A Serious Reality Check
“It's disgraceful that the Obama administration's first response was not
to condemn attacks on our diplomatic missions, but to sympathize with
those who waged the attacks.”
-Mitt Romney
And the winner is....
It isn't Mitt Romney, that's for damned sure. He pretty much blew it in the late hours of September 11 - a date that will now be synonymous with the self-destruction of the Romney campaign - among other things I need not remind you about. The former Massachusetts governor proved - YET AGAIN - that he's not ready for prime time. Hell, he's barely ready for an early morning test pattern. It kinda makes you wonder about the intellectual capacity of the Republican candidate - and those advising him. It's all over....I hope.
If a more utterly perfect reason not to send this fool to the White House was needed, it was generously provided to us last week - gift wrapped - by Mitt Romney himself!
Incredibly, der Mittster was responding to a statement he claimed was made by the Obama administration in their reaction to the terror attacks on the US embassies in Egypt and Libya. Only it wasn't made by the administration. It was made by the embassy in Cairo - and they weren't responding to the attacks. The statement was made hours before. What they were reacting to an incendiary video that was produced by some half-witted extremist in the United States that has the Arab world in an uproar. Mitt must have known that he was inflaming an already dangerous situation. And if he was unaware of what he was doing, he (and the people he surrounds himself with) are too incompetently idiotic to be trusted by reasonable people with the responsibilities of the chief executive.
Incredibly, poor old Mitt was given a golden opportunity to roll back his silly remarks the following day, and yet - astonishingly - he only dove deeper into the rhetorical muck, head-first and smiling. Obama is an appeaser to a cabal of terrorists, dope addicts, commies, beggars and thieves according to the governor. The guy is the gift that keeps giving.
The "foreign policy advisers" that Romney has surrounded himself with are the same neocon freaks that plunged this country into an unnecessary, nine year war when it invaded the (like it or not) sovereign nation of Iraq. Seventeen out of twenty-four of these geniuses were part of the Bush Mob. These same people are now rattling their sabers, drooling for us to go to war with Iran. Since I assume most of us have the capacity of 20/20 hindsight, the question needs to be asked:
Do we really want to go down this road again?
There are people out there who would send this country into the abyss rather than reelect an African American to the most powerful office in the world. There is no denying it. I see it every day in my personal interactions. A significant minority of his fellow Americans despise the president of the United States for no other reason than the color of his skin. They may not be telling the pollsters this, they may not be mentioning it to their black acquaintances, but that is the truth. We have to face the unvarnished reality, unpleasant as that reality may be. We can only beg our bigoted brethren that on Election Day, they check their racism at the town hall door - or wherever-the-hell the place is they cast their ballots. Not that that's gonna happen. That's just silly, wishful thinking on my part. Pay it no mind.
We need to take a hard, focused look at where we all will be headed if Romney miraculously manages to seize the Executive Mansion. And it will be a seizure - much like it was twelve years ago. They know they can't possibly win this thing fairly and squarely. That is the purpose (the only purpose) of those so-called "Voter ID Laws". The plutocracy is planning an electoral coup d'tat. Count on it.
It cannot possibly be understated, the mess this president inherited when he moved into the White House on 20 January 2009. If you'll be so kind to recall, we were losing three quarters of a million jobs a month. Barack Obama was able to stem the tide and then reverse it. We'll soon be approaching Month Number Thirty-One of continuous job growth. Are you silly enough to believe that even deeper tax cuts for multi-millionaires and billionaires will make those figures any better? Have another sip, pal. In fact I may join you.
As the old wisdom says, "Be careful what you wish for."
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net
SUGGESTED LISTENING:
Military Madness
by Graham Nash
`
And the winner is....
It isn't Mitt Romney, that's for damned sure. He pretty much blew it in the late hours of September 11 - a date that will now be synonymous with the self-destruction of the Romney campaign - among other things I need not remind you about. The former Massachusetts governor proved - YET AGAIN - that he's not ready for prime time. Hell, he's barely ready for an early morning test pattern. It kinda makes you wonder about the intellectual capacity of the Republican candidate - and those advising him. It's all over....I hope.
If a more utterly perfect reason not to send this fool to the White House was needed, it was generously provided to us last week - gift wrapped - by Mitt Romney himself!
Incredibly, poor old Mitt was given a golden opportunity to roll back his silly remarks the following day, and yet - astonishingly - he only dove deeper into the rhetorical muck, head-first and smiling. Obama is an appeaser to a cabal of terrorists, dope addicts, commies, beggars and thieves according to the governor. The guy is the gift that keeps giving.
The "foreign policy advisers" that Romney has surrounded himself with are the same neocon freaks that plunged this country into an unnecessary, nine year war when it invaded the (like it or not) sovereign nation of Iraq. Seventeen out of twenty-four of these geniuses were part of the Bush Mob. These same people are now rattling their sabers, drooling for us to go to war with Iran. Since I assume most of us have the capacity of 20/20 hindsight, the question needs to be asked:
Do we really want to go down this road again?
There are people out there who would send this country into the abyss rather than reelect an African American to the most powerful office in the world. There is no denying it. I see it every day in my personal interactions. A significant minority of his fellow Americans despise the president of the United States for no other reason than the color of his skin. They may not be telling the pollsters this, they may not be mentioning it to their black acquaintances, but that is the truth. We have to face the unvarnished reality, unpleasant as that reality may be. We can only beg our bigoted brethren that on Election Day, they check their racism at the town hall door - or wherever-the-hell the place is they cast their ballots. Not that that's gonna happen. That's just silly, wishful thinking on my part. Pay it no mind.We need to take a hard, focused look at where we all will be headed if Romney miraculously manages to seize the Executive Mansion. And it will be a seizure - much like it was twelve years ago. They know they can't possibly win this thing fairly and squarely. That is the purpose (the only purpose) of those so-called "Voter ID Laws". The plutocracy is planning an electoral coup d'tat. Count on it.
It cannot possibly be understated, the mess this president inherited when he moved into the White House on 20 January 2009. If you'll be so kind to recall, we were losing three quarters of a million jobs a month. Barack Obama was able to stem the tide and then reverse it. We'll soon be approaching Month Number Thirty-One of continuous job growth. Are you silly enough to believe that even deeper tax cuts for multi-millionaires and billionaires will make those figures any better? Have another sip, pal. In fact I may join you.
As the old wisdom says, "Be careful what you wish for."
Tom Degan
Goshen, NY
tomdegan@frontiernet.net
SUGGESTED LISTENING:
Military Madness
by Graham Nash
`
I don't care what anyone says. This recording makes perfect sense - and still resonates - forty years later. Call me a naive peace-freak if you must.
"Military madness is killing the country."
SUGGESTED READING:
AlterNet: Romney Reveals His Contempt for Half of America
This is too good to be true. Romney just lost the election. Mother Jones has struck gold with this self-immolating video of an appearance der Mittster made at a fundraiser earlier this year. Barack Obama is one lucky son of a bitch. Fate has always been kind enough to put in his path to political office knuckleheads or genuine head cases (Remember Alan Keyes?) In Mitt's case it seems to be a happy combination of both.
Life is beautiful.
I would suggest that everyone share this article/video with as many people as possible. I know I'm going to. If after viewing this clip you're still not convinced that Romney is an unfeeling, ill-informed twit, you really shouldn't be taking part in the electoral process. Seriously.
"Military madness is killing the country."
SUGGESTED READING:
AlterNet: Romney Reveals His Contempt for Half of America
This is too good to be true. Romney just lost the election. Mother Jones has struck gold with this self-immolating video of an appearance der Mittster made at a fundraiser earlier this year. Barack Obama is one lucky son of a bitch. Fate has always been kind enough to put in his path to political office knuckleheads or genuine head cases (Remember Alan Keyes?) In Mitt's case it seems to be a happy combination of both.
Life is beautiful.
I would suggest that everyone share this article/video with as many people as possible. I know I'm going to. If after viewing this clip you're still not convinced that Romney is an unfeeling, ill-informed twit, you really shouldn't be taking part in the electoral process. Seriously.
posted by Tom Degan @ 5:49 AM
21 comments
21 Comments:
Tom, you are absolutely right; the GOP never lets facts get in the way of their lies. As for the racism issue, it sort of reminds me of the old comment "I am not a racist. In fact some of my best friends are black"... .yeah.
Patricia, an excellent response. It is interesting that after so many years of trying to run for public office, Romney is so poorly organized. The fact is, he has no plan for anything. He simply wants to be president to add another title to his engraved letterhead.
Reality? Ha. Socialist lies!
Obama sympathized with the rioters, after apologizing to his fellow African Muslims. You'd think he'd watch what he says after telling us, "You didn't build your business".
"Clip and Snip" Mitt, a man of courage, humility, compassion, wisdom and restraint, showed real leadership in the entire matter.
And another thing. Most newscasters call the president Mr. Obama. As opposed to referring to the Bush's, for instance, as President Bush.
Patricia said...
"I have never seen such hatred and disrespect of a President"
You must have been in a cave during the 8 years Bush II was President. List the hate and disrespect you have personally seen of President Obama.
Of this, how much "hate and disrespect have you seen from Governor Romney?
Excellent article as always Tom.
As for the neo-Neanderthals and their constant blab about an apology that never was -- not that I have any hope that they'll let facts get in their way:
"What three apology experts say
To explore whether the statement represented an apology, we sent it to the four experts we interviewed for our previous fact-check on Romney's claim about Obama's apology tour. Here are the comments of the three who responded:
•John Murphy, a communications professor at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who studies presidential rhetoric and political language, said Romney was wrong to label it an apology.
"First, the statement does not use the word ‘apology’ or ‘apologize’ and does not use any synonym for that word. There is no statement here that says, ‘We are sorry.’
"Second, the grammar of the statement condemns the actions of a third party. An apology, to be pedantic, is when the first party says to the second party, ‘I have offended you and I am sorry.’ This statement condemns a third party -- misguided individuals -- that does not officially represent the United States. The term ‘individuals’ dissociates them from the U.S. Therefore, it's impossible to say that this is an apology from the U.S. to anyone.
"Third, the statement does not apologize for the right of free speech; it affirms it. It condemns those who abuse the right of free speech, but it claims that this is a universal right, as is religious toleration. So, the statement does not like what the misguided individuals said and did, but recognizes they have a right to do it."
"It's a condemnation," Murphy said, "not an apology."
• Lauren Bloom, an attorney and business consultant who wrote The Art of the Apology, said that Romney is "once again allowing his emotional allergy to apology to interfere with his judgment."
Bloom said that "if there's anything more central to American values than respecting each individual's right to worship as he or she pleases, I'd be hard-pressed to say what it might be. The statement that ‘respect for religious beliefs is a cornerstone of American democracy’ not only is true, but is as clear an expression of one of our most cherished values as I can imagine."
She said the embassy statement is "not an apology -- quite the contrary, it's a confirmation that the American people recognize the right to worship freely and will not accept religious bullying in the name of free speech. To say that someone who deliberately insults others in the name of religion has acted wrongly isn't an apology -- it's simply a recognition that those insults go too far."
• Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann, a professor who studies international human rights and maintains the website Political Apologies and Reparations, a database of documents on apologies, said the statement is "not an apology."
Rather, she said, "it is a condemnation of ‘abuse’ of the universal value of free speech. A condemnation is not an apology. … The Embassy statement also reaffirms two American values: the American value of respect for religious beliefs and the American value of democracy."
http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/article/2012/sep/12/romney-says-us-embassy-statement-was-apology-was-i/
Patricia> I have never seen such hatred and disrespect of a President.
Bush seemed to be pretty hateful and disrespectful ...and that was to citizens of his own nation - but lets forget about my personal gripes of things like loosing what I loved about our nation like constitutional rights and protections provided by law. Launching a war that resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths on a pretext seems disrespectful and hateful...
I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but Obama has continued with far to many of the Bush policies. Much more of this and we might become ashamed of being Americans.
THIS IS ONE REASON WHY WE SHOULD DO ALL WE CAN TO RE-ELECT PRESIDENT OBAMA
Since Obama has taken office ….
[through Q2 2012 for comparative purposes]
–> For every $1 added to the economy, we’ve added more than $3 in debt
–> added $5.23 trillion in debt vs. $1.68 trillion to the economy
–> 50% increase in debt vs. 12% increase in economic output
Total Public Debt:
$10,626T [Jan 20, 2009]
$15,856T [Jun 30, 2012]
–> $5.23 trillion increase in debt
[source: Treasury Dept]
HE KNOWS HOW TO SPEND THE TAXES THE 50% OF US WHO STILL PAY AND OWE INCOME TAXES TO THE IRS EACH YEAR.
Speaking of reality check, which of these is your favorite?
The following are 30 incredibly stupid things that the federal government is spending money on….
#1 The U.S. government is spending $750,000 on a new soccer field for detainees held at Guantanamo Bay.
#2 The Obama administration plans to spend between 16 and 20 million dollars helping students from Indonesia get master’s degrees.
#3 If you can believe it, the U.S. government has spent $175,587 “to determine if cocaine makes Japanese quail engage in sexually risky behavior”.
#4 The U.S. government spent $200,000 on “a tattoo removal program” in Mission Hills, California.
#5 The federal government has shelled out $3 million to researchers at the University of California at Irvine to fund their research on video games such as World of Warcraft. Wouldn’t we all love to have a “research job” like that?
#6 The Department of Health and Human Services plans to spend $500 million on a program that will, among other things, seek to solve the problem of 5-year-old children that “can’t sit still” in a kindergarten classroom.
#7 Fannie Mae is about to ask the federal government for another $4.6 billion bailout, and it will almost certainly get it.
#8 The federal government once spent 30 million dollars on a program that was designed to help Pakistani farmers produce more mangos.
#9 The U.S. Department of Agriculture once gave researchers at the University of New Hampshire $700,000 to study methane gas emissions from dairy cows.
#10 According to USA Today, 13 different government agencies “fund 209 different science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education programs — and 173 of those programs overlap with at least one other program.”
#11 A total of $615,000 was given to the University of California at Santa Cruz to digitize photos, T-shirts and concert tickets belonging to the Grateful Dead.
#12 China lends us more money than any other foreign nation, but that didn’t stop our government from spending 17.8 million dollars on social and environmental programs for China.
#13 The U.S. government once spent 2.6 million dollars to train Chinese prostitutes to drink responsibly.
#14 One professor at Stanford University was given $239,100 to study how Americans use the Internet to find love.
#15 The U.S. Postal Service spent $13,500 on a single dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.
#16 The National Science Foundation once spent $216,000 to study whether or not politicians “gain or lose support by taking ambiguous positions”.
#17 A total of $1.8 million was spent on a “museum of neon signs” in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Anon, perhaps you should try to understand who this huge debt is owed to. Are these the same people who bankroll both the republican and democratic politicians?
It looks like 'we' are going to be paying them essentially forever. Virtually unlimited income for a few billion invested in politics. The banker tycoons have rigged the game. It is so obvious what is going on. Giving Obama credit is a stretch, he is just another piece on the board...
John said...
"Anon, perhaps you should try to understand who this huge debt is owed to"
CHINA is who owns our debt
MORE SERIOUS REALITY THAN NEEDS TO BE CHECKED:
A college professor has been placed on leave after she allegedly forced her class to sign a pledge to vote for President Obama in the upcoming elections.
Early last week Professor Sharon Sweet at Brevard Community College (BCC) allegedly told students to sign a pledge that reads: “I pledge to vote for President Obama and Democrats up and down the ticket.”
The pledge was printed off of GottaVote.org, a website funded by the Obama campaign.
University administrators said they learned about the incident late Thursday afternoon and launched an investigation, after they received a phone call from a concerned parent.
“Based on the allegations, Associate Professor Sweet has requested, and been granted, a leave of absence without pay effective immediately,” reads a statement put out by John Glisch, Associate Vice President for Communications at BCC.
I stand shoulder to shoulder with "Anonymous". He and I are the only real Americans here.
The Romney comment that has the liberal democrats all up in arms. If 47% of us are not dependent on the govt, why are they cashing the checks they get from the govt?
Anonymous....because their jobs have either been outsourced or taken by illegal immigrants who should not be here to begin with. The folks who don't pay taxes are living at or below the poverty level ( yeah almost HALF the country asshole ) so without income they have no tax liability. You want to trade places with them ??
ANON: "CHINA is who owns our debt"
Yea, I'm sure that you can run up a substantial debt with the numbers of people shopping at wallmart and the Mitt Romnies of the world outsourcing manufacturing. However, that debt pales in comparison to 'loans' from the fed. There have been several times in recent years that this has escalated by trillions (or should i say Trillions) in a single day.
Ellis, so after 4 years of Obama almost half of we Americans don't earn enough to owe taxes because they live under the poverty level? I'd say if Obama gets 4 more years the rest of us will be under the poverty level and owe nothing in taxes. Sounds like a plan.
Our debt is owned by China because they bought our govt bonds as a way of lending us money for the trillions of dollars Obama needed to stimulate our economy. Not due to people shopping at Walmart. The entitlements in our budget can not be substained no matter what the top tax rate is or even if we stopped all spending on every thing except entitlements. Thats what we have now and it seems that per the polls today 47% of us have no problem with that. They support Obama.
And II your worried about jobs going overseas, take a look at the people on Obamas economic commission. Most are CEO's of company's that outsource American jobs. Like GE who paid no federal income tax.
Wake up fools, liberalism Is not working and will stop only when there is no privately held capital or wealth.
Tom,
You know that this administration was warned of an attack 3 days before it happened. Shouldn't that be a concer? If nothing else it answers Hillary's question about the 3:00 in the morning phone call
Anon: "Wake up fools, liberalism Is not working..."
What is your point? Hopefully YOU will wake up and realize the power in Washington is wielded by the oligarchs - if you are not satisfied by the way your government is run, figure out a way to control them - as they are responsible for most significant policy.
If you blame liberals (or most any other group) for the state of the nation, it just means that you have already been conquered.
As far is waking up is concerned, I hope it happens. To you, me and everybody - that in itself would be a revolution. Also the fact that people are sleeping is also telling - it is probably by design. Maybe propaganda delivered by the 'liberally biased media' - which coincidentally is owned by those plutocrats.
Awkward math
top 1% of earners, earn 17% of all income and pay 37% of all Federal income taxes
2-5% of earners earn 15% of all income and pay 22% of all Federal taxes
5-10% of earners earn 11% of all income and pay 12% of all Federal income taxes
10-25% of earners earn 23% of all income and pay 17% of all Federal income taxes
25-50% of earners earn 21% of all income and pay 10% of all Federal income taxes
50% of earners earn 13% of all income and pay 2% of all Federal income taxes
When will every one pay their fair share to the IRS??
"Not an altruistic thought EVER enters their minds"
Ellis D., Esq., one of Dianne Warwick's physic friends, knows what every rich capitalist pig is thinking.
You can hire Physic Friend Ellis D., Esq by calling him @ 1-555-FREEPOT.
If you get a recording, just leave a message, and when Physic Friend Ellis D Esq returns from handling his munches, he will read your mind for you.
SMALL PRINT: this ad does not imply anyone can read others minds, it is for a entertainment service and a hot line on how to score some really good pot! Not USDA approved, nor will it prevent STD's if one practices in unprotected sex with strangers while HIGH. There, that should keep Obama's Justice Dept and Eric Holder away looking for racism and voter fraud (heehee)
Anonymous....no mind reading is involved. My statement was deduced by inference based on the behavior of conservatives. If you folks ever did have an altruistic thought why don't you ever act in an altruistic manner ?? A blind man can see where your sun shines....
Post a Comment
<< Home