Only Oklahoman to vote against fiscal cliff

[okie52]

Rep. James Lankford Only Oklahoman Voting Against Fiscal Cliff Deal
Posted by Chris Casteel on January 2, 2013M at 8:37 am


Rep. James Lankford, R-Oklahoma City, was the only member of Oklahoma’s congressional delegation who voted against the fiscal cliff deal on Tuesday. Both of Oklahoma’s senators supported it, and four of the five House members voted aye late Tuesday night.
Among the four House members supporting it were outgoing Reps. Dan Boren, D-Muskogee, and John Sullivan, R-Tulsa. Both of those members will be leaving the House on Thursday, when their replacements will be sworn in.
Rep. Tom Cole, R-Moore, said Wednesday, “This agreement is far from perfect, but preventing the largest tax increase in history and making tax cuts permanent for 98 percent of taxpayers is a major victory for American workers and for the economy.
“While I would prefer a combination of tax cuts and spending cuts, passage of this bill lays the groundwork for significant spending reductions in the coming weeks. With tax rate increases off the table, President Obama and Senate Democrats will be forced to confront reality and accept spending and entitlement reforms.
“Passage of permanent tax relief ensures that the upcoming budget debates will be solely focused on spending restraint.
“Congress will have three significant opportunities in the next three months to reduce the deficit when we debate the debt ceiling, the across-the-board sequestration cuts, and the government funding bill that expires in March. The fiscal cliff is certainly not the last debate we’ll have over spending, but it is the last time President Obama will be able to threaten massive tax increases to avoid addressing the real causes of our debt.”

.

[SanJoaquinSooner]

making tax cuts permanent for 98 percent of taxpayers is a major victory for American workers and for the economy

I agree, that is a big victory for the pubs. Now they don't have to fight another battle down the road when rates expire, had they been made temporary again.

[okie52]

I agree, that is a big victory for the pubs. Now they don't have to fight another battle down the road when rates expire, had they been made temporary again.

It's a victory if they get spending cuts on down the road. If they don't then it was a total cave in.

[okie52]

Senators Tom Coburn, Jim Inhofe Vote for Fiscal Cliff Deal
Posted by Chris Casteel on January 1, 2013M at 4:09 pm

Both of Oklahoma’s Republican senators voted for the fiscal cliff deal early Tuesday morning.

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Muskogee, said, “While this bill is far from perfect, it does prevent massive tax increases while making tax cuts permanent for 99 percent of Americans.
“Congress and the president, however, have a lot of work to do to address our long-tern spending problem. Our debt – which is 120 percent of our economy if you count federal, state and local debt – is still the greatest threat to our national security. We will never address that threat until Congress and the president acknowledge that the only way to save entitlement programs is to change them.”
Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, said, ““While this deal to avoid the fiscal cliff is not perfect, Senate Democrats have caved to making permanent the Bush tax cuts for 99 percent of Americans.
“The deal will cement the tax cuts for individuals making less than $400,000 a year or $450,000 for families, and permanently fix the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). Even though President Obama wanted to extend the death tax exemption only up to $1 million, this deal extends the exemption for up to $5 million, $10 million for couples. As I have travelled around Oklahoma, it has been clear to me that this is the single most important issue for our farmers, ranchers, and family owned businesses.
“One of my greatest concerns about the fiscal cliff has been the devastating cuts that would happen to our military due to defense sequestration. This deal avoids those cuts for two months to allow for a better solution. While I would like to have sequestration addressed, I am hopeful the deal’s two-month delay will help us better prioritize deep spending cuts while protecting our military and national security.
“The deal also includes an important one year extension of the farm bill, and extends for one year provisions that prevent doctors from being forced to take rate cuts for treating Medicare patients.
“I do not agree with the deal’s extension of unemployment benefits for another year or that it only achieves a small deficit reduction. I look forward to negotiating more spending cuts when we deal with the debt limit increase. Even though President Obama wanted that included in this deal, we are wisely waiting to address that separately so that we can have better spending cuts. After four years of Obama running up $5.3 trillion in deficit spending, any deal to raise the debt ceiling must be contingent upon making significant cuts to get our fiscal house in order.”
“This deal should be seen as a victory for conservatives as it achieves for the first time in decades a bipartisan agreement for permanent tax cuts for a majority of Americans. These tax cuts will help to restore certainty and encourage economic growth.”
.

[LiveLaughLove]

It's a victory if they get spending cuts on down the road. If they don't then it was a total cave in.

The president and the media will call any spending cuts beyond military draconian and hurtful to the poor. Republicans will cave once again in the face of not being loved by the media and no significant cuts will occur.

Its now in neither parties interests to worry about actual meaningful cuts. They will raise the debt ceiling after some faux outrage and will punt the ball.

This was a loss to anyone that truly wanted the country to be fixed. Its Mardi gras time in America, bury your head in the sand and just let the good times roll!

Until they don't.

[diverdog]

The president and the media will call any spending cuts beyond military draconian and hurtful to the poor. Republicans will cave once again in the face of not being loved by the media and no significant cuts will occur.

Its now in neither parties interests to worry about actual meaningful cuts. They will raise the debt ceiling after some faux outrage and will punt the ball.

This was a loss to anyone that truly wanted the country to be fixed. Its Mardi gras time in America, bury your head in the sand and just let the good times roll!

Until they don't.

What the Republicans need to do is moderate and work with moderate and conservative Dems. For instance they could work on means testing medicare, mandatory drug test for SSI beneficiaries, increasing the age for SS qualifications, raising the deductibles on federal employee insurance, closing tax loopholes, freezing spending in agencies like commerce, interior, education. They also need to find away to get jobs flowing in this country. Find common ground and do the easy stuff first.

[badger]

Q: Which one is Lankford?

A: The red-haired one (http://lankford.house.gov/) :D

Sooo... anyone else guessing that Lankford was one of the Republicans who drew the short straw and got to vote "yes?"

[Midtowner]

Lankford is the former head of the SBC Falls Creek Camp. He's an ideologue and a reliable foot soldier who has years of training and of training others to be dogmatic robots. He kicked by younger brother out of Falls Creek for daring to protest and challenging the fire 'n brimstone picture of Jesus they painted there (I guess my brother wasn't there to get laid like most).

If you need someone to parrot the company line despite almost all of the facts being to the contrary of your message, Lankford's your guy.

[LiveLaughLove]

Lankford is the former head of the SBC Falls Creek Camp. He's an ideologue and a reliable foot soldier who has years of training and of training others to be dogmatic robots. He kicked by younger brother out of Falls Creek for daring to protest and challenging the fire 'n brimstone picture of Jesus they painted there (I guess my brother wasn't there to get laid like most).

If you need someone to parrot the company line despite almost all of the facts being to the contrary of your message, Lankford's your guy.

LOL. You never cease to deliver counselor. First, church camp is not a debating society. It is to go there and fellowship and learn some doctrine of the church that sent you.

Second, you got one side of the story. After raising twelve kids now, I have learned that almost is never the WHOLE story.

Thirdly, if your brother or your family didn't want him to hear hell fire and brimstone, he should have gone to a Unitarian church camp. Or Buddhist for that matter.

Fourth, there is no bigger dogmatic robot on this board than yourself. You walk, talk, and crap leftist pablum. All the while being a staunch capitalist in your hypocritical business practices (which makes you a true liberal btw) So pot meet big huge freaking enormous kettle.

My wife met Lankford and his family and she was hugely impressed by all of them. She said their kids were as polite in public as ours. That's saying something. She said he was humbled that she recognized him, and he and his wife thanked her more than she thanked them for fighting for us.

As a disclaimer, I am not Baptist before I get jumped on for defending my one of my own.

As another disclaimer, I have nothing against Baptists either. They're just wrong on the Holy Spirit.

As another another disclaimer, I am not trying to scuttle this thread and do not wish to debate church doctrine. ;P

[okie52]

Lankford is the former head of the SBC Falls Creek Camp. He's an ideologue and a reliable foot soldier who has years of training and of training others to be dogmatic robots. He kicked by younger brother out of Falls Creek for daring to protest and challenging the fire 'n brimstone picture of Jesus they painted there (I guess my brother wasn't there to get laid like most).

If you need someone to parrot the company line despite almost all of the facts being to the contrary of your message, Lankford's your guy.

Well Lankford certainly wouldn't be your type of ideologue...much too far to the right. Please elaborate....which company line do you object to that is contrary to all of the facts?

[diverdog]

Okies are the biggest friggin idiots on the planet. You elected a Texan and a Longhorn... To boot.. to represent you in congress. That is friggin genius right there. And LLL and Okie52 have the audacity to defend him. Gentleman please check your OU fan card at the front desk and take your Longhorn luv'in asses somewhere else. You have shown your true colors. :)

[LiveLaughLove]

Okies are the biggest friggin idiots on the planet. You elected a Texan and a Longhorn... To boot.. to represent you in congress. That is friggin genius right there. And LLL and Okie52 have the audacity to defend him. Gentleman please check your OU fan card at the front desk and take your Longhorn luv'in asses somewhere else. You have shown your true colors. :)

Says the guy living in Rhode Island, Delaware, or one of those other Yankee places. :)

[badger]

Okies are the biggest friggin idiots on the planet.

Come on man.

[diverdog]

Says the guy living in Rhode Island, Delaware, or one of those other Yankee places. :)

Pfft. I gots me a mini OU fan club up here. We are working on world domination. So far it ain't working out so good because Okie State has taken a few talented athletes from the state despite my best efforts. Their lower academic standards hurt the recruiting effort.

[okie52]

Okies are the biggest friggin idiots on the planet. You elected a Texan and a Longhorn... To boot.. to represent you in congress. That is friggin genius right there. And LLL and Okie52 have the audacity to defend him. Gentleman please check your OU fan card at the front desk and take your Longhorn luv'in asses somewhere else. You have shown your true colors. :)

**** I already voted for a Texan a 4 times for president...even a guy from Massachusetts. I think I even voted for some OSU people for governor. There's no turning back now.

[badger]

I think I even voted for some OSU people for governor.

I voted for the Sooner (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jari_Askins) :D

[okie52]

I voted for the Sooner (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jari_Askins) :D

I have no doubt that Askins would have been a good governor but I have a hard time voting for someone that tells OK voters that Obama would have been good for them.

[diverdog]

Come on man.

Oh great another fan from a wannabe football school decides to stick her nose into the family business.

[diverdog]

**** I already voted for a Texan a 4 times for president...even a guy from Massachusetts. I think I even voted for some OSU people for governor. There's no turning back now.

You are dead to me. DEAD!

[badger]

Oh great another fan from a wannabe football school decides to stick her nose into the family business.

I'm from Wisconsin. My relatives are the Wisconsin fanatics. I'm just a casual fan. My degree says "OU"


I have no doubt that Askins would have been a good governor but I have a hard time voting for someone that tells OK voters that Obama would have been good for them.
Even The King once endorsed Boo Blake.

[diverdog]

I'm from Wisconsin. My relatives are the Wisconsin fanatics. I'm just a casual fan. My degree says "OU"


Even The King once endorsed Boo Blake.


Well you need to change your handle.

Btw, since I sorta trashed this thread I need to ask: Hows the kid doing?

[Midtowner]

Well Lankford certainly wouldn't be your type of ideologue...much too far to the right. Please elaborate....which company line do you object to that is contrary to all of the facts?

He believes in young-Earth creationism for starters.

[badger]

Btw, since I sorta trashed this thread I need to ask: Hows the kid doing?

Trouble sleeping lately, so I've been adding a bit more ****-yous to my posts here as an end result, but otherwise a merry little sunshine. Baby badger emits optimism out of everything surrounding her.

Packers lose to Vikings and AD is nine yards short? Baby badger.

OU loses to Notre Dame and Kansas State? Baby badger.

Fiscal cliff? Obama re-elected? Baby. Badger.

[okie52]

He believes in young-Earth creationism for starters.

Has that come to a vote in the House?

[okie52]

Tom Cole is the Congressman in my district. Hs is in the hip pocket of the local Indian Tribe which is dependent on Big Government social spending and subsidies inside and outside the BIA department so I would have been suprised had he not voted for the agreement.

The GOP is only allowed to remain viable so long as they put up the appearance of standing for something different thatn the Democrats. I guarantee you they will roll over faster than a 2 dollar hooker when the actual deadline for the deficit ceiling arrives. Leading up to it they will bluster and pontificate how spending needs to be cut but when it gets to crunch time we can expect round 2 of what we saw yeaterday.

Who, the Chickasaws? Chickasaws supported Henry for governor and have often been dems...but that is changing with their new found wealth.

[Midtowner]

Has that come to a vote in the House?

He's supported legislation to bring creationism into the classroom. And frankly, if you're dumb enough to believe in that bit of mythology, you can be led to believe anything.

[okie52]

He's supported legislation to bring creationism into the classroom. And frankly, if you're dumb enough to believe in that bit of mythology, you can be led to believe anything.

I haven't heard the house vote on such legislation but I agree that there are some congressmen that believe in myths.

We had a speaker of the house that stated NG was good for getting the country off fossil fuels. A congressman that believes Islands will tip over due to overpopulation was overwhelmingly re-elected. There are those in congress that voted to mandate replacing our current energy sources with non existent energy sources and/or technologies. We have a president that killed our only nuclear repository after it was approved by the National Academy of Science for over 10,000 years....longer than those young earthers think it took to create the earth.

[nutinbutdust]

Tick Tock... what is it 60 days till the next Debacle? The GOP needs to approach things a little differently if they have any hope of round two going their way. The GOP and Round 2 (http://townhall.com/columnists/hughhewitt/2013/01/02/the-gop-and-round-two-n1477559/page/full/)


President Obama won the first round of his second term, but thanks to Mitch McConnell the beating wasn’t as severe as it could have been.

The period between the election and the turn of the calendar was dominated by the president, with Speaker John Boehner as his foil. The Speaker always seemed to assume the president was negotiating in good faith, even as the campaign events continued, and even as he was pummeled day and night by the president and his surrogates in the MSM.

The collapse of the Speaker's and the GOP’s ability to make an argument was complete when the silly “Plan B” stunt unfolded and then crashed and burned in front of the country last week. This is not an era of stunts, but because of new media, a time for serious argument instead. The GOP has not yet recognized the old era of secret deal-making is over and a new era of public argument begun. It is not very good at the latter, being about a light year behind when it comes to the mechanics of being heard in the new millennium.

Repetition, repetition, repetition.

And location, location, location: Every platform, every day. Just like the president.

The GOP couldn’t beat him, so it must join him in his tactical approach to issues.

The GOP did little between the election and Tuesday's passage of the tax bill to explain that the major issue facing the country is spending.

Much of the time was spent silent --wounds being nursed etc-- or talking of grand bargains or rumors of secret meetings at the White House. The Speaker, with the biggest platform not belonging to the president, didn't use it at all. The Manhattan-Beltway media elite, in love with the confrontation between the president and the Speaker, paid no attention to spending, and after the horror of Newtown covered almost nothing else.

Now the table is clear and the clock running down to the moment when the Treasury cannot borrow any more money. That is also the moment that the Defense Department-smashing sequester hits. The GOP has 60 days to outline and argue for its vision of what has to be done, especially with regards to entitlements.

It needs to be concise. It needs to be repeated. The consequences to individuals have to be spelled out.

"Social Security needs a new retirement age. Medicare needs a new eligibility age. Medicaid needs a cap. They all need reform to their cost-of-living escalators."

What also needs repeating is that there will be no more tax hikes. The president got what he campaigned for, and the revenue flowing into the government is enormous.

"Revenue to the federal government was $___ in 2008 and $____ in 2012, and is likely to be $____ in 2013. We don't have a revenue problem."

Next, the consequence of the spending --past, present, and future-- is a massive crisis. The GOP needs to spell out, again and again, how much we are paying in interest charges on that accumulated debt and what will happen to that cost as interest rates rise. Crucially, the GOP must explain what will happen when the debt limit is not raised and why it is willing to accept those consequences.

"Every senior is at risk. Every program. Every savings account."

Finally, the case for protecting the Department of Defense must be made.

"The problem is not the Department of Defense budget. We have cut, and more savings can be achieved. But our security and our prosperity depends upon our military strength and we must continue to spend close to 4% of our nation's wealth on protecting the nation."

These are not hard things to do, or difficult messages to deliver. But they must be done and sent if the country is to be ready for the showdown in late February.

Yesterday's deal, as the Washington Examiner's Philip Klein put it, was "objectively bad and relatively good." Hats off to Mitch McConnell for getting the GOP out of the box canyon and avoiding a massive tax hike for every American which I think the president was hoping would occur and which he could blame on the GOP.

If the GOP is to not only win for itself renewed credibility as the party of small government but also win for the country a reprieve from the bond vigilantes who are lurking, it must marshal its forces and deploy them in a coherent, indeed systematic fashion.

Look around every day for one of the GOP leaders –on any cable or network show, on any national talk radio program, in the pages of any newspaper. Every day one or more of them do not cross your path making the arguments above is a day that has been lost.

Keep a scorecard. In the House there is Speaker Boehner, Leader Cantor, Whip McCarthy and Budget Chairman Ryan.

In the Senate there is Leader McConnell, Whip Cornyn, and Conference Chair Thune.

These are the seven leaders of the GOP on the debt limit debate. Everyone else can make arguments and play supporting roles, but these are the big seven.

Keep count of how often you see them. The GOP is selling, or should be selling, a set of crucial solutions. If we arrive in mid-February and then the leadership attempts to argue and negotiate through the media, the GOP will have lost again. And the country.

It will be interesting to see if an old dog can learn new tricks.

[TitoMorelli]

Lankford is the former head of the SBC Falls Creek Camp. He's an ideologue and a reliable foot soldier who has years of training and of training others to be dogmatic robots. He kicked by younger brother out of Falls Creek for daring to protest and challenging the fire 'n brimstone picture of Jesus they painted there (I guess my brother wasn't there to get laid like most).

If you need someone to parrot the company line despite almost all of the facts being to the contrary of your message, Lankford's your guy.

So let's get this straight. A camper chooses to attend a church camp he didn't build, sleeping there in bunk-beds that others built and paid for, and eating prepared meals probably worth more in value than whatever he paid to attend said camp...then he decides to raise a ruckus about the way Christ is depicted in a painting, evidently won't shut up over this non-issue, and keeps up the spoiled-baby routine long enough that he's asked to leave?

This kind of crap runs in the family, doesn't it?

[Midtowner]

Not an actual picture of Jesus, the figurative one painted by the SBC. Y'know the angry God who'll come getcha if you dance or wear short skirts or something their version of "He" doesn't approve of.

What, does Falls Creek actually have "Fire and Brimstone Jesus" portrait?

That anything like Raptor Jesus?

http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20061126193742/uncyclopedia/images/thumb/e/e6/1164568855547.jpg/185px-1164568855547.jpg

[TitoMorelli]

Not an actual picture of Jesus, the figurative one painted by the SBC. Y'know the angry God who'll come getcha if you dance or wear short skirts or something their version of "He" doesn't approve of.

What, does Falls Creek actually have "Fire and Brimstone Jesus" portrait?

That anything like Raptor Jesus?



Hey, I was just taking what you typed literally, and you did say "picture" - but then you already know how all us brainwashed uneducated holy rollers fall for that stuff.

[Midtowner]

Hey, I was just taking what you typed literally, and you did say "picture" - but then you already know how all us brainwashed uneducated holy rollers fall for that stuff.

I dunno about uneducated. I know very smart engineers and doctors who believe the creation myth.

--why not Santa Clause? It's just as plausible.

Still though, I do want to know whether this hellfire 'n brimstone Jesus portrait exists.

[SanJoaquinSooner]

Okie, actually he was the only Oklahoman who voted to jump off the cliff. The Senate bill was written to avert jumping off the cliff - albeit, not in a way that pleased lots of pubs.

[TitoMorelli]

Okie, actually he was the only Oklahoman who voted to jump off the cliff. The Senate bill was written to avert jumping off the cliff - albeit, not in a way that pleased lots of pubs.

Good catch, SJ.

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

I have no doubt that Askins would have been a good governor but I have a hard time voting for someone that tells OK voters that Obama would have been good for them.Askins was pathetic. hard to believe anyone was considering her. OK does voting well!

[RUSH LIMBAUGH is my clone!]

Okies are the biggest friggin idiots on the planet. You elected a Texan and a Longhorn... To boot.. to represent you in congress. That is friggin genius right there. And LLL and Okie52 have the audacity to defend him. Gentleman please check your OU fan card at the front desk and take your Longhorn luv'in asses somewhere else. You have shown your true colors. :)Politics is bout conservaative vs collectivist totalitarianism...not football. man, you've got things scrambled up badly.

[Midtowner]

Askins was pathetic.

Elaborate.

She came down to the top 3 to be appointed to the Okie Supreme Court, was a Judge and a legislator before that and is now doing a great job out at OU. Fallin, on the other hand excels in saying what she's told to say and running some absolutely cynical campaigns.

[Midtowner]

Politics is bout conservaative vs collectivist...not football. man, you've got things scrambled up badly.

I'm acquainted with Lurch's 1st opponent, he's a good man. Wife is an Assistant District Attorney in Oklahoma County. Great people. He does criminal defense work. Definitely not a "collectivist."

His second opponent, Tom Guild, I had for business law back in undergrad. He was a nice enough guy and a decent prof. I didn't like that he spent the entire first day of class talking about all of the professor committees he was on and how he was some big to-do in some national professors organization, but whatever.

[okie52]

Okie, actually he was the only Oklahoman who voted to jump off the cliff. The Senate bill was written to avert jumping off the cliff - albeit, not in a way that pleased lots of pubs.

The Clinton tax rates were the "fiscal cliff"? The Bush tax cuts were our salvation?

[sappstuf]

I haven't heard the house vote on such legislation but I agree that there are some congressmen that believe in myths.

We had a speaker of the house that stated NG was good for getting the country off fossil fuels. A congressman that believes Islands will tip over due to overpopulation was overwhelmingly re-elected. There are those in congress that voted to mandate replacing our current energy sources with non existent energy sources and/or technologies. We have a president that killed our only nuclear repository after it was approved by the National Academy of Science for over 10,000 years....longer than those young earthers think it took to create the earth.

Nonexistent? My daughter tells me she sees fairy dust and unicorns all the time.

I was able to find a picture with the Left's energy policy.

http://anothercounterpunchtoo.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pixie1.jpg

[okie52]

Nonexistent? My daughter tells me she sees fairy dust and unicorns all the time.

I was able to find a picture with the Left's energy policy.

http://anothercounterpunchtoo.files.wordpress.com/2011/12/pixie1.jpg

Heh ...I'm going to save that Sapp...I have a feeling i might be able to use that in the future with the party of science.

[SanJoaquinSooner]

The Clinton tax rates were the "fiscal cliff"? The Bush tax cuts were our salvation?

The Clinton taxes rates unadjusted for inflation. Big difference, for many reasons. One difference being the tens of millions who would suffer the wrath of ATM.

[okie52]

The Clinton taxes rates unadjusted for inflation. Big difference, for many reasons. One difference being the tens of millions who would suffer the wrath of ATM.

I agree on the ATM but it was horrible even during the Clinton era. But the "shared sacrifice" is a myth and the dolts that support just raising taxes on the wealthy without proportional spending cuts are clueless. Some believe that only raising taxes is the way to go.

Obama just told Boehner recently that we don't have a spending problem.

[TheHumanAlphabet]

It's a victory if they get spending cuts on down the road. If they don't then it was a total cave in.

You are being a bit dilusional if you actually think there will be cuts in the future... Dims and The Socialist are steadfast against any cuts, they want to increase taxes only. I seriously doubt based on past experience we will see any actual cuts in anything (other than Defense).

[okie52]

You are being a bit dilusional if you actually think there will be cuts in the future... Dims and The Socialist are steadfast against any cuts, they want to increase taxes only. I seriously doubt based on past experience we will see any actual cuts in anything (other than Defense).

I don't expect any real cuts, thats why I would have voted no. I am hoping that those pubs that voted yes have a better feel for the political landscape than I do and will get the spending cuts in the next 2 months...but I won't hold my breath.

[The Profit]

I think Lankford is kind of creepy. Besides, he is "tea bagged," and I don't trust any of them.

[pphilfran]

Where the hell have you been? How is the field turf business?

[FaninAma]

I think Lankford is kind of creepy. Besides, he is "tea bagged," and I don't trust any of them.

Would you trust Joe Biden alone with your 11 year old daughter? I wouldn't.

[pphilfran]

This could be fun...Profit vs Fanin

[okie52]

I think Lankford is kind of creepy. Besides, he is "tea bagged," and I don't trust any of them.

Lankford is a nerd for sure. Doubt I would ever hang out with him but I don't hold his vote against him. After all, what's wrong with the Clinton tax rates?

[The Profit]

I would definitely trust an 11 year old daughter (or son) with Biden over Lankford. Biden never worked at a church camp.

[The Profit]

It's good...How are things in L-Town? It is about time we had lunch together.

[FaninAma]

I would definitely trust an 11 year old daughter (or son) with Biden over Lankford. Biden never worked at a church camp.
Care to elaborate on that comment? Are you infering that those who work around kids can't be trusted? Or are you just making a bigoted remark toward religious individuals?

[The Profit]

I'll be your huckleberry. Sure, kids are routinely abused at camps (e.g. boy scout camps, church camps, sports camps, etc.). In the last year, at least two Okie church youth leaders have gone to prison for molesting children. I really don't think religion really has anything to do with it. There are religious child abusers, and there are secular child abusers. Do I think Congressman Lankford is a molester? Of course not. Does he still give me the creeps? Absolutely.

[pphilfran]

It's good...How are things in L-Town? It is about time we had lunch together.

Been working too much but not much change...let me know when you are down this way and I will buy...btw Bianco's shut down...Rose died and they closed up shop after a couple of months....I miss my veal parm...

[TheHumanAlphabet]

I'll be your huckleberry. Sure, kids are routinely abused at camps (e.g. boy scout camps, church camps, sports camps, etc.). In the last year, at least two Okie church youth leaders have gone to prison for molesting children. I really don't think religion really has anything to do with it. There are religious child abusers, and there are secular child abusers. Do I think Congressman Lankford is a molester? Of course not. Does he still give me the creeps? Absolutely.

Love the broad paintbrush you use. Can I borrow it? I need to paint my house in one stroke...

In the YEARS I spent at Boy Scout Camp, I was never molested, never saw or heard of anything from my troop nor ever saw/heard from the camp. You are pathetic in your broad sweep and generalizations. But, I wouldn't expect better from a lib.

[pphilfran]

A few years back Profit got under my skin about my scouting days...we kissed and made up...

I do know one thing..Profit will jazz this place up...

[The Profit]

I have many friends, who are boy scouts, who were also never molested. Yet, there is no doubt that a lot of molesting occurred during boy scout campouts. There is also solid evidence that the boy scouts of American went to great lengths to cover it up. Here is a rather recent story.

PORTLAND, ORE. Again and again, decade after decade, an array of authorities — police chiefs, prosecutors, pastors and local Boy Scout leaders among them — quietly shielded scoutmasters and others accused of molesting children, a newly opened trove of confidential papers shows.

At the time, those authorities justified their actions as necessary to protect the good name and good works of Scouting, a pillar of 20th century America. But as detailed in 14,500 pages of secret "perversion files" released Thursday by order of the Oregon Supreme Court, their maneuvers allowed sexual predators to go free while victims suffered in silence.

For many of those victims, the released file provides some hope. Jon Anderson told CBS Evening News correspondent Anna Werner he was molested by a scout master beginning in 1976 when he was 14.

"I think [the released files] show that this country needs to do a better job protecting its children ... if we don't set up the protection for these kids, they're doomed," he said."

The files are a window on a much larger collection of documents the Boy Scouts of America began collecting soon after their founding in 1910. The files, kept at Boy Scout headquarters in Texas, consist of memos from local and national Scout executives, handwritten letters from victims and their parents and newspaper clippings about legal cases. The files contain details about proven molesters, but also unsubstantiated allegations.

"To the extent that we fell short of protecting the youth -- and we did fall short in some instances -- we're profoundly sorry," Boy Scouts of America President Wayne Perry told Werner. "Our job is to protect every youth. It's not enough to say we did a great job most of the time. We have to do a great job all of the time."

Boy Scout abuse victim Tom Stewart poses for a photo with his old Scout uniform outside the Boy Scout Camp Kilworth in Federal Way, Wash on August 16. / TED S. WARREN
The allegations stretch across the country and to military bases overseas, from a small town in the Adirondacks to downtown Los Angeles.

At the news conference Thursday, Portland attorney Kelly Clark blasted the Boy Scouts for their continuing legal battles to try to keep the full trove of files secret.

The Associated Press obtained copies of the files weeks in advance of Thursday's release and conducted an extensive review of them.

The files were shown to a jury in a 2010 Oregon civil suit that the Scouts lost, and the Oregon Supreme Court ruled the files should be made public. After months of objections and redactions, the Scouts and Clark released them.

In many instances — more than a third, according to the Scouts' own count — police weren't told about the reports of abuse. And even when they were, sometimes local law enforcement still did nothing, seeking to protect the name of Scouting over their victims.

Victims like three brothers, growing up in northeast Louisiana.

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On the afternoon of Aug. 10, 1965, their distraught mother walked into the third floor of the Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office. A 31-year-old scoutmaster, she told the chief criminal deputy, had raped one of her sons and molested two others.

Six days later, the scoutmaster, an unemployed airplane mechanic, sat down in front of a microphone in the same station, said he understood his rights and confessed: He had sexually abused the woman's sons more than once.

"I don't know how to tell it," the man told a sheriff's deputy. "They just occurred — I don't know an explanation, why we done it or I done it or wanted to do it or anything else it just — an impulse I guess or something.


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Boy scouts "perversion files" released
"You do not keep secrets hidden about dangers to children," said Clark, who in 2010 won a landmark lawsuit against the Boy Scouts on behalf of a plaintiff who was molested by an assistant scoutmaster in the 1980s.

"As far as an explanation I just couldn't dig one up."

He wouldn't have to. Seven days later, the decision was made not to pursue charges against the scoutmaster.

The last sliver of hope for justice for the abuse of two teenagers and an 11-year-old boy slipped away in a confidential letter from a Louisiana Scouts executive to the organization's national personnel division in New Jersey.

"This subject and Scouts were not prosecuted," the executive wrote, "to save the name of Scouting."

[The Profit]

A few years back Profit got under my skin about my scouting days...we kissed and made up...

I do know one thing..Profit will jazz this place up...

Yes, Phil is one of my many friends, who was a boy scout. It has been a great organization, and has done wonders for many boys. Still, like Penn State, it should never cover-up a crime to protect its image.