Listen to OpinioNation LIVE at 10:00PM EST Tonight!

Yes, your new wave political radio is on at 10:00pm EST tonight! Listen to me (Mike - LME), Amy, Bruce, and host, Jon Rollings, as we discuss all the major news headlines of the week - and there are a LOT! You won't want to miss it! Click the image to listen in:

(the Live365 radio panel will be on the right - it says "The 405 Radio - Live Stream")

 This is a great opportunity for you to share your thoughts. Want to express your views on the recent Supreme Court hearings on gay marriage... or feel the need to chime in gun control... do you love/hate Obamacare? Whatever your opinions, our show is your platform. Call us at 877-297-8022, and you'll promptly be put on the air. Engage the panel, share your views, or ask a question to our listeners. We hope to hear from you.

 Finally, be sure to stick around for our final, lightning-round segment The Bottom Line.

Weekly News Headline and Debate Topic Forum - 3/25/13

Another week down, and another one is beginning with new, relevant topics. 

Out with the old: 

- What do you make of Obama's trip to Israel? The media seems to be fawning over his trip while claiming it was a success. What do you think?

- Harry Reid shutters the assault weapons ban, and the liberal media's head explodes...

In with the new: 

- The Supreme Court hears gay marriage arguments. Should this be maintained as a states' rights issue, or should it be a federally-protected right? Vote in our poll on the left side of the blog.

- Furlough notices are beginning to go out to federal employees. What impact will this have?

As always, share any and all relevant opinions, rants, positions, etc. below. Thank you!

Listen to OpinioNation LIVE at 10:00PM EST Tonight!

Listen to me (Mike - LME), Amy, Bruce, and host, Jon Rollings, as we discuss Cyprus, guns, CPAC, and anything we want! You won't want to miss it! Click the image to listen in:

(the Live365 radio panel will be on the right - it says "The 405 Radio - Live Stream")

 This is a great opportunity for you to share your thoughts. Our show is your platform. Call us at 877-297-8022, and you'll promptly be put on the air. Engage the panel, share your views, or ask a question to our listeners. We hope to hear from you.

 Finally, be sure to stick around for our final, lightning-round segment The Bottom Line.

Weekly News Headline and Debate Topic Forum - 3/18/13

Another week down, another news cycle. What have we seen in the past week:

- Obama has reinstated a missile defense system that Bush supported and Obama scrapped.
- CPAC winds down, and all the media can say is that the GOP is tearing itself apart... of course. Why would they say anything else.

But on top of all that, I wanted to highlight this article: http://money.cnn.com/2013/03/18/news/economy/europe-cyprus-bailout/index.html

In case you haven't heard, here is the quick rundown: The country of Cyprus, in an effort to save itself from a crippling debt crisis and secure new "bailout" financing from the EU, had proposed a tax on band deposits. If a deposit held in a Cypriot held more than 100,000 Euros, it would be subject to a one-time 9.9% tax. If a deposit held less than 100,000 Euros, it would be subject to a one time 6.75% tax. As expected, hundreds of Cypriots fled to ATMs to make withdrawals, and, as expected, this created bank runs.

Obama says "There is no Immediate Debt Crisis"

And then claims, "in fact, for the next 10 years, it's gonna be in a sustainable place."

Wait, WHAT?!

I just had to post this. It seemed so "out of whack" that I figured it would be something worth talking about: http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2013/03/president-obama-there-is-no-debt-crisis/

Take a look at The President's interview, and share your thoughts. I will say, upon looking at some of the comments in the article, these sum it up the best:

 - "The fact that we are here today to debate raising America's debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. It is a sign that the U.S. Government can't pay its own bills. It is a sign that we now depend on ongoing financial assistance from foreign countries to finance our government's reckless fiscal policies... Increasing America's debt weakens us domestically and internationally. Leadership means that 'the buck stops here.' Instead, Washington is shifting the burden of bad choices today onto the backs of our children and grandchildren. America has a debt problem, and a failure of leadership. America deserves better." - Senator Barack Obama, March 16, 2006

- "The problem is, is that the way Bush has done in the last eight years is to take out a credit card from the Bank of China in the name of our children, driving up our national debt form $5 trillion for the first 42 presidents - #43 added $4 trillion by his lonesome, so that we now have over $9 trillion of debt that we are going to have to pay back - $30,000 for every man, woman, and child. That's irresponsible. It's unpatriotic." - Candidate Barack Obama, July 3, 2008

What do YOU think?

Weekly News Headline and Debate Topic Forum - 3/11/13

Well, the new jobs report is out, and many media pundits are claiming this is an Obama success: http://loudmouthelephant.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-february-2013-jobs-report.html

I don't see the report as a thing to leap about, but it does contain some positive news. Of course, that can fade if the numbers get revised next month.

But for me, here is the big topic of discussion: With all the doom and gloom painted by Team Obama regarding the sequester, how will this play out? If unemployment keeps falling, Obama looks like he severely over-exaggerated the sequester claims but is a "hero" for having the unemployment rate decline (this is subject to interpretation). If unemployment increases, Obama can claim he was right about the sequester, but is not the hero of decreasing unemployment.

Hmmmmm. The x-factor, of course, is the media. What do you think?

The February 2013 Jobs Report

Here is the February 2013 employment situation report from the BLS: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf

Key Highlights:

- The unemployment rate dropped to a new, four-year low of 7.7%. Non-farm employers added 236,000 new jobs, beating analysts' predictions.

- The number of unemployed persons edged downward to 12 million in February.

- The civilian labor force participation rate dropped to 63.5% form 63.6% in January.

- The "not in labor force" count (those who have no job and have stopped looking for work) increased by 296,000 from 89,008,000 in January to 89,304,000 in February.

- The number of persons employed for part-time economic reasons (those that are considered part-time involuntary workers) rose by 15,000 to 7,988,000.

- Average hourly earnings rose by 4 cents. The 12-month average for hourly earnings have risen at a 2.1% yearly rate.

- The change in total non-farm payroll employment for December was revised upward from +196,000 to +219,000, and the change for January was revised downward from +157,000 to +119,000.

What's your take on these figures? To me, the number of new jobs added is a slight plus, but it is overridden by the decrease in the civilian population force (-130,000) and the not-in-labor-force number (+296,000). It appears, again, that many people simply gave up looking for work, and the new jobs created (when coupled with January for an average of 177,000) is barely enough to keep up with the growth in population. I'm sure the media will LOVE this report, but when you look at it, it's not all peaches. 

Weekly News Headline and Debate Topic Forum - 3/4/13

Well, congratulations! You survived the Sequester. Yippie!

Unfortunately for me, I haven't been around, and I even missed the Gang of 405 radio show on Saturday. I regret that because there was a TON to talk about.

But that's okay; I'm sure there is a lot to talk about this week. The Sequester fight has come and gone, but the effects haven't really kicked in. On top of that, we have the issue with Bob Woodward, and the continued press headlining of this mythical "shift" in republicans now accepting Obamacare. As always, this forum is open for any and all discussions.