I Know, I Couldn't Resist The 200th Post of the Year

Good news for those concerned about the cost of social security and Medicare, the United States has dropped to 37th in the world for life expectancy and whole areas of the country are now below some Third World countries. All this and we're spending more than any sane society on health care. But we should save a small fortune at the end of life.

John Weaver is advising Jon Huntsman on his presidential bid. Today he said the Republican field was the weakest since 1940. "...our party is nowhere near being a national governing party. No one wants to be around a bunch of cranks." Amen. He slammed Romney for being "Romney 5.0 or is it Romney 6.0."

Huntsman has some of the same business problems as Romney. His brother keeps going around bragging how many more jobs the company has in China, than in the United States. And the family business had to pay a huge settlement for price fixing.

Washington Monthly recaps all the conservative groups now gunning for Romney. And earlier in the day even more Republicans are alarmed by Romney's wishy-washy stance on Afghanistan and the War On Terror. Lindsey Graham said that Romney in the debate sounded like Jimmy Carter. This would ruin the GOP meme that Obama is Jimmy Carter. While Romney remains the front-runner, we can expect him to take some in-coming fire over the next months.

But at least Al Gore praised Romney on his statement about global warming. We need John Kerry to come out and say something nice about Romney and he will be toast. Gore, Kerry and Obama --those are the hugs of death.

A PPP poll is out today showing that Obama only leads Romney by 2--47-45. That's much closer than last month's and is the same as before the November election. The rest of the GOP lose by 10 or more points. Of course, we all remember Presidents Mondale and Dole at this point in the election cycle. But it should be of concern. (P.S.--1 year from today the polls will have real meaning.)

George Washington's Jonathan Turley and his graduate students are filing a lawsuit on behalf of a bipartisan group of House members to stop the war in Libya on the grounds of the War Powers Act. Interesting.

House Republicans want an end to signing statements by the President. They argue that these circumvent Congress' intent. Well, none of them ever objected to George W. Bush's prolific use of signing statements. I'm not sure I have heard of any by President Obama but hopes he uses it.

A bipartisan team of 27 Senators led by Dick Durbin have urged Obama to speed up withdrawal from Afghanistan and with a sizeable amount of troops. I expect you will actually see a very sizeable withdrawal announced this summerby President Obama.

Oh by the way Tim Pawlenty believes Iraq is a "shining example". Remember he used to commute there with John McCain, who taught him everything he knows.

The problem with having as Shooter in the Oval Office is he gets into it. The administration now plans to build a drone base in Yemen to go after Al Qaeda. Four wars is a bit much. So much for a President weak on national security.

But wait, just as we write that, Cliff Kincaid of AIM charges that Leon Panetta is the new Alger Hiss. Kincaid claims that Panetta is a Communist agent who has a lifelong correspondance with a "known"(?) member of the Communist Party and someone who used to work at the Institute for Policy Studies. Kincaid asks that the Senate investigate this before they vote to confirm him as Secretary of Defense. Like that will happen.

McCarthyism seems to be making a real comeback in conservative circles. Newt wants to have loyalty oaths for Muslims just like with Nazis or Communists. That really worked out well. Herman Cain also has slammed Muslims saying they are out to kill us. Is there some kind of Beserk-O Meter for these guys to test their comments and get audience feedback on the Clap-O-Meter.

The war against the Uteri reached another stage. North Carolina over-rode the Governor's veto and approved a budget that zeroed out Planned Parenthood's entire state budget. This is the third state which has done this. In North Carolina, this will effectively end healthcare for thousands upon thousands of men and women. And with the attack on Medicaid, we will be drifting below 37th in life expectancy pretty soon.

Adios for now. Vaya con Dios.