StupidiNews!

• Search and rescue teams in Nepal are looking for survivors of a deadly avalanche on the Himalayan peak of Manaslu.
• A group of nearly a thousand pastors plan to openly defy the IRS and tell their congregations to support Mitt Romney. 
• Syrian rebel group are united in their opposition to the regime of Bashar al-Assad, but can agree on little else.
• UK Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg admits that the UK can tax capital gains more on the top 10% of earners in order to raise revenues.
• Researchers have made headway on "reading and writing" data on quantum spin on phosphorus atoms.

Last Call

Matt Lewis at the Daily Caller unleashes an asinine attack on early voting, calling it a bad idea that America needs to get rid of.  He gives a number of "reasons", none of which actually hold up.

1. It doesn’t work. Researchers at the University of Wisconsin demonstrated that early voting can actually depress turnout.

Surprise, a McMegan article, where she comes to the same conclusion.  The study supposedly found that all things being equal, early voting depressed turnout by 2-3 percentage points.  But there's at least one big caveat in their model:

With one big exception: our model forecast that early voters had profiles that made them two percentage points more likely to vote than Election Day voters, whether there was an early option or not. Early voters were more educated and older and had higher incomes, all traits associated with a higher probability of voting. A probability difference of 2 percentage points may seem like a trivial figure, but when applied to populations of millions, it can shift national and state elections.

Early voting tends to happen in more affluent precincts as a rule.  What Republicans oppose is early voting in urban precincts with lots of minority voters.  Only then it becomes a problem. Moving on:

2. Voters are casting ballots before they have all the information.

Coming from a site like the Daily Caller, that's a bit like Lex Luthor complaining Superman not wearing a safety belt for his back when he's lifting a battleship sets a bad example for the kids.  Considering the site exists to highlight GOP propaganda, the claim ring awfully hollow.  Unless Lewis is calling for more Jim Crow era poll tests to assess if voters are informed enough, which I don't believe he is.  Besides, under this logic, absentee ballots for our soldiers should immediately be outlawed as well, yes?

3. The cost — both to the taxpayer and the campaigns. In my home state of Maryland (where early voting is still relatively new), it cost taxpayers $2.6 million, without increasing turnout.

Again this is another odd argument.  Lewis has a problem with measures that decrease voter turnout but cost taxpayers money.

You mean, like voter ID laws, Matt?

Funny how Republicans don't seem to mind the cost to taxpayers when it comes to issuing IDs.  No expense should be spared to protect ballot integrity! And speaking of that...

4. Ballot integrity. Unlike early voting, absentee voting is typically done by mail, which opens the door for voter fraud, spouses who are members of opposing parties “losing” ballots, etc. It happens.

It happens that "It happens" is all Matt has to offer on the subject.  No links, no citations, no studies, no cases, and certainly no articles that voter ID laws Republicans are pushing don't actually protect ballot integrity or prevent in-person voter fraud.  Same logic goes for outlawing absentee ballots as I said before.  Pretty simple to verify the information, yes?

But the last reason is the most inane:

5. Community. Early voting may be more convenient, but having done both, I can tell you there is something about voting on Election Day that feels special. There is something patriotic and communitarian about it. And I think we lose something when we don’t do it together.

Spare me.  Nostalgia and feelings are an unacceptable reason to legislate.  If it means that much to you, make Election Day a national holiday so that all Americans can join in.  Which would increase turnout.  Oh, but we can't for "reasons" so shut it.

Lewis is as transparent a concern troll as he is an ignorant one.  What a shocker for a Daily Caller scribe, I know.  In the end, reducing the vote to only those who can afford to take the day off to vote is all that matters to these guys.

Police Shoots Double Amputee Who Wielded A Pen

HOUSTON — A Houston police officer has fatally shot a one-armed, one-legged man in a wheelchair after police say the double amputee waved a metal object that turned out to be a pen.

Police spokeswoman Jodi Silva says man cornered the officer early Saturday inside a group home after police were called about a disturbance there.

Silva says the man was making threats while trying to stab the officer with the pen. She says the officer did not know what the metal object was at the time.

Silva says the man came "within inches to a foot" of the officer and did not follow instructions to calm down and remain still.

For such a short clip, there's a lot of disturbing stuff here.

First, and I mean this with no disrespect towards the handicapped, if the officer was cornered by a man with one arm and one leg maneuvering a wheelchair, he's not very smart.  Or could it be that he was in the victim's personal space, getting in a little too close to intimidate?  While the thought makes me sick, it's the only way I can make that work out.

The victim threatened him with a pen.  If he couldn't tell it was a pen, how could he tell it was a threatening object?  No matter what, it did not deserve a fatal response from the officer.  This guy was at such a clear physical disadvantage, the officer could have removed himself from danger.  He could have walked away but he shot the man instead.

But finally, the thing that maybe sticks in my craw the most, is the phrase "did not follow instructions to calm down and remain still."  This man had a history of being difficult, according to employees.  You know what, I think I would be too if I were in his circumstances.  I've worked in group homes, and I can tell you that the idea of these people as American citizens with the rights and values like everyone else just disappears.  In the flurry of meals, medicine and job duties, these people are herded like cattle with little to no regard for them as people.  I worked in dozens of locations, the utter lack of humanity was the one thing every place had in common.  It is why I work in a different field.

To fail to follow instructions to calm down and remain still, for a person who is agitated by nature and condition, is expected.  Cops are trained (supposedly) to lower tensions.  Perhaps by giving this man some personal space the cop could have done a better job.

Either way, a man is dead and a cop is an asshole.  Surprise, surprise.

Tiny Solution

As more and more people are forced to downsize, CNN runs an article showing some extremely small homes, and how it has helped people be comfortable and live a new and better way (better for them, at least).  I grew up in a tiny home, and for me this would be ideal.  My husband, however, would never survive a 200 square foot home.

Still, for many it's a way to reduce bills and mortgage while families ride out the economy and job market.  It allowed one mother a better work-to-life ratio as she was able to provide for her family and have some time left over for her dreams.

Take a peek here, it's pretty interesting.

Giving Away The Game

John Podhoretz mounts the defense of Romney's incomplete tax return from Friday based solely on his charitable giving:

So, to recap: Mitt Romney has, in the past two years, paid almost $5 million in taxes while giving away $7 million. And, as he said, he has paid the taxes he was supposed to pay according to the laws of the United States, which is all that is required — legally, morally and practically — of anyone.

If you’ve been reading my columns for the past couple of years, you know I’m perfectly capable of being critical of Romney. I did so the other day, and radio host Mark Levin called me a “trash-mouther” who was “giving aid and comfort to Obama.”

But the release of these tax records leaves no doubt about one thing: Mitt Romney is an extraordinarily, remarkably, astonishingly generous man. A good man. Maybe even a great man.

That is all. There is no “but.” Anyone who says otherwise is ignorant, stupid or a liar.

Mitt Romney's not running for "Great Man 2012", J-Pod.  He's running for President.  And I hate to break it to you, but there is a really big "but" in all this:  Nowhere does Mitt reveal the status of his foreign bank accounts.   We don't know if he paid "all the taxes he was supposed to" because the returns are still not complete.

On top of that, there remains the issue that the Romney camp admits to not taking the maximum charitable deduction in order to give himself a higher tax rate.  He's playing loophole games with more money than most Americans will see in their entire lives, treating it as a tax tool for political purposes.

Oh, and while earning less than 6% of what Romney did, Barack Obama still gave 22% of his 2011 income to charity.  That makes him a great man too, right?

The Kroog Versus Mitt's Confidence Game

Paul Krugman decides Mitt wants to be the Confidence Fairy.

In its original usage, the phrase was aimed at people like Jean-Claude Trichet, who preached the wonders of expansionary austerity. But reading Matt O’Brien on Romney’s Boca Moment, I suddenly realized that it has a domestic application too.

As O’Brien notes, here’s how Romney described his economic strategy:

If it looks like I’m going to win, the markets will be happy. If it looks like the president’s going to win, the markets should not be terribly happy. It depends of course which markets you’re talking about, which types of commodities and so forth, but my own view is that if we win on November 6th, there will be a great deal of optimism about the future of this country. We’ll see capital come back and we’ll see — without actually doing anything — we’ll actually get a boost in the economy.

[Emphasis added]

In effect, Romney was saying, “I am the confidence fairy!”

And as Krugman notes, the odds of Mitt winning have tanked...and the Dow is at its best level since 2007.

Confidence That He'll Lose Fairy is more like it.

Last Call

And it's today's new and improved one hour Podcast Vs. The Stupid!  Click to Embiggen!

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

Bon and I talk Mitt's taxes, Paul Ryan getting booed at the AARP convention, Queen Ann Romney and You People, plus the state of the Senate slipping away from the GOP and even putting the House into play.  Also, Todd Akin and Rand Paul are still losers.

Right click to download the mp3 here or subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, or check out the episode archive page here.  And if you like what you hear, drop a couple bucks in the PayPal jar.

Palin Struggles For Spotlight, Romney In Denial

(CNN) - Sarah Palin became the latest conservative to lend her two cents to the Republican ticket on Saturday, urging Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan to give the country a "come to Jesus moment."

"With so much at stake in this election, both Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan should 'go rogue' and not hold back from telling the American people the true state of our economy and national security," Palin told the conservative "Weekly Standard" in a statement published Saturday.

Peggy Noonan, a conservative columnist for The Wall Street Journal, described Romney's campaign as "incompetent," and went on to stand by her comments in a Thursday column. Her word choice, she said, was "only because I was being polite. I really meant 'rolling calamity.' "

Romney defended himself in an interview broadcast by CBS News on Friday, saying his campaign "doesn't need a turnaround." 

Sarah Palin is clutching at straws, begging to stay relevant.  Exactly like we forecast four years ago.

Mittens is in denial and doubling down at every turn because he (mistakenly) believes he is above everyone, so ruling is his destiny.

I love to watch me a fine implosion on a Saturday night.

The GOP Plan, Revised Version

Elizabeth Drew at the NY Review Of Books blog absolutely gets why I'm still pushing like a madman for everyone to vote, even with Romney's apparent meltdown:  the GOP voter suppression and gerrymandering plan at the state level still means they can steal the election.  Drew nails this fear and reviews exactly how it can happen:

In a close election, the Republican plan could call into question the legitimacy of the next president. An election conducted on this basis could lead to turbulence on election day and possibly an extended period of lawsuits contesting the outcome in various states. Bush v. Gore would seem to have been a pleasant summer afternoon. The fact that their party’s nominee is currently stumbling about, his candidacy widely deemed to be in crisis mode, hasn’t lessened their determination to prevent as many Democratic supporters as they can from voting in November.

This national effort to tilt the 2012 election is being carried out on the pretext that the country’s voting system is under threat from widespread “voter fraud.” the fact that no significant fraud has been found doesn’t deter the people pursuing this plan. Myths are convenient in politics. Want to fix an election? No problem. Just make up a story that the other side is trying to rig the election—and meanwhile try to rig the election. (Jon Stewart recently concluded a searing segment about the imagined voter fraud by saying: “Next, leashes for leprechauns.”) 

I've been saying this since it became apparent that the GOP was trying to de-legitimize the Obama presidency since day one, since my own senator Mitch McConnell announced that the GOP's aim was to make President Obama a one-term president.  The "by any means necessary" was implied.  And 2010 put them in precisely the situation they needed to be in in order to carry out the plan: in charge of a number of state legislatures and governor's mansions in a redistricting year.

The Republicans have been making particularly strenuous efforts to tilt the outcomes—in most of the “swing states”: Florida, Ohio, Iowa, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin. The Republican leader of the House in Pennsylvania, previously considered a swing state, was careless enough to admit publicly that the state’s strict new Voter ID law would assure a Romney victory in November. In fact a state document submitted in court offered no evidence of voter fraud. On September 18, Pennsylvania’s supreme court sharply rebuked a lower court’s approval of the law, questioning whether the law could be fairly applied by the time of the election. This battle continues despite the fact that the Romney campaign in mid-September suspended its efforts in Pennsylvania because polls show that Obama was substantially ahead. Even if the state’s electoral votes are not in question the outcome could still decide whether a great many people will be allowed to vote in November, and could also affect the popular vote.

Eight states have already passed Voter ID laws—requiring a state-approved document with a photograph in order to register or vote, a form of identification that an estimated 11 percent or over 21 million of American citizens do not possess. But these laws are just part of an array of restrictions adopted to keep Democrats from voting. Some use other means to make registration difficult, or put strict limits on the number of days before the election that votes can be cast , or cut back the hours that polling places can stay open. 

And news now that Ohio Republicans plan to implement strict voter ID laws in 2013 just brings all that home.  The GOP plan to win elections hinges on limiting the number of people who are allowed to vote through disenfranchisement of millions of minorities, elderly, the working poor, and students.  If these laws stand, they will be red for another generation...and remember that Republicans are now on record as wanting to limit voting to as few people as possible.

This is the real thrust of the 47% attack.

How far is it to go from saying "Boy, these moochers and looters don't pay any income taxes" to "And why should they be allowed to vote?"  Not very, especially when the groups you're trying to blame for America's economic woes are the same ones you're blaming for electing the people who you say "aided and abetted" in those woes.

If you don't see the 47% as Americans, as your fellow citizens, or even as fellow humans, why would you resist the effort to disenfranchise them, especially when it means your vote becomes more powerful as a result?  The last gasp of white privilege is a powerful siren song to resist, something that could give the GOP the legislative and executive branch power they need to control the judicial...and then the game is really over.

If you think your vote is worthless now, sit out this election and the next few and see what happens.  2010 was just a taste.

Olympic-Class Stupidity

Walking anti-feminist cartoon Phyllis Schlafly, desperately trying to make Chickens In Favor Of McNuggets look sane, is now claiming that 40 years of Title IX legislation making education and sports programs more equal has somehow destroyed the US men's national Olympic team.  Right Wing Watch reports:

One of the main stories to come out of the 2012 London Olympics was the outright dominance of American female athletes, another sign of the success of the Title IX, which barred discrimination between men’s and women’s educational programs and is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. But Title IX has always provoked the ire of Phyllis Schlafly and the Eagle Forum. In a radio alert today, Schlafly claims Title IX in fact “weakened our competitiveness” at the Olympics.

The US won 104 medals in London (58 for women and 45 for men), which Schlafly believes shows that male athletes suffered a severe injustice. “Feminist-imposed gender quotas hurt us at the Olympics in events which our Nation once dominated,” Schlafly claims, “While our Nation won the most medals for the fifth consecutive Summer Olympics, many of our medals were in contests of dubious value like beach volleyball. Title IX quotas have hurt our competitiveness in sports that are most helpful to the development of our young men.” Schlafly points to the US failure to win medals in wrestling as a sign of Title IX’s allegedly disastrous impact; however, throughout Olympic history the US has never dominated wrestling in the Olympics” And while Schlafly believes that the policy wreaked havoc on male collegiate sports, female athletes and women’s teams still receive significantly less financial support compared to their male peers.

The woman is completely bonkers in every respect.  Only wingnut dipsticks could take "The US is dominating at the Olympics" and turn it into "stupid women!" and "BEACH VOLLEYBALL ISN'T A SPORT."

I'm betting we wouldn't be hearing complaint number one out of her during a Republican administration, right?

Please.  Women making the argument that women are responsible for the decline of men in the patriarchy is like grapes complaining that the grapes are responsible for the decline of wine sales among vintners.  The woman doth protest too much, methinks.

Perhaps Phyllis thinks all men are secretly Jets QB Tim Tebow, who wants a woman who looks good,  with "a servant's heart" and who has to be as awesome as his mom is.  Even better, Phyllis seems to think that it's a woman's duty to be attracted to Tim Tebow precisely because of this.

Oy.

Amanda Bynes Lost Her Damn Mind

Amanda Bynes has just been charged with driving on a suspended license, stemming from her traffic stop last weekend when her car was impounded ... TMZ has learned.

As we reported, Bynes was pulled over last Sunday outside the Burbank Airport. When cops ran her license, they discovered it was suspended. The car was impounded and Bynes got a ticket for driving on a suspended license.  

Bynes has been charged with TWO COUNTS of driving with a suspended license.  The other incident also occurred at Burbank Airport.  The two incidents occurred an hour-and-a-half apart.

TMZ has run constant coverage.  Bynes has had multiple car boo-boos, driven while smoking pot on a suspended license, driven aimlessly around getting high, had to have her mother come talk some sense into her, and still this is what we get.

Seriously, if you're so out of it you are removed from a yoga class, you got issues, girl.  Take a rest, sober up, but above all stop driving before you kill someone.

When Has Romney Had A Good Week?

By any objective measure, Mitt Romney has had now a couple months of bad weeks on the campaign trail.  It's literally a new thing every week it seems like.  He got a mild boost (1-2 points) from picking Paul Ryan, and it's been straight downhill ever since.

But this week has been a complete disaster every day.  It's been daily now that the mendacity has come back to bite the guy in the ass.  Monday's campaign epitaths and the now infamous MoJo video and the Worst press Conference Ever at 10 PM, Tuesday was 47 percent day all day, Wednesday was the backfired attack on the President over the "debunked" MoJo video and the brownface incident on Univision, Thursday was Ann Romney's contemptible "This is hard" comment, and Friday was Paul Ryan getting booed at the AARP convention and the tax return info dump.  It's been a disaster.

What will next week bring?  My guess is "nothing good".  Romney and Ryan will be in Ohio will President Obama will be in New York for the UN General Assembly meeting.

We'll see how it shakes out.  But now people are talking about the Senate slipping away from the GOP and the story's starting to move to what kind of chances the Dems have in taking back the House, a far cry from just six weeks ago when nobody seriously thought the Dems were going to keep either.

And the reality is the GOP is still a Presidential election and 3 senate pickups from controlling the government.  That's something we cannot overlook.

Keep that in mind:  as bad as it's been for Romney, we've still got a long way to go in Congress.

StupidiNews, Weekend Edition!

• The Senate passed the House's bill to fund the government for the next six months, sending the bill to President Obama's desk and avoiding another election year shutdown showdown.
• A Mormon critic of Mitt Romney says the LDS church is targeting him for "excommunication" over his concerns over the Republican candidate on a church website.
• Newly elected Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi will meet with President Obama on Monday ahead of this week's UN General Assembly meeting in New York.
• Global sales of Apple's new iPhone5 are expected to hit 10 million in the phone's debut as global sales began on Friday.
• The second 3D printer store will open this week in Pasadena as the technology progresses into the early consumer stage.

Last Call

Oh, and if you're wondering what Paul Ryan was up to today?

Getting booed at the AARP Conference in New Orleans.

Easily the worst moments came as Ryan discussed repealing the Affordable Care Act, which increased prescription drug and preventive service benefits for seniors.

“The first step to a stronger Medicare is to repeal ‘Obamacare,’” Ryan said, prompting a chorus of boos. After the outcry, he said: “I had a feeling there would be mixed reaction, so let me get into it.”

He drew a second wave of disapproval for saying the president’s law “turned Medicare into a piggy bank for ‘Obamacare.’” Ryan was referring to $716 billion in Medicare savings enacted by the ACA — savings he himself has included in two budgets — that largely came out of payments to insurance providers.

Another tough response from the crowd came as Ryan attacked Obama as a cynical failure for not negotiating changes to Social Security cuts with Republicans.

That's putting it gently, guys.  And keep in mind the Romney camp immediately dumped Mitt's lone tax return just after this happened.

Returns Of The King

Mitt Romney threw a Friday afternoon news dump smokescreen today by releasing his complete tax return for last year only, showing A) his income estimates were off by 50% or so and B) the wheels are coming off for good.

OFA deputy campaign manager Stephanie Cutter said Mitt Romney's tax returns showed why the president's call for higher taxes on the wealthy made sense.

“Today’s release of Mitt Romney’s 2011 tax returns confirms what we already knew – that people like Mitt Romney pay a lower tax rate than many middle class families because of a set of complex loopholes and tax shelters only available to those at the top," she said in a statement. "Yet, Mitt Romney still wants to give multi-millionaires an additional $250,000 tax cut at the expense of middle class taxpayers who will see their taxes go up."

Stephanie Cutter is quite good at her job, folks.  Unlike the other team.

Cutter added that Romney still had not released any tax returns from before 2010, despite disclosing about one page of details on his effective tax rates from 1990-2009 on Friday.

Yeah, those details are a summary of Mitt's tax returns for the last 20 years, according to accounting firm PriceWaterhouseCoopers.   Not the actual returns.  So, hey.  But it's notarized, right?  As Chris Hayes remarked on Twitter on Friday:

The tax returns are a good reminder that the trustee of Romney's "blind trust" is his personal attorney. Aka: it's not really blind.
— Christopher Hayes (@chrislhayes) September 21, 2012

 Cutter cuts on:

"While the tax return for the one year released today continues to mask Romney’s true wealth and income from Bain Capital, leaving the American people in the dark about critical details about his finances,  it does confirm that he continues to profit from millions of dollars invested overseas," Cutter said. "These types of investments, the use of tax loopholes, and the resort to foreign blocker corporations enabling him to reduce his U.S. tax obligations, all raise basic and still unanswered question – why does Mitt Romney not just release the full returns , instead of the bare summary he has provided of the last 20 years, so voters can make their own judgments about Mitt Romney’s finances?   As Mitt Romney’s father said, candidates should release several years of returns, because one year could be a fluke. President Obama, Vice President Biden and nearly every other candidate in recent memory has met that test, but Mitt Romney continues to fail it.”    

Why Stef, you people don't get to sit in judgment of Romney, you know.

Funny part is the Romneys didn't take all the deductions they could of on Mitt's charitable giving, as accounting firm PWC explains:

The Romneys’ generous charitable donations in 2011 would have significantly reduced their tax obligation for the year. The Romneys thus limited their deduction of charitable contributions to conform to the Governor's statement in August, based upon the January estimate of income, that he paid at least 13% in income taxes in each of the last 10 years.

So the Romneys could have paid even less taxes, but they chose not to because of politics.

Better part, when Mitt loses in November, he can amend his tax return and get his lower tax rate back.  He has until Dec 31 to do that.

Absolute best part?

When Mitt Romney released his official 2011 tax return Friday, the GOP presidential candidate seems to have inadvertently called the United States a foreign country.

“If you have a foreign address,” the tax return instruction reads, “also complete spaces below.” In the space below, under “foreign country name,” Romney’s form reads “USA.”

The mistake was likely accidental, but the Harry Reids of the world must be asking themselves: Did Romney think his local address was in Switzerland?

This is now bordering on comical.