as a Bona fide "radical leftist" I STRONGLY, STRONGLY support Chuck Hagel's nomination

for a senior cabinet level national security position. It is not that I agree with Chuck Hagel's politics or his foreign policy ideology. It's not like he is some kind of dove or a neo-isolationist or even a moderately liberal Republican. Yes, OF COURSE I KNOW- he has a right-wing record on almost every domestic issue. He is essentially an old style Reaganite movement conservative. But he also is and would be a voice of restraint when it comes to the use of military force. He is an old style hard nosed foreign policy pragmatist. He believes in restraint, multi-national alliances, the limitations of military power, advancing the peace Middle East peace process and defusing tensions in the Middle East, and around the world and building international consensus - a multi-lateralist as opposed to a go-it-alone unilateralist. This is in sharp contrast to the foreign policy neoconservatives. If we want to establish resistance against foreign policy neoconservatism and even the equally dangerous excesses of liberal internationalism (neoconservatism on valium) - we need conservatives with gravitas on board. Liberals and doves alone cannot win the war on war. The selection of Chuck Hagel to a senior cabinet level national security position in the Obama Administration will be a step away from war and a step toward peace. What could possibly be more important that that?

Peter King's Greatest Hits As Homeland Security Chairman

Peter King's Greatest Hits As Homeland Security Chairman

By Ryan J. Reilly | TPM – 2 hrs 57 mins ago

He drew comparisons to Joe McCarthy, hunted fugitives in his free time and maintained his grip on one of the most powerful roles in Congress in the post-9/11 world. Now, Rep. Peter King's time as House Homeland Security chair is coming to an end.

Muslim Radicalization Hearings

In December 2010, King announced his intention to hold hearings on the "radicalization" of American Muslims. It sparked criticism as soon as he went public. His decision to appear on a television show produced by an anti-Muslim group shortly before the hearings certainly didn't help matters. King fought back against the criticism, claiming he wouldn't allow political correctness to "obscure a real and dangerous threat." But by the time of King's first hearing in March 2011, the focus had changed to whether it was a good idea to hold the hearing in the first place.

Ground Zero Mosque Investigation

King called in July 2010 for an investigation into the source of the funding of a mosque set to be built in lower Manhattan, near the site of the World Trade Center attack of Sept. 11, 2001. Earlier that year, he said building a mosque in that location was "very offensive" and wrong but that it could not be stopped because of the First Amendment. No investigation was ever launched.

Too Many Mosques

It wasn't only the Ground Zero Mosque that King had an issue with -- he told Politico in 2007 that there are "too many mosques in this country" in general. King later said he was taken out of context or misspoke. He said he meant to say that "too many mosques in this country do not cooperate with law enforcement."

http://news.yahoo.com/peter-kings-greatest-hits-homeland-security-chairman-193151607--politics.html

Rick Santorum ‘open’ to running for president again

By Chris Moody, Yahoo! News

Political Reporter

By Chris Moody, Yahoo! News | The Ticket – 2 hrs 40 mins ago..

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Rick Santorum (Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

"I'm open to it, yeah," Santorum told reporter Michael Warren. "I think there's a fight right now as to what the soul of the Republican Party's going to be and the conservative movement, and we have something to say about that. I think from our battle, we're not going to leave the field."

Santorum surprised many Republicans by securing the most votes in the Iowa caucuses in January, the first electoral contest of the presidential election cycle. He went on to win 11 states in total before dropping his bid and conceding to Mitt Romney in April.

Since then, he has launched an advocacy group called Patriot Voices and written a book, "American Patriots: Answering the Call to Freedom."

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/rick-santorum-open-running-president-again-215701762--election.html;_ylt=AivF3bDGfvxq2wa5SERHi3nNt.d_;_ylu=X3oDMTFtMDRsMXFqBG1pdANFeHByZXNzIFRpY2tldCBsaXN0IG1vZHVsZQRwb3MDMQRzZWMDTWVkaWFMaXZlQmxvZw--;_ylg=X3oDMTM1cjNwNW8xBGludGwDdXMEbGFuZwNlbi11cwRwc3RhaWQDZmNlZDMxM2YtZGY1Yi0zMjU4LTlmMTgtZDQ5NDE1YmM4NzFlBHBzdGNhdANwb2xpdGljc3x0aGV0aWNrZXQEcHQDc3RvcnlwYWdl;_ylv=3

Peace Is Increasing / Prof. Joshua S. Goldstein .

San Francisco lawmakers set to vote on nudity ban

Source: Associated Press

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Associated Press/Marcio Jose Sanchez - Demonstrators gather outside of City Hall in San Francisco for a protest against a proposed city-wide nudity ban, Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — San Francisco lawmakers are getting ready to bare their decision on a proposed ban on public nakedness that has sparked indignation in a city known for flouting convention and flaunting its counter-culture image.

The 11-member Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote Tuesday on the ordinance, which would prohibit exposed genitals in most public places, including streets, sidewalks and public transit.

Scott Wiener, the supervisor who represents San Francisco's predominantly gay Castro District, introduced the measure in response to escalating complaints about a group of men whose dishabille is an almost daily occurrence.

"Some people have tried to paint this issue as some sort of a gay rights issue, and it really isn't," Wiener, who is gay, said. "It has nothing to do with gay rights. This is about behavior in our neighborhoods and trying to be respectful of one another."

A federal lawsuit claiming the ban would violate the free speech rights of people who prefer to make a statement by going au naturel was filed last week in case the ordinance passes.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/san-francisco-lawmakers-set-vote-nudity-ban-074703352.html

George McGovern at the 1984 DNC

the margin of victory

Accuser recants sex claims against Elmo puppeteer: report

Source: Reuters/Yahoo News

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Reuters/Reuters - Voice actor Kevin Clash arrives with the puppet Elmo for the 2010 Peabody Award ceremony at the Waldorf Astoria in New York in this May 17, 2010 file photo

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The man who claimed he had underage sex with the puppeteer behind "Sesame Street" character Elmo recanted his claims on Tuesday, U.S. media reported.

The unnamed man, now 23, had claimed that Elmo puppeteer Kevin Clash had a sexual relationship with him when the accuser was 16 years old, potentially engulfing one of the biggest childhood brands in an underage sex scandal.

"He wants it to be known that his sexual relationship with Mr. Clash was an adult consensual relationship," the law firm Andreozzi and Associates, who represent the man, told U.S. media outlets in a statement.

Clash, 52, the voice of Elmo for nearly three decades, had acknowledged a past relationship with his accuser but said on Monday the pair were both consenting adults at the time. He termed the allegations "false and defamatory."

"I am a gay man. I have never been ashamed of this or tried to hide it," Clash said on Monday, saying he was taking a break from the TV show to deal with the situation.



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/sesame-street-elmo-puppeteer-takes-leave-sex-allegations-012713740.html

After Obama Victory, Shrieking White-Hot Sphere Of Pure Rage Early GOP Front-Runner For 2016

Angry tea party activists say Mitt Romney was too moderate and the GOP undermined 'true conservative

Tea party activists blame losses on Republican establishment

But for conservatives who identify with the tea party, one emotion seemed to dominate all others: a white-hot anger at the Republican establishment. Tea party supporters are angry at the GOP for embracing as its presidential nominee a "moderate" like Romney. For undermining "true conservative" candidates. And for "choosing to ignore" the conservative agenda.

Wednesday, the political direct-mail pioneer Richard Viguerie gathered a group of disenchanted conservatives for a news conference in Washington. Calling Romney's loss "the death rattle" of the GOP, Viguerie, chairman of ConservativeHQ.com, said, "The battle to take over the Republican Party begins today."

He called upon the Republican leadership to resign for its part in the "epic election failure of 2012." That includes Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus, who has not announced whether he will run for the post again, House Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

Still, most of the 55 House tea party caucus members who ran for reelection Tuesday will return to their seats, guaranteeing that the group's influence will continue to be felt in Congress. Two high-profile members were turned out of office — Allen West of Florida and Joe Walsh of Illinois. But tea party caucus founder Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota kept her job, if barely.

"The very people who keep nominating moderates now call us purists, the way the left calls us purists," Levin said Wednesday. "And we have to hear this crap from pseudo-conservatives and Republicans."

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-tea-party-20121111,0,4516315.story