The Hollywood Liberal

Obama keeps pressure on Congress for extension of payroll tax cut

SCRANTON, Pa. — Pushing the latest provision of his jobs bill in this hardscrabble, blue-collar town, President Obama stepped up his campaign Wednesday to politically damage his Republican rivals by suggesting that their core values do not square with those of ordinary Americans.

Obama called on a crowd of 1,000 cheering supporters to pressure Congress to support an extension of a payroll tax cut that is set to expire at year’s end, costing working families $1,000 next year. The Senate, which has supported only one of Obama’s jobs bill measures this fall, could vote on that proposal as early as Friday.

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Justices weigh whether Privacy Act violations allow for distress damages

Stanmore Cooper and the federal government each did something wrong. Cooper pleaded guilty for his actions and paid a $1,000 fine. Now he wants the government to pay.

An attorney for Cooper, a pilot who is HIV-positive, conceded to the Supreme Court on Wednesday that Cooper lied on official forms from 1994 until 2005 about his medical condition and the medication he was taking.

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McCain apologizes for saying ‘regrettably’ Long Island is part of US, calls it a joke

WASHINGTON — Don’t diss Long Island — you’ll hear about it in a New York minute.

Republican Sen. John McCain was trying to make a point during debate on a defense bill Wednesday when he said Long Island “sometimes regrettably” was part of the United States. That drew a swift rebuke from Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., who took to Twitter to demand an apology.

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Fed & Central Banks Act to Boost Liquidity
Binyamin Appelbaum, NYT
The Federal Reserve moved Wednesday with other major central banks to buttress the financial system by increasing the availability of dollars outside the United States, reflecting growing concern about the fallout of the European debt crisis.The banks announced that they would reduce by roughly half the cost of an existing program under which banks in foreign countries can borrow dollars from their own central banks, which in turn get those dollars from the Fed.  The banks also said that loans will be available until February 2013, extending a previous endpoint of August 2012.

Romney Prepares to Slug It Out With Gingrich
Doyle McManus, LA Times

GOP Field Leaves IA Evangelicals at a Loss
Erin McPike, RealClearPolitics
Without Mike Huckabee in the presidential race, evangelical Christian voters in Iowa are still searching for a candidate to embrace just five weeks before the caucuses.The Hawkeye State remains a free-for-all. Republican leaders there continue to chastise Mitt Romney for not committing to the state, and many religious voters find him intolerable in part for his more moderate social stances and because he is a Mormon. The Christian base also isn't stoked about newly minted front-runner, Newt Gingrich, and the fading Herman Cain has long been more attractive to the Tea Party than to the…

Huntsman Starting to Get Traction
Rachelle Cohen, Boston Herald
An older fellow with a craggy New Hampshire face turns toward the camera and says, “Why haven’t we heard of this guy?”The “guy” in question is Republican presidential contender Jon Huntsman — a former governor of Utah, a former U.S. ambassador to China — who finally this week hit double digits in a poll of likely voters in the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary.