Mexico City (CNN) — Mexicans headed to the polls to vote Sunday in what officials have called “the largest and most complex election day” in the country’s history.

Four candidates are vying for the presidency. Voters will also cast ballots in congressional contests and, in six states, gubernatorial races.

“Never in Mexican democracy have so many posts been at play in the same popular election,” Federal Election Institute President Leonardo Valdes said in a statement.

More than 2,100 federal, state and local offices will be decided by Sunday’s vote, the institute said.

For the first time, more than 79 million people were registered to vote, according to the institute. Among them are 3.5 million young people who will vote for the first time, the institute said.

Nationwide, authorities said there would be more than 143,000 polling stations and more than 13,000 accredited observers.

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Geneva, Switzerland (CNN) — There is no guarantee that a sweeping new international agreement on Syria will succeed in ending the conflict there, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton conceded, as opposition activists said the number of dead had skyrocketed in recent months.

“There is no guarantee that we are going to be successful. I just hate to say that,” Clinton told CNN.

But she expressed optimism that a new agreement hammered out Saturday would help ease President Bashar al-Assad out of power.

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That’s funny, because according to the majority opinion, if it’s not a tax, then the mandate isn’t constitutional.

The White House insisted Sunday the consequence for Americans not having health insurance is a penalty fee, despite the Supreme Court ruling that it is a tax and said the debate on the Affordable Care Act should finally end.

White House Chief of Staff Jack Lew said on Fox News Sunday that “when the Supreme Court rules” the country “has a final decision” and that the presidential campaigns should focus on the economy and jobs.

“What we need to do is go forward with the implementation” of the law, Lew said.

He also argued the health care law will not result in a tax increase on the middle class, despite a Congressional Budget Office report that it would result in a roughly $27 million increase over the next 10 years.

Lew’s remarks were met with strong opposition from GOP congressional leaders.

“He’s doing the best he can with a tough situation,” said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. “It’s a middle class tax increase.

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A departure from the normal documentary. A bit of history and culture is always nice.

Cheers on your weekend!

Based on more than two decades of devoted research, mythologist David Talbott reconstructs the cosmic drama when planets hung in the sky close to the earth–an epoch of celestial wonder giving rise to mythological symbols found across the globe in all cultures and religions.

Symbols of an Alien Sky will make known the celestial spectacles and earth-shaking events once recalled by our ancestors. Ancient symbols of these events are all around us; some as icons of the world’s great religions, other have origins that appear to be lost in obscurity.

Cultural history is perceived as fragmented and contradictory. However hidden beneath the fiction are levels of deep agreement between the cultures.
According to David Talbott, these “archetypes” allow for a drastic reinterpretation of both human and planetary history. Rival regional symbols are aspects of “one story told around the world,” a story both awe inspiring and terrifying.

Perhaps the most compelling discovery comes from the sciences.

Independent investigation over the past 12 years has confirmed that the celestial formations Talbott reconstructed—all from historical evidence—precisely match the behavior of electric discharge in the plasma laboratory and in remote space.

A convergence of historical evidence and plasma science has occurred.

The converging research points toward planetary instability and intense electrical events in ancient times.

Why did every ancient civilization celebrate a former “Age of the Gods”, an age claimed to have ended in earth threatening disaster?

What was meant by the lost “Golden Age?”

Why did ancient sky worshippers refer to Saturn as “the sun?”

Why was Venus worshipped as the “Mother Goddess?”

And why did both Old and New World astronomers celebrate the planet Mars as a great warrior whose battles shook the heavens?

The GOP-led House voted Thursday to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress for failing to provide key information pertaining to Operation Fast and Furious, making Holder the first sitting Cabinet member to be held in contempt.

The vote was 255-67, with 17 Democrats breaking ranks to side with Republicans in favor of contempt.

The vote follows a roughly 16-month investigation by the chamber’s House Oversight and Government Reform Committee into the failed gun-running sting known as Fast and Furious — run by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, a division of the Justice Department led by Holder.

Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., filed two subpoenas over that period requesting additional information. But he has more recently focused on information related to a February 2011 letter to Congress that falsely claimed the ATF was unaware the operation involved the underground sale of the assault weapons.

“Today, a bipartisan majority of the House of Representatives voted to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt for his continued refusal to produce relevant documents,” Issa said after the vote. “This was not the outcome I had sought and it could have been avoided had Attorney General Holder actually produced the subpoenaed documents he said he could provide.”

Congressional sources tell Fox News that House GOP leaders will now meet to decide the next steps, but the investigation is expected to go forward with more subpoenas being issued.

“Today’s vote is the regrettable culmination of what became a misguided and politically motivated investigation during an election year,” Holder said afterward. “By advancing it over the past year and a half, Congressman Issa and others have focused on politics over public safety.”

The vote, which holds the attorney general in criminal contempt, was followed by a second vote that held Holder in civil contempt of Congress. The civil contempt vote allows Congress to go to court to seek additional documents.

The criminal-contempt vote is supposed to direct a U.S. attorney to convene a grand jury to review the case and decide whether to indict Holder.

However, considering Holder would be investigated by his own employees, some analysts have said it’s unlikely that would happen. If the case proceeds, though, Holder could face a maximum one year in jail if convicted.

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“Unwilling to impose rules on themselves that they have on others in government, 130 congressional lawmakers have invested in company stocks while making legislative decisions impacting the very same corporate interests.

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LoL…

Nearly two in three Americans think President Barack Obama is better suited than Republican rival Mitt Romney to deal with an alien invasion, according to a survey released Wednesday.

National Geographic Channel contacted 1,114 adults across the United States last month for its fanciful opinion poll ahead of its new cable television documentary series “Chasing UFOs.”

Thirty-six percent of respondents said they were certain that unidentified flying objects exist. Eleven percent were confident they had spotted a UFO, and 20 percent said they knew someone who claimed to have seen one.

With Obama facing re-election in November, 65 percent said Obama would be more adept than Romney to respond to an alien invasion, with women and younger Americans more likely than men and over-65s to agree with that prospect.

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As expected, when you do not have many options to choose from you deliberate and disagree over how to move forward; this is the folly that continues at the European financial summit of 27 leaders.

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“Senate leaders on Tuesday reached a deal to keep student loan interest rates at 3.4%, though Congressional leaders were still cautious as House Republicans haven’t yet signed on.”

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“NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — As the nation awaits the Supreme Court’s ruling on health care reform, America’s doctors are debating a serious issue of their own — the possibility of going out of business.”

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“Update: According to subsequent press reports, Monty has denied he threatened to resign. i.e., Monti just blinked. So now it is up to Merkel who will either have a very short life, or Monti will have to come up with a different professional suicide gambit.

Just when we thought the European drama couldn’t get any more poignant following Merkel’s statement earlier which boils down to “No eurobonds or death”, here comes Italy’s unelected PM and former Goldmanite, Mario Monti, threatening that the beggar will pull the trigger on his own political career if he is not allowed to be a chooser. From Il Giornale: “If the Chancellor does not give up I will tell you that I resign because if things do not change are not able to bring Italy out of the abyss”

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“(Reuters) – Stockton, California was poised on Tuesday to take a major step toward becoming the largest U.S. city ever to file for bankruptcy after talks with its creditors on Monday at midnight.”

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“Congressional Democrats and Republicans are working to push back the fiscal cliff set to hit at the beginning of 2013, Bloomberg’s Roxana Tiron reports.

The new plan would have the $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts go into effect in March, several months after first planned.

Sources tell Tiron that the extension would include temporarily prolonging the Bush tax cuts, as well as funding the government through spring of 2013.”

Source

Rep. Charlie Rangel, D-N.Y., on Tuesday will face the toughest challenge of his career over the seat he has held for the past 41 years.

The results of the New York Democratic primary could spell the end of Rangel’s storied and controversial career in the House of Representatives. While Rangel, 82, campaigned hard in the remaining weeks of the race, he fought questions of whether past ethics issues and a three-month absence due to a back injury impede his ability to serve in Congress.

State Sen. Adriano Espaillat, 57, poses the biggest threat to Rangel’s bid for a 22nd term with a campaign mantra of “it is time for a change.”

If he wins the primary, Espaillat would likely have a shot at becoming the first Dominican-American member of Congress in history. His campaign also notes this potential milestone in the newly redrawn Harlem district that now holds a majority of Hispanic voters.

But it’s possible the vote will ultimately split several ways as four candidates vie to replace Rangel, potentially handing Rangel a win.

The second most competitive challenger is Clyde Williams, 50, a former national political director for the Democratic National Committee. Williams also received boosts after The New York Times and The New York Daily News endorsed him. The incumbent later called the Times endorsement “ridiculous.”

Rangel also tried to cast his campaign as a way to enact President Obama’s agenda — but the White House declined to link itself to the race.

Asked last month if Obama would endorse Rangel, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney told reporters he would “have to get back to you on that.” He didn’t.

It’s not the first time Obama has declined to back Rangel. Shortly before the 2010 censure vote against Rangel over ethics allegations, Obama said Rangel was “somebody who’s at the end of his career.” He went on to say, “I’m sure that what he wants is to be able to end his career with dignity.”

Rangel made history in 2007 when he became the first African-American chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee. But he relinquished the gavel three years later after a series of ethics allegations put him under pressure to resign.

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Thankfully ,someone is noticing this outside of independent media.

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Classic folly….

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U.S. Supreme Court rules against SEIU Local 1000 in fee case
The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that SEIU Local 1000 didn’t appropriately notify members and fair-share payers when it temporarily raised fees in 2005 and 2006.

The 7-2 decision released by the high court this morning in Knox v. SEIU Local 1000 means that unions must give nonmembers an immediate chance to opt out of unexpected fee increases or special assessments required of workers in closed-shop workplaces, such at California’s state government.

The court said that Dianne Knox and other nonmembers represented by Local 1000 didn’t receive the legally required notice in advance of a $12 million assessment the 93,000-state employee union charged them to raise money for the union’s political fund.

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Did anyone expect Merkel to be agreeable ?

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NEW YORK — Call it compassionate, even political. But … scientific? Several experts say there’s no hard evidence to support the federal government’s declaration this month that 50 kinds of cancer could be caused by exposure to World Trade Center dust.

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“Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud, now the next in line to take over the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, was one of several defendants sued last year for his alleged support of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

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