About a dozen religious leaders were arrested in the Capitol rotunda today after they refused to end their public prayers calling for "an equitable resolution to the debt ceiling debate," according to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), which organized the protest. The leaders noted that default would be catastrophic, but current plans to raise the debt limit would still include "severe spending cuts to the programs and services that support the poorest and most vulnerable people living in the U.S. and around the world." link

This shift is driven by a steep drop-off in support for Obama among independents. The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted July 20-24 among 1,501 adults and 1,205 registered voters finds that just 31% of independent voters want to see Obama reelected, down from 42% in May and 40% in March. Where Obama held a slim 7-point edge among independent registered voters two months ago, a generic Republican holds an 8-point edge today.

This is consistent with a drop in Obama's approval among all independents. Currently, a majority (54%) disapprove of Obama's performance for the first time in his presidency. His approval among independents has slipped to 36% from 42% last month and 49% in late May. Pew

i think we all understand why it's a good idea to protect the anonymity of people making rape accusations (i say "people" because i know that men are also victims of rape - rape is not unheard of during an armed robbery, a home invasion, etc. - & a man, for various reasons, might be even more relucant than a woman to report having been raped)

Black's proposal tends to foster the notion that rape is a more heinous crime than, say, premeditated murder - do we argue in favor of anonymity for those accused of premeditated murder? should we? - if not, then what are we really promoting when we promote the idea of anonymity for people accused of rape?

bias against alleged victims, & the difficulty of getting a rape conviction even when charges are brought, are two things that made it necessary to modify certain aspects of the law with respect to alleged victims of rape - why should accommodations to the special needs of alleged victims be translated into exceptional protection for alleged perpretrators? that is a sincere question, not a rhetorical one, but it's almost as if Black is saying that women who make accusations of rape are usually lying (& Black does veer rather close to saying that)

In the wide world of "I can't believe someone actually polled this", I found this lovely nugget:

"Only 52 percent of Americans approve of God's job performance, the survey found, though just 9 percent disapprove."

""When asked to evaluate God on some of the issues it is responsible for, voters give God its best rating on creating the universe, 71-5," the polling report said. "They also approve of its handling of the animal kingdom 56-11, and even its handling of natural disasters 50-13.""

Not me.  This is fantastic.  Just saw Hannity almost have to break up a physical altercation on Fox.  The NRO is going nuts. Every news story on politics right now is focused on GOP distinction.

The crazy is extracting it's price!

If the dems wanted to set up a night which would highlight the crazy' they couldn't have had a better night.

Yes, yes' I know. This is terrifying and they are playing without economy and whatnot.

Of course that is all true,  

PAUL: Here's the other problem for conservative members in the House: the Tea Party doesn't want this. The conservative Republicans in the country, the grassroots doesn't want this. If you vote for the Boehner plan, it's not going to become law. It truly is dead on arrival over here. There's going to be an amalgamation of the Boehner plan and the Reid plan and they will force it through with a lot of Democrat votes and a few Republican votes so if you're going to send the Boehner plan over here, you're abdicating what you stood for in the last election.
...
PAUL: The Boehner plan is not going to be law so why lose your principles by voting for it? link

One of life's wonderful moments.

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But, in framing the case, you seem to completely discount and ignore the fact that DSK hired a top-notch CIA-trained PR outfit to smear the accuser. That NY tabloids issued accusations that have since gone uncorroborated or substantiated. I don't quite understand that, even though I get your outrage at how DSK has been treated as the accused.

maybe i missed something, but not much there, imo

i was hoping Brownmiller's response would be (more) cogent, especially in view of her expertise in this area - & it would have been no great stretch to be more cogent than Black on this topic

disappointing

but here's a good comment on the article:

Men worry too much about being accused of rape and too little about what they would actually do if they were raped themselves. No way was my ex-boyfriend going to report his rape to the cops. You don't understand how much courage it really takes to report a rape until it happens to you.

The budget was being balanced by Clinton in the late 1990s, and the Republicans were the ones who created long-term structural deficits by slashing taxes on the wealthiest Americans (even Bush argued with Cheney over the second cut), by an unfunded prescription drug give-away to get votes from the medicare crowd, and by two unfunded wars, one of them illegal in international law.

Thank god for sports, the opiate of the masses.