250,000 after a jury found Tuesday that he provided them bogus information about a potential deal.

The political cost remains unknown.

In the verdict, the 12-person jury decided Brannon bore sole responsibility for giving misleading or false information in 2010 to investors regarding a mobile application being developed by Neogence Enterprises, a now-defunct tech company he helped start.

The jury cleared a second defendant, Robert Rice, the company’s co-founder and former CEO.

Brannon slumped his head and looked downward as the verdict was read in Wake County Superior Court. As he left the courthouse, Brannon said he would appeal to “defend my integrity.”



http://www.newsobserver.com/2014/02/18/3633777/gop-senate-candidate-brannon-found.html#storylink=cpy