How long are we all going to fall for it? Politicians saying what they never mean.

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Blah, blah, blah...from both sides! Politicians say exactly what they think YOU want to hear. They all read right out of the same play-book...and it always has the same ending! Once they take office, all the important issues they talked about get put-off or buried beneath bureaucratic bullshit. The only thing that becomes important to them, is the game of politics. It's apparent because very little get's done in Washington. And now, with the party of "NO" in control of the house, I see more of NOthing getting done.

Amplify’d from www.huffingtonpost.com

As we get ready for John Boehner to take the gavel from Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday, I find myself thinking back to the last time a Republican speaker took control of the House from a Democrat -- and reflecting on how far down the wrong road we have traveled since then. It was January 1995, and Newt Gingrich, now considered a right-wing bomb thrower, was taking the gavel from Tom Foley. After taking the oath of office, he delivered a speech that praised FDR as "the greatest president of the 20th century" and presented concern for the least among us as a shared national objective. "The balanced budget is the right thing to do," he said. "But it does not in my mind have the moral urgency of coming to grips with what is happening to the poorest Americans." For the incoming Republican speaker, reducing poverty and lifting the poor into the middle class was a moral imperative beyond the left vs. right battlefield -- not just the purview of lefties, socialists, and community organizers:

So now, with poverty higher than it was 16 years ago, with greater income inequality, and with the middle class struggling to hold on, what will Speaker Boehner make his number one priority? According to the Washington Post, it's "cutting spending," followed by repealing the healthcare law, and "helping get our economy moving" (no specifics on how he plans to do that).

Interestingly, in his first speech as speaker, Gingrich also talked about being moved by the woes of school kids.

Yet we saw on 60 Minutes that he's very aware of how fragile the American Dream has become, telling Lesley Stahl, "I can't go to a school anymore. I used to go to a lot of schools. And you see all these little kids running around. Can't talk about it." And he choked up when he did try to talk about "making sure these kids have a shot at the American Dream, like I did. It's important." Read more at www.huffingtonpost.com

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Divided we stand, divided we fall. What exactly is compromise?

I hate that our country seems to be so polarized.  To the point that conversation has ended.  I have a clear understanding of where I stand, which is on the left, and I love to debate the issue's.  I also like to listen to people who have a different take on things than I.  I want to understand.  In understanding, I can better debate and explain my beliefs, while trying to interpret theirs.

In conversation, even heated conversation, it creates a dialog where things can only move forward, albeit, very slowly, but at least forward.  When we dig our heels in and refuse to listen, we start to criticize and demonize and even hate the other side.  We eliminate any chance of compromise.

I do it to...it's so easy to stop conversing, listening and even hating.  We become disappointed, angry, or feel disenfranchised. Then all we do is talk over and through each other, not to each other.

Has it always been this way in politics?  I can't remember too much before the Clinton White House. (This is also the time I started to have a real passion for politics).  But to me, this is the time it seems, when the real divide became?  It's the first time that I noticed or felt, real hate in politics.  I'm sure it's always been there, but this hate seems to have eliminated any conversation, any debate, any compromise.  With this much hate and discourse, why would anybody want to get involved in politics?  Really though, the only way into politics is if your a multi-millionaire. So maybe it's more like a power-thing than it is a compromise thing and we're all screwed!

I think we all need to listen more.  We may not like what we hear, but I do learn when I listen.  I believe if we listen more, we'll converse more, move forward more.  Maybe meet somewhere near the middle?  And that can't be a bad thing for compromise.

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• "Shockingly, Republicans Have No Plans To Compromise" and related posts (theawl.com)

Sarah Palin Jabs Michelle Obama's Anti-Obesity Campaign With S'mores

Sara Palin, another political drone in the biggest since! A game player...a sore-loosing game player. She is playing games with our political system and has NO respect for it! If she really did, do you think she would have quit 1/2 through her first term as Governor? Doing what was best for Alaska was ya....shit you were, she was doing what was best for Sara Palin. Look at the money she's been making since her escape from the Governor's Mansion. She will say and twist anything to make the other side look bad. If it's not HER way or GOD's way or the RIGHTS way, it's got to be wrong, or bad, or socialistic. You don't belong in politics if you can't be bothered to even listen to other ideas, debate other idea's, understand other idea's. When you start to tell kids to NOT listen to good advise because it's coming from the the other-side, the government, It's time for you to step aside. This country needs people who can work together, difference's and all. For the sake of our children...our well nourished, fit children.

Amplify’d from www.huffingtonpost.com

Sarah Palin took a shot at Michelle Obama during Sunday's episode of her reality TV show, "Sarah Palin's Alaska," jabbing the first lady's anti-obesity campaign for attempting to deprive Americans of dessert.

Michelle Obama has been a key proponent of an initiative to improve children's health by encouraging better diets and sufficient exercise. In May she announced her "Let's Move" program, which promoted dessert alternatives, among other dietary suggestions.

One in 3 American children is overweight or obese, putting them at higher risk of diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol and other illnesses. Obesity is even more prevalent among black and Hispanic children. Some public health experts say today's children are on track to live shorter lives than their parents.

But Palin has maintained that Obama's effort to combat child obesity -- which was recently aided by the passage of the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act -- is one that seeks to take away "God-given rights to make our own decisions." Some have since slammed that comment as Palin's demanding that Americans cling to their "God-Given right to be fat." Read more at www.huffingtonpost.com

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This is one of the major flaws within our political system. We have people who will say not what they mean, but what they think you want them to mean. It seems our political leaders, or our wanna be political leaders lose faith in themselves and their message, or do they even have a message? Do they speak from their gut, their heart...or is it all one big campaign speech right from the get-go? It appears that way to me. Maybe it has something to do with the length of the campaigns? What is it...a minimum of 2 years that we put up with the same stories they think we wanna here? Maybe in that 2 years they totally lose themselves and we end up with some political drone. Are there any politicians out there that haven't lost themselves, that haven't been turned into some political zombie.....I think so, a handful maybe? Dennis Kucinich totally pops into my head as someone whom has always stayed on message and true to himself. I know I need to completely reevaluate how I consider who I would like to vote for, and not get sucked up into the political vacuum of nothingness.

Amplify’d from thehill.com

2012 Republican presidential hopefuls getting a jump on the Tea Party courtship

Three potential Republican contenders for the 2012 presidential nomination would have higher hurdles to clear to win the Tea Party vote in the primary, leaders of the movement say. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich each are met with a degree of suspicion by Tea Partiers, and all three have taken early steps to address those voters’ concerns.

And Republicans — particularly those whose relationship with the grassroots activists isn't the coziest — are mindful of the Tea Party’s potential impact, and seem to be operating with an eye toward that base.

Gingrich's personal history and occasional alliances with high-profile Democrats also have prompted concern among some conservatives; during the past two years, he partnered with the Rev. Al Sharpton on an education initiative and with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) on climate change. Read more at thehill.com

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