tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-41337512012-02-09T14:31:24.302-05:00The daily rants and raves of a Detroit ex-PatriotHT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.comBlogger89361100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-76419388279662101742012-02-09T14:31:00.000-05:002012-02-09T14:31:24.314-05:00<center><img src="http://media.caglecartoons.com/media/cartoons/125/2012/02/08/105972_600.jpg" title="" border="0"></center><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-7641938827966210174?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-64747198109955462462012-02-09T14:08:00.000-05:002012-02-09T14:08:35.866-05:00<H2>Santorum: Obama Has Put America On ‘The Path’ Of Executing Religious People</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...an extra dose of craziness from the right....</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2012/02/09/421882/santorum-obama-has-put-america-on-the-path-of-executing-religious-people-by-decapitation/" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> Rick Santorum continued to rail against President Obama’s so-called war against religion during a town hall in Plano, Texas Wednesday night. The former Pennsylvania senator — who has spent the last several days criticizing the government’s requirement that insurers provide contraception coverage and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal’s decision striking down Proposition 8 — accused the administration of “crushing” religion and setting the United States on the path towards executing religious people by decapitation:<ul>SANTORUM: They are taking faith and crushing it. Why? Why? When you marginalize faith in America, when you remove the pillar of God-given rights, then what’s left is the French Revolution. What’s left is the government that gives you right, what’s left are no unalienable rights, what’s left is a government that will tell you who you are, what you’ll do and when you’ll do it. What’s left in France became the guillotine. Ladies and gentlemen, we’re a long way from that, but if we do and follow the path of President Obama and his overt hostility to faith in America, then we are headed down that road.</ul><P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Well, it looks like Michele Bachmann is back in the race. I thought she was the craziest of them all but Santorum is running a close second. Way to go Rick. Obama will have to be caught with a DEAD white woman in the Oval Office to lose this election.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-6474719810995546246?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-87064635093987313962012-02-09T13:58:00.000-05:002012-02-09T13:58:52.740-05:00<h3>"I never refer to Obama as President Obama because legally he is not. He constantly says that our constitution is passé, and he ignores it as you know and does what he darn well pleases. He is an avowed Muslim and my question is, why isn't something being done to get him out of government? He has no legal right to be calling himself president."</h3>-- <a href="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/23/santorum-ignores-charge-obama-is-a-muslim/?iref=obinsite" target="_blank">Santorum supporter</a> at townhall meeting in Lady Lake, Florida. Santorum didn't disagree.<p> <div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-8706463509398731396?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-30011217746415445882012-02-09T13:54:00.000-05:002012-02-09T13:54:35.410-05:00<H2>Santorum Slams Romney for Helping Rape Victims</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...does Santroum believe rape is 'god's will'?...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2012/02/07/santorum-slams-romney-on-contraception-mandate-for-rape-victims/?iref=obinsite" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> Rick Santorum opened a new front Tuesday in his battle to paint Mitt Romney as moderate who sided with Democrats on key issues, accusing the former Massachusetts governor of mandating that hospitals provide emergency contraception to rape victims.<br> In an op-ed Tuesday, Santorum said that in December 2005, then Gov. Romney "required all Massachusetts hospitals, including Catholic ones, to provide emergency contraception to rape victims."<br> "He said then that he believed 'in his heart of hearts' that receiving these contraceptives – free of charge – trumped employees' religious consciences. Now, a few years later and running for president, his heart is strategically aligned with religious voters opposing this federal mandate," wrote Santorum in Politico.<br> Opponents point to a law passed while Romney was governor of Massachusetts that required hospitals - including Catholic ones - to provide emergency contraception to rape victims.<br> A spokeswoman for the Romney campaign said he had vetoed the original bill. That veto was overruled by the state legislature.<br> Romney Communications Director Gail Gitcho pointed to the context that comes from the full "heart of hearts" quote.<br> "My personal view, in my heart of hearts, is that people who are subject to rape should have the option of having emergency contraception or emergency contraception information," Romney said in 2005, according to Gitcho.<br> Santorum argued that move by Romney is similar to what President Obama's administration "decreed," "that all employers, including Catholic and other religious employers, who offer health insurance to their employees, must offer sterilization, abortion-inducing drugs and contraception."<br> "The actions of President Obama – as well as the actions of then Governor Romney – raise some questions. From where do we receive our fundamental human rights? Are they given to us by the government–whether that government be State or Federal? Or, as the American Founders insisted, are these rights endowed upon us by a Creator?" wrote Santorum.<br> "It's important to me that we don't just talk a good game, but that we actually live it" he said. "I believe it is important to defend our religious liberties because these organizations are on the frontlines of helping those in need." <P> <FONT color="#0000FF">So Santorum beleives that if a women is raped and doesn't want to carry her rapists baby that somehow infringes on HIS religious liberty? Man, that is messed up.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-3001121774641544588?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-32684549154386101122012-02-09T13:43:00.000-05:002012-02-09T13:43:43.146-05:00<H2>CPAC Features "White Nationalist" Along With GOP Presidential Candidates</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...because racism is part of the GOP....</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/cpac-wont-renounce-white-nationalist" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> The American Conservative Union is standing by its decision to permit a panel at CPAC that includes a leading white nationalist figure, Peter Brimelow.<br> "CPAC is proud to have more than 150 sponsors and exhibitors this year," said spokeswoman Kristy Campbell in an email. "This panel was not organized by the ACU, and specific questions on the event, content or speakers should be directed to the sponsoring organization. Cosponsors and affiliated events do not necessarily represent the opinions of the American Conservative Union."<br> The group's Conservative Political Action Conference kicks off tomorrow with a host of important figures on the right, including presidential candidates and current legislators -- and with a lineup that tends to define the limits of the conservative movement. In the past, skirmishes over the inclusion of gay conservatives have been central, but this year's hottest debate appears to be over race.<br> Brimelow is the founder of VDARE.com, named after Virginia Dare, the first child born to English settlers in America. He's set to speak at a CPAC event called "The Failure of Multiculturalism: How the pursuit of diversity is weakening the American Identity."<br> The Southern Poverty Law Center describes Brimelow as a "White Nationalist" and his website as a hate site. Brimelow advocates against immigration and multiculturalism, which he has written "risks making America an alien nation."<br> His website publishes the work of white supremacist authors like Kevin MacDonald and Jared Taylor, a proponent of so-called "racial realism."<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">CPAC attendees raised a big stink when the sponsors considered having gay Republican panel members. Somehow having a avowed racist doesn't raise a peep of protest from the right.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-3268454915438610112?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-60765000923556848642012-02-09T10:07:00.000-05:002012-02-09T10:07:29.896-05:00<H2>Pro-Choice GOP Warns Party That Contraception Fight Will Be A Disaster</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...but you can't argue with a sick mind...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/02/pro-choice-gop-warns-party-that-contraception-fight-will-be-a-disaster.php?ref=fpnewsfeed" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> Pro-choice Republicans are begging their party to drop this fight over contraception before it’s too late. Turning to a discussion about access to birth control will be nothing short of a disaster, they say.<br> The new and unexpected war over contraception may not end up as only a battle between the White House and the Republican party. It could end up as a fight between the GOP and itself. As we saw during the 2011’s push to defund Planned Parenthood — when some Republican Senators rebuked their colleagues in the House for attacking the organization — Republicans on Capitol Hill do not speak with one voice on matters of women’s health. Now, as Speaker John Boehner seemingly prepares to turn the House GOP’s attention to contraception, pro-choice Republicans are warning that the GOP may become the next Komen For The Cure.<br> “I think this week’s outrage over the Komen decision should be a warning to the Republican party about how quickly there was a mass outrage over further and further attacks on general women’s health,” Kellie Ferguson, executive director of Republican Majority for choice, told me Wednesday. “You could see the same backlash on attacks on contraception.”<br> Ferguson calls the Republican rhetoric on contraception “crossing the line” — taking the discussion away from choice issues (where Republicans can find some broader, if still national minority constituency) and into the realm of the fringy extreme.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Republicans just don't get it that they are getting more and more out on the fringe of society because of their goofy positions on a host of issues. Nobody is going to buy this bullshit.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-6076500092355684864?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-69762177480738337882012-02-09T10:00:00.000-05:002012-02-09T10:00:54.167-05:00<H2>New Hampshire Republicans Propose Bill To Eliminate Workers’ Lunch Breaks</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...may reintroduce legal slavery bill next month...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/02/08/421510/new-hampshire-gop-repeal-lunch/" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> New Hampshire’s GOP legislature has come up with all manner of absurd bills recently, including a proposal making public school curriculum optional, another to prevent police from protecting domestic abuse victims, and even a measure mandating that new laws be based on the Magna Carta. Some of the Granite State’s GOP lawmakers have even proposed doing away with the law that requires employers to give their workers time off for lunch, under the rationale that all employers will simply grant lunch breaks out of the goodness of their hearts:<ul> “This is an unneeded law,” [Republican state Representative Kyle Jones] said. “If I was to deny one of my employees a break, I would be in a very bad position with the company’s human resources representative. If you consider that this is a very easy law to follow in that everyone already does it, then why do we need it? Our constituents have already proven that they have enough common sense to do this on their own.” </ul> The bill’s sponsor, state representative J.R. Hoell, argued that companies failing to provide lunch breaks would be shamed over social media, thus rendering the law unnecessary. “If they are not letting people have lunch, they could put it out though the news media, though social media. I don’t think that abusive behavior would continue, the way communications are today,” he said. <br> Of course, not every employer can be counted to to follow even the easiest of requirements to look after workers’ health and rights. Back in 2005, Walmart was forced to pay $172 million for denying workers their lunch breaks. Pyramid Breweries Inc. settled a case in 2008 for $1.5 million. Just a few months ago, California ordered Embassy Suites to pay workers tens of thousands of dollars for forcing them to skip breaks.<br> “The fact that in 2012, I would be even sitting in front of the Labor Committee talking about eliminating the lunch hour is outrageous,” said Mark MacKenzie, New Hampshire’s state AFL-CIO representative. “People should at least be able to be given the opportunity to eat.” <P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Republicans are SO retarded. Why would anyone vote for them?</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-6976217748073833788?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-64732267909115717152012-02-09T09:48:00.000-05:002012-02-09T09:48:26.316-05:00<H2>Catholic Bishops Urge Obama to Back Down on Birth Control</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...should be spending their time bringing child rapists to justice....</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505263_162-57373785/dolan-urges-obama-to-back-down-on-birth-control/" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> The head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Thursday urged President Obama to reverse his administration's decision requiring all employers, including hospitals and schools affiliated with religious organizations, to provide birth control as part of their health plans.<br> "This was a terribly misguided judgement," Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York said in an interview on "CBS This Morning."<br> Dolan, who is set to become a cardinal later this month, said he met with Obama in the Oval Office late last year and was promised the White House would work with the Catholic church on a number of issues, including education, healthcare and charitable work.<br> "I am hoping that this massive negative reaction to this ruling, I am hoping that he will go back to those assurances that he gave me," Dolan said.<br> Dolan said Mr. Obama called him on January 20 to inform him of his decision.<br> "I expressed to him sincerely my disappointment and my disapproval," Dolan said.<br> The White House is under intense pressure from both sides for its ruling, which tweaks a 2000 law mandating that employers can not discriminate against men and women for their health care coverage.<br> Religious groups say the rule infringes on their religious liberty, while many women's rights groups are asking the president to hold firm.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Obama is WAY too nice to these felons. If I were President, Catholic clergy wouldn't get the time of day until they brought down their international ring of child rapists. They need to turn over their records and stop protecting these people.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-6473226790911571715?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-22451923853077214282012-02-09T09:43:00.000-05:002012-02-09T09:43:09.983-05:00<H2>Republicans Target Child Tax Break for Illegal Immigrants</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...unusually stupid idea bound to backfire...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2012/02/08/republicans-target-child-tax-break-for-illegal-immigrants/" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> Republicans are pushing a proposal that would require people filing tax returns to prove they're legal workers -- a move which in turn is aimed at denying child tax credits to illegal immigrants.<br> The effort has roused anger among Hispanics and some Democratic lawmakers. But it's being offered as a way to help pay for extending the payroll tax cut and is projected to trim federal spending by about $10 billion over a decade. Refund checks average about $1,800.<br> The debate address a quirk in U.S. law. Even people who are not authorized to work in the U.S. are supposed to file returns with the IRS. Many of those people cannot obtain a Social Security number, so to facilitate this the IRS hands out what are known as Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers -- so illegal workers can file returns.<br> However, in doing so many of those workers are claiming tax benefits. For some, it's a way of making even more money. Though they receive a refund check, in some cases low-income workers wouldn't have paid income taxes in the first place.<br> Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada says the proposal unfairly goes after the children of poor Hispanic workers. Such kids often are U.S. citizens, even when their parents aren't, because they were born in this country.<br> Says Leticia Miranda, senior policy adviser of the National Council of La Raza: "People who are making close to the minimum wage and are raising children in this country -- and we're asking them to pay for the payroll tax cut?" She says, "It's outrageous and it's crazy."<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">What illegals will do is to stop filing tax returns and avoid paying taxes. Instead of punishing the illegals, it will punish the American taxpayer. Another stupid Republican idea.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-2245192385307721428?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-88092587082401897662012-02-08T14:14:00.000-05:002012-02-08T14:14:05.372-05:00<center><img src="http://media.caglecartoons.com/media/cartoons/47/2012/02/03/105704_600.jpg" title="" border="0"></center><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-8809258708240189766?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-43688756839424451392012-02-08T14:06:00.000-05:002012-02-08T14:06:26.214-05:00<H2>GOP Claims: "Abortion Is the Leading Cause of Death in the Black Community"</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...another goofy try to limit women's control over their bodies...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://motherjones.com/mojo/2012/02/house-gop-memo-abortion-leading-cause-death-black-community" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> A House GOP memo obtained by Mother Jones argues for a controversial "prenatal discrimination bill" by referring to "black abortions" as distinct from abortions in general and claiming that "abortion is the leading cause of death in the black community." The memo (PDF) was circulated by Republicans on the House judiciary committee on Monday in advance of Tuesday's markup of Rep. Trent Franks' (R-Ariz.) Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act.<br> Franks' bill, which is also known as H.R. 3514, didn't make it out of committee when it was introduced in the last Congress. But the fact that it's now receiving a markup—a key step on the way to a floor vote—and that 78 cosponsors have signed on suggests that it could proceed to a vote of the full House before November's elections. In addition to banning abortions based on the race or gender of the fetus, H.R. 3514 would give a woman's family members the ability to sue abortion providers if they believed an abortion was obtained based on race or sex. Critics warn that it would be next to impossible to prove that an abortion was obtained on the basis of race or gender and fear the provision could lead to nuisance suits against abortion providers by family members who are opposed to abortion on principle.<br> Bills outlawing sex-selection abortions—a procedure most Americans oppose—have passed on the state level. But a bill outlawing abortions based on race ran into trouble in Georgia in 2010. As my colleague Stephanie Mencimer reported:<ul> The campaign started with controversial billboards, which began popping up in the state after President Obama was elected. They featured a photo of a beautiful, sad black baby boy and the line: "Black children are an endangered species." Anti-abortion activists claimed to be out to save the black community from genocide at the hands of Planned Parenthood.<br> "The most pernicious part was, they're trying to hijack the civil rights legacy in the service of conservative causes, trying to appropriate the mantle of the civil rights movement in a really despicable way," says Loretta Ross, the national coordinator of SisterSong, a reproductive justice organization for women of color in Atlanta. She says the effort even featured white people singing "We Shall Overcome" at black women as part of a pro-life "freedom ride" bus tour that stopped at Atlanta's Martin Luther King Jr. Center.</ul> As with the Georgia bill, backers of Franks' bill, including Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), the powerful chairman of the judiciary committee, have pointed to a supposed epidemic of abortions based on the race of the fetus—an argument that dominates the memo below. As Ross told Mencimer, the whole notion of black women choosing an abortion because of the race of the fetus doesn't make sense:<ul> "It's kind of hard to find evidence that a black woman is going to have an abortion because she's surprised to find her baby is black. It just strains credulity to think that's a problem," [Ross] says with a hearty laugh. "I mean, she wakes up in the morning and says 'Oh my god! My baby's black?'"</ul><P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Since when would Republicans pass a law that would encourage more black babies? The racist pricks don't care about black folks and never have.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-4368875683942445139?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-33601748955087302282012-02-08T13:50:00.000-05:002012-02-08T13:50:12.209-05:00<H2>Occupy DC To Terrorize CPAC Meeting</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...conservatives wetting their pants...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://wonkette.com/462762/ocupados-to-terrorize-cpac-to-its-bitter-core#more-462762" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> The DC-area Occupy people, having been kicked out of their park this weekend, have a fun new thing in the works: Occupying CPAC. It’s just around the corner, so why not? According to the Occupiers’ website, they will “march to the Marriott” to “create as much non-violent resistance as possible, and make this a conference the attendees will never forget.” So they want pictures with Sarah Palin, got it. But what if this non-violent resistance descends into a bit of the ol’ Ultraviolence? That’s what’s going to happen, according to a hysterical pants-wetting Heritage Foundation blog post. <br> A nerd named Lachlan Markay at the Heritage Foundation’s blog, “Scribe,” has found a source who is probably just the guy sitting next to him. The source tells Markay that the occupiers are going to bomb Mitt Romney and everyone in attendance and then blow up the building with C4 and then nuke DC. And did you know that the Africkans will be involved?<ul> During a Thursday meeting at McPherson Square, until Saturday the epicenter of the protests, Occupiers brainstormed tactics for shutting down or disrupting the conference, according to a source who was present at the meeting.<br> The protesters suggested pulling fire alarms in the hotel where the conference will take place, screaming “fire” during conference activities, “glitter-bombing” participants, cutting electrical power, and barricading entrances to the hotel, according to the source, who requested anonymity.<br> “Speakers will be physically assaulted, not just verbally confronted,” the source told Scribe in an email. Two Occupiers, who the source also identified as members of the New Black Panther Party, “said they would be disappointed if they didn’t get arrested and planned to ‘make it count.’”</ul> This is a serious blog article.<ul> “In order to avoid having to shower and dress in business attire to blend in,” Scribe’s source said, “they plan to wear Ron Paul 2012 gear because they believe Paul supporters ‘generally look like hippies.’”</ul> Can’t wait! Just give us media wastrels a heads-up when you start beating the shit out of the candidates, please, Occupiers? We want the camera rolling, for journalism.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Maybe if I have some time this weekend I can join in on the festivities. Sounds like a lot of fun.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-3360174895508730228?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-20043786847239198972012-02-08T13:30:00.000-05:002012-02-08T13:52:36.280-05:00<H2>Boehner, GOP Pledge to Reverse Obama Birth-control Mandate</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...because they hate women...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://thehill.com/blogs/floor-action/house/209419-boehner-pledges-to-reverse-obamas-abortion-rule" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Wednesday vowed that Congress would repeal an Obama administration regulation requiring employers, including religious organizations, to provide birth-control coverage in their employees’ health plans.<br> “If the president does not reverse the [Health and Human Services] Department’s attack on religious freedom, then the Congress, acting on behalf of the American people and the Constitution we are sworn to uphold and defend, must,” Boehner said in a rare floor speech.<br> “In imposing this requirement, the federal government is violating a First Amendment right that has stood for more than two centuries. And it is doing so in a manner that affects millions of Americans and harms some of our nation’s most vital institutions.”<br> The Obama administration’s decision has touched off a political firestorm with the Catholic Church, which opposes birth control. While such groups as the church would be exempt from the policy, hospitals, charities and universities affiliated with the Catholic Church and other religious organizations would have to provide the coverage.<br> Priests at an estimated 70 percent of parishes across the country read a statement protesting the decision at services last week.<br> Boehner’s decision shows congressional Republicans sense the adminsitration is vulnerable on the point. <P> <FONT color="#0000FF">What Boehner and the GOP haven't figured out is that <a href="http://content.usatoday.com/communities/Religion/post/2012/02/contraception-catholic-bishops-obama-hhs/1" target="_blank">THEY are the ones vulnerable on this issue</a>. Nobody believes the crazy catholic requirement and everyone believes that reproductive issues are part of health care. They would have to get their repeal legislation through a democratically controlled senate with enough votes to override a presidential veto. Unless of course the capitulator-in-chief decides to cave-in again.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-2004378684723919897?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-59264786672831274612012-02-08T13:22:00.000-05:002012-02-08T13:22:26.390-05:00<h3>"Rick Santorum was a sitting senator who in re-election lost by 19 points, to my knowledge the most in the history of this country for a sitting senator to lose by 19 points. It's unheard of. Then he goes out and says oh 'okay' I just lost by the biggest margin in history and now I'm going to run for president. Tell me, how does that work?</h3>-- Donald Trump (R-egomanic) asking a pointed question about the newest GOP darling.<p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-5926478667283127461?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-51240589780610955632012-02-08T13:19:00.000-05:002012-02-08T13:19:09.505-05:00<H2>Ohio Exhibits Voters Remorse, Sorry They Elected Republicans</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...democrats would win by 20% if election were held today.... </I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/main/2012/02/ohio-odds-and-ends.html" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> In 2010 Ohio voters elected a Republican Governor and went GOP in many House races, helping to elect a new Republican Speaker of the House from their state. Now they regret the Governor and don't like the Speaker. It's hard for me to imagine that buyer's remorse isn't going to work to the benefit of Barack Obama and other Democrats in the state this fall.<br> John Boehner's approval was 26/52 on our last national poll and it's not much better in his home state of Ohio at 28/54. Boehner has a similar situation to Kasich where Republicans are meh to him (53/28) while Democrats pretty much all dislike him (8/74). He also does badly with independents at 28/55.<br> The best word to describe first term Senator Rob Portman would be anonymous. 42% of voters have no opinion about him, the highest figure we've found for any sitting Senator. Anyone who claims that Portman would be a great running mate for Mitt Romney and help him win Ohio probably deserves a special honor for banal punditry.<br> John Kasich's not getting any more popular. 33% of voters approve of him to 53% who disapprove. Only a little more than half of Republicans think he's doing a good job (58/25), while Democrats (9/80) are almost universal in their disapproval. If voters could do the 2010 election over again they'd vote for Ted Strickland by a 20 point margin, 56-36, numbers that not coincidentally track closely with the Senate Bill 5 repeal result from last fall.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Funny thing. When I talk to my friends and family back in the midwest, they are still staunchly conservative. Yet, they seem to hate the Republicans THEY elected. When they see the types of laws that Republicans enact, they don't like it one little bit. Case in point, the GOP's anti-union legislation. Don't the Republicans know that the blue-collar midwest is highly unionized? These people aren't thrilled with their union representation but they aren't about to give it up either.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-5124058978061095563?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-80383910511828518742012-02-08T12:10:00.000-05:002012-02-08T12:10:48.317-05:00<h3>“Today, unelected judges cast aside the will of the people of California who voted to protect traditional marriage. This decision does not end this fight, and I expect it to go to the Supreme Court. That prospect underscores the vital importance of this election and the movement to preserve our values. I believe marriage is between a man and a woman and, as president, I will protect traditional marriage and appoint judges who interpret the Constitution as it is written and not according to their own politics and prejudices.”</h3>-- <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/on-gay-marriage-mitt-romney-veers-hard-to-the-right/2012/02/07/gIQALE48wQ_blog.html" target="_blank">Mitt Romney</a>, commenting on the 9th Circuit Courts ruling that California's Proposition 8 overturning the legality of gay marriage and sealing his own doom in the general election.<p> <div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-8038391051182851874?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-80579328556378061012012-02-08T12:06:00.000-05:002012-02-08T12:06:54.683-05:00<img src="http://mapawatt.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/shock_cartoon1.jpg" align="absmiddle" title="" width="125" height="125" border="0"><font size="+1">Shocking Stories in the News</font> <H2>Bill O'Reilly Compares Conservative 'Witch Hunt' to Fire Ellen DeGeneres to McCarthyism</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...is O'Reilly turning liberal?....</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.mediaite.com/tv/bill-oreilly-compares-witch-hunt-to-fire-ellen-degeneres-from-jc-penney-ads-to-mccarthyism/" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> Bill O’Reilly had a particularly pro-Hollywood night tonight, as far as The Factor is typically concerned. After a segment in which he defended Clint Eastwood from claims that his Super Bowl ad was subliminal Obama campaign propaganda, O’Reilly had on Sandy Rios of Family-Pac Federal to explain the call from conservative group Million Moms to get Ellen DeGeneres fired as JC Penney spokeswoman, and he was not happy with their argument. “I don’t think that’s the spirit of America,” he objected to Rios, who argued that DeGeneres represented immorality.<br> “Is it right for any organization to call for a company to fire a spokesperson that has not done anything wrong?” O’Reilly first asked, wondering what was wrong with DeGeneres making a living. “Just because something is legal doesn’t mean its moral,” Rios replied, though that didn’t seem to be a strong enough reason for O’Reilly, who noted that JC Penney was a private corporation that could hire whoever it wanted. “I don’t think that’s the spirit of America,” he replied. She continued that “it isn’t about Ellen DeGeneres, but it is about mainstreaming something that is not acceptable to Christian people all over the country.” O’Reilly wasn’t buying it.<br> “What is the difference between a McCarthy-era blacklist and Million Moms” not wanting DeGeneres employed, O’Reilly asked. He added that he understood the objection, but didn’t see why the group didn’t just call for a boycott, instead of demanding certain executive decisions from the company. “You’re dodging the essential question… a conservative group in this country is asking an American citizen based upon her lifestyle, and I don’t think that’s correct.” Rios continued to argue that the problem wasn’t DeGeneres, but that “we are seeing homosexuality so embedded in our culture in alarming ways.”<br> “It’s a witch hunt and it shouldn’t happen,” O’Reilly concluded.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Shocking! O'Reilly defending a lesbian and Clint Eastwood in the same show. What will O'Reilly do next?</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-8057932855637806101?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-8739140076226692242012-02-08T11:50:00.000-05:002012-02-08T11:50:29.730-05:00<H2>Santorum's Sweep Pummels Romney</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...evangelicals won't vote for a mormon...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/us/politics/santorum-sweep-sets-stage-for-new-battle-in-republican-race.html" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> Rick Santorum’s sweep of Mitt Romney in Tuesday’s three Republican presidential contests sets the stage for a new and bitter round of intraparty acrimony as Mr. Romney once again faces a surging conservative challenge to his claim on the party’s nomination.<br> Mr. Santorum’s rebuke of Mr. Romney could scramble the dynamics of the Republican race even as many in the party’s establishment were urging its most committed activists to finally fall in line behind Mr. Romney, a former Massachusetts governor. Voters in three disparate states forcefully refused to do that on Tuesday.<br> Instead, the most conservative elements of the Republican Party’s base expressed their unease with Mr. Romney by sending a resounding message that they preferred someone else. And they collectively revived the candidacy of Mr. Santorum, who has been languishing in the background since a narrow victory in Iowa’s caucuses at the beginning of the year.<br> Mr. Santorum’s success on Tuesday night awarded him no delegates from contests that were essentially nonbinding straw polls and drew small turnouts in all three states. And Mr. Santorum’s campaign has few of the organizational advantages of Mr. Romney’s well-financed effort.<br> The long-term damage to Mr. Romney is difficult to assess. His campaign has so far weathered several surges from challengers — Mr. Santorum, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry and Herman Cain — only to re-emerge as the leading contender to face President Obama in the fall. He also has the support of a well-financed “super PAC,” which has demonstrated a willingness to spend heavily on advertising critical of Mr. Romney’s rivals.<br> The potential reordering of the campaign comes just as the Republican race was set to enter a more fallow period for the first time since voting began in Iowa on Jan. 3. The only votes cast during the next three weeks will be in the small state of Maine, and the next presidential debate will not occur for two weeks.<br> In interviews on Wednesday morning, Mr. Santorum predicted that Mr. Romney would seek to fill that void with new, searing attacks in an effort to blunt the fresh momentum behind Mr. Santorum’s campaign.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Romney may be the best chance that the GOP has but evangelicals will not vote for a mormon. Mr. Sweater-vest (Santorum) has no chance at winning the general election, he's way too much of a religious nut bag for rational people.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-873914007622669224?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-26919103360822633152012-02-06T14:18:00.000-05:002012-02-06T14:18:28.851-05:00<center><img src="http://thehill.com/images/stories/weyants/2012/cartoon---02-06-12.big.jpg" title="" border="0"></center><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-2691910336082263315?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-20347331008384392992012-02-06T14:15:00.000-05:002012-02-06T14:15:45.915-05:00<H2>Republicans to Fight Boost in Housing Markets</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...want no help for struggling homeowners...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/1091-housing/208747-white-house-to-push-housing-plan-despite-gop-opposition" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> The housing market is widely seen in Washington as still struggling in the wake of the subprime mortgage crisis, and weighing down what would be a more robust economic recovery.<br> In recent days, the White House has made a concerted effort to address the housing sector, rolling out new plans to help homeowners avoid foreclosure and boost the housing sector.<br> But while the administration can nibble around the edges and implement changes, it needs Congress and regulators to get on board with any major initiatives, and this presents significant challenges.<br> President Obama is calling on Congress to pass legislation to establish a streamlined refinancing program that would be open to most borrowers, specifically those who don't hold government-backed loans. The program would permit people who are current on their payments, especially those whose houses are “underwater,” to refinance their mortgages, allowing them to save up to $3,000 a year by taking advantage of lower rates.<br> By expanding eligibility, about 3.5 million additional borrowers can take advantage of the refinancing program, Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan said earlier this week.<br> The White House's main argument is that economists recognize that a broad-scale refinancing effort "is one of the most important things that we can do not only for families and for the housing market but also for the economy more broadly."<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">The Republican problem with this is that is will cost between $5 and $10 billion that is to be financed by a new tax on Banks (you know, the people who caused the problem in the first place). Republicans don't want their friends to have to pay to help clean up their mess in even small ways.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-2034733100838439299?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-31983392046208888342012-02-06T14:10:00.000-05:002012-02-06T14:10:31.546-05:00<H2>Rove Takes On Clint Eastwood Over Super Bowl Ad Touting Chyrsler</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...well, do you feel lucky, punk?...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://thehill.com/video/administration/208851-karl-rove-ofended-by-clint-eastwood-super-bowl-ad" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> Karl Rove sees politics written all over Clint Eastwood's new Chrysler ad and even compares it to "Chicago-style politics."<br> "I was, frankly, offended by it," Rove said on Fox News Monday. "I'm a huge fan of Clint Eastwood, I thought it was an extremely well-done ad, but it is a sign of what happens when you have Chicago-style politics, and the President of the United States and his political minions are, in essence, using our tax dollars to buy corporate advertising and the best-wishes of the management which is benefited by getting a bunch of our money that they'll never pay back."<br> The ad aired during the Super Bowl, and struck many as distinctly political in its portrayal of Detroit's rise with a tie-in to Ronald Reagan's "Morning in America" commercial in 1984.<br> "It's halftime, America," Eastwood says near the end, "and our second half's about to begin."<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Oh please! Eastwood was touting the resurgence of Detroit (despite Rove and the Republicans efforts to close up the auto industry) and it was damn good for Chrysler. Eastwood, a staunch Republican, wasn't promoting an anti-Republican ad, it was a pro-Detroit ad. Rove needs to get a grip on reality.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-3198339204620888834?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-83061505199797044382012-02-06T14:02:00.000-05:002012-02-06T14:02:52.741-05:00<h3>"I know he walked away with the hard drives in Massachusetts. But the video from the primary campaign is going to be hard to erase."</h3>-- David Axelrod, Democratic strategist suggesting the Mittens is going to have to eat some of his hard right wing positions in the general election (where he is expected to try to appear as a moderate).<p> <div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-8306150519979704438?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-77066888445637331532012-02-06T11:56:00.000-05:002012-02-06T11:56:15.478-05:00<H2>Santorum Gives Doomsday Warning</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...especially if he gets elected....</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.mcall.com/news/breaking/mc-doomsday-warning-from-rick-santorum--2012-20120203,0,2473849.story" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> Rick Santorum's campaign slogan could very well be one word: doomsday.<br> To hear him tell it, the United States will collapse under the weight of its health care system and basic freedoms will be history. Iran will annihilate Israel and then South Carolina if Iran isn't blocked from building a nuclear weapon. And divorce will yield higher taxes for all Americans.<br> Unless, of course, Republicans pick Santorum as the party's presidential nominee and he goes on to defeat President Barack Obama.<br> "Go back and read what the sirens did once you arrived on that island," Santorum warned students at Colorado Christian University this week, invoking mythology. "They devour you. They destroy you. They consume you."<br> "Ladies and gentleman we cannot listen to the siren song," he added. "We cannot listen to President Obama and we can't listen to those in our party who want to be just a little bit less than what the Democrats and the left is doing to our country."<br> It was standard fare for the former Pennsylvania senator. He doesn't mince words in campaign speeches in which he describes how — in his view — the country is heading down the wrong path and the government is growing too big. Gloom and doom usually pepper his remarks. And he often argues that America will falter if he fails to win the nomination.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Rick, the sirens are from MYTHOLOGY. The operative word here being MYTH. And guess what? Most of us belive that America is better off without you.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-7706688844563733153?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-56083119283543283992012-02-06T11:51:00.000-05:002012-02-06T11:51:24.726-05:00<H2>Birther Lawsuit Loses to Empty Table</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...Court agrees that birthers are crazy...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/02/03/1061562/-Orly-Taitz-loses-birther-case-to-an-empty-table?via=siderec" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> Orly Taitz represented one of four plaintiffs challenging President Obama's eligibility for placement on the Democratic ballot in Georgia. The President and his counsel were subpoenaed to appear in court to defend against these challenges, but the President's attorney issued a nice letter to the judge stating that the Court had no business or jurisdiction even hearing the case and therefore the defense would not be in attendance.<br> So Taitz and her fellow attorneys presented their best arguments without challenge from the defense, and requested a summary judgment on the merits.<br> And the Court's judgment: the plaintiffs have no case and no credible evidence, and there is no law to support their claims. Judgment for the defendant, represented only by an empty table, on the merits. Or in this case, utter lack thereof.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">This won't stop them. They will continue to look for a "friendly" court to persure their weird beliefs.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-5608311928354328399?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-88443717920105271482012-02-06T11:41:00.000-05:002012-02-06T14:22:40.529-05:00<center><img src="http://cache.gawkerassets.com/assets/images/11/2012/02/3ddf784eee499e16030269220898eb84.jpg" title="" width="650" height="365" border="0"><br>Ruch Limbaugh picking his nose in Patriots Team owner's box at the Super Bowl<br>Stephen Tyler sure looks bored<p></center><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-8844371792010527148?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-68469488394063481702012-02-06T11:39:00.000-05:002012-02-06T11:39:02.226-05:00<H2>Koch Brothers, Allies Pledge $100 Million To Beat Obama</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...can't have a nigger in the White House...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/03/koch-brothers-100-million-obama_n_1250828.html" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> At a private three-day retreat in California last weekend, conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch and about 250 to 300 other individuals pledged approximately $100 million to defeat President Obama in the 2012 elections.<br> A source who was in the room when the pledges were made told The Huffington Post that, specifically, Charles Koch pledged $40 million and David pledged $20 million.<br> The semi-annual, invitation-only meeting attracts wealthy donors, Republican politicians and conservative activists. Last year, hundreds of activists gathered outside the walled-off resort to protest the meeting. This year, however, the conference went off quietly.<br> "Conference organizers and their guests successfully slipped in and out of the Coachella Valley without being detected, by buying out nearly all of the 500-plus rooms at the Renaissance Esmeralda resort in Indian Wells," reported The Desert Sun. "The resort closed its restaurants, locked down the grounds with private security guards and sent many workers home."<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Their racial hatred has to be realized in private, behind closed doors. I don't have $100 million but I do have $200 I can send to President Obama that will go out in the mail today. These idiots have to be defeated or they will ruin our country in their image.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-6846948839406348170?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-47255598566968754382012-02-06T11:33:00.000-05:002012-02-06T11:33:36.861-05:00<H2>Republicans Prohibit Funding for High Speed Rail</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...GOP will do anything to hold back American progress...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://blog.sfgate.com/nov05election/2012/02/03/republicans-prohibit-funding-for-high-speed-rail/" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> House Republicans late Thursday night adopted an amendment that would prohibit California from receiving any high speed rail money in a huge five-year transportation bill headed to the House floor next week. The $270 billion bill also eliminates bicycle and pedestrian programs and detaches urban mass transit funding from its traditional revenue source. The underlying bill did not include any high speed rail funding to begin with, and indeed would cut Amtrak by 25 percent, so the prohibition serves mainly as a stick in the eye to California’s plan for bullet trains.<br> The action is part of a continuing effort by Republicans to kill the entire project, which was a major element of President Obama’s 2009 stimulus. California’s $100 billion plan for bullet trains running from San Francisco to San Diego already has the stimulus money in hand to get started, but future federal funding on which the project depends is very much at risk if House Republicans maintain control of the chamber, not to mention take the White House.<br> The high speed rail prohibition came as an amendment, approved 31-22, by Rep. Jeff Dunham, R-Turlock, who said he wanted to make sure that all transportation funds for California to go to highways.<br> The House Transportation bill overall stands on shaky financial and political footing, relying as it does on yet-to-be seen revenues from potential off shore oil drilling that purportedly would materialize if areas off both U.S. coasts, including California’s, were opened to new oil leasing, as the bill envisions. Its chances of Senate passage in its current form are zero. <P> <FONT color="#0000FF">And the Republican plan is for their goofy all roads bill to be funded by offshore drilling that is currently banned because of pollution concerns. Why do we waste our time on these morons (the GOP)?</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-4725559856696875438?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-47575779696958182412012-02-06T11:29:00.000-05:002012-02-06T11:29:08.750-05:00<H2>Indiana GOP Sec of State Found Guilty of 6 Counts of Felony Voter Fraud</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...the guy who counts votes in Indiana...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.wthr.com/story/16668542/indiana-election-chiefs-voter-fraud-trial-nears-end" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> A Hamilton County jury has found Secretary of State Charlie White guilty on six of seven counts in his voter fraud case. The jury returned the verdict early Saturday morning after getting the case on Friday.<br> The jury began deliberating at 2:00 pm. They came back at about 1:30 a.m. Saturday after deliberating for nearly 13 hours.<br> White spoke to Eyewitness News after the verdict, and was disappointed with the decision. "Disappointed for my family and the people who supported me," White said. "We will review all of our options. A lot of things we've objected to all this time and fight another day."<br> Former Marion County prosecutor Carl Brizzi defended White and will try to have the felonies reduced. "We would ask for an evidentiary hearing so he is charged not as a felon because it is not worthy of that, but as a misdemeanor," Brizzi said after leaving the courtroom.<br> Special prosecutor John Dowd wants the felony counts to stay in place. "Our position is the jury convicted him of six felonies," Dowd said, "and we believe he should be sentenced on the basis of six felonies."<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Republicans are always waving the red flag of voter fraud in their attempts to limit voting rights for minorities. However, history shows that it isn't minorities committing voter fraud, it's Republicans. I'm glad to see one of them finally get caught with their hand in the proverbial cookie jar.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-4757577969695818241?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-83899062692499299762012-02-03T11:07:00.000-05:002012-02-03T11:07:50.283-05:00<center><img src="http://www.caglecartoons.com/media/cartoons/205/2012/02/02/105638_600.jpg" title="" border="0"></center><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-8389906269249929976?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-55789793677383929542012-02-03T10:45:00.000-05:002012-02-03T10:45:58.665-05:00<H2>House GOP Declares Unanimously: Bush Tax Cuts Did Not Blow Up The Budget</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...why am I <u>not</u> surprised?...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entries/house-gop-declares-unanimously-bush-tax-cuts-did" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> Every House Republican voted Thursday to reject the proposition that the Bush tax cuts added to the deficit.<br> Joined by just a handful of Democrats, the full Republican conference rejected a measure that would have affirmed what nearly all budget experts and economists recognized: President George W. Bush's debt-financed tax cuts blew up the budget in the last decade, leaving the country in a hole that sank into a chasm after the 2008 financial crisis.<br> The final tally was 174-244. If it had passed, the measure -- authored by Rep. Gary Peters (D-MI) -- would have amended a GOP-backed bill that would have changed the way neutral budget score-keepers analyze the effects of taxation, to make it appear as if unpaid-for tax cuts don't deepen deficits.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Republicans are so dishonest. Why can't people see what is staring them in the face?</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-5578979367738392954?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-51507613709050028842012-02-03T10:42:00.000-05:002012-02-03T10:42:34.085-05:00<H2>Komen's $7.5 Million Grant to Accused Pedophiles Appears to Violate New Policy</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...but they don't make political decisions...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://motherjones.com/mojo/2012/02/komen-foundation-gave-75-million-grant-penn-state?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed:+Motherjones/mojoblog+(MotherJones.com+|+MoJoBlog)" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> Susan G. Komen for the Cure, which recently announced that it is ending grants to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer screening because of a controversial investigation launched by an anti-abortion Republican congressman, currently funds cancer research at the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center to the tune of $7.5 million. Like Planned Parenthood, Penn State is currently the subject of a federal government investigation, and like the Planned Parenthood grant, the Penn State grant appears to violate a new internal rule at Komen that bans grants to organizations that are under investigation by federal, state, or local governments. But so far, only the Planned Parenthood grants appear to have been cancelled.<br> An internal Komen memo written by President Elizabeth Thompson and obtained by Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic states that if "an applicant or its affiliates" is under investigation "for financial or administrative improprieties by local, state or federal authorities," then "the applicant will be ineligible to receive a grant." Penn State, the Pennsylvania university that the Hershey center is affiliated with, is currently under investigation by the federal government over the sexual assault scandal involving former assistant coach Jerry Sandusky, who has been indicted on multiple counts of sexual abuse of children. In 2008, the Komen foundation awarded a five-year, $7.5 million grant to the Hershey center to study treatments that could reduce the risk of breast cancer.<br> Under the Jeanne Clery Disclosure of Campus Security Policy and Campus Crime Statistics Act, university officials are required to "issue a timely warning if a reported crime represents a threat to the campus community." The Department of Education announced that it was investigating Penn State over possible Clery Act violations last November, and a Penn State spokesperson told Mother Jones that the investigation is ongoing. The Komen foundation has not yet responded to a request for comment.<br> Komen's founder, Nancy Brinker, is a former Bush administration official who has given almost $200,000 to Republican officials over the years, and Karen Handel, Komen's top lobbyist, is a pro-life Republican who was elected secretary of state in Georgia. Komen officials have insisted that Brinker and Handel's right-leaning politics weren't a factor in the decision to cut off funding, but Goldberg reported that the new grant standards were written as a pretext for denying funds to Planned Parenthood, and that the decision was "driven" by Handel.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">BUSTED! Not a political decision? Nigger please!</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-5150761370905002884?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-19027587097452795652012-02-03T10:33:00.000-05:002012-02-03T10:33:11.691-05:00<center><img src="http://editorialcartoonists.com/cartoons/RogerR/2012/RogerR20120203_low.jpg" title="" border="0"></center><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-1902758709745279565?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-22566741326009597642012-02-03T10:30:00.000-05:002012-02-03T10:30:17.255-05:00<H2>Obamacare Saves Michigan Medicare Recipients $49M on Prescriptions</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...GOP says savings is unconstitutional...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20120202/BIZ/202020455/1361/Health-care-reform-saves-Michigan-Medicare-recipients-" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> More than 84,000 Michigan residents receiving Medicare benefits saved nearly $49 million on prescriptions in 2011 under health care reform, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services said Thursday.<br> Health care reform provided seniors with Medicare a 7 percent discount on covered generic medications when they hit the prescription drug coverage gap called the donut hole. This year, health care reform provides Medicare recipients a 50 percent discount on brand-name prescriptions and a 14 percent discount on generics.<br> "The Affordable Care Act is already saving money for millions of Americans with Medicare," Kathleen Sebelius, U.S. Health & Human Services Secretary, in a statement. "As we move forward, we will close the donut hole completely and save even more money for everyone with Medicare."<br> Last year, Michigan residents who hit the donut hole saved an average of $582 on prescriptions, and nationally 3.6 million Americans with Medicare saved $2.1 billion on prescriptions, according to the federal government<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Oh my...Republicans ought to be crying their eyes out over this news.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-2256674132600959764?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-5622569213761808792012-02-03T10:26:00.000-05:002012-02-03T10:26:38.083-05:00<h3>“There are several decisions that Komen has made in the past year that have led me to decide that my skills and talents no longer fit their model."</h3>-- <a href="http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2012/02/02/head-of-la-countys-susan-g-komen-chapter-tells-cbs2-shes-resigning/" target="_blank">Deb Anthony</a>, Executive Director of the Susan G. Koman for the Cure Los Angeles County - as quoted from her resignation letter.<p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-562256921376180879?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-39022497648710940542012-02-03T10:21:00.000-05:002012-02-03T10:21:55.756-05:00<H2>Komen Foundation Also Stops Funding Embryonic Stem Cell Research</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...this wasn't a political decision either?....</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.care2.com/causes/susan-g-komen-foundation-also-stops-funding-embryonic-stem-cell-research.html#ixzz1lHUy2Bwc" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> In addition to pulling funds from Planned Parenthood for The Susan G. Komen Foundation also decided to stop funding embryonic stem cell research centers making it fully transparent the organization has evolved from non-political non-profit to a partisan advocacy organization.<br> That means the loss of $3.75 million to the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, $4.5 million to the University of Kansas Medical Center, $1 million to the U.S. National Cancer Institute, $1 million to the Society for Women’s Health Research, and $600,000 to Yale University. That’s a loss of nearly $12 million dollars in research money to eradicate breast cancer this year alone.<br> This is a new position for the organization which had previously supported all sorts of scientific research targeted at finding a cure for breast cancer and saving women’s lives. It’s new position is that the organization will categorically no longer support any embryonic stem cell research.<br> Instead of the loud, clumsy announcement Komen made in severing ties with Planned Parenthood, this is a decision they quietly slipped in during November 2011. After all, with this new pro-life branding you would think the Susan G. Komen Foundation would want to crow about it’s policy change since embryonic stem cell research is an issue near and dear to the anti-choice crowd Komen now serves.<br> Maybe it’s because there won’t be any gory anti-stem cell research ad running during the Super Bowl this Sunday like Randall Terry’s anti-abortion ad. After all, Karen Handel has made it clear she and Terry share an agenda, and the Komen Foundation has under Handel’s watch closely allied itself with Americans United For Life, the zealously anti-choice group that takes credit for pushing Komen directly and through members of Congress, to sever ties with Planned Parenthood.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Man, the blogosphere is on fire! My hopes are that women who really need the Koman Foundation to help cure cancer aren't caught in the crossfire. I don't see how that can be avoided though.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-3902249764871094054?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-40626641287147812242012-02-03T10:12:00.000-05:002012-02-03T10:12:14.758-05:00<H2>Another Republican Publicly Snubs Obama</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...whose turn is it stiff the President next week...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://romenews-tribune.com/pages/full_story/push?article-AJC+Political+Insider-+Phil+Gingrey+walks+out+on+Barack+Obama%E2%80%99s+prayer+address%20&id=17388897" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> A spokeswoman for U.S. Rep. Phil Gingrey confirmed this afternoon that the Marietta Republican walked out of President Barack Obama’s address at the annual National Prayer Breakfast, offended by what the congressman said was an injection of political rhetoric into an occasion of non-partisan reflection.<br> “He was glad that the president attended, but he felt that there were 364 days in a year to give a speech on your policies or campaign rhetoric,” said Gingrey spokeswoman Jen Talaber.<br> She said Gingrey enjoyed the remarks by the event’s keynote speaker, conservative author Eric Metaxes, who was in South Carolina last month campaigning with GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">I see the Republican strategy of the moment is to publicly snub the President. We've had a very public kiss-off of the President 4 times in the last month. I've never seen it once in my lifetime but suddenly it happens 4 times in a month? The President was gracious for coming to this Nazi event (sponsored by the C Street Project) and then they publicly snub him?</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-4062664128714781224?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-31236141934508996202012-02-03T10:01:00.000-05:002012-02-03T10:01:56.643-05:00<H2>Supporters Rally Around Planned Parenthood After Komen Debacle</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...Komen chooses right wing nutjobs over women's health....</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/supporters-rally-around-planned-parenthood-after-komen-decides-to-cut-breast-screening-grants/2012/02/03/gIQAhyZFmQ_story.html?tid=pm_national_pop" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> Supporters are rallying around Planned Parenthood after renowned breast cancer charity Susan G. Komen for the Cure decided to cut breast screening grants to the reproductive health organization.<br> Besides $400,000 in smaller donations from 6,000 people, Planned Parenthood is receiving $250,000 from a family foundation in Dallas and a $250,000 pledge announced Thursday by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg to match future donations.<br> In Washington, 26 U.S. senators — all Democrats except for independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont — signed a letter calling on Komen to reconsider its decision.<br> “It would be tragic if any woman — let alone thousands of women — lost access to these potentially lifesaving screenings because of a politically motivated attack,” the senators wrote.<br> According to Planned Parenthood, its health centers performed more than 4 million breast exams over the past five years, including nearly 170,000 as a result of Komen grants.<br> Komen, meanwhile, has been deluged with negative emails and Facebook postings, accusing it of knuckling under to pressure from anti-abortion groups, since The Associated Press reported on Tuesday that the charity was halting grants that Planned Parenthood affiliates used for breast exams and related services. The grants totaled $680,000 last year.<br> Some of Komen’s local affiliates were openly upset, including all seven in California, and at least one top official has quit, reportedly in protest.<br> Komen’s top leaders, in their first news conference since the controversy erupted, denied Planned Parenthood’s assertion that the decision was driven by pressure from anti-abortion groups.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Komen's leadership can deny it all they want, people aren't that stupid. Decisions should be made based on what's good for women's health - period. Nobody has yet come up with a women's health reason for this decision.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-3123614193450899620?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-83474025272617589622012-02-03T09:55:00.000-05:002012-02-03T09:55:02.327-05:00<H2>Job Growth Surges, Jobless Rate Drops to 8.3 Percent</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>..Republicans shocked they can't stop America...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/03/us-usa-economy-idUSTRE7BM0AB20120203" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> The economy created jobs at the fastest pace in nine months in January and the unemployment rate dropped to a near three-year low of 8.3 percent, providing some measure of comfort for President Barack Obama who faces re-election in November.<br> Nonfarm payrolls jumped 243,000, the Labor Department said on Friday, as factory jobs grew by the most in a year. The gain in overall employment was the largest since April and outpaced economists' expectations for a rise of only 150,000.<br> The report pointed to underlying strength in the economy, despite expectations that growth will slow in the first quarter.<br> Economists had expected the jobless rate to hold steady at 8.5 percent. The rate is the lowest since February 2009 and has dropped 0.8 percentage point since August.<br> The decline last month reflected large gains in employment in the separate household survey from which the unemployment rate is derived.<br> "It's certainly supportive of the U.S. recovery and suggests that momentum is gathering pace," said Brian Dolan, chief market strategist at FOREX.com in Bedminster, New York.<br> U.S. Treasury debt prices fell sharply on the report, while stock index futures surged. The dollar rose against the yen.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Republicans had better do something fast or this economy is going to take off and that spells no good for the GOP in November.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-8347402527261758962?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-52234077046249810422012-02-02T16:55:00.000-05:002012-02-02T16:55:53.280-05:00<center><img src="http://www.caglecartoons.com/media/cartoons/81/2012/02/01/105539_600.jpg" title="" border="0"></center><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-5223407704624981042?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-56987840666908685772012-02-02T12:15:00.000-05:002012-02-02T12:15:13.071-05:00<H2>Republicans Push to Stop Automatic Spending Cuts</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...we thought they were all about less spending?...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://news.yahoo.com/republicans-push-stop-automatic-u-spending-cuts-060256567.htm" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> The U.S. military would be spared from automatic spending cuts set for next year under a proposal some top Senate Republicans offered on Thursday that instead would save money by reducing the federal workforce.<br> Senator John McCain, senior Republican on the Armed Services Committee, assistant Senate Republican leader Jon Kyl and four others offered legislation that would eliminate the first installment of $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts over a decade.<br> The legislation faces an uphill battle in the Senate, led by Democrats likely to oppose the federal work force cuts. The White House also opposes efforts to circumvent the across-the-board spending cuts at the center of a budget brawl between Democratic President Barack Obama and Republicans in Congress during last year's fight to increase the U.S. debt limit.<br> The proposal by the half dozen Senate Republicans would let the military and most domestic programs avoid the automatic cuts that are to start taking effect in January 2013. Some $127 billion would be saved instead by scaling back the federal workforce and freezing its pay.<br> "I believe that the cuts ... aimed at the Department of Defense are a threat to our nation's security and we are opposed to that draconian action," McCain said at a news conference.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">When the Republicans passed this law, they told America that this was needed to rein in the free spending Democrats. That was a lie of course and now the Republicans don't want to stick to their own deal.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-5698784066690868577?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-80301894630482546922012-02-02T12:10:00.000-05:002012-02-02T16:42:08.421-05:00<h3>“We will never bow down to political pressure.”</h3>-- Nancy Brinker, founder and CEO of Susan G. Koman for the Cure charity trying to lie her way out of the political mess she created when bowing to right wing pressure to strip grants from Planned Parenthood's cancer breast screening programs.<p> <img src="http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/4-pinocchios.jpg" title="" width="216" height="60" border="0"><br> a full 4 Pinocchio's for Nancy Brinker and the Susan G. Koman Foundation<br> <div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-8030189463048254692?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-40692541901487165212012-02-02T12:00:00.000-05:002012-02-02T12:00:54.000-05:00<H2>Top Komen Official Resigned Over Planned Parenthood Cave-In</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...bad decision will come back to haunt them....</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2012/02/top-susan-g-komen-official-resigned-over-planned-parenthood-cave-in/252405/" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> Komen, the marketing juggernaut that brought the world the ubiquitous pink ribbon campaign, says it cut-off Planned Parenthood because of a newly adopted foundation rule prohibiting it from funding any group that is under formal investigation by a government body. (Planned Parenthood is being investigated by Rep. Cliff Stearns, an anti-abortion Florida Republican, who says he is trying to learn if the group spent public money to provide abortions.)<br> But three sources with direct knowledge of the Komen decision-making process told me that the rule was adopted in order to create an excuse to cut-off Planned Parenthood. (Komen gives out grants to roughly 2,000 organizations, and the new "no-investigations" rule applies to only one so far.) The decision to create a rule that would cut funding to Planned Parenthood, according to these sources, was driven by the organization's new senior vice-president for public policy, Karen Handel, a former gubernatorial candidate from Georgia who is staunchly anti-abortion and who has said that since she is "pro-life, I do not support the mission of Planned Parenthood." (The Komen grants to Planned Parenthood did not pay for abortion or contraception services, only cancer detection, according to all parties involved.) I've tried to reach Handel for comment, and will update this post if I speak with her.<br> The decision, made in December, caused an uproar inside Komen. Three sources told me that the organization's top public health official, Mollie Williams, resigned in protest immediately following the Komen board's decision to cut off Planned Parenthood. Williams, who served as the managing director of community health programs, was responsible for directing the distribution of $93 million in annual grants. Williams declined to comment when I reached her yesterday on whether she had resigned her position in protest, and she declined to speak about any other aspects of the controversy.<br> But John Hammarley, who until recently served as Komen's senior communications adviser and who was charged with managing the public relations aspects of Komen's Planned Parenthood grant, said that Williams believed she could not honorably serve in her position once Komen had caved to pressure from the anti-abortion right. "Mollie is one of the most highly respected and ethical people inside the organization, and she felt she couldn't continue under these conditions," Hammarley said. "The Komen board of directors are very politically savvy folks, and I think over time they thought if they gave in to the very aggressive propaganda machine of the anti-abortion groups, that the issue would go away. It seemed very short-sighted to me."<br> Hammarley explained that the Planned Parenthood issue had vexed Komen for some time. "About a year ago, a small group of people got together inside the organization to talk about what the options were, what would be the ramifications of staying the course, or of telling our affiliates they can't fund Planned Parenthood, or something in-between." He went on, "As we looked at the ramifications of ceasing all funding, we felt it would be worse from a practical standpoint, from a public relations standpoint, and from a mission standpoint. The mission standpoint is, 'How could we abandon our commitment to the screening work done by Planned Parenthood?'" But the Komen board made the decision despite the recommendation of the organization's professional staff to keep funding Planned Parenthood.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">This right wing jihad against Planned Parenthood is going to hurt the Susan G. Koman Foundation more than they can foresee. Bad decision on their part. I know I'll send my cancer support dollars elsewhere from now on.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-4069254190148716521?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-23949343651772990872012-02-02T11:06:00.000-05:002012-02-02T11:06:50.453-05:00<H2>Alabama Immigration Crackdown Costs State $11 Billion and 80,000 Lost Jobs</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...GOP said it would save money and create jobs...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/01/us-alabama-immigration-economy-idUSTRE8101JJ20120201" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> Alabama's crackdown on illegal immigrants, widely seen as the toughest in the United States, has cost the state's economy up to $10.8 billion, according to a new study.<br> The Alabama law, passed in June, requires police to detain people they suspect of being in the U.S. illegally if they cannot produce proper documentation when stopped for any reason, among other measures.<br> The cost-benefit analysis by University of Alabama economist Samuel Addy estimated up to 80,000 jobs were vacated by illegal immigrants fleeing the crackdown, costing Alabama's economy up to $10.8 billion.<br> The lost jobs also cost Alabama up to $264.5 million in lost state sales and income taxes, and as much as $93.1 million in lost city and county sales taxes, it found.<br> A U.S. appeals court has blocked Alabama from enforcing parts of the law, including a provision that permits Alabama to require public schools to determine the legal residency of children upon enrollment. But the court left most of the law untouched.<br> State Republicans who support the law say it will help create jobs for legal residents by driving out undocumented workers and their families, and save up to $280 million they said is spent by the state each year on health and education services for the undocumented.<br> The findings of the new University of Alabama study served up ammunition to critics of the law in the state, which is trying to trim spending to balance its budget.<br> "It is hypocritical for 'no tax and spend' Republicans to pass something like this that sucks money right out of the general fund when we are cutting funding by 25 percent," said state Representative Patricia Todd, a Birmingham Democrat.<br> Todd claims that $9 million has already been spent on litigation to defend the new law, a figure she said she received from the legislative fiscal office.<br> The study added in the costs of healthcare and social services to undocumented people that would be saved. However, it found these savings to be negligible when compared to the increased costs of law enforcement and businesses that now have to run checks on citizenship.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Gee, Republicans are wrong AGAIN. They promised everyone that getting those brown people out of Alabama would save money and free up lots of jobs that the illegal hoardes were filling. Only, that ain't what happened. Last fall the Alabama farmers were begging for illegals to come pick the crops that were rotting in the fields. Instead of saving money, it has brought economic ruin to Alabama. Good job Republicans! Once again you let your racist hatreds trump facts and reason.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-2394934365177299087?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-53020485644921176112012-02-02T10:54:00.000-05:002012-02-02T16:46:18.299-05:00<center><iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/35003246?title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0&amp;color=bdbdbd" width="400" height="225" frameborder="0" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe><p><a href="http://vimeo.com/35003246">Bill Maher - Irritable Bowl Syndrome</a><br><font size="+1">Super Bowl Socialism</font></center></p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-5302048564492117611?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-61288499264362424572012-02-02T10:39:00.000-05:002012-02-02T16:45:04.452-05:00<H2>House GOP Has Oscar Nominated Journalist Arrested</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...for trying to film a public meeting on 'fracking'...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/01/house-republicans-order-j_n_1246971.html?1328114727" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> In a stunning break with First Amendment policy, House Republicans directed Capitol Hill police to detain a highly regarded documentary crew that was attempting to film a Wednesday hearing on a controversial natural gas procurement practice. Initial reports from sources suggested that an ABC News camera was also prevented from taping the hearing; ABC has since denied that they sent a crew to the hearing.<br> Josh Fox, director of the Academy Award-nominated documentary "Gasland" was taken into custody by Capitol Hill police this morning, along with his crew, after Republicans objected to their presence, according to Democratic sources present at the hearing. The meeting of the House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment had been taking place in room 2318 of the Rayburn building.<br> HuffPost has obtained exclusive video of the arrest of Josh Fox. Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.), the ranking Democrat on the subcommittee, can be heard at the end of the clip asking Republican Chairman Andy Harris (R-Md.) to halt the arrest and permit Fox to film the public hearing. Harris denies Miller's request as Fox is escorted out of the hearing in handcuffs.<br> "Gasland" received strong critical acclaim and takes a critical eye toward the practice of hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," a process in which several tons of highly pressurized water and chemicals are injected into the ground, allowing valuable natural gas to escape. The practice is decried by ecological experts for destroying ecosystems and polluting groundwater. The energy industry keeps the actual content of fracking chemicals secret.<br> Fox had hoped to film Wednesday's hearing for a follow-up to "Gasland." Fox told HuffPost later Wednesday evening, "We did get his staff on the phone, they never returned the phone call," referring to staffers for Chairman Harris. "This is not transparency. This is a lockout and it's bad. It's the people's House, after all. We went through the proper channels to arrange to tape this hearing. We have taped congressional hearings before and we've been turned down before, but I disagree with the policy. Anyone who says they're a journalist is a journalist. It's called the First Amendment. It's the freedom of the press, and that is fundamental to our core identity as the United States of America."<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Now why would the Republicans want to have the guy arrested for filming their "open" meeting?</FONT><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-6128849926436242457?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-84003502817373353782012-02-02T10:31:00.000-05:002012-02-02T10:31:42.269-05:00<center><img src="http://upload.democraticunderground.com/imgs/home/120202-trump-to-endorse-gingrich.jpg" title="" border="0"></center><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-8400350281737335378?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-5724023516533358122012-02-02T10:30:00.000-05:002012-02-02T10:30:59.700-05:00<H2>Obamacare Results Are In, Saves Money and Provides More, Better Care</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...Republicans crying their eyes out....</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/02/did-health-care-reform-hurt-medicare-advantage-apparently-not.php?ref=fpa" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> The Obama administration announced Wednesday that the Medicare Advantage program, which allows seniors to receive health coverage through a private insurer, is enjoying lower costs and more customers as a result of the health care reform law.<br> Medicare Advantage enrollment has risen 10 percent over the last year while average premiums have fallen by 7 percent, said Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. She also pointed out that similar improvements were seen the previous year.<br> The figures bolster President Obama’s defense of his signature achievement, and for Democrats it has the added bonus of refuting earlier Republican warnings that “Obamacare” would gravely undermine the choice provisions in Medicare.<br> “At the time the Affordable Care Act was passed, Republicans in Congress said the bill would virtually end the Medicare Advantage program,” declared senior White House staffer Nancy-Ann DeParle. “Those predictions turned out to be wrong. Medicare Advantage is stronger than ever — offering more seniors better benefits, higher quality care and lower costs.”<br> The basis for this GOP claim during the health care reform debate was that the ACA’s $500 billion in Medicare provider cuts included $136 billion in pay reductions under Medicare Advantage. But, at least for now, those cuts — along with other payment reforms — appear to have made the program more competitive and efficient.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">So it turns out that Seniors save money, the government saves money and more people get insurance coverage. Don't believe those blowhards in the Republican Party. They've led this country into financial crisis severl times in the last 150 years. Why would anyone think they're right about anything?</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-572402351653335812?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-21714559523511885182012-02-02T10:18:00.000-05:002012-02-02T10:18:26.279-05:00<H2>Romney's Gaffes Bring Conservatives to Their Knees</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...get out your hankies girls....</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/02/conservatives-arent-happy-with-romneys-very-poor-quote-either.php?ref=fpa" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> Once again, Mitt Romney is on the defensive over his wealth on Wednesday after telling a CNN reporter that “I’m not concerned about the very poor, we have a safety net there.” And once again, pundits on the right are smacking their foreheads in amazement the usually controlled candidate can’t stop handing Democrats’ more “rich guy” gaffes.<br> “Facepalm,” Michelle Malkin wrote of the incident, which she said “could easily have been a Saturday Night Live parody”<br> Over at the National Review, Jonah Goldberg said the quote raised concerns that Romney is “simply not a good enough politician” to beat Obama.<br> “There are plenty of things one could say to defend Romney on the merits of what he says here,” he wrote. “But great politicians on the morning after a big win, don’t force their supporters to go around defending the candidate from the charge that he doesn’t care about the poor. They just don’t.”<br> “Romney’s ‘I’m not concerned with the very poor’ line may be the most idiotic thing a politician has ever said,” The Weekly Standard’s John McCormack tweeted.<br> RedState, whose bloggers have traditionally not been Romney fans, added their voices to the pile. According to co-founder Erick Erickson, Romney “played straight into the liberal caricature that Republicans don’t have hearts.” He added that “The issue here is not that Romney is right or wrong, but that he is handing choice sound bites to the Democrats to make him as unlikeable as he made Newt Gingrich.”<br> Still others were upset with Romney’s apparently sanguine take on the current state of entitlement spending on the poor.<br> “The subtext of Romney’s comment is actually worse - that the safety net is the only answer the poor need,” conservative blogger Ben Domenech tweeted.<br> As Romney moves closer the nomination, there’s increasing anxiety on the right that Democrats have found his weak spot by trying to brand him as a callous “Gordon Gekko,” fears that are further stoked by Romney’s cratering favorability ratings with independents. Could this be Newt’s opening to keep up his assault on Romney’s Bain Capital days and his tax returns? <P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Holy jumpin' Jesus the Republicans sure are unhappy with their presumed nominee. But then I know a lot of Democrats who aren't great Obama fans either.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-2171455952351188518?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-28624408867058670802012-02-01T12:15:00.000-05:002012-02-01T12:15:59.419-05:00<center><img src="http://0.tqn.com/d/politicalhumor/1/7/T/P/4/Newt-History-Lesson.jpg" title="" border="0"></center><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-2862440886705867080?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-81491915817074284342012-02-01T11:37:00.000-05:002012-02-01T11:37:54.555-05:00<h3>"He got everything he wanted from a completely compliant Congress for two of those three years… We are living in the Obama economy.”</h3>-- Sen Mitch McConnell (R-evisionist) earning a 4 Pinocchio rating for this whopper.<p> <img src="http://thinkprogress.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/4-pinocchios.jpg" title="" width="324" height="90" border="0"><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-8149191581707428434?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-75966609918059827792012-02-01T11:31:00.000-05:002012-02-01T11:31:27.280-05:00<H2>Gingrich Robocall: Romney Forced Holocaust Survivors To Eat Non-Kosher Food</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...Newt in 'balls to the wall' negative campaign... </I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/31/newt-gingrich-robocall-mitt-romney_n_1244284.html" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> The Newt Gingrich campaign has a robocall out in Florida claiming that Mitt Romney once took kosher food away from Holocaust survivors.<br> The allegation made in the call, obtained by anti-robocall activist Shaun Dakin, is undoubtedly targeted at Florida's large Jewish and elderly populations.<br> The text of the call:<ul> As governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney vetoed a bill paying for kosher food for our seniors in nursing homes. Holocaust survivors, who for the first time, were forced to eat non-kosher, because Romney thought $5 was too much to pay for our grandparents to eat kosher. Where is Mitt Romney's compassion for our seniors? Tuesday you can end Mitt Romney's hypocrisy on religious freedom, with a vote for Newt Gingrich. Paid for by Newt 2012.</ul> The call is referencing Romney's veto of a 2003 bill. It came at a time that some nursing homes were considering eliminating their kosher kitchens during a period of budget cuts. Their plan was to instead bus in kosher food from other locations. The bill Romney vetoed would have given an additional $600,000 in funding to nursing homes, therefore making it possible for them to continue cooking kosher food on site.<br> "It's sad to see Speaker Gingrich lashing out in a desperate attempt to try and save his floundering campaign," said Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul. "Speaker Gingrich will say anything to distract voters from the fact that he suffered an unprecedented ethics reprimand, was forced to pay a $300,000 penalty, and resigned in disgrace at the hands of his own party. His record is one of failed and unreliable leadership and simply one Americans can't risk."<br> The Gingrich campaign did not return a request for comment.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Wow! Gingrich sure pulled that one outta left field. Almost as crazy as his 51st state on the moon. I sure hope we have Newt to kick around at least until the convention.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-7596660991805982779?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-80602408925876085342012-02-01T11:26:00.000-05:002012-02-01T11:26:33.744-05:00<H2>Arizona Republicans Launch ‘All Out Assault’ On Public Unions</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...because it worked out so well in Wisconsin and Ohio....</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/01/tougher_than_wisconsin_arizona_republicans_launch.php" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> With a sweeping series of bills introduced Monday night in the state Senate, Republicans in Arizona hoped to make Wisconsin’s battle against public unions last year look like a lightweight sparring match.<br> The bills include a total ban on collective bargaining for Arizona’s public employees, including at the city and county levels. The move would outpace even the tough bargaining restrictions enacted in Wisconsin in 2011 that led to massive union protests and a Democratic effort to recall Republican Gov. Scott Walker.<br> “At first glance, it looks like an all out assault on the right of workers to organize,” Senate Minority Leader David Schapira (D) told TPM on Tuesday. “And to me, that’s a serious problem.”<br> The bills were crafted with the help of the Goldwater Institute, a powerful conservative think tank in Phoenix that flew Walker to the state for an event in November. Nick Dranias, director of the institute’s Center for Constitutional Government, told TPM he sees Walker as a “hero” but that Wisconsin’s laws were “modest” compared to Arizona’s measures.<br> “In Arizona, we believe that the political will exists to do even more comprehensive reform,” Dranias said. “The environment, the climate that we face in Arizona is much more receptive to these kinds of reforms than Wisconsin is.”<br> Beyond a ban on collective bargaining, the bills would also prohibit state and local government workers from deducting money from their paychecks to pay union dues.<br> They would ban state and local governments from paying anyone to spend time doing union work, a practice known as “release time.”<br> And in another break from the Wisconsin model, the restrictions would affect every type of public union, including police and firefighters.<br> Arizona is a right-to-work state, which gives unions a much smaller role there than in states like Wisconsin. But laws still currently give labor groups a place at the bargaining table to negotiate pay and other benefits for their members. All of that would change under the proposed rules.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Bad move on the part of those Tea Party nutjobs in Arizona. The police, fire and teachers unions are pretty powerful in most states. Let's see how these union workers like having their hard won rights stripped by the GOP.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-8060240892587608534?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-56568425318104510542012-02-01T11:20:00.000-05:002012-02-01T11:20:48.262-05:00<H2>Women Abandon Gingrich</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...for a younger, prettier candidate...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://news.yahoo.com/women-abandon-gingrich-drive-romney-victory-fl-020359939.html" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> Women abandoned Newt Gingrich in droves Tuesday and helped fuel former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney's triumph in Florida's Republican presidential primary, according to preliminary data from an exit poll of voters.<br> While Romney held a narrow lead over the former House speaker among men, he easily outdistanced him among women, winning around five of their votes for every three that went to Gingrich. In the three states in which Republicans had already voted for their presidential nominee — Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina — there was relatively little difference in how the sexes divided their votes between the two rivals.<br> Some of the data Tuesday suggested that many women's votes were influenced by a personal distaste for Gingrich. Asked their views of him as a person, men said they generally viewed him favorably by just under a 2-1 margin, while women were about evenly divided.<br> Asked if they would be satisfied if Gingrich won the GOP nomination, men said yes by nearly a 6-4 margin while women were closely split. In addition, while men divided about evenly between Gingrich and Romney over which candidate best understood average Americans' problems, women leaned toward Romney.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Gee, I wonder why women mistrust the former Speaker?</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-5656842531810451054?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-21640823012031974962012-02-01T11:11:00.000-05:002012-02-01T11:11:34.072-05:00<h3>“Osama bin Laden is dead and General Motors is alive.”</h3>-- Vice President Joe Biden (D-amn Right), citing two major accomplishment's that the Republicans couldn't pull off.<p> <div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-2164082301203197496?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-63406347681056134092012-02-01T11:08:00.000-05:002012-02-01T11:08:37.400-05:00<H2>Murdoch's Mysteriously Missing Email</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...blames IT department for destroying evidence....</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-16830086" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> A 2008 email informing James Murdoch of the potential scope of phone hacking at the News of the World was deleted in an IT upgrade last year, lawyers say.<br> The Commons media committee has released a letter from law firm Linklaters detailing how the email was lost and thus not provided in evidence.<br> The email chain, released in December, mentions claims that phone hacking was "rife" at News International.<br> Mr Murdoch says he only read the final email, requesting a meeting with him.<br> He said he was unaware of wrongdoing at News International papers.<br> In its letter to MPs on the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, Linklaters said the email was deleted from Mr Murdoch's work computer as part of an "email stabilisation and modernisation programme" on 15 January 2011.<br> On 26 January 2011, The Met Police said they were launching a fresh investigation into hacking after receiving "significant new information" about activities at the News of the World (NoW).<br> A hard copy of the email was found in a storage crate at News International's old Wapping offices in November 2011 during a search by Linklaters and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC), it said.<br> It was part of documents that appeared to have originally been held in ex-NoW editor Colin Myler's office.<br> PWC subsequently conducted a forensic search of News International computers to try to find an electronic copy of the email chain, but focused on email servers "because it was understood that the email systems were designed to store data on the email servers rather than individual physical devices".<br> Linklaters said "forensic analysis" later found two other electronic copies on a laptop that Mr Murdoch had stopped using in October 2010 and on his personal assistant's computer. Those copies were made by the devices' "automatic synchronisation" with email servers, it said.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">How convenient. I've worked in an IT department for 25+ years and worked on system backups for a time. Believe me, I could find multiple electronic copies of any 3 year old email published in my systems. Come to think of it, we never lost a single email in all the years I've worked in IT. Don't believe these jackasses when they tell you it was an IT mistake. You have to make a serious effort to remove all electronic evidence of an email.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-6340634768105613409?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-43988102321018681362012-02-01T10:57:00.000-05:002012-02-01T10:57:46.215-05:00<center><img src="http://upload.democraticunderground.com/imgs/home/120131-romney-blows-out-gingrich-in-florida.jpg" title="" border="0"></center><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-4398810232101868136?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-67689733495041350722012-02-01T10:54:00.000-05:002012-02-01T10:54:14.848-05:00<H2>IAEA, Iran See More Talks Ahead on Nuclear Issue</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...war mongers not happy that Iran is co-operating...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/01/us-iran-iaea-idUSTRE8100M220120201" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> Senior U.N. nuclear inspectors plan another trip to Iran soon after holding what both sides described as good talks on the Islamic state's disputed atomic program.<br> The talks were a rare direct dialogue in the international stand-off, which has worsened in recent weeks as the West pursues a punitive embargo on Iranian oil and Tehran threatens retaliation.<br> Tehran says its uranium enrichment program is solely for peaceful electricity generation and has dismissed allegations that it is seeking to develop nuclear weapons as baseless.<br> Led by the International Atomic Energy Agency's global head of inspections, the IAEA team returned on Wednesday from three days of talks in Iran to try to end three years of deadlock in efforts to resolve the questions about Tehran's nuclear work.<br> The fact both sides said talks would resume hinted that the round just completed at least created some basis for progress.<br> "We are committed to resolve all the outstanding issues and the Iranians said they are committed too," Herman Nackaerts, IAEA deputy director general, told reporters after returning from Tehran.<br> "But of course there is still a lot of work to be done and so we have planned another trip in the very near future."<br> Asked if he was satisfied with the talks, Nackaerts said: "Yeah, we had a good trip."<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Sounds like a better plan than the one that Israel was cooking up.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-6768973349504135072?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-37132443623796651152012-02-01T10:48:00.000-05:002012-02-01T10:48:43.712-05:00<H2>Taliban "poised to retake Afghanistan" After NATO</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...we haven't declared victory yet....</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/01/us-afghanistan-idUSTRE8100E520120201" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> The U.S. military said in a secret report that the Taliban, backed by Pakistan, are set to retake control of Afghanistan after NATO-led forces withdraw, raising the prospect of a major failure of Western policy after a costly war.<br> Lieutenant Colonel Jimmie Cummings, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, confirmed the existence of the document, reported on Wednesday by Britain's Times newspaper and the BBC.<br> But he said it was not a strategic study.<br> "The classified document in question is a compilation of Taliban detainee opinions," he said. "It's not an analysis, nor is it meant to be considered an analysis."<br> Nevertheless, it could be interpreted as a damning assessment of the war, dragging into its 11th year and aimed at blocking a Taliban return to power.<br> It could also be seen as an admission of defeat and could reinforce the view of Taliban hardliners that they should not negotiate with the United States and President Hamid Karzai's unpopular government while in a position of strength.<br> The U.S. military report could boost the Taliban's confidence and make its leaders less willing to make concessions on demands for a ceasefire, and for the insurgency to renounce violence and break ties to al Qaeda.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Remind me again why we're still in Afghanistan?</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-3713244362379665115?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-83505712485681334412012-02-01T10:44:00.000-05:002012-02-01T10:44:38.193-05:00<H2>Komen Cancer Foundation Cuts Ties with Planned Parenthood</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...care more about right wing pressure than women's health....</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-504763_162-57369527-10391704/susan-g-komen-cuts-ties-with-planned-parenthood/" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> Planned Parenthood and Susan G. Komen for the Cure, two iconic organizations that have assisted millions of women for years, are no longer partners. The nation's leading breast-cancer charity severed its ties with Planned Parenthood affiliates.<br> Why? Many suspect the cutoff is linked to the abortion debate. Komen has been under fire by anti-abortion activists, after its connection to the pro-choice organization was publicized.<br> Komen says the key reason is that Planned Parenthood is under investigation in Congress - a probe launched by a conservative Republican who was urged to act by anti-abortion groups. Komen spokeswoman Leslie Aun said the charity recently adopted criteria barring grants to organizations that are under investigation by local, state or federal authorities.<br> The divide is wrenching for some of those who've learned about it and admire both organizations.<br> "We're kind of reeling," said Patrick Hurd, who is CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Virginia - recipient of a 2010 grant from Komen - and whose wife, Betsi, is a veteran of several Komen fundraising races and is currently battling breast cancer.<br> "It sounds almost trite, going through this with Betsi, but cancer doesn't care if you're pro-choice, anti-choice, progressive, conservative," Hurd said. "Victims of cancer could care less about people's politics."<br> Planned Parenthood said the Komen grants totaled roughly $680,000 last year and $580,000 the year before, going to at least 19 of its affiliates for breast-cancer screening and other breast-health services.<br> "It's hard to understand how an organization with whom we share a mission of saving women's lives could have bowed to this kind of bullying," Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, told The Associated Press. "It's really hurtful."<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">I think decidedly less of the Susan G. Koman Foundation this morning because of this news. They have support and there is no need to bow to this bullying. No need at all.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-8350571248568133441?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-38350299871154679982012-01-31T14:03:00.000-05:002012-01-31T14:03:29.263-05:00<center><img src="http://www.caglecartoons.com/media/cartoons/23/2012/01/29/105346_600.jpg" title="" border="0"></center><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-3835029987115467998?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-30291279376580318562012-01-31T13:36:00.000-05:002012-01-31T13:36:02.528-05:00<H2>Latest Indictments Look Bad for Wisconsin's GOP Governor</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...aides busted for stealing veterans funds, kid porn and setting up secret network...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.progressive.org/latest_indictments_look_bad_for_scott_walker.html" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> The secret John Doe investigation of Governor Scott Walker's associates by the Milwaukee County District Attorney, with help from the FBI, keeps turning up new dirt.<br> The worst, so far, are the allegations that Walker staffers Tim Russell and Kevin Kavanaugh stole money that was supposed to go to Wisconsin veterans and vendors at a Milwaukee County Zoo veterans' event, as well as the widows and children of Wisconsin's war dead--and used it to pay for cruises, restaurant meals, and a Walker-for-governor campaign web site.<br> Russell and Kavanaugh are pleading not guilty.<br> Russell's partner, Brian Pierick, was also dragged into court to face child enticement charges because investigators found records on computers and iPhones of a sexual relationship with an underaged boy, and visits to Internet porn sites using the handle "Walker04". Pierick's lawyer asked that those charges be dropped on the grounds that the boy misrepresented his age as 19.<br> As the probe goes on, the news looks worse for Walker.<br> The probe made new headlines last week, when four felony charges were filed against for former Walker deputy chief of staff Kelly Rindfleisch, along with misdemeanor charges against former staffer Darlene Wink for campaigning on county time. Other indictments last week point to possible favoritism in a fishy real estate deal involving Walker campaign donors in the real estate industry and office space for public employees in Milwaukee. <br> But the biggest deal in the latest round of criminal charges is a quote from an email Scott Walker sent from his campaign email account in May 2010, which directs Rindfleisch, the staffer now facing felony charges, to avoid embarrassing news stories.<br> "We cannot afford another story like this one," Walker wrote in the email, quoted in the criminal complaint that came out Thursday. "No one can give them any reason to do another story. That means no laptops, no websites, no time away during the workday, etc."<br> The complaint also alleges that Walker's staff when he was county executive created a secret Internet network to conduct county and campaign business away from the public eye. That alone is against Wisconsin law.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">The muck and mire in Wisconsin is getting deeper by the week. By the time Gov. Walker has to face his recall election he might be thoroughly discredited.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-3029127937658031856?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-50113080700583518902012-01-31T13:18:00.000-05:002012-01-31T13:18:28.062-05:00<H2>Pentagon Unable to Account for Missing Iraqi Millions</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...no records of $1.7 billion missing funds....</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.cnbc.com/id/46160875/" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> The Pentagon doesn’t know what happened to more than $100 million in cash held at Saddam Hussein’s palace in Baghdad during the Iraq war, according to a new report by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction.<br> What’s more, the Pentagon can’t find documents to explain what it spent as much as $1.7 billion on from funds held on behalf of the Iraqi government by the New York Federal Reserve, the report says.<br> The missing records raise new questions about how the US government handled billions of dollars in Iraqi funds during the war.<br> The new report, the latest in a multi-year investigation by the inspector general into missing money in Iraq, paints a picture of Pentagon officials digging through boxes of hard copy records looking for missing paper copies of Excel spreadsheets, monthly reports and other paper documents that should have been kept detailing what the money was spent on and why those expenditures were necessary. Apparently, there are no electronic records to back up the spending.<br> The Inspector General’s report concludes that the problem is simply one of “records management.” But the report explains the missing records make it impossible to conduct a complete accounting of what happened to the funds.<br> The missing money came from the Development Fund for Iraq, a cache of billions of dollars in frozen Saddam Hussein regime assets that was held at the New York Federal Reserve on behalf of the Iraqi people. <P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Poor records management my ass. You know some of this cash just walked off and made a handful of people very wealthy. I don't know about you but missing $1.7 billion doesn't set well with me.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-5011308070058351890?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-51610541591382442752012-01-31T12:35:00.000-05:002012-01-31T12:35:24.261-05:00<H2>Increasing Number of Ethics Probes Rattles House Republicans</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...is Boehner even concerned?...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://thehill.com/homenews/house/207559-growing-number-of-ethics-probes-rattles-republicans" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> An increasing number of House Republicans are getting wrapped up in allegations of ethics violations ahead of the November elections, handing Democrats easy campaign fodder and putting the GOP in an unexpected bind.<br> Republican leaders in the lower chamber pledged to run an ethically sound ship when they took control last year. But as the second session gets under way, nearly a dozen GOP lawmakers are being questions on a wide array of their financial dealings, and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has not publicly admonished them.<br> “The Speaker has always been clear that the American people expect members of Congress to be held to the highest ethical standards,” said Michael Steel, a spokesman for Boehner, when asked by The Hill whether the Speaker was concerned about ethics questions surrounding the Republicans.<br> By next Monday the House Ethics Committee is slated to decide whether to formally investigate Rep. Vern Buchanan (R-Fla.). Moreover, allegations arose over this past weekend that Rep. Michael Grimm (R-N.Y.) might have accepted illegal campaign donations, according to The New York Times.<br> Additionally, there are the three Republicans — Reps. Pete Sessions (Texas), Buck McKeon (Calif.) and Elton Gallegly (Calif.) — who earlier this month were referred to the House Ethics Committee for taking part in Countrywide’s VIP mortgage program, aimed at gaining special favor from lawmakers.<br> Sessions serves as the chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), while Buchanan serves as the GOP reelection arm’s finance chairman. Grimm is one of the NRCC’s regional chairs.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Hopefully, their ethical lapses will cost them the House again.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-5161054159138244275?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-66155508665824655162012-01-31T11:31:00.000-05:002012-01-31T11:31:44.389-05:00<h3>"What a pathetic situation to be running for the President of the United States with nothing positive to say. All you got to do is try to tear your opponent down to where they get smaller than you are, that's the Romney model."</h3>-- <a href="http://firstread.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/30/10273512-todd-palin-to-robo-call-for-gingrich-gingrich-calls-romney-campaign-pathetic" target="_blank">Newt Gingrich</a> (R-edneck) forgetting that it is also the Gingrich model and the model the GOP uses towards Obama.<p> <div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-6615550866582465516?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-43298125246378176452012-01-31T11:27:00.000-05:002012-01-31T11:27:51.978-05:00<img src="http://www.ineedmotivation.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/nonegativity.jpg" title="" width="125" height="125" border="0"> <H2>GOP Florida Campaign Most Negative - Ever</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...92% of all ads are negative...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/01/31/romney-ramps-up-attack-ads-against-gingrich-to-unprecedented-levels.html" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> A staggering 92 percent of the political ads run in Florida over the last week of the campaign have been negative.<br> “For as long as I’ve been in politics, 14 years, journalists call me and ask if this is the most negative election ad atmosphere I've ever seen,” says Kenneth Goldstein, president of Kantar Media CMAG, which tracks content and targeting of political advertising. “And every year I say, ‘Don’t be ridiculous.’"<br> “But this year it's true. This primary season is the most negative it's ever been,” asserts Goldstein. “I have absolutely never seen television advertising so negative in a Republican presidential primary.”<br> This tsunami of sleaze is being propelled by unprecedented advertising buys. The Romney campaign and its associated super PAC, Restore Our Future, have spent $15.3 million in Florida over the past month alone, according to Maggie Haberman of Politico. To put this in perspective, John McCain spent $11 million on ads during his entire 2008 primary campaign. Back on this side of Citizens United, Newt Gingrich and his billionaire-backed super PAC have spent “only” an estimated $3 million—giving Romney a 5–1 spending advantage in the Sunshine State.<br> Turn on the TV or radio in Florida these past few days and you’ll soon be subjected to the avalanche of negative ads, most of them purchased courtesy of Romney Co. The attacks come in a bewildering variety—from accusations that Newt worked with Nancy Pelosi “to support China’s brutal one-child policy” to Spanish-language ads that say Newt called Spanish “the language of the ghetto.” Fannie and Freddie have become household names. Both candidates are accusing the other of being insufficiently conservative and secretly pro-abortion. There has been public wrestling for a photo op with Ronald Reagan’s ghost, trying to claim closer association. Even Romney’s Get Out the Vote mailers are anti-Newt.<br> “The Romney camp made a very clear decision that this was going to be somebody's Waterloo,” says Rick Wilson, a legendary Republican operative and CEO of Florida-based Intrepid Media. “In the past, a 60–40 positive to negative ratio in ads used to be considered a heavy load. But that world is just gone.”<br> “The scope and effectiveness of their negative campaigning have been breathtaking—and it’s all paid off,” says Wilson. “They figured out on the fly that Romney showing fight and backbone—not being a squishy-soft, mealy-mouthed, half-assed campaigner—could bear dividends with conservatives. Because everything comes down to 'will we have a candidate who takes it hard to Obama?'… And he's narrowed the gap. Tea Party conservatives are split between Romney and Gingrich—which would have been unimaginable in South Carolina.”<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Is this really what we want to lead this great country? But, they go negative because it works.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-4329812524637817645?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-24536091050004827462012-01-31T11:09:00.000-05:002012-01-31T11:09:10.760-05:00<H2>GOP Voters Think Their Candidates Stink</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...an unimpressive field...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.people-press.org/2012/01/30/gop-voters-continue-to-give-field-subpar-ratings/" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> Amid a bruising primary campaign, Republicans remain unimpressed with their party’s presidential field. In fact, more Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters say the GOP field is only fair or poor (52%) than did so in early January (44%).<br> By comparison, just 46% of Republican voters have positive opinions of the GOP field, according to the latest survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Jan. 26-29 among 1,006 adults, including 341 Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters. In early January, shortly before the New Hampshire primary, 51% gave the field excellent or good ratings while 44% rated the candidates collectively as only fair or poor.<br> That survey showed that GOP voters’ ratings of the field are far less positive than were opinions of the Republican field in 2008. At about this point four years ago, 68% of Republican and GOP-leaning voters rated the field as excellent or good.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Damn, GOP voters rate the current field darn near 50% less impressive than John McCain was in the 2008 election. Pathetic...</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-2453609105000482746?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-67997402689537471652012-01-31T11:05:00.000-05:002012-01-31T11:05:06.688-05:00<center><img src="http://upload.democraticunderground.com/imgs/home/120131-romney-arrives-in-tampa.jpg" title="" border="0"></center><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-6799740268953747165?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-8995857230013072202012-01-31T11:03:00.000-05:002012-01-31T11:03:02.320-05:00<H2>Mitt Romney Cites His Tie to Mexico</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...his mormon family left U.S. to escape anti-polygamy laws...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2012/01/31/much-unsaid-romney-cites-his-tie-mexico/UH6ajBufnZXBonPj3uXMmM/story.html" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> Romney has mentioned that he is the child of a born-in-Mexico father. But he usually ends the story there, failing to explain the circumstances or, even more strikingly, why it might be relevant to those he is trying to win over.<br> Were he to tell the rest of the story, it doubtless would resonate with many here: George Romney was born in Mexico and was 5 years old when a revolution forced his family members in 1912 to flee their Mormon colony and seek refuge in the United States. The Mormon exiles lost their homes, farms, and most of their belongings, were welcomed by the United States, and benefited from a $100,000 refugee fund established by Congress.<br> But there are other elements to the Romney story that may explain why he doesn’t tell the full tale on the campaign trail. The reason that George was born in Mexico is that his grandfather - Mitt’s great-grandfather - had taken refuge there in order to escape US laws against polygamy. It was this family patriarch, Miles Park Romney, who established the colony and lived there with four wives. <P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Do you really think Evangelicals will support this guy? They BELIEVE he is a high ranking member of a CULT.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-899585723001307220?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-54921330810871159482012-01-31T10:54:00.000-05:002012-01-31T10:54:38.917-05:00<H2>State Senator Behind “Don't Say Gay” Bill Refused Service At Restaurant</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...they could've just spit in his food....</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/state-senator-behind-dont-say-gay-bill-refused" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> There's no escaping the homosexual agenda these days -- even as far into the conservative heartland as Knoxville, Tennessee.<br> A Tennessee state senator who fought to block teaching about homosexuality in schools was refused service at a restaurant in Knoxville yesterday, he confirmed to BuzzFeed.<br> The Bistro at the Bijou posted on their Facebook page that they turned State Senator Stacey Campfield away because of his views: "I hope that Stacey Campfield now knows what if feels like to be unfairly discrimanted [sic] against."<br> Campfield sponsored a bill that would bar teachers from discussing homosexuality in the classroom, dubbed the "Don't Say Gay" bill, and he recently said in an interview that it is "virtually impossible" to contract HIV from heterosexual sex and that AIDS originated by a man having sex with a monkey.<br> An unfazed Campfield told BuzzFeed in a brief telephone interview that "I went in there and the lady started calling me names and wouldn't serve me." The hostess told him he was a homophobe and that he hates homosexuals, he said.<br> Campfield said that on the contrary, he has no problem with gays. "In my business I do rental properties and I've rented to homosexuals, mixed-race couples, black couples," he said. "And about every single group you can think of has been in my office."<br> Campfield stood by his comments on Huffington Post editor Michael Signorile's show in an interview with the local NBC affiliate in Knoxville, saying that "The odds of a regular man getting it from a regular woman are very low." The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention site notes that vaginal intercourse "is the most common way the virus is transmitted in much of the world."<br> In Campfield's view, he's the victim of the Knoxville thought police.<br> "If you don't think the way certain people think, then they think you don't have a right to be served," he said.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">I guess the Senator didn't like being discriminated against. Somehow I doubt he has learned any lesson from this.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-5492133081087115948?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-82684074989652155682012-01-30T14:10:00.000-05:002012-01-30T14:10:51.329-05:00<center><img src="http://www.caglecartoons.com/media/cartoons/77/2012/01/27/105283_600.jpg" title="" border="0"></center><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-8268407498965215568?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-899166327445685292012-01-30T13:53:00.000-05:002012-01-30T13:53:57.645-05:00<H2>Gingrich spends Sunday at church</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...awkward remarks are issued from pulpit...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/gingrich-spends-sunday-church-awkward-remarks-issued-pulpit-172717128.html" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> Near the front row in an auditorium that seats 5,500 worshipers, before a 135-member choir and a 40-person orchestra complete with four guitars, full brass and string sections, a golden harp, and a bongo, Newt and Callista Gingrich bowed their heads in prayer.<br> The former House Speaker and his wife spent much of the Sunday before the Florida primary in a pew, meeting with the faithful in two of the largest Baptist churches in the area and attending an evening Mass at a Catholic church in Jacksonville.<br> Gingrich, a convert to Catholicism, began the day in the sanctuary of Idlewild Baptist Church, a megachurch north of Tampa. As Gingrich's image flashed on two giant screens hung on both sides of baptistry before the sermon, the pastor introduced the special guest, thanking Gingrich for putting "his name on the line," and being careful to say that the church endorses "the process" but not the candidate. The worshipers applauded while Gingrich nodded and smiled.<br> It was "Sanctity of Life Sunday," and the sermon, delivered by guest speaker Rev. Russell Moore, focused on the importance of redemption, something Gingrich finds himself discussing on the campaign trail whenever a journalist or supporter inquires about his two failed marriages and adulterous past.<br> After the choir sang "Not Guilty" during the offering, the pastor spent part of his message listing a series of sins that some in the congregation may have committed: There are some in this room who have had abortions, he said. There are others who have pressured a woman to have abortions. There are some who have paid for them.<br> And then, the pastor dropped the conditional tense and immediately got every reporter's attention: <b>"Someone in here has broken up a family."</b><P> <FONT color="#0000FF">LMFAO! I almost crapped my pants laughing at this...</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-89916632744568529?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-13709467363467338332012-01-30T13:43:00.000-05:002012-01-30T13:43:26.529-05:00<H2>Freddie Mac Betting Against Struggling Homeowners</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...and collecting the insurance when they default...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.npr.org/2012/01/30/145995636/freddie-mac-betting-against-struggling-homeowners" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> Freddie Mac, a taxpayer-owned mortgage company, is supposed to make homeownership easier. One thing that makes owning a home more affordable is getting a cheaper mortgage.<br> But Freddie Mac has invested billions of dollars betting that U.S. homeowners won't be able to refinance their mortgages at today's lower rates, according to an investigation by NPR and ProPublica, an independent, nonprofit newsroom.<br> These investments, while legal, raise concerns about a conflict of interest within Freddie Mac.<br> "We were actually shocked they did this," says Scott Simon, who heads the mortgage-backed securities team at the giant bond trading and investment firm called PIMCO. "It seemed so out of line with their mission, out of line with what Congress wanted them to do."<br> Freddie Mac, formally called the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp., was chartered by Congress in 1970. On its website, it says it has "a public mission to stabilize the nation's residential mortgage markets and expand opportunities for homeownership." The company is owned by U.S. taxpayers and overseen by a regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).<br> In December, Freddie's chief executive, Charles Haldeman, assured Congress his company is "helping financially strapped families reduce their mortgage costs through refinancing their mortgages."<br> But public documents show that in 2010 and 2011, Freddie Mac set out to make gains for its own investment portfolio by using complex mortgage securities that brought in more money for Freddie Mac when homeowners in higher interest-rate loans were unable to qualify for a refinancing.<br> Those trades "put them squarely against the homeowner," PIMCO's Simon says.<br> Freddie Mac's trades came at a time when mortgage rates were falling to record lows. Millions of homeowners wish they could refinance, but their lenders tell them they can't qualify for today's low rates because of tight rules. Freddie Mac is one of the gatekeepers with the power to set those rules, and lately, it has been saying no more often to homeowners.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Sweet racket....they take out insurance against homeowners being able to refinance and then they set the rules on whether the homeowners can requalify. Isn't that sort of like buring down your own house for the insurance money? Something we Gentiles derisively call "Jewish Lightning". Maybe we should call this sort of transaction "Republican Lightning"?</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-1370946736346733833?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-10274931577851325652012-01-30T13:36:00.000-05:002012-01-30T13:36:05.033-05:00<H2>Catholics Hear anti-Obama Letter in Church</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...pedophiles shouldn't throw stones....</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57368259-503544/catholics-hear-anti-obama-letter-in-church/" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> During church services on Sunday, Catholics around the country were read a blistering letter assailing the Obama administration for an "assault on religious liberty" in the form of a coming requirement that most church-linked organizations - among them hospitals, schools and universities - offer birth control coverage as part of their health care plans.<br> Despite strong lobbying from religious groups, the Health and Human Services Department announced earlier this month that most church-linked groups will not be exempt from the requirements - which also mandate that no co-pay be charged for contraceptive services - though they will have an extra year to comply beyond the August 1 deadline. Churches themselves (along with any other employer that is explicitly focused on offering a religious message, and which primarily employs those who believe in that message) are exempt from the requirement.<br> Religious groups were outraged by the decision - saying it forced employers at church-linked organizations to violate their conscience - and on Sunday Catholic leaders took their complaints directly to parishioners. As Business Insider reported, similar letters were read in churches around the country complaining that "the Obama Administration has cast aside the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States, denying to Catholics our Nation's first and most fundamental freedom, that of religious liberty."<br> In an appearance on "CBS This Morning" Monday, Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich brought up the letters, using them as an opportunity to attack both the Obama administration and Republican rival Mitt Romney.<br> "The Obama administration has just launched an attack on Christianity so severe that every single church in Florida had a letter read from the bishops yesterday all across the country - Cardinal [Timothy] Dolan was leading an effort to explain that, literally, freedom of religion in America is now being attacked by Obama," he said. "The Romneycare does the same thing. Romneycare has tax-paid abortions. Romneycare put Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in America, in the bill. No right to life group's in the bill. Planned Parenthood is. Romney himself approved taking away a conscience clause from Catholic hospitals."<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Outrageous! They need their tax exempt status removed, then they can bitch about government all they want. Until they contribute their tax dollars they can STFU.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-1027493157785132565?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-83113615667754828392012-01-30T11:23:00.000-05:002012-01-30T11:23:40.930-05:00<H2>Gingrich's 'Sugar Daddy' Under Investigation</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...alleged ties to Chinese mafia....</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2093158/Newt-Gingrich-backer-Sheldon-Adelsons-company-federal-investigation.html" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> The billionaire casino mogul who has breathed new life into Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign with millions of dollars in donations is facing a federal investigation over whether his company violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits bribing foreign officials.<br> The investigation stems from a lawsuit filed by a former executive at the Sands Macau in China, the company has said. Steven C. Jacobs claims he was told the keep quiet about investigations of local officials and the possible presence of the triads - Chinese organized crime - in the casino.<br> Sheldon Adelson, who founded and runs Las Vegas Sands Corp -- one of the largest casino and resort companies in the world, has denied the allegations in the lawsuit and said the company is cooperating with federal investigators.<br> Adelson has donated an estimated $10 million to Gingrich's super PAC 'Winning our Future' and promised to give up to $20 million. <P> <FONT color="#0000FF">This is where Gingrich's money comes from. Is this who you want in the Oval Office?</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-8311361566775482839?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-5927489039812392702012-01-30T11:13:00.000-05:002012-01-30T11:13:53.584-05:00<H2>Republican Stance on Illegal Immigration Comes Home to Roost</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...red state farmers begging for illegals....</I></FONT></H3> <A href="" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> Facing pressure from large dairies and feedlots desperate for workers, Kansas Agriculture Secretary Dale Rodman is seeking a federal waiver that would allow companies to hire illegal immigrants.<br> Rodman has met several times with officials at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security about launching a pilot program that would place employers and illegal immigrants in a special state-organized network. The Topeka Capital-Journal reported that the goal is to create a legal, straightforward manner of organizing existing immigrant labor.<br> So far, Homeland Security has neither approved nor rejected the idea.<br> “I need a waiver,” Rodman said. “It would be good for Kansas agriculture.”<br> Now, a coalition of business interests is preparing to push the idea in Topeka. Details are expected to emerge this week about a bill establishing the outline of a state-managed worker program. Operating in cooperation with the federal government, it would link sponsor companies with illegal immigrants who have been in Kansas a minimum of five years and have no criminal background.<br> The employees and employers would pay fees that would support the program, ensuring the state incurred no oversight cost.<br> Mike Beam, senior vice president of the Kansas Livestock Association, said the objective was to secure a reliable, regulated labor pool to the state’s businesses. Despite the recession, there are counties in rural Kansas with unemployment rates half the state average.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">WTF? Weren't these same bozos screaming to stop the illegal brown hoardes from invading our country just a few months ago? Didn't they want to build a wall, a ditch or an electrified fence or some shit? Now that they don't have thousands of these people to exploit they're crying the blues. And weren't these same jerks trying to hand Obama with the unemployment figures? All of a sudden they don't see that as such a problem either. The hypocrisy is palpable.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-592748903981239270?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-7945019763191757822012-01-30T11:04:00.000-05:002012-01-30T11:04:32.938-05:00<h3>"We need to let President Obama, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, and my dear friend the chairman of the Democrat National Committee, we need to let them know that Florida ain't on the table. Take your message of equality of achievement, take your message of economic dependency, take your message of enslaving the entrepreneurial will and spirit of the American people somewhere else. You can take it to Europe, you can take it to the bottom of the sea, you can take it to the North Pole, but get the hell out of the United States of America."</h3>-- Rep. Allen West (R-idiculous) telling the President, Senate Majority Leader, House Minority Leader and Head of the Democratic National Committee to "get the hell out" of his United States.<p> <font color="blue">My friends, this is the kind of garbage that comes out of the mouths of your Republican representatives. They are SO disrespectful of their colleagues in government they should not be allowed to participate until they can learn some manners.</font><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-794501976319175782?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-25230234392033292222012-01-27T14:37:00.000-05:002012-01-27T14:37:01.950-05:00<center><img src="http://cdn.cagle.com/working/101012/mikescott.jpg" title="" border="0"></center><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-2523023439203329222?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-43862551674083867452012-01-27T14:23:00.000-05:002012-01-27T14:23:17.019-05:00<H2>Study Links Conservatism to Low IQ</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...still smarter than I thought they were....</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.livescience.com/18132-intelligence-social-conservatism-racism.html" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> There's no gentle way to put it: People who give in to racism and prejudice may simply be dumb, according to a new study that is bound to stir public controversy.<br> The research finds that children with low intelligence are more likely to hold prejudiced attitudes as adults. These findings point to a vicious cycle, according to lead researcher Gordon Hodson, a psychologist at Brock University in Ontario. Low-intelligence adults tend to gravitate toward socially conservative ideologies, the study found. Those ideologies, in turn, stress hierarchy and resistance to change, attitudes that can contribute to prejudice, Hodson wrote in an email to LiveScience.<br> "Prejudice is extremely complex and multifaceted, making it critical that any factors contributing to bias are uncovered and understood," he said.<br> "The unique contribution here is trying to make some progress on the most challenging aspect of this," said Brian Nosek, a social and cognitive psychologist at the University of Virginia who was not involved in the study. "It's not that a relationship like that exists, but why it exists."<br> As suspected, low intelligence in childhood corresponded with racism in adulthood. But the factor that explained the relationship between these two variables was political: When researchers included social conservatism in the analysis, those ideologies accounted for much of the link between brains and bias.<br> People with lower cognitive abilities also had less contact with people of other races.<br> "This finding is consistent with recent research demonstrating that intergroup contact is mentally challenging and cognitively draining, and consistent with findings that contact reduces prejudice," said Hodson, who along with his colleagues published these results online Jan. 5 in the journal Psychological Science.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Ouch! Study after study points out how dull conservatives are. One need only look at what they're offering up as candidates for the next election to confirm the results of the study.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-4386255167408386745?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-60028742978873330872012-01-27T13:11:00.000-05:002012-01-27T13:11:53.182-05:00<H2>Gun Crosshairs Found on Missouri Senators' Doors</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...threats are how conservatives roll....</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.cnn.com/2012/01/25/us/missouri-senate-targets/index.html" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> Five Missouri state senators, all Democrats, found stickers resembling rifle crosshairs on the doors to their Capitol offices Tuesday as the legislature debated health care reform, several senators said.<br> "This is a very open act," said Sen. Maria Chappell-Nadal, who said she was taking it as a serious threat.<br> Police presence in the hallways of the capitol in Jefferson City was stepped up after the discovery, Chappell-Nadal said.<br> Capitol police and the Missouri State Highway Patrol have taken the brass nameplates where the small orange stickers were placed, she said. A police spokesman would not comment to CNN.<br> Sen. Robin Wright-Jones, one of four African-American female senators whose doors had the stickers, said she was not intimidated. "It was a cowardly act," Wright-Jones said.<br> About 90 minutes after one sticker was removed from Chappell-Nadal's door, another larger crosshair sticker appeared, Wright-Jones said.<br> Sen. Jolie Justus, who said a lot of people walk by her door, found her sticker during the lunch break between a debate on federal health care reform.<br> Two other legislators who found stickers on their doors -- Sen. Shalonn "Kiki" Curls and Sen. Victor Callahan -- did not immediately respond to CNN requests for comment.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Anonymous cowards at that.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-6002874297887333087?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-8684644217609235532012-01-27T12:23:00.000-05:002012-01-27T12:23:33.411-05:00<H2>Law Could Give Death Penalty for Miscarriages</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...GOP never stops hating women...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://motherjones.com/blue-marble/2011/02/miscarriage-death-penalty-georgia" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> It's only February, but this year has been a tough one for women's health and reproductive rights. There's a new bill on the block that may have reached the apex (I hope) of woman-hating craziness. Georgia State Rep. Bobby Franklin—who last year proposed making rape and domestic violence "victims" into "accusers"—has introduced a 10-page bill that would criminalize miscarriages and make abortion in Georgia completely illegal. Both miscarriages and abortions would be potentially punishable by death: any "prenatal murder" in the words of the bill, including "human involvement" in a miscarriage, would be a felony and carry a penalty of life in prison or death. Basically, it's everything an "pro-life" activist could want aside from making all women who've had abortions wear big red "A"s on their chests.<br> I doubt that a bill that makes a legal medical procedure liable for the death penalty will pass. The bill, however, shows an astonishing lack of concern for women's health and well-being. Under Rep. Franklin's bill, HB 1, women who miscarry could become felons if they cannot prove that there was "no human involvement whatsoever in the causation" of their miscarriage. There is no clarification of what "human involvement" means, and this is hugely problematic as medical doctors do not know exactly what causes miscarriages. Miscarriages are estimated to terminate up to a quarter of all pregnancies and the Mayo Clinic says that "the actual number is probably much higher because many miscarriages occur so early in pregnancy that a woman doesn't even know she's pregnant. Most miscarriages occur because the fetus isn't developing normally."<br> Holding women criminally liable for a totally natural, common biological process is cruel and non-sensical. Even more ridiculous, the bill holds women responsible for protecting their fetuses from "the moment of conception," despite the fact that pregnancy tests aren't accurate until at least 3 weeks after conception. Unless Franklin (who is not a health professional) invents a revolutionary intrauterine conception alarm system, it's unclear how exactly the state of Georgia would enforce that rule other than holding all possibly-pregnant women under lock and key.<br> I've seen a lot of anti-woman, hate-filled bills this year, but this one takes the cake. And it's not just anti-woman, it's anti-logic. The bill contends that Georgia is exempt from upholding Supreme Court decisions like Roe v. Wade because the Constitution's Article I only governs five crimes: counterfeiting, piracy, high seas felonies, offenses against the law of nations, and treason. According to the bill, since murder is not one of those five crimes, it should be solely governed by the state. <P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Why women vote for Republicans is beyond me.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-868464421760923553?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-47100355238715399712012-01-27T12:12:00.000-05:002012-01-27T12:12:44.386-05:00<H2>Ron Paul Signed Off on Racist Newsletters</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...claims he played racist for fun and profit...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/ron-paul-signed-off-on-racist-newsletters-sources-say/2012/01/20/gIQAvblFVQ_story.html" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> Ron Paul, well known as a physician, congressman and libertarian , has also been a businessman who pursued a marketing strategy that included publishing provocative, racially charged newsletters to make money and spread his ideas, according to three people with direct knowledge of Paul’s businesses.<br> The Republican presidential candidate has denied writing inflammatory passages in the pamphlets from the 1990s and said recently that he did not read them at the time or for years afterward. Numerous colleagues said he does not hold racist views. <br> But people close to Paul’s operations said he was deeply involved in the company that produced the newsletters, Ron Paul & Associates, and closely monitored its operations, signing off on articles and speaking to staff members virtually every day.<br> “It was his newsletter, and it was under his name, so he always got to see the final product. .?.?. He would proof it,’’ said Renae Hathway, a former secretary in Paul’s company and a supporter of the Texas congressman.<br> A person involved in Paul’s businesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid criticizing a former employer, said Paul and his associates decided in the late 1980s to try to increase sales by making the newsletters more provocative. They discussed adding controversial material, including racial statements, to help the business, the person said.<br> “It was playing on a growing racial tension, economic tension, fear of government,’’ said the person, who supports Paul’s economic policies but is not backing him for president. “I’m not saying Ron believed this stuff. It was good copy. Ron Paul is a shrewd businessman.’’<br> The articles included racial, anti-Semitic and anti-gay content. They claimed, for example, that the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. “seduced underage girls and boys’’; they ridiculed black activists by suggesting that New York be named “Zooville” or “Lazyopolis”; and they said the 1992 Los Angeles riots ended “when it came time for the blacks to pick up their welfare checks.’’ The June 1990 edition of the Ron Paul Political Report included the statement: “Homosexuals, not to speak of the rest of society, were far better off when social pressure forced them to hide their activities.”<br> It is unclear precisely how much money Paul made from his newsletters, but during the years he was publishing them, he reduced his debts and substantially increased his net worth, according to his congressional and presidential disclosure reports. <P> <FONT color="#0000FF">So Dr. Paul went racist just to increase the circulation of his newsletter? That is REALLY messed up!</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-4710035523871539971?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-32968316763447232412012-01-27T11:46:00.000-05:002012-01-27T11:46:58.087-05:00<h3>“If Gingrich is the nominee, it will have an adverse impact on Republican candidates running for county, state, and federal offices. Hardly anyone who served with Newt in Congress has endorsed him, and that fact speaks for itself. He was a one-man-band who rarely took advice. It was his way or the highway.”</h3>-- Bob Dole (R-Older than dirt), making it unanimous among former GOP Presidential candidates<p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-3296831676344723241?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-42840924677838921632012-01-27T11:44:00.000-05:002012-01-27T11:44:05.416-05:00<H2>Romney Fails to Report 23 Funds and Partnerships to FEC</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...tax forms conflict with election filings...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/01/democrats-make-hay-of-romneys-financial-disclosure-errors----demand-more-tax-returns.php?ref=fpa" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> Mitt Romney released his tax returns to put to bed discussions of his wealth and lack of transparency. Instead, they have only spawned more unanswered questions.<br> Thursday afternoon, the LA Times reported that Romney’s tax returns listed 23 funds and partnerships that did not appear on Mitt Romney’s personal financial statements — the disclosure forms candidates are required by federal law to file with the Federal Elections Commission. Romney filed his disclosure forms in August 2011. The timing of this revelation couldn’t be worse. Hours before a GOP debate and days before the crucial Florida primary, Democrats now have new fodder for demanding additional tax return information from the Romney campaign.<br> Democrats are using the discrepancies to call on Romney to release all his tax returns from years in which he filed public financial disclosure statements. On a conference call with reporters, DNC spokeswoman Melanie Roussell stressed the importance of these newest revelations, saying they show what Mitt Romney was trying to hide on his regular disclosure forms. Roussell’s charge that the LA Times “found what it looks like he was trying to hide” is based on the fact that the of the 23 funds and partnerships left off the disclosure, 11 were overseas investments in funds in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda as well as the already-notorious Swiss bank account the Romney’s closed in 2010.<br> Further, Romney staked his credibility on these forms. As Roussell pointed out on the conference call: “This is the form that Mitt Romney has been using for months, and years in fact, since he ran for the Senate, as an excuse not to release his tax returns in the first place.” It’s a potent argument; why trust that one year of Romney’s tax returns are sufficient if they revealed new information? That’s the crux of Democrats’ argument that they now need all returns corresponding to past disclosures.<br> Politically, hiding offshore investments and accounts is a liability, but there’s also a legal aspect to the discrepancies. “All candidates for federal office are required by federal law to list their assets on this personal financial disclosure form,” explained Roussell. “This is a big deal,” Roussell stressed, “I want to make sure people understand.”<br> Romney’s failure to include the information about the Swiss bank account could have legal consequences, but only under one condition: if he deliberately left such information off the form.<br> Lying to the FEC is crime, but proving that Romney decided to purposefully omit the information (if he did) would be a pretty high burden to meet. There’s been nothing to indicate so far that Romney did anything more than make a mistake on a complicated government form.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">If I had as much money as Mitt, I wouldn't run for President - not worth the hassle.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-4284092467783892163?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-54413665279802254792012-01-26T11:56:00.000-05:002012-01-26T11:56:00.234-05:00<center><img src="http://www.caglecartoons.com/media/cartoons/100/2012/01/23/104925_600.jpg" title="" border="0"></center><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-5441366527980225479?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-28700458613891551892012-01-26T11:51:00.000-05:002012-01-26T11:51:30.253-05:00<H2>Castro Lambasts US Republican Primary </H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...calls it a choice between 'idiocy and ignorance'...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2012/01/25/international/i083830S42.DTL" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> Fidel Castro lambasted the Republican presidential race as the greatest competition of "idiocy and ignorance" the world has ever seen in a column published Wednesday, and also took shots at the news media and foreign governments for seizing on the death of a Cuban prisoner to demand greater respect for human rights.<br> Castro's comments came in a long opinion piece carried by official media two days after Republican presidential hopefuls at a debate in Florida presented mostly hard-line stances on what to do about the Communist-run island, and even speculated as to what would happen to the 85-year-old revolutionary leader's soul when he dies.<br> Cuba has become an important issue as the candidates court Florida's influential Cuban-American community in an effort to win the biggest electoral prize so far in the primary season.<br> Castro said he always assumed the candidates would try to outdo each other on the issue of Cuba, but that he was nonetheless appalled by the level of debate.<br> "The selection of a Republican candidate for the presidency of this globalized and expansive empire is — and I mean this seriously — the greatest competition of idiocy and ignorance that has ever been," said the retired Cuban leader, who has dueled with 11 U.S. administrations since his 1959 revolution.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">You know, at least this once, I think I see his point.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-2870045861389155189?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-28520694870915039322012-01-26T11:47:00.000-05:002012-01-26T11:47:14.434-05:00<h3>"What has been said about Newt is pretty much true. He had to step down because Republicans, conservative Republicans, wouldn't vote for him again as Speaker. Because he's not really a conservative. I mean, he'll tell you what you want to hear. He has an uncanny ability, sort of like Clinton, to feel your pain and know his audience and speak to his audience and fire them up. But when he was speaker, he was erratic, undisciplined."</h3>-- <a href="http://www.ktrh.com/pages/michaelberry.html?article=9666278" target="_blank">Rep. Tom DeLay</a> (R-Disgraced former Majority Leader), confirming everyone's opinion of Newt Gingrich<p> <div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-2852069487091503932?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-30559037229740997552012-01-26T11:40:00.000-05:002012-01-26T11:40:34.832-05:00<H2>Newt Declares War on Media</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...claims liberal media 'out to get him'...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://townhall.com/columnists/larryelder/2012/01/26/creators_oped/page/full/" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> The Republican re-embrace of former Speaker Newt Gingrich says a lot about whom he sees as his opponent -- and it isn't just President Barack Obama. It's the media.<br> If not for major media's embrace, Obama would still be sitting in the Senate, perhaps mulling another run for the presidency. A UCLA economist-political scientist recently tried to measure how the liberal media bias influences the way people vote. He concluded that this bias gives the Democrat candidate 8 to 10 percentage points.<br> Republicans understand this. So does Gingrich -- on a very deep level. He knows the media dislike him above and beyond their anti-conservative Republican disdain. That he is testy, no-nonsense, whip smart and knowledgeable makes him formidable. That he engineered the 1994 GOP takeover of the House and pushed former President Bill Clinton into governing in the center makes him effective.<br> The good news for the media is that Gingrich is a Southern white male Christian Republican. He belongs to a group for which no advocacy organization exists to play the race/sex/religion card when Gingrich gets called -- on-air by cable hosts and pundits -- "racist," "disgusting" and a "pig."<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Gee, if only there was a News Channel that would carry Republican propoganda and lies 24 hours a day, 7 days a week on basic cable. By God I'll bet Newt could get his message out then!</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-3055903722974099755?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-37722353895407423242012-01-26T11:28:00.000-05:002012-01-26T11:28:19.710-05:00<center><iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/GyjKyby-76w" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></center><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-3772235389540742324?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-71101152168707928952012-01-26T09:56:00.000-05:002012-01-26T09:56:04.673-05:00<h3>"I think the outside super PACs and others is so disgraceful that I'm ashamed of the United States Supreme Court in their decision on [Citizens] United. I predict to you there will be a major scandal associated with the Supreme Court decision on Citizens versus United. There is too much money washing around."</h3>-- John McCain (R-Senile), going out on a limb by predicting we'll have another political scandal involving money sometime soon. Way to go there Nostradamus...<p> <div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-7110115216870792895?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-39257478791921792512012-01-26T09:38:00.000-05:002012-01-26T09:38:08.090-05:00<h3>“You have to live in a world of Swiss bank accounts and Cayman Island accounts and making $20 million for no work, to have some fantasy this far from reality,”</h3>-- Newt Gingrich, (R-Serial fornicator), commenting on Mitt Romney's plan to deport all illegal aliens.<p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-3925747879192179251?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-64438100447101086102012-01-26T09:34:00.000-05:002012-01-26T09:34:09.732-05:00<H2>Mayor is Lone Greeter for President's Las Vegas Arrival</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...local pols (democrats) don't take opportunity to be seen with Obama...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.8newsnow.com/story/16603843/mayor-goodman-lone-greeter-for-presidents-las-vegas-arrival" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> Only one person welcomed President Obama to Las Vegas when he stepped off Air Force One Wednesday night: Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman.<br> According to Mayor Goodman, elected leaders are invited to greet the president when he visits. She was the only elected leader who accepted the invite. She says she did it because of protocol, not politics.<br> "To have the opportunity to greet the President of the United States, to me, is simply remarkable," she said. "He is our president. It's not Bush, it was Mr. President or President Bush, and it isn't Obama, it's President Obama."<br> Mayor Carolyn Goodman was also the only person to greet the president during his visit to Las Vegas last fall.<br> Wednesday night, the mayor took advantage of her very brief meeting with President Obama. After joking that Thursday's 70 degree weather was made just for him, she threw in a nugget of business. It was about foreclosures and the mortgage crisis that has crippled southern Nevada.<br> "We want his leadership, because he is the president," she said. "Maybe he'll continue, and maybe he won't, but he's President of the United States, and we need his help."<br> Goodman told the president Las Vegas needs his help to get private lenders and banks to loosen up and help people finance responsibly.<br> The mayor says she wasted no time welcoming the president, because she wants him to remember Las Vegas is a world class entertainment destination. She hopes Las Vegas will come to mind when he talks about tourism and international visitors.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">At first I thought this was a bunch of Republicans acting like douches. But, when I investigated it a little I found that Clark County (where Las Vegas is) has filled virtually every office with Democrats. Mayor Goodman herself is an Independent and succeeded her husband as Mayor of Las Vegas. So this is likey a snab from Democrats in Nevada who don't want to be seen with Obama.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-6443810044710108610?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-28977071197964099822012-01-26T09:17:00.000-05:002012-01-26T09:17:46.260-05:00<img src="http://images.politico.com/global/2012/01/120125_jan_obama_ap_3281.jpg" title="" width="300" height="163" border="0"><br> <H2>Ariz. Gov. Jan Brewer Lectures President Obama</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...crazy teabagger grabs Obama on tarmac...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/01/ariz-gov-jan-brewer-president-obama-didnt-feel-i-treated-112328.html" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> It was a tense moment on the tarmac.<br> President Obama, alighting from the stairs of Air Force One in Phoenix this afternoon, was greeted by Arizona Governor Jan Brewer, who handed him an envelope and the two exchanged what appeared to be some heated sentiments. At one point, she pointed her finger at him.<br> Asked afterward what happened, Brewer said, "He was a little disturbed about my book, Scorpions for Breakfast.<br> "I said to him that I have all the respect in the world for the office of the president. The book is what the book is. I asked him if he read the book. He said he read the excerpt," she said, according to a pool report. "He didn't feel that I had treated him cordially. I said I was sorry he felt that way but I didn't get my sentence finished. Anyway, we're glad he's here. I'll regroup."<br> In the envelope she had given him was a handwritten letter, Brewer said -- "an invitation that I've extended to him before with regards to coming to Arizona and going to the border with me....We've had a remarkable comeback here and I want to share that with him."<br> A White House official confirmed the invitation and described the encounter in more bureaucratic terms: "The President said he'd be glad to meet with her again, but did note that after their last meeting, a cordial discussion in the Oval Office, the governor inaccurately described the meeting in her book. The President looks forward to continuing taking steps to help Arizona's economy grow."<br> The pool reporter, POLITICO's Carrie Budoff Brown, said the scene was far from the norm. Aside from the pointing, they appeared to talk over each other and he appeared to walk away from her while they were still talking.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">Gov. Brewer is no expert on immigration, illegal or otherwise. And no President should be taking shit from a crazy teabagger. This is just the current incarnation of the "you lie" shout in Congress.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-2897707119796409982?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-46597548473231443382012-01-26T09:10:00.000-05:002012-01-26T09:10:42.635-05:00<H2>Ahmadinejad Says Iran is Ready for Nuclear Talks</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...sanctions are working....</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/01/26/ahmadinejad-says-iran-is-ready-for-nuclear-talks/" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> Iran is ready to revive talks with the world powers, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Thursday, as toughening sanctions aim at forcing Tehran to sharply scale back its nuclear program.<br> Even so, he insisted that the pressures will not force Iran to give up its demands, including to continue enriching uranium, that led to the collapse of dialogue last year.<br> The United States and its allies want Iran to halt making nuclear fuel, which they worry could eventually lead to weapons-grade material and the production of nuclear weapons.<br> Iran says its program is for peaceful purposes -- generating electricity and producing medical radioisotopes to treat cancer patients.<br> The 27-member European Union imposed an oil embargo against Iran on Monday, part of sanctions to pressure Tehran into resuming talks on the country's nuclear program. It follows U.S. action also aimed at limiting Iran's ability to sell oil, which accounts for 80 percent of its foreign revenue.<br> No date is set for the possible resumption of talks between Iran and the five permanent U.N. Security Council members plus Germany. Negotiations ended in stalemate in January 2011, and Iran later rejected a plan to send its stockpile of low-enriched uranium abroad in exchange for reactor-ready fuel rods.<br> <b>Iran had previously indicated that it is ready for a new round of talks</b>. Ahmadinejad is the highest-ranking official to make the offer.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">What? Iran has been willing to negotiate all along? Why all this talk of bombing Iran then? Something in this discussion doesn't smell right. Both sides can't be telling the truth.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-4659754847323144338?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-87341689504412532082012-01-25T13:27:00.000-05:002012-01-25T13:27:59.596-05:00<center><img src="http://www.caglecartoons.com/media/cartoons/73/2012/01/23/105003_600.jpg" title="" border="0"></center><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-8734168950441253208?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-79007613999427601022012-01-25T13:23:00.000-05:002012-01-25T13:23:46.857-05:00<H2>Santorum Touts Birther Endorsement</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...who else is crazy enough to endorse Santorum?...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.thenation.com/blog/165814/santorum-touts-birther-endorsement" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> On Friday night the Santorum campaign sent out a press release boasting that “OVER 30 NATIONAL CONSERVATIVE LEADERS ENDORSE SANTORUM.” Just who were these leaders? Some were utterly obscure figures who do not actually qualify as national conservative leaders. (For example, “Ken Campbell, California Conservative Leader” does not appear anywhere on the Google search results for “Ken Campbell.”)<br> A few were legitimate, if polarizing, national conservative leaders, such as Gary Bauer, Richard Viguerie and James Dobson. (All are more precisely described as social conservatives rather than just conservatives generally.)<br> But one name in particular stood out: Joseph Farah, editor and chief executive officer of WND.com and WND Books. If you don’t know about Farah, you should. He edits <i>World Net Daily</i>, an extremely nasty, conspiracy-minded cesspool of far-right fear-mongering. It may sound marginal, but it has a surprisingly large reach and readership.<br> What has made Farah more widely known outside the margins of the conservative movement is his relentless advocacy of “birtherism,” the racist lie that President Obama was not actually born in Hawaii.<br> Farah has been promoting bogus conspiracy theories about Democratic presidents since the Clinton administration. A 1996 Columbia Journalism Review article called “The Vincent Foster Factory” reported the role played by Farah, then head of the Western Journalism Center, in promoting suspicions surrounding the death of Clinton White House counsel Vince Foster.<br> As Terry Krepel of ConWebWatch.com reports, “Farah and WND have reported numerous claims regarding the birth certificate that have been proven false, but WND has made no effort to correct the record. WND has also told numerous falsehoods about Obama in general.”<br> Farah repeatedly demanded that Obama release his long-form birth certificate, pledging $15,000 to the hospital where Obama was born upon its release. When the White House released the document last year, he called it “fraudulent.”<br> It might seem strange that Rick Santorum—who eschews the kind of dishonest slander of Obama that Newt Gingrich engages in—would boast of being endorsed by such a person. Indeed, it seems strange that relatively mainstream conservative figures such as Gary Bauer would want to be associated with him.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">World Nut Daily? Boy, that explains a lot about this endorsement. WND is a comical website (in a sort of FreeRepublic.com sort of funny) that I visit when I need a laugh. It always ends up scaring me though when I realize these people actually believe this stuff.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-7900761399942760102?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-57027557178151707322012-01-25T13:16:00.000-05:002012-01-25T13:16:58.474-05:00<img src="http://gothamist.com/attachments/nyc_chrisrobbins/11512paul.jpg" title="" width="320" height="293" border="0"> <H2>Ron Paul Endorsed By Nevada Brothel</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...actual whores support Republican counterparts....</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://gothamist.com/2012/01/15/pimpin_for_paul_ron_paul_endorsed_b.php" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> Less than a week before South Carolina's Republican primary, Ron Paul is currently polling third behind Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. He's risen six percentage points in the last seven days according to PPP, and now he has sewn up the crucial "Fiscally Conservative Pimp" vote. Dennis Hof, who owns Nevada's Moonlite Bunny Ranch, tells CNN, "If a client comes into the Bunny Ranch and says 'I'm pimpin for Paul,' they're gonna have a really good time." Presumably this refers to the sense of purpose one feels by being civically-minded shortly after expensive, soul-shattering coitus.<br> Being a Libertarian (except when it comes to women having liberty over their own bodies, which doesn't count), Paul can't fully admit to condemning the Bunny Ranch's existence. In 2007 the candidate's handler told the AP that "while Paul does not personally condone prostitution, the candidate does not think it's the role of the federal government to regulate such activity."<br> Paul has also had a tough time distancing himself from the support of white supremacists, thanks to those pamphlets that he totally didn't write but was copacetic with. We hope Dr. Paul enjoys his once-in-a-lifetime endorsement, and maybe even parlays it into an HBO series. Although that last one didn't go too well.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">No one ever said that hookers were bright.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-5702755717815170732?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-89030673307067593602012-01-25T11:19:00.000-05:002012-01-26T19:44:38.415-05:00<H2>Tennessee Tea Party Demands Slavery Be Stricken from School History Books</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...prefer to ignore inconvenient truths....</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2011/jan/13/tea-parties-cite-legislative-demands/" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> Members of Tennessee tea parties presented state legislators with five priorities for action Wednesday, including “rejecting” the federal health reform act, establishing an elected “chief litigator” for the state and “educating students the truth about America.”<br> About two dozen tea party activists held a news conference, then met with lawmakers individually to present their list of priorities and “demands” for the 2011 legislative session that opened Tuesday.<br> Regarding education, the material they distributed said, “Neglect and outright ill will have distorted the teaching of the history and character of the United States. We seek to compel the teaching of students in Tennessee the truth regarding the history of our nation and the nature of its government.”<br> That would include, the documents say, that “the Constitution created a Republic, not a Democracy.”<br> The material calls for lawmakers to amend state laws governing school curriculums, and for textbook selection criteria to say that “No portrayal of minority experience in the history which actually occurred shall obscure the experience or contributions of the Founding Fathers, or the majority of citizens, including those who reached positions of leadership.”<br> Fayette County attorney Hal Rounds, the group’s lead spokesman during the news conference, said the group wants to address “an awful lot of made-up criticism about, for instance, the founders intruding on the Indians or having slaves or being hypocrites in one way or another.<br> “The thing we need to focus on about the founders is that, given the social structure of their time, they were revolutionaries who brought liberty into a world where it hadn’t existed, to everybody — not all equally instantly — and it was their progress that we need to look at,” said Rounds, whose website identifies him as a Vietnam War veteran of the Air Force and FedEx retiree who became a lawyer in 1995.<br> The group also wants the state legislature to reject key provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 as “an insult to Constitutional principles.”<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">These people are just crazy. It won't hurt students to learn that even the Founding Fathers were people with conflicting ideas.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-8903067330706759360?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-70446736428335753402012-01-25T11:10:00.000-05:002012-01-25T11:10:28.443-05:00<H2>U.S. Military Drops the Ball on Haditha Massacre</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...24 unarmed civilians murdered, not even a slap on the wrist...</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/25/haditha-killings-frank-wuterich-iraq_n_1230889.html?ref=world" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> The lone Marine convicted in his squad's killing of two dozen unarmed civilians in one of the Iraq War's defining moments escaped jail time Tuesday after defending his order to raid homes in Haditha as a necessary act "to keep the rest of my Marines alive."<br> The sentencing of Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich ends a six-year prosecution for the 2005 attack that failed to win any manslaughter convictions. Eight Marines were initially charged. One was acquitted, and six others had their cases dropped.<br> Wuterich admitted he ordered is squad to "shoot first, ask questions later" after a roadside bomb killed a fellow Marine as part of a deal that ended his manslaughter trial with a guilty plea Monday to a single count of negligent dereliction of duty.<br> The deal that dropped nine counts of manslaughter sparked outrage in the besieged Iraqi town and claims that the U.S. didn't hold the military accountable.<br> "I was expecting that the American judiciary would sentence this person to life in prison and that he would appear and confess in front of the whole world that he committed this crime, so that America could show itself as democratic and fair," said survivor Awis Fahmi Hussein, showing his scars from a bullet wound to the back.<br> The military judge, Lt. Col. David Jones, initially recommended the maximum sentence of three months for Wuterich, saying, "It's difficult for the court to fathom negligent dereliction of duty worse than the facts in this case."<br> But after opening an envelope to look at the terms of the plea agreement, as is procedure in military court, Jones announced the deal prevented any jail time for the Marine.<br> "That's very good for you obviously," Jones told Wuterich.<br> Jones did recommend that the sergeant's rank be reduced to private, which would dock his pay, but he decided not to exercise his option to cut it by as much as two-thirds because the divorced father has sole custody of his three daughters. The rank reduction has to be approved by a Marine general who already signed off on the plea deal.<P> <FONT color="#0000FF">This is why the rest of the world hates us. This is why al Qaeda has no problem recruiting people willing to die if they can take a few Americans with them. Unless we offer justice, we cannot have peace.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-7044673642833575340?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-14249794625003029382012-01-25T10:54:00.000-05:002012-01-25T10:54:18.525-05:00<H2>Santorum Says Pregnant Rape Victims Have Been Given a "gift"</H2> <H3><FONT color="#FF0000"><I>...urges women to 'make the best of it'....</I></FONT></H3> <A href="http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/01/23/409242/santorum-to-rape-victims-make-the-best-out-of-a-bad-situation/?mobile=nc" target="_blank">Link to Story</A><P> Standing steadfast as the most socially right-wing candidate in the GOP presidential field, Rick Santorum has repeatedly touted his extreme anti-choice position, which dictates that abortion should be uniformly illegal, even in cases of rape or incest. He even suggested that physicians who provide abortions to such victims should be criminally charged.<br> Last Friday, CNN’s Piers Morgan asked Santorum to clarify his reasoning behind such a callous position. Insisting that “it’s not a matter of religious values,” Santorum explained that sexual assault victims should “accept this horribly created” pregnancy because it is “nevertheless a gift in a very broken way” and that, when it comes down to it, a victim just has “to make the best out of a bad situation“. <P> <FONT color="#0000FF">What a horror this guy is. But, that's the trouble with Evangelicals, they cannot leave their noses out of YOUR business. You have to live by their rules because everything else is wrong. That's why they should never be given any power or authority.</FONT><p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-1424979462500302938?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4133751.post-66199270748194493732012-01-25T10:46:00.000-05:002012-01-25T10:46:53.929-05:00<h3>“Sometimes if your candidate loses ... you kind of get your panties in a wad and you may say things that you regret later.”</h3>-- <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/sarah-palin-criticizes-jersey-gov-chris-christie-calling-gop-candidate-newt-gingrich-embarrassment-article-1.1010660" target="_blank">Sarah Palin</a> (R-Nitwit), referring to Gov. Christie's endorsement of Mitt Romney and without a hint of irony in her voice.<p><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4133751-6619927074819449373?l=ht4e.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div>HT4Ehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10804365244134915993noreply@blogger.com0