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The House is under new management but is operating under business as usual as it prepares to pass a continuing resolution (CR) that once again extends spending levels and policies pushed through by then-Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) in last December’s lame duck session. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is moving a laddered CR that extends current spending levels for Agriculture, Energy and Water, Military Construction-VA and Transportation-HUD spending bills through January 19 with the remaining eight bills extended through February 2.

US Supreme Court judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg said she would continue serving her post despite receiving chemotherapy for a reoccurrence of cancer. The 87-year-old judge insisted she would not retire at the moment, saying that treatment had yielded positive results. A BBC report claimed Ginsburg had received cancer treatment on multiple occasions over the previous years, each time returning to work ...

The Democratic Party shutdown has gone exactly as it was planned. We all have heard the terms, "budget crisis", GOP (or Tea Party) Shutdown, and House Shutdown. What is often neglected is the information that this is not a budget fight. there is no Federal Budget. The Obama Administration has made sure of that in setting this thing up. Instead Budgets have been positively avoided for half a decade. When the Democrats had the Majority, a super majority in both houses, they didn't pass a budget and when they lost the House they didn't turn in a Budget on time...

House Republican leaders have a new problem. They can’t count on their members to support them on procedural votes. Sixteen Republicans defected Wednesday in a vote on the rule governing consideration of a government-funding bill meant to prevent a government shutdown. The defections could have caused the rule to fail since most Democrats voted also voted against it. Even more striking? Seven of the Republicans who voted against the rule then voted for the funding bill.

Obama Rejects Republican Short-Term CR Cutting DC Abortion Funds President Barack Obama said today he would not sign a Republican short-term continuing resolution that reinstates a ban on taxpayer funding of abortions in the nation’s capital. http://www.lifenews.com/2011/04/05/obama-rejects-republican-short-term-cr-cutting-dc-abortion-funds/

About 2,600 people were without power Saturday as the city's electrical grid strained in the midst of a statewide heat wave, which was expected to bring triple-digit temperatures through the Labor Day weekend. Highs were expected to reach 113 in Woodland Hills in the San Fernando Valley and well over 100 in many other valley and desert areas of Southern California. At the same time, unstable weather caused by monsoonal moisture from the south prompted concerns of sudden thunderstorms in valleys, mountains and deserts. A flash-flood watch was in effect through Saturday for those areas in San Bernardino, Riverside and...

The state imposed a $140,000 penalty for what it called "willful, continuing, and egregious" violations of the price law... The Minnesota Commerce Department on Thursday announced plans to fine a gas station chain $140,000 for repeatedly selling gas below the state's legal minimum price. The fine against Midwest Oil of Minnesota is twice as large as any imposed on a company since 2001, when the state established a formula based on wholesale prices, fees and taxes to determine a daily floor for gas prices. Kevin Murphy, deputy commissioner of the department, called the violations "willful, continuing, and egregious and warrant...

Letter from the Bishop of New Hampshire, Gene Robinson February 13, 2006,Brothers and Sisters in Christ, I am writing to you from an alcohol treatment center where on February 1, with the encouragement and support of my partner, daughters and colleagues, I checked myself in to deal with my increasing dependence on alcohol. Over the 28 days I will be here, I will be dealing with the disease of alcoholism-which, for years, I have thought of as a failure of will or discipline on my part, rather than a disease over which my particular body simply has no control, except...

Responding to a call made by Palestinian Authority (P.A.) Chairman Mahmoud ‘Abbas to stop firing rockets at Israeli targets, Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri announced that “it was the rockets that ended the occupation.” Abu Zuhri was referring to Israel’s unilateral withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, due to begin next week. ‘Abbas had told the Palestinian Legislative Council that firing rockets harmed Palestinian interests and resulted in “destructive consequences.” He cited the example of a Palestinian boy who was killed last week when a Qassam rocket landed short of its target. Injured in the same attack were also family members...

In the latest "Bishop's Epistle" for my diocese (DEUS, APA) there was a notice about how a group of sisters joined us recently. You'll have to forgive me, though, because since I do not like trash to pile up up I read the letter and then threw it away. Only later did I realize that it might be nice to share. Anyway, these sisters are few in number - less than 10, I believe, and they operate some sort of homeless shelter in Florida. They had previously been affiliated with one of the ECUSA dioceses down there. This is the...

This blog is dedicated to all things related to being a continuing Anglican/Episcopalian. It will serve as a place to discuss issues such as liturgy, theology, philosophy, ethics, ecumenicism, and more as they relate to "continuing" Anglicanism. It will also serve as a place to discuss these issues as they relate to other christian traditions. Now, for those of you who do not already know, let me tell you something about continuing Anglicans. We are "continuing" because the idea is that we are "continuing" the orthodox Christian faith that was once delivered to the saints. We are Anglicans because... [This...

SAN FRANCISCO - The committee tasked with doling out California's $3 billion in stem cell research grants selected two of its leaders Friday, amid conflict of interests complaints and accusations that its inaugural gathering violated the state's open meeting laws. Housing developer Robert Klein II was unanimously chosen chairman while biotechnology company Chiron Corp. co-founder Edward Penhoet received 21 of a possible 25 votes for vice chairman. Each will serve six year terms. Even Klein's unanimous appointment was criticized by some as preordained because Klein was the only candidate nominated for chairman and had successfully lobbied Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to...

CHTOURA, Lebanon (AP) - A senior Hamas official expressed hope Sunday that the United States and European Union would be "fairer" in mediating the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, but he said his group would continue its resistance even if a Palestinian state was established. Moussa Abu Marzouk, deputy head of Hamas' political bureau, told The Associated Press a Palestinian state was a right "stipulated by all international accords" but was not a reason for Hamas to stop its resistance. "There are other rights for the Palestinian people that cannot be forgotten or be conceded," Abu Marzouk said without elaborating. Hamas refuses to...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

They were born amongst tragedy. They were robbed of their fathers. They are the babies born to women widowed by the September 11 attacks. Now they have gathered for one remarkable photo. The 63 babies lay in their cots, some yelling, others gurgling with joy. Heroes Their fathers are the heroes of the tragedy - firefighters, policemen, employees who died trying to save others and airline passengers who tried to stop the hijackers. As the one-year anniversary of the tragedy approaches, the photograph is expected to become a symbol of hope. Jessica Velmans, who organised the shoot, said: "Most...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- As a Texas oilman, President Bush engaged in some of the same kinds of business practices he's now promising to clean up in response to a wave of corporate scandals. Bush was a board member of Harken Energy Corp. in 1989 when the company engaged in a transaction that later prompted an inquiry by the Securities and Exchange Commission. The SEC forced the company to amend its books to reflect millions of dollars in losses that had been masked by the sale of a subsidiary to a group of insiders. And Bush, who was on the company's...