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Florida Democratic Party sues in Miami federal court to extend early-voting hours
The Florida Democratic filed a lawsuit in the wee hours of Sunday morning seeking to extend early-voting hours.
The lawsuit, filed in Miami federal court, argues that an emergency judge's order is necessary to "extend voting opportunities" before Election Day, including allowing voters to cast absentee ballots in person at supervisor of elections' offices -- something Miami-Dade and Broward already allow. Voters can turn in their ballots through 7 p.m. Tuesday.
Read more here: http://miamiherald.typepad.com/
MUST SEE..What Republicans really think of Romney..Spread far and wide..
>>>role back many EPA regulations, get some tax cuts going.
GW Bush tried that for 8 years. It destroyed the U.S. economy, and double the deficit.
>>>Execute terrorists
Start with the traitor Republicans that are holding the country hostage. That will fix everything.
Bullseye....
MUST READ..WSJ-Tallying President Obama’s Jobs Record (remember that Obama took office as the economy was losing 900,000 jobs a month.. if anyone still has any doubt that Obama saved the U.S. from catastrophe, all they have to do is read this - note to Republicans, teabaggers and conservatives, note the trend of government jobs)
November 2, 2012, 12:12 PM
Tallying President Obama’s Jobs Record
By Sudeep Reddy
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2012/11/02/tallying-president-obamas-jobs-record/
President [url=http://topics.wsj.com/person/O/barack,-obama/4328]Barack Obama[/url] has spent nearly all of his tenure with a net loss in jobs during his time in office. Now that has changed.
The number of jobs is now up slightly since Mr. Obama took office in January 2009. With the latest jobs report, current Labor Department figures show the total number of payroll jobs at 133.8 million, up 194,000 from January 2009. (The president actually topped the hurdle in September, based on the upward revision to that month released today.)
Private-sector payrolls are up 759,000 since January 2009. Government jobs are down 565,000 under Mr. Obama’s tenure.
The payroll growth is more substantial once the Labor Department‘s annual revisions are taken into account. The [url=http://www.bls.gov/ces/cesprelbmk.htm]preliminary benchmark revision[/url], which takes effect in February 2013, would add 386,000 overall jobs, or 453,000 private-sector jobs, to the payroll count for March 2012.
Adding in those revisions, total payrolls are up by 580,000 since January 2009 and private payrolls are up 1.2 million.
Of course, presidents can inherit good economic trends and bad economic trends when they take office. President [url=http://topics.wsj.com/person/B/george,-bush/5369]George W. Bush[/url] came into the White House with a recession starting in the aftermath of the 1990s tech boom. The economy lost about 2 million jobs in his first year in office. During Mr. Obama’s first year in office, the economy lost about 4.3 million jobs.
The economy under President Bush added 1.1 million jobs over eight years based on the total payroll count between January 2001 and January 2009. That number was positive only because the number of government jobs rose during those years. Private-sector employment fell by 646,000 during his presidency.
The latest tick up in the unemployment rate, to 7.9% in October, puts it just above the 7.8% in January 2009 when Mr. Obama took office.
BREAKING..Obama destroying POS liar Romney 80.9% to 19.1%
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/
Trickle Down My Ass..Corporate Profits Just Hit An All-Time High, Wages Just Hit An All-Time Low
Jun. 22, 2012, 8:55 AM[/color] | 101,667 |
http://www.businessinsider.com/corporate-profits-just-hit-an-all-time-high-wages-just-hit-an-all-time-low-2012-6
In case you need more confirmation that the US economy is out of balance, here are three charts for you.
1) Corporate profit margins just hit an all-time high. Companies are making more per dollar of sales than they ever have before. (And some people are still saying that companies are suffering from "too much regulation" and "too many taxes." Maybe little companies are, but big ones certainly aren't).
[url=http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/4fe2807feab8eaca7f00000c-960/corporate-profits-as-percent-of-gdp.png][/url]
[url=http://www.businessinsider.com/]Business Insider, St. Louis Fed[/url]
2) Fewer Americans are working than at any time in the past three decades. One reason corporations are so profitable is that they don't employ as many Americans as they used to.
[url=http://static2.businessinsider.com/image/4fe2807deab8eae17f00000d-960/employment-population-ratio.png][/url]
[url=http://www.businessinsider.com/]Business Insider, St. Louis Fed[/url]
3) Wages as a percent of the economy are at an all-time low. This is both cause and effect. One reason companies are so profitable is that they're paying employees less than they ever have as a share of GDP. And that, in turn, is one reason the economy is so weak: Those "wages" are other companies' revenue.
[url=http://static3.businessinsider.com/image/4fe2807e69bedd095c000005-960/wages-to-gdp.png][/url]
[url=http://www.businessinsider.com/]Business Insider, St. Louis Fed[/url]
In short, our current system and philosophy is creating a country of a few million overlords and 300+ million serfs.
That's not what has made America a great country. It's also not what most people think America is supposed to be about.
So we might want to rethink that.
Meanwhile, if you want to know more about what's wrong with the economy, flip through these charts:
[url=http://www.businessinsider.com/politics-economics-facts-charts-2012-6]Okay, Folks, Let's Put Aside Politics And Look At The Facts...[/url]
Read more: [url=http://www.businessinsider.com/corporate-profits-just-hit-an-all-time-high-wages-just-hit-an-all-time-low-2012-6#ixzz2B1Ie1paB]http://www.businessinsider.com/corporate-profits-just-hit-an-all-time-high-wages-just-hit-an-all-time-low-2012-6#ixzz2B1Ie1paB[/url]
BREAKING..GOP Suppressed Nonpartisan CRS Report On Tax Cuts For Wealthy (UPDATE)
Posted: 11/01/2012 3:05 pm EDT Updated: 11/01/2012 6:14 pm EDT
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/01/congressional-research-service_n_2059156.html
The New York Times [url=http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/02/business/questions-raised-on-withdrawal-of-congressional-research-services-report-on-tax-rates.html?ref=business&_r=1&]reported on Thursday[/url] that Senate Republicans applied pressure to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) in September, successfully persuading it to withdraw a report finding that lowering marginal tax rates for the wealthiest Americans had no effect on economic growth or job creation.
"The pressure applied to the research service comes amid a broader Republican effort to raise questions about research and statistics that were once trusted as nonpartisan and apolitical," the Times reported. Democrats in Congress, however, [url=http://www.dpcc.senate.gov/?p=blog&id=193]have resurfaced the report[/url] and published it in full. It can be read below.
Republicans told the Times they had issues with the tone, wording and scope of the report, but they clearly objected most strongly to its findings, which undermine the governing fiscal philosophy of the party, that tax cuts for the wealthy will spur growth and benefit everybody.
GOP officials told The Times that the decision by the CRS came after a cooperative discussion, but Democrats have suggested that the move is part of a broader effort by Republicans to squelch legitimate research that runs counter to their economic principles.
The CRS report, by researcher Thomas Hungerford, concluded:
The results of the analysis suggest that changes over the past 65 years in the top marginal tax rate and the top capital gains tax rate do not appear correlated with economic growth. The reduction in the top tax rates appears to be uncorrelated with saving, investment, and productivity growth. The top tax rates appear to have little or no relation to the size of the economic pie.However, the top tax rate reductions appear to be associated with the increasing concentration of income at the top of the income distribution. As measured by IRS data, the share of income accruing to the top 0.1% of U.S. families increased from 4.2% in 1945 to 12.3% by 2007 before falling to 9.2% due to the 2007-2009 recession. At the same time, the average tax rate paid by the top 0.1% fell from over 50% in 1945 to about 25% in 2009. Tax policy could have a relation to how the economic pie is sliced—lower top tax rates may be associated with greater income disparities.
Rep. Sandy Levin of Michigan, the top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, demanded the CRS explain its decision. "The impartial research and advice provided by CRS experts informs and strengthens the work of Congress. However, this valuable role hinges on the impartiality of CRS analysts and their freedom from political pressure. As with other non-partisan institutions, subjecting CRS analysts to political considerations undermines the legislative process and the American people’s trust in it," Levin wrote in [url=http://democrats.waysandmeans.house.gov/sites/democrats.waysandmeans.house.gov/files/DirectorMazanec.pdf]a letter to CRS.[/url] "Therefore I was deeply disturbed to hear that Mr. Hungerford’s report was taken down in response to political pressure from Congressional Republicans who had ideological objections to the report’s factual findings and conclusion."
(Scroll down for Hungerford's response in the UPDATE.)
The report is extensive, but the reasoning behind its conclusion is fairly straightforward. The richest Americans are the least likely to spend extra money they get as a result of a tax cut, and are more likely to save it or invest it offshore. Those on the lower end of the economic spectrum, meanwhile, are the most likely to spend transfer payments they receive from the government.
A [url=http://www.dpcc.senate.gov/?p=blog&id=193]release[/url] by the Democratic Policy & Communications Center on Wednesday accused Republicans of attempting to bury the report because its "findings undermine a central tenet of Republican party orthodoxy on taxes." They included a copy of the original report, which is available below:
[url=http://www.docstoc.com/docs/134693051/CRS-Report-Top-Tax-Rates]CRS Report: Top Tax Rates[/url]
UPDATE: 5:45 p.m. -- Thomas Hungerford, the CRS researcher who produced the report, told HuffPost that he stands by it. "Basically, the decision to take it down, I think The New York Times article basically got it right, that it was pressure from the Senate minority to take it down," Hungerford said. "CRS reports go through many layers of review before they're issued and as far as the tone and the conclusions go, people who specifically look at the writing and the tone said it was okay. So it's not going to be that and as I can tell you outright, I stand by the report and the analysis in the report."
Hungerford said that he had never experienced suppression like this before, and he pushed back on the GOP argument that he had only looked at the effect of tax cuts in the year immediately following enactment. Regardless, he said, Republicans argue that tax breaks for the rich will bring an immediate benefit to the economy, so their criticism is inconsistent. "I checked out three years and then five years and found that no, it doesn't change the results or the conclusion of my paper. So in a way, I find it interesting that they keep talking about the need to lower the top tax rate in order to stimulate the economy now," he said. 'It sounds like they're being a little inconsistent here."
Despite the pressure, Hungerford said he'll continue doing his job in a nonpartisan way. "I'm not going to change. My job is to do economic analysis on issues that the Congress is comparing and quite frankly, I'm going to continue doing that. That's my job," he said.
The Times reported that Hungerford has given $5,000 this election cycle to Democrats. HuffPost asked if that biased his report in any way. "I leave any political baggage at the door when I walk into my office and pick it up on my way out. I'm there to provide help to members of both parties, which I do," Hungerford said.
Just make sure you have your bags and ticket ready....
Just making sure it sinks into your head...
MUST SEE..A Message from The Greatest Generation (NSFW)
Do you have your bag packed and your plane ticket ready???
BREAKING...Obama hits new post-debate high at 65% as Romney IMPLODES
http://www.intrade.com/v4/misc/scoreboard/
Romney's Disastrous 'Relief' Event: The Opposite of Helpful
October 30, 2012 12:00 PM
66 comments By David Neiwert
http://crooksandliars.com/david-neiwert/romneys-disastrous-relief-event-oppo
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Mitt Romney claimed he was suspending his campaign today. Sorta. Kinda. Not really.
Actually, he was out schmoozing voters in Ohio under the guise of calling it a "disaster relief" event:
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney urged his supporters on Tuesday to keep up their efforts to help those impacted by Hurricane Sandy, and pitched in to box up donations.
"We have heavy hearts, as you know, with all of the suffering going on in a major part of our country," he said at an appearance in Dayton, Ohio, touted by the campaign as a "storm relief" event. "A lot of people are hurting this morning and they were hurting last night."
He thanked the crowd for bringing goods, which he said will be sent to New Jersey.
"I appreciate the fact people right here in Dayton got up this morning, some went to the grocery store, I see, and purchased some things that these families will need," he continued. "I appreciate your generosity. It's part of the American spirit, the American way, to give to people that are in need."
This warmed the cockles of the talkers' hearts at Fox News, of course, where no one doubted that Romney was not, repeat NOT campaigning. He was just helping box up some canned goods to help in the relief effort, and, heavens, if some photographers or some voters happened to be nearby, that was swell too. (Oh, and by the way, Obama was campaigning because Bill Clinton was out doing events in Minnesota, donchaknow.)
But had anyone at the Romney campaign bothered to ask the Red Cross, they would have been informed that collecting canned goods is exactly what they don't need. From the Red Cross website:
The American Red Cross does not accept or solicit small quantities of individual donations of items for emergency relief purposes. Items such as collections of food, used clothing, and shoes often must be cleaned, sorted, and repackaged which impedes the valuable resources of money, time, and personnel that are needed for other aspects of our relief operation.
The Red Cross, in partnership with other agencies, suggests that the best use for those types of donations is to support needy agencies within donors' local communities.
The best way to help a disaster victim is through a financial donation to the Red Cross. Financial contributions allow the Red Cross to purchase exactly what is needed for the disaster relief operation. Monetary donations also enable the Red Cross to purchase relief supplies close to the disaster site which avoids delays and transportation costs in getting basic necessities to disaster victims. Because the affected area has generally experienced significant economic loss, purchasing relief supplies in or close to the disaster site also helps to stimulate the weakened local economy.
As John Aravosis observes:
It “impedes” relief efforts, it doesn’t help. The Red Cross prefers money because it’s far easier to handle, and can be spent where it’s most needed and on what is most needed.
Afterwards, Romney refused to answer any questions about his previously documented proposal to eliminate FEMA:
"Gov are you going to eliminate FEMA?" a print pooler shouted, receiving no response.
Wires reporters asked more questions about FEMA that were ignored.
Romney kept coming over near pool to pick up more water. He ignored these questions:
"Gov are you going to see some storm damage?"
"Gov has [New Jersey Gov.] Chris Christie invited you to come survey storm damage?"
"Gov you've been asked 14 times, why are you refusing to answer the question?"
Oh, and here's how the press badges for the event read, via Dave Weigel:
ENLARGE
Credit: Dave Weigel
I guess intermixing "Romney Victory" with "Disaster" is appropriate after all.
Can you imagine if there was no FEMA and that responsibility fell to the states??
#1 - you will have duplication of equipment, effort, man power, etc..
#2 - when something catastrophic happens, what would a state do when it's whole infrastructure is decimated??? Ask another state for help or move its EMA services to another state???
#3 - You will have rich states and poor states being incapable to handle emergencies. And then what?? Who do you ask for help??
#4 - State taxes will increase as states that are currently struggling with deficits, will have to find new funding for a new EMA dept.
I can think 100 more reasons why that is the stupidest idea I've ever heard of... but then again, everything that comes from POS Romney's mouth is 100% totally and completely stupid.
Kiss Romney Goodbye..This is the October Surprise Everyone Has Been Waiting For...
Bye bye liar POS Romney...
http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=80985957
THIS IS HUGE..Bloomberg News: Romney ‘rented’ Mormon church’s exemption to defer taxes for 15 years
By David Edwards
Monday, October 29, 2012 15:08 EDT
[url=http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/10/29/bloomberg-news-romney-rented-mormon-churchs-exemption-to-defer-taxes-for-15-years/]http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/10/29/bloomberg-news-romney-rented-mormon-churchs-exemption-to-defer-taxes-for-15-years/[/url]
Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney used a loophole to “rent” the Mormon church’s tax exemption status and defer paying taxes for 15 years, according to a new report.
Tax returns [url=http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-29/romney-avoids-taxes-via-loophole-cutting-mormon-donations.html]obtained by Bloomberg News[/url] through a Freedom of Information Act request indicated that Romney set up a charitable remainder unitrust (CRUT) in June 1996 just before Congress cracked down on the loophole in 1997.
“In this instance, Romney used the tax-exempt status of a charity — the Mormon Church, according to a 2007 filing — to defer taxes for more than 15 years,” Bloomberg’s Jesse Drucker explained. “At the same time he is benefitting, the trust will probably leave the church with less than what current law requires.”
Estates lawyer Jonathan Blattmachr told Bloomberg that Romney’s trust benefits from the Mormon church’s exempt status because charities don’t pay capital gains taxes when they make a profit from the sale of assets.
“The main benefit from a charitable remainder trust is the renting from your favorite charity of its exemption from taxation,” Blattmachr said, adding that the charitable contribution “is just a throwaway” and the church would receive little if any financial benefit from the trust.
“I used to structure them so the value dedicated to charity was as close to zero as possible without being zero,” he pointed out.
The CRUT allows individuals to “defer capital gains taxes on any profit from the sale of the assets, and receive a small upfront charitable deduction and a stream of yearly cash payments,” Drucker wrote. “Like an individual retirement account, the trust allows money to grow tax deferred, while like an annuity it also pays Romney a steady income. After the funder’s death, the trust’s remaining assets go to a designated charity.”
In fact, the amount available to go to the Mormon church has decreased from at least $750,000 in 2001 to $421,203 at the end of 2011 as Romney has collected yearly cash payments from the trust.
The Romney campaign declined to answer questions about the trust but insisted that it was “operated in accordance with the law” in an email to Bloomberg.
The trust represents a small fraction of Romney’s more than $250 million fortune and is only one of several methods the formal Bain Capital CEO has employed to avoid paying taxes.
Earlier this year, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), who is also a Mormon, had [url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/31/harry-reid-romney-taxes_n_1724027.html]suggested[/url] that the Republican presidential nominee refused to release his tax returns because he had not paid any income taxes over a 10-year period.
In a [url=http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/09/19/harry-reid-the-47-percent-arent-using-cayman-islands-tax-shelters/]September speech[/url] on the Senate floor, Reid said that leaked tapes insulting the 47 percent of Americans who don’t pay income taxes as “dependant” on the government have gave the world a “rare look at the real Mitt Romney.”
“For all we know Mitt Romney could be one of those who have paid no federal income tax. Thousands of families making more than a million dollars per year pay nothing in federal income tax,” the Nevada Democrat observed. “Is Mitt Romney among those? We’ll never know because he refuses to release his tax returns.”
“We know that Mitt Romney pays a lower tax rate than middle-class families, thanks to a number of things he’s done: Swiss bank accounts, Cayman Islands tax shelters. And we can only imagine what new secrets would be revealed if he showed the American people a dozen years of tax returns like his dad did.”
Reid noted that most of “those people” who Romney talked about “are not avoiding their tax bills using Cayman Islands tax shelters or Swiss Bank accounts like Mitt Romney. Millions of the 47 percent are seniors on Social Security, who don’t have Bain Capital retirement funds or inherited stock to fall back on.”
POS Romney In GOP Debate: "Shut Down FEMA, Send Responsibility To The States" (VIDEO - click link)
Posted: 10/28/2012 9:28 pm EDT Updated: 10/29/2012 9:12 am EDT
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/28/mitt-romney-fema_n_2036198.html
During a CNN debate at the height of the GOP primary, Mitt Romney was asked, in the context of the Joplin disaster and FEMA's cash crunch, whether the agency should be shuttered so that states can individually take over responsibility for disaster response.
"Absolutely," he said. "Every time you have an occasion to take something from the federal government and send it back to the states, that's the right direction. And if you can go even further, and send it back to the private sector, that's even better. Instead of thinking, in the federal budget, what we should cut, we should ask the opposite question, what should we keep?"
"Including disaster relief, though?" debate moderator John King asked Romney.
"We cannot -- we cannot afford to do those things without jeopardizing the future for our kids," Romney replied. "It is simply immoral, in my view, for us to continue to rack up larger and larger debts and pass them on to our kids, knowing full well that we'll all be dead and gone before it's paid off. It makes no sense at all."
WATCH:
By that I take it you are for the rape of children and women that is "God's gift", eh? Sheesh...
Laugh all you want, but it's fact. The vast majority of the deficit is because of bailout and stimulus and 2 wars and tax cuts for the rich, and trying to fix the badly damaged U.S. economy that POS Republican Bush left. Like LOSING 800,000 jobs a month. Or maybe you a living under a rock or in cave on Jan 2009??? sheesh...
Horseshit. If you take out the bailouts and stimulus that were needed to fix the massive mess Republican Bush and his deregulations created, Obama is by far the most fiscally responsible president of the last 40 years. The only Obama's mistake was that he didn't repeal Bush's tax cuts for the rich in his first 2 years.
Romney continues to implode... down to another new low..
http://www.intrade.com/v4/misc/scoreboard/
How Mitt Romney 'owes $25,000 on a 130-year-old debt' after his great-grandfather skipped bail because his neighbors thought him a 'mass of putrid pus'
- Author Judith Freeman claims her great-grandfather William Flake bailed Mitt Romney's great-grandfather out of jail for $1,000
- Miles Park Romney had been arrested on polygamy charges
- Romney never repaid Flake and instead fled to Mexico with his family
- A local newspaper editor referred to Romney as 'a mass of putrid pus and rotten goose pimples with the face of a baboon and the character of a louse'
By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
PUBLISHED: 17:46 EST, 28 August 2012 | UPDATED: 17:47 EST, 28 August 2012
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2194952/Mitt-Romney-owes-25-000-130-year-old-debt-left-great-grandfather.html
With an estimated fortune of $250million, one would think Mitt Romney would not have let a family debt go unpaid for 130 years.
An author claims the Republican presidential candidate owes her family $25,000 after her great-grandfather paid Romney's great-grandfather's bail in the 1880s.
Instead of showing up at court, Miles Park Romney -- whom one newspaper editor called a 'mass of putrid pus' -- jumped bail and fled to Mexico, leaving his friend liable for the considerable sum.
Performer: Miles Park Romney, Mitt's great-grandfather, was known for his theatrical performances. He's pictured here in costume
Author and essayist Judith Freeman traces the debt back four generations to a time when her ancestor, William Flake, and Romney's ancestor were Mormon pioneers together in Arizona.
Freeman documents the bizarre family history in the Los Angeles Review of Books, reporting that Flake paid $1,000 to bail Romney out of jail when he was arrested for polygamy. Freeman estimates that sum, not accounting for interested, is worth $25,000 now and that Mitt Romney is liable for it.
The story is half tongue-and-cheek and half history lesson on the Romney family's roots in the Mormon church and its participation in polygamy.
It began in the 1870s, when Brigham Young -- the founder of the Mormon colony in Salt Lake City, Utah -- tasked Miles Park Romney and William Flake with spreading Mormonism to Arizona.
Slings and arrows: Mitt Romney is not the only one who has drawn insults for his public persona. His great-grandfather Miles Park Romney was called a 'mass of putrid pus' by a editor newspaper editor
Before they could embark on their quest, though, Freeman writes, he commanded both men to participate in the 'Divine Principle' and take multiple wives.
Flake married Prudence Kartchner, a 16-year-old family friend who became Freeman's great-grandmother.
In Utah, Miles Park Romney was known for his role in amateur theatrical productions. Flake had a reputation for his handling of horses and his skills as a frontiersman.
Once they moved to Arizona, Romney's reputation seemed to slide.The residents of the dusty frontier towns were deeply suspicious of the Mormons and especially seemed to dislike Romney.
One newspaper editor referred to him as 'a mass of putrid pus and rotten goose pimples; a skunk, with the face of a baboon, the character of a louse, the breath of a buzzard and the record of a perjurer and common drunkard.'
Prison: William Flake served six months in jail for polygamy after he was arrested by angry Arizonans
Ties: Author Judith Freeman revealed her family's history with the Romneys. Her great-grandfather, William Flake, offered $1,000 bail money for Miles Romney in the 1880s
By the 1880s, Arizona territorial officials began rounding up polygamists after a new law was passed. Both Flake and Romney were thrown in jail.
Freeman claims Romney had no money and could not afford the $1,000 bail -- a large sum in those days -- so Flake paid to have both of them freed.
Romney repaid the kindness by fleeing to Mexico with his family, including Mitt Romney's grandfather Gaskell Romney. He started an enclave in Chihuahua where Mitt's father George Romney was born.
Flake stood trial in Arizona and spent six months in jail.
Freeman claims Flake was never repaid. Adjusted for inflation -- but not counting interest -- the sum is now $25,000.
'I want to assure Mitt that I’m more than happy to be the disperser of the funds and I guarantee that all the Flakes of the world will get their fair share the moment he does the right thing,' she writes.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2194952/Mitt-Romney-owes-25-000-130-year-old-debt-left-great-grandfather.html#ixzz2AQOxLOkV
This is HUGE and shows a clear trend reversal and a huge bounce for Obama....
Yeah, a Mourdock/Romney gang rape of children and women blowout... but what do you expect from a mormon polygamist pedophile...
BREAKING...New Polls shows Obama gains momentum while Romney implodes under the weight of his lies and his love for Mourdock and the gang rapes of young girls
http://www.intrade.com/v4/misc/scoreboard/ Obama 62.5%, POS Romney 37.6%
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/ Obama 73.1%, POS Romney 26.9%
BREAKING..GOP Voter Fraud Accusations Suddenly Blowing Up In Their Faces
Posted: 10/25/2012 10:04 am EDT Updated: 10/25/2012 10:12 am EDT
Republican officials, who have used hysteria about alleged voter fraud as an excuse to support measures that disproportionately block Democratic voters, are furiously trying to distance themselves from a growing number of GOP voter registration drives that either submitted false applications or threw away authentic ones.
The incidents might have been overlooked if not for the GOP's clamorous campaignto restrict registration drives, purge voter rolls, roll back early voting, and pass voter ID laws that opponents point out have the effect of depressing the vote among minorities, the poor and other generally Democratic constituencies.
As one Southern California alt-weekly put it, it's turning into a story of "The Wolf Who Cried Wolf."
The latest drama began to unfold on Oct. 17, when the manager of a Tuesday Morning discount store in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley saw a man throwing a garbage bag into the store's private dumpster. Inside the bag was a file folder containing eight completed Virginia voter registration forms.
The manager described the man to Rockingham County sheriff's deputies, who the following day arrested Colin Small, 23, a voter registration drive contractor for the Virginia GOP -- and charged him with eight felonies and five misdemeanors related to the destruction and disclosure of the applications and obstruction of justice.
A few weeks earlier, the GOP had been under fire following reports of suspicious registration applications that had been submitted in 10 Florida counties by a company run by Nathan Sproul, a Republican operative who has long been trailed by allegations of voter fraud. The Republican Party paid Sproul's company, Strategic Allied Consulting, about $3 million this year for registration drives in five swing states: Colorado, Florida, North Carolina, Nevada, and Virginia.
In Palm Beach County, Fla., alone, about 100 questionable voter registrations were flagged, more than half of which involved changing a voter’s party affiliation to Republican or independent. Discrepancies were also found in North Carolina.
And a viral video uploaded to YouTube in late September showed a young woman who worked for Strategic Allied Consulting registering voters in Colorado and admitting that she was only looking for Republicans. "Well, I'm actually trying to register people for a particular party. Because we're out here in support of Romney, actually," the woman said.
Given Sproul's history, it could hardly have come as a surprise to his GOP employers that his canvassers would generate spurious applications.
And yet, because every bit of the process of voting has now become so politically supercharged, once the allegations of voter registration fraud became public, the Republican National Committee and its state chapters quickly severed their ties with Sproul.
"We've made it clear we're not doing business with these guys anymore," Sean Spicer, the RNC communications director, told Michael Isikoff of NBC News. "We've come out pretty strong against this kind of stuff -- and we have zero tolerance for this."
As for Small, who was first hired by Sproul's group, the RNC this week simultaneously denied he was working directly for them and announced that he'd been fired.
On Friday, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus told HuffPost's Amanda Terkel: "If it's true, the guy should be punished. He was fired, and he should have been fired. There's no tolerance for this stuff."
Republican Party of Virginia Chairman Pat Mullins released a statement saying Small's actions were "a direct contradiction of both his training and explicit instructions given to him."
Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz, by contrast, issued her own statement, calling Small's arrest just another example of "a concerted effort by the RNC and its allies to win the game by rigging it altogether."
And three Democratic congressmen from Virginia on Tuesday sent a letter to the Justice Department requesting "a multi-state investigation to determine if a pattern of voting registration irregularities related to Strategic Allied Consulting are connected and constitute a broader conspiracy of voter registration fraud."
The frequency of allegations "would seem to suggest something more than the isolated acts of 'a few bad apples,'" they wrote.
Voter registration fraud is different, way more common and considerably less threatening to democracy than actual voter fraud. Registering Mickey Mouse to vote is easy, and a far cry from actually casting a fraudulent ballot.
The main reason voter registration fraud is so common is that canvassers are sometimes rewarded based on how many applications they submit -- which can incentivize padding. That's what happened fairly frequently with Acorn, the community group that Republicans demonized as a fraud factory after it successfully registered over a million mostly inner-city residents before the 2008 election -- with some imaginary and dead people mixed in.
Priebus himself recently cited the example of Acorn to support his argument that "Democrats know they benefit from election fraud."
But Acorn, unlike Strategic Allied Consulting, actually self-reported its canvassers' suspicious applications -- which it was legally obligated to submit nonetheless. The ones from Sproul's groups, on the other hand, were spotted by election officials.
And the Colorado video, combined with the fact that the suspicious Palm Beach applications featured so many party switches, suggest that Sproul's group might have added a new wrinkle: rewarding its canvassers for applications from Republicans or independents, but not from Democrats.
What none of that explains, however, is what might have motivated Small -- who, after all, didn't submit fraudulent applications; he's charged with throwing out legitimate ones.
Because Virginia doesn't register people by party, "it's not possible to tell a party affiliation just by looking at the voter registration form," said state board of elections spokeswoman Nikki Sheridan, ruling out one potential answer.
The eight applicants varied in age, and the rural area where they live is overwhelming white, ruling out two more.
So as it turns out, although county officials won't confirm it on the record, the most likely possibility may be that Small was throwing the applications away because he'd waited longer than the statutory 15 days after he collected them to turn them in, and was afraid of getting in trouble.
Virginia's guidelines for voter registration drives clearly state that failure to turn in completed applications within 15 days can lead to prosecution for a misdemeanor.
Small, although he was released from jail not long after his arrest, could not be reached for comment.
Sheridan, from the state board of elections, said that the eight applications found in the dumpster were processed by local officials that same day.
As it turned out, three of the applicants were already registered, and one was rejected on account of a felony conviction. But four of them will now be newly on the voter rolls in November.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/25/gop-voter-fraud_n_1990104.html?utm_hp_ref=politics
BREAKING.."Mr. Trump -- I will write you a check for $1 million from Colbert Super PAC, you know I've got it, to the charity of your choice -- anything, Save the Children, feed the children, put the children on child Apprentice, whatever -- one million actual dollars if you will let me dip my balls in your mouth." -- Stephen Colbert
http://on.cc.com/TY2wAG
BREAKING..Colin Powell endorses Obama again
David JacksonShare
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http://www.usatoday.com/story/theoval/2012/10/25/obama-colin-powell-endorsement/1656491/
8:06AM EDT October 25. 2012 - Colin Powell, the secretary of State for President George W. Bush, endorsed President Obama for re-election on Thursday.
Powell also backed Obama four years ago against John McCain.
Speaking on CBS' This Morning, Powell said Republican candidate Mitt Romney appeared to shift positions during this week's foreign policy debate. "So I am not quite sure which Gov. Romney we would be getting with respect to foreign policy," he said.
Powell said the economy is improving and that Obama got the United States out of war in Iraq and is starting to get the United States out of Afghanistan. "I signed on for a long patrol with President Obama and I don't think this is the time to make such a sudden change," he said. I think we ought to keep on the track we are on."
Powell, who flirted with his own presidential bid in the 1990s, said he did not tell Obama or Romney in advance about his decision. "This is my decision by looking at this as a citizen," he said, adding that he speaks to Obama regularly.
John McCain Pledges To Withdraw Richard Mourdock Support If He Doesn't Apologize
By Sabrina Siddiqui
Posted: 10/24/2012 10:40 pm EDT Updated: 10/24/2012 11:06 pm EDT
WASHINGTON -- Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said Wednesday night he will no longer support Richard Mourdock, unless the Indiana Senate candidate apologizes for his recent comments on rape.
"I think it depends on what he does," McCain told CNN's Anderson Cooper, when asked if he still counts himself among Mourdock's supporters. "If he apologizes and says he misspoke and he was wrong and he asks the people to forgive him, then obviously I’d be the first. ... But, you know, in the years that I’ve been around, I’ve made a few, Anderson, and I’ve asked for people's understanding and forgiveness when I won't -- when I own up to it," he continued. "It’s when you don't own up to it when people will not believe you."
McCain's call for an apology comes as Mitt Romney faces mounting pressure from Democrats to withdraw his endorsement of Mourdock and have a TV ad he starred in for the Indiana state treasurer removed from the airwaves.
Mourdock ignited controversy Tuesday night for saying in the final Indiana Senate debate that pregnancies resulting from rape are "something God intended."
"The only exception I have to have an abortion is in the case of the life of the mother," said Mourdock. "I struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize life is that gift from God. I think that even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen."
Romney's campaign confirmed Wednesday that he continues to support Mourdock and has not asked that the ad be pulled. Romney campaign spokeswoman Andrea Saul did seek to distance the GOP nominee from the views Mourdock expressed.
"Gov. Romney disagrees with Richard Mourdock, and Mr. Mourdock’s comments do not reflect Gov. Romney’s views," Saul said in an emailed statement. "We disagree on the policy regarding exceptions for rape and incest but still support him."
Mourdock declined to apologize during a press conference on Wednesday, saying instead that he regretted his words had been misinterpreted.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/24/john-mccain-richard-mourdock_n_2013217.html
BREAKING..Rape Remark Jolts a Senate Race, and the Presidential One, Too
By JONATHAN WEISMANPublished: October 25, 2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/25/us/politics/using-mourdocks-rape-comment-against-romney.html?_r=0
WASHINGTON — The incendiary topic of rape and abortion re-entered the 2012 campaign Wednesday and threatened to singe Mitt Romney after an Indiana Senate candidate’s comments that pregnancies conceived by rape should not be aborted because “God intended” conception to happen.
Michael Conroy/Associated PressRichard Mourdock’s opposition to abortion in cases of rape has given Democrats an opening to paint Republicans as extremist.
Mr. Romney has been reaching out to female voters and has spent weeks trying to distance himself from the most uncompromising positions of many Republicans on abortion. But the comments by Richard E. Mourdock, the Indiana state treasurer and Tea Party-backed candidate, gave President Obama’s campaign a new opening to tie Mr. Romney to his right flank on social issues.
In a Senate debate on Tuesday night, Mr. Mourdock tried to distinguish himself from two opponents who also oppose abortion by explaining that he does not support allowing abortions in the case of rape.
“I’ve struggled with it myself for a long time, but I came to realize that life is that gift from God,” he said. “And even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something that God intended to happen.”
The comments put Mr. Romney in a difficult position. The Mourdock campaign had released an advertisement on Monday that featured Mr. Romney looking directly into the camera and endorsing Mr. Mourdock, a boon to the Republican in a race that has remained close in part because Senator Richard G. Lugar, whom he defeated in the Republican primary, has refused to campaign for him. Andrea Saul, a spokeswoman for the Romney campaign, said Mr. Romney disagrees with Mr. Mourdock, but the campaign did not ask him to remove the ad.
Other Republicans reacted more strongly. Representative Mike Pence, a Republican favored to be elected Indiana’s governor, urged Mr. Mourdock to apologize. Aides to Senator Scott P. Brown of Massachusetts, who is locked in a difficult re-election campaign, said Mr. Mourdock’s statements “do not reflect his thinking at all.” Senator Kelly Ayotte, Republican of New Hampshire, canceled her scheduled campaign appearances with him. Senator John McCain of Arizona, the 2008 presidential nominee, told CNN on Wednesday night his continued support of Mr. Mourdock depended on “if he apologizes and says he misspoke and he was wrong and he asks the people to forgive him.”
The Obama campaign sought to exploit the opening, as did virtually every Democratic campaign for Senate, pressing a message that the Republican Party is out of step with female voters.
President Obama “felt those comments were outrageous and demeaning to women,” Jen Psaki, the president’s campaign spokeswoman, told reporters on Wednesday morning. Ms. Psaki called it “perplexing” that Mr. Romney had not demanded that his ad be taken off television. He supports allowing abortion in the case of rape, incest and when the health of the mother is at risk.
At a news conference in Indiana, Representative Joe Donnelly, Mr. Mourdock’s Democratic opponent, pressed his case that Mr. Mourdock is too extreme for the Senate.
“I am pro-life, but this controversy is not about pro-life,” Mr. Donnelly said. “It is about Mr. Mourdock’s words and his continuation of extreme positions.”
Republicans in Washington hoped that the anti-abortion tilt of Indiana would insulate Mr. Mourdock from much political damage. But the controversy fed into the argument that Mr. Donnelly and other Democrats have been pressing ever since Mr. Mourdock’s stunning victory over Mr. Lugar. The nonpartisan Rothenberg Political Report moved the Indiana contest from one that leaned Republican to a pure tossup, a new headache for Republicans who once saw recapturing the Senate as a layup.
That easy path was lost months ago, when Representative Todd Akin, the Republican nominee for a Senate seat in Missouri, suggested that “legitimate rape” could not produce a pregnancy. Republicans pressured Mr. Akin to drop out of the race, and when he did not, they cut ties to him.
This time, with 13 days to go until Election Day, Republicans tried to protect Mr. Mourdock. Senator John Cornyn of Texas, the chairman of the party’s senate committee, said that Mr. Mourdock’s position was no different from that of Mr. Donnelly.
“Richard and I, along with millions of Americans — including even Joe Donnelly — believe that life is a gift from God. To try and construe his words as anything other than a restatement of that belief is irresponsible and ridiculous,” Mr. Cornyn said.
MUST SEE..MITT ROMNEY IS A LIAR. PURE AND SIMPLE
And Romney wants to give more money to the Pentagon... sheesh...
Which part of yellow cake didn't lie about? Which part of Iraq's WMDs didn't lie about. Are you just clueless or do you just play the idiot only on internet boards?
Bush lied and thousands of people died.
The Romney-Mourdock Ticket