Well the good news is that most of the stains came out but I'm guessing Ace still won't be getting all of his deposit back.

But hey let's not quibble over who stabbed who or which moron/moronette broke the lamp - we're on to a new year here.

Posted by: Maetenloch at 05:54 PM | Comments (545)
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Here are some from Mashable.

1. New Years revolution- Stop using my cat as an excuse for a boyfriend — Laura Leigh Gedeon (@Laurallg22) December 28, 2012

2. New Year's Revolution: to stop fancying a slice of buttered bread with every meal. — Freya(@FuzzCookies) December 31, 2012

3. My New Years resolution is to never by accident walk in on my dad cleaning the shower naked ever again — lauren brady (@laurenabrady7) December 31, 2012

4. My 2013 New Year's resolution? Have less hairy nipples and more hairy armpits. — jimzwall (@jimzwall) December 31, 2012

5. My New Years resolution is to get an EZ bake oven and make weed brownies — LURK $PICE (@XANAXDREAMS) December 29, 2012

6. My New Years resolution is to just try meth once, I'm not going to end up like that guy. — Richie Holiday(@RichieHoliday) December 31, 2012

7. New Year's Resolution: Avoid employing my strikingly-decent impression of Mickey Mouse's voice when having sex — Just Andy (@LeeryLeary) December 27, 2012

8. New Years Resolution: Clean sex toys every day. — Delores Butters (@wooloolooloo9) December 31, 2012

9. So New Years resolution: never ask my drug dealer how her life has been recently unless I have an hour to spend hearing about it — Amy Wears Prada (@Sexii_AMY) December 31, 2012

10. new years resolution- don't smoke weed at school — Nick Shotorbani (@nickshotorbani) December 31, 2012

More at the link. I resolve to eat fewer carbs. I don't know. How about you guys?

Posted by: rdbrewer at 03:30 PM | Comments (468)
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ABOVE THE POST UPDATE

Done.

Members email from floor: spending amendment doesn't have 218. Not likely to pass. Rules getting ready to move on Sen deal as is.

House has finished with its three non-fiscal cliff votes. Just recessed subject to the call of the chair.

But the GOP will definitely grow some balls in the next two months. Related: Lucy totally promises to leave the football on the ground next time.

Official: No amendments, straight up passing the Senate bill.

Original Post:
Word is starting to leak out of the GOP conference about the options Boehner is laying out.

Boehner presented 2 options to R's. One would be to amend #fiscalcliff bill with cuts and see if it could pass and send to Senate.

The other option is just to bring the Senate bill to the floor for an up or down vote.

Sounds like Boehner is trying to find out if there are 218 Republican votes for the current tax scheme in the Senate bill (over $400k, etc) plus cuts or...will the purity brigade say they can't support any tax hikes?

I sympathize with the "no new taxes period" gang but voting no on offsetting cuts means the Senate bill will likely pass as is thanks to Pelosi whipping her votes and enough squishes.

The GOP needs to pass the spending cut amendment. It will probably kill the Senate bill anyway and we'll start over on Thursday.

Process: The House is going to hold 3 votes unrelated to the fiscal cliff. The idea is to get everyone on the floor, find out how many members are there (what's the magic number to pass something?) and to have them in place so the leadership can whip them.

It'll be 25-30 minutes at least on these votes, then we get to the main event.

UPDATE: $300 billion in unspecified cuts. They kind of just picked a number I guess. So, $30 billion a year over 10 years or the amount of the unemployment insurance extension in the Senate bill. This when we're running $1 trillion a year deficits.

And it doesn't sound likely we'll even get that out of the House (let alone the Senate and Obama).

Oh well, it was fun to think the GOP might have had some backbone left.

But hey...they've kept their powder dry and this compete capitulation will bring us one step closer to victory in two months!

Let It Burn...it's not a suggestion, it's an observation.

Posted by: DrewM at 02:19 PM | Comments (407)
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A nice fresh thread to stretch your legs while we wait for the GOP conference meeting that's supposed to start at 5:15. If they decide to amend the bill, it's back to square one because the Senate blew town.

Posted by: DrewM at 01:06 PM | Comments (283)
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Both parties held caucus meetings today that are just breaking up. Joe Biden went to whip and rally the Democrats, while John Boehner said he was "in listening mode" and won't commit to support or oppose the Senate bill.

Now there's talk that the GOP will bring up the Senate's bill and amend it. No word on what that would entail from a policy perspective but it would mean the bill would have to go back to the Senate again.

One of the major problems with the Senate deal is it doesn't address spending cuts. As currently constructed the "tax only" portion of the cliff deal increases the debt by nearly $4 TRILLION over 10 years.

I think (I'm not a budget wonk) that is because under the baseline assumptions all the Bush rates were going to expire and by keeping them in place for those making under $400,000 all of that "lost" revenue is now counted as part of the deficit.

As an aside, baseline budgeting is horrible.

So what the GOP would get from the tax only deal is keeping the current rates for people under $400,000/year but getting tagged as tax hikers for anyone above that. Then Obama gets to come back and force the GOP to agree to the liberal idea that "tax cuts" (which they aren't, it's just continuing the rates as they have been for 12 years) have to be "paid for".

Of course the GOP will have no more leverage in two months than they do now, so it's very possible that the GOP loses its "tax cut" brand AND sees trillions added to the debt.

Obama never wanted a deal. This isn't about taxes and spending, it's about destroying the GOP. Unbelievably, it's an open question as to whether the GOP will continue to take part in it.

There's going to be another GOP caucus sometime today before Boehner decides how to proceed.

Will the GOP finally wise up or is this just bluster before the meek walk to their execution?

Update: Hmmmmmmmm

Rep Spencer Bacchus, R-AL, says consensus is building in GOP House meeting to amend cliff bill and send it back to Sen w/some spending cuts.

Well this is very interesting, very interesting.

Per republicans, cantor is opposing the fiscal cliff bill during GOP conference. Boehner laying out "options." Not good signs at all

Cantor has literally stood side by side with Boehner throughout this process. People took that to mean that there was no way he'd challenge for the Speakership but if they split here? This might force Boehner into opposing the plan (if he wasn't predisposed to do that anyway).

Layers and layers.

Side note: People keep saying that revenue raising bills must originate in the House not the Senate. This is true BUT...the bill the Senate passed last night was H.R. 8 which passed the House and sent to the Senate for consideration. What the Senate did was "amend" it (which the Constitution allows) and sent it back. Now the Senate "amendment" was a complete substitution but that's been done before.

You may not like it but it's perfectly acceptable according the Constitution.

Posted by: DrewM at 10:33 AM | Comments (353)
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It's hard to rundown all the spending/tax hike ramifications since they passed the damn thing at 2am on New Years Day but the politics of the deal are quite clear.

WH tells colleague Ed Henry Obama broke R's tax pledge. Calls it "1 of the most consequential policy achievements of the last couple decades

And what did the GOP get for this? Nothing. In fact, we gave back spending cuts we supposedly won through sequestration. Yes, they say they will "pay" for the delay through unspecified spending cuts and some tax raising gimmicks but the principle of doing anything to avoid actual spending cuts has been set.

And how much did Obama and the Democrats get from this deal? $600 billion in new taxes over 10 years. Obama originally wanted $1.6 trillion over 10 years and Boehner had actually offered $800 billion in revenue so long as it was through tax reform, not hiking rates.

Obama took less revenue just so he could paint the GOP as tax hikers. Even his original position was a joke when it came to dealing with the actual fiscal problems we face.

Mitch McConnell praises the imperfect deal (via email statement):

“The President wanted tax increases, but thanks to this imperfect agreement, 99% of my constituents won’t be hit by those hikes.

“So it took an imperfect solution to prevent our constituents from very real financial pain. But in my view, it was worth the effort. "

No conservative wants to see taxes going up on anyone, especially people struggling in the Obama economy, but by protecting voters from the financial impact of their electoral choices we will simply see ever more demands for larger, not smaller government. Why would anyone support cutting their "free" stuff when it's FREE to them?

I doubt the House GOP has the stones to decline this invitation to sign their own death warrant.

But don't worry guys...we'll get those spending cuts in the debt ceiling deal! This was the key surrender that will catapult us to victory!

Added: Here are the Republicans who voted no.

Mike Lee (R-UT), Richard Shelby (D-AL), Rand Paul (R-KY), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), and Marco Rubio (R-FL).

Some good Senators like Jeff Sessions, Tom Coburn and Ron Johnson who I thought would have known better voted for this. Very disappointing.

Posted by: DrewM at 06:13 AM | Comments (392)
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Full up today! Happy New Year morons! I did not overindulge in the lite cranberry juice and Diet Mt. Dew, so no headache today. Good call by Dave.

Gator Bowl. Mississippi State and Northwestern (20). Noon EST.

Heart of Dallas Bowl (WTF?). Purdue, Oklahoma State. also Noon EST.

Outback Bowl. South Carolina (10) and Michigan (1 . 1pm EST.

Capital One Bowl (need to make a payment today). Georgia (7) and Nebraska (16). 1pm EST.

Rose Bowl. Wisconsin and Stanford (6). 5pm EST.

Orange Bowl. N. Illinois (15, really?) and Fla State (12). 8:30pm EST.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 08:05 AM | Comments (211)
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Better late than never.

Posted by: andy at 04:55 AM | Comments (172)
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