Do you believe Governor Bentley is a moderate and can be trusted with not giving in to the radical-Right of immigration reform? How much more would get done in the United States if we had more moderate Republicans to work hand-in-hand with Democrats to form reasonable legislation! Something to pray for. 

Mickey Welsh/Montgomery Advertiser, via Associated Press Protesters in the Alabama Statehouse in Montgomery on Wednesday, when lawmakers supported an immigration law.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Gov. Robert Bentley of Alabama called a special legislative session on Thursday and urged lawmakers to consider changes to the state’s far-reaching immigration enforcement law, less than a day after legislators voted to keep most of that law intact.

An earlier version of the bill had dropped some of the more controversial provisions of the law, considered the strictest and most sweeping in the country.

But the bill that passed preserved most of the original law and also added new sections, including one requiring the state to publish information, including the person’s name, about every case in which an illegal immigrant appeared in court for any violation of state law.

Mr. Bentley, a Republican, did not sign it, however, and instead called the special session. But judging from the bills filed on Thursday, the first day of the session, agreement may still be hard-fought.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/18/us/alabama-governor-urges-changes-to-latest-immigration-law.html?_r=3&ref=us

WASHINGTON — Speaker John A. Boehner on Tuesday set the stage for a bruising election-year showdown on fiscal policy, vowing to hold up another increase in the federal debt ceiling unless it was offset by larger spending cuts.

His combative comments came on the same day the Republicans’ presumptive nominee, Mitt Romney, hit President Obama hard on his fiscal stewardship in a speech in Des Moines, suggesting that Mr. Romney and Congressional Republicans see an opening to attack the president on the mounting federal debt and the size of the government.

Read the full story: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/16/us/politics/gop-pledges-new-standoff-on-debt-limit.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120516

LYNCHBURG, Va. — Mitt Romney, needing badly to stir momentum among skeptical evangelical Christians vital to his presidential hopes, told a polite audience Saturday at Liberty University, an influential Christian school, that he shares and deeply respects their values.

“People of different faiths, like yours and mine, sometimes wonder where we can meet in common purpose, when there are so many differences in creed and theology,” said Romney, whose Mormon religion has been criticized in some evangelical circles.

“Surely the answer is that we can meet in service, in shared moral convictions about our nation stemming from a common worldview.”

Romney spoke at the school’s commencement, and got his most enthusiastic response when he reiterated his view that “marriage is a relationship between one man and one woman.” President Barack Obama earlier this week said he supported same-sex marriage, a sure-fire way to galvanize evangelicals and other social conservatives to work against his re-election.

The religious-right will most likely be up in arms today and blogging, sending out forwards, etc. Whether you believe in gay marriage or not, whether you believe being gay is a sin or not, there are two things that as Christians we can agree on because of the scriptural, logical and moral basis:

1. There are more important issues for Christians to worry about, while we bicker about gay-marriage there are people here in the U.S. in severe poverty growing in numbers who aren’t sure where their next meal will come from, people who are dying and cannot afford to see a doctor…the list goes on

2. Homosexuals should be treated with the same respect, love and compassion as any other of our neighbors and no distinction should be made in God-given rights to live as we choose.

Here’s what President Obama said concerning the topic and his own beliefs: “The thing at root that we think about is, not only Christ sacrificing himself on our behalf, but it’s also the golden rule — you know, treat others the way you would want to be treated,” he said. “And I think that’s what we try to impart to our kids and that’s what motivates me as president.”

From NY Times:

WASHINGTON — President Obama on Wednesday ended nearly two years of “evolving” on the issue of same-sex marriage by publicly endorsing it in a television interview, taking a definitive stand on one of the most contentious and politically charged social issues of the day.

“At a certain point, I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married,” Mr. Obama told ABC News in an interview that came after the president faced mounting pressure to clarify his position.

Mr. Obama said his views had changed over the years, in part because of prodding from friends who are gay and conversations with his wife and daughters.

“I had hesitated on gay marriage in part because I thought that civil unions would be sufficient,” Mr. Obama said. “I was sensitive to the fact that for a lot of people, the word marriage was something that invokes very powerful traditions and religious beliefs.”

But he added that “I’ve always been adamant that gay and lesbian Americans should be treated fairly and equally.”

The president stressed the tension he felt between the desire to treat people equally and respect for those whose religious beliefs lead them to oppose same-sex marriage.

“The thing at root that we think about is, not only Christ sacrificing himself on our behalf, but it’s also the golden rule — you know, treat others the way you would want to be treated,” he said. “And I think that’s what we try to impart to our kids and that’s what motivates me as president.”

Read the full story: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/10/us/politics/obama-says-same-sex-marriage-should-be-legal.html?_r=1&hp

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From MSNBC:

Republicans have blocked the Senate from debating a Democratic bill keeping interest rates on college loans from doubling this summer for 7.4 million students.

Republicans say they support heading off higher rates on subsidized Stafford loans. They oppose how Democrats would pay for the measure — raising payroll taxes on high-earning stockholders of some privately owned corporations.

Read the rest of the story: http://nbcpolitics.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/05/08/11596104-gop-blocks-senate-debate-on-dem-student-loan-bill?lite

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Proverbs 21:13 - “If a man shuts his ears to the cry of the poor, he too will cry out and not be answered.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republicans who control the House are using cuts to food aid, health care and social services like Meals on Wheels to protect the Pentagon from a crippling wave of budget cuts come January.

The reductions, while controversial, are but a fraction of what Republicans called for in the broader, nonbinding budget plan they passed in March. Totaling a little more than $300 billion over a decade, the new cuts are aimed less at tackling $1 trillion-plus government deficits and more at preventing cuts to troop levels and military modernization.

To GOP lawmakers, steps like blocking states from gaming food stamp eligibility rules to boost benefits or trying to stop illegal immigrants from claiming tax refunds of up to $1,000 per child are simply no-brainers. And they won the 2010 midterm election after campaigning against Obama’s health care law.

But Democrats say Republicans are unfairly targeting the poor and vulnerable. They believe that legislation to prevent the Pentagon cuts should include tax increases that strike wealthier people.

The proposed GOP cuts pale in comparison to the $5 trillion in cuts called for over the coming decade by the broader – but nonbinding – GOP blueprint, authored by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who’s often mentioned as a potential vice presidential choice. They’re getting far less media attention as well.

Stepping into the debate, however, has been the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, who forcefully oppose cuts to programs that help the poor and vulnerable, singling out cuts to food stamps as “unjustified and wrong” and assailing the effort to deny the child tax credit to undocumented workers as sure to thrust vulnerable children into poverty. The vast majority of children who would be affected by the tax credit proposal are U.S. citizens.

Republicans would also eliminate Social Services Block Grants, a $1.7 billion a year program that gives states money for Meals on Wheels, day care, adoption assistance, and transportation help for the elderly and disabled. Democrats noted that the program comes in the form of flexible block grants, an approach that Republicans advocated in the Ryan budget regarding Medicaid and food stamps. Republicans say the Social Service Block Grants program duplicates other efforts.

The above are pieces of the full article, read it here: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_REPUBLICANS_BUDGET?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2012-05-07-04-46-41

ST. PAUL — With zeal, excitement and a meticulous attention to detail, the administration of Gov. Mark Dayton is trying to expandhealth insurance coverage and remake Minnesota’s insurance market along the lines envisioned by President Obama.

In setting up a marketplace where people can shop for insurance, the state has sought advice from consumer groups, labor unions, doctors and hospitals, employers, insurance companies, agents and brokers, and American Indian tribes.

But one notable group has been missing from the process: Republicans, who control both houses of the State Legislature.

Mr. Dayton, a Democrat, and the Republicans find themselves in an icy standoff. The situation is a case study of the politics found in state capitols around the country as officials grapple with a crucial element of the new federal health care law.

In an interview, Mr. Dayton said that while some moderate Republicans would like to work with him, the Republican caucus in the State Legislature had balked because it was dominated by “extreme right-wingers.”

“For reasons of ideology and politics, they want to bash our effort to establish an exchange, rather than join it,” Mr. Dayton said, lamenting the power of “vitriolic antigovernment, anti-Obama” forces.

Read the full story: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/01/health/policy/in-fight-over-obama-health-law-a-front-in-minnesota.html?_r=1&hpw.

Hospital patients waiting in the emergency room or convalescing after surgery could find themselves confronted by an unexpected visitor: a debt collector at bedside.

One of the nation’s largest medical debt-collection companies is under fire in Minnesota for having placed its employees in emergency rooms and other departments at two hospitals and demanding that patients pay before receiving treatment, according to documents released Tuesday by the Minnesota attorney general. The documents say the company also used patient health records to wrangle for more money on overdue bills.

As part of its collection strategy, Accretive fostered a boiler-room environment at the hospitals it works with, according to hospital employees and the newly released documents.

While hospital collections increased, patient care plummeted, the employees said. “Patients are harassed mercilessly,” a hospital employee told Ms. Swanson. Another hospital employee complained, “We were told if we don’t get money from patients, in the emergency room, we will be fired.”

Accretive debt-collection employees, calling themselves “financial counselors,” are instructed by the upper management ranks to stall patients entering the emergency room until they have agreed to pay a prior balance, according to the documents.

Read the full story here: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/25/business/debt-collector-is-faulted-for-tough-tactics-in-hospitals.html?_r=1&hp

The Ryan Budget and Moral Cowardice

by Lisa Sharon Harper 03-22-2012 | 10:58am – Sojourners.com

Remember Rep. Paul Ryan’s 2011 budget, The Path to Prosperity? Well, it’s baaa-aaack — and this time the path is smoother and wider and offers a quicker trip to judgment.

Christianity and most of the world’s faith traditions explicitly demand protection for the poor and the preservation of the lives and dignity of all. Well, the Chair of the House Budget Committee, Ryan, high-tails it down his Path, budget rolled in-hand, in the exact opposite direction from those moral commitments.

Bob Greenstein, president of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), concluded that the Ryan budget “is Robin Hood in reverse — on steroids. It would likely produce the largest redistribution of income from the bottom to the top in modern U.S. history and likely increase poverty and inequality more than any other budget in recent times (and possibly in the nation’s history).”

Any responsible budget plan requires a balanced approach that would both increase revenue and reduce spending. This proposal would cut taxes, merely hope for revenue, increase military spending, and slash most everything else that isn’t protected by large corporate interests.

Read the full story: http://sojo.net/blogs/2012/03/22/ryan-budget-and-moral-cowardice

Reporting from Washington— Billionaire political patrons filled the coffers of the presidential “super PACs” last month, spotlighting once again the enormous influence a tiny cadre of wealthy donors is having on the 2012 race.

The biggest donations came from casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and his family, who pumped an additional $5.5 million into the pro-Newt Gingrich super PAC Winning Our Future in February — 95% of the money the group raised, according to documents filed Tuesday with the Federal Election Commission.

Altogether, the Las Vegas Sands chief executive and his relatives have given Winning Our Future $16.5 million of the $18.8 million the super PAC has brought in.

Adelson’s massive contributions were rivaled by those of conservative Dallas investor Harold Simmons, who with his wife, Annette, and company, Contran Corp., has given a total of $15.4 million to a variety of GOP super PACs. In February, Annette Simmons gave $1 million to Red White and Blue Fund, a super PAC backing Rick Santorum. Her donation exceeded that of Santorum’s most public backer, Wyoming mutual fund executive Foster Friess, who kicked in $600,000 in February. (Friess remains the group’s largest overall donor, contributing $1.27 million through this election cycle.)

Read the full article: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-campaign-money-20120321,0,5326934.story