"In a 5-to-4 decision that broke along ideological lines, the Supreme Court on Tuesday turned back a challenge to a federal law that authorized intercepting international communications involving Americans."

Hell, so what! The NSA is already intercepting all of our communications within the U.S. Do you really thing that the NSA is duplicating all of the major phone & internet communications and awaiting 'court ordered warrants' before viewing them?

That Bob Woodward made obvious errors, which he has not corrected, doesn't seem to bother conservatives in the slightest.

Again, attacking the n!gger president using 'obvious errors' (and outright lies) is a feature not a bug to the repukes.

Hung parliament? Ungovernability? Monti failed to win (he placed fourth)? Berlusconi was close to win? Grillo (the bearded populist with a blog and the traditional "@!$%# them all" message) has the largest single party in parliament (in terms of votes)? Well, this means early elections, possibly in May. After electing a new president of the Republic and changing the electoral system. However, at the basis of anything, do not expect Monti to get back to power...

Of course the right suddenly loves Bob Woodward. It is obvious to all that for whatever reason he holds the President in low regard. He has also adopted the Republican meme concerning the manufactured sequestration crisis.

From the Wall Street Journal, on the Hagel confirmation:

GOP senators have attempted to play down the 60-vote requirement.

"It happens all the time, it's a normal thing," said Sen. James Inhofe (R., Okla.).

Yes, Senator Inhofe. We know that. That's the freaking problem!

Also, Rand Paul? WTF? Apparently, he's willing to join his party in trying to stop a vote and halt any progress by the government, but he's at least honest enough that once delays are off the table, he'll vote yes since it no longer matters towards their agenda of obstruction?

Another day

Another Notch on the Liar In Chief

Todd, on the Monday, February 25 Daily Rundown on MSNBC:

The New York Times reported over the weekend that donors who contribute and raise $500,000 for President Obama’s Organizing for Action will get special access to the President. That’s right, they’re selling access to the President. The new group has an ambitious goal -- to raise $50 million to convert the President’s re-election campaign into an advocacy network and they’re offering access. The New York Times says quote: “Giving or raising $500,000 or more puts donors on a national advisory board for Mr. Obama’s group and the privilege of attending quarterly meetings with the President along with other meetings at the White House.”

Excuse us? This just looks bad. It looks like the White House is selling access. The definition of how you define selling access. If you believe money has a stranglehold over the entire political system, this is ceding the moral high ground. And the President always has, from the moment he first announced his presidential bid in Springfield, six years ago, he stressed the need to curb the influence of special interests in Washington.

OBAMA, February 10, 2007: The cynics, the lobbyists, the special interests who's turnd our government into a game only they can afford to play, they write the checks and you get stuck with the bill. They get the access while you get to write a letter. They think they own this government. But we’re here today to take it back.

OBAMA, February 10, 2007: Even if they're not asking for quid pro quo, it means that the people you’re talking to all the time are folks who they're not struggling.

OBAMA, March 19, 2008: I don’t want somebody else pulling my strings. So everybody said, well, he's not going to be able to compete.

OBAMA, April 11, 2008: This is the major disagreement that I have with Senator Clinton. She’s a smart and capable person but she is of Washington.

OBAMA, March 26, 2008: When she takes more money from lobbyists and special interests than any candidate, including john McCain, that shows that she doesn't have a sense that we've got to change our business is done in Washington.

OBAMA, January 15 2008: Ultimately, what I’d like to see is a system of public financing of campaigns and I'm a co-sponsor of the proposal that's in the senate right now. That's what we have to fight for.

TODD: That was candidate obama during the 2010 campaign. The President railed against super pacs, then made an end justifies the means argument in 2012.

Look, the Obama folks can rationalize this all they want. Yes, they’ll be disclosing the donors. Yes they’ll be accepting small donor money but this is the campaign finance world we live in after Citizens United. But offering this kind of access to big donors was precisely what Obama was campaigning against in 2007 and 2008.Every political strategist involved in the 2012 presidential campaign told us on this show, you’ll recall, that both sides of the aisle, they all believe the campaign finance system is a mess, and yet we continue to see a perpetuation of the so-called flawed system like what we see with what's going on here. This is how a bad system becomes worse. Wonder what candidate obama would say about this.

Woodward continues to confirm who was the opportunistic hack and who was the actual journalist, back in the Watergate days.

I am sure that Senators McCain & Graham will show President Obama all the courtesy they usually do. <snark>

Ex-UK Prime Minister, Tony Blair, today defended the war in Iraq:

"So when you say 'do you think of the loss of life since 2003', of course I do, you would have to be inhumane not to, but think of what would have happened if he had been left there."

The lives of tens of thousands of Iraqis, and thousands of troops aside, I have often wondered how much the war fanned al-Qaida's flames and garnered support for its cause from Muslims around the world, united in taking a stand against 'western interference'.

I am sort of surprised at the near warp speed that people are changing their minds about marriage equality.

Even Republicans have formed a cadre to publicly support it. I have wondered why there would be any kind of conservative preference for people remaining single and/or secretly cheating on a trophy spouse in a pretend life.

Meg Whitman ran for CA Gov. in support of Prop. 8. Now she has seen the light. Mean time people in CA wait, think about trips to WA to marry there.

I still wouldn't vote for Meg Whitman or Repubs, but I am appreciative of the support and anxious to file our taxes as Married, filing jointly next year.

It's happening pretty fast now, after decades of slow boiling opposition with too much pain and death.

I like your show and agreed to your opinion but I have to let you know that for my future generation-- I would like to see them operate a drone than have them operate a machine gun.

The Bank of England is considering a negative interest scheme for retail banks. The idea is to encourage them to lend funds to small businesses, as they're failing to do so at the levels the BofE would like to see. If the BofE were to charge retail banks interest for any funds deposited with it, it would be more cost-effective for them to lend money than deposit it.

It would be interesting to see if the BofE and other EU Federal banks try this out, and if they do, whether it acts as the economic stimulus they hope.