I've already stated that Romney will choose NJ Governor as his running mate. They are campaigning together as if Christie were chosen already.
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Monday, January 9, 2012
Record-High 40% of Americans Identify as Independents in '11
This is a repudiation of the two-party system. Now to convert those numbers into a third party challenge:
The percentage of Americans identifying as political independents increased in 2011, as is common in a non-election year, although the 40% who did so is the highest Gallup has measured, by one percentage point. More Americans continue to identify as Democrats than as Republicans, 31% to 27%.Full article
These results are based on more than 20,000 interviews conducted in 20 separate Gallup polls in 2011. Gallup has computed annual averages of party identification since 1988, when it began regularly conducting interviews by telephone. The prior high percentage of independents was 39% in 1995 and 2007.
Gallup records from 1951-1988 -- based on face-to-face interviewing -- indicate that the percentage of independents was generally in the low 30% range during those years, suggesting that the proportion of independents in 2011 was the largest in at least 60 years.
Constitutional Scholar: White House Entirely Ignoring Article 1, Section 5
Jessica Yellen says the President could've done made the appointment when the Congress was truly in recess without opposition but has instead chosen to play politics:
John C. Eastman, a professor at Chapman University School of Law who is an expert on the constitutional separation of powers, says that the White House simply ignored the section of the Constitution, which governs when Congress can adjourn, when President Obama claimed to use the "recess" appointment power on Wednesday to name a director to the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau and three members to the National Labor Relations Board.Full article
Eastman says that under the terms of the Constitution Congress was not in recess this week, it was in session.
Sunday, January 8, 2012
U.S. Debt is Now Equal to Economy
It must be considered a betrayal of the public trust for the U.S. government to have given us such debt. They have put political expediency above the future of our nation. While many of us sacrifice for our children Washington has been indifferent to our next generation. The Congress is universally disliked by the American people but are able to retain their positions of power. This suggests they act without our approval. So the American people as a whole are blameless. And since they act without our consent they are illegitimate. Only a revolution in government will restore the supremacy of We The People:
The soaring national debt has reached a symbolic tipping point: It's now as big as the entire U.S. economy.The American people do not control their government because it has been corrupted by great wealth:
The amount of money the federal government owes to its creditors, combined with IOUs to government retirement and other programs, now tops $15.23 trillion.
That's roughly equal to the value of all goods and services the U.S. economy produces in one year: $15.17 trillion as of September, the latest estimate. Private projections show the economy likely grew to about $15.3 trillion by December — a level the debt is likely to surpass this month.
But the hand-wringing over the new breed of deep-pocketed outside groups has become a process debate – wrapped in the language of legal arcana and plausible deniability. And, when the candidates are pushed to call for an end to the ads or changes to the legal landscape that spawned them, they mostly back down.With all that debt the potential for financial disaster looms over our nation. And there doesn't seem anyone out there with any solutions that could possibly get the attention of an indifferent national government:
It’s a kabuki dance that allows candidates to keep their hands clean even as they become major players in a new big-money system that seems likely to dominate presidential politics for the foreseeable future.
Higher interest rates on U.S. debt will increase our annual deficits and accelerate the growth of the national debt, potentially triggering a spiraling crisis of confidence like that we have seen in Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and other European countries. And as we have seen in those countries, the crisis of confidence can reveal itself in rising interest rates not over years, not in months or weeks, but suddenly over a few days or hours.
Unlike the European countries which have recently experienced debt crises, the U.S. does not have a larger entity waiting in the wings ready to bail us out with outside capital. If we try to respond to market demand for higher interest rates by, in effect, turning on the printing presses and printing more dollars, that will only deepen our economic crisis and spread economic panic.
Who thinks that's a risk we should take? Who's willing to bet the republic that the U.S. will always be the safest place in the world to invest capital, that we'll always be the lowest cost borrower in the world?
It's a risk and a bet that I'd prefer not to make. Common sense says that we can't continue to operate on trillion dollar annual deficits forever, running up the national debt to successively higher and higher record levels.
Fact-checking the weekend's GOP debates
Ron Paul cited a staggering number in the Republican presidential debate Sunday - $15 trillion supposedly spent by the Fed "bailing out their friends." Like Mitt Romney and his claims about creating jobs in the private sector, Paul came up with that shocker by presenting an unbalanced look at balance sheets.
Here is a look at some of the claims in a pair of lively GOP debates on the weekend and how they compare with the facts:
PAUL: "I don't see how we can do well against Obama if we have any candidate that, you know, endorsed, you know, single payer systems and TARP bailouts and don't challenge the Federal Reserve's $15 trillion of injection bailing out their friends."
THE FACTS: First, there are no fans of government-run, single-payer health insurance in the Republican field, despite Paul's suggestion otherwise Sunday. Newt Gingrich once endorsed the idea of requiring everyone to have health insurance, and Romney introduced a mandate for health coverage as Massachusetts governor. But that's a far cry from a Canadian-style health system that makes government the primary payer of people's medical bills.
TARP is the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program that was proposed by President George W. Bush and passed by Congress in 2008 to help rescue imperiled financial institutions. Nearly all of the money has been paid back, with interest.
Paul's slam against the Fed ignores the fact that most of the $15 trillion he is talking about involved loans that were quickly repaid, sometimes the next day. And that's if these Fed transactions can even be considered loans in the conventional sense.
When the Fed lends money to banks, it creates the money out of thin air. When the banks pay it back, the money disappears from the system. If a bank borrows $5 billion from the Fed one day, then pays it back the next, and a week later borrows $5 billion more and quickly pays it back, the total would be listed as $10 billion, even though it's just the same money going back and forth and the treasury is in no sense being emptied.
That's how a federal report counted a running total of about $15 trillion in emergency Fed loans to domestic banks and their foreign subsidiaries between 2007 and 2010. The actual loan total, once paybacks are accounted for, is estimated at $1.1 trillion.
Fact check: Obama's 'Promises Kept' ad
President Obama's reelection campaign is circulating a video of promises the then-candidate made during an Iowa caucus victory speech in January 2008, claiming he kept the promises he made that night. Not quite.
To be sure, the president signed a major health care law, ended the long war in Iraq and signed multiple "middle-class" tax cuts, just as his campaign boasts.
But the health care law isn't expected to make insurance "affordable and available to every single American," as Obama promised. And though he pledged to be a president who "brings our troops home" from Iraq, thousands of those U.S. troops are now stationed in neighboring Kuwait. Most glaringly, he has failed at "bringing Democrats and Republicans together" as he so optimistically promised four years ago.
Soldiers on Lockdown After 'Sensitive' Military Equipment is Stolen from Washington Base
More than 100 soldiers were on lockdown Sunday after "sensitive" military equipment was stolen from a base in Fort Lewis, Wash.
The soldiers were put on lockdown Wednesday after items such as scopes, night vision goggles and range finders went missing from Joint Base Lewis-McChord over the holidays, myFOXSpokane.com reported.
Lewis-McChord spokesman Matt Hinkle said Saturday that the army was carrying out a criminal investigation into the 4th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division after the "sensitive" items went missing, The News Tribune reported.
"They'll be on base until the items are found," Hinkle, who estimated the company contained about 100- 200 soldiers, said. "This is the unit's property that's come up missing."
"We're going to continue to conduct this investigation as thoroughly as possible," I Corps spokesman Lt. Col. Gary Dangerfield added. "We will get to the bottom of this matter."
Neither Hinkle nor Dangerfield confirmed exactly what pieces of equipment were missing but Dangerfield said that many military items including night-vision goggles and military ID cards were considered "sensitive," according to the newspaper.
Family members were allowed to visit the soldiers for the first time Friday, myFOXSpokane.com reported.
Officials are offering a $10,000 reward for the return of the equipment.
Transcript: 'Meet The Press' GOP Presidential Debate (1-8-12)
Full transcript. Excerpt below:
DAVID GREGORY:Related:
09:02:46:00 Speaker Gingrich, why shouldn't Governor Romney be the nominee of this party? What about his record concerns you most or makes him-- disqualified to be the nominee?
NEWT GINGRICH:
09:02:58:00 Look, I-- I think what Republicans have to ask is who's most likely in the long run-- to survive against the kind of billion dollar campaign the Obama team is gonna run. And I think that a bold Reagan conservative with a very strong economic plan is a lot more likely to succeed in that campaign than a relatively timid Massachusetts moderate who even The Wall Street Journal said had an economy plan so timid it resembled Obama.
09:03:25:00 So I think you've gotta look at, you know, Massachusetts was fourth from the bottom in job creation under Governor Romney. I-- we created 11 million jobs while I was Speaker and I worked with governor-- with President Reagan in the entire recover of the 1980s. That is they-- there's a huge difference between a Reagan conservative and somebody who comes out of the Massachusetts culture with an essentially moderate record who I think will have a very hard time in a debate with president.
09:03:49:00 (OVERTALK)
DAVID GREGORY:
09:03:49:00 Speaker Gingrich, bottom line, you believe that Governor Romney is unelectable?
NEWT GINGRICH:
09:03:52:00 Well, I don't believe he's unelectable but I think he has a much-- I-- look, against Obama's record, I think , you know, the fact is President Obama's gonna have a very hard reelection effort. But I do think the bigger the contrast, the bolder ideas, the clearer the choice, the harder it is for that billion dollar campaign to smear his way back into office.
DAVID GREGORY:
09:04:10:00 Speaker, this your flier that you're--
NEWT GINGRICH:
09:04:12:00 Right.
DAVID GREGORY:
09:04:12:00 --circulating here in New Hampshire. It says very clearly, "Romney is not electable."
NEWT GINGRICH:
09:04:15:00 I think he will have a very hard time getting reelected. Getting elected?
DAVID GREGORY:
09:04:19:00 Governor?
MITT ROMNEY:
09:04:22:00 David-- I'm very proud of the record that I have and I think the one thing you can't fool the people about New Hampshire about is-- the record of a governor next door. And people have watched me over my term as governor and saw that I was a solid conservative and that I brought important change to Massachusetts.
09:04:36:00 They recognized that I cut taxes 19 times. Balanced the budget every one of the four years I was in governor. Put in place a $2 billion rainy day fund by the time I'd gone. We had-- we'd seen job losses-- in the month leading up to my-- becoming-- the governor and then we began to finally create jobs. And by the way, we created more jobs-- in Massachusetts than Barack Obama's created in the entire country.
09:04:58:00 We also got our state police to enforce illegal immigration law, put in place-- English immersion in our schools. I'm very proud of the conservative record I have and I think that's why some of the leading conservatives in today's-- world who are fighting the conservative battles of today that don't have any axe to grind have gotten behind my campaign.
09:05:16:00 Governor Nikki Haley of-- of South Carolina. Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey. Right here, the great senator of-- of New Hampshire, Ken-- Kelly Ayotte. These are conservative who looked at my record, looked at my plan to get this economy going.
09:05:29:00 I happen to believe that if we want to replace a lifetime politician like Barack Obama, who had no experience leading anything, you have to choose someone who's not been a lifelong politician, who has not spent his tire-- en-- entire career in Washington, and instead has proven time and again he could lead in the private sector twice, in the Olympics and as a governor. We've got to nominate a leader if we're gonna replace someone who is not a leader.
- Video: GOP New Hampshire Presidential Debate (1-7-12)
- Transcript: New Hampshire GOP Presidential Debate (1-7-12)
Senator Warns of New Batch of 'Super Painkillers' That Could Fuel More Deadly Robberies
Drugs, and their abuse, explains much of the violence in our society. We need to rethink the role of prescription drugs in our society. We might want to ask whether the powerful pharmaceuticals have us drugged-up and violent:
Following fatal shootings in two New York pharmacy robberies, a U.S. senator is warning that a new batch of "super painkillers" now under review could force repeats of recent violent robberies that left six people dead.Full article
"It's tremendously concerning that at the same time policymakers and law enforcement professionals are waging a war on the growing prescription drug crisis, new super-drugs could well be on their way, flooding the market," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y. "The FDA needs to grab the reins and slow down the stampede to introduce these powerful narcotics."
Transcript: New Hampshire GOP Presidential Debate (1-7-12)
Full transcript. Excerpt below:
Related:
SAWYER: So lets the -- let the debate begin.
And, Governor Romney, we’ll begin with you. We just saw 200,000 new jobs created last month, and there are optimists who say this is the signal that this economy is finally turning around. Are you with those optimists?
ROMNEY: I’m an optimist, and I certainly hope it turns around. We have millions of people who’ve been suffering too long, 25 million people that are out of work or have stopped looking for work, and also a lot of people who’ve got part-time jobs and need full-time employment. So it’s very good news. I hope we continue to see good news.
But it’s not thanks to President Obama. His policies have made the recession deeper, and his policies have made the recovery more tepid. As a result of everything from Obamacare to Dodd-Frank to a stimulus plan that was not as well directed as it should have been to a whole host of new regulations that have been put on American businesses, he’s made it harder for small entrepreneurs and big businesses to decide to invest in America and to grow jobs here.
And so the president is going to try and take responsibility for things getting better. You know, it’s like the rooster taking responsibility for the sunrise. He didn’t do it. In fact, what he did was make things harder for America to get going again.
SAWYER: I want to turn now to Senator Santorum. Senator Santorum, you have said we don’t need a CEO, we don’t need a manager as president. What did you mean by that?
SANTORUM: Well, we need a leader, someone who can paint a positive vision for this country, someone who, you know, has the experience to go out and be the commander-in-chief. I’ve experienced in eight years on the Armed Services Committee, I managed major pieces of legislation through the House and through the Senate on national security issues, like Iran, which is the most -- you want to talk about the most pressing issue that we’re dealing with today? It’s Iran.
And as Newt’s talked about many times, there’s no one that has more experience in dealing with that country than I do. And that means that we need -- we need someone who can -- who can go out and paint a vision of what America’s strength is about, let our allies know that they can trust us, let our enemies know that they have to respect us, and if they cross us, they should fear us.
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Rick Santorum: A Straight Dad In Prison Is Better Than Two Gay Dads Who Aren’t
Source:
For the second time in as many days, Rick Santorum waded into the issue of gay marriage, suggesting it was so important for children to have both a father and mother that an imprisoned father was preferable to a same-sex parent.
Citing the work of one anti-poverty expert, Santorum said, “He found that even fathers in jail who had abandoned their kids were still better than no father at all to have in their children’s lives.”
Allowing gays to marry and raise children, Santorum said, amounts to “robbing children of something they need, they deserve, they have a right to. You may rationalize that that isn’t true, but in your own life and in your own heart, you know it’s true.”
Casino magnate contributes $5 million to Gingrich-affiliated Super PAC
As media buzz reached a fever pitch in the minutes before a Republican presidential debate hosted by ABC News, Yahoo! News, and WMUR-TV, Las Vegas Sun reporter John Ralston tweeted unexpected news: Casino magnate Sheldon Adelson, Ralston said, has made a $5 million contribution to a Super PAC devoted to promoting the candidacy of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich.
“ADELSON gave $5M to Newt SuperPAC on Friday,” Ralston tweeted.
The Sun was among the first to report in December that Adelson committed to donate or raise $20 million to aid Gingrich in seeking the White House.
MSNBC chief says he hasn't decided whether commentator Pat Buchanan will return to network
MSNBC's top executive said Saturday that he hasn't decided whether conservative commentator and author Pat Buchanan will be allowed back on the network.
Buchanan, a former GOP presidential candidate and a paid MSNBC contributor, hasn't been on the network since the publication of his book "Suicide of a Superpower" last October. The book has chapters titled "The End of White America" and "The Death of Christian America" and its author argues that the United States is in the "Indian summer of our civilization."
"When Pat was on his book tour, because of the content of the book, I didn't think it should be part of the national dialogue much less part of the dialogue on MSNBC," said MSNBC President Phil Griffin. The minority advocacy group Color of Change has circulated a petition urging MSNBC to fire Buchanan.
GOP rivals gear up for weekend debates
GOP rivals gear up for weekend debates - CNN.com
Tonight's debate will be at 9pm on ABC. Then tomorrow David Gregory will moderate a debate on 'Meet the Press' at 10:30am
Romney Surrogate: Electability Should Trump 'Beliefs and Principles'
He is saying what most politicians believe:
A New Hampshire surrogate for Mitt Romney said at a local political event that it's evident he will be the Republican presidential nominee and suggested that "beliefs and principles" should not be the deciding factor for voters.Full article
State Sen. Gary Lambert said the most important thing is to nominate somebody who can defeat President Obama.
"I don't get it. This is not about picking a favorite, it's not about picking someone you like," Lambert said. "It's not about picking someone even with your own beliefs and principles. This is about picking a person who can beat Barack Obama, period."
Tibet Monks Set Themselves On Fire, Group Says
A Tibet activist group says two people have set themselves on fire in southwest China in the latest in a series of apparent self-immolation protests against Chinese rule.
The London-based Free Tibet said in an emailed statement late Friday night that witnesses saw a man set himself on fire Friday near a monastery in Aba prefecture in Sichuan province. It says security forces put out the flames and took the man away. His condition is unknown.
Free Tibet says someone else died about the same time in a self-immolation nearby. It gave no other details.
Report: Top Syrian general defects with 50 troops
As Arab League monitors prepared a report on Syria's compliance with its agreement to halt violence against protesters, a senior general reportedly said on live TV he was defecting from the regime's army with up to 50 of his soldiers.
Colonel Afeef Mahmoud Suleiman made the announcement live on Al-Jazeera's Arabic News channel on Saturday, the news organization reported.
Flanked by a group of his soldiers, Suleimen said he wanted to keep protesters safe. Al-Jazeera English translated his remarks from Arabic.
Japan plans to scrap nuclear plants after 40 years
I got a better idea. How about scraping all nuclear plants:
Japan says it will soon require atomic reactors to be shut down after 40 years of use to improve safety following the nuclear crisis set off by last year's tsunami.Full article
Concern about aging reactors has been growing because the three units at the Fukushima Dai-ichi plant in northeastern Japan that went into meltdown following the tsunami in March were built starting in 1967. Among other reactors at least 40 years old are those at the Tsuruga and Mihama plants in central Japan, which were built starting in 1970.
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