It was insensitive and stupid and
the Obama campaign has ditched selling it.But you won’t hear about this
gaffe by his campaign, because the media is too busy creating gaffes for Romney
to be blamed for.
11 things you need to know about
Romney’s tax returns
Today GOP
Presidential candidate Mitt Romney released his 2011 tax return--The Gov. And Mrs. Romney have released enough
financial data to keep accountants busy till after the election--a complete
2011 tax return as well as their already completed
2010 tax return. On top of all that, Gov. Romney has released nine financial disclosures since 2002,
which are also posted on his site.
There are 3 federal Public Financial
Disclosures (from 2007, 2011, and 2012), and 6 Massachusetts Statements of Financial Interests (from 2002, 2003,
2004, 2005, 2006, and 2007).
He also posted is a letter from the Romneys'
tax preparer, PricewaterhouseCoopers,
LLP, which gives an overview of the Romneys' tax returns covering an additional
20 years, from 1990-2009.
What’s going on with the Polls?
The Democrats
want to convince [these anti-Obama voters] falsely that Romney will lose to discourage them from voting. So they
lobby the pollsters to weight their surveys to emulate the 2008 Democrat-heavy
models. They are lobbying them now to affect early voting. IVR (Interactive
Voice Response) polls are heavily
weighted. You can weight to whatever result you want. Some polls have
included sizable segments of voters who say they are “not enthusiastic” to vote
or non voters to dilute Republicans. Major pollsters have samples with
Republican affiliation in the 20 to 30 percent range, at such low levels not seen since the 1960s in states like Virginia,
Florida, North Carolina and which then place Obama ahead.
Always
look at the demographics of any poll before you decide how accurate it is.I do and generally, BHO is getting 3 to 4 percent less than the lead given them with the
skewed percentage of Democrats in the poll.This means the unaffiliated are voting heavily for Romney and that is
what is going to be the difference in this election.It also means Romney is 4 to 5 percent ahead
right now.
It’s still the economy and that’s
what will lose it for Obama
In 2008 Obama got a huge boost from the under 30 crowd.But as Bill
Clinton says why he doesn’t think they will vote for Mitt Romney, the
question is whether they will vote at all in numbers that Obama needs.
Catholic teachings and the Democrats
It is true, (Bishop
Thomas) Paprocki readily conceded, that “the distinctions between binding
principles and prudential judgments are not always clear and absolute.” But sometimes they are: “For example, there is no circumstance or context in
which it could be just to deprive any class of persons of the legal protection
for their lives which other classes of persons enjoy. Because support for
what many today call ‘pro-choice’ laws about abortion necessarily involves
willing this departure from legal equality which justice requires, the ‘pro-choice’ position is always gravely
wrong.”
Catholics who claim they believe in
abortion rights aren’t really Catholics.
Obama going for a permanent
underclass
The Obama redistributionist audio
shows Obama talking about building a winning electoral coalition including welfare recipients and the working poor.Now the left spoke of Mitch McConnell saying
the number one goal was to make Obama a one term president as proof the
Republicans kept Obama from succeeding. But if he is looking to make more welfare
recipients it appears Obama has
succeeded beyond his wildest imagination.What’s good for Obama is bad for the country.
Obama has replaced “Change”
I
suppose in place of change from the
“inside,” he now envisions more “outside”
executive orders like the de facto Dream Act, having the EPA shut down more coal plants, stopping more federal energy leases, granting more recess
appointments, and extending more executive privilege.
Do you think he means you have to ignore the Congress and the Constitution?I’m worried that is exactly what he
means.
Why is Wisconsin in play?
Today, he leads
Republican Mitt Romney in state polling. But, based on his Chicago campaign
headquarters’ reaction to any questioning that support, his lead may as solid as quicksand.
Elizabeth Warren not licensed to practice
law in Massachusetts
As
detailed below, there are at least two provisions of Massachusetts law
Warren may have violated. First, on a regular and continuing basis she used her Cambridge
office for the practice of law without being licensed in Massachusetts. Second, in addition to operating an office for the
practice of law without being licensed in Massachusetts, Warren actually practiced law in Massachusetts without being licensed.
This could be a problem for her in
the next three debates with Scott Brown.Not an Indian anywhere and not a lawyer in Massachusetts.
New Movie:Don’t Back Down
There’s a new movie critiquing the public schools system as
it exists today which appears to be very powerful and it attracting attention
of some very powerful opponents.In view
of the Chicago Teachers strike last
week it appears this movie is very timely.
One more time—how does that reset
button with Moscow work?
US Aid is getting the boot from
Russia and it seems we knew it months ago.So why are we just learning about it now?Doesn’t fit with the Obama narrative of
improving America’s reputation.Another
broken promise by the Obama Administration.
Our # 1 story is a review of the book Throw Them All Out.It tells the story of Warren Buffet and how crony capitalism works.#2 relates how certain democrats are scared to death that Obamacare will be struck down by the court.#3 talks about the lack of enthusiasm among young voters for Obama.In 2008 they were voting for hope and change and being part of history.It turns out the change wasn’t what they hoped for.#4 is a fun parody of what Obama’s theme song may be in the 2012 election. #5 is Dr. Krauthammer’s take on Obama’s comments about the country, the electorate, etc.It seems they aren’t tough love, but contempt. #6 talks about Gingrich’s rise to the top.I think the actual battle is now between Gingrich and Romney and as I’ve said before either one will beat Obama.#7 tells of OWS eviction in New York, and I have a clever suggestion for the owners of Zuccotti Park.Geron Corporation is cutting back on stem cell research in #8.Find out the particulars in the story.#9 relates how Paul Krugman is trying rewriting history.
1.Throw Them All Out
In the wake of the $700 billion TARP bailout, WARREN BUFFETT APPARENTLY SHAPED A PLAN TO CLEAN UP TOXIC ASSETS THAT TREASURY SECRETARY TIM GEITHNER LATER ADOPTED–RESULTING IN MASSIVE PROFITS FOR BUFFETT.
That’s the latest bombshell revelation from investigative journalist and Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer’s sensational new book, Throw Them All Out.
According to Schweizer, after the bailout bill’s passage, Warren Buffett sat down and wrote then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson a four-page private letter laying out a plan to clean up the toxic assets plaguing numerous financial institutions. BUFFETT PROPOSED SOMETHING HE CALLED A “PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP FUND.” FOR EVERY $10 BILLION THE PRIVATE SECTOR INVESTED, BUFFETT SAID THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD PUT UP $40 BILLION.
After Paulson’s exit, incoming Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner tweaked the plan and rolled it out in March 2009. But according to quarterly reports from Buffett’s holdings company, Berkshire Hathaway, BETWEEN THE TIME THE BILLIONAIRE CRAFTED HIS PLAN AND GEITHNER ADOPTED IT, BUFFETT QUIETLY PURCHASED 12.4 MILLION SHARES OF WELLS FARGO STOCK AND 1.5 MILLION SHARES OF U.S. BANCORP. Once the government unveiled its “Public-Private Investment Program,” bank stocks jumped, resulting in large profits for Buffett.
How much Buffett profited is hard to calculate, since there’s no way to know what his purchase price was. But prior to the government adopting Buffett’s plan, Wells Fargo had been trading at roughly $20 a share. In the weeks after Geithner’s announcement, the stock jumped to $30 a share. Likewise, U.S. BANCORP WENT FROM $8 IN FEBRUARY 2009 TO MORE THAN $20 A SHARE BY MAY.
Schweizer’s revelations contradict the image Warren Buffett has worked hard to create as that of a folksy, grandfatherly figure who stays above the political fray and rarely gets mired in the muck of partisan politics. Indeed, Throw Them All OutUNCOVERS OTHER ALARMING ACTS OF APPARENT CRONY CAPITALISM PERFORMED BY THE SO-CALLED “ORACLE OF OMAHA.”
For example, Schweizer examines Buffett’s intense private lobbying efforts and deftly-timed stock buys that leveraged TARP bailout monies to CREATE UP TO $3.7 BILLION IN WINDFALL PROFITS FOR BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY.
In September of 2008, Buffett invested $5 billion in the over-leveraged investment house of Goldman Sachs, having obtained impressive terms: Berkshire Hathaway would receive preferred stock with a 10% dividend yield, and the option to buy another $5 billion at $115 a share….
Isn’t Warren Buffet the hero of the Democratic Party?
2.Dems fear Obama will lose the case
Democrats on Capitol Hill are worried that the Supreme Court will rule against President Obama’s healthcare reform law.
Over the last couple weeks, congressional Democrats have told The Hill that THE LAW FACES DANGER IN THE HANDS OF THE SUPREME COURT, which The New York Times editorial page recently labeled the most conservative high court since the 1950s.
While the lawmakers are not second-guessing the administration’s legal strategy, some are clearly bracing for defeat.
“Of course I’m concerned,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio). THE JUSTICES “DECIDE FOR INSURANCE COMPANIES, THEY DECIDE FOR OIL COMPANIES, THEY DECIDE FOR THE WEALTHY TOO OFTEN.”…
And worst of all they decide for what is actually written in the Constitution much too often.Don’t they realize they need to alternate their decisions between liberal and conservatives??
3.Enthusiasm for Obama Wans Among the Young
FOR MUCH OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 2008, BARACK OBAMA’S CAMPAIGN WAS EMMA GUERRERO’S LIFE. She was one of a dozen volunteers who showed up at an Obama campaign office here every night, taking time from her studies at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, to be part of what she still remembers as the most exciting period of her life.
It was largely because of Ms. Guerrero — and hundreds of other college students like her across the country — that Mr. Obama assembled a formidable machine that helped him roll to victory in 2008, a triumph that included putting Nevada into the Democratic column for the first time in 12 years.
“WE DID EVERYTHING,” SHE SAID. “WE WENT CANVASSING. PHONE BANKING. CLEANING THE OFFICES. TAKING OUT MY BOSSES’ DRY CLEANING. WHATEVER THEY NEEDED. It was such an amazing time because we all believed and wanted him to get elected.”
Ms. Guerrero said that she did not blame Mr. Obama for the 13.4 percent unemployment rate that has gripped this state, and that she was still likely to vote for him. But as she looks to graduation this June and her job hunt ahead, the emotion she feels is fear, and SHE CANNOT IMAGINE HAVING THE TIME OR SPIRIT TO WORK FOR MR. OBAMA.
“I don’t think I could do it anymore,” she said. “That campaign was an amazing experience. But I don’t think I’m in the same mind-set anymore. HE HASN’T REALLY ADDRESSED THE YOUNG PEOPLE, AND WE HELPED HIM TO GET ELECTED.”
Syndicated columnist and FOX News contributor Charles Krauthammer responds to President Obama calling the U.S. “lazy.”
"Well, no one is asking him to go out there and asking him to be a jingoistic cheerleader. But when you call your own country 'lazy' when you are abroad and you call it unambitious and soft when you're home, I THINK WHAT YOU ARE SHOWING IS NOT TOUGH LOVE, BUT ILL-CONCEALED CONTEMPT," Krauthammer said on FOX News' "Special Report."
"OBAMA IS READY TO BLAME EVERYBODY EXCEPT HIMSELF FOR THE LOUSY ECONOMY. And the lack of investment. Look, why are people reluctant to invest? We have the highest corporate tax rate in the world, in the industrialized world. Obama has spoken about it. It's the one issue on which the Republicans would have agreed on lowering that rate, eliminating loopholes. In three years in office, he's done nothing. HE HAS AN NLRB TRYING TO SHUT DOWN A $1 BILLION PLANT BOEING HAS CONSTRUCTED, AS A FAVOR TO OBAMA'S UNION ALLIES. People look abroad and say this isn't a place I want to do business. ITS HIS ISSUES, HIS OVER-REGULATION OVER TAXATION AND ALL THE RED TAPE HE HAS ADDED. And now he blames Americans' laziness. I think it's unseemly."
BHO like most liberals blame their failures on others.What they don’t realize is that their solutions most frequently aggravate the problems rather than solve them.
6.Gingrich Rises to the Top
…Gingrich has been relentlessly seducing GOP voters in the debates. Mitt Romney may have been winning on points and technicalities, but GINGRICH HAS BEEN CONSISTENTLY WINNING THE CROWDS.
Moreover, he's been deftly using the debates to develop a sales pitch to GOP voters. His REAGANESQUE REFUSAL TO ATTACK FELLOW REPUBLICANS HAS BEEN APPRECIATED, as has his more mercenary determination to ridicule the media by pouncing on stupid — and sometimes not-so-stupid — questions from debate moderators.
But the core of his strategy has been to plant a question in the minds of Republican voters. The question he wants them to ask is, "Whom would you most like to see debate Barack Obama?"
In each debate, he keeps mentioning how he wants to challenge the president to as many Lincoln-Douglas-style debates as possible. And if the presidential baloney won't march into the Gingrichian grinder? WELL THEN, THE GRINDER WILL COME TO THE BALONEY. GINGRICH VOWS TO FOLLOW OBAMA ON THE STUMP, OFFERING RAPID RESPONSE AFTER EVERY PRESIDENTIAL UTTERANCE.
IT'S A BRILLIANT TACTIC. Watching Gingrich walk onto the debate stage, it's like seeing a great beast returned to its natural habitat. They should play "Born Free" whenever he comes out from behind the curtain.
The tactic works because THE UNIFYING CONVICTION AMONG HARD-CORE REPUBLICAN VOTERS IS THAT OBAMA IS BOTH OVERRATED AND FULL OF IT, A MAN PRETENDING TO BE PRESIDENTIAL AND INTELLECTUAL rather than the real thing (ironically, Gingrich has long been the subject of similar criticisms). Gingrich's promise to goad Obama into a fair fight is beyond tantalizing….
I’m one of those people who would love to see an Obama Gingrich debate.Quite frankly I would see Romney or Gingrich winning, but I would see Gingrich making mincemeat out of BHO.
7.OWS Evicted from Zuccotti Park
Up to 1,000 riot police launched a dramatic raid early this morning on Occupy Wall Street as Mayor Bloomberg finally lost patience with a protest camp that has become a global movement's focal point.
MORE THAN 70 PEOPLE WERE ARRESTED AS POLICE STORMED THE CAMP AT ZUCCOTTI PARK IN MANHATTAN, NEW YORK, IN THE DEAD OF NIGHT - where some protesters have been since it was set up in mid-September.
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the park was evacuated overnight to 'reduce the risk of confrontation' - but major clashes were seen and the evicted protesters are now regrouping nearby.
First daylight pictures showed the New York City park that had become the symbol of an international anti-capitalist movement was deserted apart from a handful of security guards.
As police lines moved in, THERE WERE CHANTS OF 'WHOSE PARK? OUR PARK' AND 'NO RETREAT, NO SURRENDER' - HOWEVER PROTESTERS HAVE BEEN TOLD THEY CAN RETURN ONCE THE PARK IS CLEANED….
Actually this is a private park.It would seem with the protester having over $500,000 in the bank, they should be paying rent to stay there.How about $10,000 per night?
8.Geron Corporation laying off employees cutting back on stem cell research
THE COMPANY DOING THE FIRST GOVERNMENT-APPROVED TEST OF EMBRYONIC STEM CELL THERAPY IS DISCONTINUING FURTHER STEM CELL WORK, A MOVE WITH STARK IMPLICATIONS for a field offering hope of future medicines for conditions with inadequate or no current treatments.
Geron Corp., a pioneer in stem cell research that has been testing a spinal cord injury treatment, said late Monday THAT IT’S HALTING DEVELOPMENT OF ITS STEM CELL PROGRAMS TO CONSERVE FUNDS. It is seeking partners to take on the programs’ assets and is layingoff much of its staff….
…Scarlett said his company will keep a core group of employees from its stem cell operations through the end of 2012’s second quarter.
“Stem cells continue to hold great medical promise,” he said in a statement, adding that Geron is recognized as having “among the most innovative, comprehensive and advanced cell therapy programs in the world,” which should help it in discussions to find partners to whom it can transfer the programs.
Geron in October 2010 began testing an embryonic stem cell therapy called GRNOPC1 in patients with recent spinal cord injuries. It will stop enrolling new patients but will continue to follow those currently participating….
Liberals always claim to be the believers in science, but when John Edwards said: “If we do the work that we can do in this country, the work that we will do when John Kerry is president, people like Christopher Reeve will get up out of that wheelchair and walk again.” It demonstrates that perhaps the word “believer” is exactly what liberals are.
9.Is Krugman a Historian, and Economists or a Writer of Fiction?
KRUGMAN REJECTS the idea that “Europe’s woes reflect the failure of welfare states in general, and that Europe’s crisis makes the case for immediate fiscal austerity in the United States”.
It’s true that all European countries have more generous social benefits — including universal health care — and higher government spending than America does. BUT THE NATIONS NOW IN CRISIS DON’T HAVE BIGGER WELFARE STATES THAN THE NATIONS DOING WELL — if anything, THE CORRELATION RUNS THE OTHER WAY. Sweden, with its famously high benefits, is a star performer, one of the few countries whose G.D.P. is now higher than it was before the crisis. Meanwhile, before the crisis, “social expenditure” — spending on welfare-state programs — was lower, as a percentage of national income, in all of the nations now in trouble than in Germany, let alone Sweden.
Oh, and Canada, which has universal health care and much more generous aid to the poor than the United States, has weathered the crisis better than we have. The euro crisis, then, says nothing about the sustainability of the welfare state.
Krugman cites Sweden as an example of a social welfare success in Europe, but fails to mention two important points. Firstly, in recent years, SWEDEN HAS BEGUN ROLLING BACK THE WELFARE SYSTEM AND GOVERNMENT EXPENDITURE WHILE ADOPTING IMPORTANT FREE MARKET REFORMS. Secondly, Sweden decided to stay out of the eurozone, another key reason why it has so far kept out of the financial mess engulfing southern Europe. As Johnny Munkhammar, a Swedish member of parliament noted in a piece for The Wall Street Journal in January, SWEDEN OWES ITS SUCCESS NOT TO WELFARE STATISM BUT TO REFORMS THAT HAVE INCREASED ECONOMIC FREEDOM, INCLUDING GREATER COMPETITIVENESS IN THE PROVISION OF HEALTH CARE AND OTHER PUBLIC SERVICES:…
Not mentioned in this article is what’s going on in Canada (the article was more on the EU, but Krugman mentions it).“The Canadian government has set a high priority on reducing the economic burden of taxation. In a context of fiscal surpluses, it has been: markedly reducing corporate income and capital taxes; providing more personal tax relief especially at lower incomes and above all for saving; and cutting the federal value added tax (GST).” At the same time, the Canadian government is cutting back on spending on healthcare.
Monday, September 13, 2010
The public hates almost everything Congress has done
The bad news for the Democrats keep on coming.
Gallup has released a new poll asking respondents to assess the major accomplishments of Congress in the last two years: the national health care bill, the stimulus, the bailout of auto companies, the bailout of major banks and financial institutions, and the financial regulatory reform bill. The pollsters found majority opposition to all those measures, with the exception of financial reform.
The numbers: Bank bailouts, 61 percent disapprove versus 37 percent approve; national health care, 56 percent disapprove versus 39 percent approve; auto bailouts, 56 percent disapprove versus 43 percent approve; stimulus, 52 percent disapprove versus 43 percent approve. Only financial reform, with 61 percent approve versus 37 percent disapprove, is a winner for the representatives and senators seeking re-election.
WASHINGTON — Representative Mark Schauer of Michigan does not dwell on the legislation he has voted for during his first term in Congress, which includes the Democratic stimulus plan and health insurance overhaul. But he reminds his constituents what he has fought against, declaring, “I must ask myself 10 times a day, what is Washington thinking?”
This can't be very comforting if you are a hard core Democrat.
FORT COLLINS, Colo. — The college vote is up for grabs this year — to an extent that would have seemed unlikely two years ago, when a generation of young people seemed to swoon over Barack Obama.
Though many students are liberals on social issues, the economic reality of a weak job market has taken a toll on their loyalties: far fewer 18 to 29 year olds now identify themselves as Democrats compared with 2008.
Every so often people question whether the MSM has a liberal bias. To most conservatives and moderates asking that question is akin to asking if the Pope is Catholic, but we still hear complaints from the left that the media is actually right wing. Here’s an article that reveals the Pope is Catholic and the media is liberal.
In 2008, a Rasmussen poll found huge numbers of people are concerned about this issue. The poll showed 55 percent of voters believe MSM bias is a bigger problem than big campaign contributions (the breakdown was 68 percent of Republicans, 62 percent of independents and 37 percent of Democrats). Several years ago, Brill’s Content showed that 77 percent of Republicans and 47 percent of Democrats believe there is a liberal bias in the MSM.
Here is Greece’s version of the Tea Party: tax collectors on the take, public-school teachers who don’t really teach, well-paid employees of bankrupt state railroads whose trains never run on time, state hospital workers bribed to buy overpriced supplies….. a prominent former Greek minister had told me. “They want some blood.” Two months earlier, on May 5, during the first of these protest marches, the mob offered a glimpse of what it was capable of. Seeing people working at a branch of the Marfin Bank, young men hurled Molotov cocktails inside and tossed gasoline on top of the flames, barring the exit. Most of the Marfin Bank’s employees escaped from the roof, but the fire killed three workers, including a young woman four months pregnant. As they died, Greeks in the streets screamed at them that it served them right, for having the audacity to work. The events took place in full view of the Greek police, and yet the police made no arrests
