July 31, 2012

Relatable Romney sounds like someone you’d want to get a beer with, right?

http://motherjones.tumblr.com/post/28445366449/relatable-romney-sounds-like-someone-youd-want-to

July 31, 2012

Breaking: Geoff Davis Resigns From Congress

Rep. Geoff Davis (R-Ky.), who had already announced his retirement, announced late today that he would resign immediately to deal with a “family health issue.”

Gov. Steven Beshear (D) can call a special election as early as five weeks after the seat is certified as vacant, but given that the general election is less than 100 days away, insiders expect him to call the special election for Nov. 6, the same day as the general election.

Davis’ resignation is thus likely to leave the northern Kentucky seat vacant until November, when Thomas Massie, the GOP nominee for the safe Republican 4th district, will likely to be elected both in the special and general elections. That would allow him to be seated immediately.

http://atr.rollcall.com/breaking-geoff-davis-resigns-from-congress/

July 31, 2012

Before Deadly Bulgaria Bombing, Tracks of a Resurgent Iran-Hezbollah Threat

After a decade in which al Qaeda dominated the world stage, the global terror threat from Iran has escalated sharply, generating a swarm of recent plots from Delhi to Mombasa to Washington and signaling an aggressive new strategy, counterterror officials say.

But there were meager results until this month. On July 18, a suspected suicide bomber killed six people and wounded 30 aboard an Israeli tourist bus in a coastal town in Bulgaria. Israel quickly accused Hezbollah and Iran, longtime sponsor of the Lebanese Shiite militant group. Many questions remain about the bombing, and Bulgarian authorities have said they do not have proof implicating Hezbollah so far. Nonetheless, many Western counterterror officials share Israel's suspicions.

If the allegations are true, Iran and Hezbollah have crossed a dangerous line with their first strike in Europe in more than 15 years. The repercussions are stoking more turmoil in a Middle East torn by civil war in Syria and conflict over Iran's nuclear ambitions.

ProPublica has reviewed a string of plots attributed to the Shiite alliance, 10 cases in the past year alone, and found a complex and contradictory evolution of the threat. Iran and Hezbollah have waged a determined campaign to strike their enemies in retaliation for attacks on the Iranian nuclear program and the killing of a Hezbollah chief, counterterror officials say. The offensive led by the Quds Force, Iran's elite foreign operations unit, has displayed impressive reach and devastating potential.

http://www.propublica.org/article/before-deadly-bulgaria-bombing-tracks-of-a-resurgent-iran-hezbollah-threat

=========================================================

Good in depth article on Hezbollah threat ....

July 31, 2012

Mitt Romney should have stayed home

Maybe Mitt Romney should have just stayed in London and watched the dancing horses.

Or just stayed home. Even though his recent trip to England was largely a public relations disaster, he made a more serious mistake in his next stop, Israel, and got a major rebuff in his last stop, Poland.

The whole trip reminds me of Richard’s Nixon pledge in 1960 to campaign in all 50 states, forcing him to waste the weekend before the election flying to Alaska (whose three electoral votes were hardly critical) instead of campaigning in states that might have given him a victory over John F. Kennedy.

Romney’s trip abroad in the waning months of this presidential campaign had three goals: establish his credibility on foreign policy while in England, woo the Jewish vote while in Israel and entice Catholic voters while in Poland.

In retrospect, he should have spent the time in Ohio, Virginia and Florida, all of which I think he needs to win in order to beat President Barack Obama.


http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0712/79169.html

July 31, 2012

Romney praises Poland, where they have universal healthcare and free higher education ...

Romney Praises Poland’s Economy, Where Government Plays A Larger Role Than The U.S.

Visiting Poland for the final leg of his gaffe-filled trip abroad, Romney praised how the nation has “lifted the heavy hand of government” to become one of the fastest growing economies in Europe.

The problem with Romney’s speech, however, is that the the Polish government plays a larger role in its economy than the U.S. government plays here.

The Associated Press noted that the reality of Polish government spending doesn’t match Romney’s rhetoric:

While it’s true that Poland is one of Europe’s fastest-growing economies and boasts dynamic entrepreneurs, Romney’s depiction of Poland as a place of small government is debatable. Even 23 years after throwing off a communist command economy, the Polish government continues to have a strong presence in people’s lives: it gives women $300 for each baby they have, doubling that sum for poor families; it fully funds state university educations; and it guarantees health care to all its 38 million citizens.

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/07/31/617791/romney-polandgovernment-role/

===============================================================

I cannot stop laughing today ... it has just been one of those news days ....

July 31, 2012

Pastor compares Obama to Judas over same sex marriage

Source: Raw Story

Rev. Williams Owens, founder of the Coalition of African-Americans Pastors, on Tuesday compared President Barack Obama to Judas, the apostle who betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver in the Bible.

“The President is in the White House because of the civil rights movement, and I was a leader in that movement, nd I didn’t march one inch, one foot, one yard for a man to marry a man or a woman to marry a woman,” he said at the National Press Club.

“So the President has forgotten the price that was paid,” Owens continued. “People died or they suffered or they gave their blood to have equal rights in the United States. And for the homosexual community and for the President to bow to the money, as Judas did with Jesus Christ, is a disgrace and we are ashamed. We will not take it back. We will not back down. We are going to take action across this country to change the course that this President has us in.”


Owens, who consults with the National Organization for Marriage (NOM) as a liaison to black churches, has launched a national campaign urging African-American voters to oppose the reelection of Obama.

Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/07/31/pastor-compares-obama-to-judas-over-same-sex-marriage/?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

July 31, 2012

Suckle your baby at your teet mothers ... the word for the day is .. BREASTFEED ...

I think the heat is on, in more ways than one ....

July 31, 2012

THE DAILY CALLER WILL GIVE YOU A GUN IF YOU FIND THEIR HACKER

Source: Think Progress

The conservative website The Daily Caller will be giving away an FMK 9C1 high-capacity 9mm pistol to whoever can track down the hacker that trolled the site with porn ads on Monday. The gun — which comes specially engraved with the Bill of Rights — will be presented to any reader who can turn over the hacker’s name, allowing The DC “to hold them responsible.” Less tech-savvy readers can also win a gun by providing the “funniest and most inventive ideas” on what Tucker Carlson’s right-wing website “should do with the hacker when we find him.”

Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2012/07/31/617821/the-daily-caller-gun-hacker/

---

Folks, you cannot nor do you have to make this shiet up ....

July 31, 2012

Oh, what to do about income inequality .... "wringing my hands"

What to do about income inequality

James Q. Wilson [“Angry about income inequality? Don’t blame the rich,” Outlook, Jan. 29] presented a selective reading of our book “Class War?” and a mistaken view of what Americans think about economic inequality.

True, Americans are not consumed with envy of the wealthy. Most applaud success and hope to achieve it themselves. Some say it is “still possible” (i.e., not impossible) to start out poor, work hard and become rich.

But the number of Americans expressing such optimism fell sharply after 2008, as actual mobility declined. Most Americans think inequality of income and wealth has become too great. Most favor substantially higher taxes on the wealthy.

Our current research on wealthy Americans indicates that the wealthy largely agree. They, too, are concerned about widening inequalities. Most accept the idea of progressive taxation. Most express willingness to pay more taxes to help others with such things as early childhood education.

At a time when government revenues are at a historic low point, the willingness of the wealthy to pitch in and help those on the bottom would seem to be particularly welcome.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/what-to-do-about-income-inequality/2012/01/31/gIQAvvrzfQ_story.html

===============================================

So if you were Queen for the day, what would you do about income inequality ...?

July 31, 2012

Bush Tax Cuts Have Provided Extremely Large Benefits to Wealthiest Americans Over Last Nine Years

The tax cuts first enacted under President Bush in 2001 and 2003 have made the tax code less progressive and delivered a large windfall to the highest-income taxpayers.[1] Tax Policy Center estimates for the years 2004 to 2012 (the years for which TPC provides data that are comparable from year to year) give us a sense of the cumulative effect of these tax cuts:

The average tax cut that people making over $1 million received exceeded $110,000 in each of the last nine years — for a total of more than $1 million over this period.

The tax cuts made the tax system less progressive. In each of the nine years from 2004 through 2012, the tax cuts increased the after-tax income of the highest-income taxpayers by a far larger percentage than they did for middle- and low-income taxpayers. For example, in 2010, the year in which all of the Bush income and estate tax cuts were fully phased in, they increased the after-tax income of people making over $1 million by more than 7.3 percent, but increased the after-tax income of the middle 20 percent of households by just 2.8 percent.[2]

At a time of pressing fiscal problems and growing income inequality, continuing such large windfalls for the highest-income taxpayers is unaffordable.

http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3811

====================================================================

Very good article with graphs ....