If you are worried about the debt reduction plan signed by the President this week, don't be. Although no one, including the President seems to like the deal. It really doesn't do much. $900 Billion over a decade is a drop in the federal spending bucket. And, of course, before the 2012 election there will only be $20 Billion in cuts or less than 2% cut in spending. You won't even feel it.

No, Congress did what it always does. It passed the buck. But this time a new committee and a new euphemism are involved. THE SUPER COMMITTEE. They won't be wearing capes and costumes, but they will be expected to cut another $1.5 Trillion over the next decade.

Forget about Ways and Means, Armed Services or the coveted Intelligence Committee in the Senate. The “super committee” is what everyone is predicting to be the most powerful group of elected officials in the world.

There will be six Democrats and Six Republicans, both Senators and House Members and they will decide what stays and goes. Lobbyists from every industry will descend on them as soon as the Super Dozen are named.

Democrats claim that the group can't touch entitlements like Medicare and Social Security. Republicans claim they can't raise taxes. Both sides lied to get the votes to pass the bill and form the committee, who can both raise taxes and cut social security and Medicare.

Personally I think this is just a way to once again put off tough choices. Call me Super Skeptical.

Larry Mendte blog has moved!

To keep up with all the latest segments, just visit here.

The Tea Party Freshman in Congress who forced the hand of the President and Congress to negotiate and pass a debt reduction bill have been taking a beating in the past 48 hours.

Vice President Joe Biden's reported use of the word "terrorist." Oyjrt Democrats used "arsonists," "saboteurs," and "extortionists" – to vent anger at a debt-ceiling deal that, largely because of the tea party, included no new taxes while mandating massive spending cuts.

The media has been just as insulting, but a lot more clever. "Consider what the towel-snapping Tea Party crazies have already accomplished," writes Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd. "They've changed the entire discussion. They've neutralized the White House. They've whipped their leadership into submission. They've taken taxes and revenues off the table. They've withered the stock and bond markets. They've made journalists speak to them as though they're John Calhoun and Alexander Hamilton."

Back to the Democrats in Congress - Rep. Emanuel Cleaver (D) of Missouri called the deal a "sugar-coated Satan sandwich," onto which House minority leader Nancy Pelosi piled on, "with a side of Satan fries."

Democrats' anger is understandable: The massive government spending cuts and lack of new revenue sources in the political deal that raises the debt ceiling by $2.4 trillion so the country can meet its fiduciary obligations hints at a shift of power and priorities away from the Democrats philosophy of "good" government growth toward the tea party's goal of scaling back Washington spending and influence.

Shrugging off unfavorable polls and harsh criticism from Biden and other Democrats, the tea party faithful take stock of their influence on Capitol Hill's debt deal and look ahead to the next battle.

But make no mistake, the Tea Party won this battle. This was a foundational shift in the way the US Government does business. The cuts ended a trend of unlimited spending and started a discussion to reverse that trend.

But I can't for the life of me understand the extent of the villification of the Tea Party. The 87 new Tea Party Congressman campaigned on one issue - the debt. When they were sworn in they said they would not arbitrarily raise the debt ceiling and they did exactly what they said they were going to do.

You have to respect that they kept their promise and stuck to their principle, even if you don't like the principle or the outcome.

.

For some, that foundational shift has deeper, even global, roots.

"What the Left hasn’t grasped – and what Obama has – is that for the foreseeable future no political candidate or party will be able to increase public spending and win reelection," writes Toby Young, a columnist for the conservative British newspaper the Daily Telegraph. "Socialist welfare programmes have become politically toxic. A sea change has taken place within the West’s most developed countries and [the] debt deal is a reflection of that."

But potentially most worrisome for Democrats is evidence that Americans are increasingly concerned about the debt and back efforts to cut federal spending to bring the deficit under control.

Polls have been far from definitive on how Americans feel. A July 15 CBS Poll showed 69 percent of Americans opposed to raising the debt ceiling. But a more recent Pew poll showed that 60 percent of Americans favor a mix of spending cuts and tax increases to bring down the debt, with another 19 percent favoring solely cutting programs and another 8 percent favoring solely raising taxes without spending cuts.

"I think Democrats do have a big problem in that the mood of the country is now so positive about shrinking deficits and cutting federal spending that makes it extraordinarily hard for the standard Democratic message to prevail right now," says Charles Franklin, a polling expert at the University of Wisconsin, in Madison.

But that's not to say the tea party didn't take hits in the polls by using its leverage in the House to push the country to the brink of defaulting on some of its obligations, which could have had dire economic consequences.

Another Pew survey found that 37 percent of respondents now have a less favorable opinion of the 60 tea party-backed members of Congress after the debt-ceiling standoff, the exact same percentage who said the same about Obama. At the same time, Pew says, 42 percent of Americans say they now view Republicans less favorably.

"Among Democrats, many voters already have negative feelings and that may grow among moderate Republicans and unaffiliated voters," pollster Scott Rasmussen told the Guardian newspaper in England.

Polling sentiments, however, don't stand in the way of Mr. Gray's tea party convictions.

"We're not here to overthrow the government, we want to work within the system," he says. "But if the system is beyond repair, who knows what's next?"

Is Donald Trump reconsidering a run for the Presidency?

More importantly, does anyone with the exception of me and my media colleagues care?

You will remember that for a few weeks Donald Trump was the talk of the campaign and running first in many polls as the lead Republican candidate. But when faced with losing his job as host of The Apprentice, he announced in May that "I am not ready to leave the private sector."

So it has been a few weeks since anyone has talked about Trump and he is getting a little antsy as he is afflicted with MADD - Media Attention Deficit Disorder, meaning that when he doesn't get media attention he does something to feed his addiction.

So on CNBC, Donald said "If the economy continues to be bad"..."if the Republicans pick the wrong candidate, I would give it very, very serious thought."

He even added, "There are so many people wanting me to do it."

No one more than Trump himself. But he won't. For the same reason he said he wouldn't in May. He has the Apprentice, a good life and a million skeletons in his closet. This charade is for saps like me to give him attention and I dutifully feed his ego.

Well that stops tonight. I solemnly pledge not to talk about Trump running for President, unless he actually runs for President. I hope others in the media join me in my pledge.

Oh, and by the way, Trump may have found a way to Washington without running for office. Trump Hotel Collection, the luxury lodging brand that bears the name of the New York real estate magnate, has proposed transforming the historic Old Post Office Pavilion in the nation’s capital into a nearly 300-room luxury hotel complete with conference meeting space a spa and museum.

This works out better for Donald, who like to put his names on things. Changing the White House to Trump House would have been tacky.

I was early for my train so I walked into TGI Friday's at Penn Station. Right away a man said "Hey you're Larry Mendte." I stopped not knowing if this was going to be good or bad. He looked like he could take me, which isn't saying much. The hostess looked like she could take me.

He continued, "I love when you throw away those words." I was relieved. He could you do me a favor and throw away, "He's good people. I hate that." We talked for awhile. I got his name. And so tonight I throw away more words.

This will be the fifth installment. We have already thrown away -

Whatever
Talk to the hand
Dude
Hip
Peace Out
You Know what I’m Sayin?
You Feel me?
Dawg
Awesome
Totally awesome
Totally
My bad
Referring to yourself in third person
Don’t play that
You rock
There ya go
Very, very, very
At the end of the day
He’s Good People
OMG
LOL
WTF

If you want to add to the list - email me (lmendte@Tribune.com), Tweet me (@LarryMendte) or hit me up on either one of my accounts on Facebook.

Still wporking on getting comments back on the blog. Sorry it is taking so long.

Finally, thank you to Tom for not beating me up. Wjile I'm at it, thanks to the hostess too.

Dr. John Howard was being vilified as Dr. Evil because of his statement that 9/11 First Responders stricken with cancer were not eligible for help from the Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Fund.

And then John Feal from the Fealgood Foundation, the leading advocacy group for First Responders, set me straight. “He’s a good guy,” John told me. “He has always been there for us.”

John went on to say that he believed others in the Obama Administration were making Dr. Howard the friendly messenger of bad news. The news comes from a study conducted by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health has been released detailing that there is no causal link between the toxicity of the 9/11 Ground Zero rescue and clean up, and the cancers that many first responders have developed. The study ruled that cancer ailed first responders will not be eligible for aid under the James A. Zadroga Act; established in 2010 and put into effect in January 2011, to provide monetary assistance to those who have developed illnesses due to being exposed to fumes, dust and toxins at Ground Zero.

Of course there is a causal link! Look at the strange cancers that these men are dying from in their 40’s. The cluster of 9/11 First Responders getting cancer is much higher than the national average.

But I trust John Feal and since he tells me Dr. Howard is a nice guy and a supporter of First Responders, I believe him; which is why I am ignoring the messenger and instead going right to the top.

President Obama could fix this by picking up the phone. Tell the Federal Employees running the Health and Compensation fund that First Responders don’t have to prove they got cancer at Ground Zero. The Government needs to prove they didn’t, which is equally impossible.
But First Responders with cancer and the families of First Responders who died of cancer have earned the benefit of the doubt . After all, they are America’s heroes. And now they are looking for President Obama to be there hero.

CNN has an entire section on its website devoted to the question - "Is Government Broken? In America right now the answer is yes.

In the 2010 election all most moderates were voted out of office. Moderate Democrats known ad Blue Dogs were trounced and replaced by Tea Party Republicans. And Moderate Repu8blicans like Mike Castle were also tossed out on their ear. So what you have left is a group of people on the right and on the left who will not compromise.

Right now compromise it the dirtiest word in Washington. And so the government that is based on making deals is broken down.

Our Constitution is based on the idea of two sides working things out - Democrats versus Republicans, East versus South, the Senate versus the House, Conservatives versus Liberals, States versus the Federal Governemnt, the list is endless.

Remember when you go to the polls in 2012 that we need moderates back in office - or nothing will get done.

http://www.nevadaappeal.com/article/20110724/OPINION/110729883/1061&parentprofile=1061

There is far too much unjust about our justice system. Take, for instance, the case of Raquel Nelson, whose four-year-old son was killed as she attempted to cross the street with him to reach their home. Nelson was convicted of reckless conduct, improperly crossing a roadway and second-degree homicide by vehicle. The conviction carried a sentence of up to 36 months, while the driver who killed Nelson’s son — who’d been drinking and using painkillers before getting behind the wheel — got off with six months on a hit-and-run charge.

Nelson, 30 and African-American, was convicted on the charge this week by six jurors who were not her peers: All were middle-class whites, and none had ever taken a bus in metro Atlanta. In other words, none had ever been in Nelson’s shoes:

They had never taken two buses to go grocery shopping at Wal-Mart with three kids in tow. They had never missed a transfer on the way home that caused them to wait a full hour-and-a-half with tired and hungry kids for the next bus. They had never been let off at a bus stop on a five-lane speedway, with their apartment in sight across the road, and been asked to drag those three little ones an additional half-mile-plus down the road to the nearest traffic signal and back in order to get home at last.

And they had never lost control of an over-eager four-year-old as they waited on a three-foot median for a car to pass. Nor had they watched helplessly as a driver who had had “three or four” beers and two painkillers barreled toward their child.

That’s right: Because Nelson did not lug her exhausted little ones three-tenths of a mile from the bus stop to a traffic signal in order to cross five lanes of traffic, she is guilty of vehicular homicide. Because she did as her fellow bus riders, who crossed at the same time and place, and because she did what pedestrians will do every time – take the shortest reasonable path – she is guilty of vehicular homicide.

What about the highway designers, traffic engineers, transit planners and land use regulators who allowed a bus stop to be placed so far from a signal and made no other provision for a safe crossing; who allowed – even encouraged, with wide, straight lanes – prevailing speeds of 50-plus on a road flanked by houses and apartments; who carved a fifth lane out of a wider median that could have provided more of a safe refuge for pedestrians; who designed the entire landscape to be hostile to people trying to get to work and groceries despite having no access to a car?

There are now two petitions circulating. One, circulating at the Care2 petition site, asks the governor to overturn Nelson’s verdict. At the moment I’m writing this, the petition has gathered 6,190 signatures, on the way to its goal of 10,000. Another, which currently has over 115,000 signatures at Change.org, asks not only for Nelson’s release but for the installation of a crosswalk. That petition is addressed to the Cobb County Transportation Department, Cobb County Commissioner District 1 (Helen Goreham), and the Solicitor General (Barry Morgan).

Nelson is sentenced tomorrow.

I haven't written a "You're Kidding Me Right" segment for awhile and it just felt right after two weeks of very serious topics.

Michelle Bachmann's migraines made news this week and exposed her critics as sexist. Migraine headaches do not disqualify a person from being President. It is code for "she's weak."

I also take on parents who use their baby strollers as a weapon AND people who whine about the heat.

I haven't written a "You're Kidding Me Right" segment for awhile and it just felt right after two weeks of very serious topics.

Michelle Bachmann's migraines made news this week and exposed her critics as sexist. Migraine headaches do not disqualify a person from being President. It is code for "she's weak."

I also take on parents who use their baby strollers as a weapon AND people who whine about the heat.

The tragic story of Christian Choate, the Gary, Indiana boy who was allegedly locked in a cage, beaten and ultimately killed by his father and stepmother, was apparently known to several family members, neighbors and others.

But almost all of the at least 13 people who knew about Choate's abuse didn't report it to authorities, out of either apathy, uncertainty, or fear of retribution, according to a new report in the Northwest Indiana Times.

Riley Choate, Christian's father, and Kimberly Kubina, his stepmother, are charged with murder and several other felonies after the boy's body was discovered in a shallow concrete grave earlier this year. According to authorities, the two kept Christian locked in a dog cage, fed him infrequently, and beat him regularly for the last year of his life. One such beating apparently took his life on April 4, 2009.

The tragic story of Christian Choate, the Gary, Indiana boy who was allegedly locked in a cage, beaten and ultimately killed by his father and stepmother, was apparently known to several family members, neighbors and others.

But almost all of the at least 13 people who knew about Choate's abuse didn't report it to authorities, out of either apathy, uncertainty, or fear of retribution, according to a new report in the Northwest Indiana Times.

Riley Choate, Christian's father, and Kimberly Kubina, his stepmother, are charged with murder and several other felonies after the boy's body was discovered in a shallow concrete grave earlier this year. According to authorities, the two kept Christian locked in a dog cage, fed him infrequently, and beat him regularly for the last year of his life. One such beating apparently took his life on April 4, 2009.

Perhaps closest to the beating was Christina Choate, Christian's sister. She told investigators that she was responsible for taking her brother to the bathroom, forcing him to do exercises, and occasionally hitting him herself. If she didn’t, CBS reported, she believed she would be subjected to the same treatment as her brother.

Christina found Christian’s body on the morning of his death, and said that Riley told her, “If you say anything, I swear to God, I’ll kill you and I’ll bury you with your brother.” The family moved to Kentucky, and only two years later did Christina have the courage to call her stepsister, Alyssa Nieto, and tell her that her brother was dead. Nieto contacted authorities, who found Choate’s body.

Three children of Kimberly Kubina’s sister, Jessica Hamby, also lived in the home during Choate’s imprisonment, and were aware of the torture he underwent. One, according to the Times, even wrote about it in her diary, contemplating whether to tell someone about the abuse. But she, too, was fearful that Kubina would “do to her what she did to Christian.” The children were in the care of Choate and Kubina because Hamby, their mother, was addicted to methamphetamines at the time.

One person whose silence wasn’t motivated by fear was Dr. Leticia Chy-Koa, Christian’s pediatrician. In 2008, a year before his death, he told Dr. Chy-Koa that he was being locked in his home at night. She treated him for depression, anxiety and ADD, according to a separate story in the Times, and wrote in her notes that he was soiling himself. But she never contacted the Department of Child Services in Indiana. She refused to speak to the Times about her treatment of Choate or why she didn't refer his case to DCS.

Christina found Christian’s body on the morning of his death, and said that Riley told her, “If you say anything, I swear to God, I’ll kill you and I’ll bury you with your brother.” The family moved to Kentucky, and only two years later did Christina have the courage to call her stepsister, Alyssa Nieto, and tell her that her brother was dead. Nieto contacted authorities, who found Choate’s body.

Three children of Kimberly Kubina’s sister, Jessica Hamby, also lived in the home during Choate’s imprisonment, and were aware of the torture he underwent. One, according to the Times, even wrote about it in her diary, contemplating whether to tell someone about the abuse. But she, too, was fearful that Kubina would “do to her what she did to Christian.” The children were in the care of Choate and Kubina because Hamby, their mother, was addicted to methamphetamines at the time.

One person whose silence wasn’t motivated by fear was Dr. Leticia Chy-Koa, Christian’s pediatrician. In 2008, a year before his death, he told Dr. Chy-Koa that he was being locked in his home at night. She treated him for depression, anxiety and ADD, according to a separate story in the Times, and wrote in her notes that he was soiling himself. But she never contacted the Department of Child Services in Indiana. She refused to speak to the Times about her treatment of Choate or why she didn't refer his case to DCS.

Records of the Indiana Department of Child Services reveal that Christian Choate, a boy who authorities claim lived locked in a cage and died from savage abuse, wrote letters describing his situation and saying that he wanted to die.

According to the Chicago Tribune, DCS visited with the Choate family in Gary, Indiana more than a dozen times starting in 1999, investigating allegations of abuse and neglect. Authorities never discovered what prosecutors claim was the true depth of the misery in which young Christian lived.

Many people were so enraged by the death of Caylee Anthony that they want a new law called Caylee's law that would make it a crime if a parent neglects to call police within 24 hours of a child missing. I think there should be a companion law called Chrstian's Law that would make it a felony with a mandatory prison sentence if you do not report child abuse.

Please sign a petition by clicking here and then please post it on Facebook, email it and Tweet it.

There are 2500 children killed every year by abuse or neglect - an average of 7 a day. People looked the other way and christian died. Don't look away now.

Drone planes have become the weapon of choice for America and specifically President Obama. Since 9/11 the U.S. drone fleet has grown from a few dozen to 7,000 and the air force now trains more drone "pilots" than those that actually fly jets and bombers.

What is shocking is that the bulk of the drone explosion has occurred under Obama -- the very president who cast himself as the antithesis of George W. Bush who promised he would never condone un-American Bush era policies such as the unlawful detainment and waterboarding of enemy combatants.

But in just two years Obama authorized nearly four times as many drone strikes as Bush did during his entire two terms in office. This, despite the fact the former constitutional law professor is likely cognizant the drone attacks violate international law.

And what could be more morally reprehensible, not to mention cowardly, than death-from-the-sky extrajudicial target killings of suspected militants by remote unmanned aerial vehicles? Drones play cop, judge, jury and executioner in one fell swoop at the click of a button by an operator sitting in a safe undisclosed location in front of a Nintendo-like monitor screen.

According to a an Oxford Research Group report the U.S. has flouted international law by failing to identify drone casualties, violating universal human rights including freedom from being arbitrarily deprived of one's life and not providing compensation for possible wrongful deaths. But American officials believe investigating casualties defeats the whole purpose of a groundless military campaign -- a mindset that will defeat the purpose of the entire mission because innocent deaths galvanize the Islamist cause and spawn extremist converts.

According to Peter Bergen and Katherine Tiedemann in Foreign Affairs, about 15 to 20 percent of those killed by drones are non-combatants. But Islamabad and Washington are at odds on casualty figures with Pakistani officials estimating 700 civilians were killed by drone strikes in 2009 alone while the U.S. has claimed responsibility for fewer than 30 civilian deaths between May 2008 and May 2010.

Bergen and Tiedemann also underline the program's inefficacy at eliminating key insurgent leaders, reporting that less than two percent of those killed by drones in Pakistan are high-value targets. The data also clearly indicates the program, contrary to acting as a terrorist deterrent, has actually fueled the insurgency. Although drone strikes have eradicated more than 1,000 militants, levels of violence in Pakistan have spiked since the program's inception from 150 terrorist incidents in 2004 to a peak of 1,916 in 2009.

The root cause of this uptick is the widespread contempt of the drone program found amongst the Pakistani population. According to a 2009 Gallup poll only 9 percent of Pakistanis supported the strikes, which correlates to the fact two-thirds of those residing in the tribal areas believe suicide attacks against U.S. targets are justifiable.

Drone strikes have also been unable to deter Western terrorist aspirants from making the pilgrimage to militant boot camps in Pakistan to train for global jihad, evidenced by the over 150 American and European recruits discovered in the tribal areas in 2009, just as the drone program was being accelerated.

In fact, drone strikes fly in the face of the entire U.S. counterinsurgency (COIN) doctrine espoused by the likes of Petraeus which is premised on the philosophy that guerilla wars can only be won by winning the "hearts and minds" of the local populace.

Even former Petraeus adviser Lt. Col. David Kilcullen, a renowned counterinsurgency theorist, has called for a moratorium on strikes, asserting that while violent extremists may be unpopular, for a frightened population under siege they seem less ominous than a faceless enemy that wages war from afar and kills more civilians than militants.

Kilcullen believes drone strikes are counterproductive because countless man-hours of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance are put into eliminating a few purported high-value insurgents, an obsessive short-sighted focus that comes at the expense of protecting the population. He believes building local partnerships, learning about tribal dynamics and empowering indigenous forces are more effective methods for defeating an insurgency.

The American foreign policy establishment needs an infusion of fresh thinking and must abandon building strategies upon broken single-variable models to address problems with ever-changing interrelationships; otherwise the U.S. will fail to grasp complexities such as how certain anti-terror tactics can end up manufacturing terrorists.

The facts unequivocally illustrate that the drone program is steering the U.S. away from achieving its national security objectives in the region. Yet the administration's reaction to this reality is equivalent to a person driving down the road in the wrong direction who, instead of making any effort at course correction, decides to simply step on the gas.

It is maddening!!!!

The country has a jobless rate of over 9 percent and the REAL figure is much higher. We have an historic national debt. And we are at bwar with at least three countries.

And President Obama and the Republican leadership engages in this Punch and Judy puppet show that is all theatre and little substance; puppets for the special interests they represent.

The system is broken. We need strong third party candidates. It is time for Independents to rise up and demand better.

Now that the federal government has gone on a campaign to ruin the reputations of sports superstars Lance Armstrong and Roger Clemens, they should now move on to more important crimes. Crimes with real victims.

The government has spent tens of millions of dollars so a couple of U.S Attorneys can get headlines and advance their political careers. In the meantime, greedy bankers, crooked politicians, sscam artists and drug dealers go uninvestigated.

There is something very wrong with the criminal justice system and it should be investigated.
But first drop the cases against Armstrong and Clemens. I'm not saying they are innocent. I am just saying their crimes don't deserve the attention of the US Government or our tax dollars.

On Sunday Casey Anthony will be free from a concrete and steel prison, but not free from the prison that will be the rest of her life.

She will be a pariah in American society and there is some talk that she will have to change her name and her appearance.

The 12 jurors in a Florida courtroom delivered on sentence. The millions of jurors in the court of public opnion delivered another - a life sentence of being hated and ridiculed ad a despicable himan being.

Debt Ceiling

Don't fell for the theatric over the debt ceiling. It is all posturing for the 2012 elections and in the end nothing will get done. Both sides are just trying to make the other look bad - and instead we all look bad.

Qadaffi Will Die

And when it happens it will be a well orchestrated assasination by the west. We will say it was all NATO. But is seems that we are back in the assasination business and that will be worth a Congressional investigation.

Blog

Sorry about the comment section on the blog. We are changing the format and when we do everything will be fixed. We aren't even really certain what happened as comments are enabled. But it will be fixed soon and I miss taling with all of you.

In the meantime if you have something you really want to tell me I am on Twitter (LarryMendte), Facebook or you can email me at LMendte@Tribune.com.

The jury has spoken, the public has seethed and now it is time for politicians to offer their opinions on the verdict that dominated the news this week.

And now people are saying - "not in my state."

Lawmakers outraged over Casey Anthony's acquittal have responded by proposing so-called Caylee's laws that would allow prosecutors to bring felony charges against parents who do not quickly report missing children.

The new measures were triggered, at least in part, by an online petition that has well over one million signatures.

In June 2008, Anthony's 2-year-old daughter Caylee was last seen at the Orlando home she shared with her mom and her maternal grandparents. For the next month, Casey Anthony, then 22, left her parents' house and spent most of her time with friends, shopping and partying, telling her family and others that Caylee was with an imaginary nanny.

Anthony's mother called detectives when Anthony could not produce her child. Anthony told investigators she hadn't called them because the nanny had kidnapped the child and she had been conducting her own search, two of the numerous lies she told investigators.

Anthony was acquitted of murder in Caylee's death, but convicted of four misdemeanor counts of lying to investigators. She was sentenced to the maximum of four years, but after serving nearly three years in jail awaiting trial, coupled with good behavior credits, she is set to go free next Sunday.

Florida's proposal would make it a felony for a parent or other caregiver to not report a child under the age of 12 missing after 48 hours. It also makes it a felony to not report a child's death or "location of a child's corpse" to police within two hours of the death.

Had Florida's measure been in place and Anthony been convicted, she could have faced another 15 years behind bars.

Other states are considering similar measures and the online petition at Change.org, started by an Oklahoma woman, calls for a federal law.

Several states have either introduced legislation or plan to introduce legislation.

In Alabama, a bill would make it a felony for a parent, legal guardian or caretaker not to notify law enforcement authorities within an hour after the death of a child and also require parents to report a missing child within 24 hours. In Kentucky, the proposal would make failing to report a child under 12 who has been missing for 12 hours or more punishable by one to five years in prison.

Other states where lawmakers are considering such measures include Georgia, Kansas, Louisiana, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas and West Virginia, according to news reports.

In Colorado legislators are reportedly receiving hundreds of emails calling for the implementation of the proposed "Caylee's Law."

It is the right thing to do. This way Caylee Anthony will not be forgotten - again.

Mitt Romney should be the perfect candidate - a former Governor of a blue state - good looking - rich - strong on the economy - great name recognition. So what's the problem? Yes, he isn't very exciting, he has flip-flopped a time or two and of course there is Romney care.

But Mitt Romney’s RomneyCare problem may be surmountable, his additional Mormon problem may not be. Religious prejudice is keeping the Christian right, a big part of the Repupublican base and crucial in the primaries, from voting for Romney.

That is why Republicans keep looking to Huckabee, Palin, Bachmann and Perry. I do think that Texas Governor Rick Perry will get in the race and will immediately be the top challenger to Romney.

Mormonism will be front and center in the 2012 primaries, much like Catholism was in 1960. But John F. Kennedy ran as a Democrat and didn't have the big and wide religious base to deal with.

It is amazing that in 2012, four years after electing a black President, this country is still dealing with prejudice in presidential politics.

I predicted this exact outcome in the Casey Anthony trial on Sunday when my wife and I co-hosted on 77WABC in New York.

The American justice system worked exactly the way it is supposed to in Florida this week whether you like it or not. I know many of you are shocked that Casey Anthony was found not guilty of murder and many of you are angry. Angry you should be, shocked you should not be unless you listen to the Nancy Graces of the world who cry for mobs to pick up torches and pitch forks purely on the emotions of the case.

It was Nancy Grace and the other armchair lawyers of the world that caused a mob to gather outside Anthony’s sentencing hearing today carrying signs that the 12 jurors in the case should be charged with murder. In fact those jurors were incredibly brave to stand up to the overwhelming pressure from television lawyers and the crowd that gathered at their bequest to stick to the rule of law.

Orlando attorney Cheney Mason blasted those “incompetent talking heads” in his statement after the verdict this week:

Well, I hope that this is a lesson to those of you who have indulged in media assassination for three years. Bias, prejudice and incompetent talking heads saying what would be and how it would be. I’m disgusted by some of the lawyers that have done this, and I can tell you that my colleagues from coast to coast and border to border have condemned this whole process of lawyers getting on television and talking about cases that they don’t know a damn thing about and don’t have the experience to back up their words or the law to do it. Now you have learned a lesson. And we appreciate the jurors. Those of you who have been objective and professional, we like it. Others we will be talking to again.

Amen to that. If this trial took place in Great Britain with its media Contempt of Court law, reporters, anchors and executives could be criminally charged for sensationalizing a case and polluting the chance of a fair trial. Thank God we have not come to that in this country. Thank God this jury listened to the evidence and the attorneys in the courtroom and not the ones who fight for face time on TV.

I know many of these attorneys who lust for their moment on MSNBC, CNN or Fox News to fill the 24-hour news cycle. Many pay an agent to get them their face time. When they get to the studio they are often told what their position will be so that both sides are argued. Often the attorneys know little of the facts of the case and instead deal with the emotion of the case. Emotion is what TV does best.

Media philosopher Marshall McLuhan once stated that everything man invents is just an extension of ourselves. The car is an extension of our legs, and the telescope is an extension of our eyes. McLuhan argues that while print is an extension of our brain, television is an extension of our tactile sense—it makes us feel things more than any other medium. That can be, and is, manipulated for ratings and profit.

And that is why, despite the chastising threat by Cheney Mason, the reporters, anchors and TV attorneys were back at it again this morning, fighting for face time with the protestors their cameras lured there, as a countdown clock took us to sentencing time.

And again the court got it right. This time it was Chief Judge Belvin Perry handing down the maximum sentence of one year each for the four counts of lying to investigators, to run consecutively. Those lies sent police on a wild goose chase that kept them from finding the body of little Caylee Marie Anthony and from finding her killer (that was probably her mother, Casey Anthony).

You see, I am not defending Casey Anthony. I empathize with the jurors who feel the same way I do, that she probably killed her daughter. But that had to be proved by the prosecutors and it wasn’t. They couldn’t tell the jury how she died, when she died or if she was even murdered. They did prove that Casey Anthony was a liar, a bad mother and a despicable human being—but not a murderer. They played on the emotion and won over the TV crowd, but not the jury who stuck to the rule of law.

Juror Jennifer Ford says that conflict made her sick to her stomach. “I did not say she was innocent,” Ford told ABC News on Wednesday. “I just said there was not enough evidence. If you cannot prove what the crime was, then you cannot determine what the punishment should be. If you’re going to charge someone with murder, don’t you have to know how they killed someone or why, or have something, where, when, why, how?”

That comes from a woman who sat in a courtroom for 33 days with the other jurors and listened to every speck of evidence. She and the other 11 jurors voted unanimously and quickly.

I know that there are some who will claim this just proves that the system protects criminals, that they have more rights than victims. In this case it may have. But the system is really set up to protect the innocent, the falsely accused, from prosecutors seeking personal gain, from mobs seeking vengeance and from the media who feeds all of the above.

The Jury got it right. There just wasn’t enough to link Casey to the murder.

It is expected that once again in 2012 Republicans are going to push for gay marriage initiatives to be put on the ballot in some states defining marriage as strictly between a man and a woman. This worked for them well in 2004 and helped George W. Bush win Ohio and other key states. The theory is that Conservatives will get so riled up about the issue they will flock to the polls to protect the sanctity of marriage – and while they are there they will vote Republican. It is a way to energize the Republican base. It is cynical – it is manipulative – and it works. But should it?

Should Conservatives even care about this issue. Conservatives ar all for smaller government, less regulations and individual rights. So why are they for a marriage license at all?

George Washington was married to Martha without a marriage license. In fact, up until the 1920’s, marriage was a religious & family commitment. The government was not invited to the wedding, or into the marriage. For example, Christians kept their marriage and birth records in a special family Bible that was then passed down thru the generations. SO, what changed?

Historically, all the states in America had racist laws outlawing the marriage of blacks and whites. In the mid-1800’s, certain states began allowing interracial marriages as long as couples received a license from the state. Others required the marriage license to prevent inter-racial marriages. In other words they had to receive permission to do an act which without such permission would have been illegal.

If you think about it.. When you marry with a marriage license, you grant the State jurisdiction over your marriage.including the fruit of your marriage - your children and every piece of property you own. There is plenty of case law to back this up.

In 1923, the Federal Government established the Uniform Marriage and Marriage License Act (they later established the Uniform Marriage and Divorce Act). By 1929, every state in the Union had adopted marriage license laws.

Some Pastors actually advise their parishioners not to get a marriage license from the state.. They quote Genesis saying marriage was instituted by God, therefore it is a God-given right. According to Scripture, it is to be governed by the family, and the State only has jurisdiction in the cases of divorce or crime.

So lets get the government out of the marriage business and practice the Constitutional SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE.. if you want a government license get a civil union. And wouldn’t this solve the issue of Gay marriage.. Let all Americans enjoy their civil rights and let folks get married within their faith if their own faith allows it without discrimination of their gender.

I am by no means a Michele Bachmann enthusiast. But I am appalled by the demonization of her as a candidate, not just by the opposition, but by many in the media. What is it about her that elicits such ridicule?

Sure she is prone to gaffes, but so are a lot of politicians. Joe Biden's constant blunders are seen as adorable. Why doesn't Bachmann get the same pass?

This is the same ridicule that Sarah Palin got. It was just as constant and started right after her speech. It seems that attractive conservative women candidates must be destroyed before they can get any footing.

Michele Bachman has many accomplishments and a large following. Don't be suprised at all if she wins the first Republican caucus in Iowa. Then the attacks will become even more vicious.

This is the reason more people don't get involved in politics. It is so ugly and sinister. It is fine to dislike the policies and even the principles of the candidate. Can't we do that and still give her some respect for her service to our country, to economic reform and to education reform?

This is one of the reasons that nothing can get done in Washington. The are lingering bad feelings from attacks during the campaign that prevent the two sides from being able to sit down and compromise to solve our most basic problems.