GOP Debate: Tim Pawlenty Goes After 'Obamneycare' In Iowa (VIDEO)

When moderator Chris Wallace gave Tim Pawlenty a chance to go after Mitt Romney on health care, this time, he didn't pass it up.

During a June debate, Pawlenty declined to use the word "Obamneycare" to slam the Massachusetts health care plan Romney signed into law, even though he had used the phrase earlier, raising questions about whether he was ready to go toe-to-toe with Romney.

Tonight, Pawlenty was more aggressive: "I don't want to miss that chance again, Chris. Look, Obamacare was patterned after Mitt's plan in Massachusetts. And for Mitt or anyone else to say there aren't substantial similarities or they are not essentially the same plan -- it just isn't credible. So that's why I called it Obamneycare, and I think that's a fair label. I'm happy to call it that again tonight."

Romney cited the 10th amendment to argue that Massachusetts had the right to implement its plan, whereas the federal Affordable Care Act was an overreach. When host Chris Wallace asked where in the Constitution it says that the government can implement an individual mandate, Romney challenged Wallace:
Are you familiar with the Massachusetts constitution? I am. The Massachusetts constitution allows states for instance, to say our kids have to go to school. It has that power. The question is, is that a good or bad idea? I understand different people come to different conclusions. What we did in our state was this: We said, we're finding people are going to the hospital and getting the state to pay for them. Taxpayers are picking up hundreds of millions of dollars of costs from people who are free riders. We said we are going to insist those people who can afford to pay for themselves do so. We believe in personal responsibility. ... That was our conclusion. The right answer for every state is to determine what is right for those states, not to impose Obamacare on the nation. That's why I would repeal it.

Gabrielle Giffords Returns to Congress for Debt Ceiling Vote (Photos & Video)

Seven months after she was shot in the head by a gunman in Tucson, Ariz., Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) made a surprise and emotional return to the House floor on Monday, casting a vote in favor of a bill to raise the nation's debt ceiling.

Giffords entered the chamber to sustained, standing applause, shaking hands with colleagues whom she had not seen since that January day. Her vote, a sideshow to the far more important and compelling personal drama, was in favor of the bill, which passed through the chamber by a margin of 269 to 161.

“I have closely followed the debate over our debt ceiling and have been deeply disappointed at what’s going on in Washington,” Giffords said, in a statement from her office. “After weeks of failed debate in Washington, I was pleased to see a solution to this crisis emerge. I strongly believe that crossing the aisle for the good of the American people is more important than party politics. I had to be here for this vote. I could not take the chance that my absence could crash our economy.”

Giffords' office tweeted word of her return to Washington after the vote had begun. And as she showed up on the floor -- smiling and with her hair cut short -- the attention of lawmakers drifted from the vote tally to her presence. Her office, in a statement, noted that in December 2009 and again in February 2010, she had objected to raising the nation's debt limit. This vote, the statement added, "was substantially different, with the strength of the U.S. economy hanging in the balance."

After the vote was cast, Giffords received multiple additional rounds of applause, as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called her "the personification of courage."

"Her presence here in the chamber as well as her service throughout her career in Congress, brings honor to this chamber," Pelosi said. "Thank you, Gabby."

Pelosi said she knew a Giffords visit "was possible" for a couple of days, but she urged the Arizona Democrat not to come unless she felt up for it.

"I did not encourage her to," Pelosi told reporters. "I told her first things first. But she was very eager to come."

Pelosi said she found out for sure that Giffords was returning from her chief of staff, John Lawrence, who is close with Giffords' husband Mark Kelly. When she saw Giffords come in, she said no words were exchanged as they greeted each other. Just "girl hugs," Pelosi said.

"Suffice it to say, it was one of the most thrilling moments to see this heroine return home, to the House. And to do so at such a dramatic time."

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), one of Giffords' closest personal friends and one of the people who escorted Giffords into the chamber, said she was beside herself when she heard the House erupt into cheers as Giffords walked in for the first time since the January 8 shooting.

"The reaction in the chamber was the most enthusiastic, exuberant, exhilarating -- I mean we were all crying -- thrilled -- you know, we just knew she would make a triumphant return," Wasserman Schultz said, becoming visibly upset.

"It always felt like there were so many doubters and skeptics, but never doubt Gabby Giffords' determination. This is the first of many votes she's going to pass."

Wasserman Schultz, who is also the Democratic National Committee chairwoman, said she knew "sometime yesterday" that Giffords' visit was happening. She said she spoke late last night to Giffords' husband, Mark Kelly, about the plan. Giffords had been following the debt limit vote from Tucson and "was ready to come and do the pivotal vote if she needed to," Wasserman Schultz said.

"At the end of the day, it was probably the most important vote we're going to cast this Congress. She wanted to make sure that her constituents were represented."

Vice President Joe Biden came to the Capitol to see Giffords, after being tipped off by Pelosi that she would be in attendance.

"I told her she was now a member of the cracked-head club like me, with two craniotomies," Biden told reporters. "You know what I mean? It was just so good to see her. But that's a private conversation."

Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-Ohio) found out about her return about an hour before the vote and helped to escort her into the chamber.

Assistant Democratic Leader James Clyburn (D-S.C.) said he found out that Giffords would show for the vote when he saw her, hinting that Pelosi and others in the know played it close to the vest.

"I just said, 'I love you, glad to have you back, great to see you,'" he said. "I only found out when I saw her. [It was] a little emotional."

Below, a picture of the congresswoman on Capitol Hill from HuffPost's Jen Bendery:

Announcement Expected For President Campaign : Newt Gingrich

Former USA bringing speaker newt Gingrich has signaled under that he will seek the republican nomination for presidents, whom he says, "becomes my course discuss" in two days.

"I become at be, to discuss my course for presidents of the United States," wrote Gingrich after a year spending, or putting more publicly the base for a GOP president candidacy. "I am of the encouragement entire you gave me humbles become to run".

Gingrich raised money and mounting of a campaign team for months. It was suspended of Fox News back in March, that speculation increased, that it would be run for presidents. Receives into the race marks a comeback attempt through the former Georgia delegate, who resigned of the house in 1998 after four tumultuarischen years as a speaker. It had led the GOP to its first majority in the house in 40 years.

To announce your official candidacy on social media, to help is a large way, your basis followers, to feel personally intricate in your campaign, unless obvious it only a half assed, fleeting social media "announcement", that is preceded by licking to the press, followed, and through a head appearance on national television. Then you make simply a transparent offer for medium attention.

Sex Crimes In New Orleans, Separate And Unequal

Transgender residents reported that officers are likelier, because of their gender identity, to charge them under the state’s ‘crimes against nature’ statute — a statute whose history reflects anti-LGBT sentiment,” the report noted. “For the already vulnerable transgender community, inclusion on the sex offender registry further stigmatizes and marginalizes them,

Opponents of the law say it is discriminatory and targets poor women and the gay and transgendered community who engage in what they call "survival sex." In March, the Center for Constitutional Rights filed a lawsuit on behalf of nine anonymous plaintiffs against the state, Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) and a host of state agencies, calling the law unconstitutional.

In their neighborhoods, they are sometimes taunted with dirty looks and jeers. Their pictures hang on the walls of local community centers where their children and grandchildren play. And their names and addresses are listed in newspapers and mailed out on postcards to everyone in the neighborhood.
They aren’t child molesters or pedophiles. Most are poor, hard-luck black women in New Orleans who agreed to exchange oral or anal sex for money. In doing so they violated the latest version of Louisiana’s 206-year-old Crime Against Nature law, which carries a maximum penalty of up to five years in prison and registration as a sex offender.

Announcement Expected For President Campaign : Newt Gingrich

"I become at be, to discuss my course for presidents of the United States," wrote Gingrich after a year spending, or putting more publicly the base for a GOP president candidacy. "I am of the encouragement entire you gave me humbles become to run".

Gingrich raised money and mounting of a campaign team for months. It was suspended of Fox News back in March, that speculation increased, that it would be run for presidents. Receives into the race marks a comeback attempt through the former Georgia delegate, who resigned of the house in 1998 after four tumultuarischen years as a speaker. It had led the GOP to its first majority in the house in 40 years.

To announce your official candidacy on social media, to help is a large way, your basis followers, to feel personally intricate in your campaign, unless obvious it only a half assed, fleeting social media "announcement", that is preceded by licking to the press, followed, and through a head appearance on national television. Then you make simply a transparent offer for medium attention.

Gingrich has high played also its Georgia roots. Born in Pennsylvanien, it taught university in Georgia and was a long-time delegate of suburban Atlanta, constructs helping the republican party in the country that is controlled at present by democrats.