Mitt Romney's fallout on Libyan terrorist attack continues

The fallout from Mitt Romney's disastrous political attack against the Obama administration over the events happening in Libya just continues on.

First up, is a small error on the part of the Romney campaign staff.  According to Americablog, the Romney campaign issued a press release on Mitt Romney's statement regarding the attacks on the U.S. embassy in Cairo, Egypt and U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.  Within the statement, the word "embassy" was used three times--especially with the phrase "the attack on our embassy at Benghazi, Libya."  The capitol of Libya is actually Tripoli, where the U.S. embassy is located.  The terrorist attacks took place at the U.S. consulate in Benghazi.  According to John Aravosis, "Any first year international relations student knows that our diplomatic offices in the capital are "embassies," and our offices in cities that are not the capital are "consulates."  Mitt Romney never caught the error.  He just simply read through the statement:



I went back into my previous post, and I also made the mistake as well.   It is a dumb mistake that possibly any ordinary American can make.  However, I am a small blogger, and I am not running for the Oval Office--Mitt Romney is running.  I can probably understand Mitt Romney not knowing the difference, or even caring about the difference, and just reading through the script.  But I would expect that someone on the Romney campaign staff would know the difference, and make sure that the correction was made.  Did any Romney campaign staffer with foreign policy experience, or credentials, even proofread the statement?  Is there even anyone on the Romney campaign that even has foreign policy knowledge or experience?  Or do the top Romney foreign policy advisers feel it is demeaning for them to proofread  press releases in the wake of an American foreign policy crisis?   Because if you think about it, this is a crisis that a president will be confronted with, and the Romney campaign is showing just how screwed up they are in dealing with this crisis.  You can also bet that the Obama campaign is not making such a juvenile mistake as we're seeing with Mitt Romney.  So this dumb mistake really shows an incredible level of incompetence that Mitt Romney has in running his own presidential campaign.  Do we really want this level of incompetence in the White House?

However, there is an even worst fallout from the Romney campaign that has taken place in the wake of this crisis.  Throughout his press conference, Mitt Romney had the unfortunate habit of smirking.  Daily Kos' Jed Lewison caught these smirks here, here, and here, while Americablog's John Aravosis catalogs 15 different images of Mitt Romney's smirks.  Here are a couple of photos for your viewing pleasure:

Finally, here is a photo of Mitt Romney walking away from the podium, after his press conference, with another smirk.  This photo was taken by Associated Press photographer Charles Dharapak:

I can not say if Mitt Romney's smirks are an emotional response to this crisis, or are the smirks an unconscious tick that Romney has when speaking before a group?  Is Mitt Romney happy that this crisis presented him with an opportunity to crassly attack President Obama as sympathizing with the terrorists?  Or is this just his speaking style?  In one sense, it does not matter--A smirking photo is worth more than a thousand-word political spin.  American moderates and independents will be watching the news of this crisis on TV at 6pm.  They are going to see both President Obama and Mitt Romney, making their statements on the attacks.  They are going to see the smirk.  Perhaps in the back of their mind, these moderates and independents may wonder if Mitt Romney cares that four Americans died in the wake of these attacks.  Will they see Romney as a callous, uncaring individual who has no morals, other than his crass, political desire to win the presidency and gain political power?  Again, is this the kind of individual you want in the Oval Office--especially when he get the 3am wake-up call?

Mitt Romney blasts Obama, claims Obama "sympathize" with terrorists attacking U.S. consulate in Libya

Last night, terrorists attacked the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya, killing the U.S. ambassador and three other American embassy workers in the process.  The attack was heinous, of course, but that is not what really surprised me here.  What really surprised me was GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's initial response to the terrorist attacks:

 “I’m outraged by the attacks on American diplomatic missions in Libya and Egypt and by the death of an American consulate worker in Benghazi. 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.”

 This really goes beyond a WTF moment.  Read the statement again.  Mitt Romney is not just attacking President Obama for cheap political brownie points, but is making the claim that President Obama is sympathizing with the terrorists who attacked and killed a U.S. ambassador, and three American embassy workers.  President Obama is siding with the terrorists, against U.S. foreign policy interests, and against his own country?  Is that what Mittens is actually saying?

Now there is a back story, where before the attacks took place, the U.S embassy in Egypt issued a statement that “condemns the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims — as we condemn efforts to offend believers of all religions.”  This statement was released before protests took place against the U.S. embassy in Cairo, over a movie "Innocence of Muslims," which shows the Prophet Muhammad as a homosexual son, advocating child slavery, and engaging in extramarital sex. The movie was directed and produced by an Israeli-American real-estate developer, Sam Bacile, and promoted by  Florida pastor Terry Jones, who generated his own controversy by burning the Koran.  The Cairo protests also took place on Tuesday night, before the terrorist attack in Libya.  So a U.S. embassy official in Egypt issues a statement condemning the release of this movie by Bacile, and promoted by Jones, which insults and angers Muslim citizens in the Middle East.  Muslim citizens protest against the movie, terrorists attack the U.S. embassy consulate in Libya, and Mittens Romney attacks Obama for sympathizing with the terrorists over a second-rate PR statement which some embassy staffer wrote before any of these protests and attacks even took place?  Ironically, an administration official told Politico that, "The statement by Embassy Cairo was not cleared by Washington and does not reflect the views of the United States government." Oops.

I will admit that the back story of the Cairo statement, in relation with the protests and the terrorist attack in Libya is bad enough.  It is a foreign policy screw-up within the State Department and the U.S. Embassy in Egypt.  But the real clusterfrack was the Romney campaign's response to this mess.  After learning of the terrorist attacks, the Romney campaign decided to use this statement as an official Obama administration response to the attacks, and state that President Obama's sympathies were with the terrorists, over that of the Americans killed in the attacks.  They got the timeline completely wrong.  Even worst, instead of taking some time to gather information on what happened in the Middle East, Mitt Romney impulsively rushes headlong into sticking more than his foot in his mouth--he stuck his foot, his ankle, his leg, and his ass way into his mouth here!  This is not the kind of president you want to have woken up at 3am in the midst of a crisis.

Of course, now the story is getting better.  According to Talking Points Memo:

Some moments show you when a candidate is ready or not to become President of the United States. I suspect last night will become one of those moments for Mitt Romney. The verdict will not be positive.

As I noted last night, when the full scale of the events in Cairo and Benghazi remained unknown, the Romney campaign let fly a crude political attack both blaming the Obama administration for the attacks and suggesting that the President actually sympathized with them. This was after it was known that an as yet-unnamed Foreign Service Officer (later identified as Sean Smith) had died....

This was followed shortly by another attack from one of Romney’s prime surrogates, RNC Chair Reince Priebus, explicitly accusing the President of sympathizing with the attackers.
Romney’s attack was not only ill-judged and ill-timed, it was actually based on what appears to be a demonstrable falsehood. Romney, or folks writing in his name at his campaign, claimed that the administration’s first response to the attacks was to issue a press release condemning the anti-Islam film which had helped trigger the attack. This they picked wholesale from the right-wing blogosphere.

In fact, according to all available press reports and the account of the State Department, the press release in question came from the US Embassy in Egypt and preceded the attacks. So to claim it was a response to the attacks was simply false. So while American diplomats were dying in the field, Romney pops up with an egregious attempt to politicize the deaths with a flat out lie.

Behind the curtains a more chaotic and rash picture emerges.

The statement from the Romney campaign was initially released by Romney press secretary Andrea Saul at 10:09 PM — but under an embargo until midnight on September 12th. In other words, it was embargoed until September 11th was over.

Then a few minutes later at 10:24 PM the embargo was lifted and reporters were told they could use the statement immediately. There was no clear explanation of the change.
Bear in mind, this was all happening while attacks on US personnel abroad were ongoing.

According to a statement released this morning by the White House, the President was told last night that Ambassador Chris Stevens was unaccounted for. Only this morning did he learn that Stevens had died in the attacks that were on-going last night.

The campaign also authorized Romney’s top foreign policy advisor to give a blistering interview attacking the president while the attacks were continuing.

So apparently the Romney campaign had set up a GOP-coordinated plan to slam President Obama on the terrorist attacks in Libya, to take place after September 11th memorial events of the World Trade Center terrorist attacks.   If this is accurate, then the entire Romney campaign can be considered incompetent for developing a crass, political attack that is not only based on a faulty timeline, but that they planned to engage in after September 11th.

What is even more ironic is that other GOP leaders are shying away from criticizing President Obama in the wake of the events unfolding in Libya.

President Obama's response to the Libyan terrorist attacks can be found here.

Romney campaign outraises Obama in Big Money

This is from Talking Points Memo:

Mitt Romney and the RNC raised $76.8 million in May, easily outpacing $60 million from President Obama’s campaign and the DNC. With outside conservative groups alone already outspending the Obama campaign in swing states and Democrats begging donors for help, the money race is tilting quickly toward the GOP.

Romney and the RNC now have $107 million cash on hand, with $12 million of their monthly haul coming from donations less than $250.

 “We are encouraged by the financial support from a broad range of voters,” Romney’s National Finance Chairman Spencer Zwick said in a statement. ”To them, whether they are Republican, Democrat, Independent, a first time political donor, or a former Obama donor, this is not just a campaign; it’s an opportunity for the country. It is clear that people aren’t willing to buy into ‘hope & change’ again. Voters are making an investment because they believe that it will benefit the country.”

The Obama camp minimized the gap, with press secretary Ben LaBolt tweeting that it was expected now that Romney has entered the general election and can collect a new round of maximum donations from his top primary backers. As TPM previously reported, this is especially relevant to Romney since his new joint Victory Fund with the RNC can take donations of up to $75,800, far above the primary campaign’s $2,500 limits. It’s possible Romney’s latest haul is a one-time trick that represents these big money backers making their investment in the general election, but combined with Republicans’ success luring a handful of billionaires to single handedly match Obama’s own spending, it looks like trouble for Obama ahead either way.

Again, we're looking at the effects of Citizens United, where corporations and billionaire donors can buy their own elections.  Out of the $107 million in the Romney and RNC campaign coffers, only $12 million came from donations of $250 or less.  Small donors are not giving to the Romney campaign--corporations and the super rich are.  And with Romney out raising President Obama in the money field, you can bet that Romney will be spending a good chunk in negative advertising to smear Obama, while refusing to tell the nation's voters his vision and policy issues when he is elected.  Mitt Romney is an empty suit, just waiting to be instructed by his overlords, once he gets into the White House.  And with the kind of money Romney is raising, this could become a disaster for the country.

Then again, we have the best democracy that money can buy.  Those without the money are screwed.

Money won in the Wisconsin recall elections

This is from the Washington Post.com:

If the Wisconsin recall battle was a test of the power of political spending, the big money won big.

Republican Gov. Scott Walker, who survived an effort by the state’s Democrats to unseat him in a special election on Tuesday, outspent his opponent by more than 7 to 1 and easily overcame massive get-out-the-vote efforts by Democrats. The recall contest ranks as the most expensive race in Wisconsin history, with the candidates and interest groups spending more than $63 million combined.

Walker was bolstered by wealthy out-of-state donors who gave as much as $500,000 each under state rules that allow incumbents to ignore contribution limits in a recall election. He raised $30.5 million, while his Democratic challenger, Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett, raised $3.9 million, according to data compiled by the Wisconsin Democracy Campaign.

The big spending was made possible in part by the landmark Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission , which allowed corporations and unions to spend unlimited amounts on elections and made it easier for wealthy individuals to bankroll such efforts. Wisconsin is among a number of states that previously banned direct election spending by corporations and labor groups.

Welcome to the new world of Citizens United elections.  Big corporate money and billionaire donors have the ability to give massive amounts of money to pretty much purchase their own candidates.  This is a reflection of what will happen in the presidential elections in November.  You can bet the corporate and billionaire donors will be flooding the Romney campaign coffers with dollars to purchase their new, empty suit.  And that money will pay for a flood of negative advertising against President Barack Obama.  Will it be enough to purchase the votes?  I can't say.  

 

Milky Way Galaxy to collide with Andromeda Galaxy

Sound collision alert!!! From Talking Points Memo:

Earth’s home, the Milky Way Galaxy, will collide with a nearby galaxy called Andromeda in 4 billion years, according to new observations made using NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope announced Thursday.

“Our findings are statistically consistent with a head-on collision between the Andromeda galaxy and our Milky Way galaxy,” said Roeland van der Marel of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, in a press release.

Andromeda, which is located 2.5 million light-years away, is moving rapidly towards the Milky Way at a rate of 250,000 milers-per-hour, a clip that will only increase as the galaxies approach.

The great galactic union isn’t expected to result in the destruction of Earth, the Sun, or any other planet in the solar system. In fact, no stars whatsoever are expected to collide becauase they are so far apart within each system.

But because the Milky Way is flatter than Andromeda, when the two spiral-shaped galaxies collide, they’ll form a single new elliptical-shaped galaxy that is more “three dimensional” in shape, with the merging complete 6 billion years from now.

During the course of the collision and merging, Earth’s Sun, and our entire solar system, will be flung from its current position to a new position on the outer edge of the new galaxy.

I guess we'll need to start building the "Noah's Ark" Rocket Ship;

Mitt Romney fears Obama conspiracy to sabotage his press conference

This is just insane. From Talking Points Memo:

Mitt Romney’s campaign justified its secrecy in setting up a press conference in front of Solyndra’s California headquarters Thursday by warning of a conspiracy by White House officials to potentially sabotage their efforts.

“We knew, if word got out, that Solyndra would do everything in their power, and the Obama administration would do everything in their power, to stop us from having this news conference,”an unnamed adviser told reporters, per CNN.

Reporters raised the question of how this devious plot to derail the event would work, given that the freedom to hold a press conference in public is a fairly basic right.

“Well, he’s only the president of the United States,” the adviser replied. “I mean, they could work with town officials to deny us access.”

Romney alluded to similar concerns in his press conference.

“I think there are people who don’t want to see this event occur, don’t want to have questions asked about this particular investment,” Romney told reporters when asked about the secrecy behind the event, according to the New York Times.

DNC communications director Brad Woodhouse dismissed the claim of conspiracy as a fringe notion.

“It’s actually bizarre,” he said. “I don’t want to use the term ‘weird,’ but I don't know where he would get that idea from.”

Woodhouse noted the irony that Romney supporters actually interrupted an Obama campaign press conference in Boston with chants and a bubble machine earlier the same day.

“He’s delusional,” another Democratic aide told TPM when asked about the charge.

WTF???? Mitt Romney has to hold a super-secret press conference in front of Solyndra's headquarters because the Obama campaign may intentionally sabotage the Romney campaign's efforts to hold a press conference in front of Solyndra's headquarters? This does not make any sense. If Mitt Romney wants to hold a press conference in front of Solyndra's HQ, then he can hold as many press conferences as he wishes. Why would the Obama campaign try to stop him--because of the Solyndra loan controversy? President Barack Obama can relentlessly attack Romney on his Bain Capital record, or even his record as Massachusetts governor. Why would the Obama campaign want to stop a Romney press conference? Then again, perhaps the Romney campaign is really that paranoid. This could be another attempt by the Romney campaign to connect with conservative, conspiracy-theory crazies, while at the same time projecting the Obama campaign as engaging in such secret conspiracies. This certainly is a classic, Karl Rove trick of using your candidate's weakness against your opponent. It is also ironic that Romney campaign aids disrupted an Obama press conference today in Boston. So the question I would have to ask is really, who is the more paranoid, delusional, conspiracy-minded, and willing to crash an opposing candidate's press conference? I'll give you a hint--it ain't Barack Obama.

Update: Now Mitt Romney is accusing the Obama campaign of sending staffers to disrupt Romney campaign rallies. So Mitt Romney is supposedly justified in disrupting Obama press conferences. From YouTube:

Strangely enough, I have not seen any reports of Obama campaign staffers disrupting Romney campaign rallies or press conferences though.

Appeals Court rules DOMA Act unconstitutional

This will soon go to the Supreme Court. From MSNBC News:

A federal appeals court has ruled that the Defense of Marriage Act, a law that denies a host of federal benefits to same-sex married couples, is unconstitutional.

The 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Boston ruled Thursday that the act known as DoMA, which defines marriage as a union between a man and a woman, discriminates against gay couples.

The law was passed in 1996 at a time when it appeared Hawaii would legalize gay marriage. Since then, many states have instituted their own bans on gay marriage, while eight states have approved it, led by Massachusetts in 2004, and followed by Connecticut, New York, Iowa, New Hampshire, Vermont, Maryland, Washington state and the District of Columbia. Maryland and Washington’s laws are not yet in effect and may be subject to referendums.

The appeals court agreed with a lower court judge who ruled in 2010 that the law is unconstitutional because it interferes with the right of a state to define marriage and denies married gay couples federal benefits given to heterosexual married couples, including the ability to file joint tax returns.

The 1st Circuit said its ruling wouldn’t be enforced until the U.S. Supreme Court decides the case, meaning that same-sex married couples will not be eligible to receive the economic benefits denied by DOMA until the high court rules.

I'm thinking for the Supreme Court, it becomes a question of looking at this case from a social issue, or from a benefits issue. The social issue would be that marriage is a religious pact between a man and a woman. The benefits issue are insurance, visitation, and tax benefits that federal and state governments provide for married couples. Conservatives are arguing this is a social and religious issue for heterosexual couples--no gay couples allowed! Gay couples are demanding they should have the same benefits that married couples enjoy. With the Court so evenly divided, it becomes a question of how will Justice Anthony Kennedy decide?

This also brings gay marriage in the front of the presidential elections. Whoever will be elected president this November, will probably select one or two Supreme Court slots in the next four years. GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney will obviously choose a hard-line conservative to the Court. President Obama will probably choose a moderate-conservative to the Court. So it becomes a question of how far right will the Court be tilted in the next four years?

Romney endorses constitutional amendment requiring presidents to have three years business experience

I saw this making the rounds on the internet, and I should make a comment on it. Apparently Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney is endorsing a constitutional amendment requiring presidents to have three years of business experience. From The New York Times:

LAS VEGAS — Mitt Romney, who is trying to distance himself from Donald J. Trump’s remarks about President Obama’s citizenship, joked about a new constitutional requirement for the presidency on Tuesday evening: business experience.

In the process, Mr. Romney mentioned the requirement that all presidents be born in the United States, an unexpected reference to the simmering issue on a night when he is having a closely watched fund-raiser with Mr. Trump.

Speaking to a crowd at a furniture warehouse here, Mr. Romney recalled a suggestion from a man he had recently met on the campaign trail.

“I’d like to have a provision in the Constitution,” he recalled the man saying, “that in addition to the age of the president and the citizenship of the president and the birthplace of the president being set by the Constitution, I’d like it also to say that the president has to spend at least three years working in business before he could become president of the United States.”

Mr. Romney did not endorse the idea, but he seemed to like it.

“You see, then he or she would understand that the policies they’re putting in place have to encourage small business, make it easier for business to grow.”

As a joke, Romney's business remark falls six feet underground. U.S. News states that "good businessmen rarely make good presidents." Out of the 20 presidents since 1900, only five presidents had significant business careers before entering politics. Presidents who never had a career in business include Teddy Roosevelt, Franklin Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, John F. Kennedy, Dwight Eisenhower, Ronald Reagan, Lyndon Johnson, and Bill Clinton. U.S. News did name three president with business experience--Warren G. Harding, Herbert Hoover, and George W. Bush. Three of the worst presidents in modern history.

I'm thinking here is that Mitt Romney is throwing monkey poo on the wall, and using whatever poo will stick as part of his campaign. This constitutional amendment requiring presidents to have business experience is just another piece of poo. Unfortunately for Romney, he's not very good at throwing monkey poo. Perhaps he should look at these guys for experience:

Snake-handling Pastor dies of rattlesnake bite

All I can say here is that if you play around with rattlesnakes, you're going to get bit. From Yahoo News:

Mack Wolford, a flamboyant Pentecostal pastor from West Virginia whose serpent-handling talents were profiled last November in The Washington Post Magazine , hoped the outdoor service he had planned for Sunday at an isolated state park would be a “homecoming like the old days,” full of folks speaking in tongues, handling snakes and having a “great time.” But it was not the sort of homecoming he foresaw.

Instead, Wolford, who turned 44 the previous day, was bitten by a rattlesnake he owned for years. He died late Sunday.

Mark Randall “Mack” Wolford was known all over Appalachia as a daring man of conviction. He believed that the Bible mandates that Christians handle serpents to test their faith in God — and that, if they are bitten, they trust in God alone to heal them.

He and other adherents cited Mark 16:17-18 as the reason for their practice: “And these signs will follow those who believe: in My name they will cast out demons; they will speak with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

I have to wonder about the religious fanatics, and why they feel it is important to their religion to handle snakes. Do they really believe that the snake is a manifestation of evil, or a part of the devil? The snake is an animal, doing what it should do when it feels threatened--the snake bites!

There is a couple interesting items in this story. The first is that Wolford's father was also a snake handler, who died in 1983 of a rattlesnake bite. Wolford was apparently trying to keep the practice alive in the West Virginia area, where it is still legal. The second is that this incident took place in an isolated part of a stake park. After Wolford was bitten, he was taken back to a relative's home in Bluefiled to recover. When his situation got worst, messages began flying through Facebook, asking for prayer. Instead of asking for prayer, why didn't Wolford go to the hospital for treatment of the rattlesnake bite? Isn't that why God created anti-venom? Finally, had state park officials known that Wolford was playing his snake-handling game, they "would have never allowed it."

Could Mitt Romney also not be an American Citizen?

With Tea Party candidates and crazies now jumping back on the birther bandwagon, both Americablog and the Daily Kos have discovered that Republican Presidential candidate Mitt Romney's father, former Michigan governor and Republican presidential candidate George Romney, was actually born in Mexico! Does this mean that Mitt Romney is not an American citizen?

Senate candidate Hoekstra wants to create a National Birther Office

I'm trying to wrap my head around Former Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI) crazy idea of creating a "national birther office." From Talking Points Memo:

Former Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-MI), who is running for Senate to take on Democratic Sen. Debbie Stabenow, told a tea party town hall last month that the federal government should establish an official committee to review presidential candidates’ birth certificates.

The full-length video of the Q&A was posted online four weeks ago by the Lapeer County Tea Party Patriots. An excerpt, in which Hoekstra is asked about Obama’s birth certificate, has been posted online by the Michigan Democrats, injecting Hoekstra into a recent resurgence in birther theories espoused by Donald Trump, Arizona Secretary of State Ken Bennett and Rep. Mike Coffman (R-CO). A man in the audience complained to Hoekstra about President Obama’s birth certificate, “It’s on the computer, it’s everywhere, you hear people talking about it,” but nobody is doing anything about it, and he wanted Hoekstra’s thoughts on the matter.

“Sure. I mean, I think — you know, I think, throw something at me if you want, I think with this president, the book is closed, all right?” Hoekstra tells the man. “It’s kind of like, I hate to say it, but I think the debate’s over — we lost that debate, and we lost that debate in 2008, when our presidential nominee said, ‘I ain’t talking about it.’ OK, I’m sorry.

“But I do now believe that I’d like to establish a three-person office in Washington, D.C., OK — knowing it, we’ll go to five (audience laughs). But there’s no reason why we should have this kind of question, you know, for the president of the United States. So that at any future election, all right, that someone would have to walk into that office, and prove that they meet the minimum qualifications to be president of the United States.”

Hoekstra then defended his national birther office position on CNN, saying:

“Well, what happened is you’re still having this ongoing debate with some people moving this forward,” he said. “I’m not participating in that debate, I think this issue has been settled and, you know, I just want to make sure in future elections — and this is not a top priority for me, OK? This is kind of like, you know, this can take care of itself.”

As far as I can recall, we've never had the issue of a presidential candidate's citizenship, or birth record come up in a presidential campaign--at least not until an African American became a serious contender for the White House. Even after President Barack Obama's birth certificate was released, the right-wing crazies are still questioning President Obama's citizenship. And now we've got a crazy GOP senate candidate claiming it is now time to create a federal office to determine future candidates' citizenship? It is like the Tea Party crazies can not accept that a minority individual, or in their view a black, Kenyan, Muslim, can be elected into the Oval Office. They hate the fact that Obama is president, and must keep their hatred fresh with this rotten garbage. Hoekstra keeps this garbage alive to stay on the crazies' good side, and garner their votes. Donald Trump jumped on the birther bandwagon because...does Donald Trump need a reason to get more press attention to his egotistical, arrogant self? Then there is Mitt Romney. On Tuesday, the Trump hosted a fundraiser for the Republican presidential candidate in Las Vegas. Trump told CNN that "A lot of people do not think it was an authentic certificate," just hours before the fundraiser began. Trump's remarks place the Romney campaign squarely into this birther morass, which should have became a non-issue in the 2008 presidential campaign, but is still being kept alive by the Tea Party crazies. What was Mitt Romney's response to Trump's remarks? According to CBS News:

Romney did not address the issue directly at separate events in Colorado and Nevada, but on Monday night he told reporters aboard his campaign plane that Trump is entitled to his opinion.

[....]

"I don't agree with all the people who support me. And my guess is they don't all agree with everything I believe in," Romney said. "But I need to get 50.1 percent or more. And I'm appreciative to have the help of a lot of good people."

The birth question wasn't brought up at the Las Vegas fundraiser, and Romney spoke highly of Trump's efforts on his behalf.

"Mr. Trump, thank you for letting us come to this beautiful hotel and being with so many friends," Romney said. "Thank you for twisting the arms that it takes to bring a fundraiser together. I appreciate your help."

So Mitt Romney does not agree with Trump and the Tea Party crazies, but he's apparently happy for them to spout their crazy ideas regarding President Obama's citizenship status. Bravo Mittens! Again you show the country just how much of an empty suit you are, with no morals or convictions--other than what will propel you into the Oval Office, and help the 1 percenters, like Donald Trump, twist your arm after you get there.

Mitt Romney's new iPhone app--A Better Amercia

Someone on the Romney campaign forgot to use their spell checker. From Gizmodo.com:

Mitt Romney's new iPhone app, With Mitt, "lets you customize photos with a variety of Mitt-inspired artistic frames." Slogans like "Believe in America," "Obama Isn't Working," and "I'm a Mom for Mitt" are just a few of the Mitt-tastic phrases that can be slapped on your iPhone photos, proudly pronouncing your support of the GOP candidate. If only he was equally as concerned with supporting our great nation. Much to the delighted displeasure of Twitter, one particular frame option betrays Romney's secret agenda working toward bettering a place known as Amercia. Yes, that's A-M-E-R-C-I-A.

A Tumblr page, Amercia is with Mitt, is ripping into this Romney campaign gaffe. Which brings me to the question of is this really how to run a presidential campaign? This is a gaffe goes beyond clumsy and enters into the realm of stupidity. I can see a programmer creating this application, and making this error. But this error should have been caught by higher level supervisors and managers, and quickly corrected before being placed on the net. This WaPo article states that the Romney campaign "submitted a corrected version of the app to Apple," telling me the campaign created the application itself. And they performed no proofreading of the final product. Stupid mistakes like this tell me that either the Romney campaign cannot find qualified people to produce these applications, or maybe the campaign just does not care and is going through the motions here.

Mitt Romney's "The Promise of America"

I saw this post through the Daily Kos, and went to GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's Youtube page. I watched the video with the sound off, and wanted to look at the images in this latest Romney political ad. This video is creepy: There is not one close up of an African-American, Hispanic, or any minority individual face in this video. The faces in this video are all white. Disturbing.

Newt Gingrich wins South Carolina primary

Continuing with the Republican presidential race here, Mitt Romney won the New Hampshire primary on January 10, which was not much of a surprise, considering Ronmey was governor of Massachusetts. However, the South Carolina primary, on Saturday, was a serious upset for the Romney campaign. It seems that Newt Gingrich won in South Carolina:

Newt Gingrich has won the South Carolina Republican primary, capping off a remarkable comeback for his presidential bid that reshapes the trajectory of the battle for the GOP nomination as the race now heads to Florida and beyond.

The results mark the end of a tumultuous week in politics that saw Gingrich erase and then overcome the lead former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney had in the Palmetto State following his victory in the Jan. 10 New Hampshire primary. Gingrich came on strong in the closing days of the campaign, looking to rally under his banner the many conservatives unwilling to get behind Romney, who had sought to posture himself as the eventual nominee.

So what's happening in South Carolina? I think we're seeing the fruition of what happens when the GOP gets into bed with the extremist wing of their base. The Republican Party has been doing this since the Nixon Administration's "Southern Strategy," in courting the fears of African American racism, the rise of the Religious Right and fundamentalism in the 80s, the social issues of school prayer, abortion, flag burning, and gay hatred. The GOP has stoked the fires of hate speech through nationally-syndicated talk radio and television hosts of Rush Limbaugh, Michael Savage, Bill O'Reilly, Sean Hannity, and the entire Fox News propaganda outlet. And while this strategy was good for getting votes, the base has become even more radicalized and crazy--demanding that the GOP place their own looney candidates for president. Instead of voting for establishment GOP's amoral, corporatist, empty-suit candidate of Mitt Romney, the South Carolina Republican voters choose a three-time adulterer who can speak and connect to their kind of crazy. Florida is next on the list. Will the crazies continue to vote for Gingrich?

Thoughts on Mitt Romney's win in the Iowa Caucuses

The 2012 presidential race has been going on for a year now, and I have not really said much of the issue. I've been watching the race with a fascinating interest. President Barack Obama is running unopposed in the Democratic primary, although from reading the different liberal blogs, there is a lot of anger against Obama from liberals and progressives. On the Republican side, there have been a cornucopia of candidates running--from Tea Party crazies Michele Bauchmann, Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum, Libertarian Ron Paul, and corporatist candihttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifdate Mitt Romney. The Republican candidates have ahttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifll said and done some of the most insane things, which you can review here.

But for now, the Iowa caucuses took place last Tuesday. And the results have been interesting. From the Des Moines Register:

Rivals Mitt Romney and Rick Santorum waged a down-to-the-wire battle for the Iowa Republican caucuses Tuesday, but shortly after 1:30 a.m. today, Romney was declared the victor by eight votes.

Romney won 30,015 votes, compared with 30,007 for Santorum, out of 122,255 cast.

Each of the men won 25 percent of the vote and proclaimed victory.

Ron Paul was third, followed by Newt Gingrich, Rick Perry, Michele Bachmann and Jon Huntsman.

[...]

Last night’s decision was hardly a knockout, though – Romney got almost the same number of votes as four years ago.

This was by far the closest contest in the modern history of the Iowa Republican caucuses (since 1976). In the previous closest race, George H. W. Bush edged Ronald Reagan in 1980 by 2.1 percentage points, or 2,182 votes of the 106,051 cast.

So Romney and Santorum came into a statistical tie, with Romney only eight votes ahead. It is not much of a victory, as both candidates pick up 11 delegates each. But what I find especially interesting is that Romney got almost the same number of votes as he did in 2008. What's more, the number of people who voted against Romney, by choosing Santorum, Gingrich, Bauchmann, Paul and such are certainly greater than the number of people who voted for Romney. There are a lot of Republican voters who are just not thrilled with Mitt Romney--they were more interested in their own favorite, extremist candidate than the corporate candidate.

Next Tuesday is the New Hampshire primary. The NBC / Marist poll is showing Romney having a 20-point lead over Santorum. I'm pretty sure Romney will win big in New Hampshire. I would be more curious as to how the South Carolina primary will shape up, considering the Religious Right and hard-core conservative voters there. Will they choose Romney, or go with the Anybody-But-Romney?

China factory growth suggests contraction

I found this story through Americablog, with the source story coming from CNBC.Com:

China factories expanded in June at their slowest pace in 11 months while price pressures eased, a purchasing managers' survey showed on Thursday, the latest evidence the economy is losing steam in response to a spate of tightening steps.

The HSBC flash manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI), the earliest available indicator of China's industrial activity, eased to 50.1 in June, which was the lowest since July 2010 and close to indicating a contraction in the sector.

That compares with the final reading of 51.6 in the HSBC PMI for May. A figure above 50 points to expansion on the month.

"Demand is cooling thanks to the effect of tightening measures and the slackness in external markets," said Qu Hongbin, the chief China economist at HSBC.

I'd certainly say that demand is cooling--especially with the U.S. consumer, where China sends a ton of their exports. The American consumers are not buying, as they do not have any money to spend. The unemployment rate is at 9 percent here--possibly double if you add in the underemployed or those who have dropped out of the labor market. Housing is still in the pits. Food and energy prices have stayed relatively high. We've been the big market for China's products for years. Now that we have no money to buy China's products, where is China going to sell their stuff? So in some ways, it does not surprise me that China's factory index has dropped. I'll certainly be curious to see what the next quarter's index is--will it go below 50, to measure a real contraction?

Sarah Palin just quit her bus tour

I guess midnight has arrived, Paul Revere had warned the British that the British were going to take away all our guns, and Sarah Palin's bus tour has turned into a pumpkin. From Real Clear Politics:

Less than a month after she appeared poised to shake up the Republican presidential campaign, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has once again receded from the 2012 limelight.

When Palin launched her "One Nation" bus tour on Memorial Day amid a swirl of media attention and excitement from her fervent fan base, many political observers who had once dismissed her were reminded of the jolt that her candidacy could provide to what has thus far been a relatively sleepy GOP nominating fight.

Less than a month after she appeared poised to shake up the Republican presidential campaign, former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin has once again receded from the 2012 limelight.

When Palin launched her "One Nation" bus tour on Memorial Day amid a swirl of media attention and excitement from her fervent fan base, many political observers who had once dismissed her were reminded of the jolt that her candidacy could provide to what has thus far been a relatively sleepy GOP nominating fight.

The question I would have to ask is why did Sarah Palin even embark on this "One Nation" bus tour before quitting after a month? I'm guessing that Sarah Palin wanted the media attention. She announces a big bus tour, and the media salivates like Pavlov's dogs--will Sarah Palin run in 2012? Palin makes a gaffe on Paul Revere's ride, and the media speculates as to whether the British were warned that they were going to take our guns. Or was it Sarah Palin's guns? The media hype on Palin starts to die down. Palin's bus tour becomes a snooze, and the next thing you know, Sarah Palin's back in Alaska, planning her next publicity stunt.

If only she'll just stay in Alaska.

Harrisburg praying God can pull them out of financial ruin

I found this story through Americablog, and even I can't believe it. The source story is from CNBC.com:

If all the brightest minds in Harrisburg’s government can’t solve the city’s financial problems, maybe God can.

That seems to be the thinking in Pennsylvania’s capital city, where Mayor Linda Thompson and a host of other religious leaders are about to embark on a three-day fast and prayer campaign to cure the city’s daunting money woes.

Maybe Greece should have thought of this.

“Things that are above and beyond my control, I need God,” Thompson told WHTM TV, the region’s ABC news affiliate. “I depend on Him for guidance. Spiritual guidance. That’s why it’s really no struggle for me to join this fast and prayer.”

But judging by its financial picture, the city of 49,000 in the central part of the Keystone State may not even have a prayer.

According to a recent analysis from the state’s Department of Community and Economic Development, Harrisburg is likely to end the year with a nearly $3.5 million deficit in its $58 million budget, and things are only expected to get worse.

All I can think of is this:



Instead of prayer, why doesn't the mayor bring some economists or financial experts in to propose tough solutions to fix Harrisburg's financial situation--even if that may include a combination of budget cuts and tax increases?

Newt Gingrich's campaign finance team quits

About two weeks ago, top campaign aides for Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich resigned en mass, on "differences over the direction of the campaign." Gingrich promised he would continue "running the substantive, solutions-oriented campaign I set out to run earlier this spring," in spite of the resignations.

Well, it appears that Gingrich's finance team has also quit: From The Associated Press:

The top fundraisers for Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign have abandoned his struggling bid amid anemic fundraising and heavy spending.

Campaign spokesman R.C. Hammond is confirming to The Associated Press that fundraising director Jody Thomas and fundraising consultant Mary Heitman have left the team.

The former House speaker's campaign has been on life support since earlier this month when 16 top aides and advisers resigned en masse over disagreements with the Republican candidate.

People familiar with Gingrich's campaign spending say his fundraising has been weak since he launched his bid and that he has racked up large travel bills. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk openly about campaign inner workings.

Gingrich has insisted that he will stay in the race.

I'm starting to wonder how long Newt Gingrich can stay in the race, now that his top campaign staff has already left him. This makes me wonder where the top staff will go to now? Will they join President Barack Obama's former ambassador to China, Jon Huntsman? Or will they go to Mitten's Romney? Or Michele Bachmann? The Republicans have a huge field of candidates, some are just about perfect to entice the right-wing crazies of the party, while others are still flirting with bus tours to preach that Paul Revere was warning the British that the British will take away all our guns. I'm not looking at a GOP presidential campaign to oust Obama--I'm watching a slow-motion clown show of a three-ring circus!

And as for Newt? I don't think he ever had his heart in the campaign for the White House. He still has some serious baggage to contend with, with his polarizing speaker record in the late 90s, and his attempt to impeach Bill Clinton from the White House. Instead, I see Newt Gingrich's presidential campaign as a way to keep Newt Gingrich in the media spotlight, possibly picking up whatever cash he can get to continue playing the spotlight (And possibly enrich himself as well). The question we have to ask now is when will this clown be finally kicked out of the ring?

Guy robs bank of $1 to get health care coverage

There is something seriously wrong in this country, where a guy has to rob a bank in order to get health care coverage. From ABC News:

A 59-year-old man has been jailed in Gastonia, N.C., on charges of larceny after allegedly robbing an RBC Bank for $1 so he could get health care in prison. Richard James Verone handed a female teller a note demanding the money and claiming that he had a gun, according to the police report.

He then sat down and waited for police to arrive. "I say, 'I'll be sitting right over here, on the chair, waiting for the police,'" Verone told reporters, recalling the June 9 robbery in an interview from Gaston County Jail.

And wait for the police, he did.

"He's sitting on the sofa as you walk in the front door," the bank teller said in a 911 call.

Police arrested Verone where he sat. He was unarmed.

Verone said he asked for $1 to show that his motives were medical, not monetary, according to news reports. With a growth in his chest, two ruptured disks and no job, Verone hoped a three-year stint in prison would afford him the health care he needed.

"I'm sort of a logical person and that was my logic, what I came up with," Verone told reporters. "If it is called manipulation, then out of necessity because I need medical care, then I guess I am manipulating the courts to get medical care."

But the charge of larceny, not armed robbery, is unlikely to keep Verone behind bars for more than 12 months. He is being held in Gaston County Jail on a $2,000 bond, according to a spokesman for the jail, and is scheduled to appear in court June 28.

Would you spend $100,000 on a razor?

Yes, this is a $100,000 razor. From Yahoo News.

This is just insane. Then again, I guess the ubber-rich have got to buy something to entertain themselves. From Yahoo.com:

$100,000 can buy many things: a brand new sports car, a boat, or a ridiculously luxurious vacation, just to name a few. But if you already have a new Audi in your driveway, a yacht at the marina, and just got back from a trip around the world, perhaps you'd rather drop your cold hard cash on a limited edition iridium razor. The pricey item is crafted by Zafirro, a company which seems to have just one product in its lineup, and just 99 of the "Zafirro Iridium" razors will be made.

The handle of the razor is made entirely of iridium, an extremely scarce and expensive metal that is so dense it could survive a drop into molten lava. Most iridium that appears on Earth is the result of crashed meteorites.http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif The blades of thehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif beast are made from artifhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gificially grown sapphire, making them hypoallergenic, not to mention many orders of magnitude sharper than your average Bic. The company boasts a 10-year blade life, and backs it up with free sharpening for a decade if the razor ever dulls.

The Zafirro Iridium, while promising "generations" of enjoyable use, is clearly made for the millionaire who already has everything. The company says the upgrade from a traditional razor to the $100,000 model is like changing from a CB radio to an iPhone, but unless your morning shave takes place at the mouth of a volcano, we're not sure it's worth it.

Zafirro via Laughing Squid

Florida Governor Rick Scott Writes Letters So You Don't Have To

I found this through the Washington Monthly, and I'm just amazed. The original source story is through the Orlando Sentinel:

For a guy who claims not read newspapers — or care what the polls say or the public thinks — Rick Scott sure is putting a lot of effort into trying to score some good publicity.

In fact, if regular old rank-and-file Floridians won’t write nice things about him in letters to the editor, Scott has decided to write the words for them.

One of the newest features on www.rickscottforflorida.com is a page where Scott supporters can send pre-written letters of praise for Scott … written by Scott’s campaign team. Just pick the newspaper you want to contact. (Yes, the Sentinel is one of the seven.) And then you can add your name to a letter that says: “While politicians usually disappoint us and rarely keep their promises,http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif Rick is refreshing because he’s keeping his word. His policies are helping to attract businesses http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifto our state and get people back to work.”

It’d be even more refreshing to read letters sent by people who actually wrote them themselves. But it appears that Scott has reached the point where he doesn’t care about such nuances.

You can read the full pre-written letter – and attach your own signature to it – here: http://www.rickscottforflorida.com/2011/06/14/email-a-newspaper-editor/

I'm having trouble trying to wrap my head around this. Apparently Rick Scott is one of the least popular governors in the U.S., drawing a 57 percent disapproval rating from Florida voters, according to a Quinnipiac University poll, on May 26, 2011. Rick Scott has been a disaster for Florida. He's cut unemployment benefits, teacher's pay, and low income health services to fund corporate tax cuts. Scott has rejected Florida's receiving federal funds to build a high-speed rail line between Tampa and Orlando. Scott has signed legislation, creating a pilot program that will place "hundreds of thousands of low-income and elderly Floridians into managed-care plans" as a Medicaid overhaul. This pilot program allows a company called Solantic, a chain of urgent-care clinics, to receive funds from this pilot program. Solantic was founded by none other than Florida's governor Rick Scott. There are even more reports of fraud that took place at a Columbia/HCA, when Scott was head of the company. It is no wonder that Scott has a disapproval rating of 57 percent.

So Rick Scott wants to improve his publicity. He could try to create legislation to benefit the people of Florida, rather than himself, the corporate, or ubber-rich monied interests. Forget that--let's create web-based, formed email letters that Florida's citizens can sent to their local newspapers! It is beyond ridiculous! What is even more crazy is that it is Rick Scott's staff that wrote the emails--you just have to sign your name and email address, allowing the Rick Scott for Florida campaign to bombard your email address for campaign donations. It is almost like a publicity stunt that the Scott campaign has created for the 30-percent conservative crazies to accept their marching orders from Der Leader.

If you write it, the crazies will come.

Tea Party Creates a Summer Camp

I found this story through the Washington Monthly, and I just can't believe it. The original source story is through TampaBay.com:

TAMPA — Here's another option now that the kids are out of school: a weeklong seminar about our nation's founding principles, courtesy of the Tampa 912 Project.

The organization, which falls under the tea party umbrella, hopes to introduce kids ages 8 to 12 to principles that include "America is good," "I believe in God," and "I work hard for what I have and I will share it with who I want to. Government cannot force me to be charitable."

Organized by conservative writer Jeff Lukens and staffed by volunteers from the 912 Project, Tampa Liberty School will meet every morning July 11-15 in borrowed space at the Paideia Christian school in Temple Terrace.

"We want to impart to our children what our nation is about, and what they may or may not be told," Lukens said.

A Tea Party summer camp? Is this for real? To me, this camp feels like a way for Lukens to shove his ideology down young children's' throats, rather than allow the children to find their own way, and develop their own political philosophy. I mean, Government cannot force me to be charitable? I can assure you that when I was around 8 to 12, I was more interested in playing "Cops and Robbers," or "Army men," rather than spouting how government is forcing me to be more charitable.

But wait, there is more:

Tampa Liberty is modeled after vacation Bible schools, which use fun, hands-on activities to deliver Christian messages.

One example at Liberty: Children will win hard, wrapped candies to use as currency for a store, symbolizing the gold standard. On the second day, the "banker" will issue paper money instead. Over time, students will realize their paper money buys less and less, while the candies retain their value.

"Some of the kids will fall for it," Lukens said. "Others kids will wise up."

Another example: Starting in an austere room where they are made to sit quietly, symbolizing Europe, the children will pass through an obstacle course to arrive at a brightly decorated party room (the New World).

Red-white-and-blue confetti will be thrown. But afterward the kidshttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif will have to clean up the confetti, learning that with freedom comes responsibility.

Still another example: Children will blow bubbles from a single container of soapy solution, and then pop each other's bubbles with squirt guns in an arrangement that mimics socialism. They are to count how many bubbles they pop. Then they will work with individual bottles of solution and pop their own bubbles.

"What they will find out is that you can do a lot more with individual freedom," Lukens said.

The more I read this, the more I'm starting to think about another "political" summer camp that was started in the 1930s:



Are the conservatives starting to get that crazy?

Obama Impersonator Cracks Racist Jokes at Republican Event

This is from the New York Times:

NEW ORLEANS — A comedian impersonating President Obama who was hired to perform here on Saturday at the Republican Leadership Conference delivered racially tinged remarks about Mr. Obama’s heritage and offered a mocking assessment of the Republican presidential candidates.

The impersonator, Reggie Brown of Chicago, opened his act by joking about Mr. Obama’s family history, referring to his white mother from Kansas and his black father from Kenya. He said that he was born in Hawaii, adding, “or as the Tea Partiers like to call it, Kenya.”

He said that Michelle Obama, the first lady, enjoys celebrating all of February, Black History Month. He said the president celebrates only half the month.

“My mother loved a black man and, no, she was not a Kardashian,” Mr. Brown said later, referring to the family that stars in reality shows. Khloe Kardashian, who is white, is married to Lamar Odom, who is black and plays for the Los Angeles Lakers.

The audience, which was nearly entirely white, watched with befuddlement as the impersonator told them to look into the future to see what the Obamas will look like when they are retired. An image of a feuding husband and wife, from the TV show “Sanford and Son,” was flashed on screens in the ballroom.

Republican strategist Doug Heye wrote a message on Twitter, "Wonder why many minorities have problems with the G.O.P? Our own fault." What were the Republicans thinking of, when they hired this guy for entertainment at a political event? What is even more ironic is that Brown then made "derogatory jokes about Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty and Newt Gingrich before his hosts cut him off with loud music and escorted him from the stage before his act was over." So while Brown was cracking jokes on both Obama and the starting lineup for the Republican presidential candidates, the Louisiana Republican Party, who hired Brown, apparently did not like the jokes against their party's candidates and cut him off.

Here is some of the YouTube video of Reggie Brown's performance:



Watching it, the "Republican" audience laughs when Brown makes fun of Obama, but then the crowd gets real silent as Brown turns towards their own politicians--you'll even hear a collective groan when Brown talks about Mitt Romney's multiple first, second and third ladies. Of course, the audience really laughed at Brown's Sanford and Son joke. There certainly was not much befuddlement on the audiences' part, as they were laughing at Brown's jokes against the president. The "befuddlement" came when Brown started making fun of the GOP politicians. It is almost like the Republicans can't laugh at themselves.

Student's Don't Know Much About History

This is really depressing. From MSNBC News:

U.S. students don't know much about American history, according to results of a national test released Tuesday.

Just 13 percent of high school seniors who took the 2010 National Assessment of Educational Progress — called the Nation's Report Card — showed solid academic performance in American history. The two other grade levels tested didn't perform much better, which just 22 percent of fourth-grade students and 18 percent of eighth-graders scoring proficient or better.

The test quizzed students on such topics as colonization, the American Revolution, the Civil War and the contemporary United States. For example, one question asks fourth-graders why it was important for the United States to build canals in the 1800s.

"The history scores released today show that student performance is still too low," said Education Secretary Arne Duncan in a prepared statement. "These results tell us that, as a country, we are failing to provide children with a high-quality, well-rounded education."

Education experts say a heavy focus on reading and math under thehttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif federal No Child Left Behind law in the last decade has led to lagging performance in other subjects such as history and science.

"We need to make sure other subject like history, science and the arts are not forgotten in our pursuit of the basic skills," said Diane Ravitch, a research professor at New York University and former U.S. assistant education secretary.

I love history. My interest is mainly recent U.S. history, from the Second World War to today. One of the advantages of learning history is that it teaches you critical thinking skills. Why was it important for the U.S. to build canals in the 1800s? In that test, only 44 percent knew that it was increased trade among states. That was for the fourth graders. You've got to wonder how the high school seniors would have answered questions on the reasons the United States to have entered into the Civil War, or the Second World War. Or even to look at the issues and events that defined the Cold War, the Civil Rights struggle in the 1950s and 60s, or even how Watergate may have shaped the political arena to this day. Unfortunately, our public schools seem to spend more time cramming facts into students' heads, in preparation for standardized tests. I can never remember all the facts, or dates, or who said what in history--I can look that stuff up on the internet. But I can look at the issues, causes, results of historical events and determine their relevancy or why they occurred, or even if history will end up repeating itself.

Apple Announces iCloud Storage Service

I saw this news story this morning on the TV news, and wanted to delve into it. From CNet News:

Apple CEO Steve Jobs today announced an online cloud storage service called iCloud that's designed to make it simple to wirelessly share music, e-mail, photos, calendars, and other data between handheld gadgets and desktop computers.

The new Apple service, which has been the subject of intense speculation for more than a year, attempts to harness the power and flexibility of cloud computing for home users. It uses techniques that have already proved popular with businesses to make it easier to move data stored on Apple's servers back and forth between multiple devices and applications.

Jobs introduced iCloud this morning at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco as part of a broader announcement that also highlighted the forthcoming version of Mac OS X Lion, available in July for $29.99, and new features for iOS including a newsstand and tabbed browsing on the iPad.

iCloud represents a direct challenge to Google's cloud-based offerings, which already use services like Gmail, Calendar, Picasa, and Google Docs to let users see and edit the same document or photo across multiple devices. In addition, Google recently announced Google Music and, in March, Amazon.com unveiled Amazon Cloud Drive.

I'm starting to wonder if Apple is a little late on their introduction to cloud computing. There is a wide range of cloud computing services for consumer to choose from. A perfect example is internet-based photo sharing, such as Google's Picasa, Photobucket, and Flickr. Businesses can develop their own email and marketing campaigns through Constant Contact,and you can back up your computer hard drive's data files through Carbonite. There are a ton of free email services with Yahoo, Google, Hotmail, AOL, and such. This is just what I can remember off the top of my head--I'm sure there are many other cloud-based services out there for computers, netbooks, touch-pad computers, and smart phones.

However, this next paragraph really struck me:

About 10 years ago, Jobs said, Apple experienced one of its most important insights: The PC would become the digital hub for your digital life and store photos, video, and music, which would in turn be synchronized with mobile devices plugged in to it. Now, he said, his company is at a similar turning point, where iCloud can store data and wirelessly push it to every device you own.

I think Steve Jobs saw the light a little late here. Jobs may have believed that the PC would first be the digital hub for your digital life, with storing photos, music, and video. Apple concentrated into selling its operating system to really organize your digital life around the computer. But the combined rise of smart phones and social networking threw a monkey wrench at Jobs--you can't access your iTunes or digital photos on your smart phone when you're away from your computer. So Jobs is shifting Apple's attention towards this bigger market of cloud computing, where you can purchase your iTunes at the Apple Store, and then store them on Apple's cloud servers to access them from your iPhone and your iPad. I'm sure Apple will also provide a digital photo sharing program (if they do not already have one). Will Apple allow developers to write applications to their mobile operating system, as we see with Google's Android? It will be interesting to see how Apple develops its iCloud system here, considering how successful they have been with their iTunes, iPhone, and iPad technology.

Then again, Google is not going to sit around and wait for Apple to catch up, as they are introducing their own Google Music to compete with Apples iTunes. The cloud computing world has just gotten a lot more competitive for consumers' dollars to go up in the clouds....

Stephen Colbert on Paul Revere's Midnight Ride

I guess Sarah Palin was right--Stephen Colbert just proved it with his re-enactment of Paul Revere's famous Midnight Ride. It is hysterical.

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Sarah Palin on Paul Revere's Midnight Ride

It has been a while since I've posted on this blog, but I found this story about the former half-term Alaskan governor, and former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, and I'm just amazed. From the Los Angeles Times:

Sarah Palin, if you haven't heard, is taking some of her family around the country, visiting historical U.S. landmarks, and talking to the media along the way.

Thursday her "One Nation" traveling road show stopped in Boston, where the former Alaska governor, her parents, her husband, and little Piper visited Paul Revere's house, the Old North Church, and Bunker Hill. Palin posted photos of that leg of her trip on the SarahPAC blog.

One moment that you won't find posted on the blog is Palin's respohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifnse to reporters when they asked her who Paul Revere was. Instead of saying, "Come on, everyone knows who Paul Revere, the silversmith and patriot is," she stammered while saying this:

"He who warned, uh, the British that they weren’t gonna be takin’ away our arms, uh, by ringing those bells, and um, makin' sure as he’s riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells that we were going to be sure and we were going to be free, and we were going to be armed."

Needless to say, the lamestream media are having a field day with that gaffe.

Here is the YouTube video:



Can anyone really be that ignorant and...dare I say...stupid? To think that if John McCain had won the White House in 2010, this lady would have been a heartbeat away from the presidency?

And now Sarah Palin is on a traveling bus, playing like she's campaigning for 2012. Unbelievable.

Update: Sarah Palin continues with her ignorance of American History. According to Think Progress:

As ThinkProgress reported, during a June 2 stop in Boston on her “One Nation” bus tour, Sarah Palin managed to spectacularly flub the historical account of Paul Revere’s famed “Midnight Ride.” Describing Revere as warnhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifing “the British that they weren’t going to be taking away our arms, uh, by ringing those bells and, uhm, making sure as he’s riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells,http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif” Palin’s version inspired confusion and some much-deserved jibes from across the media.

None of this has deterred Palin herself, however. This morning on Fox News Sunday, she doubled down on her creative re-imagining of Paul Revere’s ride, saying “I didn’t mess up.”

Here is the YouTube clip of Palin saying how she "didn't mess up;"



And here is the printed quote:

CHRIS WALLACE: I gotta ask you about that real quickly, though. You realize that you messed up about Paul Revere, don’t you?

PALIN: You know what? I didn’t mess up about Paul Revere. Here’s what Paul Revere did. He warned the Americans that “the British were coming, the British were coming.” And they were going to try to take our arms so got to make sure that, uh, we were protecting ourselves and, uhm, shoring up all of our ammunitions and our firearms so that they couldn’t take them.

But remember that the British had already been there — many soldiers — for seven years in that area. And part of Paul Revere’s ride… And it wasn’t just one ride. He was a courier. He was a messenger. Part of his ride was to warn the British that were already there that, “Hey. You’re not going to succeed. You’re not going to take American arms. You are not gonna beat our own well-armed, uh, persons, uh, individual private militia that we have. He did warn the British.

And in a shout-out, gotcha type of question that was asked of me, I answered candidly. And I know my American history.

I went into Wikipedia's reference for Paul Revere's "Midnight Ride," and this is what I found out:

In the days before April 18, Revere had instructed Robert Newman, the sexton of the Old North Church, to send a signal by lantern to alert colonists in Charlestown as to the movements of the troops when the information became known. In what is well known today by the phrase "one if by land, two if by sea", one lantern in the steeple would signal the army's choice of the land route, while two lanterns would signal the route "by water" across the Charles River.

Riding through present-day Somerville, Medford, and Arlington, Revere warned patriots along his route - many of whom set out on horseback to deliver warnings of their own. By the end of the night there were probably as many as 40 riders throughout Middlesex County carrying the news of the army's advance. Revere did not shout the phrase later attributed to him ("The British are coming!"), largely because the mission depended on secrecy and the countryside was filled with British army patrols; also, most colonial residents at the time considered themselves British as they were all legally British subjects, [MY Ephasis]. Revere's warning, according to eyewitness accounts of the ride and Revere's own descriptions, was "The Regulars are coming out,"[My Emphasis]. Revere arrived in Lexington around midnight, with Dawes arriving about a half hour later. Samuel Adams and John Hancock were spending the night at the Hancock-Clarke House in Lexington, and they spent a great deal of time discussing plans of action upon receiving the news. Revere and Dawes, meanwhile, decided to ride on toward Concord, where the militia's arsenal was hidden. They were joined by Samuel Prescott, a doctor who happened to be in Lexington "returning from a lady friend's house at the awkward hour of 1 a.m."

Revere, Dawes, and Prescott were detained by British troops in Lincoln at a roadblock on the way to Concord. Prescott jumped his horse over a wall and escaped into the woods; Dawes also escaped, though soon after he fell off his horse and did not complete the ride. Revere was detained and questioned and then escorted at gunpoint by three British officers back toward Lexington. As morning broke and they neared Lexington Meeting-house, shots were heard. The British officers became alarmed, confiscated Revere's horse, and rode toward the Meeting-house. Revere was horseless and walked through a cemetery and pastures until he came to Rev. Clarke's house where Hancock and Adams were staying. As the battle on Lexington Green continued, Revere helped John Hancock and his family escape from Lexington with their possessions, including a trunk of Hancock's papers,

[My Emphasis].
From what I have read in the Wikipedia account, Revere set out to warn the colonial patriots that "Regular" troops were marching out towards Lexingtonhttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif and Concord--there were plenty of colonials that were also sympathetic to the British government. Revere did not shout out that "The British are coming," as the colonials thought of themselves as British subjects--the warning was meant for the patriots. Finally, Revere had to warn both John Hancock and Samuel Adams of the Regular troop movements, who would arrest both men if found. The information on Paul Revere's ride is there--you just have to quickly and easily look it up. I'll admit that I had tohttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gif look up some of the details on Revere's ride.

Does Sarah Palin correct herself from her previous comments? No. She continues to spout her same, incoherent babble about how her events on Paul Revere's rid are correct. In some ways, it shows us just who Sarah Palin is. She certainly can't admit when she's wrong--even when the facts are arranged against her. Palin has embarked on this "bus tour" for who knows why? Is it a precursor to a 2012 presidential run? In some sense, this tour keeps Sarah Palin in the news, inflating a probably narcissistic personality with a huge ego. She doesn't read newspapers or magazines to keep up with foreign events. And every time I listen to Sarah Palin talk, it seems that she can't articulate a clear thought from her head. It makes her come off as being "stupid," or an "idiot." Maybe she is an idiot. I can't say, but this is not an individual that I want in the White House--certainly not with her fingers on the nuclear button.

And yet, there are plenty of right-winged extremists that love her. That is scary.

Fox News gets front row seat in White House Briefing Room

Sometimes, I just have to shake my head, and wonder if the Obama administration has a clue on how to play politics. From The Huffington Post:

NEW YORK — Fox News Channel has been granted a much-coveted front-row seat in the White House briefing room.

The White House Correspondents Association said Sunday that The Associated Press' reporter has been moved to the front-row center seat previously occupied by Helen Thomas. Fox's correspondent will take the AP's former front-row seat, and National Public Radio's correspondent will move up one row to Fox's old second-row seat.

The center seat was long held by Thomas, a United Press International and Hearst News Service writer. The 89-year-old columnist resigned abruptly in June amid controversy over videotaped remarks she made calling on Israelis to get "out of Palestine." Fox, Bloomberg News (also seated in the second row) and NPR had lobbied for Thomas' seat.

Fox's upgrade is an acknowledgment of its "length of service and commitment," the association's board said in a statement.

Length of service and commitment??? Fox News is not a news organization. Fox News is a propaganda arm of the Republican Party, masquerading as a news organization. They get their marching orders from Rupert Murdoch on how to slant stories, or to regurgitate lies and propaganda as when conservative blogger Andrew Brietbart gave Fox a cherry-picked video of USDA official Shirley Sherrod supposedly making reverse discrimination remarks against a white farmer's family, resulting in her resignation. The entire Sherrod scandal was a complete lie and falsification, created by Brietbart, and trumpeted by Fox. So now Fox News gets a front-row seat in the White House Briefing Room due to their "length of service and commitment" in spewing their lies and propaganda.

Incredible.

Florida church plans book burning of Quran

I found this story through Americablog, and I'm just amazed. From CNN.Com:

(CNN) -- In protest of what it calls a religion "of the devil," a nondenominational church in Gainesville, Florida, plans to host an "International Burn a Quran Day" on the ninth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks.

The Dove World Outreach Center says it is hosting the event to remember 9/11 victims and take a stand against Islam. With promotions on its website and Facebook page, it invites Christians to burn the Muslim holy book at the church from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

"We believe that Islam is of the devil, that it's causing billions of people to go to hell, it is a deceptive religion, it is a violent religion and that is proven many, many times," Pastor Terry Jones told CNN's Rick Sanchez earlier this week.

Jones wrote a book titled "Islam is of the Devil," and the church sells coffee mugs and shirts featuring the phrase.

Muslims and many other Christians -- including some evangelicals -- are fighting the initiative.

The church launched a YouTube channel to disseminate its messages.

"I mean ask yourself, have you ever really seen a really happy Muslim? As they're on the way to Mecca? As they gather together in the mosque on the floor? Does it look like a real religion of joy?" Jones asks in one of his YouTube posts.

"No, to me it looks like a religion of the devil."

I'll be honest, when I think of book burnings, these guys were the real pros:



Does this idiot Pastor Terry Jones really want to walk down this destructive path?