Last Call

Funny thing about policy specifics.  It turns out that Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan do give them out from time to time if you listen and do a little digging.  They're pretty well hidden, as this week indicates.  And Mitt Romney isn't the only one with policy proposals that look pretty awful under the sunlight.

Paul Ryan gave away the current GOP game back in 2005, for instance, at arguably the most important and telling speech of his political career:  the Atlas Society’s “Celebration of Ayn Rand.”  The audio of the speech is still up at the Atlas Society's website.

But when you look at the fight that we’re in here in Capital Hill, it’s a tough fight. It’s a very important fight. But we need more people on our side to fight this fight. That is why there is no more fight that is more obvious between the differences of these two conflicts than Social Security.  Social Security right now is a collectivist system, it’s a welfare transfer system…..

And what’s important is if we actually accomplish this goal of personalizing social security … [Ryan laughs. Ed Hudgins overheard “personalizing”] personalizing social security … [laughter, applause] think of what we will accomplish. Every worker, every laborer in America will not only be a laborer but a capitalist. They will be an owner of society, they will be an owner and a participant of our free enterprise system, of our capitalist system. I would like to have more people on our team who are owners and believers in the individualist capitalist system than on the other side, and if every worker in this country becomes an owner of real wealth, of seeing the fruits of their labor come and materialize for their benefit, then that’s that many more people in America who are not going to listen to likes of Dick Gephardt and Nancy Pelosi, Ted Kennedy, the collectivist, class warfare-breathing demagogues.  

Now let's pause for a second here.  Ryan is saying that by privatizing...I mean, "personalizing" Social Security...by putting it in the hands of corporate America, American workers will then work harder because they are an "owner of society" at that point.  Social Security is a collectivist, welfare transfer system.

And here's the thing:  If what Ryan was actually proposing was that the American worker received the benefits of corporate ownership commensurate to the risk they are taking by handing over the equivalent of 15 or 20% of their current gross for 50 years to a company to invest, that would be great.  There's no way this happens, of course.  The opposite is true:  corporations see the benefits and profits, while individuals assume most of the risk.  See the current paycheck of any CEO compared to their lowest paid worker.  He continues:

So you have to understand that all they have to do is stop us from succeeding.  Autopilot will get them where they want to go. Autopilot will bring more government, more collectivism, more centralized government.  If we do not succeed in switching these programs, in reforming these programs from what some people call a defined benefit system, to a defined contribution system– from switching these programs—and this is where I’m talking about health care, as well—from a third party or socialist based system to an individually owned, individually prefunded, individually directed system.

We can do this. We are on offence on a lot of these ideas.  I was the principle author of the Health Savings Account law, which was an amendment I brought to the floor and passed in the Medicare bill in the last session of congress. Health Savings Accounts, personal accounts for Social Securities, these are the things that put us on offence, that get the– the individual back in the game and break the back of this collectivist philosophy that really pervades, you know, ninety percent of the thinking around here in this town.

In other words, health care, Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare?  They have to be run like a business, in order to make a profit, not to provide care.  That's what "defined benefit system to a defined contribution system"  means.  You are not guaranteed benefits.  You will however, be guaranteed to have to pay into the system.

This is why running these programs like a business is a horrible idea.

Businesses fail.  It happens all the time.  Oh well.  So much for your retirement.  You get nothing.

This is Paul Ryan's America.  And in it, somebody has to lose.

Tiny Bubbles, In My Space-Time

Yeah.  So this is pretty awesome.  Make it so.

Researchers at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) are carrying out lab-scale experiments to create tiny space-time warps with an aim to eventually achieving “Star-Trek”-style interstellar space travel.

According to the Alcubierre warp drive theory, proposed by Mexican physicist Miguel Alcubierre in 1994, a spaceship could travel faster than light inside a bubble of negative energy that deforms the space-time continuum, compressing it in front of the craft and expanding it behind.

Harold “Sonny” White, from JSC’s advanced propulsion physics laboratory Eagleworks, attended the 100 Year Starship Symposium in Houston on Sept. 14 to present his lab’s findings.

White’s team is testing out mathematical equations relating to the physics of cosmic inflation using an instrument called the White-Juday Warp Field Interferometer, which uses a laser to create little warp bubbles.

“We’ve initiated an interferometer test bed in this lab, where we’re going to go through and try and generate a microscopic instance of a little warp bubble,” White said, according to a July article in Roundup, JSC’s biweekly publication.

“And although this is just a microscopic instance of the phenomena, we’re perturbing space-time, one part in 10 million, a very tiny amount.”

Cannot.  Stop.  Headbanging.  Over how awesome this is.  Sure, it'll be generations or so before we end up doing anything practical with this, if it even works at macro scales without obscene amounts of energy, or at all, or without tearing a dimensional rift into the Chaos Realms and making the walls bleed.

But still!  Science!

The Mask Slips Again

...and Republicans accidentally tell the truth about their legislation.  Today's contestant:  Pennsylvania state GOP Rep. Daryl Metcalfe on the state's voter ID law, the law recently sent back down to the minors for review and a possible injunction.  Metcalfe gets caught talking on a radio show about the real aim of the law, to prevent Democrats from voting.

HOST: Are you absolutely convinced…that the methods to implement this law are effective and will in fact make sure no legitimate voter will be disenfranchised?

METCALFE: I don’t believe any legitimate voter that actually wants to exercise that right and takes on the according responsiblity that goes with that right to secure their photo ID will be disenfranchised. As Mitt Romney said, 47% of the people that are living off the public dole, living off their neighbors’ hard work, and we have a lot of people out there that are too lazy to get up and get out there and get the ID they need. If individuals are too lazy, the state can’t fix that.

Yeah, sure.  And poll taxes in the Jim Crow south proved how lazy and stupid black people were when they didn't have the money to pay for the privilege of voting.  The ID is free.  The documents you need in order to get the free state ID, well gosh, those cost money and time to obtain.  Too bad for them, right?

Why should the 47% be allowed to vote, anyway?  They vote Democratic, after all.  We can't have that.  If you say "Hey, I don't know if I'm going to vote" the Republicans in power will make that decision for you.

Jackass Jail Sentence

TACOMA, Wash. — A Washington state man who beat a neighbor's dog with a hatchet after luring it with treats has been sentenced to six months in jail.

The Pierce County prosecutor's office says 55-year-old Ricky Knowles was sentenced Monday after pleading guilty in July to first-degree animal cruelty.

Prosecutors say Orting police were called after neighbors saw the Pierce County man beat the dog in March. They say police found the dog — Kona — in Knowles' garage tied to a pole, bleeding from severe wounds to his head and neck. They say animal control officers had to cut a piece of wire from around the dog's neck.

Six months is not nearly enough, but it's a damn good start.  This man deserves no mercy, no kindness and no accommodation.  His actions are beneath that.

Springfield Mayor Calls Us Ignorant Hillbillies... And Then It Gets Stupid

One of the factors Springfield and Greene County must overcome in order to bring jobs to this area is our pervasive reputation of being a bunch of ignorant hillbillies.

When a company is looking for a new site to locate jobs, it looks at several key factors: the quality of schools, the quality of parks and recreation, the availability and quality of the workforce and the attitude of the community. And yes, it looks at whether a community can be described as “welcoming” to various populations that might be considered “different” from the mainstream.

It also checks out the mayor.  And the crooked-ass City Council. It looks at things like the Medicacom Ice Park, that fun little eyesore where they gave Mediacom exclusive rights to the city, so they hiked the rates to pay for their "gift" of an ice park.  Or the fact that they have no voice in government because City Council elections are too expensive, so they'll just tell us how our town will run.  Don't forget Bob's contempt when he said it was hard to find qualified people, meaning most of us are just too stupid to know right from wrong.

I think they'd be proud to see adults giving a damn about how their government is run.  A little salty language in front of teenagers?  Are we really going to pretend that doesn't happen or that the teenagers don't use the same language?

Really, that's his line?  That is what finally brings our mayor to shame?  Because I could put you to sleep with a thousand stories that should have.

What a jackass.

Big Not Rock Candy Mountain

Jon Stewart wins all the things.


This may be the most biting takedown of Romney's 47% video yet. (OK, video's odd, just click here for it.)

Senate GOP Blocks Veterans Jobs Bill

The Republicans in the Senate continue to make sure that we can send men and women to fight for our freedom in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, but when they come home, they're just worthless looters and moochers who get abandoned by the country they fought for.

The Senate blocked legislation Wednesday that would have established a $1 billion jobs program putting veterans back to work tending to the country’s federal lands and bolstering local police and fire departments.

Republicans said the spending authorized in the bill violated limits that Congress agreed to last year. Democrats fell two votes shy of the 60-vote majority needed to waive the objection, forcing the legislation back to committee.

Supporters loosely modeled their proposal after the President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s Civilian Conservation Corps used during the Great Depression to put people to work planting trees, building parks and constructing dams. They said the latest monthly jobs report, showing a nearly 11 percent unemployment rate for veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, merited action from Congress.

Democratic lawmakers turned to the legislation shortly before they’ll adjourn for the finals weeks of this year’s election campaigns. The bill had little chance of passing the House this Congress, but it still allowed senators to appeal to a key voting bloc.

“(With) a need so great as unemployed veterans, this is not the time to draw a technical line on the budget,” said Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, the bill’s lead sponsor, who faces a competitive re-election battle.

Republicans said the effort to help veterans was noble, but the bill was flawed nevertheless.

Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma said the federal government already has six job-training programs for veterans and there is no way to know how well they are working. He argued that making progress on the country’s debt was the best way to help veterans in the long-term.

“We ought to do nothing now that makes the problem worse for our kids and grandkids,” Coburn said.

Yeah, we wouldn't want to make things worse for kids and grandkids living in America's military families by keeping veterans unemployed or anything.

After all, soldiers, vets, and the unemployed are part of that 47% that would never vote for Mitt Romney and the Republicans. So screw em, let them rot in the streets while we cut taxes on the rich again.  I'm sure the hand of the free market will make it very profitable to care for veterans suffering from mental trauma, physical injury, or both someday, we just need to cut taxes on millionaires and billionaires until that happens.

Assholes.

StupidiNews

• CNN reports slain US Ambassador to Libya Chris Stevens worried he was on an "Al Qaeda hit list."
• Italy's highest court has confirmed 23 convictions against US CIA agents in absentia over the kidnapping and rendition of suspected terrorist Abu Omar.
• A partial fishing rebound from 2010's Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster has resulted in a record seafood catch for 2011, according to the latest government figures.
• Possible manipulations in other key interest rates by banks means the recent LIBOR scandal may only be the tip of the iceberg.
• California has become the latest state to offer on-line voter registration ahead of November's elections.

Last Call

Just for my own edification, here's what the Gallup registered voter poll for President looked like through mid September 2008:





And the 2012 version:

They're pretty damn similar.  By the way, it was about this time 4 years ago that after closing the gap, Obama then blew McCain out of the water and his campaign fell apart:



Candidate Obama was actually behind in early September, and went on to rip McCain up in the debates and win handily.  He was up 13 points among RVs on Oct 31, 2008, but they were tied as late as September 22 of that year.

Starting to look like that may be the case again.   The first debate was September 26 then, and it just got worse for McCain from there.  I'm betting we'll see a similar pattern this year.

Podcast Versus The Stupid!

Episode 11, Shoulda Tipped The Waiter, is up.  Bon and I talk about Mitt Romney's latest crash and burn from the secret tape from his May Florida fundraiser and what it means to be part of the 47%.

Listen to internet radio with Zandar Versus The Stupid on Blog Talk Radio

As always, you can check us out on iTunes or on the episode archive page.

Or, download the mp3 or Windows Media Player audio.

Always tip your waiters, folks.

Paul, A Little Presidenting Music If You Would

President Obama was on the Late Show with Dave Letterman on Tuesday, talking about his campaign and of course, Mitt Romney's really awful week.  Here's the video, courtesy of Raw Story.

Barack Obama warned Tuesday his Republican foe Mitt Romney was “writing off a big chunk of the country” following his remark that 47 percent of Americans were “victims” and therefore backed the president.

Obama offered his first response to Romney’s remarks, made in a secretly recorded meeting with rich donors, at a “Late Show with David Letterman” taping in New York on Tuesday, 50 days before the presidential election.

“One of the things I learned as president is you represent the entire country. If you want to be president, you have to work for everyone,” Obama said.

“What people want to know though is you’re not writing off a big chunk of the country because the way our democracy works … this is a big country.

“When I won in 2008, 47 percent of the American people voted for John McCain,” Obama said.

“They didn’t vote for me and what I said on election night was: ?Even though you didn’t vote for me, I hear your voices, and I’m going to work as hard as I can to be your president.’”

“There are not a lot of people out there who think they’re victims,” Obama said.

“There are not a lot of people who think they’re entitled to something.”

It was a pretty good appearance by the President, a good reminder that he's a father and husband as well as President of the United States.  Oh, and he got in a couple of good digs, give it a watch.

Pictures Say More Than Words Ever Could

Go ahead.  Click here and look at twenty-two pictures that tell an amazing story.  While you watch, keep in mind that Romney didn't consider this guy important enough to thank.  People like this brave man didn't rate a side mention on his laundry list.

He's also ready to cut his pay and benefits, even though Romney has never sacrificed a damn thing for this country.

Please look, and I hope you are as touched as I was.  I have no way to verify the photos, but if they are somehow retouched, this story has played out enough times that we know it happens.  Far too often.

Hero Kid Stops Kidnapping

QUESNEL, B.C. - A quick-thinking teenaged girl stopped an elderly woman from trying to abduct a seven-year-old boy in British Columbia's Cariboo region, say police.

RCMP Const. Krista Vrolyk said the boy was with other youth and a parent in Spirit Square in the downtown core of Quesnel, 672 kilometres north of Vancouver, when the incident occurred just before 10 p.m. Thursday.

The woman tried to shake the boy's hand, but grabbed him by the wrist and pull him towards a nearby pickup truck, said Vrolyk.

That's when the teenaged girl, the boy's 13-year-old friend, took action.

"It just so happened that the 13-year-old was a little bit closer and kind of quick to act," said Vrolyk.

She said the girl, who is of slight stature and thin, physically pulled the boy away from the woman.

"This seems to be an isolated incident with this female," she said, adding that police are investigating her motive.

Thanks to that little girl, we'll never know what would have happened.  I admit I'm curious as to what caused this to come about, but I'll trade that for relief any day, every time.

Good for you, kid.  

Strike? Out.

Chicago kids are back in school today as the Chicago Teachers Union has voted to suspend the strike and finish hashing out their deal with Mayor Rahmbo.

Chicago Teachers Union delegates voted on Tuesday to suspend their strike, several delegates said as they departed a meeting of union leaders.

The decision ends a confrontation with Mayor Rahm Emanuel over reform of the third largest U.S. school district.

The strike of 29,000 teachers and support staff at Chicago Public Schools kept 350,000 kindergarten, elementary and high school students out of class for seven school days.

"We are going back. All of our teachers are happy to be going back," said Jay Rehak, an English teacher at Whitney Young high school as he departed the closed meeting.

And all without a word from President Obama, who was politically very wise not to get involved.  Pretty much everyone wins in this scenario in fact except for Rahmbo:  POTUS, teachers, kids, schools, parents...but not the Mayor.  No way.

Rahm in fact looks like a complete ass over this, especially in light of Romney's 47% comments.  We'll see, but he's persona non grata as far as I'm concerned.

What Mitt Really Thinks About Americans, Part 2

It's somewhat less juicy than yesterday's outright dismissal of 47% of the electorate as parasitic moochers, unless you thought that Romney gave a damn about the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. Today, the role of the 47% will be played by the people of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Mother Jones has obtained video of Romney at this intimate dinner and has confirmed its authenticity. The event was held at the home of controversial private equity manager Marc Leder in Boca Raton, Florida, with tickets costing $50,000 a plate. During the freewheeling conversation, a donor asked Romney how the "Palestinian problem" can be solved. Romney immediately launched into a detailed reply, asserting that the Palestinians have "no interest whatsoever in establishing peace, and that the pathway to peace is almost unthinkable to accomplish." Romney spoke of "the Palestinians" as a united bloc of one mindset, and he said: "I look at the Palestinians not wanting to see peace anyway, for political purposes, committed to the destruction and elimination of Israel, and these thorny issues, and I say there's just no way."

Oh, it gets worse.

These are problems—these are very hard to solve, all right? And I look at the Palestinians not wanting to see peace anyway, for political purposes, committed to the destruction and elimination of Israel, and these thorny issues, and I say, "There's just no way." And so what you do is you say, "You move things along the best way you can." You hope for some degree of stability, but you recognize that this is going to remain an unsolved problem. We live with that in China and Taiwan. All right, we have a potentially volatile situation but we sort of live with it, and we kick the ball down the field and hope that ultimately, somehow, something will happen and resolve it. We don't go to war to try and resolve it imminently. On the other hand, I got a call from a former secretary of state. I won't mention which one it was, but this individual said to me, you know, I think there's a prospect for a settlement between the Palestinians and the Israelis after the Palestinian elections. I said, "Really?" And, you know, his answer was, "Yes, I think there's some prospect." And I didn't delve into it.

Naah, because delving into it would require decision-making and leadership. Better to kick the ball down field. Ironically, Romney then goes on to attack the President for what he says is a lack of leadership and for kicking the ball down the field on Iran.

The president's foreign policy, in my opinion, is formed in part by a perception he has that his magnetism, and his charm, and his persuasiveness is so compelling that he can sit down with people like Putin and Chávez and Ahmadinejad, and that they'll find that we're such wonderful people that they'll go on with us, and they'll stop doing bad things. And it's an extraordinarily naive perception.

Mr. Kick The Ball Down Field here, Captain Leadership himself, thinks actually talking to people is naive. Wow, here's a guy who just fills me with hope. More specifics here in this video so far on Romney policy than months of his campaign rhetoric, too. He really wasn't kidding when he said specifics of his policy positions would make it harder to negotiate later on. Hats off to you David Corn, and to James Carter IV, the former President's grandson, for putting this together. I hope there's even more. We get to watch Romney implode in real time now.

StupidiNews!

• A joint operation by the US, UK, and Colombia has caught alleged crime boss and drug lord Daniel "El Loco" Barrera in Venezuela.
• Mexican police and army units are combing the border with Texas, looking for 131 convicts in a mass prison break possibly organized by the infamous Zetas drug cartel.
• As final details are worked out over the planned Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement, US manufacturers are worried about the possible loss of thousands of jobs.
• Bloomberg News reports 326 billion euros have been withdrawn from banks in the PIGS nations, threatening the stability of the common currency. 
• Millions of Virgin Mobile USA customers could find themselves at risk of brute force crackers as account passwords are limited to just six digits.

Last Call

Pennsylvania's state Supreme Court made it all but clear that the voter ID law pushed by Republicans is a serious attempt to disenfranchise hundreds of thousands of voters in the state, and that the law is living on borrowed time as the court sent the law back to a lower court demanding that the judge who okayed the mess take a second look. Immediately.  If not sooner.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ordered a lower court on Tuesday to reconsider its decision upholding a new state voter ID law, saying it should be blocked if voters would be shut out this Election Day by hurdles to obtaining ID cards.

The court battle over the law passed last March by the Republican-led legislature in Pennsylvania, considered a key swing state in the upcoming presidential election, is being watched closely on both local and national levels.

The Supreme Court's ruling sends the issue back to Commonwealth Court Judge Robert Simpson, who must reconsider his earlier decision to allow the law to go forward. He is due to rule by Oct 2.

Supporters of the voter ID law say it is aimed at ensuring that only those legally eligible to vote cast ballots. Critics say it is designed to keep minority voters, who typically vote Democratic, away from the polls.

The law mandates that all voters show either a state driver's license, government employee ID or a state non-driver ID card to vote, including in the November 6 presidential election. Similar legal battles are under way in Texas and South Carolina.

Shorter PA Supreme Court:  "You might want to reconsider that whole constitutional thing."   Needless to say, if Judge Simpson doesn't stick a fork in this thing, the PA Supremes appear to be making the very loud argument that they will block this law cold if it comes back without an injunction.

It's good news.  Hopefully this law will be dead within a couple of weeks.

Indefensible Me

Not only is the Romney campaign imploding in real time, Romney's surrogates and proxies are coming apart at the seams as well.  Take loudmouth GOP anti-Muslim bigot Rep. Peter King of New York losing his shpadoinkle on CNN versus Soledad O'Brien.

O’BRIEN: Never once in that speech, as you know, which I have the speech right here. that was — he never once used the word “apology.” He never once said “I’m sorry.”

KING: Didn’t have to. The logical — any logical reading of that speech or the speech he gave in France where he basically said that the United States can be too aggressive. [...]

O’BRIEN: Everybody keeps talking about this apology tour and apologies from the President. I’m trying to find the words ‘I’m sorry, I apologize’ in any of those speeches. Which I have the text of all those speeches in front of me. None of those speeches at all, if you go to factcheck.org which we check in a lot, they all say the same thing. They fact check this and they say this whole theory of apologies…

KING: I don’t care what fact check says.

O’BRIEN: There are fact checks. You may not care, but they’re a fact checker.

KING: No. Soledad. Any commonsense interpretation of those speeches, the president’s apologizing for the American position. That’s the apology tour. That’s the way it’s interpreted in the Middle East. If I go over and say that the U.S. has violated its principles, that the United States has not shown respect for islam, that’s an apology. How else can it be interpreted? 

Like King and by extension Romney doesn't care about the truth in the least.  Which is clearly the case here.

"I don't care what fact check says" is the Romney motto, through and through.  Now you people need to shut up and give him your money already.

The Men Who Knew Too Little

The same day the Romney campaign announced an emphasis on "specifics", Paul Ryan was telling voters that specifics now would affect their ability to compromise with Democrats after the are elected,  and the Romney camp of course wouldn't actually specifically name any of those specifics they are trying to emphasize.

Mitt Romney’s campaign promised to unveil more specifics on Romney’s campaign proposals during a conference call with reporters Monday, pushing back on bipartisan criticism that the Republican has yet to say clearly what he’d actually do in office.

But the campaign’s pledge for specifics was lacking new specifics itself — campaign officials instead listed a litany of policy proposals Romney’s already discussed on the campaign trail.


“We are looking forward to this new emphasis and renewed emphasis on why it is electing Gov. Romney and Rep. Ryan would result in better, higher take-home pay an more jobs in our economy,” Romney adviser Ed Gillespie said on the call. He promised new specifics will come in “events and remarks and background papers, surrogate efforts and paid advertising.”

Gillespie pointed to Romney’s scheduled speech at the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce Monday as evidence of the new focus on specific policy details. In excerpts from the speech, Romney points to several broad policy plans he’s outlined before.

“I will send a number of programs that have been growing uncontrollably fast back to the states where I will limit their funding to the rate of inflation, or in the case of Medicaid, to inflation plus one percent,” he says in the remarks. “I will look to sharply increase the productivity of Washington by reducing federal government employment by 10 percent through attrition, by combining agencies and departments to reduce overhead, and by linking government compensation with that of the private sector. These things combined will reduce spending by $500 billion a year by the end of my first term.”

Which of course isn't specific at all.

Specifically, this is the worst campaign I've ever seen.  "I will do some stuff and we'll save have a trillion dollars a year" is not a specific set of policies, it's specifically bullcrap.

They're not even trying anymore.

Calling All Idiots

Rick Santorum, the gift that just keeps on giving, has now stated that the elite smart folks will never be on the Republican side.

So, for all the rest of you guys... great job!

Rick Santorum, the former presidential candidate, had a message for attendees of theValues Voter Summit on Saturday.

"We will never have the media on our side, ever, in this country," Santorum said, according to BuzzFeed and a video posted by Right Wing Watch, available above. "We will never have the elite, smart people on our side, because they believe they should have the power to tell you what to do."

It made me laugh out loud.  So if you're not intelligent, welcome aboard!