"All You People"

Last Thursday Ann Romney was interviewed by Robin Roberts on ABC and said, "We've given all you people what you need to know about our family's finances". So I have to ask myself, who is Mrs. Romney referring to when she uses the phrase "all you people"? Is she talking about the media/press? Is she talking about all Democrats? Or is she talking about 99% of all Americans? She was not talking about "We the People" and her comments were quite condescending.

When Robin Roberts pursued her line of questioning, Mrs. Romney exposed the underlying issue: "Because there are so many things that will be open for more attack…and really that's the answer." By admitting that there so many things open for attack, it clearly suggests that there are some significant problems with Willard's tax returns.

I've observed Willard for a number of years and he has all the characteristics of Gumby, the little rubber man of the 1950's. Willard and Gumby could twist and turn like a pretzel. I reckon they played Etch-a-Sketch together. However, the one issue that Mitt has so far remained steadfast is releasing his tax returns. Willard has done his own cost/benefit analysis and has calculated that releasing 12 years of returns would be political suicide. He would rather hope the issue will go away or die from a thousand cuts.

What Ann and Willard Romney are asking is that they want "all you people" to vote for them, but they are going to keep hidden Willard's tax returns from all of us. What neither of them understands is that when you run for a public office, you play by public rules and your personal life is exposed to public scrutiny. Their choice is to remain in their secret .001 percent society or become a part of all you people. Expect them to remain in the aegis of the super wealthy. Using Ann Romney's own words, she and Willard are not one of us.

As Will Rogers said:

“I am not a member of an organized political party, I’m a Democrat.”

Even the Dems don’t like the Wicked Witch of the West. Asked for a comment on this situation, Nancy Pelosi said her position was a plain and simple one for any Dem that doesn’t cough up the cash: “I’ll get you my pretty, and your little dog too.”

THIS IS FUNNY STUFF!!!!!!!

From Politico:

Democrats shun Pelosi’s plea for cash
By: Alex Isenstadt
July 23, 2012 04:40 AM EDT

One by one, the pictures of House members adorning the lobby of Democratic Party headquarters have come down, turning neat rows of framed photos into a disjointed mess — “splattered,” as one aide described it.

The half-dozen or so lawmakers whose mugs have vanished in recent weeks weren’t indicted in court or slapped with an ethics violation. But their transgression is still deadly serious in the eyes of top party leaders: ignoring pleas to kick in cash for Democrats’ increasingly uphill slog to take back the House.

Prying open members’ fists is an election year ritual for leaders of both parties, but Democrats contend this time around has been particularly frustrating. Facing a team of deep-pocketed Republican outside groups poised to swamp them in TV ad spending — and with the party not benefiting from the kind of wave conditions that lifted Republicans two years ago — Democrats say the stinginess of their lawmakers has left them severely weakened as the fall campaign season approaches.

Democrats say they’ve tried just about everything to get their colleagues to open their wallets. The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has told members that unless they pay their dues in full, they won’t get to partake in the committee’s Democratic National Convention package, complete with access to much sought-after hotel rooms and parties. And in early June, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) tried to shame her members into giving, distributing notes to each of them with a request for cash and asking them if they are part of “the team.”

The push hasn’t had much success. As of June 30, 64 Democrats — around one-third of the entire caucus — hadn’t paid anything to the DCCC, according to a party document provided to POLITICO. Another 109 members had paid only a portion of what they owe in dues, which are calculated based on seniority and committee assignments.

In June, GOP members flooded the National Republican Congressional Committee with nearly $6.4 million. The DCCC secured just $1.8 million from Democratic lawmakers.

Removing a lawmaker’s picture from the national Democratic Party’s headquarters might sound like the ultimate indignity, but officials tasked with expanding the party’s House ranks contend that it’s more than fitting treatment for those they no longer regard as team players.

Violence is an admission that one's ideas and goals cannot prevail on their own merits. – Edward Kennedy

After much reflection on the heinous, cowardly, senseless act of violence in CO, over the weekend, I have countless questions, many of which will more than likely never be answered.

But one thing has mystified me & I was wondering if one of Second Amendment enthusiasts could answer it…

What is the SOLE purpose of selling tear-gas canisters to John Q. Public?

Do you go deer hunting with them? Maybe lob a couple at the
target range? Protect yourself or home from intruders or assault? Use them as pet toys? Play horseshoes with them?

Where in the “second amendment” does it include tear gas? Tear gas wasn’t even invented until WWI.

I don’t imagine for a second, our founding fathers intentions, included, tear gas canisters, clips which hold enough ammo to wipe out hundreds of lives in a few seconds, assault rifles, hand grenades, and other weapons of mass destruction!

How many MORE of these random acts of violence are we going to tolerate before we as American’s stand up and say… ENOUGH!

When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace. – Jimi Hendrix

Conspicuously absent in the "unbiased" reporting of the news recently is the story out of Conneticutt about the SEIU walkout from several skilled nursing facilities (nursing homes) in the state. While the walkout by itself would be reason for consternation among the families who had loved ones residing in these facilities, what the union workers did before their walkout is what makes this particular story noteworthy.

HealthBridge management filed complaints with various law enforcement agencies around the state that include these incidents:

“…clean linens being thrown on the floor to more serious incidents whereby patients’ identification wrist bands were removed as well as patient identifiers on room doors and wheelchairs….[T]he persons involved are presumed to be employees who are part of a protest taking place outside against the Danbury Health Care Center.” [Source: Danbury Police Department Incident Report.]

“Also of note for disruptive behavior that occurred prior to the employee labor strike was: The name tags on patient’s doors for the Alzheimer’s ward were mixed up. The photos attached to the medical records for these patients were removed further complicating, but not making impossible the identification of the patients. Also dietary blue stickers affixed to the door name tags were removed. Again, there would be unrestricted, unsupervised access to the areas that that occurred.” [Source: Newington Police Department Crime/Incident Report]

In Stamford, the glass door to the industrial washing machine was shattered. In the officer’s comments, the following was noted: “Local 1199 of S.E.I.U. union is going on strike at 6:00 am on Tuesday 7/3/12 (may be related).” [Source: Stamford Police Department Incident Report]

For more on this story you can read about it at the dailycaller. I would provide a link, but as a relatively new poster, I guess I'm not allowed to.

So liberals, how does this make you feel? I suppose it's just par for the course for an ideology whose voting constituency consists of union thugs, free-loading welfare recipients, deadbeat tax evaders, illegal aliens and dead people.

Dear White Collar Auto:

I must confess to a feeling of despair, as I desire to help you find the way to the truth. While you appear to have some issues with your memory, I maintain hope that I can help. You had asked some questions of me and by the following day, you had forgotten.

In any case, as I was rather busy, I was unable to respond completely, as I had promised and thus, I felt compelled to apologize. Sadly, your friends collapsed my apology. With your failing memory and your friends' hiding information from you, I truly face a challenge. Nonetheless, I will try again.

On July 18, you asked: "David Walker - do you see the economy? The GDP? The Unemployment rate? They are staring you all right in the face."

In a manner of speaking, the answer is yes. I do follow the statistics, but as far as the actual economy I can only speak to what I see here. Virtually everyone who wants a job, has one. From personal experience, I can tell you, finding skilled workmen is quite difficult. They're all booked up, they tell me.

The GDP? I'm not so sure about that. As a younger man we used a measure called the GNP. That's changed. I suspect because our economy is so heavily tilted towards the service sector. Really, what's the value of a paper-pusher - like a banker, for instance - who packages worthless mortgages and sells them to unsuspecting investors? I mean, does that really have value? Should that be counted in the GDP?

As far as the unemployment rate, well, on July 19, you wrote to a fellow named Dennis. You said, " Dennis, do you have a clue about unemployment claims in July and how they are manipulated?" Now, I'm not exactly clear whether you meant that only July claims were manipulated, or that was just poor sentence construction. However, as you imply, the unemployment figures are manipulated. So I think you must have been kidding when you asked me whether I saw the unemployment rate. Sure I did, but why would I pay attention when, like you, I think it doesn't mean much. That manipulation thing, you know.

Then, again on the 18th, you wrote to me, "But all you see are Dogs, Horses and Tax Returns." Dogs? Horses? Tax returns? I just don't know what to say. Yes, we do have a new puppy, but I haven't seen a horse in some time, and of course our taxes were completed long before the deadline. (Now, I'm not a doctor, but the failing memory, and this reference to animals and taxes, might be symptomatic of some larger medical issue. You know, they say that a mind that lies fallow is prone to Alzheimer's. You might want to check that out.)

But I digress. I want to answer one more very important question you asked. "You tell me David, what should we be talking about, really?" Happy to help on that one. We should be talking about getting very serious about educating our children. The last thing we need is more uneducated Americans. (The Republican Party is loaded with them.) We need to ask why we aren't doing more in the area of energy conservation, generation, storage, and transmission. We need to ask how anyone could seriously consider voting for a guy like Mitt Romney, a man who cannot tell the truth, who has no respect for women, and who wants government in your bedroom and in your computer. And we really need to ask why would people collapse a post that has the information for which you asked.

"The Colorado Tea Party Patriots and the Tea Party Patriots are saddened to hear of the death and wounding of theater goers in Aurora, Colorado. The member of the Colorado Tea Party Patriots, Jim Holmes, age 52 is not the same person who has been identified as the shooter. The attempts of some media organizations to characterize the shooter as a Tea Party member without having made any effort to contact our organization are shameless and reprehensible..."-Regina Thomson, President of the Colorado Tea Party Patriots

One of the more dispicable stories to come out of the tragedy in Aurora, Colorado was the attempt by ABC's cheif investigative correspondent Brian Ross to link the massacre to the Tea Party. Shortly after the news broke on Friday morning Ross stated that "Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado page on the Colorado Tea Party site as well, talking about him joining the Tea Party last year. Now we don’t know if this is the same Jim Holmes, but this is Jim Holmes of Aurora, Colorado.”

While later begrudgingly acknowledging that it wasn't the same James Holmes who was the suspect in the Aurora shootings, what is troubling about his report was how quickly he had made the erroneous connection. It was almost as if this was the first thing that he had "investigated".

Taken with the Left's attempt to link Jarrod Loughner (the deranged man in Arizona responsible for killing six as well as injuring Gabrielle Giffords) to the Tea Party, this mistake by Ross is even more disturbing. What is it about the supposedly irrelevent Tea Party that has the Left trying to link them to every horrific act that makes the news? Are they that afraid of the Tea Party?

Left-wing media bias? What left-wing media bias?

Ron and Feisty, good Monday morning.

All the reams of words spoken about Free Speech:
And GOP/Koch/NRA party wants the freedom to spend secret $Billions, so they can lie and mislead 150 million Americans, via "news" and ads.

But we're not FREE to talk about sensible gun laws, nor the 30,000 gun deaths every year - because we fear repercussions from the National Rifle Association? Who are these people who control our Congress year after year? Superman?

Mitt Romney Gets Busted Buying Twitter Followers

Something strange is going on with Mitt Romney’s Twitter account. It looks like the Romney campaign is using the Colorado shooting as a distraction to hide their buying 100,000 new Twitter followers.

At 4 PM on Friday, Romney experienced a sudden rise in followers. This is bizarre because hours earlier in the day, the candidate had pulled himself off of the campaign trail. Mitt Romney is doing absolutely nothing right now, yet his number of Twitter followers continues to skyrocket.

http://www.politicususa.com/mitt-romney-busted-buying-twitter-followers.html

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

Oh yeaaaah, Mitt is staying with the football analogy, the conventions kickoff the 3^rd quarter) alright; cheating that is.

Obama/Biden 2012

4more for 44

GOP/Koch/NRA is against sensible gun laws, no matter how many of our citizens are murdered by the hand of the mentally unstable: The CO shooter had 3 weapons, including an assault rifle that fires off 50 to 60 rounds per minute with a 100-round drum magazine.

A bigger question is that these items were acquired, through the internet, over a period of months showing that this attack was planned and premeditated. Given the amount of legislation relating to surveillance that has been passed by this administration and the previous one, why was DHS not on top of this? Is this not the equivalent of a terrorist attack?

The GDP? I'm not so sure about that. As a younger man we used a measure called the GNP. That's changed. I suspect because our economy is so heavily tilted towards the service sector. Really, what's the value of a paper-pusher - like a banker, for instance - who packages worthless mortgages and sells them to unsuspecting investors? I mean, does that really have value? Should that be counted in the GDP?

________________________________

Not even close David:

From factcheck.org:

GDP vs. GNP

Posted on February 18, 2008

Q: What is the difference between GDP and GNP?

A: GDP is the market value of everything produced within a country; GNP is the value of what’s produced by a country’s residents, no matter where they live.

FULL QUESTION

What is the difference between GDP and GNP, and which is more important in evaluating how healthy our economy is?

FULL ANSWER

To explain further: GDP (gross domestic product) is, as we say on our FactCheckED.org site, "the total market value of goods and services produced within the borders of a country,” regardless of the nationality of those who produce them. GNP (gross national product) is the total market value of goods and services produced by the residents of a country, even if they’re living abroad. So if a U.S. resident earns money from an investment overseas, that value would be included in GNP (but not GDP). And the value of goods produced by foreign-owned businesses on U.S. land would be part of GDP (but not the other measure).

As for which is the better indicator of economic health, GDP is the primary measure used by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis. The BEA says that GDP "refers to production taking place in the United States. It is, therefore, the appropriate measure for much of the short-term monitoring and analysis of the U.S. economy." Prior to 1991, however, the BEA used GNP as its primary measure. When it made the switch, the BEA noted that GDP was already being used by "virtually all other countries," so making comparisons between the U.S. and other nations would be easier. GDP is also consistent with other economic indicators, such as employment.

I can read about it at the Daily Caller? That's the Tucker Carlson rag with the doofus who heckled the president at a news conference. No self-respecting parakeet would drop a deuce on the Daily Caller!

Morning Bev,

Now that Bin Laden is gone:

The GOP/Koch/NRA party plays the role of generating FEAR on our own turf: Via A.L.E.C. Shoot First Laws, and by insisting that anyone has the right to buy weapons of war on our streets.

Fools Gold --Do you advocate low wages for all workers to help out those poor poor businesses?

A new bipartisan report on poverty states with the elimination of so many union jobs it's driving down wages for all workers, thus putting more people in the poor house.

Congratulations to the dummies out there.

I can read about it at the Daily Caller?

If you'd prefer, you also could read about it at:

PR Newswire

Fox News

Red State

Yahoo!

News Media Journal

One News Page

Noticeably absent from these are all the news organizations that should be covering the story. That was kind of my point. Look:

Conspicuously absent in the "unbiased" reporting of the news recently...

Joe Albany:

Gosh, I'm sorry you don't understand sarcasm, but given your hard-right orientation that comes as no surprise.

That said, the fact is the measure of GDP or GNP is worthless when it equates price with value. The run-up in home prices in no way reflected true wealth and consequently skewed any measure of either GDP or GNP wildly.

As one example, a real estate broker lists and sells a home for $100,000. He takes his 6% off the top. His "service" reflects no real wealth. The following year, he again lists that same home for $106,000. The value of that home did not increase. Rather it reflected the seller's need to recoup the cost of the broker which is now 6% of $106,000. Even at that, the seller still takes a small hit, but the broker walks away with another $6,000+.

Go ahead. Explain to me the value of the home, the value of the broker and how that's reasonably included in the GDP OR GNP. That's merely one example. There's millions more transactions like that, which include the services of a broker. There's no real value, no real wealth created. That's wealth extraction bucko. Don't piss on my leg.

I would suspect it will not take Obama long to ratchet up the blame game and start the endless parade of excuses that define his failed presidency. One thing for sure, trickle down blame and excuses certainly has worked for the Democrats, unfortunately not at all for the country.

Feisty - Good post. In addition to the tear gas I am always perplexed that anyone needs an assault weapon. As we all know, true sportsmen would never hunt with an assault rifle - certainly not sporting in any way. And, an assault weapon is NOT used for self-defense. An assault weapon is just that - to be used to assault and kill innocent people.

At what point do we start to realize that these weapons should never be sold? There is no rational explanation for their use except as they were used last Friday.

Our President showed great compassion and represented the country well on Sunday - nothing less than we have come to expect from him.

Rick - 3416939 - you're totally useless. You fail to comment on Romney's totally inept attempts to say anything of value. Your hatred is totally consuming you. How pitiful.

Im not surprised by the knee jerk reaction from the usual suspects regarding the Aurora attack- once again, you've shown that creative thinking is not possible by those who merely parrot talking points, and believe them to be original thoughts.

Let's look at the situation objectively- this guy fashioned himself an evil genius- so much so that his apartment was rigged with a timer to set off loud music, which he believed would summon police who would be killed by his booby traps while he was off on his killing spree. Luck, fate, or an act of God, (take your pick),prevented that part of his plan from coming to fruition.

He planned to kill many more than he killed- again, luck, fate, or an act of God caused the magazine to jam, which prevented that part of his plan from coming to fruition.

So, what would have happened had he not been able to get his hands on a hundred round magazine- or any gun at all? Given the facts we have now, it's safe to assume he would have built himself some kind of firebomb- which would not have jammed, which would have caused hundreds more deaths and casualties.

He's just smart enough to get around obstacles- he wanted to kill and cause havoc, and nothing would have stopped him.

As we all know, true sportsmen would never hunt with an assault rifle - certainly not sporting in any way.

When was the last time you saw a deer in a bullet proof vest?

There was an excellent under-cover report done by Jeff Rossen on the Today Show this morning, on gun deals going down in parking lots in AZ.

One rifle sold is capable of piercing a tank or bringing down a helicopter...

I don't think Bambi would stand a chance!

I see there are no takers on my question from earlier;

What is the SOLE purpose of selling tear-gas canisters to John Q. Public?

And all this time, I thought they had all the answers...

*crickets*

Backhouse -- The fact that all the Republicans voted down the Disclose bill proves one thing. What liars they are. McConnell is on record stating he supported Disclose previous to his Party's windfall through PACs.

Tea Party members claim they are for our Constitution, yet vote against Disclose, thus abridging our 1st Amendment rights.

Hypocrites one and all.

I would worry more about the insider trading Congress got away with, than how much money a private citizen has.

FEISTY DUMBFUX- Please don't ever quote Ted Kennedy when talking about violence. Ted Kennedy PERSONALLY killed more people than ANY of my guns ever has. Got it?

WOW! Did you see the sanctions against Penn State? Not that it erases the terror that Penn State allowed to accure on their Campus. But, the sanctions will certainly punish the University both in their pocket book as well as destroying their football program for the next 4 years. I have no sympathey for the University, but I do feel for the students and football kids that now can't play through no fault of their own. What a shame.

And Romney. Have a nice trip to Europe. Now you can convort with Kings and Queens who you think are your equal, rather then the "Riff Raff" your forced to deal with here in OUR COUNTRY, AMERICA.

And let's see those tax returns.

OBAMA IN 2012.

no joe, no bo, nj

What we do know is that the ability to buy arms and ammunition aided him, the rest is pure conjecture on your part, and sickening in its attempt to shift the focus.

Feisty - I was so wrong. As njnb proves - Bat S**t crazy is apparently the norm for a number of Republicans!

Damage123 - I see you're back and as brain damaged as ever. Pity. I thought maybe you had tried to actually get some common sense.

Obama/Biden 2012

Hey Snooki Jo-- Care to comment on this bit of news:

Romney is fundraising in the UK with the banksters under investigation for "fixing" rates in the LIBOR scandal.

The Romney events have sparked anger among some members of the British Parliament, who have called on Barclays executives to halt political fundraising while the scandal plays out.

Executives of at least three other banks under investigation in the Libor scandal — Eric Varvel, chief executive of Credit Suisse; Raj Bhattacharyya, a managing director at Deutsche Bank; and Whitfield Hines, a managing director at HSBC — are co-chairs, according to copies of invitations obtained by The Washington Post.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/romneys-london-fundraisers-will-take-him-to-heart-of-scandal-plagued-banking-industry/2012/07/18/gJQAzKqGuW_story.html?hpid=z3

As njnb proves - Bat S**t crazy is apparently the norm for a number of Republicans

As my good friend JohnB says; History will not look kindly on the time Republicans mainstreamed bat @!$%# crazy!

Where in the “second amendment” does it include tear gas? Tear gas wasn’t even invented until WWI.

My dear friend Feisty............

I agree completely that there is no place for certain things such as tear gas canisters, hand grenades and other things along those lines as part of our second amendment rights.

But I am a full supporter of the right to bear arms.

It is more than just unfortunate that there are some who misuse their weapons as a force against other humans to kill one another.

I am not a hunter and never have been. I simply don't know what pleasure a person receives as they hunt animals for 'sport'. First of all, I can't fathom how anyone could use the term 'sport' in regard to hunting. The animal being stalked/hunted doesn't know it is being hunted. Most animals being hunted have no defense against a human. Hardly a 'sport' by definition in my thinking.

But our founding fathers realized that our citizens should have the right to defend itself against corrupt government (should it arise against it's people)and against any foe that may invade our land. It also allows for personal defense against others to protect ourselves/families/land. I don't have a problem with any of that.

The problem as I see it at this point is that if anyone was successful in eliminating the second amendment, it would simply created a lot of criminals as most gun owners would never willingly give up their guns. It would also create a lot of illegal activity when people buy/sell guns illegally as other countries will still manufacture and sell weapons to Americans. I liken this to illegal drug activity. There are a host of illegal drugs that Americans buy/sell/use everyday in this country. Just because it is not lawful doesn't prevent the problem. I feel the same would hold true regarding guns.

I wonder if Mitt Romney took one of his Major fund-raisers, Dick Cheney, on overseas as his foreign-policy consultant? Heck, most of those countries want to arrest Cheney and company, for "War-Crimes" from the Bush years.

I Love Mitt's friends, Karl Rove, Dick Cheney Cheney, Haliburton oil, Blackhawk mercenaries. Did I mention Karl Rove? ,the "little-turd", (George Bush's 'pet-name' for Rove). Rove runs the largest multi-million dollar PAC fund raiser for guess who? You're right, Mitt Romey!

Anyway, God Bless you President Obama for staying stateside, and protecting the financial interests of all us Policemen, and Firemen, and Teachers, and People of Color, and the Gay and Mexican community, and the Poor, and all us voting Women, and all us regular Middle-class folk, and all us Undecided Independent voters.

It's obvious Mitt Romney and the Republicans don't care about us. They only care about the financial interests of old, rich, white GOP party members. I hope people remember the above, when they go to the pols this November 2012.

Let's send Mitt Romney and the rest of his dinosaur Republicans, back to the "Dung-Heap" of History where they all belong.

Wouldn't you all agree?

The Penn State sanctions were a joke. The football death penalty should have been imposed indefinately. The boosters will chip in the 60 million fine within the four year bowl game probationary period.

The thing that damaged them the most was the forfeiture of 13 years of games. The boosters and fans angry at the removal of the Paterno statue will be reduced to tears. Reducing their crime plagued football system and coach from number 1 to number 12 in total wins.

Their trivial punishment can in no way come near to the pain and suffering caused by Sandusky, Paterno and PSU officials who covered up his sick crimes.

Student athelets can transfer to other schools to play without penalty...and they will to keep the putrid stench off of them.

tear gas is usualy sold on the black market near military bases...its not hard to get at all...good point..

why would anyone need that crap...

they need to limit acess even on the bases

But our founding fathers realized that our citizens should have the right to defend itself against corrupt government

I just don't think they envisioned it to include domestic weapons of mass destruction...

They were using muskets when it was written - not AK47 assault rifles...

I also don't have an issue with the right to bear arms - as long as it is done responsibly...

A new bipartisan report on poverty states with the elimination of so many union jobs it's driving down wages for all workers, thus putting more people in the poor house.

You don't think that this is in part because union workers make more than their counterparts in the private sector and that their job losses are skewing the averages? It also might help if the jobs being created during the Obama Presidency weren't all low-paying ones.

The thing driving down wages for all workers is simple supply and demand. With so many unemployed, employers can pay less, right? Maybe if liberals spent as much time coming up with policies that would put Americans back to work as they do making excuses, we wouldn't have this problem.

I am also a full supporter of the right to bear arms. The kind of arms that were used by the founders.

Muzzle loaders.

Oh by the way, What the heck is "RETROACTIVE RETIREMENT", that Mitt Romney did when he was at Bain Capital? Could somebody EXPLAIN it to me!

Anyway, thank-you President Obama for watching out for the Middle-class that includes all Policemen and Firemen and Teachers, all us Women and People of Color, and the Gay and Mexican community, and all us Undecided Independent voters.

We'll all make sure we Vote for You, come this November 2012.

Who, except old, rich, white, GOP party members, would want to vote for a Republican.

Wouldn't all you posters agree?

Uh, DCIA?

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/banking-financial-institutions/239371-geithner-gets-set-to-defend-actions-on-libor-wall-street-reforms

He is the Treasury Scretary. He was in the thick of this.

Where is your outrage on that?

Wrong Bitterhawk. After looking at DATA economists concluded that. Are you an economist?

You are correct partially in that the jobs created by BUSINESSES today are low paying. Look at the RED states that are right to work and you will find all the data you need to support the economists views as well. Low wages are driving down all wages. Period. Your excuses are partisan in nature not based on FACTS. Go educate yourself.

Fact...the first reports stated Aurora Shooter had and wore a gas mask. Reported by ABC news and other media, July 20, 2012, the shooter released smoke bombs prior to his murderous spree. I take no thrill in making this post but the fact that Feisty has posted her egregious rant, which has no foundation in truth is the height of liberal rant deception. There are a variety of smoke bombs used in varmint/pest eradication, commonly sold at hardware and garden stores.

RepublicansForObama - we're all waiting for that one. There is no "retroactive retirement" in business - it's a new phrase coined by Romney to get him out of the lies he's told. Most people with any sense realize this. Those who don't we call Republicans!

greenbear- the reports were later amended to state that the shooter released tear gas. Please go back and catch up!

Obama/Biden 2012

OH, these comments are so Intelligent!!

Liberal-Progressive -Marxist...PLEASE tell me more about --

HOW CRIMINALS OBEY LAWS!!!

NJNB -- In the world of finance there are very few who qualify for that position. I'm pretty certain everyone at that level will be tainted by the LIBOR in some form or fashion. Nothing new. You know better.

Don't carry it all:

Every time I read one of your posts I'm reminded of a book that was required reading for one of the courses I was took in school entitled "Lying With Statistics". The basic premise of the book was that you could start with any hypothesis-- no matter how outlandish-- and support it with statistics. So forgive me if I'm skeptical of your unsourced claims about union job losses affecting everybodies wages when intuitively I can see many other reasons for this happening.

Do you deny that the forces of supply and demand are affecting wages? Do you further deny that the creation of low-paying jobs is affecting the DATA that your economists are using for their analysis? Finally, are you denying that wages wouldn't rise if unemployment fell? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you're the one who should educate himself.

Bitterhawk, the GOP's Right to Work laws make the law sound good for workers but in reality, we already had the "right to work" and to not join a union if we chose not to do so; the GOP laws actually reduce wages in a state by 7% or more per wage earner. The GOP law should have been titled "No Right to Organize" but they're cleaver buggers, they knew they had to make it sound worker friendly.

The GOP has been pushing the anti-union rhetoric for 30 years; the decline in wages for middle America, decline in our infrastructure, education, etc. runs parallel and traces directly back to Reagan's demonizing of unions, teachers, taxes, government, and all things that allowed this country to be strong with a strong middle class and a strong economy.

Reagan was a transformational president but the transformation has been the decline of "American exceptionalism", everything the USA once excelled at doing and doing better than anyone else is now second rate.

Mitt Romney is Reagan and Bush 43 on steroids. Romney hides his tax returns because he knows the policies he supports would benefit his personal wealth and that of those who fund his SuperPACs. Romney said himself, he's not concerned about poor people. Ann Romney refers to 99% of Americans as "you people"--a very telling gaffe.

"In the New York Times, Tom Edsall observes that this negative campaign contradicts his famous 2004 convention speech, where he called for an end to the politics of division."

Has anyone noticed the disparity between Obama's 'Rhetoric' and his 'Reality'?

He talked about 'an end to the politics of division', but has been the most divisive President in recent memory - his 'Class Warfare' pitting the 'rich against the poor'?, the 'Minorities against the Whites'?, the 'Government against business'? The Environmentalists against energy producers'?

"And where do we stand going into halftime? Well, we’re releasing a brand-new NBC/WSJ poll this week that might answer that question."

People should understand that this poll will be of 'Registered Voters', which will overstate Obama's strength by about 4% (It's currently running at 3.71% in the 'Battleground and Leaner States'). Here's an explanation of why that's critical to understand;

http://www.polimerican.com/adults-vs-registered-vs-likely-voters/

Go ahead. Explain to me the value of the home, the value of the broker and how that's reasonably included in the GDP OR GNP.

_________________________________

David Walker: The net sales price of a pre-existing home is not included in GDP. The broker's commission is included in GDP because it reflects the value of a service rendered. No one is forced to use a broker to sell their home. They use a broker because they value the service the broker provides them.

Bitterhawk -- You wrote:

you could start with any hypothesis-- no matter how outlandish-- and support it with statistics

Tell that to the Republican Party. They are masters at that.

Do you deny that low paying jobs in the right to work RED states are driving down wages?

Nice post Jody.

What is Annie hiding in the tool shed ???????????????????????????????

Given the facts we have now, it's safe to assume he would have built himself some kind of firebomb-

Let me translate for those playing along at home: "I can't provide a rational reason for a private citizen to own an assult rifle, so I'll pretend I know how it would have been worse if he hadn't had one."

Albany Joe:

So now you're going to piss on my other leg? The broker did not provide value. The simple fact is that the money he took had to come from somewhere. That has nothing to do with including the net price of a pre-existing home in any measure of wealth. I did not say that was the case.

Indeed, the home's cost/price/value may be identical in this case. It remains at $100,000. Each and every time it sells, the broker takes his 6%. There is absolutely no wealth created. None. What has happened is that the value of money in circulation and existing wealth has been diluted, by transferring capital to the pockets of someone who created nothing.

Brokers are wealth extractors. Period.

Romney is a schemer. He schemes to hide his past experiences.

He rallied and supported the Viet Nam war while he was a draft dodger.

He benefitted, while being CEO and sole owner of Bain Capital, by jobs being displaced overseas.

His tax returns are proof that he either, sheltered profits, paid very little in tax rates, or is a billionaire.

Show us your tax returns Mr Schemer.

Indeed, the home's cost/price/value may be identical in this case. It remains at $100,000. Each and every time it sells, the broker takes his 6%. There is absolutely no wealth created.

You are wrong in your basic assumption that the home is worth 100K. There is no such thing. It is only worth what someone else is willing to pay. The broker in this case found a buyer willing to meet the sellers valuation. That is a value added service. You do not have to use this service, where by the broker advertises at a central location where buyers look, and provides further facilitation. You could make the same argument regarding lawyers and bankers. A lawyer adds no value to the property simply by transferring the title, nor a banker by providing mortgage. However, no one in the real world would agree with you. Just like claiming Solyndra was a success, in the real world it wasn't.

Fiesty Redhead Roselle,Il, Oh my God,Oh my God, that was an excellent well thought out opening post. You didn't cross the line with us on gun control. But you made a valid point, about why all the "military type" accessories. There is no purpose for huge bullet clips or tear gas other than law enforcement or the military. I totally agree with you.....This time! :)

REPUBS BLOCK ANOTHER JOBS BILL!!!!

Repubs block bill to bring American jobs back from offshore. Romney supports off shoring of American Jobs because he profits from it. That is why he hides his tax records.

Ref dailiykos.com

7-19-12 Senate Republicans filibustered the Brings Jobs Home Act Thursday. The bill, which would eliminate incentives for companies to move jobs overseas and create incentives to bring jobs to the United States from overseas, was blocked by 42 Republicans; Scott Brown and Olympia Snowe voted with Democrats to advance it.

Under current law, companies can deduct the cost of moving people and equipment overseas from their taxes. S. 3364 would have eliminated that deduction, and created a new 20 percent tax credit for all costs associated with moving overseas jobs back to America.

How do yopu spell hypocrite?

O-B-A-M-A

Bitterhawk

You don't think that this is in part because union workers make more than their counterparts in the private sector and that their job losses are skewing the averages?

not when you compare 2 similar postitons requiring same degree. We are not talking janitors here who would make more than the minimuma wage at MCDonald's. In this case, a janitor would make more working for the state but boo hoo, complain that someone cleaning toilets gets to make more than the $7.25.

No call from liberals for control over rappers, violent video games, or movies because the Democratic Party picks its targets based solely upon politics. As if gun control would ever stop the criminals, it would only prevent law abiding people from their ability to protect themselves. Anyone determined to commit a violent crime will never be deterred because they cannot buy a gun legally.

Rick:

For what it's worth, all this talk here about gun control is moot. The Democrats don't have the political will or courage to even try to address this issue as it would spell doom for them in November. Currently polls show little support for the issue and the Dems still remember what happened last time they tried to enact legislation restricting gun rights. The gun lobby is a powerful force that all of them fear. The party won't risk losing their already tenuous hold on the reins of power.

SI

@ Fiesty.

I'll take you on, and in bold. As a hunter, gun owner (12 ga shotgun), and fiscal conservative.

I see there are no takers on my question from earlier;

What is the SOLE purpose of selling tear-gas canisters to John Q. Public?

And all this time, I thought they had all the answers...

There is no good reason.

As Homer Simpson once said when he had to wait 5 days for a gun license, "5 days, but I'm mad now!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIpLd0WQKCY

There is no good reason.

Precisely!

Like I said above, I am not against gun ownership, as long as it is responsible!

As Homer Simpson once said when he had to wait 5 days for a gun license, "5 days, but I'm mad now!"

LOL - I hadn't heard that one! Thanks for the chuckle! ;o)

Chicago is the No. 2 murder capital of the United States behind New York City... yet, those two cities have some of the toughest gun restriction laws in the country. There were 192 murders in Chicago in 2012 through May 20th. How are those restrictions working out?

An estimated 7,630 people died in the first three months of 2012 alone...

from traffic accidents.

Should we outlaw cars or perhaps make them so they can only travel at maximum speeds of 45 mph?

Wow, the two cities with the toughest gun laws rank one and two in murder. No doubt the fact both are heavily Democrat is purely a coincidence. You know we should just outlaw cars and make everyone take Amtrak instead. That way Amtrak might become the one government run program that isn't going bankrupt.

Sorry Kiddies,

The old frog just can't get too worked up about politics today. It really doesn't seem that important in the wake of the shootings in Aurora, Colorado.

Here we are, almost 18 months after the shooting of Gabby Gifford and so many others in Arizona and now 12 more people have lost their lives to gun violence.

And yet, no one bill has been introduced calling for some sanity in our gun laws. It is unbelievable.

If Mitt Romney were to publicly call for banning of assault weapons and high capacity magazines I would vote for him and I mean it. But there is no danger of that happening.

Our cultural mythology glorifies violence. Our movies, video games and national identity, not to mention our so-called political debate are fueled and themed with violence.

Isn't it time we changed that culture? Isn't it time we restricted the sale of assault weapons, hand-guns and high capacity magazines?

I AM A GUN OWNER. I HAVE OWNED LOTS OF GUNS When they were part of my professional life. I AM LAW ENFORCEMENT TRAINED, QUALIFIED and CERTIFIED in the proper use of handguns, shotguns and assault rifles.

Now that I am no longer involved in law enforcement I have one gun. A GLOCK Model 23 in .40 caliber. It's all I need to protect my home and my second amendment rights.

NOBODY outside the military or law enforcement NEEDS TO OWN AN ASSAULT RIFLE. NOBODY outside of gun dealer NEEDS TO OWN multiple handguns, shotguns and so on.

I'm not saying ban guns. I'm saying we need to restrict the types of guns that a private citizen can purchase and own. That's all. That's rational, that's sane.

Our current laws, our violent movies and our violent video games are the reason 12 people died in Aurora, Colorado. Our on-going love affair with guns and violence has got to come to an end. Or there will be more deaths, more massacres and more tragedy.

Come on Mr. President or Mr. Romney, who will be the first to call for renewed gun legislation? Somebody needs to and soon.

It's about time the POTUS got some balls and started to fight back. The GOP has been hammering him since he took office. I hope that you are in the 1% so that you can afford to take care of yourself and your family. The rest of us 99% can't afford to care for ourselves without making a decent wage. I also hope that you can provide decent health care for your children after the reach the age of majority. It must be nice to have it all together. Remember, 99% of our tax dollars fund the roads that carry all of the goods and services that 1% sell. We pay law enforcement to protect 100% of the 1% wealth and investments here and abroad. We pay for the air space 1% uses 100% of the time. We pay for the roads 1% use 100% of the time. We also pay for the arm forces to protect 100% of their 1% right not to pay taxes. All 99% of us are asking is for 1% of you to respect the rights to have some say in our government.

Hey Fiest!!!

What is the SOLE purpose of selling tear-gas canisters to John Q. Public?

The answer is that there is No purpose.........!!! Nor is there a purpose for them to have bulletproof vests or helmets or leggings....!! IT should be ILLEGAL to sell these to Jonh Q. I am not sure it is legal for John Q. to have clips of this size either!!

Until people are prosecuted for the sales of these things, we will have problems. I have been a gun owner all of my life and I don't have an assault weapon. They were meant for the military and that is where they should stay!!

Just my thought on this sad day for America!! Remember, Texas lived through this many years ago at a Luby's in Killeen, Texas.

Texas lived through this many years ago at a Luby's in Killeen, Texas

Hey Tex!

Good to see you!

Thanks for your response!

It was one of the first, sadly, this one will not be the last until we start enacting some responsible controls...

1991 23 Dead 20 wounded................One of the big reasons for changes in concealed carry here. No body armour, no tear gas.

We do need to make some changes in the gun laws, however, it will never stop. Suni's and Sheites have been committing mass murders for years with the use of pistols or rifles.

Guess if it wasn't for the Fascist Neo Cons.......Like Hannity, Beck and Limbaugh, there would be no one to argue with..........!!! ??

Life would no longer be like a box of chocolates!! ; )

skip Nicholson, Oklahoma City "I'm not saying ban guns. I'm saying we need to restrict the types of guns that a private citizen can purchase and own. That's all. That's rational, that's sane.........If Mitt Romney were to publicly call for banning of assault weapons and high capacity magazines I would vote for him and I mean it. But there is no danger of that happening."

Agreed. I find no rational reason for any private citizen to own an Assault Rifle. They are not designed for hunting - they are designed to kill lots of people.

I don't see Obama calling for a ban on Assault weapons - where is his 'leadership' on the issue?

Feisty Redhead Roselle, IL

Hmm so when did WWI start??

you wish to know about tear gas perhaps a little study would help as well as some correct information.

try next time to read first instead of provoking others with your dribble

Good morning Backhouse, Ron, Feisty and all my leftie friends; you all have nice comments to start the week off.

Ron, Queen Anne's "all you people" indicates to me not only does Mittens want the votes ; but also tax cuts; mainly for himself.

Delusions vs. Reality

Rupert Murdoch Supports Stricter Gun Control

He tweeted last night: We have to do something about gun controls. Police license okay for hunting rifle or pistol for anyone without crime or pscho record. No more

http://www.newshounds.us/rupert_murdoch_supports_stricter_gun_control_07222012

==============================================================
The question is will the idiots over at FOX NOISE talk about what their says? I doubt it. Or will Murdoch walk it back??

One of the most active and unregulated gun sale websites in America is owned by the Mormon Church, an investigation by New York's Mayor Michael Bloomberg has revealed.

Mormon Church 'owns unregulated gun sale website' Brett Atkinson, general manager of KSL.com, said that the site included links to a statement which advised those using the site to abide by federal and local gun laws, and provided "suggestions" for safe sales, such as refusing to sell to minors.

The study by the New York mayor showed that 40 per cent of gun sales were made through private vendors rather than reputable dealers. Of these private sellers, 62 per cent carried out no background checks on those they sold to.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/9067367/Mormon-Church-owns-unregulated-gun-sale-website.html
===============================================================

I agree gun control should be on topic; but when people like Mayor Mike Bloomberg start the discussion instead of bashing our President; how about confronting the NRA the way you did the soda pop industry? Better yet, Mayor Bloomberg how about confronting the NRA the way you did the soda pop industry.He could donate $200+Million to fight the NRA; huh?

"I hope that over the next several days, next several weeks, and next several months, we all reflect on how we can do something about some of the senseless violence that ends up marring this country, but also reflect on all the wonderful people who make this the greatest country on Earth."

President Barack Obama, after visiting Sunday with Colorado shooting survivors and their families

Fiesty I have been to many gun shops and gun shows here in Southern California and I have yet to see any selling tear gas canisters. Normally I do not agree with your point of view but there is no reason to sell tear gas to a regular citizen. So in that we agree and he probably purchased them off the internet where there is no control mechanisms to prohibit that type of sale.

I don’t imagine for a second, our founding fathers intentions, included, tear gas canisters, clips which hold enough ammo to wipe out hundreds of lives in a few seconds, assault rifles, hand grenades, and other weapons of mass destruction!

How many MORE of these random acts of violence are we going to tolerate before we as American’s stand up and say… ENOUGH!

So the Colorado shooter Holmes had weapons of mass destruction according to your post. I'm guessing here that the Iraq military forces had the same type of weapons of mass destruction also. Thank you for your insight and validation of President Bush.

Your words on weapons of mass destrction not mine. lol

Time for liberals to ratchet up the blame game and bombard the nation with excuses for our failing president. Liberals are already trying to use this senseless tragedy in Colorado for gun control, while they ignore the fact that violent crimes have dropped for the past five years in a row. 5 years? Now that would be a trend started by Bush, so no wonder liberals are ignoring it.

So the Colorado shooter Holmes had weapons of mass destruction according to your post.

Killing & wounding 70+ human beings in 90 seconds isn't considered mass destruction?

Tell me Dick, what would YOU call it?

Your words on weapons of mass destrction not mine. lol

YUP! And I stand by them!

Give me break...

"I hope that over the next several days, next several weeks, and next several months, we all reflect on how we can do something...

I heard Obama's speech last night. It was uplifting to hear about the friend who braved the shooting and stayed with her friend to staunch the bleeding. Solemn and powerful speech meant to provide some comfort where very, very little will be found.

That being said, as far as doing something Mr. President you could lead on the issue of tighter gun control. How is it that some wacko can buy thousands of rounds over the internet? How come he can buy the high magazine cartridges with such ease? Why can citizens buy semi automatic and automatic weapons legally? Perhaps you can talk to Mr. Bloomberg about some of these issues.

Despite the extreme hate Obama receives from the NRA and their rabid constituents the president has steered well clear of standing up to the NRA. Gun control groups such as the Brady group give him weak, anemic grades. As a member of the Senate you were for the Automatic weapons ban now there is only silence.

Mr. President will you answer the challenge set out by concerned citizens? It is not a political winner but it is the right thing to do.

@Feisty: Gun Enthusiasts say they need free access to all these weapons to confirm their 2ed amendment rights. According to them, one never knows when one will need to gas some big Deer or aggressive Opossum before riddling with bullets.

Backhouse, Ron, Feisty, David Walker, Beverly, terrific start to Monday; some serious comments and some humorous pokes in the mix.

It's a sad thing that the NRA lobby holds such a powerful hold on elected officials on both sides of the aisle--they use threats, blackmail and a rating to do lord over the tax-payer waged legislators. Perhaps we all should be asking, who made the NRA--the most powerful of lobbyists--King of the USA? Few talk about the senseless shootings that occur every single day in this country; few demand some measure of common sense in our gun laws and few demand elimination of all guns as the NRA suggests is the goal of democrats, especially President Obama.

The NRA dreams up conspiracy theories aimed at democrats, gets Darryl Issa to go after Eric Holder and Fast & Furious to deflect from the truth. It was not because the NRA mourns the death of the border agentbut because they know that it was Arizona's ridiculously lax laws which the AZ Courts must follow that allowed the guns to cross the border in the first place; those lax laws helped kill the agent and lax laws in Colorado played a role in Friday's deadly shooting just as they have in all the other deadly shootings.

It is sad that the NRA's pushing of "guns don't kill people, people kill people" has seeped into the psyche of Americans when anyone with brain cells can recognize that without the assault weapons, oversized ammunition clips, it would be harder for people to kill and injure so many at one time. Nothing can ever stop illegal guns in the hands of those who would do harm but it seems we ought to at least be willing to make it harder.

I am not anti-gun, some in my family have been hunters since they were young. I am, however, opposed to ignorantly lax gun laws passed at the demand of the NRA for the sole purpose of meeting the demands of their Gun Manufacturing puppet string holders; I am against the powerful NRA lobby which lords control over our democracy and common sense. The NRA could not care less about 2nd Amendment rights, it is all about profit.

I find it interesting that the republicans are so worried about illegal voting that they would keep over 700,000 people from voting in one state alone to stop maybe one or two cases of voter fraud.

Then on the other hand when it comes to gun rights they only worry about the freedom of the killers to buy guns. Imagine if we passed a law that wouldn't allow over 700,000 in one state to buy guns then the republicans would be screaming about freedom and constitutional rights. How dare we stop that many people from buying guns to stop 1 or 2 murderers? Isn't that the NRA argument?

Imagine my dismay when I realized the republicans are more for supporting gun rights than supporting voting rights. Then they want us to believe they are the right to life party. What a joke on the people voting for any republicans.

The United States has the biggest defense budget for war that is more than the next biggest 14 countries defense budgets combined. Republicans think it is just fine to murder people all over the world with my taxpayer dollars while denying food and education to our American children.

Like with the Ryan budget the republicans plan on killing programs to assist our wounded veterans for more tax cuts for Romney.

Republicans backed by the NRA and right wing billionaires want to protect your gun rights, just not your voting rights.

Which one do you think is more important?

richard-1957365#2.3: I didn't know the audience was firing back. Was this a gun battle? Logic dictates, if this man used all that weaponry on unarmed innocents He was committing "mass destruction" on the unknowing, innocent, unarmed, and totally unaware people. Gwaddamn!, whats the matter with you? Feisty validates the lying and cruelty of the "soused mind, and actions of GW Bush"? Not hardly!

The argument that "guns don't kill people, people kill people" is ridiculous. If people didn't have guns then people couldn't kill people with guns.

Feisty You missed my point. I am not disagreeing with you on the psycho who did the shooting. My point was your validation of President Bush, Colin Powell and the Iraq War. You remember weapons of mass destruction. And if you are trying to insult me or make fun of the name, sorry doesn't work.

Mac I believe that never mind you would not comprehend my point and even if you did you would not admit it. President Bush was not cruel, and by the way what about President Obama and his drone attacks in Pakistan kiliing innocent women and children. I guess because it is President Obama it is ok with you. Again don't disagree with the drones but pointing out the very same arguments each side uses. Like to chat but I have to be at work here in SoCal in 20 minutes. Have a great day.

[...they ignore the fact that violent crimes have dropped for the past five years in a row. 5 years?]

Rick, time to remove your head from your ass and take a breath...stop cherry-picking and address the real issue.

The Federal Assault Weapons Ban was instituted in 1994, and signed into law by President Bill Clinton. The bill was allowed to expire in 2004, DURING THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION, due to a "sunset provision". There had been numerous attempts to reinstate the ban, but no bill ever reached the floor for a vote.

Statistics on violence suggest a steady DECREASE in violent crimes committed against Americans using one of these weapons AFTER the bill was implemented, and after the bill was allowed to "set" in 2004, statistics suggest a steady INCREASE in violent crimes committed against Americans using one of these weapons.

Americans First -- Well said.

TICK TOCK JUSTIN...TICK TOCK...

The House and Senate needs to stand up to the NRA. How bout it obstrutionist Republicans, how bout standing up as obstructionists against furthering the advancement of the NRA.

The anti-gun advocates are as predictable as it was that someone in the liberal media was going to try and find a way to try and make this tragedy help Obama. Of course Brian Ross announcing that that shooter was a member of the tea party is the perfect example of the liberal media using any crisis for political gain. Or in this case, attempting to use this crisis for political gain. Another liberal rush to judgement like the Tawana Brawley, Duke Lacrosse, and of course Trayvon Martin.

Some semi-automatic weapons, (meaning when you pull the trigger, before you can fire another round you have to repull the trigger, you can't just hold the trigger down and the weapon sprays bullets), can be modified, if you understand gunsmithing, to be fully automatic. This takes skill, time, and patience. It is legal to buy assault weaponry, such as the AR-15, so long as the weapon is modified to be semi-automatic. (And for clarification, I'm going off what I know is legal in the state of California.) I've heard of switches on the weapons that can toggle it from semi to fully automatic, but I believe that is illegal. So, as far as this goes, if someone is determined enough, they can convert a semi-automatic gun to a fully automatic.

As far as tear gas, I always thought it was illegal for civilians to own riot-control gear such as tear gas. I've been into many military surplus shops and gun stores and have never seen tear gas canisters. (Now, what's in the backroom... eeeh...). And as one poster pointed out, you can walk down to Home Depot, grab a four pack of roach bombs, and they cause the same effect. Poison gas is poison gas.

I'm all for gun rights, owning guns, ect. But I've never understood the need for extended clips/magazines. The average pistol holds 10-15 rounds in a legal clip. If you need more than that, well, your butt is really in trouble and the zombie apocalypse has started. :P

And as far as gun control, I've always been of the belief that an armed society is a polite society. Should we tote around assault weapons and drive Abrams tanks? No. But frankly, some punk breaking into my house and coming face to face with any kind of gun may make him think twice. Criminals prey on the weak and defenseless. Look at nature. What's culled first from the herd when a predator is around? (May be a bad analogy, but that's all I can think of.)

Romney is overseas filling his war chest, all this Clown cares about is money !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Obama has attended over 270 fundraisers in his term, add in all the golf, all the concerts at the White House, all the vacation time, traveling the globe, and there is not much time to get anything done. No wonder nothing Obama has done is helping the economy, he really hasn't had the time to work on it.

I say outlaw tear gas and lutefisk, one and the same.

Rick.....did you say something?........or just talking to yourself again? Something about...get off my lawn you kids?

17 out of 24 Romney advisors formally worked under the Bush/Cheney failed team.........17 out of 24!!!!!!!!!!!!

911, Afgan, Iraq, Katrina, the 2nd Great Depression.........CHRIST SAKE! Wasn't once enough with these failed people?

Romney for a worse tomorrow today!

Fiesty,

Don't forget 911 and all the innocents that died that day, no assult weapons were used. Oklahoma City and Timothy McVeigh (fertilizer and gasoline). The NYC bombings that preceeded 911(Ditto)......etc., etc. It is not just about guns. Look up how many people were killed by drunk drivers in 2011.

I appreciate your passion, but it is not that simple!!

Good logic. Why not just allow 7-11 to sell C-4 and cruise missiles after all if someone really wants to harm others they'll find a way.

double post

I'll see you double and raise triple.

Occupy the NRA!!

Hey Red #2, Semiautomatic assault rifle with high capacity ammunition magazine of 100 round drum that could fire 60 rounds a minute is beyond deer hunting. The NRA is taboo on this !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Everyone on here knows that President Obama nor Mitt Romeny will address tighter gun control during this election cycle. Waste of breath.

NRA has Washington on lockdown so any talk of legislation is foolhardy.

That being said, I find it laughable that so many gun advocates talk about second amendment rights blah blah blah. Have they not noticed that the Pentagon is pretty well-stocked? So the "well-armed militia" talk is nonsense. Bubba against the Pentagon is going to get ugly real fast!

You idiots are not going to take on the Pentagon if they should happen to try to make the country a military state. That is what the Founders were referring to and this is the 21st century!!! Apples and Oranges.

Gun rights. Sure. AK 47's and missle launchers for all. Not so much.

Shiela,

That being said, I find it laughable that so many gun advocates talk about second amendment rights blah blah blah. Have they not noticed that the Pentagon is pretty well-stocked? So the "well-armed militia" talk is nonsense. Bubba against the Pentagon is going to get ugly real fast!

That was the "attitude" that the North had during the civil war for a couple of bad decisions, would have had a different outcome. That being said.

So we just eliminate any of our "usless" rights?? And where does that stop??

I have a Remington 870 and have never hurt a soul. I also have other hunting weapons and pistols and have yet to commit a crime with them. So, who are you to decide what "MY" rights should or should not be??

Lets stop the sales of fertilizer and gasoline for sure since those can be made into bombs. (OKC) Then alcohol (drunk drivers) and if we don't stop killing people, then motorized verhicles are next!!!

I happen to agree that we need to stop the sales of military style weapons. I also agree that the fore fathers didn't intend for individuals to have cannons in their homes, but it won't matter.

Look at the middle east. They don't have guns and they call each other in mass every single week. As long as we have crazy people, crazy, horrible things will happen.

Very nice article IR. The Big Lie is an accurate description of the Righties agenda.

Another fact about the Energy Loan program is our Congress set aside $10 Billion for losses. Solyndra fell into that category. In other words they expected companies to fail and not some act shocked it actually happens.

Thanks for posting the article.

It was one of the most successful fund-raisers in the history of clean-tech finance, attracting an astonishing $1 billion from elite investors like British mogul Richard Branson, whose Virgin Green Fund selected Solyndra from a pool of 117 solar companies. When the Bush Administration wanted to complete its first clean-energy loan guarantee before leaving office, it chose Solyndra from 143 applicants. The Energy Department’s civil servants objected to the rush job in January 2009, but suggested the loan had merit; when Obama took over, Solyndra’s application was already at the top of the pile.

Just run this past me again?

A company that raises 1B in funding, 500M from the taxpayer, and then goes bankrupt is now considered a success?

Oh how I wish for more successes like Solyndra!! At least Bernie Madden stayed in business for decades. Is he a "success" too? Very successful at acquiring funds if that is measure.

Excellent post Independent Redneck Va.

There has never been the slightest bit of evidence that political influence had anything to do with Solyndra getting its money. Even Darrell Issa, the top Republican investigator in the House, has admitted that. Every lender makes bad loans, and overall, the federal clean-energy loan portfolio is doing fine.

I guess so since Darrell Issa, in fact, received his only direct check from Beall in November, 2009 -- less than two months before Issa wrote to the Department of Energy recommending Aptera for the loan program.

Aptera Motors was a startup company seeking to manufacture high-efficiency road vehicles.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aptera_Motors

Incidentally, the Chairman of the Board at Quallion, for whom Issa also signed a letter of support to the Department of Energy's loan program, is also a major source of campaign money in California.

So, when Issa has an opportunity to score some partisan points at the expense of Barack Obama, he'll ignore that the Solyndra loans originated with the Bush Administration and the conservative Walton family. But when the same program can spend tax dollars to help out a major California Republican money-man with an investment, the same DoE loan program looked like a much better opportunity to Issa.

http://issawatch.couragecampaign.org/

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

Yes, the righties love to tell Big whoopers.

A company financed by the taxpayers going bankrupt cannot, in any way, be called a success. A success at what, stealing from the public till. A company that does not make a profit is a failure. A bankrupt company is a bigger failure. The company that was close to bankruptcy being given half a billion taxpayer dollars filing bankruptcy is a magnanimous failure.

BTW, the article is perverse in it's slant to the left. The lack of commonsense among the commentors is disturbing. What good will it do for you to succeed in your utopian ideas only to destroy this great country and you lose it all.

So, when Issa has an opportunity to score some partisan points at the expense of Barack Obama, he'll ignore that the Solyndra loans originated with the Bush Administration and the conservative Walton family. But when the same program can spend tax dollars to help out a major California Republican money-man with an investment, the same DoE loan program looked like a much better opportunity to Issa.

It's called crony capitalism. It is practiced by both sides and the real loser is the taxpayer.

This is why we need smaller government so that our tax dollars are not channeled to the politically connected of either party.

1. Solyndra not a success. Even the Bush people were smart enough to figure out that it was going to go broke so they didn't loan them money.

2. There is about the same amount of evidence that the Solyndra loan was politically motivated as the no bid contracts for Haliburton. They should be treated with about the same scrutiny.

marlene -- You are correct that Solyndra failed. Congress when writing the bill EXPECTED these types of losses. GET IT?

@Marlene#4.4: Henry Ford went bankrupt 3 times before He was able to get His financial feet steady. As per your "commonsense" the sum-bitch should have been run outta the country. Gwaddamn! Reason it out ma'am! Reason it out!

IR:

Another excellent piece. Thank you. It's worth remembering that, by his own admission, Thomas Edison failed thousands of times in his quest to invent a light bulb.

Are we to suppose that the first internal combustion engines were stunning successes? Should we imagine that every "inventor" was a success? History has a way of forgetting to mention the failures that precede the successes that DO make the pages of our history books.

Those history books document the success of Edison, but are not so generous with Tesla whose understanding of electricity has been lost with time. Tesla fought for funding with Edison - a great story of intrigue, and perhaps failures that shouldn't have been failures at all.

Solyndra is a valuable lesson, if nothing else. We certainly didn't learn any lessons from nuclear power, it seems. Nuclear power, we were told, would be so inexpensive it would be damned near free.

Today, we have a world bristling with nuclear weapons, gigantic quantities of spent fuel for which the solution is to bury it. Bury it!!!! We use vast amounts of water to cool reactors, and then there's the beauty of Three Mile Island, Fukushima, and Chernobyl. Some might look at nuclear power as a miserable failure right this minute, and it has received massive amounts of government funding, and is still receiving vast amounts of taxpayer dollars.

But then, who needs history? What is the value of context? Not very much, when we have a manufactured "crisis" like Solyndra.

IR, well said and thanks for posting the article. It is bewildering that conservatives use Solyndra as a rallying cry about wasting money yet for every failed Solyndra, there are dozens of success stories.

It never occurs to the naybobs to ask how many rockets never made it off the ground during the early days of the space program and countless other ventures that were met with failure before they found success. Government should invest in such ventures because most of them ultimately succeed.

PutAmericaFirst, then how do you explain that the Bush administration fast-tracked the loans or do you not remember the photo of Bush in front of the Solyndra building touting the business and Bush's efforts to get the loan money to the company fast?

You guys should understand the difference between success, failure and crony capitalism.

Like so many things in the current Administration you had no problem recognizing crony capitalism in the previous Administration. Halliburton anyone?

Now, however, because the 'R' has changed to a 'D' we have to fund successes like Solyndra.

The Audacity of Hypocrisy.

I tell you, reading the posts supporting this Administration, and reading the posts criticizing the previous Administration, by the same posters, it obvious that Orwell's 1984 has come true. Who are we currently at war with, Eastasia or Eurasia?

Listen Alan -- If you want the appearance of CRONY CAPITALISM out of politics then make it illegal for anyone to donate to any politician's campaign that intends to do or that is doing business with our government. Simple as that.

Listen Alan -- If you want the appearance of CRONY CAPITALISM out of politics then make it illegal for anyone to donate to any politician's campaign that intends to do or that is doing business with our government. Simple as that.

All for it. Only thing is that there are many rich interests that simply require legislation passed and don't DO business with our government. It would also mean a change to the first amendment so that you would be no longer allowed to lobby our government. I guess it's not so simple.

Alan ---

Paying lobbyists to do your work is business.

Can one not lobby via the written word? Thus a permanent record for all to see.

I have read and listen so many times about Romney 'out-sourcing' jobs....

Can any of you Libs explain this....

Jeffrey Immelt, the head of Barack Obama's highly touted "Jobs Council", is
moving even more GE infrastructure to China. GE makes more medical-imaging
machines than anyone else in the world, and now GE has announced that it "is
moving the headquarters of its 115-year-old X-ray business to Beijing".

Apparently, this is all part of a "plan to invest about $2 billion across China" over the next few years. But moving core pieces of its business overseas is nothing new for GE.

Under Immelt, GE has shipped tens of thousands of good jobs out of the United States.

Perhaps GE should change its slogan to "Imagination At Work (In China)". If the very people that have been entrusted with solving the unemployment crisis are shipping jobs out of the country, what hope is there that things are going to turn around any time soon?

Now remember people, this man was hand-picked by obama to Job Council... You remember, the group that was suppose to help rebuild jobs IN AMERCIA.

FYI: This 'Group' Has not met in over 6 months... Just can't wait for them new jobs to start rolling in .... Better get use to eating rice because I feel I will have to move to China to get one.

Proud -- Some days the Republicans claim government doesn't create jobs. On other days they are complaining government isn't creating jobs.

Make sense of that.

Don't_Carry_It_All:

Why is it, when ever a lib is face with a question that deals in fact's they do not answer it... The Blame someone or something else.

I NEVER said ANYTHING about the gov't creating Jobs...

I asked ...; can you explain how obama has appointed a person who willing admits that he has shipped 10's of Thousand Jobs Overseas (China).

I hear so much for you Libs about Romney 'Out-Sourcing' jobs. How come when yyour leader does the same thing it's OK with you... All hunky-doray.

And also this Job Czar is planning on spending 2 BILLION DYollars in China to build new plants... Hows that for Buildin g new jobs In AMERCIA.

As for obama not sending jobs overseas... How do you explain him giving GE Billions of Dollars and GE turns around and invest it in China.

But Most of ALL Please answer the Question With FACTS (If you can find any)

Heads up Lib's... the light you see at the end of the tunnel is a TRAIN.

DCIA in your responce to Alan,NJ.....

I see what you are saying, I mean after all what's good for the goose is good for the gander.

As to the donations to Obama's coffers, Open Secrets has GE's 2008 donations to Obama's presidential campaign clocking in at $499,130 putting the company in Obama's top 20 donators.

What a fluke, who'd thunk obama give the GE's CEO a position in his regime....

Now if that is not a BOUGHT favor, tell me what is...

And Please don't come back with the Rep did this or that...

Proud -- You wrote:

This 'Group' Has not met in over 6 months... Just can't wait for them new jobs to start rolling in ....

That suggests you believe government creates jobs. Do you believe that?

The appearance is there as it is with all politicians that take money from business. I'd like to see that stopped or people stop crying about appearance. Can't have it both ways. Just as the mixed message on government creating jobs the Republicans convey.

BTW -- Have you listened to Romney's plan for an administration? He said he'd pluck them all from business. The same business that's funding his campaign. Who'd of thunk, right?

DCIA:

Why is it EVERYTIME you are asked a qustion, you try to deflect it instead of answering it... I know all you are going to say is the GOP did this and the GOP did that....

Take some RESPONSIBLITY will ya.... If ya can't answer the question then just say so...

How many of obama's appointes to the Job Council have, still are and plan in the future to out source jobs to other countries?

And this is AFTER they took OUR (Mine and Your's) taxes to 'Bail-Them-Out'

If Obama is so hot and heavy on Romney out-sourcing jobs, then why has he appointed all these 'OUT-SOURCERS'

Answer me that with Faces and explain what the difference is between Romney outsourcing (if he did) and the CEO of GE (Who was also appointed to Chair one of obama's creation, Job Council) Outsourcing OVER 17,000 Jobs to China and is now project to invest of 2 billion dollars for new factories in China...

And the funnest part about it is thyat Romney DID NOT accept any money from the Gov't to bail him or his company out.

Proud -- Here's one source that says most business outsources.

Who is outsourcing today?

How many companies in the Unites States currently outsource some or all of their business? The answer is almost every company in the United States does some sort of outsourcing today. How many companies use a payroll service? How many companies use a janitorial service? How many companies use an independent bookkeeper or accountant? How many companies have another company do their taxes every year? The list goes on and on. The fact is that the vast majority of companies, down to the smallest of companies, are outsourcing today.

http://greatoutsourcing.com/why.html

Doesn't mean I like it. But it is the reality. Profit above all else. That said, just about any buisness Romney is involved in or associates with outsources. Heck he even outsources his money overseas. You best check who SHELDON ALDERSON is and who he is giving money to. Romney.

As for Romney taking government money, well Bain and Romney profited greatly from government.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-06-06/romney-critical-of-government-aid-that-helped-bain-profit.html

Mitt Romney likes to say that “government does not create prosperity.”

His record in the private equity industry shows otherwise.

Mitt Romney during a campaign stop at Southwest Office Systems, on June 5, 2012, in Fort Worth, Texas.

Arsenio Muniz Rosad, who lost his job at plant after Mitt Romney's private equity firm, Bain Capital, closed it down, in Aguada, Puerto Rico, Nov. 11, 2011. The buyout of an Illinois medical company by Romney's equity firm shows the unintended human costs and messy financial consequences behind the brand of capitalism that Romney practiced for 15 years. Photographer: Christopher Gregory/The New York Times/Redux

During Romney’s years as chief executive of Bain Capital LLC, companies owned by the firm received millions of dollars in benefits from a variety of state and local government economic development programs.

In California, taxpayer money built one Bain company a conveyor bridge between two of its buildings. New York City gave another Bain company tax breaks and lower energy bills to discourage it from moving to New Jersey. And in Indiana, a county government issued bonds to help buy new equipment for a Bain-owned steel plant -- a business success featured in a Romney campaign ad touting his private sector prowess.

“From a national perspective, this makes no economic sense to allow cities and states to do this,” said Arthur Rolnick, former director of research for the Federal Reserve Bank ofMinneapolis. “In general, you want the market to be making these decisions -- not the political system.”

The public-private agreements, which began in the first decade of Romney’s tenure as CEO, show that government played a supporting role in establishing Bain as among the nation’s most successful private equity firms and enabling him to accumulate a fortune his campaign says could reach $250 million.

For good measure here's Romney's biggest supporter:

Why is the largest foreign investor in China willing to put up $100,000,000 to elect Mitt Romney?

Sheldon Adelson has invested tens of millions of dollars in influencing the 2012 election and has vowed to spend one hundred million dollars to affect the outcome in November.

Given that Mr. Adelson primarily profits from his Macau casino, he could act as a Swiss Bank account for donations to the U.S. political system: we see who has the money now, we don’t know how it was passed to him.

Doing business in Macau is not for the faint of heart. Reporting has made clear that the Chinese mob is very active in Macau and, according to the U.S. State Department, Macau is a destination for the trafficking of women and girls from across Asia for the purpose of sexual exploitation.

Many believe a person with a willingness to operate and ability to profit in such an environment could also be willing to funnel gambling losses of businessman at a casino to a Super PAC.

Given the number of seven figure contributors that are being investigated for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act that is a legitimate concern. Any of these donors could easily serve as a donation shelter for foreign contributors.

But Mr. Adelson involvement is particularly noteworthy because he is both the largest foreign investor in China and the largest investor in the outcome of this election.

He is being investigated for possible violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and accused by a former employee of personally allowing prostitution in his Macau casinos. Mr. Adelson denies the charge.

This potential for billionaires to serve as straw donors for foreign money would merely be the extension of business practices to politics.

It is exactly the kind of scheme W. Mitt Romney set up at Bain in the Cayman Islands that allowed foreign corporations, including U.S. citizens setting up foreign shell corporations that exist on paper only, to avoid paying taxes in America on U.S. investments.

http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2012/07/20/why-is-chinas-largest-foreign-investor-spending-so-much-money-on-our-elections/

Now having said all that, you seem like a nice enough person. We probably agree on some things. Have a great day.

DCIA:

And I am suppose to believe what I read on a dem site, written a Democratic strategist is unbias???

NOT!!!

Proud -- From FORBES

http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2012/06/13/sheldon-adelson-tops-romney-donor-list-that-now-includes-32-billionaires/

Proud....You do know that Romney supports the Ryan plan that gives him over $700,000 tax break on money known, and at the same time it raises taxes on YOU the middle class by 20%. So Romney doesn't take government money from the tax breaks given to all the companies that outsource jobs? Really? That's taking away jobs from Americans and paying foreigners. America loses all that money and on top Romnney gets a tax break for doing it. Proud...guess who makes up the difference in taxes to pay for taxes Romney doesn't pay? YOU PROUD! He uses our military, our transporataion, our court system, etc protecing his investments and pays nothing back.

Romney has 102 million in retirement IRA for 10 years.....Only thing is, $30,000 is most you can put in each year....do the math.....!

Romney, for a worse tomorrow ...today.

Vote Obama/Biden save the middle class.

DCIA:

You have still not answered my question... Sure you have sent me 'Links' but none of those even broch upon the subject I had questioned you about...

So if you are not going to answer then just save us both time and engery and stop posting links.... Thanks

While I agree that republicans should be doing a better job of working with the president, you cannot claim that the GOP only has one sword to wield, fear and loathing. Fear and loathing have been monopolized by those on the left recently. How many times have we heard that the GOP wants to destroy medicare and social security? Starve children? Balance the budget on the backs of the poor? Don't want clean air and water? or any other insane idea? How many times have you heard the democrats cause loathing by demonizing the 1%? After 6 years of democrats contolling 2 out of 3 governing bodies, it is becoming increasingly obvious that many of their ideas are failures.

Put AmericaFirst - You probably need to go back and actually think about the lies you are posting. It is increasing clear that all of the Republican ideas are complete failures and they have no interest in the United States except as it fills their pockets with money. The people of this country - including you - are of no concern to Republicans. As long as the top 1% are happy - that's all they need.

Obama/Biden 2012

To claim that the Democrats control 2 of the 3 governing bodies is a stretch. The Senate is controlled by the filibuster which has become Rule by the Minority for the Minority. There is also the power behind the throne aka SCOTUS.

Black......That is just a copout.....The Seanate is not "controlled" by the filibuster to make it Rule by the Minority. The majority still rules and still chairs all the committees and has far more power than the minority. The filibuster does serve to balance it out slightly, but most of the control remains with the party of majority. The supreme court isn't a governing body so I wasn't counting them, just President, House, & Senate.

Seeking.....Just to prove you are not completely ignorant, can you name two policies of the republicans that are failures?

Dear never put Americans first brought to you by the republicans,

Read the Ryan budget and you will see that we are not making anything up. The budget eliminates millions from food stamps, it cuts money from education, it privatizes medicare with a voucher program. The budget takes care away from our wounded veterans care for more tax cuts for Romney and his rich friends.

Romney called the Ryan budget marvelous and is the plan the republicans want to do to America.

Never mind that these very same policies in the Ryan budget are the same policies that has driven England and Ireland into double dipped recessions.

Republicans have no intention of putting Americans first unless they are the 1% and their tax cuts. Think about it there is no money to put Americans back to work, but the billionaires have hundreds of millions of dollars to convince you to vote for their favorite republicans and their tax cuts.

And you think that is putting America first?

Yes.....Getting the government back to normal size does put america first. The government doesn't put people back to work. I would rather have a double dip recession than that catastrophic depression. Most people are able to see that uncontrolled spending leads to trouble, but I doubt you pay attention to reasoning and logic. Go protest someone who worked hard and was successful and expect your free lunch.

Obama lies,,, Romney tries

. society stagnates when independent productive achievers are socially demonized and even punished for their accomplishments... Society's most productive citizens refuse to be exploited by increasing taxation and government regulations and go on strike by disappearing [and dropping out of everyday society]."

Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin repudiated his U.S. citizenship right before Facebook's much anticipated IPO this month. While Saverin had already been living in Singapore, dropping his U.S. citizenship allowed him to escape millions of dollars in capital gains taxes that his higher-valued Facebook shares would eventually trigger.

.

Government numbers, according to Bloomberg, show "a record 1,780 gave up their U.S. passports last year compared with 235 in 2008."

…NObama 2012!!!!!!

border Joe's twisted thinking blames President Obama because tax evaders denounce their citizenship rather than pay their taxes and contribute to the society that allowed them to make their multi-millions--heaven forbid they pay more than their far less wealthy fellow citizens. The average middle class income earner pays an effective tax rate of 17-20% on their incomes of less than $250K while Romney pays less than 15% on his multi-millions and hides millions off-shore to avoide taxes because he loves this country so much.

In my opinion, those denouncing their US citizenship over a tax rate aren't very patriotic and weren't very good Americans but obviously they are greedy.

@Put America First#5.1: Whoa Nellie! Who says we can't afford "medicare"? "Medicaid" for Children and the poor? Corporations should not have to adhere to "clean water and air" regulations"? Who raised the allowances for "arsenic" in our drinking water? Who keeps claiming "Corporations", and the wealthy pay too much in taxes? Who says we can't afford "better roads and schools? Pssssst, it's the GOP. Democrats do raise some hell about this, but not enough!

Obama/ Biden 2012!

Let's Talk about the Budget....

Oh wait a minute... there is none and hasn't been for the last three years... Why is that when the dem's held the House, the Senate and the president. And they still could not pass a budget... Why ... Beacuse they could not agree on one and it had NOTHIN to do with the GOP.

Also Answer me this: Why did the dem refuse to vote on their own budget when ask by the rep?

Answer: Because they felt they did not have enough support from Their Own Party...

Proud wrote..."Why ... Beacuse they could not agree on one and it had NOTHIN to do with the GOP."

My answer is....ahahahahahahahahaha.......no wait ..I can do this...wait ok here I go........hahahahahahaha ahahahahahahhaha......No really I can ...ahahahah respond to this...aahahahahaha.....aahhh...aahhhahaha......ahahahahahahahha!

Romney, Rove, and Norquist walk into a bar, and the bartender said...what is this, a joke!

See I can make a joke too!

Hey Star... Explain this... And keep in mind, it was written by a democrat.

The content of Conrad’s budget is almost an afterthought, but it may be even worse than President Obama’s. It includes zero spending cuts from the existing baseline and increases taxes by $2.6 trillion, $700 billion more than Obama’s budget. Under Conrad’s budget, the federal debt (granting all assumptions underlying the calculations) would increase by $7 trillion.

Is that a plan that the American people want to follow? I don’t think so, but Harry Reid’s latest maneuvering ensures that no Democratic Senator will have to vote on a budget before the election in November, and no Democrat will have to take responsibility for those unpalatable numbers other than Senator Conrad himself. The Democrats’ feckless inability to face fiscal reality, as manifested in the Senate’s failure to adopt a budget for three years and counting, is the clearest evidence of that party’s unfitness to lead the nation.

Don't forget these are the people that are suppose to be leading this Nation... Yet they will do everythying they can to AVOID TAKING RESPONSIBILTY. Reid said it himself... I did not put the words in his mouth.

Romney's horse may do well if it does not wear a pair of Romney's jeans while performing the Romney mincing walk.

My guess, Jody, is that the GOP double standard will be revealed and Mitt's trip will be heralded as a success, unlike their criticism of then-candidate Obama four years ago.

Mitt's inability to recognize the optics (or not care about the optics) of his actions continues to amaze me. From the elevator for his cars to the refusal to release his tax returns to the entry of a dressage horse in the Olympics, Mitt sends the message that he just isn't like regular people. How can we expect him to understand the issues we face?

point to the crowds

You mean how Team Willard considers a crowd of 500... over-flow? lmao!

Shouldn't Romney take along that Republican member of congress who meets regularly with "kings and queens" to make introductions? Seems like a natural for his visit to the UK ~ ~ "Liz, I want you to meet my good friend, Mitt. He's running for president." How could you pass up such an opportunity ~ or advantage?

Thanks for adding to my morning thoughts, friends.

Jim in Texas, good one. Ahh, Scott Brown, he's a classic braggert who enjoys hobnobing, in his mind, with queens and kings.

@Jody, Iowa #6.5": Scott Brown's as screwy as the penis on a "boar hog". Regards

Maybe he can take some Austrian language lessons from derr Obama. When Romney becomes the next POTUS, having spoken with Foreign Leaders might come in handy I dunno.

And no Jody, the question isn't will Romney leave politics at waters edge, I'm sure those he speaks with are quite familiar with Obama's incompetence. Why you and the rest of the shrinking minority that thinks Obama is just swell haven't come to the same conclusion is the question.

Da Noid

I am afraid this is an election year and soul searching is definitely not on the menu.

Da Noid - one of the police officials was asked if someone who had been in the theatre had been armed could it have made a difference. He said yes, more people would have been killed. The shooter was so heavily armored that, had his gun not jammed and he sat down, the first officers who arrived would have most likely been victims also. His armor was not going to be pierced by a regular gun - the only group that could have stopped him, had it come to a shootout - would have been SWAT.

Ask Holder if he can keep the guns out of the hands of killers.

And some Dem wrote 30.000 people killed a year in the US with guns Bull $hit.

@seekingsanity-SWAT WOULD HAVE WENT TO THE WRONG HOUSE.

mike ritter deerhunt1

So pal, what is the true @!$%# on how many people are killed each year with guns? I figure one is too many.

Black cat.....Far more people kill each other with automobiles and one it too many. It is true that 30,000 people were killed with firearms, but about 20,000 were from suicide.

Da Noid......There is absolutely no way that any form of gun control would have prevented this massacre. The way that it was premeditated the person would have been able to get those common firearms.

Mike,

Actually the 30,000 is accurate however about 55% are suicides.

2007 gun deaths = 31,224. 17,352 were suicides, 12,632 were homicides.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_violence_in_the_United_States

PutAmericaFirst

Cars unlike guns were not invented in order to kill.

Da Noid......There is absolutely no way that any form of gun control would have prevented this massacre. The way that it was premeditated the person would have been able to get those common firearms.

"PutAmericaFirst"

That must be very comforting to the victims' families. So, what do we do? I'm just asking because, between Columbine, Virginia Tech, Tucson and now Aurora, this whole throwing up our hands thing and saying "Oh, Well" is getting us nowhere.

I am not sure where to go with this, but taking guns away from law abiding citizens doesn't mean that guns will be removed. Pot has been illegal for decades, but plenty of people still end up with access. I own the guns that the shooter used and I don't see them as threatening. I use them for hunting, shooting clay pidgeons and having fun with my friends and family.

You shoot clay pigeons with an assault rifle that shoots 100 rounds?

Do you also wear body armour and throw tear gas canisters?

Too bad we aren't as lenient on voters rights. Republicans would stop hundreds of thousands of people from voting to stop maybe one case of voter fraud.

At the same time there are not enough murders in the whole world to even stop selling assault rifles that can shoot up to 100 times without reloading. Somehow if we limit the rights of murderers it would be the end of freedom as we know it.

But limiting the rights of thousands of voters to stop one illegal vote is not.

"I own the guns that the shooter used and I don't see them as threatening. I use them for hunting, shooting clay pidgeons and having fun with my friends and family."

I'll save the debate on gun control for another day - it's way too complicated for a one-paragraph post - but if you'd been in that theater, would you still have thought these weapons weren't threatening? If your family and friends were there, would it still have been "fun"?

Folks, guns really don't kill people. I sincerely doubt a gun would walk in a theater and fire itself! Guns are a tool. Much like hospitals and prescription drugs.

Daniel R. Levinson, Adverse Events in Hospitals: National Incidence Among Medicare Beneficiaries, Department of Health and Human Services Office of the Inspector General, November 2010.

The Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services found that one in seven Medicare patients are injured during hospital stays and that adverse events during the course of care contribute to the deaths of 180,000 patients every year.

Do you want to ban hospitals? I mean 1 in 7 Medicare patients are injured during hospital stays and this contributes to an average of 493.15 deaths a day! Think about it...

By the way I am a responsible gun owner and a liberal Democrat. I am proud of both. Guns are not as dangerous as people voting to oppress other citizens rights...

sheepdog -

Interesting statistics, but I'm not seeing the relevance. How many of those 493.15 deaths a day were pre-meditated and with malice aforethought? More importantly, if hospitals could prevent even a few of them by instituting some safety regulations, would you object to that, too?

I'm a responsible driver and a liberal Democrat myself. Does that mean I think we should have no restrictions on speeding or driving drunk or weaving in and out of traffic? I mean, the gun lobby argument seems to be that even with current restrictions, there's still gun violence, which is true. And even with current restrictions, there are still deaths by careless and drunk drivers. So what are you saying - we should just drop those laws or give up on trying to enforce them, too?

Perhaps after the DOJ comes clean about the death of Border Agent Brian Terry because of the gun-walking scheme known as Fast and Furious, we can have a serious discussion on the role of the 2nd Amendment. Otherwise, show respect for those who died in a tragedy that is entirely unpredictable, and maybe wait for the grief to subside before trying to score some strange political point.

Morning Nash!

I see the FR Gremlins got you too... lol

BTW: I couldn't agree more with your comment!

*gasp*

How DARE we ask any questions from Willard!

It can be very negative if you live behind lies.

Obama '12

Nash:

Here's a question for ya First Read . . . what is "negative" about pointing out that Mitt Romney is running for President of this country, but he has made his fortune hiding his money in other countries? That is not a "charge", that is a fact.

I guess you could call the Obama campaign's attacks on Bain "negative," but the negative ads they're running against Romney are based on the FACTS of Romney's record at Bain. It's different with Romney's negative ads. His operatives have been forced to pick through video clips of Obama's speeches to find things the president said that they can outrageously take out of context. Romney is the one who's running away from Obama's record, not the president. The fact that Romney's ads have to be filled with so many lies is strong evidence that Obama has done a pretty good job under extremely difficult circumstances.

FR is like the rest of the media, Nash---masters of the false equivalents. The President puts out an ad with truths about Romney---outsourced jobs, has foreign bank accounts, hasn't released his tax returns. Romney puts out an ad with a deliberate distortion of the President words (and not the first time he has done this) and they are somehow the same.

How is trying to say that Romney was actually working for Bain in 1999, when everyone....EVERYONE who has any knowledge of BAIN in 1999 has stated he had no part in any decision making during that time, NOT negative. How is trying to put Romney's name and the word Felony in the same sentence NOT negative. See, you can twist it all you want and say you are just pointing out facts....but when you only point out half the facts.....like that his name was still listed as the CEO, then you are misrepresenting those facts by not including that BAIN denies he had any dealings at that time.

George:

Claiming on one form that you had nothing to do with Bain and declaring on another that you are CEO is a felony. Sorry if that is an inconvenient truth for you. The problem is not the word "felon", the problem is Mitt Romney's lies.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/tjwalker/2012/07/14/35-questions-mitt-romney-must-answer-about-bain-capital-before-the-issue-can-go-away/

@ George W148 #9.5: Romney was hiding in an adjacent toilet/cloakroom, signing documents with his dominant hand, and handing off unreported money to runners with the other. Damn thief!

Notwithstanding the very slanted articles questions.....here is one for you and every other skeptic about his involvement in BAIN from 1999 to 2002. Has anyone produced 1 piece of paper that shows a managerial decision that was made by Romney during that time? Has anyone provided 1 meeting minutes that says he was there in the decision making process? Has anyone provided any documents to show that he provided input into any investment decision during that time? Your answers are NO, NO and NO.

All of this is nothing more than a witchhunt. Here is the real kicker.

BAIN Capital was started in 1984. Yet, nobody seems to be able to find 1 single investment to throw dirt on Romney about from 1984 to 1999. NOT 1 investment. Yet, 3 questionable investments from 1999 to 2002 when he was questionable to be in charge or not seems to be the focus. Why is that? Because maybe, there isn't any questionable decisions during his REAL tenure, and all they can do is throw smoke up about his character.

George:

Do your homework. What you are saying is not true. Google is your friend, use it.

By the way, Bain won't release the minutes to the meetings.

P.S. The person who contradicts the supposition that Mitt Romney left Bain in 1999 is Mitt Romney . . . when he was trying to establish his residency to run for Governor of Massachusetts he swore UNDER OATH that he had attended Board Meetings and been involved with Bain capital . . . and I love how Forbes magazine is now a left wing rag since you don't want to process the truth . . . your choice George, your choice.

P.S.S. Why would you have to "retroactively retire" ? Please look up the word "retroactive" . . . if you already did something, you don't have to retroactively do it again, right?

Yes, GeorgeW148. They were called "SEC filings."

By simple definition - if Gov. Romney had to sign the documents as CEO and sole shareholder of Bain Capital in order to prove to the SEC that resources were committed or intended to be committed for the legal purposes of business and financial transactions, then Gov. Romney was the final authority on those executive decisions. The actions could not legally have proceeded without his signature, that means he is "managing the activities of the company."

The are only two other options: 1) someone firged his name, or; 2) Gov. Romney was lying about his status with the company.

Frankly, I wonder if that is what he is hiding on his tax returns. Did he list himself as CEO in 200, 2001, and 2002? If so . . . .

Also, I'm curious about Bain's corporate tax filings. Did Gov. Romney, as CEO and sole shareholder sign off on those? If so . . . .

Draw your own conclusions.

Government documents filed by Mitt Romney and Bain Capital say Romney remained chief executive and chairman of the firm three years beyond the date he said he ceded control, even creating five new investment partnerships during that time.

Raise Your Voice
Care about the campaign? Click to write to the candidates.

Romney has said he left Bain in 1999 to lead the winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, ending his role in the company. But public Securities and Exchange Commission documents filed later by Bain Capital state he remained the firm’s “sole stockholder, chairman of the board, chief executive officer, and president.”

Also, a Massachusetts financial disclosure form Romney filed in 2003 states that he still owned 100 percent of Bain Capital in 2002. And Romney’s state financial disclosure forms indicate he earned at least $100,000 as a Bain “executive” in 2001 and 2002, separate from investment earnings.

The timing of Romney’s departure from Bain is a key point of contention because he has said his resignation in February 1999 meant he was not responsible for Bain Capital companies that went bankrupt or laid off workers after that date.

Contradictions concerning the length of Romney’s tenure at Bain Capital add to the uncertainty and questions about his finances. Bain is the primary source of Romney’s wealth, which is estimated to be more than $25o million. But how his wealth has been invested, especially in a variety of Bain partnerships and other investment vehicles, remains difficult to decipher because of a lack of transparency.

The Obama campaign and other Democrats have raised questions about his unwillingness to release tax returns filed before 2010; his offshore assets, which include investment entities based in Bermuda and the Cayman Islands and a recently closed bank account in Switzerland; and a set of “blind trusts” that meet the Massachusetts standards for public officials but not the more rigorous bar set by the federal government.

Romney did not finalize a severance agreement with Bain until 2002, a 10-year deal with undisclosed terms that was retroactive to 1999. It expired in 2009

How do you retire retroactively?

Romney advisor Ed Gillespie went on CNN's State of the Union to clear up any suspicions over his boss's quit date at Bain Capitol. He explained that Romney "retired retroactively" from Bain in 2002 after he left to manage the Salt Lake Olympics. "You know there may have been a thought at the time that it could be part time. It was not part time. The Olympics was in a shambles," he said. "He took a leave of absence and in fact, Candy, ended up not going back at all and retired retroactively to February 1999 as a result." Gillespie also conceded Obama's attack ads were working. "They want to talk about anything other President Obama's dismal record on the economy, and it's working," he said.

Romney stated during the Olympics he went back to Massachusetts numerous times for such things as board meetings and holidays. Why would you attend board meetings in companies you no longer had any interest or control in?

Triplicate? ;-)

Gee .. you conservatives wouldn't know anything about ban and control now, would you? Shall we discuss those ban-control bills on abortion, those ban-control anti-voting measures, ban-control marriage acts, ban-control sexual orientation measures, ban-control women's vaginas, ban-control immigrants, ban-control yadda, yadda, yadda? If you are going to sling and fling the sh!t, make sure the fan isn't blowing in your face, for right now, that pile of crap was just flung back at ya.

Typical liberal response.....spout a bunch of nonsense and lies. You might have a point with marriage acts, but the rest is a buch of junk.

Put - clearly you haven't been keeping up. All of RedDev's post is accurate - get your head out of the sand and stop listening to Rush, maybe you won't appear as totally out of touch!

Obama/Biden 2012

Seeking.....Obviously you have bought into the lies and propaganda as well. It is difficult to argue with people like yourself who completely lack the ability to filter fact and fiction and think for himself. Give me one law where republicans are anti-voter or anti-immigration. You won't be able to becuase they are outright lies.

PutAmerica- clearly the person unable or unequipped to filter lies is you. You post lie after lie and when confronted with truth - post more lies.

Obama/Biden 2012

Lies and Propaganda, eh? Now what would a card carrying neo-Nazi, white supremacy Bachmannite such as yourself know about lies and propaganda? Oh that's right, you folks have fine tuned the process via Limbaugh, O'Reilly, and Faux News. Ya see, you aren't worth the challenge of providing any viable facts because hey, you made the ban-control claim, yet you can't show us one piece of legislation passed that bans and/or controls guns, tear gas canisters, or packing heat into crowded theaters so you and your kind can fulfill you sick killing spree fantasies. But hey, shall we check out the laws passed in Arizona allowing you pack heat into bars and churches cause, gee, that makes everyone safer.

Like I suspected, seeking can't give an example. I am daring you to confront me with the truth, but all you have done is throw around insults better suited for recess at an elementary.

lack the ability to filter fact and fiction and think for himself.

It is amazing how so many of these "free thinkers" parrot the same garbage being spread by Limbaugh and the other rightwing propagandists ~ ~ and damned near word for word. The tripwire for many of them are the little subtleties dropped by their vocal hero's that inadvertently get repeated in their "free thinking" posts. I know ~~~ I know, its either irony or pure coincidence. Yeah. Um-hum.

Jim.....I don't think you understand the ideal of free thinking. While there are plenty on the right that parrot some talking head, it appears that most of them are far more open minded to discussion than those on the left. People on the right prefer facts and reasoning and they can be swayed, while people on the left use fear and name calling to berate and silence the opposition. Maybe MSNBC isn't the best place to find an open minded liberal, but I sure there has to be one or two.

while people on the left use fear and name calling to berate and silence the opposition

Listen ass wipe, if you want a balanced discussion, might I suggest you start with a rather different opening line as opposed to this slanted name calling drivel.

Typical Liberal responses on here, ban and control!!!!

Give us a break.

You have done nothing buy bring your repeat-a-lie mentality and claim you are a free thinker.

True free thinkers can see that the republicans policies were believed and pushed by countries like England and Ireland. Those countries are now in a double-dipped recessions.

If you truly love America, why would you bring a recession on purpose to America just for more tax cuts for the richest in our nation like Romney is pushing?

If you truly love America, why would you kill education on purpose for Americans just for more tax cuts for the richest in our nation like Romney is pushing?

Do you believe the tax cuts for the 1% are more important than jobs or the American economy?

You do if you vote for a republican.

"Wizard's First Rule: "People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they are afraid it might be true. People's heads are full of knowledge, facts, and beliefs, and most of it is false, yet they think it all true. People are stupid; they can only rarely tell the difference between a lie and the truth, and yet they are confident they can, and so are all the easier to fool." -Terry Goodkind

seemed fitting for some reason...

itsnotatax has the opening line you quoted just above reddev but you chastise Put America First for that "ban and control" quote. in the field of debate, your rhetoric loses credibility when you can't keep up with whom you're debating and what they indeed say.

Hate to break it to you bear-bear, but rhetoric rarely has credibility, whether posted by putamericalast or by myself. But of course someone with your insight must have immediately caught I sarcastically used rhetoric to counter this equally ridiculously disingenuous comment; "Typical Liberal responses on here, ban and control!!!!"

Put -

Abortion bans - google Mississippi's most recent efforts to shut down the only abortion clinic in the state. (Republican) Gov. Bryant touts the bill as being the start to making Mississippi an "abortion free state."

Voting bans - google Texas's effort for a voter ID law It "only" affects over 700,000 non-drivers in Texas per the Texas AG. Of course the only place to get a voter ID is at their DPS, some of which are over 100 miles away from those non-drivers. And oddly enough, this law disproportionately impacts blacks and Hispanics. Oh, and you have to pay for it too or pay for the documents to prove you are an American citizen and in spite of voting for seveal elections. BTW - Texas officially reports 50 cases of voter fraud (not all are ballot box related) since 2002. Since 2004 over 39 million votes have been cast. That's (at best) a fraud rate of .0000012. When (not if) Texas disenfranchises two voters of that over 700,000, they will have done more relative harm (percentage wise) to the vote in one year than all the voter fraud cases have done in 10.

The vagina comment made by Red could reference either one of two things - the censorship of a woman politician who challenged the birth control efforts of her Republican comrades and used the word "vagina" in her comments and was ordered to be silent and formally censored on the State legislative floor, OR; Red could be referring to Virginia's Republican efforts to require that a woman seeking an abortion have a intrusive vaginal ultrasound (that she had to pay for) prior to being approved for an abortion (in fairness, the medical rape by appliance law was changed by intervention from the Gov. but only after several weeks of very bad press).

Now let's look at a few others:

Texas - ban evolution from being taught in schools (backed down as long as creationism is taught in biology classes also). Censor the negative impacts of slavery on blacks in history books (Texas was a slave state).

North Carolina - ban same-sex marriage.

Wisconsin - the efforts to ban unions inspite of them being upheld as legal through "righ of association."

Florida - the right wing rhetoric on illegal immigrants while refusing to implement e-Verify because (per Gov. Scott) that would be bad for business. Note that Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas also don't fully implement e-Verify.

There are LOTS of others, but there is a sample to validate Red's statements that you implied were lies.

She is the queen of fear.

I keep asking myself, WTF is WRONG with the voters in her district?

I mean, they have to be seriously effed up... to keep sending Ms. Bat @!$%# Crazy back to Congress to continue to embarrass them along with the rest of the country!

Feisty - you have to believe - if Bachmann is re-elected - that her constituents are as Bat S**t crazy as she is. (I know, it's hard to believe anyone matches her on crazy!)

Obama/Biden 2012

I keep asking myself, WTF is WRONG with the voters in your district? Is not your Congressman Peter Hoskam (R)? And are you not a far left liberal? How could that happen?

richard - who are you talking to? Peter Hoskam? Not my district!

What amazes me about Bachmann is that she was a serious contender for her party's nomination. She raised a lot of money and got people to vote for her. Very scary to me and her recent behavior is reprehensible.

SFan - Let's not forget the gun-toting, gun-running maniac Bachmann hired for her campaign staff. Obviously, the "bloviated ignoramus" still has her ear, as she hunts down Muslims and Lesbians. I'm surprised that right wing freak hasn't pushed forward a bill demanding all Muslims and Lesbians attend a midnight screening of Batman so she let her terrorist loose and fulfill her disgusting fantasies.

http://palinvsbachmann.wordpress.com/2011/08/21/bachmann-hires-gay-hating-gun-toting-convicted-terrorist/

I keep asking myself, WTF is WRONG with the voters in her district?

Apparently, the neo-Nazi/White Supremacy party moved across state lines from Northern Idaho and has taken up residency in the affluent Wisconsin burbs. That is the only explanation for keeping her in office.

RedDevPS

I keep asking myself, WTF is WRONG with the voters in her district?

Apparently, the neo-Nazi/White Supremacy party moved across state lines from Northern Idaho and has taken up residency in the affluent Wisconsin burbs. That is the only explanation for keeping her in office.

i think she's from Minnesota, not Wisconsin...

Steeler..Bachmann always acts this crazy way. The Minnesota state bird is the loon, Michelle Bachmann is our state loon!

Do search on Michelle Bachmann hiding in Bushes. Spying on Gay protest group in Mn. Too funny! Complete with photos of her caught hiding and spying

Obama/Biden 2012!

Thanks for the correction TZ - I occasionally put the loons in the wrong state - it is freeky Paul Ryan that is from Wisconsin, and yes, Bachmann from Minnesota.

RedDevPS

Thanks for the correction TZ - I occasionally put the loons in the wrong state - it is freeky Paul Ryan that is from Wisconsin, and yes, Bachmann from Minnesota.

Happy to help. :)

oh, and thanks for shortening my handle correctly... you should see what i get called some days...

See comments above about going negative. Again....From the time that BAIN started, they have invested in over hundreds of companies, and it has been shown that 3....thats right THREE have moved jobs overseas. Of those 3, 2 of them were during the year 1999 when Romney was not involved in the decision making. Yet, you guys keep going negative with those facts like they are gospel, and then continue to say its Romneys group that goes negative.

Are you also trying to tell us that Romney wasn't governor when he shipped American government jobs to India?

Romney could not create jobs when governor and we are to believe he can now?

By the way Romney saved the Olympics with the free government money he got to the tune of 1.3 billion dollars. Then he outsourced the manufacturing of Olympic uniforms to Burma.

So free money to Richey Romney good, free food to feed hungry Americans bad.

So the republicans voted to suppress votes, a constitution right, to stop one or two cases of voter fraud.

Think the republicans will suppress gun rights, a constitutional right, to stop one or two cases of mass murder?

Why are voters rights less important than gun rights?

Goerge....No matter which lie is the lie that you say isn't the lie, it makes the other lie the lie.

Romney supports OUTSOURCING!!!! How much more UNAMERICAN can one man get? Romney ouitsources for a living. Open the tax records and show us the money trail!

Repubs just blocked the bill to stop outsourcing tax breaks, they blocked bill to give tax break to bring jobs back. How much more UNAMERICAN can repubs be?????

Vote Obama/Biden 2012

Google GE, then google jobs council, then google Obama-Immelt. Your President is fully compliant with outsourcing, so move on to another subject. Outsourcing jobs Americans cannot do since 1776.

p*ssed - you clearly are wearing blinders. Karl Rove and the GOP fine tuned dirty politics and no one can match them. Your lack of intelligence is only matched by your lack of integrity. Both are perfect qualities for Republicans.

I believe the cockroach comment fits you perfectly!

Obama/Biden 2012

Feeling united today are ya? I feel your hate.

Just remember fella, when you point the finger of indictment, you have three pointing right back at you.

"Mitt Romney was attacking Obama about our failing education system. He has a point. We are graduating millions of people in this country who are so lacking in basic analytical skills, they are considering voting for Mitt Romney." –Bill Maherl

"Today Mitt Romney visited a firehouse here in New York City. Of course, he was disappointed when he learned that the firehouse is not where you get to fire people." –Jimmy Fallon

p*ssed - not pointing any fingers of hate. I AM however, pointing out facts you try so hard to overlook. Typical Republican!

Then have the good taste to prove my facts wrong. Give it your best shot fella.

First - I'm not a fella.

2nd - nothing you've posted is anything to blame Obama about. But, as usual for Republicans, post nonsense then try to defend it.

Obama/Biden 2012

Prove it as nonsense Fella

P*ssedoff

You are wasting your time with uninformed and misguided Sanity.

I respond that there was no left or right and that The Obama administration was a Marxist Regime. Sanity referred to me as a ignorant and unintelligent.

I left a response that I have Obama,s audio biograghy for starters and that his ideology is that of Communism and Marxism.

Many of these posters do not research the candidates.

Most of their research is propaganda from Bill Ayers and George Sorros sites that push the agenda.

I have challenged many of them to tell me what that agenda is and I am still waiting for replies.

Oh I was called a GOP nut job which I thought was funny since I am an independent voter with the Ideology of our Patriots who fought for our freedom against the Anarchy of King George.

p*ssed off - I look forward to the debates. Clearly you do too. However, I expect President Obama to dominate.

And no sir, the "dirtiest campaign of all time" was run by Karl Rove when he ran a smear/whisper campaign against Sen. McCain in South Carolina (and other states) during the 2000 Republican Presidential primary.

The "poll question" put forth to the voters by Rove operatives AND known Republicans was "Would you be more likely or less likely to vote for John McCain if you knew that he fathered an illegitimate black child."

@john-1960608#15.9:From the content of this post, it looks like whoever called you a "GOP nut job" knows you better than you know yourself. Independent huh? You sound more like "John Birch" with a bad case of "red ass".

Poor "P*ssed off" is ranting, and blaming the "President" for societal carbuncles that are the direct result of political dereliction of the poor and indigent, visited upon them by both parties since the inception of the nation. While it continues to be rampant, I don't remember It ever being any better under the republicans. Fact, I think those of whom "p*ssed refers, generally make out much better under the democrats. Usually vote that way too. For whatever reason "P*ssed" comes across as someone who just happens to hate President Obama and is attempting to hide it by pointing to the ever present weeds in the turnip patch.

Ah the outraged right winger shocked at the nasty democratic strategy of asking he who would be POTUS to provide proof that his character is what he say's it is. Outrageous to ask him to provide tax returns every candidate has provided since 1994. Outrageous to ask he show board meeting minutes of Bain even though all they'd have to show is he didn't attend and could black out sensitive info. Outrageous to question his offshore accounts and shell companies when clearly they were run by his blind trust, even questioning the blind factor of his trust merely because his friend/personal attorney and man he appointed as president of his Caymans shell company was running it.

Dave... Bingo! Right on the money. Term limits, term limits, term limits.

Serve your two terms and then go home and get a real job.

Question: What's the difference between a Bullhead and a politician?

Answer: One is a scum sucking bottom feeder and the other is a fish.

Now, here are just some Bain Capital successes:

Please point to those actually manufacture something here?

Most of them sell cheap @!$%# from China...

Thanks!

"Mitt Romney has come under fire for his pledge to eliminate federal funding for PBS. Romney said, 'When I'm president, the only operated puppet speaking to kids will be me." –Conan O'Brien

Kind of LIKE GE right OBama's fair hair child that obama says we could learn from

As well regardless if they manufacture here they produce jobs in the US you moron

lololololo Sure !! lolololol Several of your businesses are not even correct lolololo but it make the stupid think Bain did some great things lolololol

ask252 - and GE is bringing back at least 50% of their manufacturing by 2014. Building 4 micro centers here in the US.

Your next moot point, please?

Obama/Biden 2012

NBC==GE==Obama CRONYS getting tax $$$ bailouts==GE no taxes outsourse 40,000 jobs !!!

Feisty Redhead Roselle, IL

Please point to those actually manufacture something here?

I guess you could say Burger King manufactures hamburgers. Sort of.

@ Seeking So your percentage keeps changing on the GE thing. Can you ever produce a link that supports you or we just supposed to take your word for it? LOL

ks62118 - go for it!

https://www.google.com/search?q=GE+bringing+50%25+of+jobs+back+to+us&hl=en&prmd=imvns&source=univ&tbm=vid&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=EWYNUMKdEoWQrgHVmMCfCg&ved=0CFEQqwQ&biw=981&bih=621

Uh Seeking maybe you don't understand the link thingy. Your link does not take you back to the specific actual article where you read it. Still waiting.

ksw what you seem to be forgetting is that it is the republicans fighting for G.E. tax breaks to send jobs overseas.

President Obama is fighting to have his taxes increased and if GE is donating to the Obama campaign then they are donating money to have their taxes increased.

Do tell us how great of American that Romney is being that he would take food out of the mouths of children for his bigger and permanent tax cut that the republicans are pushing.

Do tell us how great of Americans are the billionaires that had no money to create jobs but have hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars to convince you to vote for the republicans that have promised them forever tax cuts.

President Obama is fighting to raise his own taxes for the good of all Americans.

Romney is fighting to get tax cuts for the good of himself.

Which one do you think cares more for America?

American you are making a lot of assumptions . Outsourcing is happening in a lot of major US companies and no I am not a fan when it means less jobs for the US. My point is both sides are guilty.

http://www.nj.com/us-politics/index.ssf/2012/07/outsource_no_dirty_word_in_sil.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/12/obama-jobs-council-outsourcing_n_1666443.html?utm_hp_ref=elections-2012

Ksw62118

Look at Americans First Occupy symbol and then you will understand why his resources are bad.

We who are well informed know that the Occupy movement is an Bill Ayers organization to divide and create civil disobedience

The Canadian group "Adbusters" suggested and initiated the project, not Bill Ayers.

However your comment does let everyone know that you are a conspiracy theorist. Which "well informed source" did you use? The New American?

and GE is bringing back at least 50% of their manufacturing by 2014. Building 4 micro centers here in the US.

Your next moot point, please?

True that. But the reasoning behind it is that they can pay 13.03/hr under Right to Work state laws .vs the 22.00/hr Union jobs, previously. Hardly something to brag about when you're constructing facilities costing 600 Million. There are more negatives to the equation of unfairness if you want to search for it. Some politically influenced. But...At least they are jobs coming back. Even if they are at the poverty level in pay.

P*ssed off; We have a totally different definition of saved.

Burger King, the Cash Cow

By JOE NOCERA

Published: June 22, 2012 117 Commentsarlier this week, a well-known company went public in a complicated transaction that involved a handful of Wall Street sharpies and a mysterious investment vehicle called a SPAC. The company was Burger King.

Joe Nocera

Burger King has long been an enrichment scheme for clever financiers, who have sucked hundreds of millions of dollars out of it over the years. Maybe it will be different this time. Or maybe not.

Financial engineering has been part of the Burger King story for so long that it’s hard to believe there is still anything worth plucking from its carcass. “It’s been run as a cash cow for Wall Street,” said Bob Goldin, an executive vice president of Technomic, a food service consulting firm. Along the way it’s had 13 chief executives in 25 years, numerous strategy shifts and marketing campaigns — and has been constantly starved for cash. But, hey, the private equity guys got theirs. And isn’t that what really matters?

Burger King first became financial fodder in 1967 when it was bought by Pillsbury, which didn’t have a clue about how to run a restaurant chain. Then in 1988, a British company, Grand Metropolitan, initiated a hostile takeover and won Pillsbury. The new owners vowed to turn Burger King around.

It didn’t happen. Nine years later, Grand Met merged with Guinness to form Diageo, by which time Burger King’s role was well established. It shipped cash to headquarters, even as it lagged ever further behind McDonald’s.

Enter — ta-da! — private equity. In 2002, Goldman Sachs, along with two private equity firms, TGP and ... hmmm ... Bain Capital, teamed up to buy Burger King. This is exactly the kind of situation private equity firms like to trumpet: taking over a downtrodden company and nursing it back to health. And to get them their due, Burger King’s new owners did some good, stabilizing both the company and the franchisees, many of whom were in worse shape than Burger King itself.

But the private equity investors also cut themselves an incredibly sweet deal. Their $1.5 billion purchase price included only $210 million of their own money; the rest was borrowed. They immediately began taking out tens of millions of dollars in fees. Four years later, they took Burger King public. But, first, they rewarded themselves with a $448 million dividend. In all, according to The Wall Street Journal, “the firms received $511 million in dividend, fees, expense reimbursements and interest” — while still retaining a 76 percent stake.

Does it need to be said that Burger King was soon back to its old struggling self? Or that the solution, once again, was to sell to another private equity firm? Of course not! In 2010, Bain, Goldman and TPG cashed out, selling Burger King to 3G Capital, for $3.3 billion. In sum, the original private equity troika reaped a fortune by selling a company that was in nearly as much trouble as it had been when they first bought it. Surely this represents the apotheosis of financial engineering.

What has 3G done? According to Howard Penney, the managing director at Hedgeye, it has prettied up the pig by laying off a large percentage of the staff in Burger King’s Miami headquarters. Burger King’s owners grew earnings, he said, “by cutting expenses. They have not improved the business one iota.” And, of course, 3G pulled out fees and dividends, too. In all, Penney wrote recently, private equity firms have taken for themselves “$1 billion or more in capital that could have been used to improve the company’s relative standing versus its competitors, many of whom Burger King struggles to keep up with.”

This latest deal is just as complicated as the ones that have come before. Three financiers, including William Ackman, the well-known shareholder activist, put together a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC — a vehicle that allows them to raise money, buy a company and take it public without the hassle of an I.P.O. The SPAC then bought a stake in Burger King, though 3G is still in charge. On its first day of trading, Burger King had a market value of $3.3 billion. When you include its fees and dividends, 3G has already made a tidy sum on its original investment.

Ackman told me that the 3G guys are “the best operators around, bar none.” He sent me a presentation for investors that suggests that the owners are prepared to modernize the stores, expand abroad and make other moves that are necessary for Burger King to remain competitive.

For the sake of all the people whose livelihoods depend on Burger King, let’s hope that happens. And if it doesn’t? The financiers will still make money. They always do.

Mo.....Romney has far more foriegn policy experience that Obama did when he was elected president. Romney has been working with other countries for decades with his multinational corporation, multinational friends, and the olympics.

Obama foreign policy objective is for His Muslim Brotherhood to take over the world.

Put - Romney has NO foreign policy experience. Period.

President Obama chose Biden as his running mate because of his vast foreign policy experience. In spite of his occasional gaffe, Biden is well respected by both Republicans and Democrats in Congress for his foreign policy experience.

Obama/Biden 2012

Seeking....yet, how many trips has Biden taken on behalf of the US to foreign nations over the past 4 years? Half as many as Obama. That's BS and you know it.

He appointed Clinton as Sect. of State for her and Willy's foreign policy experience. So, what your saying is, If Obama's foreign policy lack of experience didn't matter, and you can just put someone in place to handle that task, the Romney's doesn't either, cause he can just hire Condie or someone else with that quality of experience to handle the job?

Sure, sell that to the MSM.

GeorgeW148

So, what your saying is, If Obama's foreign policy lack of experience didn't matter, and you can just put someone in place to handle that task, the Romney's doesn't either, cause he can just hire Condie or someone else with that quality of experience to handle the job?

Just what we need: Put the neocon leftovers from Bush's disastrous misadministration back in charge so they can lie America into another useless war.

George- taking trips is not the measure of foreign policy. Joe Biden has been adept at working with the President on making the right decisions about our foreign policy.

The Secretary of State will always take more trips abroad than the VP. Get a clue. You're post is all BS.

Condi could no more be put in place than she could run as VP. Her credibility is impossibly ruined by her association with Bush and all of his lies which she helped him perpetrate.

You're totally off-base with your "assumptions."

Romney is out of his league because he can discuss nothing and give no answers. He is a total empty suit.

Obama/Biden 2012

@nazarite#19.2: You're mixing up the "President" with little "Grover Norquist". Fixed it for you. Don't worry about It. I'd do the same for anyone.

Seekinsanity, please list the accomplishments of Obama prior to becoming POTUS. Please feel free to take as much time as you like..., then for extra credit please tell us what he's accomplished since becoming POTUS...we all know he took down Osama Bin Laden(singlehandedly, I hear) and PPACA will be repealed come January, so anything else will do.

carbdusty - so you blame President Obama for the drought? Now that's a new low even for Republicans!

@crabdusty#21: I reason it to be the fault of the drought. See?, um.ah, there wasn't enough rain. Crops didn't get sufficient water to bear their fruit. That rumor about the "President" being God? Not true. Helluva nice Man, but not God.

No, I am blaming his leadership to allow the use of so much water to be used to export a natural resource while we are having a drought. Keep seeking your elusive sanity.

Right crab,

Romney's first day as president he promises to build the keystone pipeline that not only exports a natural resource but threatens one of our largest natural clean water supplies.

Now you want to blame President Obama for the republcians policies that values oil over life.

On one hand you want to claim President Obama is God and has control over the water usage the Koch brothers are using to extract natural resources.

On the other hand you don't seem to have any ideal why the koch brothers are spending millions and millions to remove any regulations to keep them from polluting our water.

What? Are you expecting Romney to care? With the tax cuts Romney wants for himself there will be no money for protecting America from the polluters after he kills the EPA like Romney and the republicans have promised.

VOTE FOR AMERICA....VOTE FOR A DEMOCRAT 2012

Crabdusty

You need to be specific

Farmers store corn and other grains in large silos for future use and if the commodities were not used to produce ethanol, it could have been used to off set the Drought conditions keeping prices of the food items that use these commodities from rising.

Innapropriate water use . . . . hmmm . . . I seem to remember a story

(source: http: //www. ucsusa.org/scientific_integrity/abuses_of_science/klamath-river-salmon.html )

"Salmon Experts Pressured to Change Findings

Michael Kelly, a former biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), blew the whistle on political interference with his team’s April 2002 scientific findings on protections for the endangered coho salmon in the Klamath River basin. Other reports have indicated that President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and presidential adviser Karl Rove all took an active interest in securing the diversion of water from the Klamath to local farmers for irrigation – leading to a conflict over Endangered Species Act (ESA) protections for the salmon. Following the manipulation of the NMFS biological opinion, water was diverted for agricultural purposes, and tens of thousands of fish died in one of the largest fish kills in recent history."

Seems to me this also directly and negatively impacted the Native American subsistence level tribes in the area also.

How about this, instead of taking away more of our rights, take away the crazy people who are pulling the triggers.

The same could be said about voting rights. Instead of taking away more of our rights, prosecute the actual voter frauds.

When did gun rights become more important than voters rights?

No it can't.

It's debatable if Gov. Walker balanced the budget. In accordance to the standards HE promised, no he did not.

(source: http:// www. politifact.com/wisconsin/promises/walk-o-meter/promise/561/require-use-of-accepted-accounting-principles-to-b/ )

"In fact, the document shows that based on GAAP accounting, the state would have been left with a deficit of $3 billion by 2012-13 under Walker's budget. That compares to the $2.9 billion GAAP deficit he inherited at the end of Doyle's term, the state's financial statements show."

Americans first, if your so interested in Voters rights how about the 1st and 5th Amendment rights that Obamination signed into law aborting them and now he is trying thru the Most Corrupt United Nations a back door destruction of our 2nd Amendment right to bear arms. If 15 or 20 people had been armed in that theater he probably would have died very suddenly and not been able to shoot 70 people 12 who died. Every town that has allowed citizens to carry guns violent crimes and robery's went down 30-50% because the murderers and thieves left and went to a town that was disarmed. Here is a glimpse of what Obamination has given us and remember we are on schedual to have a $1.4 Trillion deficit at the end of this year added to what you see here.

United States -- Debt equals 102.9% of GDP

GDP: $15.094 trillion

Government Debt (Gross): $15.537 trillion

With the federal debt surpassing $15.5 trillion in 2011, the United States government holds the largest absolute amount of public debt in the entire world.

While some big-ticket items have certainly padded the debt load (including $900 billion on war spending and the $787 billion in stimulus spending in recent years, according to the CIA), it’s the ongoing spending that's the main driver of the national debt. According to a report by the Congressional Budget Office, the three largest federal program expenditures in the 2011 U.S. federal budget were: Social Security ($725 billion), defense ($700 billion) and Medicare ($480 billion).

In 2011, an astounding $227 billion (1.5% of GDP) in federal spending went toward the public debt's interest payments alone!

With an aging population, skyrocketing healthcare costs and dampened tax revenues from slow economic growth, the United States faces some real future challenges in reducing its federal debt and deficit if changes aren't made. And Obamination wants to spend even more, blame the DEMORATS for this 3 1/2 years not George Bush. Remember the first two years the New Communist Party has a Major Majority in the House and Senate and could have passed any budget or bill they wanted to get our Country moving in the right direction and everything he and they tried failed.

Mr. Coy, that allegation of conspiring with the UN to take away our guns (yes, mine too!) is bogus and had been disproved many times.

http ://www .snopes.com/politics/guns/untreaty.asp

http :// factcheck.org/2012/06/still-no-international-gun-ban-treaty/

And I seriously doubt that " If 15 or 20 people had been armed in that theater he probably would have died very suddenly and not been able to shoot 70 people 12 who died." The shooter was in a dark room, used smoke bomb and tear gas as well as wearing body armor.

If 15 or 20 people had opened fire in those conditions there probably would have been more casualties. First, because of the difficulty in identifying and targeting the shooter in a room full of running people; secondly, not everyone hits their target everytime; thrid, they probably would have fired at some of teh other people trying to take down the shooter, thinking there was more than one assailant.

Lastly sir, please post your reference to the statement that "Every town that has allowed citizens to carry guns violent crimes and robery's went down 30-50% because the murderers and thieves left and went to a town that was disarmed." I believe that is a seriously bogus statement because most towns and cities in the USA allow citizens to carry guns.

Seldomly is there a direct correlation between one fact and another... is it not possible that there is a unique situation in the case of Mexico that causes an increased crime rate besides strict gun laws? and a unique situation in Switzerland that causes a low crime rate besides lax gun laws?

Finally!!! Someone else on here that isn't brainwashed and thinks for themselves. Your statement is truth whether we are talking taxes, health care, education, or gun control. Unfortunately, many people don't understand that truth so we debate a bunch of nonsense.

I wonder if in Switzerland if they have a Limpbaugh and a faux news that spreads nothing but hate and fear every day all day?

Do they have similar churches that preach hate daily for our gay people?

Do the people in Switzerland have a policy of war spending being more important than the well being of their people? Have they been lied to any wars of choice lately?

Do they have a extreme right wing willing to kill doctors and then claim they believe in right to life?

Could it be that the people in Switzerland are more liberal and mentally healthy and their every thought is not about killing others like the republican war mongers?

The republican hate machine has been whipping the crazies into a frenzy with all their lies.

Sadly we read their post on here every day.

If all else fails lie.

When that is all you got, I guess that is all you got.

OBAMA/BIDEN 2012

At the end of 2009, GE employed 36,000 more people abroad than it did in the U.S. In 2000, it was nearly the opposite.

Are you really trying to sell the suggestion that GE added 36,000 jobs overseas during the calendar year 2009? That all happened between January 20 and December 31, 2009? I hardly think so but perhaps you can clear up our total misunderstanding of your comment.

Obama lies,,, Romney tries

. society stagnates when independent productive achievers are socially demonized and even punished for their accomplishments... Society's most productive citizens refuse to be exploited by increasing taxation and government regulations and go on strike by disappearing [and dropping out of everyday society]."

Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin repudiated his U.S. citizenship right before Facebook's much anticipated IPO this month. While Saverin had already been living in Singapore, dropping his U.S. citizenship allowed him to escape millions of dollars in capital gains taxes that his higher-valued Facebook shares would eventually trigger.

.

Government numbers, according to Bloomberg, show "a record 1,780 gave up their U.S. passports last year compared with 235 in 2008."

…NObama 2012!!!!!!

nazarite#24: In the beginning huh? Didn't Adam and Eve repent? Good thing that serpent didn't have them eat some "cold Southern watermelon"*. They never would've repented, and we'd all be busting hell, all over creation.

* Mark twain's, Puddin head Wilson.

I did not renew my passport last year due to the fact I didn't have the money due to the recession that the republicans caused.

Don't you find it interesting that the republicans are never to blame for the problems they cause?

The republicans passed tax cuts we couldn't afford, then started wars we couldn't afford, then claimed deficits didn't matter and carried war debt off the books and of course it is all President Obama's fault.

But of course President Obama is not allowed to bring up bush and what the republicans did to our country just 3 1/2 years ago per republicans.

Meanwhile the republicans blame President Obama for the economy like the republicans have nothing to do with it. When the republicans vote against jobs it is always President Obama's fault not their own votes.

Of course the rich have no money to create jobs with all that tax cut money, but they sure have hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars of money to buy the election for the republicans that have promised them forever tax cuts no matter what it does to the American economy.

SAVE AMERICA....VOTE FOR A DEMOCRAT 2012

ROMNEY 2012

Re: "outsourcing" for green energy as referenced by p*ssed off -

(source: http ://www .tampabay.com/news/politics/national/politifact-obamas-outsourcing-on-green-energy-is-half-true/1241450 )

(quote) "A study by the U.S. Department of Energy estimates that anywhere from 30 percent to 70 percent of wind power spending goes overseas. Another federal study put the number at about 40 percent.

But that's because many components for wind turbines are not manufactured in the United States."

". . . it is inaccurate to call it "outsourcing" because there is not a source domestically."

"Overall, when the federal government supports the use of wind and solar power, it is virtually certain that some if not most of the materials will come from overseas. That is more true for solar than it is for wind."

The part that is true is that money went overseas. Of course it had to to get the materials needed to ship back to the US.

She is clueless. I have a lists of companies that Bain saved.

She says all those sale things from China. Ya, HCA, Doctors and nurses?

Sealy? Made in America. Burger King? Burgers from China?

Dunkin Donuts? The Weather Channel?

Sport Authority and Burlington coat factory maybe, what retailer does not sell items from China. In this Obama ecocomy, most of our manufacturing has ran to China to escape the Obama Roman Legion.

Actual facts and data shows that most jobs left before Obama came into office. Facts!

Then show the facts.

P, stop shopping in Wal-Mart, even the Fox hole folks admit W's reign was disastrous. Over 700,000 jobs a month in 2008, bank failings, forclosures up the wazoo, home values in the dumpster, and a giant Bogus War unpaid for. Get your head out of the elephants behind. Ignorant twit.

I feel your hate. It was one month. January 2008. And if Barney Frank and Chris Dodd did their jobs, we would not be in this mess.

Wal-Mart is the number company on the planet numbskull.

You wish you had their stock