So where are we with General Petraeus?

What on earth is happening when an American who has been trusted as much as General Petraeus has his little love affair exposed (which doesn’t seem to have effected his CIA leadership at all) and feels the need to resign?

This article is from Truthdig… I’m putting it all here:

How the David Petraeus-Paula Broadwell Affair Was Uncovered

 

AP/Cliff Owen

Former CIA Director David Petraeus.

Modern technology apparently cost ex-CIA Director David Petraeus his job. The retired general’s affair with his biographer Paula Broadwell was discovered by the FBI while it was investigating harassing emails she sent to Jill Kelley, a 37-year-old woman who serves as an unpaid social liaison to MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Fla. A former associate of Petraeus says he and Kelley are just friends.

After news of the FBI investigation that uncovered the affair, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper stepped in and asked Petraeus to resign.

The Associated Press:

Clapper was told by the Justice Department of the Petraeus investigation at about 5 p.m. on Election Day, and then called Petraeus and urged him to resign, according to a senior U.S. intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the investigation publicly.

…Concerned that the emails he exchanged with Broadwell raised the possibility of a security breach, the FBI brought the matter up with Petraeus directly, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the investigation.

Petraeus decided to quit, though he was breaking no laws by having an affair, officials said.

Read more

In the wake of Petraeus’ resignation, members of Congress are asking for more information about the investigation, including why they weren’t alerted sooner and whether the probe had any impact on national security.

Now here are my thoughts. Given the world situation, why in hell are we letting a man with this amount of military and foreign policy and management experience leave this job over a little penis stimulation? You can’t tell me that the Congressfolk who would sit over his situation if he hadn’t resigned haven’t been involved in the same kind of stuff.

If I were Obama, I would have, at least temporarily, refused Petraeus’ resignation and let him go ahead with his testimony about Libya (which he should do anyway, whether he has resigned or not.)

If we really let him go we are more stupid than I already think.

Related articles

• Congress wants answers on Petraeus affair (cnsnews.com)
• Woman connected to Petraeus scandal seeks privacy (cnsnews.com)
• Friend: Petraeus began affair after taking CIA job – Boston.com (boston.com)
• Info emerges about 2nd woman in David Petraeus affair (bostonherald.com)
• Identity of second woman emerges in Petraeus’ downfall (sfluxe.com)
• Woman who sparked Petraeus probe ID’d by U.S. army official (cbc.ca)
• L’affaire Petraeus: second woman identified, and Gmail location data outed Broadwell and Petraeus (boingboing.net)
• David Petraeus Resigns From The CIA Over An Affair. (stirringtrouble.wordpress.com)

 

Ever make out a “living will?”

My daughter, wife, son and daughter-in-law are all participating in making out the details for a “living will“… I guess they are worried about what to do with my books and check-protector collection and fat-man clothes and other stuff.

They need to know if I’ll allow an autopsey, or whether I want to be cremated or buried or stuffed and distributed on a timely basis to decorate the homes of family members. They need to know if I want to stay alive in a vegetative state. Nothing I’ve really thought about before.

They are doing all this by following instructions in a book (“In the Checklist of Life“) by Elly and my old friend and former employee Lynn McPhelimy who developed this stuff thirty years ago.

This has been helpful to many people in our family… Elly gave many of them copies of Lynn’s book as holiday gifts one year. You can get it, too… just go to Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/In-Checklist-Life-Working-Leave/dp/0965784355b   where it costs under $20.00.

If you are planning last days of any family member, or yourself, you may want to consider one of the many five-star reviews that have appeared on Amazon:

This is an excellent book. Everyone needs to have one of these. I have filled out every page that applies. I told my whole family where it is located should my untimely death occur. I have had to plan and attend many funerals and when there is no plan it can make things difficult and stressful. It you take the time to fill out these pages, even some of them, it will help your family in a time of sorrow and confusion. This book is best for the division of property and sentimental items. It is also a good idea to have a living will and trust. Anyone who’s ever had to go through probate or a difficult family situation can relate. For those who haven’t, just know that death can often do strange things to people and even the most loving of families can be divided over who gets what. Get this book as a great start to planning an inevitable part of life.

…or this one:

“In the Checklist of Life” was a book that I found to be indispensable. In retrospect, after losing someone close to you, you realize how important this book really is. I have always joked with my family about writing my own obituary, and here is my very own chapter in which to do just that. The chapter about your pets is one that should not be missed for all pet lovers. This book is smart, it’s funny, it makes you think, it makes you cry. Be kind to your family and fill in the pages of this wonderful book. They will forever be thankful.

As I think about what might go wrong with the surgery I’m having next Friday, this will keep most of my family feeling much more secure.  Thanks, Lynn.

 

The Final Results of the Election…

If you haven’t seen where everything finally ended up after Florida was called (which took an awfully long time and right up to the very end the GOP said Romney had it… but he didn’t), then here it is:

This, to me, is a sure sign that Obama has a mandate to finish his agenda. To win by 126 electoral votes is not insignificant… it is a real rollover.

Now we will listen to Boehner claim that he is ready to cooperate, but will keep the House just a opposed to increasing taxes on the very rich and solving the rest of the economic problems. Will the House Republicans finally support Obama’s goal to increase jobs? Looks like they are going to stay just as opposed. Didn’t they learn anything from the election?

Mitch McConnell will probably keep the Republicans in the Senate from letting things go through, although they are still in the minority. McConnell is up for reelection in Kentucky in 2014, so maybe he will cooperate a little bit just to show that he’s not a schmuck. We’ll wait and see.

Related articles

• Boehner and McConnell Dissed Obama on Election Night – Refused Phone Calls from the President, Claiming They Were Asleep (pensitoreview.com)
• Mitch McConnell and John Boehner’s strategy worked (washingtonpost.com)
• Obama Tried To Call Mitch McConnell And John Boehner On Election Night, But They Lied That They Were Sleeping (tribuneofthepeople.com)
• McConnell warns Obama on taxes (politico.com)
• McConnell (kind of) promises to work with Obama (tv.msnbc.com)
• Mitch McConnell offers a helpful reminder of why Senate Democrats must reform the filibuster now (dailykos.com)
• Boehner suggests Republicans will Accept More Revenue, Work Together (he must not have met Mitch McConnell) (freakoutnation.com)
• Election Gave Obama and Boehner Chance for a Do-Over – Bloomberg (bloomberg.com)
• Obama’s mandate (wnd.com)

 

So how is Romney’s plan to send Foodstamps to the states going to effect his voter base?

That is a good question, after looking at this article in the Bloomberg News. Here’s a clip:

Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney said in May that he’d written off votes from 47 percent of Americans who are collecting government aid. Turns out many of them are part of his political base.

Seventy percent of counties with the fastest-growth in food-stamp aid during the last four years voted for the Republican presidential candidate in 2008, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data compiled by Bloomberg. They include Republican strongholds like King County, Texas, which in 2008 backed Republican John McCain by 92.6 percent, his largest share in the nation; and fast-growing Douglas County, Colorado.That means Romney is counting on votes from areas where lower-income people have become more reliant on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as food stamps.

Let’s see how it really fits his base support. Get the word out!

Related articles

• Republican-Heavy Counties Eat Up Most Food-Stamp Growth – Bloomberg (bloomberg.com)
• Terry O’Neill: The Romney-Ryan Budget: Reward the Rich, Punish the Rest (huffingtonpost.com)
• Romney attacked over climate change as activists tap post-Sandy concerns (guardian.co.uk)

Here’s a video treat from ALL HAT NO CATTLE…

…the one blog I try to view every day. This is a video that Lisa put together Called “Back in the Good Old Days” which is a good indicator that Romney will bring Bushiness back to us.

 

Hope you enjoy it. I sure did!

 

Tell Mitt Romney: Climate Change Isn’t A Joke

Much of the nation is reeling from Superstorm Sandy. As families rebuild from Sandy’s destruction, our thoughts are with the victims of this horrific, fossil-fueled storm.

When Gov. Mitt Romney made climate change a punch line at the Republican National Convention, he mocked a real threat to the lives of Americans.

We can’t let Mitt get away with his laughing dismissal of the threat of rising seas caused by the carbon polluters who fund his campaign. Share this ad with friends and family to tell Romney: climate change isn’t a joke.

Ref: Three Ways Climate Change Made Hurricane Sandy Worse

 

Thanks to Climate Silence.org.

Employment growth picks up in October with addition of 171,000 jobs

Today the Government released the October Labor Statistics and we see that employers have added a larger-than-expected 171,000 jobs in October across a broad spectrum of businesses. In this, the  final snapshot of the economy before election day, we have an interesting picture of job growth… more than double what it was in September.

Unfortunately, the nation’s unemployment rate rose to 7.9% from 7.8% in September. This was because more people jumped back into the labor market, including a very large group of 18-year old first time workers. This, of course, is a positive sign that workers may be feeling more confident about their job prospects.

The new Labor Department report, which also revised sharply higher job growth in September and August, may give a boost to President Obama, who continues with a slow but positive economic growth. There is still enough information for the undecided to support Obama who has kept us going even though Mitch McConnell and his Republicans have worked overtime to keep Obama’s Job Creation proposals and other forward moving activities from passing or getting any Congressional support. It’s interesting that Obama has gotten as far as he has… and it is even more interesting how little the Republicans have been concerned with helping to relieve our economy.

Related articles

• US economy adds 171,000 jobs (bigpondnews.com)
• Economy adds 171,000 jobs in October (bostonherald.com)
• US economy adds 171,000 new jobs (bbc.co.uk)
• U.S. Adds 171K Jobs In October: What It Means For Obama And Romney (forbes.com)
• October jobless rate is 7.9 percent: 171,000 jobs created. Good news for Obama (blogs.suntimes.com)
• Job Growth Better Than Expected Last Month (politicalwire.com)
• SPECIAL REPORT: “171 Thousand Jobs Added in Last Jobs Report Before Election, Unemployment Rate 7.9%” (marketsnacks.com)

 

Here’s a new problem which will probably start appearing in storm damaged areas (and beyond)…

Here’s something to watch out for that you probably haven’t thought of: if you are shopping for a used car you  should be on the lookout for flood-damaged vehicles that often hit the market after a major storm. They may not come from your particular geographic area, but the storm actually covered a lot of ground.

In the wake Hurricane Sandy, which caused massive flooding in several Northeast and Mid-Atlantic cities in the U.S., we should consider the advice given by Edmunds.com (the Car People.)

Once owners of damaged cars settle up with their insurance companies their vehicles are sometimes refurbished and resold. An unsuspecting buyer in a state unaffected by the disaster is the prime target. Long after the seller is gone, the new owner finds it is an unreliable car. Electrical and mechanical problems can then surface, and there is no recourse against the seller.

 

When the flood waters recede, they often leave behind damaged cars, and that’s where trouble can begin for used-car buyers. After the owners of damaged cars settle up with their insurance companies, vehicles are sometimes refurbished and resold. And sometimes, a middleman buyer intentionally hides a car’s history as a flood-damaged vehicle through a process known as “title washing” and sells it to an unsuspecting buyer in a state unaffected by the disaster. Electrical and mechanical problems then surface later — long after the seller is gone — leaving the new owner with an unreliable car and no recourse against the seller.

– edmunds.com

According to Fraud Guides, if you suspect a local car dealer is committing fraud by knowingly selling a flood car or a salvaged vehicle as a good-condition used car, contact your auto insurance company, local law enforcement agency or the National Insurance Crime Bureau at (800) TEL-NICB (835-6422).

Of course, the best advice when trying to avoid a flood-damaged vehicle is the adage you’ve heard so often: If a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is.

Related articles

• Sandy could impact unsuspecting used-car buyers (bottomline.nbcnews.com)
• The risks of buying a write-off motor – Confused.com (confused.com)
• BBB warns about flood-damaged cars (charlotteobserver.com)
• BBB warns about flood-damaged cars (newsobserver.com)
• Water Damaged Cars May Flood Local Dealerships Following Severe Weather (prweb.com)

 

Suppose Romney was President now, during Sandy…

First of all, he would have discarded FEMA as a Federal Agency and given the costs and responsibilities back to the states or to private enterprise. I’ll bet governors up and down the east cost would not be thrilled to lose the federal support.

So what is Romney‘s status on federal funds protecting and helping Americans in times of natural disaster? Take a look:

I guess that means what President Obama is doing now to aid the various states in preserving life and helping states is “immoral.” Tell that to Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie who as already come out praising Obama and thanking him for making federal funds and FEMA available… and being available to him by phone for any future problems. I’ll bet Christie is glad that it is Obama and not Romney who is on the other end of the phone call:

“I appreciated the president’s outreach today in making sure that we know he’s watching this and is concerned about the health and welfare and safety of the people of the state of New Jersey.”

–  Gov. Chris Christie, (R) NJ

Related articles

• Obama, Romney, suspend campaigning as hurricane Sandy bears down on East Coast (vancouversun.com)
• Hurricane Sandy Update: President Obama Signs New Jersey Emergency Declaration (keansburgpress.wordpress.com)
• Video: Clinton, Biden on Hurricane Sandy (cbsnews.com)
• Sandy Is the Most Important Swing Voter (theatlanticwire.com)
• President Obama signs emergency declaration for entire Mid-Atlantic region (examiner.com)
• Why Romney’s not ready for Hurricane Sandy (tv.msnbc.com)
• Romney may regret ‘privatize’ FEMA remarks in face of Sandy destruction (tv.msnbc.com)
• Obama visits FEMA, says Hurricane Sandy resources “are in place” (cbsnews.com)
• Romney: Privatize FEMA, Federal Disaster Relief Spending “Immoral” (rodonline.typepad.com)
• Emergency/Disaster Management – the politics (recoverydiva.com)

 

Here are some National polls… but the storm could change this

Here are the latest national tracking polls of the presidential race:

Back to the White House

Washington Post: Romney 49%, Obama 48%

Politico/George Washington University: Obama 49%, Romney 48%

Public Policy Polling: Romney 49%, Obama 48%

Reuters/Ipsos: Obama 49%, Romney 46%

Obama, however, has pulled away from campaign speeches so he could get back to the White House to manage the storm response for the East coast. This is a real sign of his being presidential… after all, he has a full-time job working for us. Romney being unemployed right now will keep up campaigning, but it will be interesting to see how he responds to the President’s activities.

Related articles

• Hurricane Sandy blows US election off course – Reuters (reuters.com)
• Tight polls, looming storm shake campaigns down the homestretch (thehill.com)

 

Some swing state updates…Ohio looks like Romney is sneaking up.

The strong lead Obama was carrying in Ohio is seen as a tie in this poll. While other polls may be different, this one from the Cincinnati Enquirer is still upsetting:

You get what you pay for…

Ohio: Obama 49%, Romney 49% (Cincinnati Enquirer)

Minnesota: Obama 47%, Romney 44% (Minneapolis Star Tribune)

Virginia: Obama 49%, Romney 46% (Priorities USA Action)

I’m really hoping that all these polls are not reality at all. They all  seem to  be set up to one side, left or right, by pollsters before they are taken.

For instance:

“…the Cincinnati Enquirer, a reliably conservative paper that virtually always endorses Republicans.  In 2008, they deftly endorsed John McCain without one word mentioning the walking time-bomb he had chosen as his Vice Presidential candidate.”

 – The Daily Kos

See what I mean?

Related articles

• Rasmussen All Tied In Ohio! (davidscommonsense.net)
• Minnesota Poll: Obama leading, but Romney sees gains – Minneapolis Star Tribune (startribune.com)
• Oct. 27: Minnesota Moonlights as Swing State, but Ohio and Virginia Are More Crucial (fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com)

A Quote for the Morning: A Republican criticizes the racism of his party…

Secretary of State under George W. Bush, Colin Powell, had retired Army Col. Lawrence Wilkerson as a Chief of Staff. Wilkerson made this comment in response to  John Sununu‘s statement on Thursday that Powell’s endorsement of President Barack Obama’s re-election was motivated by race:

“My party is full of racists, and the real reason a considerable portion of my party wants President Obama out of the White House has nothing to do with the content of his character, nothing to do with his competence as commander-in-chief and president, and everything to do with the color of his skin, and that’s despicable.”

– Col. Lawrence Wilkerson

And there are people who want these guys elected… why? We worked so hard for decades to establish the civil rights of all Americans. It was a triumph to elect our first black president and Obama has made significant achievements in his first term, even though he faced Republicans in the Congress who publicly pledged to keep his agenda from being passed.

Voting for Republicans in this election endorses their racial views. Do you?

Related articles

• Col. Lawrence Wilkerson says his party the Republican party is full of Racists (americanlivewire.com)
• Lawrence Wilkerson, Former Colin Powell Aide, Blasts Sununu, GOP As ‘Full Of Racists’ (democraticunderground.com)
• Col Lawrence Wilkerson On Republican Party: My Party Is Full Of Racists (ireport.cnn.com)
• Powell’s former chief of staff: I’m voting for Obama too (tv.msnbc.com)
• Video | Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson: “My Party Is Full Of Racist” (3chicspolitico.com)
• Romney campaign so desperate to change subject from Mourdock that they accuse Colin Powell of racism (dailykos.com)
• A Candid Republican Tells The Truth About Racism In His Party (duanegraham.wordpress.com)
• Sununu: Powell endorsed President Obama because of race (thehill.com)
• White Elephants (boyculture.com)
• Honesty – From the Mouth of a Conservative – Finally! (With Video Link) (euterpe-1641499.newsvine.com)

Friday Morning Humor – What if Men were treated like Women?

I found this yesterday and, believe me, this is a clear statement:

There you go, Ladies… pass it around.

This was in the NY Times this morning and it left me horrified…

This morning’s NY Times had this article which I found both disgusting and horrifying. After talking about the anti-woman proclivities of Republican candidates today, seeing what attitudes against women can turn into can be mortifying. If you can’t stomach anything as bad as the title suggests,  avoid reading it now.

Officer Held in Plot to Cook Women and Eat Them

By JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN

The police officer referred to the woman as Victim-1, recording details like her date of birth, height, weight and bra size. He made note of certain materials, like chloroform and rope.

And then the officer, Gilberto Valle, a six-year veteran of the New York Police Department, saved the document on his computer, titling the file “Abducting and Cooking (Victim-1): A Blueprint.”

In one of the most disturbing and unusual arrests involving a police officer, agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation took Officer Valle into custody on Wednesday after they uncovered several plots to kidnap, rape, cook and eat women.

“I was thinking of tying her body onto some kind of apparatus,” he wrote to a co-conspirator in one electronic communication intercepted by law enforcement authorities. “Cook her over a low heat, keep her alive as long as possible.”

When the co-conspirator asked how big the officer’s oven was, Officer Valle replied, “Big enough to fit one of these girls if I folded their legs.”

Two law enforcement officials familiar with the inquiry said the officer’s estranged wife recently contacted the F.B.I. to report that Officer Valle, 28, viewed and kept disturbing items on his computer. The couple has a daughter, age 1.

The criminal complaint suggests that Officer Valle, who worked in the 26th Precinct in Manhattan and lives in Forest Hills, Queens, never followed through on any of the acts he is accused of discussing.

His lawyer, Julia L. Gatto, said the officer committed no crime. “At worst, this is someone who has sexual fantasies,” Ms. Gatto said at a hearing on Thursday in Federal District Court in Manhattan.

“There is no actual crossing the line from fantasy to reality,” she added.

But a federal prosecutor, Hadassa Waxman, said Mr. Valle had communicated with three co-conspirators about his plans to commit a crime, and at one point used a police car while dressed in uniform to conduct surveillance of a woman, approaching her in “an intimidating fashion.”

Magistrate Judge Henry B. Pitman ordered Officer Valle to be held without bail on charges of federal kidnapping conspiracy.

The evidence consists largely of e-mails and instant messages in which Officer Valle was “discussing plans to kidnap, rape, torture, kill, cook and eat body parts of a number of women,” according to the complaint, which describes two episodes in which Officer Valle discussed abducting women. In each case, it appears that the women knew the officer vaguely. And in at least one case, the officer used the National Crime Information Center to get information about a third woman.

In a search of the officer’s computer, federal investigators discovered “files pertaining to at least 100 women,” according to the complaint. Some of them were his classmates from high school, a law enforcement official said.

“The F.B.I. has identified and interviewed 10 of these women, each of whom has confirmed to the F.B.I. that Valle is known to her,” the complaint said.

A law enforcement official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said investigators feared that Officer Valle might soon carry out one of his plots.

In February, Officer Valle offered to kidnap a woman on an unnamed person’s behalf for a price: “$5,000 and she is all yours,” the officer wrote to that person, according to the complaint.

Officer Valle appeared to be under the impression that the person he was communicating with intended to rape the woman, according to the complaint.

“She will be alive,” he wrote. “I think I would rather not get involved in the rape. You paid for her. She is all yours, and I don’t want to be tempted the next time I abduct a girl.”

While the complaint does not identify the woman in question, F.B.I. agents later learned that cellphone tracking devices indicated that Officer Valle had made or received calls on the block in Manhattan where the woman lived.

On July 19, Officer Valle sent an instant message to the co-conspirator, indicating that he was meeting with Victim-1 three days later, according to the complaint. The victim, who was interviewed in October by the F.B.I., said she had met the officer that day “at a restaurant for lunch,” according to the complaint. What happened during or after the lunch was not disclosed.

A dating profile, which a law enforcement official confirmed belonged to Officer Valle, suggested an engaging and gregarious young man. He wrote that he had attended Archbishop Molloy High School in Queens and the University of Maryland, College Park. (At the court hearing on Thursday, the officer wore a red T-shirt affiliated with the university.)

“I can find the humor in any situation,” he had written, adding that he had “an endless supply of hilarious short stories from work that can’t be made up.”

@ NY Times 2012

Related articles

• Officer plotted to kidnap women and cook them (ndtv.com)
• NYPD Officer Allegedly Intended To Rape, Cook and Eat Women (dreamindemon.com)
• New York Police Officer Arrested For Plotting To Eat Women (fox2now.com)
• NYPD Cop Allegedly Planned To Kidnap Women For Cannibalism And/Or Other Rapists (thegloss.com)
• The Strange Case of N.Y.P.D. Officer Gilberto Valle, Alleged Wannabe Cannibal (observer.com)
• NYC Cop Allegedly Plotted to Cook and Eat Women. Really. (jezebel.com)
• Prosecutors: NYPD officer conspired to kidnap, cook, eat women (cnn.com)
• Conspiracy to cannibalize women? (wptv.com)

 

On the Republicans and their sophisticated views on Rape…

The Friskey has published a Handy Dandy Guide with a great chart. Isn’t it amazing how these men don’t seem to ever have asked a woman what being raped and/or getting pregnant from it means? The Friskey comments on the gentlemen in the chart:

“I have such a hard time remembering which conservative politician said what ridiculously offensive thing about rape. They’re all old and white and most of them are in some state of partial baldness. They all look the same! And they all sound basically the same too, given that woman-hating bile spews from their open pie holes. Alas, they are all individual people, who hold or have held positions of power within government, and aspire to inflict their beliefs upon your life.”

You know, there are people who listen to and agree with these terrible concepts and who admire all five of these Republicans. You can bet Mitt and his buddy Ryan are included in these.

I will be amazed when someone comes out with the statistic after the election of how many women voted Republican. It is as if they would enjoy being treated like cattle.

Related articles

• Obama slams Mourdock: “Rape is rape” (blogs.suntimes.com)
• RAPE “that’s something God intended” GOP Senate Candidate Tells Women (theageofblasphemy.wordpress.com)
• Shady Pennsylvania Republicans Pass New Law Requiring Women To Prove They Were Raped! (bossip.com)
• Meet The Mourdocks: The Other Republicans Pushing To Block Abortions For Rape Victims (thinkprogress.org)
• Introducing ‘Emergency Rape’, This Season’s Hottest Rape Trend [Video] (jezebel.com)
• The real Republican rape platform | Jill Filipovic (guardian.co.uk)

We hear so much about truth when talking about candidates’ statements…

… but is Obama/Biden or Romney Ryan the more truthful team? The Dems are the losers on lying… but the Republicans cannot seem to achieve overall truthfulness. Politifact evaluates their percentages of truthful expression as follows:

So if having candidates you can believe is important, then there is no question of which team to support.

Related articles

• Obama’s story, Romney’s story, and the truth: Previewing the debate (news.yahoo.com)
• Letter: Not much of an endorsement of Romney, Ryan in their own backyards (tcpalm.com)
• Democrats’ truth vs. GOP lies (salon.com)
• Politico Truth Meters – Potus Obama & Mitt the Twit (bonjupatten.wordpress.com)

 

What in hell is it about Republicans and rape?

A new television ad in Indiana has Romney endorsing Richard Mourdock for Senator in that state. Mourdock, however, has displayed the Republicans‘ opposition to women and the right to choose. In a televised debate with his Democratic opponent Representative Joe Donnelly, he opposed abortion as a choice after rape… why? because God says so:

“Life is that gift from God. I think that even when life begins in that horrible situation of rape, that it is something God intended to happen.”

— Richard Mourdock 

So this is a new and compelling reason (if you are a Republican) to leave raped women pregnant whether they want to bear a rapist‘s child or not. And, of course, Romney’s support indicates his actual neoconservative leanings, despite having tried to seem moderate in the last debate.

It’s hard to believe that any of these candidates would top Todd Akin, but Mourdock certainly has.

Related articles

• Ind. GOP Senate candidate Richard Mourdock: Pregnancy from rape can be ‘something that God intended to happen’ – @washingtonpost (washingtonpost.com)
• Richard Mourdock under fire for rape remarks (politico.com)
• Mourdock: God at work when rape leads to pregnancy (news.yahoo.com)
• Video: Indiana Senate Candidate Richard Mourdock Says Pregnancy is a “Gift From God” Even in Rape (opposingviews.com)
• Indiana Republican: When life begins from rape, “God intended” it (reuters.com)
• GOP U.S. Senate Candidate Calls Rape Pregnancies A ‘Gift From God’ (thinkprogress.org)
• Mourdock: God at work when rape leads to pregnancy (sfgate.com)
• Indiana GOP U.S. Senate candidate Mourdock: rape pregnancies “something that God intended to happen” (blogs.suntimes.com)

We’ve had enough of Mitt…

… so let’s take a look at why we don’t want Ryan for VP:

 

So if you are a woman or a senior citizen or a poor person needing medical services, perhaps you can see why this Republican rodent shouldn’t be elected.

Cartoon(s) of the Week – OK, the campaign is almost over but Romney has made an impression…

Adam Zyglis in The Buffalo News:

And Monday night we’ll hear his foreign policy ideas…

– and –

David Fitzsimmons in the Arizona Daily Star:

Then again, Romney seems to present the Voter’s Right To Choose.

– and –

David Horsey in the L. A. Times:

Is there anything Romney won’t switch positions on?

– and –

Pat Bagley in the Salt Lake Tribune

Winning and Losing causes great party differences…

– and –

Matt Bors in the Portland Mercury:

And he keeps up his attempt to get women’s votes…

 

 

An Architectural Marvel is up for trashing in Chicago…

I am deeply upset with my alma mater, Northwestern University, as they attempt to tear down a particularly special architectural classic from the 70s. This  preservation battle has been building for months in Chicago on the fate of the old Prentice Women’s Hospital, a concrete, cloverleaf structure from 1975 by Chicago architect Bertrand Goldberg.  Famous architects and designers like Frank Gehry, Jeanne Gang, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien have signed petitions entreating Northwestern, who owns the building, not to tear it down, pleading for Mayor Rahm Emanuel to give it landmark status.

The university says it needs new biomedical research facilities and that Prentice is too small, old and quirky to adapt. A new building would bring to the city millions of investment dollars, create jobs and save lives – that’s Northwestern’s argument.

So here is a suggestion: Build a research tower on top of Prentice. The architect Jeanne Gang has a proposal for a new research tower on top of the hospital:

Why save Prentice? There are  Chicagoans that hate it. Concrete buildings from the ’70s are becoming  unpopular outside architectural circles, although it’s spreading, and rightly so. Great late-Modernist buildings, innovative and ruggedly beautiful, deserve respect and careful custody. Prentice is a good example.

Architect Goldberg, who died in 1997, used a pioneering form of computer modeling to engineer a tour de force: an open, seven-story maternity ward inside the cloverleaf shell, cantilevered 45 feet from the supporting core.

Great buildings have often survived the wrecking ball by being added to, incorporated into larger structures or updated for a new era — in Rome and Istanbul, New York and Chicago.

 

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If you’ve heard about employers telling employees how to vote or their jobs are on the line…

… then perhaps you’d like to know where they got that idea.

Well, they got it from Mittens last summer.

In a June 6, 2012 conference call posted on the anti-union National Federation of Independent Business’s website, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney instructed employers to tell their employees how to vote in the upcoming election. In a phone call, after making a lengthy case that President Obama’s first term has been bad for business, Romney said:

I hope you make it very clear to your employees what you believe is in the best interest of your enterprise and therefore their job and their future in the upcoming elections. And whether you agree with me or you agree with President Obama, or whatever your political view, I hope, I hope you pass those along to your employees.

Obviously, the Romney campaign is complicit in corporate attempts to influence employees’ votes that have made headlines in the past few days.

On Sunday, In These Times broke the news that Koch Industries mailed at least 45,000 employees a voter information packet that included a flyer endorsing Romney and a letter warning,:

“Many of our more than 50,000 U.S. employees and contractors may suffer the consequences [of a bad election result], including higher gasoline prices, runaway inflation, and other ills.”

In the June call, Romney went on to reassure his audience that it is perfectly legal for them to talk to their employees about how to vote:

Nothing illegal about you talking to your employees about what you believe is best for the business, because I think that will figure into their election decision, their voting decision and of course doing that with your family and your kids as well. 

He’s correct that such speech is now legal for the first time ever, thanks to the Citizen United ruling.

Beyond Romney’s statements on the call, it’s unclear whether his election operation is actively coordinating workplace campaigning by businesses. Romney press secretary Andrea Saul did not respond to In These Times’request for comment.However, the conference call raises troubling questions about what appears to be a growing wave of workplace political pressure unleashed by Citizens United.

Here’s Romney presenting this crap to businesses:

Related articles

• Koch Industries Warns 45,000 Employees Of ‘Consequences’ If They Don’t Vote For Republicans (thinkprogress.org)
• Koch Industries Sends Pro-Romney Mail To 45,000 Employees Warning Of “Consequences” (alan.com)
• Unacceptable! Koch Brothers Urge Employees To Vote For Romney…Or Else (newsone.com)
• Urgent message from the boss: vote Romney (smh.com.au)

Obama was the clear winner last night…

Without being merely a violent attacker, Obama went after Romney by pointing out the misinformation he passed along in point after point. Obama did it by ultimately being Presidential. Romney screwed up by being non-Presidential (and insulting to America‘s President, a tasteless move.)

I think I agree with Bill Maher in summing up Obama’s performance:

“Obama was decent enough to not piss on the CORPSE”

Obama has completely recovered from the problems with the first debate. He made sure the 47% statement of Romney got into the discussion after Romney tried to tell us that he was supportive of and trying to help the 100%.

“Not true, Governor Romney… not true” was the statement Obama had an ease of coming back with. Did he do an active attack like “liar, liar“? No… he was respectful, something Romney is not capable of.

I’m really looking forward to the third debate.

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• CBS Poll: Romney Wins 65-34 on Economy; CNN Poll: Romney Wins 54-40 on Economy, 49-46 on Health Care, 51-44 on Taxes, 59-36 on Deficit, 49-46 on Leadership, All in Favor of Romney (minx.cc)
• Obama and Romney Both Face Challenges in Second Presidential Debate (forextv.com)

 

Romney elected would mean the end of Roe v. Wade and the criminalization of abortion…

From this morning’s editorial in the NY Times:

Mr. Romney has called for overturning Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court ruling that recognized a woman’s constitutional right to make her own childbearing decisions and to legalized abortion nationwide. He has said that the issue should be thrown back to state legislatures. The actual impact of that radical rights rollback is worth considering.

It would not take much to overturn the Roe decision. With four of the nine members of the Supreme Court over 70 years old, the next occupant of the White House could have the opportunity to appoint one or more new justices. If say, Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the oldest member, retired and Mr. Romney named a replacement hostile to abortion rights, the basic right to abortion might well not survive.

The result would turn back the clock to the days before Roe v. Wade when abortion was legal only in some states, but not in others. There is every indication that about half the states would make abortion illegal within a year of Roe being struck down, according to the Guttmacher Institute. The Center for Reproductive Rights, which challenges abortion restrictions around the country, puts the number at 30 states. For one thing, abortion bans already on the books in some states would suddenly kick in. And some Republican-controlled state legislatures would outlaw abortion immediately.

Even with Roe and subsequent decisions upholding abortion rights, more than half the states have enacted barriers like mandatory waiting periods, “counseling” sessions lacking a real medical justification; parental consent or notification laws; and onerous clinic “safety” rules intended to drive clinics out of business.

We do not need to guess about the brutal consequences of overturning Roe. We know from our own country’s pre-Roe history and from the experience around the world. Women desperate to end a pregnancy would find a way to do so. Well-to-do women living in places where abortion is illegal would travel to other states where it is legal to obtain the procedure. Women lacking the resources would either be forced by the government and politicians to go through with an unwanted or risky pregnancy, attempt to self-abort or turn to an illegal — and potentially unsafe — provider for help. Women’s health, privacy and equality would suffer. Some women would die.

…and women still have the ability to get Obama re-elected and protect their right to choose. I’m always amazed at middle-class Republican women who support Romney. Essentially they are making themselves potential victims.

Related articles

• NYT Editorial on Romney and a Future Without Roe v. Wade (lawprofessors.typepad.com)
• Romney: I Want the Supreme Court to Overturn Roe v. Wade via Life News.com (loopyloo305.com)
• Romney: Abortion is not ‘part of my agenda.’ Romney campaign: Oh yes it is. (dailykos.com)
• Romney Needs a Groin Shot (boomantribune.com)
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• Debate Moderator Candy Crowley Calls Out Romney ‘Then and Now’ on Abortion (politicususa.com)
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• Mitt Romney’s Constantly Evolving Stance On Abortion Rights (thinkprogress.org)

 

Getting ready for tonight’s debate…

I really want to think about those things Romney is lying about so that when they pop up in the debate I can yell at the television and wish him ill results in the election.

For instance, when Mittens says Obama added more to the deficit than any previous President, we should look at the facts:

 

Did you see what those Repiglicans did?

 

It’s interesting, then, that Obama has the trust of Americans on most issues, but somehow Romney has labeled himself as the deficit reducer — given the things he seems to be representing, this is really impossible. I think people need to think this over and I hope Obama clarifies everything tonight.

 

Great lead for Obama on handling an unexpected crisis.

And look what Obama scored in government spending vs. the Repilicans’ great hero Reagan:

 

Ok… I have high expectations for Obama tonight. I hope you do, too.

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What is it about Republicans and their need to create wars?

Here’s where to look for a World News Daily article by Jamal Abdi: New Senate Push to Pledge Unconditional Support for Israeli “Preventive” War on Iran.

Before reading it, here’s the first couple of sentences:

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is planning to press the Senate next month to pledge U.S. troops, money, and political support to Israel should Bibi Netanyahu launch a preventive war on Iran.

Graham claims his effort would merely make explicit that the U.S. has Israel’s back. But when your friend is drunk, you don’t hand them the keys. If Graham has his way, he will hand Bibi the keys and lend him our car, while the rest of us ride shotgun.

If this gets you at all nervous about creating a new major mideast war at the behest of Israel (and Lindsay Graham), then get ready to write your senator.

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