That's not very Christian-like, now is it? Nevertheless, a few religious zealots have taken their dislike of U.S. President Barack Obama to a new level - bumper stickers and t-shirts which command viewers to pray for the president's death. Of course they don't come right out and print "Pray for our President to die". Instead, the perpetrators take a far more cowardly approach, utilizing the slogan "Pray for Obama - Psalm 109:8".

If you take the time to look up Psalm 109:8, you'll notice right off that it is not a happy and cheerful passage. Psalm 109 is better known as "A Cry for Vengeance". Psalm 109:8 specifically reads:

"Let his days be few; and let another take his office."

While that verse does not specifically mention death or harm to the leader in question, read on and you will see that Psalm 109 has a far more sinister message.

6 Appoint [a] an evil man [b] to oppose him;
let an accuser [c] stand at his right hand.

7 When he is tried, let him be found guilty,
and may his prayers condemn him.

8 May his days be few;
may another take his place of leadership.

9 May his children be fatherless
and his wife a widow.

If you see Vice President Joe Biden's motorcade coming, you best get out of the way for your own safety. In only the past week, three separate accidents have occurred involving Biden's squadron of vehicles.

According to the Secret Service, a New York City police car working ahead of the VP's motorcade collided with another vehicle Tuesday night. Biden's car was not involved, but two police officers and a cab driver were sent to the hospital with minor injuries.

On Monday, a sheriff's vehicle escorting Biden's motorcade in Albuquerque was hit by a car that went around two units blocking an intersection. A sergeant in the vehicle was injured.

Lastly, a Maryland man was killed last week when he was hit by two Secret Service cars - a limo sometiems used by Biden, and a Chevrolet Suburban used in his motorcade. Biden was not in either vehicle at the time of the accident.

Republican Party chairman Michael Steele told Republican National Committee staff to immediately put an end to providing RNC employees with insurance for elective abortions. After learning of the abortion coverage from a news report, late Thursday evening Steele issued a statement:

"Money from our loyal donors should not be used for this purpose. I don't know why this policy existed in the past, but it will not exist under my administration. Consider this issue settled."

According to RNC spokeswoman Gail Gitcho, Steele then instructed staff to let their insurance carrier know that the RNC wished to opt out of the elective abortion coverage. Gitcho said the policy had been in effect since 1991.

Traditionally, the GOP platform includes strong anti-abortion language. In a recent vote, all House Republicans, except for one, voted for an amendment that would impose restrictions of coverage for abortions in the health care bill passed by the House last Saturday.

Inclusion of abortion restrictions prompted backlash from liberal House Democrats, who are threatening to vote against a final bill if the restrictions are included.

Two months ago, Jacksonville was threatened with cancellation of its 2009 Veterans Day parade after the city council cut the parade’s funding. Only a firestorm of protests from the Florida city’s residents restored the parade.

Jacksonville is not alone. Similar stories about cancellations or threatened cancellations erupted in newspapers across the nation this year. New York, Pennsylvania and California city officials cut back on observances of the holiday, citing waning interest and declining participation.

Veterans Day is in fact a peculiar holiday. Many public schools, colleges and universities remain open - even with thousands of veterans sitting in their classrooms. Businesses operate normally. State and local governments are not required to close. Such signs of business as usual give city officials what they believe is reason to cut funds for Veterans Day events. Some even shamelessly request veterans’ organizations to cover the costs of police and sanitation workers’ overtime. Such municipalities say appropriations are better spent on holiday events and parades that make money.

Ran into an old friend this morning at University Hospital where we older people are likely to meet. Boy was she angry. At Dennis Kucinich, a favorite of hers.

Kucinich, as you may have noted, vote NO on the health care bill the other night. He gave good reasons. It squeaked in by a couple of votes. So his NO vote was a typical Kucinich vote.

But this fan said she had given him her last dime. And I’m sure she’s given him a lot more than that.

I don’t know if Kucinich would have voted NO if his was a deciding vote. Maybe not.

But his NO vote isn’t a surprise to me. Kucinich is playing to the crowd. His crowd. And he’s a hero with his crowd.

They respond. They love the little fighter. Kucinich drew immediate attention on the local Cleveland Leader web site. Today there are nearly 7,500 hits on the posting about his vote. Most I’ve ever seen. I assume that many people around the nation have Dennis Kucinich on a Google alert. Every time his name appears they get a Google alert. They click and read about their hero.

It attests to his national drawing power as a political celebrity.

You would think that being one of the highest ranking members in the House of Representatives would ensure you of knowing all the documents of America's founding fathers backwards and forwards. Wrong!

John Boehner, the Republican from Ohio serving as Minority Leader of the House, went on a rant at a recent "Tea Party Rally" and stuck his foot in his mouth in a big way. Boehner stated he would read a passage from the Constitution and declared:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal and that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable rights including life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness!"

Problem is, that passage is from the Declaration of Independence and not the Constitution. And on a partisan note, I think the pursuit of happiness would be a lot easier to achieve if we had universal health care.

Since January, first-time homebuyers have been getting tax credits of up to $8,000 as part of an economic stimulus package put into place earlier this year. That program, which left those who are not first-time home buyers out in the cold, was set to expire at the end of November 2009. On Wednesday, the Senate voted to extend and expand the tax credit to include many buyers who already own homes. Now it just needs to get through Congress, where a vote will take place Thursday.

Buyers owning their current homes at least five years will be eligible for tax credits up to $6,500. First-time homebuyers or those who haven't owned a home in the last three years would get up to $8,000. Both groups would have to sign a purchase agreement by April 30, 2010 and close by June 30, 2010 in order to be eligible.

Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Georgia), said, "This is probably the last extension."

Also included in the bill passed in the Senate is a plan to extend unemployment benefits for those without a job for more than a year, and a clause that would allow companies now losing money to recoup taxes paid on profits earned in the previous five years.

Sen. Max Baucus (D-Montana), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said:

A low-level staff made a monumental mistake which ultimately cost them their job: releasing a confidential House report prepared in July which indicated more than 30 lawmakers and several aides are under scrutiny in probles of defense lobbying and corporate influence peddling. Nearly half of the members of a House panel controlling Pentagon spending are now facing investigation by Congressional ethics investigator, reported the Washington post.

Two House ethics offies are investigationg whether Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.), chairman of the defense appropriations subcommittee, and six other lawmakers, funneled millions in federal funds to clients of a very influential lobbying firm in exchange for campaign contributions. The lobbying group in question - PMA Group - was founded by a formal Capitol Hill aide and is under criminal investigation by the Justice Department.

Members of the ethics committee, along with their staffs, had signed oaths not to disclose details of any past or present investigations. However, this 22-page report was released by a low-level staffer working from home via a file-sharing network. Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Cal.) said that the staff member was fired.

Lofgren also commented:

It has been announced that Cleveland area Congressman Dennis Kucinich will be awarded the 37th annual Thomas Merton Award for work in social justice. He will be presented with the award on Sunday, November 1st at The Merton Center's annual banquet at the Churchill Valley Country Club.

Kucinich has a long history of promoting justice throughout his lengthy career in politics, spanning from his stint as Cleveland's mayor through his career in Congress and runs for the presidency in 2004 and 2008. He has bills for national health care, calls for the abolition of nuclear weapons, and strongly opposes the North American Free Trade Act.

In a big departure from the policies of the George W. Bush era, the Justice Department issued a new policy memo to prosecutors on Monday telling them that pot-smoking patients and their sanctioned suppliers should not be targeted for federal prosecution in states that permit medical marijuana. In the 3-page legal memo, federal prosecutors are told it is not a good use of their time to arrest those who use or provide medical marijuana in strict compliance with state law.

The guidelines issued by the Justice Department, however, make it quite clear that federal agents can and will go after those who's marijuana distribution goes beyond what is permitted under state law, and those who use medical marijuana as a cover for other crimes.

Attorney General Eric Holder said in a statement.

"It will not be a priority to use federal resources to prosecute patients with serious illnesses or their caregivers who are complying with state laws on medical marijuana, but we will not tolerate drug traffickers who hide behind claims of compliance with state law to mask activities that are clearly illegal."