Kelly Broke Wallpapers: July 2011

Sunday, July 31, 2011

Debt Ceiling Deal Reached To Avert Default-Tea Party can declare victory!

Even though Tea Party members may not like the final deal, they can surely declare victory for getting congress to deal with fixing the country’s outrageous debt situation. They set the terms of the debate where neither establishment GOPers nor Democrats wanted to go.

It’s not a perfect fix, far from it. But, it’s a small step in the right direction.

The big loser is President Obama who stayed on the sidelines and showed just how incompetent he is as president. Next on the agenda is voting him out of office.

The Huffington Post

President Barack Obama and Republican congressional leaders reached historic agreement Sunday night on a compromise to permit vital U.S. borrowing by the Treasury in exchange for more than $2 trillion in long-term spending cuts.

Officials said Republican Speaker John Boehner telephoned Obama at mid-evening to say the agreement had been struck.

Democratic Majority Leader Harry Reid said that both his party and opposition Republicans gave more ground than they wanted to. He said it'll take members of both political parties to pass the measure.

Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said that the pact "will ensure significant cuts in Washington spending" and he assured the markets that a first-ever default on U.S. obligations won't occur.

Both the leaders said they will brief their colleagues tomorrow on the details of the agreement.

More here

Memeorandum

TPM

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has signed off on a deal to raise the debt limit pending the approval of his caucus -- and of course if can win the backing of Senate GOP leaders and then a majority of the House.

His spokesman confirms that Reid will present the deal to his caucus shortly, with the hope of holding a vote on it Sunday night, giving House leaders some running room to pass the plan before the nation's borrowing authority expires late Tuesday.

The deal works like this:

It guarantees the debt limit will be hiked by $2.4 trillion. Immediately upon enactment of the plan, the Treasury will be granted $400 billion of new borrowing authority, after which President Obama will be allowed to extend the debt limit by $500 billion, subject to a vote of disapproval by Congress.

That initial $900 billion will be paired with $900 billion of discretionary spending cuts, first identified in a weeks-old bipartisan working group led by Vice President Joe Biden, which will be spread out over 10 years.

Obama will later be able to raise the debt limit by $1.5 trillion, again subject to a vote of disapproval by Congress.

That will be paired with the formation of a Congressional committee tasked with reducing deficits by a minimum of $1.2 trillion. That reduction can come from spending cuts, tax increases or a mixture thereof

More here

Memeorandum

Only Way Is Essex star Lydia Bright bikini shot with fatso boyfriend

Fat or not the guy has enough game to hook up with Lydia.

The Sun

THE Only Way Is Essex star Lydia Bright is clearly delighted that her romance is back on with James 'Arg' Argent - even if he's a little l-Arg-er these days.

Lydia, 20 - who split with him in the second series - kissed the 17st11lbs singer by a pool on hols in Marbella then posted a photo on Twitter, saying: "Look at the stud on me arm."

Arg, 23, is aiming to lose 1½st with The Sun's Fabulous magazine team. A pal said: "He was eating to fill the gap Lydia left in his life. Now he'll soon be back to his best."

Big fish tale: Angler enters record books after catching EIGHT FOOT albino catfish

Now that’s one big fish!

Daily Mail

This monster from the deep has netted a British angler a place in the record books. The whopper, caught by plucky Chris Grimmer, is the biggest albino catfish ever caught by an angler.

The 8ft beast tipped the scales at 194lbs - 2lbs heavier than the previous best by blind woman angler Shelia Penfold last year.

More here

Hoey, look what you have to clean!

CNN Anchor Clashes With Sen. Rand Paul Over Debt Ceiling

Mediate:

After proposing a balanced budget amendment to the Reid bill and having it struck down, Sen. Rand Paul sat down with Don Lemon to explain what was happening on the floor and what compromises he was up for making.

Lemon was in a curt mood, it seems, as weeks have gone by and the debt deadline looms with little to no visible progress occurring. The two had a contentious exchange as Sen. Paul tried to explain he did have the will to compromise when Lemon questioned what it would take.

Game addict Chris Staniforth, 20, killed by deep vein thrombosis playing too much Xbox

I stopped playing games (Sega game system) when I was twenty four years old. That was twenty four years ago and I thought I’d stopped at a late age. But, the game systems changed and I thought it was an opportunity for me to put away childish things.

I don’t get grown men playing video games.

The Sun

A LAD of 20 has been killed by a blood clot caused by playing his Xbox for up to 12 hours at a time.

A post mortem revealed that Chris Staniforth - addicted to games such as Halo - had suffered a deep vein thrombosis. It can be triggered by sitting in one position for long spells.

Stunned dad David, of Sheffield, said: "He lived for his Xbox. I never dreamed he was in any danger.

"As a parent you think playing computer games can't do them any harm because you know what they are doing

"Kids all over the country are playing these games for long periods - they don't realise it could kill them."

Chris collapsed seconds after telling a friend how he had been experiencing a strange sensation in his chest.

The pair were chatting outside a JobCentre where Chris had an interview.

David said: "He told his friend how he was woken in the night by a strange feeling in his chest.

“Then he dropped a packet of chewing gum and as he picked it up, he jolted back and began to spasm."

Chris's friend called an ambulance - but paramedics could not save him.
A coroner yesterday confirmed DVT had caused Chris's death and it was cited on his death certificate.

More here

Republicans and Democrats reach tentative deal on debt ceiling talks that kicks the can down the road, again!

As I expected this Kabuki dance between the Dems and the GOP was coming down to the last wire.

Basically, this deal that both sides are not going to like does nothing to stop the rate of spending.

Instead of going over the cliff at 100 mph, we’re slowing down to 92.

It’s kicking the can down the road, as usual.

ABC News

Democratic and Republican Congressional sources involved in the negotiations tell ABC News that a tentative agreement has been reached on the framework of a deal that would give the President a debt ceiling increase of up to $2.4 trillion and guarantee an equal amount of deficit reduction over the next 10 years.

The details are still being worked out, and a senior White House aide tells ABC News, "talks continue but there is no deal to report."

Congressional leaders plan to brief their members on the framework tomorrow. The reaction from both parties' rank-and-file will determine whether this tentative deal becomes a final deal.

Here, according to Democratic and Republican sources, are the key elements:

*A debt ceiling increase of up to $2.1 to $2.4 trillion (depending on the size of the spending cuts agreed to in the final deal).

*They have now agreed to spending cuts of roughly $1.2 trillion over 10 years.

* The formation of a special Congressional committee to recommend further deficit reduction of up to $1.6 trillion (whatever it takes to add up to the total of the debt ceiling increase). This deficit reduction could take the form of spending cuts, tax increases or both.

*The special committee must make recommendations by late November (before Congress' Thanksgiving recess).

* If Congress does not approve those cuts by December 23, automatic across-the-board cuts go into effect, including cuts to Defense and Medicare. This "trigger" is designed to force action on the deficit reduction committee's recommendations by making the alternative painful to both Democrats and Republicans.

* A vote, in both the House and Senate, on a balanced budget amendment.

More here

Memeorandum

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Computer performs wedding ceremon

Maybe computer can be the norm to perform same sex weddings?

Daily Mail

When Miguel Hanson and Diana Wesley get married today, they won't stand before a gray haired minister holding a Bible. Instead, they'll be looking at a 30-inch monitor.

Mr Hanson, a Houston, Texas web developer and IT consultant, created a minister software program when the couple couldn't get a friend to serve as the minister at their wedding. On one half of the screen, they'll see a virtual minister with an animated, square face with blue eyes and thin, oval glasses.

His voice will be heard over a sound system while the text of what he's saying will show up on the other half of the screen.
'I was like, you know I'm going to write my own minister,' Mr Hanson said.

More here

The trigger that could lead to a debt deal

I was saying to a good friend of mine who’s really concerned about the country might go into default, not to worry.

This whole song and dance going on in Washington is exactly that, a show to scare the Be-jesus out of people, so when a deal finally gets cut, most people won’t pay attention to the details of a crappy deal that solves absolutely nothing.

The Washington Post

Look closely at the Reid and Boehner bills. The first round of cuts are pretty much the same. The joint congressional committee charged with recommending further deficit reduction is pretty much the same. The difference is that Boehner’s bill forces them to act. He ties a future increase in the debt-ceiling to the successful passage of their proposal. Reid’s bill has no such trigger. And many of the participants in this process say that is the space where a deal will be made -- or not made.

Democrats dismiss Boehner’s current offer completely.
At the New Republic, Jonathan Chait piquantly compared it to “a kidnapper who offers to give you back your child in return for $100,000 and your other child.” A senior Democratic aide in the Senate is even blunter. “That’s the one line in the sand we’ve drawn this whole time. We can’t be revisiting this in another six months.”

Most think the likely compromise is a trigger that would impose automatic, across-the-board cuts in spending if the committee fails in its mission. But Senate Democratic leadership isn’t so sure. They worry that a spending-cuts only trigger is heads, Republicans win; tails, Democrats lose. “The idea of triggers with just cuts is a non-starter. Republicans would just deadlock the committee and get the cuts they want,” continues the aide. “If there is a trigger it would have to be balanced.”

The White House proposed a balanced trigger in April: It would have automatically raised taxes and cut spending if America wasn’t on a path to balanced budgets by 2014. In his remarks on Friday morning, Obama reiterated that support. “if we need to put in place some kind of enforcement mechanism to hold us all accountable for making these reforms, I’ll support that too if it’s done in a smart and balanced way.”

More here

Memeorandum