Happy Xmas (War Is Over)” is a Christmas song by John Lennon, Yoko Ono and the Plastic Ono Band. It was recorded at Record Plant Studios in New York City in late October 1971, with the help of producer Phil Spector. It features soaring, heavily echoed vocals, and a sing-along chorus. The children singing in the background were from the Harlem Community Choir and are credited on the song’s single. The lyrics were written by Lennon and Ono, while the melody and chord structure were taken from the folk standard known as “Stewball”.[1]
Although the song is a protest song about the Vietnam War, it has become a Christmas standard and has appeared on several Christmas albums.
http://youtu.be/UPU0NHEaou0
Despite defeat, Boehner’s grip on Speaker’s gavel appears secure
By Russell Berman and Molly K. Hooper – 12/21/12 05:34 PM ET
John Boehner’s grip on the Speaker’s gavel appears to be secure, despite a personally embarrassing and politically damaging defeat Thursday at the hands of his fellow Republicans.
The House Republican conference refused to deliver the votes to pass the Ohio lawmaker’s “Plan B” tax bill to prevent much of the fiscal cliff, sapping the Speaker of leverage in the climactic days of his year-end negotiations with President Obama and Democratic leaders.
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One conservative House Republican, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the only way Boehner’s position is likely to be in serious jeopardy is if he agrees to raise the debt ceiling in a fiscal-cliff deal with Obama without significant concessions on spending cuts and entitlement reform from the president.
“If he gives away the debt ceiling, he’s in trouble,” the member said.
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/274385-despite-defeat-boehners-grip-on-speakers-gavel-appears-secure
Alberta Keeney @akeeney274
The Man Leading The NRA’s Push For Guns In Schools: Asa Hutchinson has ties to Blackwater & Point Blank Body Armor tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/12/asa_hu…
Meet The Man Leading The NRA’s Push For Guns In Schools
Eric Lach-December 21, 2012, 3:59 PM11159
At the National Rifle Association’s press conference on Friday, the group’s Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre called on Congress to “immediately” put armed police officers in every school, and rejected any suggestion that the nation’s gun laws needed to change in the wake of last Friday’s mass shooting in Newtown, Conn.
At the end of his defiant remarks, LaPierre also announced the NRA’s plan to develop a National School Shield Emergency Response Program, a “multifaceted” education and training program “available to every school in America free of charge.” LaPierre said the NRA had selected former Rep. Asa Hutchinson (R-AR) to lead the effort, and serve as its national director.
“School safety is a complex issue with no simple, single solution,” Asa said in his brief remarks. “But I believe trained, qualifi ed, armed security is one key component among many that can provide the first line of deterrence as well as the last line of defense.”
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Since then, he’s formed a consulting business, Hutchinson Group, and a law firm, The Asa Hutchinson Law Group, which is based in Arkansas but maintains a D.C. office. Among Hutchinson clients, past and present, listed on the Hutchinson Group’s website are Xe Services, the private security company previously known as Blackwater and now known as Academi. It also lists Science Applications International Corporation, or SAIC, a major federal contractor and a company which in March agreed to pay New York City $500 million for its role in a project that U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara called “corrupted to its core by one of the largest and most brazen frauds ever committed against the City of New York.
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/12/asa_hutchinson_nra.php
Nerdy Wonka @NerdyWonka
WSJ reports GOP wanted big cuts to Medicare. POTUS told Boehner: “You’re asking me to accept Mitt Romney’s tax plan? Why would I do that?”
Nerdy Wonka @NerdyWonka
WSJ reports Boehner caved to new tax revenue but Pres. Obama told him he wants a debt ceiling agreement. Boehner sulked for 10 days.
WSJ: Fiscal Cliff Talks Between Obama, Boehner Broke Down On Monday
David Taintor – 11:12 AM EST, Saturday December 22, 2012
Fiscal cliff negotiations between House Speaker John Boehner and President Obama to reach a big deal broke down Monday afternoon, according to a behind-the-scenes report from the Wall Street Journal:
Mr. Obama repeatedly lost patience with the speaker as negotiations faltered. In an Oval Office meeting last week, he told Mr. Boehner that if the sides didn’t reach agreement, he would use his inaugural address and his State of the Union speech to tell the country the Republicans were at fault.
At one point, according to notes taken by a participant, Mr. Boehner told the president, “I put $800 billion [in tax revenue] on the table. What do I get for that?”
“You get nothing,” the president said. “I get that for free.”
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/wsj-fiscal-cliff-talks-between-obama-boehner-broke
I love these responses at Balloon Juice:
comment 1
gf120581 Says:
@General Stuck: Obama channels Michael Corleone. And that was before the Drunk Weepy Oompa-Loompa shot himself in the foot Thursday.
Is Plan B now Boner’s version of the dead hooker in Senator Geary’s bed?
comment 2
dmsilev Says:
@General Stuck: Please, please tell me that Obama followed that up with “Not even the fee for the gaming license, which I would appreciate if you would put up personally.”
BW AHA HA HA HA HA
love those Godfather references.
Hill Dweller Says:
Someone needs to cut and paste that article here. The snippets I’m seeing are hilarious.
The GOP staff wanted Obama to offer the 2011 deal again, but he told them to eat shit.
Paul Ryan prevented a larger deal because it didn’t make structural changes to entitlements. I think this validates the theory that Obama wanted to give the impression of being open to entitlement change for the Village without actually following through.
Obama reacting to the wingnuts’ offer: “You’re asking me to accept Mitt Romney’s tax plan? Why would I do that?”.
dmsilev Says:
@General Stuck: Another excerpt:
After the debacle of 2011, Mr. Obama could have treated the negotiations as the art of the bipartisan deal that could set the stage for immigration reform and other second-term achievements. Flush with victory, he could have at least made a gesture on entitlements.
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Instead, he has treated the talks as an extension of the election campaign, traveling around the country at rally-style events at which he berates Republicans for not accepting his terms of surrender. Grant gave Lee more at Appomattox.
arguingwithsignposts Says:
ok, the image of this just cracked me up:
Jonathan Karl @jonkarl
One other detail: Obama sent a plane to Ohio to bring Boehner back to DC for their meeting on Monday.
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Orange Julius clutching the Jack Daniels, and gets a phone call.
OJ: Yes.
Phone: The plane will be there at 10 a.m., Mr. Speaker.
OJ: What plane?
Phone: The plane the President sent for you.
OJ about to speak when he hears a ‘click’ at the other end.
The President and the First Family arrive in Hawaii.
Guns, Smoke and Mirrors
By CHARLES M. BLOW
Published: December 21, 2012
Seriously, what was the National Rifle Association performing on Friday? I thought it was going to be a press conference. It wasn’t. I really don’t know how to describe it. A soliloquy of propaganda? A carnival of canards? A herding of scapegoats?
Wayne LaPierre, the N.R.A.’s executive vice president, blamed gun violence in general, and mass shootings in schools in particular, on everything except for the proliferation of brutally efficient, high-capacity guns and his organization’s efforts to resist virtually any restriction on people’s access to those weapons.
Read on
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/22/opinion/blow-guns-smoke-and-mirrors.html?hp&_r=0
Stop The Shootings.org
This site has recorded 386 school shootings since 1992. That is 386 tragedies. Some get national attention, some don’t, but they are all devastating.
Children ages 5-14 in America are 13x more likely to be murdered with guns as children in other industrialized countries (source: David Hemenway).
http://www.stoptheshootings.org/
Godd Morning, Everyone! :-)
Good Afternoon, Everyone a 3CHICS!!