Labor Day: Thank Your Labor Unions Today

  Funny thing about Labor Day is that members of the Tea Party and Republicans will be celebrating today with a paid day off from their employers even though both groups are pretty much anti-union.

    The following are 20 reasons why you should thank Labor Unions, even if you have never been in one. Oh, and remember to thank a Democrat while you are at it.

1. Minimum Wage: Without federally mandated minimum wage, we’d still be working for pennies.

2. Child Labor Laws: Without these laws, children would be hired as cheap labor.

3. Paid Vacations: Did you go on a cruise this year? Perhaps to the Grand Canyon or another country? Thank a union.

4. Employer Health Care, Dental, and Vision Insurance: If you have a medical, dental, or vision care plan through your employer, your a lucky person. All because of organized labor.

5. Pensions: If you were able to retire at 65 and get pension checks in the mail, congratulations, you’re living proof that unions work.

6. Safety Conditions: Do you work at a potentially hazardous job but have safety regulations in place to protect you? If so, unions are responsible for your continued safety.

7. Collective Bargaining: Just having the right to negotiate with your employer is a benefit guaranteed by a union.

8. Weekends: If you have weekends off to spend with your families, a labor union is responsible for giving you that time off.

9. Sick Leave: Did you get to use a work provided sick day to get well? Unions fought for that too.

10. Overtime: Are you able to work overtime and get paid even more for it? Thank a union.

11. 8 Hour Work Day: Without unions, we’d all be working non-stop 24/7. Because of unions you’re able to go home and spend some time at home with family and friends before you catch 6-8 hours of sleep.

12. 40 Hour Work Week: Just like number 11, without unions, we’d never have a day off and work would encompass our entire life.

13. Unemployment Benefits: Are you unemployed but receive unemployment benefits to care for your family until you find another job? One word. Unions.

14. Wrongful Termination Laws: Because of unions, you can’t be fired for stupid reasons, like the color of your skin or because you make too much money.

15. Pay Raises: Unions are responsible for your ability to ask for and receive pay raises.

16. Holiday Pay: Do you at least get some holidays off? If so, thank a union.

17. Pregnancy and Parental Leave: In some countries, women give birth on the job and have to go back to work the next day. Corporations would make women do the same thing here if not for the determination of a union.

18. The Right To Strike: We have the right to organize and protest against the government. A union fought for your right to organize and strike against your employer.

19. Equal Pay For Women: Women finally get equal pay for equal work. Thank a union.

20. Laws Ending Sweatshops: Because of unions, sweatshops, which employ cheap labor with harsh conditions, are illegal.

Every right that a worker has in the workplace is all because a union fought hard to get it. As Republicans continue to wipe out unions and weaken them, they also weaken us and our ability to fight back against unfair business practices. We are at risk of losing all the things that unions fought long and hard to secure. Even our jobs are at risk. Because of unions, many of the jobs Americans still hold, have not been outsourced overseas. Unions protect jobs in America and where there are unions, there are jobs. Because the private sector has largely wiped out unions, big corporations are able to lay off American workers and give those jobs to cheap labor overseas. If you want a job, or want to keep yours, organize or join a union and fight for your right to work. Unions fight for the American worker, therefore they fight for us. Anyone who says that unions are un-American only wants to get rid of the above list so that they can make ridiculous profits off the backs off a cheap labor workforce. If you support American workers, American jobs, and the continued prosperity of the American people, support labor unions.  Addicting Info

Technorati Tags: Labor Day,Labor Unions,Workers Rights,Minimum Wage Law,Current Events,The Middle Class,The Working Poor

  

Rev. Sun Myung Moon Drops Dead From Pneumonia

  The title is a bit harsh, but I’m a happy camper since the world is not a little bit of a better place since this con-artist has finally kicked the bucket.

    Moon’s Unification Church owns many interests in the United States, including the Washington Times newspaper, a conservative paper equaling Fox News when it comes to having a political bent. Moon was also a heavy donor to the Republican Party.

Yahoo/AP:

Moon sought and eventually developed a good relationship with conservative American leaders such as former Presidents Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.

Yet he also served 13 months at a U.S. federal prison in the mid-1980s after a New York City jury convicted him of filing false tax returns. The church says the U.S. government persecuted Moon because of his growing influence and popularity with young Americans.

   Hopefully they will cremate his ass and forget the urn.

Technorati Tags: Rev. Sun Myung Moon,Moonies,Unification Church,Conservatives,Current Events

DNC Protesters First Target: Bank Of America

  Yep. Forget about President Obama or his healthcare reform, gay marriage or abortion. The protesters started off the day protesting against Wall Street, with Bank of America being the first in their sites. Good for you, ladies and gentlemen!

The Charlotte Observer:

A group calling itself the Coalition to March on Wall Street South is scheduled to host a march in Charlotte on Sunday, stopping first at the bank’s corporate headquarters before winding its way past Bank of America Stadium.

“Despite the fact that the bailouts were four years ago, and there’s been officially declared an end to the recession, the everyday reality for people is a much different story,” said Ben Carroll, an organizer of the coalition. “People still see and feel in their everyday lives that the banks are responsible for so many injustices in their communities.”

It’s not just the view of protest groups.

Americans reported record-low confidence in U.S. banks this year in Gallup’s annual report, with only 21 percent saying they had confidence in banks and 35 percent saying they had very little or no confidence.

   It will be a hot day for marching and other outdoor activity in uptown Charlotte as the temperature is at 91 currently.

   Bring along the Gatorade and water if you plan on being uptown today because you are going to need it.

   So, why the protest? Because the industry is still playing their same old games:

• Citigroup shareholders rejected CEO Vikram Pandit’s $15 million pay package at the bank’s annual meeting this spring, the first time a major bank’s shareholders had done so in a symbolic “say on pay” vote.

• JPMorgan Chase & Co. revealed it lost billions in federally insured deposits on an oversized trading position that straddled the line between hedging and betting. CEO Jamie Dimon initially called discussion about it a “tempest in a teapot,” but he ended up on an apology tour that culminated in congressional hearings.

• Barclays PLC agreed to pay $453 million to settle allegations that the bank manipulated a key interest rate to demonstrate false confidence in banks and make money through trading. CEO Bob Diamond was forced to resign, and executives were made to answer to the British Parliament.

• Wells Fargo agreed to pay $175 million to resolve claims that its mortgage brokers discriminated against black and Hispanic borrowers, pushing them into higher-cost loans.

• News reports said that no criminal charges would be filed following investigations into the vanishing of $1 billion in customer money during the collapse of trading firm MF Global.

• And most recently, Standard Chartered PLC said it would pay $340 million to a New York state regulator to settle charges that the bank laundered money for the Iranian government.      Source

  Let’s not forget BofA’s attempt at raising debit-card fees. That bank screwed me out of some cash a few years back and I will never have anything positive to say about this criminal enterprise.

Technorati Tags: DNC,Charlotte,NC,Bank of America,Protesters,Wall Street,2012 Elections,Current Events,The Occupy Movement

Republicans Are Unfit To Lead (OpEd)

Taken from Addicting Info under Creative Commons License

By Terrence    August 27, 2012

“A professional politician is a professionally dishonorable man. In order to get anywhere near high office he has to make so many compromises and submit to so many humiliations that he becomes indistinguishable from a streetwalker [sic: prostitute].” —H.L. Mencken

Back in the good ole days, ‘political silly season’ typically ran from early summer until the first week of October of election years. Silly season was that time when candidates for office ran afoul of their message, producing gaffes that their opponents would use against them. But since the beginning of the Republican jihad… intifada… call it what you will, silly season has lasted all year long, every year. And the pronouncements by many of these candidates and office holders have gone from mere gaffes to something far more telling about them; that they are unfit to lead!

Take, for instance, Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee and candidate for the second highest seat in land; the Republican Party views Ryan as their academic overachiever, their source for wisdom to lead this nation. Ryan’s source for his budget proposal and monetary policy came from Ayn Rand’s ‘Atlas Shrugged,’ a fantasy novel, a fiction. And that budget Ryan is pushing centering on draconian cuts in Medicaid, food stamps and other programs that aid the needy would actually increase the deficit.

And then there’s Todd Akin; Akin currently sits on the House Science Committee. Todd Akin’s view that “raped women cannot conceive” comes from the 13th century, an English legal tome called Fleta, asserting pregnancy was “prima facie” proof sex was consensual. There is absolutely no science related to his view, and a high school biology course would have taught him his opinion was errant. Not to mention, does this not strike you as something that would come from al Qaeda or the Taliban?

And this isn’t just on the national level, Reuters reports a Republican candidate for county sheriff in New Hampshire, Frank Szabo, backed down from a suggestion he would use “deadly force” to stop doctors from performing abortions, saying he “let his imagination get out of control.” In Lubbock, Texas, Republican Tom Head, a judge for which minorities may have a valid appeal against their convictions due to his racism, called for raising taxes warning of ‘Civil War, Maybe’ if President Obama wins. According to Carol Morgan, blogging on the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal website, “The extreme right wing of the Republican Party; the Eagle Forum and John Birch Society members, are poisoning what used to be a group of solid citizens just a few years ago. It’s like a scene from an old movie, ‘Invasion of the Body Snatchers.’”

These are only some of the most recent examples of “people rising to their highest level of incompetence” in government. They bring to mind George Orwell’s “In our time [sic: 1948 Britain] political speech and writing are largely the defense of the indefensible.” And considering who are receiving these house committee assignments, using economic-political connections instead of any merit, truly demonstrates just how corrupt much of our government has become.

Benjamin Franklin wrote: “Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.” Republicans are redefining corrupt and vicious, in red state after red state, the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is disenfranchising 5 million voters (see ‘Voter ID laws: the Republican ruse to disenfranchise 5 million Americans‘), 3 percent of Democratic voters… and they are, by significant margins, Democratic voters, across the nation.

And while this circus is going on, Republicans are pursuing their end-game: enacting and making real Ayn Rand’s fantasy world. Paul Ryan, himself, voted to give Big Oil billions in taxpayer-funded handouts just one week after agreeing in a town hall meeting in Waterford, Wisconsin about the need to end subsidies to oil companies. Why would Ryan pull such a flip-flop? Because Ryan and his family are making thousands of dollars from oil companies that lease their land. So you might say that Ryan wants to place himself on the public dole in the stead of thousands of starving children.

Well it’s time to grow up. Here is an analogy to make it simple, some folk are unfit to leave the farm. Their rightful place in this world is behind a plow (humor: if not in front of it). For the world is simply too complex a place for them to wrap their feeble, little minds around it. And since ‘Newt and the boys’ purge of common sense from the Republican Party, one is very hard-pressed to find a single Republican up to that task, especially when they live within a delirium based upon a fantasy.

So let us start demanding some justice, justice against the perpetrators of the civil rights abuses from ALEC, justice against office holders corrupting our government for the benefit of the one percent, justice against the one percent financing the corruption of our government, and let us demand accountability!

D.H. Lawrence wrote: “Men fight for liberty and win it with hard knocks. Their children, brought up easy, let it slip away again, poor fools. And their grand-children are once more slaves.” Let us not bequeath to our children and grandchildren slavery.

Technorati Tags: The Republican Party,Conservatives,The Tea Party,Paul Ryan,Mitt Romney,Todd Akin,2012 Elections,Current Events

Illegal Immigrants Protesting At DNC. WTF?

   Okay people, I’m telling you right from the start that this post is going to contain a little bit of fowl language because this story flat-out pisses me the fuck off! If you cannot handle some bad words…leave.

   From the Charlotte Observer:

All of them risked deportation to demand greater rights for undocumented immigrants.

They, along with 22 others, arrived in Charlotte Saturday evening on the “Undocubus.”

The bus riders are part of a group of some four dozen riders who will converge on uptown Sunday for the March on Wall Street South.

The group left Phoenix in July in a small caravan led by a 1972 tour bus emblazoned with the words “Sin Papeles Sin Miedo” and “No Papers, No Fear.”

   That’s just the beginning since our lovely Department of homeland Security has told law enforcement to keep their hands off of these illegals.

“I think it’s outrageous that they’re thumbing their nose at federal and United States law by parading themselves around the country and advertising that they’re illegal aliens in the country, and no one is taking action against them,” Pendergraph said.

He said he’s heard that local law enforcement was told not to arrest people on the Undocubus.

“Actually, I’ve spoken to people from Homeland Security, and that’s what people have told them, is hands off,” he said.

Since May 2006, 20,710 inmates at Mecklenburg County Jail have been identified as undocumented immigrants.

   What is wrong with this fucking picture? These mother-fuckers are here illegally, thus breaking the law, and yet they can’t be arrested and sent back to their native countries? These bitches are going to protest because they think that they don’t have enough rights? Here’s a fucking right that I’ll give you assholes, okay? If you don’t like the rights that you have in America, being here un-lawfully, then you have the right to go the fuck back to Mexico, criminals!

Technorati Tags: Illegal Immigrants,Immigration,Protesters,DNC,Charlotte,DHS,Current Events,2012 Elections

194 Things Obama Has Done… PART 1

   …and this is not all of them. I am splitting this list into 3 posts because it is a long read. Pass this around to your conservative friends. From PCTC:

He Returned The Executive Branch To Fiscal Responsibility After the Bush Debacle

1. Within his first week, he signed an Executive Order ordering an audit of government contracts, and combating waste and abuse.   http://1.usa.gov/...

2. Created the post of Chief Performance Officer, whose job it is to make operations more efficient to save the federal government money.   http://n.pr/...

3. On his first full day, he froze White House salaries.  http://on.msnbc.com/...

4. He appointed the first Federal Chief Information Officer to oversee federal IT spending. http://www.cio.gov

5. He committed to phasing out unnecessary and outdated weapons systems. To that end, he also signed the Democratic-sponsored Weapons Systems Acquisition Reform Act, which attempted to put a stop to waste, fraud and abuse in the defense procurement and contracting system.  http://bit.ly/... http://bit.ly/...

6. Through an executive order, he created the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform.  http://bit.ly/...

He Improved the Economy, Preventing a Bush Depression

7. Pushed through and signed the Democratic-sponsored American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, otherwise known as “the stimulus package.” The bill passed, even though only three Republicans voted for it. In a major departure from the previous administration, he launched recovery.gov, a website that allows taxpayers to track spending from the Act.   http://1.usa.gov/... http://1.usa.gov/...

8. The Bush-led Great Recession was costing the economy nearly 800,000 jobs per month by the time President Obama took office. But by the end of his first year, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act created and sustained 2.1 million jobs and stimulated the economyby  3.5%.  http://reut.rs/...

9. Not only did he completed the massive TARP financial and banking rescue plan, he also leaned on the banks and others, and recovered virtually all of the bail-out money. http://1.usa.gov/... http://bit.ly/...

10. He created the Making Home Affordable home refinancing plan.  http://1.usa.gov/...

11. Oversaw the creation of more jobs in 2010 alone than Bush did in eight years. http://bit.ly/...

12. Along with Democrats, and almost no Republicans, implemented an auto industry rescue plan, and saved as many as 1 million jobs.  http://bit.ly/...   Many are of the opinion that he saved the entire auto industry, and even the economy of the entire Midwest.  http://bit.ly/... This resulted in GM returning to its place as the top car company in the world.  http://lat.ms/... Willard Romney, on the other hand, advocated for the entire industry to go belly-up. http://nyti.ms/...

13. Doubled funding for the Manufacturing Extension Partnership, which is designed to improve manufacturing efficiency.  http://bit.ly/...

14. Signed the Democratic-sponsored Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act giving the federal government more tools to investigate and prosecute fraud in every corner of the financial system, and create a bipartisan Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission to investigate the financial fraud that led to the economic meltdown.  http://abcn.ws/...

15. Signed the Democratic-sponsored Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure (CARD) Act, which was designed to to protect consumers from unfair and deceptive credit card practices.  http://1.usa.gov/...

16. Increased infrastructure spending after years of neglect. http://bit.ly/...

17. Signed the Democratic-sponsored and passed Helping Families Save Their Homes Act, expanding on the Making Home Affordable Program to help millions of Americans avoid preventable foreclosures. The bill also provided $2.2 billion to help combat homelessness, and to stabilize the housing market.  http://bit.ly/...

18. Through the Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009, he and Congressional Democrats provided tax credits to first-time home buyers, which helped the U.S. housing market recovery.   http://bit.ly/... http://bit.ly/...

19. Initiated a $15 billion plan designed to encourage increased lending to small businesses. http://1.usa.gov/...

20. Created business.gov, which allows for online collaboration between small businesses and experts re managing a business. (The program has since merged with SBA.gov.)   http://www.business.gov

21. Played a lead role in getting the G-20 Summit to commit to a $1.1 trillion deal to combat the global financial crisis.   http://nyti.ms/...

22. Took steps to improve minority access to capital. http://bit.ly/...

23. Signed an Executive Order instructing federal agencies to review all federal regulations and remove any unnecessary and/or burdensome regulations from the books.  http://1.usa.gov/...

24. Through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, saved at least 300,000 education jobs, such as teachers, principals, librarians, and counselors that would have otherwise been lost.   http://1.usa.gov/...

25. Dismantled the Minerals Management Service, thereby cutting ties between energy companies and the government. http://nyti.ms/...

26. Along with Congressional Democrats, provided funding to states and the Department of Homeland Security to save thousands of police and firefighter jobs from being cut during the recession.  http://bit.ly/...

27. Used recovered TARP money to fund programs at local housing finance agencies in California, Florida, Nevada, Arizona and Michigan.   http://on.msnbc.com/...

28. Crafted an Executive order establishing the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability to assist in financial education for all Americans. http://bit.ly/...

He Fostered Greater Transparency and Better Government, After the Excesses of the Bush Years

29. Signed an order banning gifts from lobbyists to anyone in the Executive Branch.  http://bit.ly/...

30. Signed an order banning anyone from working in an agency they had lobbied in previous years, and put strict limits on lobbyists’ access to the White House.   http://nyti.ms/...

31. Held the first-ever first online town hall from the White House, and took questions from the public.  http://bit.ly/...

32. Became the first to stream every White House event, live.  http://1.usa.gov/...

33. Established a central portal for Americans to find service opportunities.   http://www.serve.gov

34. Provided the first voluntary disclosure of the White House Visitors Log in history.  http://1.usa.gov/...

35. Issued an Executive Order on Presidential Records, which restored the 30-day time frame for former presidents to review records, and eliminated the right for the vice president or family members of former presidents to do the reviews. Provides the public with greater access to historic  White House documents, and severely curtails the ability to use executive privilege to shield them.  http://1.usa.gov/...

36. Improved aspects of the Freedom of Information Act, and issued new guidelines to make FOIA more open and transparent when processing FOIA requests.  http://1.usa.gov/...

Wall Street Reforms and Consumer Protection

37. Ordered 65 executives who took bailout money to cut their own pay until they paid back all bailout money.  http://huff.to/...

38. Along with Congressional Democrats, pushed through and got passed Dodd-Frank, one of the largest and most comprehensive Wall Street reforms since the Great Depression.  http://bit.ly/... http://bit.ly/...

39. Through Dodd-Frank legislation, created the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau  http://1.usa.gov/...

40. Through Dodd-Frank, the Executive Branch fashioned rules that reduce the influence of speculators in the oil market.  http://bit.ly/...

41. Fashioned rules so that banks can no longer use YOUR money to invest in high-risk financial instruments that work against their own customers' interests.  http://bit.ly/...

42. Supported the concept of allowing stockholders to vote on executive compensation.  http://bit.ly/...

43. Endorsed and supported the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of 2009 that would close offshore tax avoidance loopholes.   http://bit.ly/... http://bit.ly/...

44. Negotiated a deal with Swiss banks that now permits the US government to gain access to the records of criminals and  tax evaders.  http://bit.ly/...

45. Signed the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act, which closed many of the loopholes that allowed companies to send jobs overseas, and avoid paying US taxes by moving money offshore.  http://1.usa.gov/...

46. Established a Consumer Protection Financial Bureau designed to protect consumers from financial sector excesses.  http://bit.ly/...

47. Oversaw and then signed a Democratic bill constituting the most sweeping food safety legislation since the Great Depression.  http://thedc.com/...

48. Through the Fraud Enforcement and Recovery Act, extended the False Claims Act to combat fraud by companies and individuals usingmoney from the TARP and Stimulus programs.  http://bit.ly/...

He Ushered Through Many Changes That Enhanced Civil Rights and Anti-Discrimination

49. Along with Congressional Democrats, advocated for and signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, which made it a federal crime to assault anyone based on his or her sexual orientation or gender identity.  http://bit.ly/...

50. Pushed through, signed and demanded the Pentagon enact a repeal of the discriminatory “Don’t Ask Don’t Tell” policy that forced soldiers to lie in order to be eligible to fight for their country, and put our troops at risk by disqualifying many qualified soldiers from helping.  http://bit.ly/... http://bit.ly/...

51. Extended benefits to same-sex partners of federal employees.  http://1.usa.gov/...

52. Appointed more openly gay officials than anyone in history.  http://bit.ly/...

53. Appointed first openly transgender Cabinet Official in History.  http://bit.ly/...

54. Changed HUD rules to prohibit gender and sexual orientation-based discrimination in housing   bit.ly/9RxEnP 

55. Changed his mind and publicly expressed support for the right to enter into a same-sex marriage.  http://bit.ly/...

56. Issued a Presidential Memorandum reaffirming the rights of gay couples to make medical decisions for each other. http://1.usa.gov/...

57. Wrote and signed an Executive Order establishing a White House Council on Women and Girls to ensure that all Cabinet and Cabinet-level agencies evaluate the effect of their policies and programs on women and families.     http://bit.ly/... http://1.usa.gov/...

58. Signed the Democratic-sponsored Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, which restored basic protections against pay discrimination for women and other workers. This was after the GOP blocked the bill in 2007. Only 5 Republican Senators voted for the bill.   http://bit.ly/...

59. Expanded funding for the Violence Against Women Act. http://1.usa.gov/...

60. Under his guidance, National Labor Relations Board issued final rules that require all employers to prominently post employees' rights where all employees or prospective employees can see it, including websites and intranets, beginning November 2011.  http://1.usa.gov/...

61. Advocated that United Nations adopt a policy supporting gay rights worldwide.  http://lat.ms/...

62. Issued an order requiring hospitals to allow visitation by same-sex couples.   reut.rs/llNJek

63. Appointed Kareem Dale as the first ever Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy.  http://1.usa.gov/...

64. Helped Democrats in Congress pass and signed the Civil Rights History Act. http://bit.ly/...

He Made Major Improvements in Foreign Relations and American Status Around the World

65. Visited more countries and met with more world leaders than any previous president during his first six months in office.   http://bit.ly/...

Technorati Tags: Brack Obama,President,PCTC Blog,2012 Elections,Politics,Current Events

Mitt, You Didn't Build That

Meteor Blades for Daily Kos

At Rolling Stone, Tim Dickinson writes The Federal Bailout That Saved Mitt Romney:

According to the candidate's mythology, Romney took leave of his duties at the private equity firm Bain Capital in 1990 and rode in on a white horse to lead a swift restructuring of Bain & Company, preventing the collapse of the consulting firm where his career began. When The Boston Globe reported on the rescue at the time of his Senate run against Ted Kennedy, campaign aides spun Romney as the wizard behind a "long-shot miracle," bragging that he had "saved bank depositors all over the country $30 million when he saved Bain & Company."

In fact, government documents on the bailout obtained by Rolling Stone show that the legend crafted by Romney is basically a lie. The federal records, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, reveal that Romney's initial rescue attempt at Bain & Company was actually a disaster—leaving the firm so financially strapped that it had "no value as a going concern." Even worse, the federal bailout ultimately engineered by Romney screwed the FDIC—the bank insurance system backed by taxpayers—out of at least $10 million. And in an added insult, Romney rewarded top executives at Bain with hefty bonuses at the very moment that he was demanding his handout from the feds. [...]

the FDIC documents on the Bain deal—which were heavily redacted by the firm prior to release – show that as a wealthy businessman, Romney was willing to go to extremes to secure a federal bailout to serve his own interests. He had a lot at stake, both financially and politically. Had Bain & Company collapsed, insiders say, it would have dealt a grave setback to Bain Capital, where Romney went on to build a personal fortune valued at as much as $250 million. It would also have short-circuited his political career before it began, tagging Romney as a failed businessman unable to rescue his own firm.

"None of us wanted to see Bain be the laughingstock of the business world," recalls a longtime Romney lieutenant who asked not to be identified. "But Mitt's reputation was on the line."

Technorati Tags: Tim Dickinson,Mitt Romney,Bain Capital,Bailout,Rolling Stone,2012 Elections,Current Events

Friday Funnies: The Republican Convention

  Being in Tampa and keeping up on the convention, I can honestly say that it was a sad and sorry affair.  I think that the father of lies is no longer Satan, but Paul Ryan because he was full of them. He even managed to surpass Mitt Romney, no easy feat.

Jay Leno: "Donald Trump was bumped from speaking at the Republican convention because of Hurricane Isaac. See, nobody ever talks about the good things hurricanes do."

"Some of the Republicans, I think, are over-reacting to Hurricane Isaac — like today Rick Santorum was seen gathering up two of every animal."

"According to a new poll, Mitt Romney is at zero percent among African Americans. Here’s the sad part: That’s up 5 percent from last week."

"According to a poll released last week, Mitt Romney has zero percent of the black vote. In fact, if it weren't for John Boehner, Romney wouldn't have any support from people of color at all."

"President Obama is seeking to make his case with first-time voters. Well, you can understand why. Second-time voters have graduated and can't find a job."

"Actually, Mitt Romney and Hurricane Isaac have something in common. They can both change directions at any moment."

Conan O'Brien: A group of coal miners in Ohio said that their bosses forced them to attend a Mitt Romney campaign event. You know you're boring when people would rather dig coal than listen to you speak."

David Letterman : "This year the theme of the Republican convention is '50 Shades of White.'"

"Tampa could be hit by Hurricane Isaac, and they might have to cancel or postpone the Republican National Convention. A hurricane headed directly for the Republicans – and more proof that God is a woman."

Bill Maher: "They’re all going down to Tampa where an Evangelical party is going to nominate a Mormon and a Catholic and then get wiped out by a hurricane…leaving Florida to the Jews as God intended."

"Mitt Romney went birther today. He was in Michigan, hwere he was born, and he said, 'No one has ever asked to see my birth certificate.' Right, because you weren't born. You have a warranty card."

Technorati Tags: RNC,Mitt Romney,Paul Ryan,Tampa,Barack Obama,Late Night Talk,Jay Leno,Conan O'Brian,Political Humor,Current Events

GOP Florida Voter Registration Suppression Struck Down

By Jack Watkins   August 29, 2012   At AddictingInfo.org

On August 17^th, I reported on AI that a panel of

three federal judges struck down the GOP’s attempts to shorten early voting days in Florida.  Now a Federal Judge has also struck down Florida's restrictive “third-party” voter registration drives and efforts to register voters by non-partisan groups (such as the League of Women Voters) and even public school civics-class high school teachers…who have faced threats of fines and jail.

According to a report from the Maddow Blog, U.S. District Judge Robert L. Hinkle, issued his permanent ruling today, overturning the onerous registration requirements, ruling in a suit filed last December by the League of Women Voter of Florida, Rock the Vote, and the Florida Public Interest Research Education Fund.

The registration suppression efforts which were challenged in court had required all registration forms for newly registered voters to be turned in within 72-hours to state/county offices (including weekends).  The GOP enacted requirements seriously hampered voter registration canvassing efforts in the state, greatly impacting the number of new voter registrations, and creating an enormous imbalance between new Republican-Party registrations and Democratic-Party registrations, which – up until the new law – had heavily favored Democrats in 2004 and 2008.

In the midst of the Republican Convention in Tampa, South Carolina Governor, Nikki Haley boasted,  last night, about her state’s Voter ID laws, comparing voting to buying Sudafed and flying on airplanes.   Amid similar GOP voter suppression efforts in key states like Pennsylvania, Virginia, Wisconsin and Ohio – the Wednesday permanent injunction by a Federal Court is a glimmer of hope in the battle to preserve the democratic, constitutionally guaranteed right to vote…now under relentless attack by the Republican Party.  Republicans have realized that their Mega-Bucks wealthy Super PAC attack ads and campaign lies, distortions and racist-tinged and false message on Welfare Work Requirements just may not reach and deceive enough White voters in November to buy the empty rhetoric of the Romney/Ryan Campaign.

Therefore, voter suppression and intimidation of likely Democratic leaning demographics (students, minorities, the poor and elderly) and voter apathy are the other key linchpins of their strategy to capture the White House and control of Congress.  As reported elsewhere on AI, even Republican Speaker of the House, John Boehner ( “The Weeping Willow on the Potomac”), has admitted that the Republican strategy is to keep as many minority (and other Democratic demographics) voters from voting.

Technorati Tags: Florida,Voter Suppression Laws,The Republican Party,2012 Elections,Jim Crowe,Current Events

Mitt Romney/Paul Ryan Convention Lies ALL Debunked

  I must say that it is about time that our so-called press is doing their job. They’ve been letting Mitt and the Republican Party slid on most of their bullshit since the Primaries, and it has been pretty discusting  to watch. 

   At least now, though, the press ( except for Fox ) is beginning to fact-check both Ryan and Romey’s statements.

the A.P.:FACT CHECK: Convention speakers stray from reality

Laying out the first plans for his party's presidential ticket, GOP vice presidential nominee Paul Ryan took some factual shortcuts Wednesday night when he attacked President Barack Obama's policies on Medicare, the economic stimulus and the budget deficit.

Greg Sargent-

This doesn’t happen every day, but good for the Los Angeles Times for calling out the ubiquitous falsehood about Obama supposedly waiving welfare reform’s work requirement right in its headline:

Rick Santorum repeats inaccurate welfare attack on Obama

As Kevin Drum says: “it’s about time reporters and copy editors started putting this stuff front and center.” And, indeed, the LA Times does this, in its headline and with this highly placed sentence: “In fact, Obama did not waive the work requirement.”

Jonathan Chait:

It has not escaped attention that Mitt Romney has built his entire campaign on, well, lies.

Anybody tuning in to the Republican National Convention on Tuesday night heard and saw “you didn’t build that” roughly fourteen gajillion times. The RNC’s stated theme of Day One was “We Built That.” Country singer Lane Turner unveiled his new protest song, “I Build That.” New conservative star Mia Love: "This is the America we know, because we built it!" Ann Romney proclaimed that her husband "was not handed success. He built it!"
On television, Romney’s main campaign theme is that President Obama has ended the work requirement in the 1996 welfare law and is instead sending out checks. In his speeches, and during the convention, the message is that President Obama has lectured small business owners that they didn’t build their own business. Swing-state denizens just tuning in to the campaign probably think the election is primarily a referendum on welfare reform.

Both charges are utter fabrications.

Peggy Noonan:  

I want to tell you they marched out of the hall Tuesday night on fire for their side. But I was there and they did not. They walked out like people who weren’t quite sure what to think or how to feel but were hoping for the best.”

Greg Sargent:

At any rate, Fournier has confirmed from GOP strategists that angering blue collar whites is the goal of this strategy. We also know that the GOP has a history of using race-based messaging to appeal to this constituency. And we know Romney probably can’t win unless he pushes his white vote totals to record levels — hence the pollster’s claim that these attacks could make a difference on the margins.

What makes this all noteworthy is who Fournier is. He’s well respected in Washington journalism, having worked as the Associated Press’s Washington correspondent — where he was called on first in many presidential press conferences — before becoming editor in chief of the National Journal Group. Having him come out and explicitly charge the Romney campaign with race-baiting will make this a safer topic among some of the top-shelf commentator and journalist types who might otherwise have shied away from it.

Technorati Tags: Mitt Romney,Paul Ryan,The Republican Party,RNC,Barack Obama,The Media,Fact Check,Current Events,2012 Elections

Chris Christie’s Speech:Did Chris Christie Lie? Well, Let’s Just Say He Didn’t Tell ALL The Truth

Original Post by  kavips on Wed Aug 29, 2012

You see, I believe we have become paralyzed, paralyzed by our desire to be loved.

Yes, paralyzed by our love for millionaires... We don't EVER ask THEM to make small sacrifices.  We give them whatever they ask.

Our leaders of today have decided it's more important to be popular, to say and do what's easy, and say yes rather than to say no, when no is what is required.

You know? It's really hard to pay these hard working policemen. To do so, we have to ask billionaires for more money.  Let's do the easy thing. Lets eradicate the police force entirely and let the county cover Camden. That was we won't have to ask billionaires for more money....

It's easy for our leaders to say,
``Not us, not now'', in taking on the really tough issues.  And unfortunately we have stood silently by and let them get away with it.

In fact, when all ten REPUBLICAN candidates were asked if they would raise taxes should they get nine parts in cuts for every one part raised, and all of them said, "not us, not now" when it came to taking on a really tough issue... When it is obvious that we need more money, and it is obvious that the wealthy are making more than ever before,... is running away from the problem and turning to cutting the working poor's incomes, really..."taking on the really tough issues?"  You're a big chicken... Christie...

Tonight, we are speaking up for ourselves and stepping up.

Oh, they gave you a footstool like Dukakas, huh?

See we are not afraid.  We (billionaires) are taking our country back

Over our dead bodies.....

When I came into office, I could continue on the same path that the wealth and jobs and
people leaving our state.  Or I could do the job the people elected me to do, to do the big things.

During the recession 229,700 jobs got lost in your state, New Jersey. Since you've been Governor, only 8200 have been created....

Now, they said that it was impossible -- this is
what they told me -- to cut taxes in a state where taxes were raised 115 times in the eight years before I became governor.

115 times?  Oh, you aren't talking about taxes... You are talking about every little fee or charge that got raised in the entire state of New Jersey over the 8 years prior, That would be 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, and 2009...  Fees like driver's licenses, state id's, licenses plates, cigarette taxes, liquor taxes, boiler inspection fees, New Jersey Turnpike tolls, all which took place during the Bush years, and one, his first, Obama year....

That it was impossible to balance the budget at the same time with an $11 billion in deficit.  But three years later, we
have three balanced budgets in a row with lower taxes.

Wait a second... On February 11, 2010, Christie signed Executive Order No. 14, which declared that a "state of fiscal emergency exists in the State of New Jersey" due to the projected$2.2 billion budget deficit for the current fiscal year (FY 2010).... So which is it? Your Democratic neighbor Delaware had a $1 billion dollar deficit that year, and they are one tenth the size your state is, and you only had a $2 billion deficit?  What's the big deal?  They couldn't raise taxes either, because IT WAS A RECESSION!!!....

But with bipartisan leadership, we saved taxpayers $132 billion dollars over 30 years and saved retirees their pensions.  We did it.

But at what cost?  You signed legislation that strips away already-earned benefits from both current and future retirees.  Under this law, many current and future retirees saw the value of their pensions drop by 40 percent or more over the course of their lives.   Ok so if you were planning to retire with $100,000.  Now, you have $60,000. Yet we are more than 17 months into his term and he has yet to contribute a single dollar to the pension systems.  The only thing about pensions that has not changed under Gov. Christie is the state’s abject failure to make its contributions, even as the contributions required of public employees have increased.  Ohhhhhh, so if you don't pay into pensions, you leave it for the next guy....THAT'S HOW YOU BALANCE THE BUDGET.....

We believe in telling hardworking families the truth about our country's fiscal realities, telling them what they already know, the math of federal spending does not add up.
    With $5 trillion in debt added over the last four years, we have no other option but to make the hard choices,

Yeah, like tax the millionaires... That is a hard choice and you haven't done it..... Why not?  Chicken?  With their increased net worth this past year, you could have taxed them at 30% and they would have still made more than they did last year...

Whistling happy tune while driving us off a fiscal cliff as long as they are behind the
wheel of power when we fall.

Wait a second... I thought the Republicans were the ones who passed those Bush Tax Cuts that ran us off the cliff?

We believe it is possible to forge bipartisan
compromise, and stand up for our conservative principles.

So, hmmm, which party was it that wouldn't compromise for the budget crises last summer, you know the one where Republicans stormed out of the meeting because we had a gap and needed revenue to fill it?  Compromise?  I don't think so......

See, I know Mitt Romney, and Mitt Romney will tell us the hard truths we need to hear,

I never paid less than 13% on my income taxes.
"I'll tell you what, ten-thousand bucks? $10,000 bet?"
"I have some friends who are NASCAR team owners."
"I like those fancy raincoats you bought. Really sprung for the big bucks."
"We have a president, who I think is is a nice guy, but he spent too much time at Harvard, perhaps." —Mitt Romney, who has two Harvard degrees (April 5, 2012)
"It's not worth moving heaven and earth, spending billions of dollars just trying to catch one person." —Mitt Romney, speaking in 2007 about killing Osama bin Laden,,,
"I'm not familiar precisely with what I said, but I'll stand by what I said, whatever it was."  
"I believe in an America where millions of Americans believe in an America that's the America millions of Americans believe in. That's the America I love."

We have to tell each other the truth, right?

Remember: a “tax credit” is usually just another term for “tax increase.” Someone gets the credit and the rest of us pay more.

Don't worry Chris Christie..... "Well everybody's got a secret, Sonny.
Something that they just can't face"

Technorati Tags: Chris Christie,RNC,The Republican Party,Mitt Romney,Paul Ryan,Current Events

Pew study shows journalists may be dropping ball on election

By NCC Staff     Used with Permission of the National Constitution Center

An extensive Pew Research Center study shows the current presidential election is extremely negative in the media, partially because journalists have stopped filtering out attack messages.

The Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism study is called “The Master Character Narratives in Campaign 2012,” and it looks at news reports on President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney from 50 news outlets over 10 weeks.

Link: Read the Entire Study

“More of what the public hears about candidates also now comes from the campaigns themselves and less from journalists acting as independent reporters or interpreters of who the candidates are,” the Center said in a statement explaining its findings.

The pool of 50 news outlets includes the left (Huffington Post, MSNBC), the right (Fox News and Rush Limbaugh) and a lot of centrist news sources.

Still, the study shows growing signs that journalists are backing away from challenging the candidates and their partisanship, which has led to the most negative media coverage of a campaign since 2004.

“Journalists themselves now play a smaller role in shaping these media narratives than they once did. Journalists are the source for about half as much of the statements about the candidates as was the case 12 years go,” says Pew.

“The campaigns, by contrast, have come to play an ever larger role in shaping these narratives. The candidates and their partisan allies are the source for nearly a third more of the personal narrative about the candidates than in 2000,” the group says.

The Pew researchers also look at narratives, or stereotypes, that are presented about each candidate in the media.

The top narratives about President Obama are about his failing economic policies and the theory that the economy would be worse if he hadn’t been elected in 2008. Those two narratives make up about half the reporting on Obama, with 36 percent of all media reports on Obama refuting claims he has managed the economy well.

In the first week of August, attacks on Obama’s economic record made up 43 percent of media reports about him.

As for Romney, the biggest narratives are that the former businessman is an unfeeling capitalist, an out-of-touch elitist, and a dull, bumbling campaigner.

Attacks on Romney’s campaign style jumped markedly in early August, to 20 percent of all coverage, compared with 2 percent in early June.

Who Is Reporting or Telling the Candidate Narrative

Campaigns and Surrogates     48%

Journalists                             19%

Experts                                  10%

Talk Show Hosts                      8%

Polls                                        6%

Voters                                     5%

Other                                      4%

Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism

The data also show the deep division between rival cable news rivals Fox News and MSNBC on the candidates.

About 14 percent of Fox News reports about Obama were positive, while 11 percent of MSNBC reports about Romney were positive.

However, about 20 percent of Fox News reports were about claims he was an “unfeeling venture capitalist.” And about 20 percent of MSNBC reports cast Obama as a poor guardian of the economy.

Pew also says journalists were more willing to offer their own reporting on Romney than Obama. About 22 percent of media mentions about Romney came from reporters or journalists, with just 15 percent of Obama mentions came from journalists.

A little over 50 percent of reports and statements came directly from the candidates or their surrogates.

The study also found that major Internet news sites have the most reporting and statements directly from campaigns and surrogates, with 58 percent of statements about the candidates coming from those two sources.

And in what the Pew Center called “striking,” the two most positive messages coming from the campaigns are being ignored in the media.

Only 3 percent of media coverage is on the core statement of Obama’s messaging: that he is a person who cares about other Americans. For Romney, only 8 percent of messages were about his ability to fix the economy.

Not surprisingly, conservative TV and radio talks shows had 93 percent negative coverage of President Obama, while 89 percent of Romney coverage on liberal talks shows was negative.

Among its other conclusions, researchers said the lack of reports from journalists could be due to budget cutbacks at media outlets.

But the dominance of commentary from candidates and their surrogates was a noticeable change from the 2000 campaign.

“One conclusion, however, is unavoidable: Journalists to an increasing degree are ceding control of what the public learns in elections to partisan voices,” the study said. “Less of what we are hearing is coming from the press as an independent intermediary, filtering or assessing political rhetoric. And to that degree, the press is acting more as an enabler or conduit and less as an autonomous reportorial source.”

Technorati Tags: 2012 Elections,The News Media,Fox News Channal,MSNBC,CNN,Cable News,Democrats,Republicans,Current Events

Flipper Flops Again. You can’t make this stuff up

   From Addicting Info comes another Romney change of heart. While doing this about-face, Romney has also absolved President Obama of a few things.
June 12, 2012
By Stephen D. Foster Jr.

Image courtesy of LynnRocket's Blast Off
Every time Mitt Romney flip flops another face-palm is born. If it weren’t bad enough that Mitt Romney is dead-even with President Obama in the polls, the fact that he’s doing it while flip flopping on a daily basis is just plain sad. And once again, Romney has reversed himself.
During an interview on Fox News on Tuesday morning, Romney flip flopped on his previous assertion that America doesn’t need more police officers, teachers, and firefighters and that we shouldn’t hire anymore people to do those jobs, despite the fact that America is in desperate need of them.
In the wake of President Obama criticizing Romney for being “out of touch” Mitt appeared on Fox to run away from his comments.

⁠”That’s a very strange accusation,” Romney said. “Of course, teachers and firemen and policemen are hired at the local level and also by states. The federal government doesn’t pay for teachers, firefighters or policemen. So obviously that’s completely absurd. He’s got a new idea, though, and that is to have another stimulus and to have the federal government send money to try and bail out cities and states. It didn’t work the first time. It certainly wouldn’t work the second time.”

         

Romney has actually done more than contradict his own statement regarding teachers, police, and firemen. His statement also absolved President Obama of blame for the loss of public jobs. First, Romney says that it is state and local governments that pay for teachers, police and firefighters, not the federal government. So all those public employee layoffs in red states are the fault of the Republicans. And then Romney points out that President Obama has been trying to send relief funding to the states to save these jobs. Obama has been prevented from doing this, of course, by Republicans in Congress.
Mitt Romney is constantly contradicting himself and Americans are constantly buying his crap. How many times does this guy have to stick his foot in his mouth before Americans start to get a bad taste in theirs?

Technorati Tags: Mitt Romney,Barack Obama,The Economy,2012 Elections,UnEmployment,Current Events

Republicans have surrendered on abortion…But

First, Republicans were forced to denounce and distance themselves from Todd Akin, even though he merely articulated what they have all believed and argued: that abortion is never justified under any circumstances. They called his statement shameful and offensive and insulting and demanded that he drop out of the race—and, preferably, off the face of the Earth—as soon as possible.

And yet, the Republican Party wrote his position into the party platform.

The party's presidential nominee also (eventually) claimed offense and forced his running mate—who shares Akin's position, who has co-sponsored a number of anti-abortion bills with him, and who has long insisted that women should be forced to carry their pregnancies to term, even if it threatens their lives—to also condemn Akin's remarks and to insist that Akin's position is not a representation of the party or the ticket. And yet it is in the party platform.

The chairman of the Republican National Committee tried to change the subject by insisting, despite 54 anti-abortion bills introduced by Republicans since January 2011, that it is President Obama who is "obsessed" with abortion, that Republicans are concerned with other, more important things. And yet it is in the party platform. 

On Monday, Romney flip-flopped all the way back to 1994, when he had promised to support reproductive rights because it was the law of the land. Now, once again, Romney says he's "in favor of abortion being legal in the case of rape and incest and the health and life of the mother" and that this issue has "been settled for some time in the courts." And yet the total ban on abortions is in the party platform.

And now, the final nail in the coffin. As Markos wrote, our latest PPP poll further confirms what we already knew: the entire country is opposed to the Republican Party's abortion platform.

Q: Would you support or oppose a constitutional amendment banning all abortions without any exceptions, even in case of rape, incest, or where the life of the mother is threatened?

Support: 13
Oppose: 75
Not sure: 12

It's not just Democrats or liberals or women who outright reject the Republican Party's goal of a constitutional ban on all abortions; such an amendment doesn't even find support among Republicans (20 percent), conservatives (25 percent), or tea partiers (28 percent).

And yet it is in the party platform.

The leaders of this party have become too extreme even for their own base. For all the threats and hyperbole and dozens of failed bills in the House and hundreds of bills introduced around the country, this is not what Americans want. It's not even what Republicans want.

Mitt Romney knows that. That's why he's Etch-A-Sketching as fast as he can away from his own endorsement last fall of a constitutional amendment. That's not a winning argument to make to American voters; it's not even a winning argument to make to Republican voters. The issue is "settled," Romney said, and he's hoping to leave it at that and doesn't want anyone to ask him any more questions about it.

And yet it is in the party platform.

That's going to make it awfully difficult the next time these same legislators who've been so "offended" try to pass yet another anti-abortion bill. They're all on record as opposing the sort of extremism that, until now, they've happily endorsed, arm in arm, with their former best pal Todd Akin. The country loudly rejected that extremism this week, and Republicans thought it was in their best interest to side with the country instead of Akin, and now they're in the unfortunate position of having to oppose their own agenda—an agenda that is still in the party platform. 

This—their own condemnation, the overwhelming opposition to their anti-woman extremism, and the pronouncement of the presidential nominee they selected that this is "settled"—has changed everything. Because it's still in the party platform, but there's a big difference: Republicans are so shamed by the admission of their extremism, that now they are the ones who'd rather not talk about it at all.

Posted to Daily Kos on Tue Aug 28, 2012

Technorati Tags: RNC,The Republican Party,Abortion,Mitt Romney,Paul Ryan,2012 Elections,Current Events

Texas Delegation Turns On Party Leadership At Convention ( UPDATE)

    ABC NEWS via Yahhoo is reporting that there will not be a floor fight at the convention over rule changes in choosing delegates.

A new RNC rule would have allowed presidential candidates effectively to choose their own bound delegates. States typically determine delegate allotments through primaries, then meet later at state conventions to pick those individuals. Under the new rule, state parties would give up some power to choose, among themselves, who gets to attend future GOP conventions as voting delegates.

Bopp had led a movement to defeat this rule on the convention floor Tuesday.

Yes indeed! the children are at their party in Tampa, which hasn’t really even started yet, and they are already at each others throats, thanks to Mitt Romney and his super-rich backers.

By Nathaniel Downes   August 27, 2012      Addicting Info

In light of the new Romney power grab, some of the convention delegates are not taking the blatant attempt by the power brokers and fat cats of the central committee very well. In a bold move today, the Texas delegation is not just upset, it appears that they are leading a full on mutiny against the national party and the proposed rule changes.

What the rule changes would do would be to allow the candidate or party committee to veto any delegate they choose, in effect putting delegate seats up for the highest bid. The choice of high-wealth donors for the central committee’s own delegates demonstrates how the new system would work. To be a delegate would ultimately derive from how much money the person donated to the party. It strips away the democratic process and effectively puts the party up for sale.

The delay in the convention start due to Hurricane Issac has delayed the vote to overturn the proposed measure, but it is clear that Texas is not going to let anything like a little rain stop them. They are pushing to have the measure voted for on the floor of the convention tomorrow. With Romney only holding a 152 delegate hold on the nomination, any attempt to force the state of Texas with its 105 delegates for Romney into line could backfire badly on the presumptive nominee.

It was only two days ago that Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson spoke before fans of Texas congressman Ron Paul. With Texas dissed at the convention, and the party given over to their corporate masters on a platter, perhaps the delegates should show that you do not mess with Texas.

Technorati Tags: Mitt Romney,RNC,Delegates,Texas Delegation,2012 Elections,The Republican Party,Current Events

Mitt Romney's Make-over

   This ad from the Obama campaign is funny, and so true. Enjoy it.