Newt Gingrich is getting cocky. Gingrich says that he will let President Barack Obama use a teleprompter during their debates. We haven't even had the Iowa caucus and Newt is declaring himself the Republican nominee. Gingrich then plays to the birther elements of the base by declaring that Obama hasn't studied American history.
Gingrich and other Republicans (such as Marco Rubio) love to question Obama's intelligence. My first thought is this is the party that had President George W. Bush as their leader. The second is Republicans fail to mention that Obama went to the House Republicans retreat in 2010. Obama answered questions from the Republican caucus. Obama out-debated the Republicans so badly that Fox News cuts away. Obama could debate the entire House GOP membership. Gingrich is really full of himself if he thinks he can beat Obama in a debate.
"When the people fear the government, there is tyranny. When the government fears the people, there is liberty." -- Thomas Jefferson
So which is it, President Obama? Which is it going to be?
This much is certain: No-one in my sons' history books is quoted as having said, "Give me tyranny or give me death."
Visitors will not line up to visit a Statue of Tyranny any time soon.
"With tyranny and justice for all..." is a contradiction in terms.
And good luck trying to convince idealistic young men and women that they're being sent to fight and die in OPEC theatres because it's vitally important to protect Americans'...tyranny.
"All the Occupy movement starts with the premise that we owe everything. They take over a public park they didn't pay for, to go to nearby to use bathrooms they didn't pay for, to beg for food from places they don't want to pay for, to obstruct those who are are going to work to substain the bathrooms and to substain the park, so they can self-rightously explain they are the paragons of virtue to which we owe everything.
"This is a pretty good symptom of how much the left has collapsed as a moral system in this country, and why you need to reassert something by saying to them, 'Go get a job right after you take a bath.'"
I find it hysterical that Newt Gingrich bought $500,000 in jewelry from Tiffany without paying. Yet, Gingrich has a problem with taxpayers using public parks to assemble. The hypocrisy is standard Gingrich.
If you have ever followed Gingrich's political career you know he always picks the losing side. Gingrich lost the government shutdowns and impeachment of President Bill Clinton. Gingrich was such a disaster that his own party forced him out of Congress. Members of the Clinton administration made off-the-record quotes about being sad about not having Gingrich to kick around, anymore.
A smart politician would try to please the base and not alienate the majority of general election voters that sympathize with the positions of OWS. You can believe that supporting the tax cuts for the rich and bank bailouts will not play in this economy. Gingrich is too politically tone deaf to understand this. The fact that Gingrich supports such economically unpopular positions means that OWS is winning. You can bank on Gingrich being on the losing side of this debate.
Could Van Jones with the able assistance of Soros and friends be paying us back for not so gently removing him from our White House? Van Jones, Obama's ex-green CZAR is threatening Americans, saying if we think the OWS Protest movement is bad now, "You haven't seen anything yet." The question being is this just idle rhetoric or is this just the beginning of total destruction to our Country and Americans?
Actually Van Jones knows plenty about this protest movement and he's been doing some back seat driving in an attempt to keep the fire fueled. President Obama, the Democratic Party and the "Occupy Wall Street" mobs are right on target as they follow Lenin's formula in organizing a Socialistic economy.
What we're seeing is the centralization of force by the Democrats, Unions, and Soros and as Lenin said, the "useful idiots" which pretty much describes the OWS. They have had some violent acts and are making threats of violence, which if allowed to continue will turn into blood on our streets.
Conservatives have quoted Lenin calling the Left "useful idiots." The fact is no one has been able to find this quote in Lenin's writings. It is a made up talking point used by the Right to discredit the Left. Conservative columnist William Safire did research and could not fine the quote in Lenin's writings.
Little Tboca types "CZAR" in big letters with the suggestion that the Russians czars were communist/socialist. As I wrote before, the Russian czars were not aligned with Lenin. The Lenin-led Bolsheviks overthrew and executed Nicholis II. There was never another czar in Russia after Lenin came into power. Little Tboca and other Tea Party activists really need to read more history and stop believing everything Glenn Beck utters as the gospel truth.
The nonsense about OWS wanting to spill blood is easily disproved. Like the Iranian protests, the power of video is delivering the truth to the whole world. OWS peacefully protested. Campus police officers responded by pepper-spraying the protesters in the face at point blank range. Near the end of the video, the protesters tell the police to peacefully leave. The police complied. So much for blood in the streets.
UC Davis Chanceller Linda Katehi held a press conference. Students assembled outside. Katehi stayed in the building and implied to the media that it was unsafe for her to venture outside. Students met with Katehi and told her they would not stop her from leaving. The video below shows the students clearing a path for Katehi.
Facts are stubborn things. Videos on the internet show police using needless violence against OWS protesters. The people against OWS say they are against socialism. However, these same conservatives are silent about the socialism of the bank bailouts. The Tea Party say they originally formed to protest the bailout but have never marched on Wall Street or the Treasury Department. Bailouts are anti-free market. The Tea Party like socialism. Just not for the majority of American people. Useful idiots, indeed.
Cubana speak Spanish. There is no Cuban language. I wonder if Cain thinks Klingon is a real language.
Yes, Star Trek geeks. I know someone with far too much time came up with a Klingon language. No one who has had sex before the age of 30 years-old speaks Klingon.
Occupy Oakland protester Kayvan Sabehgi is an Iraq war veteran. The video shows Sabehgi being severely beaten by several police officers. Sabehgi suffered severe injuries, including a lacerated spleen. Police did not get Sabehgi to a hospital until 18 hours after his arrest. This is police brutality. Pure and simple.
I wish President Barack Obama would hold a press conference and show the media footage of these horrible beatings. My dream would be for Obama to ask the media why they were not reporting these episodes of police violence. I would want Obama to then say that we cannot have Americans being beaten to protect the bonuses of Wall Street CEOs. It is time for serious reform of the financial market. Unfortunately, this is a President that thinks Lawrence Summers is a genius. True reform will have to come from the people. This is what the Occupy Wall Street movement is all about.
Seriously. Check out the corporate logos on an armored TPD police vehicle. When did the TPD start getting corporate sponsors like NASCAR. The photo was taken by Occupy Tampa.
TPD just drove by our camp in a tracked armored personel carrier. PLEASE COME OUT TONIGHT and bear witness to our militarized police state. WE WILL NOT BE MOVED!
GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain dove into his stump speech at a campaign stop in Florida yesterday, telling the crowd that we are a “nation of crises.” After listing the nation’s many “crises,” Cain declared, “we’ve got a moral crisis!”
This Republican field is like watching a season of Last Comic Standing.
This is an Occupy protester being hit with pepper spray by the police. Another woman, 84 year-old Dorli Rainey, was pepper-sprayed by police at an Occupy Seattle protest. I have a hard time believing an 84 year-old woman is a threat to armed police officers.
Local publisher Bill Sharpe has started the the homeless newspaper Tampa Epoch. Sharpe started the newspaper in reaction to the City of Tampa ban on homeless people soliciting on street mediums.
"I probably never made a decision to do something that I feel as good about as I do this one," Sharpe said.
Sharpe plans on hiring 100 homeless people to sell the Tampa Epoch. Sharpe will sell the newspaper to homeless venders for 25 cents. Homeless people will sell the newspaper for $1.00 and make a 75 cent profit.
For the longest time politicians and community leaders said that homeless people signing on street mediums was a safety issue. It was such a safety issue that Tampa City Council made a loophole in the law to allow newspaper venders to seel newspapers. Mayor Bob Buckhorn comments proves that was all political spin. The law was changed to keep homeless people out of sight.
The first issue carries a photograph of Mayor Bob Buckhorn, who is no fan of the venture. He said the Epoch is not a legitimate newspaper but an "excuse to get around an ordinance.
"I think the community spoke loudly and clearly. They don't want the panhandling anymore," he said. "Those who would support this with their advertising dollars are doing a disservice to the greater good."
Panhandling is asking for money and giving nothing in return. Homeless people are selling newspapers with content. Buckhorn's attitude is homeless people trying to earn an honest pay is the same as charity. We are seeing the same Bob Buckhorn that went on a pointless crusade against lap dancing.
In the video below, attorney "It's trying to carve in exceptions here and there," Episcopo said. "It's going to be attacked legally."
Perry wrote, "I am in Washington Monday and would love to engage you in a public debate about my Overhaul Washington plan versus the congressional status quo."
Of course, Perry really doesn't want to debate Pelosi. Debates between politicians are usually planned well in advanced. Perry made his offer to debate today. Perry knew fill well that issuing a debate with little warning was likely to make it not happen.
Perry then says this partisan nonsense.
"Should you choose not to respond or engage in such a healthy discussion, I will take it to mean you will continue your obstructionist ways in the face of much needed Washington reform."
Exactly what has Pelosi obstructed since the Republicans have taken over the House. There is no filibuster in the House and Republicans control the committees. If Pelosi had the power to obstruct the Republicans the Ryan Plan would have never gotten through the House.
Pelosi did have fun mocking Perry's inability to name three cabinet-level departments he would cut from the federal government.
"He did ask if I could debate here in Washington on Monday. It is my understanding that such a letter has come in. Monday I'm going to be in Portland in the morning, I'm going to be visiting some of our labs in California in the afternoon, that's two. I can't remember what the third thing is I'm going to be doing," Pelosi joked at her weekly press conference on Capitol Hill today.
Perry's campaign is in trouble and he is resorting to gimmicks to draw attention to himself. Bashing Pelosi will play with the base but it won't help Perry against Mitt Romney.
For a Tea Party Nation member, Robert E. Kelly writes some surprisingly sensible things about the tax code. Kelly also is honest enough to point out that Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan is flawed. Sadly, Kelly' solutions are not realistic.
I regard the Cain proposal as an incomplete idea that should be mixed with others to produce a tax system that will restore America to good government and to prosperity.
A better alternative would be to abolish all existing taxes, to close the IRS as we know it, to eliminate Amendment XVI (the power to tax incomes), to impose the so-called Fair Tax (a national sales tax), and to pursue a constitutional amendment that requires a balanced budget (with an allowance for wars and recessions) and a cap on spending of twenty percent of GDP.
Getting the United States Senate and 2/3 of the states to pass a constitutional amendment is nearly impossible. Congress , the CBO and the Office of Budget and Management would not have any idea what would constitute 20 percent of GDP spending. Estimates on the federal budget to the GDP aren't crunched by economists until after the fiscal year. Economist Bruce Bartlett called this idea the "Dopiest Constitutional Amendment of All Time."
I won't repeat all of my previous criticisms of the balanced budget amendment that can be found in the links. But let me discuss one other thing. The gross domestic product is not a concept defined in law and is revised constantly; from time to time, the Bureau of Economic Analysis revises the GDP data all the way back to 1929. And of course, the 18 percent figure is totally arbitrary; the proposal effectively assumes that all federal outlays consist of funds that are appropriated annually, rather than consisting primarily of mandatory programs such as Social Security, Medicare and interest on the debt. Even if Congress was willing to cut mandatory spending, it is practically impossible to do so quickly unless it is willing to reduce the monthly checks going to current retirees and other actions difficult to contemplate.
In short, this is quite possibly the stupidest constitutional amendment I think I have ever seen. It looks like it was drafted by a couple of interns on the back of a napkin. Every senator cosponsoring this POS should be ashamed of themselves.
Kelly does bring up the point that Cain's 9-9-9 plan is tilted toward the rich.
Again we have the same question: Will a lower tax rate applied to a higher base, plus the elimination of some income, yield a lower tax burden than higher tax rates applied to the existing base?
Cain must be more explicit in his presentation if he expects to sell this plan. I appreciate the dumping of the tax code, but I’m skeptical about his claim that his plan will be beneficial, and to whom? The tilt seems to be toward those with large capital gains and dividend income, and those with large estates. The lure to lower income groups is the elimination of the payroll tax.
Cain’s plan does not speak to those who currently pay no tax because their income is too low.
Good luck on having Cain explain his plan. The truth is Cain 9-9-9 plan is a campaign talking point gimmick just like Rick Scott's 6-6-6 jobs plan. Cain and Scott never had economic experts draw up plans. Cain and Scott put a bunch of political consultants in a room to come up with an easy to remember catch phrase.
As far as Cain's plan being geared to the rich, Cain's campaign is filled with people that have worked for the Koch brothers. The incompetent Chief of Staff Mark Block has never won a presidential campaign. Block has worked for the Koch brothers' funded Prosperity USA. The Koch brothers are using Cain to be a spokesman for their tax agenda. It doesn't matter to them if Cain's tax policies won't fly in the general election. The Koch brothers and the rest of the GOP establishment knows Cain will never get the nomination.
Cain fails to understand that if he is running for president he is required to understand foreign policy. The President should be smarter than the average voter. However, Cain has been running a fake campaign to help sell his books. I perfect example of how unserious Cain is about winning the nomination was his appearance in Wisconsin. The state is not an early battleground state. So why is cain in Wisconsin?
"My chief of staff and my assistant, they wanted to go to a football game, and I said yes!" Cain exclaimed.
Cain is no different than reality telvision stars in the quest for attention.
Occupy Tampa is having an open mic night on November 23.
Time :Wednesday, November 23 · 6:00pm - 11:00pm
Location: Kiley Garden 400 N. Ashley Drive Tampa, FL
Musicians, poets, comics, spoken word artists, PLEASE come down and join us for the very first Occupy Open Mic at Kiley Park Amphitheater. You won't need to pay for parking on the street, just find a space. If you want to car pool, post something here so arrangements can be made among friends to make the most of a car! T...he park is located right next to Curtis Hixon park.. just south of it. The Amphitheater is an amazing cozy space that amplifies all on it's own, so we won't need to get a permit to play. You can play covers and originals so we can all sing along! Warm beverages will be available for a reasonable suggested donation.
Check the Occupy Tampa Facebook page for more information on the open mic potluck.
Tea Party Nation founder Judson Phillips finally comes to the realization that Herman Cain is clueless. What gave it away.
Tonight there is a video from the Journal Sentinel online that show an interview with Herman Cain. Forget the sexual harassment allegations. Forget Mark Block’s gross incompetence. Herman Cain needs to leave the race because he is not qualified to be President.
Phillips cites an an example that Cain does not even have a basic understanding about Libya.
Candidates have something called briefing books. These are prepared by staffers and contain, among other things, topics candidates are expected to have at least a passing knowledge of. Cain may not be expected to know the name of the President of Montenegro or the Prime Minister of Moldavia, but Libya is a question that will obviously come up.
This video is what Phillips is referring to. Cain asks the intervierer if President Obama supporting the uprising and overthrowing Moammar Kadafi. The fact that Cain doesn't know this is embarrassing. Cain goes on to say that he would be more deliberate in assessing information than Obama. Somehow I seriously doubt that.
Cain states he would have learned more about the opposition than Obama. The interviewer asks Cain if Obama failed to assess the opposition. Cain says he doesn't know. This Republican field gives me more respect for the intelligence of George W. Bush everyday.
This video without a doubt shows police brutality used at Occupy Oakland. A wounded protester was down after being hit by an Oakland police officer. Other protesters came to help the protester. A police officer threw a flash grenade into the group. None of the protesters were making threatening movements toward the police.
The protesters scattered when they saw the flash grenade. The already injured protester had the grenade go off near his face. The police officer responsible for this needs to be terminated.
Louis vs. Rick is a fictional blog about what happened when a man teaches his cat how to text. There are eight blog entries so far. This is a must-read. It is absolutely hysterical.
Rick Perry's Israel policy (or lack of) has become more scary. Perry would support Israel launching a nuclear preemptive strike against Iran. Perry is so stupid I am not even sure he knows what he is saying. This is an example of how the neoconservative movement has taken over the Republican Party. Don't believe. Perry told Sean Hannity about his advisers.
You know, I have some great foreign policy conversations with Liz Cheney and with John Bolton, I mean, people who actually understand intimately where these countries are.
Apparently, Perry's qualification for foreign policy advisers is being good at geography. Liz Cheney has zero foreign policy experience. John Bolton advocated for blowing up the United Nations.
"If the U.N. secretary building in New York lost ten stories, it wouldn't make a difference."
The sick irony is Bolton later attempted to get confirmed as U.N. ambassador. Bolton's confirmation could not get passed a Republican-controlled Senate.
Perry's foreign policy advisers are the daughter of a vice-president Dick Cheney. Cheney was so unpopular in 2008 that he did not appear at the Republican National Convention. Bolton flirted with running for president. The result was Bolton becoming a punchline. Perry has surrounded himself with advisers too radioactive for Republicans.
This leads to a bigger problem. Perry's recent bizarre speech in New Hampshire leads me to believe the guy is crazy. Perry now publicly advocates for Israel starting a nuclear WWIII in the Middle East. This goes beyond pandering to the base. There is something seriously wrong with Perry.
Have Gun Will Travel is from Bradenton, Florida. HGWT recently toured with Micah Schnabel of Two Cow Garage. You can learn more about HGWT at their Myspace page.
"Does the region call itself the Tampa Bay region? Is that what it calls itself? The region does?"
Gov. Rick Scott, after he learned that the St. Petersburg Times is changing its name to Tampa Bay Times.
I wonder if Scott knows that the Tampa Bay Rays play in St. Petersburg? Asking if St. Petersburg is part of the Tampa Bay region is akin to asking Scott if the governor's office is part of the executive branch. I would worry for Florida if Scott couldn't answer that question.
Mitt Romney told Mike Huckabee on Fox News that he supports personhood at the moment of conception. In Mississippi, voters will decide if a "person" is created at the moment of the egg's fertilization.
Be it Enacted by the People of the State of Mississippi: SECTION 1. Article III of the constitution of the state of Mississippi is hereby amended BY THE ADDITION OF A NEW SECTION TO READ: Section 33. Person defined. As used in this Article III of the state constitution, "The term 'person' or 'persons' shall include every human being from the moment of fertilization, cloning or the functional equivalent thereof." This initiative shall not require any additional revenue for implementation.
If this becomes law, not only abortion would be outlawed, so would all forms of birth control. Christian conservatives are demanding that people forgo sex. This amendment is absolute insanity.
Indeed, even opponents of abortion rights who would like nothing more than to give the courts an opportunity to reverse Roe v. Wade may find this amendment a bad vehicle for doing so. Courts frequently read ambiguous language as a strategy to avoid raising serious constitutional questions. By endorsing a ballot initiative that is deeply ambiguous, pro-life constituencies could be inviting courts to read the amendment in a way that sidesteps the very constitutional question they want to force.
Can you name an anti-choice organization that has ever supported contraception or pre-martial sex. The Christian Right repeatedly says that abstinence is the only form of sex education that should be taught in public schools. We have seen states that teach abstinence-only sex education have their teen pregnancy rates increase. This is what Texas public schools are teaching.
I. How they relate to God A. Is Jesus their first love? B. Trying to impress people or serve God?
Another public school district uses this:
Question: "What does the Bible say about sex before marriage/premarital sex?"
Answer: Along with all other kinds of sexual immorality, sex before marriage/premarital sex is repeatedly condemned in Scripture (Acts 15:20; Romans 1:29; 1 Corinthians 5:1; 6:13,18; 7:2; 10:8; 2 Corinthians 12:21; Galatians 5:19; Ephesians 5:3; Colossians 3:5; 1 Thessalonians 4:3; Jude 7).
This so-called education does not teach kids about STDs or how to avoid an unwanted pregnancy. This is designed to religiously indoctrinate kids. The result is more teen pregnancies in Texas.
The Mississippi anti-choicers don't even contemplate what kind of social services are needed for the increase of of newborn babies. These toddlers are going to need to be fed and some of the parents will put these babies up for adoption. The only thing that the anti-choicers care about is stop people from having sex.
Mayor Jean Quan ordered the police to raid the Occupy Oakland emcampment. Police used tear gas and rubber bullets against the protesters. The extreme reaction by Quan resulted in in a response by Occupy Oakland.
The San Francisco Chronicle estimates that Occupy Oakland drew 100,000 for their strike yesterday. Occupy Oakland successfully shut down the port as a message to the top one percent and the Oakland city government. Union worker would not cross the picket line.
Unfortunately, there was some vandalism. That is something I don't condone. However, the vast majority of the protesters behaved peacefully. Mayor Quan attempted to to end Occupy Oakland. Someone should ask the mayor if there would be 100,000 protesters if she didn't use excessive force against Occupy Oakland?
Occupy Marines (OMC) is now in the Occupy Tampa movement officially. We are veterans of ALL branches of the military. We use our knowledge of leadership, discipline, and honor to facilitate the Occupy movement wherever we are needed. We all took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of the United States of America, from all enemies foreign & domestic. The Right of the People to peaceably ...assemble, guaranteed by the very First Amendment to the Constitution, is under attack everyday. As of writing this 2,500 protesters have been arrested, many wounded (most egregiously Lcpl. Scot Olsen of Occupy Oakland). Our oath did not end upon release from our contractual obligations. Therefore your presence is requested to stand, once more, and fight for your Nation. Mr. Robert Mello is the liason. Any questions or concerns should be directed to him. Semper Fi Robert W. Mello
Bill Nelson Asks For Hearings on Florida's Voting Laws
Sen. Bill Nelson is asking Congress to hold hearings on the new voting laws Florida and several other states have passed.
“No state should have the right to make a law if it abridges people’s basic rights,” said Nelson, who wants the hearings held in Florida and 13 other states that have enacted new voting laws.
The new laws would make it harder for people that have recently moved or charged their name due to marriage to vote. The law also hampers voter registration drives. The League of Women Voters no longer registers new voters in Florida.
At issue in the case, League of Women Voters v. Cobb (case no. 06-21265), was a punishing and tiered regime of deadlines and fines for groups engaged in non-partisan voter registration in the State of Florida. Under the law, (Fla. Laws 2005-277, Secs. 2 and 7), which went into effect on January 1, the government would have imposed a mandatory fine of $250 for each and every voter registration form submitted more than ten days after the form was collected from a prospective voter, $500 for each registration form submitted after the passing of a registration deadline, and $5000 for each registration form not submitted, for any reason.
Most chilling to plaintiffs’ activities was the law’s adoption of a “strict liability” legal standard, meaning that no extenuating circumstance -- not even destruction of an office by a hurricane – would have excused the failure to submit a registration form within the law’s deadlines.
The new voting laws hit a snag with the Federal District in the District of Columbia. At issue is the new voting laws must be reviewed by the Justice Department. Gov. Rick Scott and Republicans in the Florida legislature put the voting changes into effect January 1st, before the Justice Department had a chance to review. The Florida Republican establishment wanted to avoid a Justice Department review. This is in defiance of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
"Our blacks are so much better than their blacks."
Ann Coulter, in her defense of Herman Cain.
Coulter goes on to call President Obama "half-black." Coulter and Hannity have no idea on racist they sound.
The Herman Cain sex scandal isn't about the Left v. Cain. The truth more likely is one of Cain's Republican primary opponents leaked this to Politico. Team Obama has been busy attacking Mitt Romney. The Obama people rightfully do not believe that Romney will be the nominee.
