One year after being injured in an assassination attempt, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) announced that she is resigning to focus on her recovery. Interestingly the announcement was made on Youtube, perhaps the first time such an announcement has been made in that way. In the video she still shows signs of her injury but has made remarkable progress. She calls on members of both parties to work together to find solutions to the problems that we face. It is a shame she could not be running...

The Arizona Republic: Giffords stepping down from Congress Jan. 22, 2012 11:52 AM The Republic | azcentral.com U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords announced on YouTube today that she is stepping down from Congress in a two-minute video where she thanked the community for the support as she recovered from the shooting. Giffords said she plans to focus on her recovery. Giffords’ YouTube Post (makes me want to cry also). GabbyGiffords Tweet Attn media: For full details on Rep. Giffords’ plans to step...

This absolutely, totally made me cry. This post at BlogHer is also worth reading for a number of the links and information on the news.

WASHINGTON — Conservatives may denounce class warfare, yet by shrewdly combining the politics of class with the politics of culture, Newt Gingrich won his first election in 14 years, humbled Mitt Romney and upended the Republican Party. He also exposed profound frailties in Romney as a candidate, throwing him badly off-balance on questions related to his personal wealth, business career and income taxes. Unless Romney finds a comfortable and genuine way of talking about his money, he...

Talk about your mixed messages being sent. Former Congressman, Speaker of the House and candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, Newt Gingrich won the female vote in South Carolina, according to exit polls and despite reports to the contrary, just the day before, of a significant gender gap that should have helped former Massachusetts Governor, Mitt Romney, if it really existed — which it appears it did not. And why not? Shouldn’t Romney had had the women in his column? I...

Joe Paterno, the longtime Penn State coach who won more games than anyone in major college football but was fired amid a child sex abuse scandal that upended his reputation for integrity, died this morning. Paterno, 85, built his program on the credo “Success with Honor” en route to winning 409 games. He took Penn State to 37 bowl games and two national championships, while More than 250 of the players he coached went on to the NFL. His son Scott said in mid-November that his father...

Our political Quote of the Day is actually two Quotes of the Day on the new political landscape of the GOP in wake of the South Carolina Republican Presidential primary which ended in former House Speaker Newt Gingrich decisively defeating the former presumptive front-runner, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney. First CNN’s John Avlon begins his must-read-in-full-post this way: - Newt Gingrich has pulled a Double Lazarus, coming back from the dead twice in this campaign to win decisively...

The people of the great state of South Carolina have spoken: They prefer a serial adulterer and racist who lies shamelessly over a rapacious capitalist and ultimate insider who flip-flops shamelessly. And Barack Obama will be laughing all the way to a second term. Newt Gingrich’s “stunning” double-digit win over Mitt Romney on the third stop en route to the Republican National Convention was because of his “commanding” performances in the two Palmetto State debates,...

Northamptonshire, England — Its 2pm and I am sitting at my desk, shocked. Newt Gingrich has won the South Carolina primary with 40% of the vote. Seriously. As someone who passionately studies American politics and understands Newt’s place in American history, this is shocking. I expected him to win after the debates, but by this margin? Shocked. It is understandable that Democrats are grinning like Cheshire Cats, but if I were them, I will hold the glee. I do not believe that the 2012 election...

A Sikh ready for the holy bath at Golden Temple in Amritsar in northern India. Ever heard of a place where you can enjoy live Western classical music round-the-clock? Perhaps there is none. However, if you are interested in attending a non-stop Indian classical music concert round the year, then the place to visit is the Golden Temple (or Harmandir Sahib) at Amritsar in northern India. This place is the rallying point of the followers of Sikh religion worldwide. Music wafts across with different...

Proponents dubbed the bill the “Protecting Children From Internet Pornographers Act of 2011.” Critics say that the name is misleading because the bill would create a database of every “every digital act by every American.” The Obama Administration Department of Justice has lobbied for these expanded record-gathering and -keeping powers. According to the CRS bill summary for HR 1981 (wow, that was awfully close to 1984), which Rep Lamar Smith (R-TX) introduced in May 2011,...

Not exactly the best news coming out of Cairo as they announce election results. The only quasi good news is that the super hard liners won 25% of the vote while the ‘moderate’ Muslim Brotherhood got 47%. We shall see how ‘moderate’ they are.

Israeli Ambassador to the USA Dr. Michael Oren (a native of New Jersey) spoke this evening at Cincinnati’s Mayerson JCC. It is still rather icy out and over 700 people came to hear him. These are not his exact words, just my notes on some things he said: Someone asked how we live with uncertainty – we do it every day and have done so since 1948. Keeping in mind what Iran has done without nuclear weapons, can you imagine what Iran will do with them? We want Bashar Assad to go....

[Adapted from Feb 5, 2008's, "Waiting To Breathe."] A pause before the oncoming secessionist storm. Well, here it is:  Super Duper Mega Hyper Tuesday — that monument to electoral greed pioneered by Southern Democrats in creating the first “Super Tuesday” in 1988. 24 states* now “Me-Too” it today. Which guarantees that campaigns will be mostly about media buys, and NOT about creating the political infrastructure that will take the eventual winner through the next four...

As you probably have read or heard the networks have all projected Newt the winner in South Carolina. So this means he’s won one, Romney has won one and there was one tie. It also means Romney is the only one who has placed 1st or 2nd in all three and it does nothing to change the fact that Romney will be the nominee but will lose in November to Obama. The party leadership is simply not going to allow Newt to be the standard bearer for the GOP and Obama is simply not going to lose in November. I...

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich has pulled off a comeback for the political books and has won the South Carolina Republican Presidential primary. And he did it by double digits: at this writing he wins with 40% and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney comes in second with 28 percent. If Gingrich had won by a little the Romney camp could spin it. But the Gingrich win — and Romney loss — is so huge that it can’t be interpreted as anything else but as conservative Republican...

TMV will be offering live blogging of the South Carolina Republican Presidential primary once polls close. This will include results and a roundup of news and blog reaction and analysis. It will be at the top of the site and updated with a new lede once the votes are all in and the evening is over. CNN is saying they may be able to project a winner as soon as polls close. Look at the top of TMV for this mega-post and be sure to refresh TMV often since it will be updated all evening.

CNN’s John Avlon notes that there are three things to watch for in tonight’s South Carolina primary results. Some excerpts: South Carolina has voted for the eventual winner of the Republican nomination since 1980. And for the conservative candidates looking to stop the inevitability narrative that has surrounded Mitt Romney’s candidacy, South Carolina is a must-win state. Here are three things to watch as South Carolinians vote. Newt-momentum again? Newt Gingrich is a political...

Longtime legendary (in)famous Democratic strategist James Carville has a must-read-in-full post on CNN which is in the form of a letter to the Republican establishment. The letter, headlined “Carville to GOP: You have a disaster on your hands” must be read in full. Here is the final part of it which makes up our political Quote of the Day: At any rate, let’s talk a minute about Mitt. He was your guy — he was methodical, meticulous, married once. He has completely blown himself...

Daryl Cagle, MSNBC.com This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy WASHINGTON – Why Mitt Romney and his team still don’t have a prepared answer for the tax return question now borders on political malpractice. He’s been programmed within an inch of his life since the start, but on this subject he’s floundered into real trouble. However, from Forbes to Christian Science Monitor, few think it will matter. Immediately, Mitt Romney has bigger problems, which Maggie...

ABC did a little article on politicians who have led double lives. It seems they forgot one… or at least there seems to be one politician who has affairs that is missing… Not that huge of a deal but it is kind of odd to me.

Guest post by Rob Miller Rob Miller is a US Marine Corps combat veteran who served in Iraq in 2003 and 2004. A Charleston native and a graduate of the University of South Carolina, Rob and his family currently reside in Beaufort, South Carolina. Having served over thirteen years in the United States Marine Corps, from enlisted infantry Marine to Company Commander, serving twice in Iraq to include the Battle of Fallujah in November 2004, I know leadership is the one quality every military service...

The tone of Thursday night’s GOP séance was set in the first minute, not by the candidates or moderator, but whooping and applause of hand-picked partisans in the hall when Newt Gingrich attacked CNN’s John King and all the media as “despicable” for asking about his second wife’s character charges against him that had dominated the news cycle all day. In contrast, for 1960’s first presidential debate ever between JFK and Nixon, the only people in the studio, besides a panel of four journalists...

All eyes will be on South Carolina today due to the South Carolina Republican Presidential primary — which up until last week many felt could be the next to last step in the virtual coronation of former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney as the 2012 Republican nominee. To be sure, the campaign could have still gone on, but the political narrative was that Romney won Iowa, then won New Hampshire would then likely win South Carolina and then win Florida. And then the endgame, no matter how much...

This isn’t really news, Pew showed Newt’s weakness with women back in December. But The State is out with this article today, in pertinent part: Who will win? It could depend on who votes — men or women — and where they live — the Upstate or coast. “It may be very close,” Matt Moore, executive director of the S.C. Republican Party, said Friday. Polling shows Gingrich and Romney running neck and neck. But it also shows a gender divide between the two front-runners, sources in...

Barack H. Obama 2012 State of the Union Drinking Game Raging Moderate, by Will Durst What you need to play: Four taxpayers: One white, Wall Street type in full suit and yellow power tie (MBA Guy); two ordinary folks sporting jeans, one in blue work shirt, other in white shirt (the Jeans); and one person wearing clothes that look like they were used for floor covering at a tire-changing shop for a minimum of three months, with belt, shoelaces, socks and underwear confiscated (Rags). Except for MBA...

David Fitzsimmons, The Arizona Star This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Ever since the Democrats got their behinds handed to them by the Tea Party in the 2008 elections, I feel like I have been writing the same article on President Obama. During that time, unemployment was over 9%, the President’s approval ratings were in the low 40%, the President was not only taking fire from the buoyant Republican party in Congress, but he was also being undermined by the base on his party – yet I remained fairly confident that come the general election in 2012, Obama would be...

One of my great blogging joys used to be mocking David Brooks.  Now Sir David would have been at home in England a few decades ago.  A rather worthless fellow who was lucky enough to have a title and a stage to to spew nonsense.  An easy target for a desperate blogger.  But all good things must end and David Brooks mocking ended with Charles Pierce. The applause came from deep in the plush leather armchairs gathered by the fireplace in the clubroom of the Premature Fogies Club. It was warm and...

“But money only buys access, not votes!” That’s the line. You won’t ever see a politician say the opposite quite so plainly: “Those who count on quote ‘Hollywood’ for support need to understand that this industry is watching very carefully who’s going to stand up for them when their job is at stake. Don’t ask me to write a check for you when you think your job is at risk and then don’t pay any attention to me when my job is at stake,”...

In 2009 filmmaker Casey Pugh and Jamie Wilkinson began collecting 15 second user-created scenes of the original Star Wars. The project, dubbed Star Wars Uncut, grew a devoted following, even winning an Emmy for Outstanding Creative Achievement In Interactive Media in 2010. Now, the 472 segments have been edited by Aaron Valdez and Michael Pugh into a full 2 hour remake. And Pugh and Wilkinson have posted that finished product to the web, in all it’s brilliant and ridiculous crowdsourced glory,...

I live in Pennsylvania. The state is in the process of introducing an asset requirement to receive food stamps. And they are doing it in an astonishing cruel and stupid way. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with having a personal asset limit to qualify for food stamps. Why should the government pay the food bill of the wealthy? But the amount of assets one should be able to retain and still qualify, which in Pennsylvania is just $2,000 (excluding home and a car) is just plain cuckoo. People...

Given the attacks from the left on Bain Capital you’d assume they gave tons of money to the GOP. As it turns out, about 70% of their donations went to the Democrats over the last 3 cycles. I’m not sure it’s that big of a deal, businesses always give to both sides and in 2006 and 2008 the trend was to the Democrats. But it does make it harder to paint Bain as a GOP issue.

In a move that is likely to benefit the GOP, the US Supreme Court tossed out a court drawn map in Texas. That map had tossed out one drawn by the Texas legislature. Since the ruling was unanimous it is not possible for the Democrats to argue bias in this case. The ruling stated that the court exceeded its authority in making the changes. Instead it should have only changed district lines where it was likely they violated either the Voting Rights Act or the Constitution and past court rulings. Otherwise...

Congress has capitulated, at least temporarily. Both Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-NV) and House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) have tabled their “copyright piracy” bills, PIPA and SOPA, respectively. But rest assured, these bills are NOT dead. This isn’t the first time rights holders have demanded political action and it won’t be the last. Prior TMV coverage: Breaking: FBI Shows It Doesn’t Need SOPA/PIPA; Anonymous Strikes Back Tech Community...

It was bound to happen sooner or later. After years of declining revenues and tumbling stock prices, Eastman Kodak has finally filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The venerable company that introduced the world to the snapshot has reached the end of the roll. Bankruptcy doesn’t always mean certain death, of course. Paramount Studios, Pepsi, Macy’s, MGM and plenty of other American institutions have filed in the past and are still with us today in one form or another. But unless it can be...

Mitt Romney has so far refused to release information on his taxes. There is a good reason why he hasn’t. If those documents see the light of day, it will become immediately apparent that Romney is a poster child for precisely what is wrong with the American economy.. Paul Krugman writes that you don’t have to go back thirty years to see what has happened. The last twenty years provides plenty of evidence to support the notion that the game is rigged: Since 1992, the I.R.S. has been...

Mitt Romney knew that he was going to be asked about releasing his tax returns during last night’s presidential debate in South Carolina. Yet he was defensive and yet again blew off questions about when and whether he will release returns and for how many years, as well as refusing to address the fact that it was his father who began the precedent of candidates releasing their taxes and that Barack Obama has consistently done so. And so a big question now looms: What is Romney hiding? And...

by WALTER BRASCH “Ola, Amigo! Pack your bags, we’re going to Mexico!” bubbled Dr. Franklin Peterson Comstock III, faux physician and money-maker. “Yeah, I could use a decent vacation,” I replied, figuring he’d pay for both of us since he had just set the world record for the most nose jobs in a 24-hour period. “What vacation?” he said. “I’m setting up practice.” “And give up catering to rich people with inflated bank accounts and deflated ethics?” “Don’t have a choice....

Daryl Cagle, MSNBC.com This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

Most analysts agree there were two moments from last night’s CNN South Carolina Republican Party Presidential Debate that could change the narrative about former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney as front-runner. These two segments are the ones that would be shown in the future by networks when they talk about debates, if these segments have the impact that many think they will. #1: Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich blasts CNN’s John King for asking him about his ex-wife’s ABC interview...

These pictures are just amazing to me. And consider.. when the light that formed those pictures left the nebula Christopher Columbus was not yet alive and the Plantagenets still ruled England

CHARLESTON, S.C. — You know-it-alls who think unemployment is the most urgent crisis facing the nation are wrong, I’ve learned from watching a zillion Republican campaign ads on television this week. All you deficit hawks, rise-of-China worrywarts and alarmed observers of the Iranian nuclear program are wrong, too, and should stop bothering yourselves with trifles. One of Mitt Romney’s spots ends by laying out the nation’s top priority in no uncertain terms. Voters should...

Cardow, The Ottawa Citizen This copyrighted cartoon is licensed to run on TMV. Unauthorized reproduction prohibited.

I have a little different view than the Twitterverse and blogosphere on the technological (which seems to be epub3/html5) and legal handcuffs surrounding Apple’s foray into textbook publishing.. As I understand it, Apple’s restrictions are on the sales of iPad-specific books – not PDFs – that are created with the free Apple publishing tool. (I guess I’ll finally have to update to Lion permanently.) Given that these “books” are unlike any other ebook you’ve...

Is it fair to call Mitt Romney a ‘lair’? Continuing with his analysis of the U.S. presidential campaign, columnist Patrick Etschmayer of Switzerland’s News doesn’t hold back as he lays out why it would be hard to argue otherwise – and that ironically, this is what so suits Romney for running for political office. For Switzerland’s News, columnist Patrick Etschmayer starts out this way: John Huntsman has just announced his withdrawal from the Republican presidential...

Here is live blogging of tonight’s mega-high-stakes CNN Southern Republican Leadership Conference Presidential Debate from South Carolina. All attention tonight will be on the presumptive front runner former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who has gotten bogged down in questions about his taxes, investments and uneven off-the-cuff comments that get him into hot water — and on former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who is reportedly zooming in the polls but was hit by an ABC interview with his...

We will be presenting live blogging of tonight’s Republican Presidential debate in South Carolina. It will contain live blog entries plus some parts of live blogging done on other sites. Stay tuned.

Update 3, 3:20pm Pacific: Last week a British court ruled that a British student can be extradited to the U.S. for running a website with a .com address that linked to sites with pirated TV shows and films. Get used to copyright as the argument for America as a virtual Gitmo. Note: SOPA/PIPA not required for US Customs to treat links to allegedly copyrighted material like murder. Update 2, 3:05 pm Pacific: From comments on my Google+ post, Justin Jensen writes: “I’ve always likened Anon’s...

Is Mel Brooks directing this movie? Tonight’s final South Carolina debate will no doubt start as usual with the gang sitting under the palmettos full of Tea Party beans, competing to exude the loudest brain gas about Barack Obama and one another, but where do they go from there? Will Rick Perry, who almost started a war with Turkey last time, punch another horse? (Nope, late news is that he’s doing a “Shane” and riding off into the sunset.) Can Ron Paul, booed for preaching...

WASHINGTON – Lunchpail Democrats don’t exist. To bring the point home, Pres. Obama is now warning Democratic activists to brace themselves for the budget. But after capitulating to conservatism over Democratic economic values throughout his entire first term what comes next really shouldn’t require a warning. From the Hill: Top White House officials are warning liberal and labor leaders to brace themselves for President Obama’s budget proposal. – Obama warns left: You...

Here’s the text of the latest RNC resolution on Israel: BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the members of this body support Israel in their natural and God-given right of self-governance and self-defense upon their own lands, recognizing that Israel is neither an attacking force nor an occupier of the lands of others; and that peace can be afforded the region only through a united Israel governed under one law for all people. This is arguably a little vague, but between the claim that Israel is not...

What kind of people go to Republican candidate debates these days? What kind of people cheer when one of the aspirants at the podium in this field of bad dreams makes fun of food stamp recipients, the majority of whom are children. What kind of country do we live in today when a candidate for the presidency from one of our national parties not only seeks to protect the wealth of the wealthiest at all costs, but would take food out of the mouths of the needy? We no longer seem to dwell in a land...

The Washington Post: Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich in 1999 asked his second wife for an “open marriage” or a divorce at the same time he was giving speeches around the country on family and religious values, his former wife, Marianne, told The Washington Post on Thursday. Marianne Gingrich said she first heard from the former speaker about the divorce request as she was waiting in the home of her mother on May 11, 1999, her mother’s 84th birthday. Over the phone, as she was having dinner...