Senator Tom Coburn dropped out of the Gang - a group of 3 Republican and 3 Democratic Senators given the task of writing the 2012 Budget. Whatever happened to the old-fashioned idea of open debate - on the floor of the House and Senate with all of our elected representatives taking part - to determine the best path for America?

The House Amed Services Committee recently passed the National Defense Authorization Act - a bill that authorizes funding to the Department of Defense and the Constitution requires must be passed at least every two years. And buried deep within the bill - in Section 1034 - there's a provision that reads: "Congress affirms that - the United States is engaged in an armed conflict with al-Qaeda, the Taliban, and associated forces and that those entities continue to pose a threat to the United States and its citizens...the President has the authority to use all necessary and appropriate force during the current armed conflict...pursuant to the Authorization for Use of Military Force...until the termination of hostilities." In other words - it lets the President commit our nation to endless war until every single terrorist is dead. And if Obama doesn't want to take advantage of it, you can bet if we get another Bush into office, he will. The ACLU calls the provision: " single biggest hand-over of unchecked war authority from Congress to the executive branch in modern American history."

Coming from mostly Conservative states - the Blue Dogs made a calculated political maneuver to sabotage the progressive agenda in the hopes of winning re-election in 2010. It wasn't about doing what's best for America - it was about bringing in the corporate campaign contributions to be re-elected in 2 years. So - just like the Republicans - the Blue Dogs opened their office doors to lobbyists from Wall Street - Big Oil - and the Health Insurance industry and said, "What would you like me to do for you?"

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid brought a bill to the floor of the Senate that cuts off taxpayer subsidies to the 5 most profitable oil companies. Unfortunately - it didn't receive enough votes to overcome a Republican filibuster. Meanwhile - the news of these subsidies is reverberating in Congressional districts around the country - where Republicans are catching flak from their constituents for handing over billions of dollars in taxpayer money to some of the most profitable corporations in the history of the world...while pretending to be concerned about the deficit. And what's the Republican strategy to deflect this criticism? Pretend like the oil subsidies don't even exist! with Jamie Weinstein - DailyCaller.com