Tea Party Men of the Future?

Senators known for their hard-edged opposition say they will oppose "any legislation" that they believe infringes on the right to bear arms

 A trio of Republicans are threatening to filibuster gun legislation when it comes to the Senate floor, arguing the proposals violate the Second Amendment.

Sens. Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Mike Lee — all Tea Party favorites — say they will "oppose any legislation that would infringe on the American people's constitutional right to bear arms, or on their ability to exercise this right without being subjected to government surveillance."

Their intention is included in a letter sent to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Reid has promised to bring a bill to the floor after the spring recess that would include separate measures to expand background checks on gun buyers, strengthen trafficking laws and improve school safety. The bills have already passed the Judiciary Committee, and the background check measure is still being tweaked to garner bipartisan support.

The letter from Paul, Cruz and Lee does not specifically say they will filibuster, but their intentions are clear. The letter says the senators "will oppose the motion to proceed" — which is the step required before a bill can come up for consideration. That means 60 votes would be needed to bring up the gun legislation.

The Democratic-controlled Senate has taken the lead in crafting legislation to reduce gun violence, which has been a priority since 20 children and six adults were killed Dec. 14 at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

Paul, R-Ky., has already staged a nearly 13-hour filibuster this year over the Obama administration's drone policy, which ended up delaying a final confirmation vote on CIA Director John Brennan. Cruz and Lee took part in that effort, coming to the Senate floor to ask their colleague questions so he didn't have to speak the entire time.

Cruz, R-Texas, got into a heated exchange with Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., during the Judiciary panel's debate on her proposal to ban assault weapons, which is not included in the gun bill heading for the Senate floor. Feinstein objected to what she called Cruz's lecturing on the Second Amendment and his condescending tone.

Reid has said he would allow the assault weapons ban, which also limits gun magazines to 10 rounds of ammunition, to be offered as an amendment. Feinstein's measure, however, faced stiff opposition from Republicans and Democrats from red-states, such as Sen. Mark Pryor of Arkansas.

Google ... Google...

Does Google mean what it says?

This week, one senior Google exec declared that smartphones are "emasculating," while another said there was no need for physical stores. Yet Google makes smartphones and has pop-up stores. Confusing?

Help us figure this out?

 Who's watching Google?

Batman Delivers Suspect to Police

Batman Delivers Suspect to Police: An unidentified man dressed as Batman brought a suspected burglar to justice last week, delivering the suspect to police on Feb. 25 before he disappeared into the night. Police in Bradford, England, today released photographs of last week’s caped crusader, dressed in a sweatshirt and cape that approximates the powder-blue...

Where's Our Governments Common Sense? or should I say the I.R.S.'s?

Report: Facebook paid no income tax last year!

While most of country is getting hit with higher taxes, the social-media giant got a pass --

and even got $429 million in refunds.

Taxes are said to be one of life's inevitability -- unless

you're Facebook (FB -1.62%), which last year not only

didn't pay a cent in federal or state income taxes, but

actually will receive tax refunds of $429 million, according

to a new report.

The reason? Even though Facebook made a pre-tax profit

of $1.06 billion last year, it benefited from a tax break: the

tax deductibility of executive stock options, the report from

the Citizens for Tax Justice says.

That reduced Facebook's federal and state income taxes

by $1.03 billion last year. But it also is carrying forward

another $2.17 billion in additional tax-option tax breaks

for use in future years, the report says. Altogether, that

means Facebook will shave off a total of more than $3

billion in current and future taxes.

To be sure, Facebook isn't alone among big corporations in tapping strategies to lower their tax burdens. Among

those businesses that have come under fire for avoiding taxes are General Electric (GE -1.43%), Boeing (BA

+0.17%) and Goldman Sachs (GS -2.19%).

Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, has sought to highlight the issue. In 2011, his office

compiled a list of the worst corporate income tax avoiders, including Bank of America (BAC -3.20%) and

Citigroup (C -2.88%).

The wealthiest Americans and most profitable corporations must do their share to help bring down our record-breaking deficit," his office said in a 2011 statement.

Facebook didn't immediately respond to an emailed request for comment, according to The Huffington Post.

In the meantime, taxes for many individuals went up in 2013, making consumers feeling pinched.

On an after-tax basis, corporate profits have jumped since 2000, helped in part by strategies to minimize their tax

burdens, according to the Huffington Post, citing data from the Commerce Department.

Thank you to  Aimee Picchi Fri 4:01 PM

Wheres the Vatican's Common Sense? Prophecy of the Popes

'Prophecy of the Popes'Saint Malachy is an Irish saint who lived between 1094 and 1148 and served as the archbishop of Armagh. He is perhaps best known for supposedly penning an apocalyptic series of 112 phrases, which he claimed came to him in a vision and predicted the series of popes who would reign over the church and eventually preside over its downfall. The so-called "Prophecy of the Popes" has been pointed to by numerous doomsayers over the years in predicting catastrophe for the church.Roughly translated from its original Latin, the Prophecy reads: "In the extreme persecution of the Holy Roman Church, there will sit Peter the Roman, who will pasture his sheep in many tribulations, and when these things are finished, the city of seven hills [i.e. Rome] will be destroyed, and the terrible judge will judge his people. The End."Peter the RomanIf "Peter the Roman" is to oversee the end of times, who is Peter the Roman? According to some, he could be one of the leading candidates to become pope. Ghanaian Cardinal Peter Turkson is a member of the Catholic administrative body, the Roman Curia, and could therefore be loosely described as Peter the Roman.'Prophecy' may be forgeryAmong the many problems with the Malachy's supposed prophecy is that he may have never written it at all. According numerous sources including the New Advent's Catholic Encyclopedia, there was no mention of Malachy's writings for more than 400 years from the time it was said to have been written and 1590 when Benedictine monk Arnold de Wyon published the "Prophecy of Popes." The silence about the writings from even Malachy's closest friends has led many scholars to conclude that the writings are forgeries, likely written by Wyon himself, and the Catholic Church has never embraced the writings as official doctrine

Underdog Creator Dies

William "Buck" Biggers has passed away in Plymouth, Mass. at the age of 85. Biggers was co-creator of the "Underdog" cartoon, which debuted on NBC in 1964 and aired in syndication through 1973. It was followed-up by a Disney live action film starring Jason Lee, Jim Belushi, and Amy Adams in 2007.



The classic cartoon character was the caped alter-ego of a mind-mannered shoeshine boy -- make that shoe-shine canine -- who appeared any time Sweet Polly Purebred was in trouble. The character's most infamous line was "There's no need to fear; Underdog is here."

Where did Valentines Day come from?

Who was St. Valentine? Mystery surrounds the identity of the patron saint of lovers.

Indeed, such was the confusion that the Vatican dropped St. Valentine's Day from the Catholic Church calendar of saints in the 1960s.

There were at least three men by the name Valentine in the A.D. 200s, and all died horrible deaths.

One was a priest in the Roman Empire who helped persecuted Christians during the reign of Claudius II. As he was imprisoned, he restored the sight of a blind girl, who fell in love with him. He was beheaded on Feb. 14.

Another was the pious bishop of Terni, also tortured and beheaded during Claudius II's reign.

A third Valentine secretly married couples, ignoring Claudius II's ban of marriage. When the priest of love was eventually arrested, legend has it that he fell deeply in love with his jailer's daughter.

Before his death by beating and decapitation, he signed a farewell note to her: “From your Valentine.”

Apart from legend, the first connection between romance and Feb. 14 goes back to Geoffrey Chaucer (1340?-1400), the English poet and author of The Canterbury Tales.

In his poem "Parliament of Fowls" (1382), Chaucer suggested that St. Valentine's Day was the time when birds chose their mates.

"For this was Seynt Valentyne's Day. When every foul cometh ther to choose his mate," he wrote.

Some 33 years later, Duke Charles of Orleans wrote what is considered the oldest known valentine in existence.

Imprisoned in the Tower of London after being captured by the English, in 1415 the French nobleman wrote his wife, Bonne d’Armagnac, a rhyming love letter, which is now part of the manuscript collection in the British Library in London.

The first two lines of the poem were:

"Je suis déjà d'amour tanné. Ma très douce Valentinée." (I am already sick with love, My very gentle Valentine).

It was an intense but unfortunate love: Bonne d’Armagnac may never have seen him again. She died before Charles' return to France in 1440.