Friday, August 31, 2012

Romney-Ryan: The Medicare Killers | Common Dreams

Romney-Ryan: The Medicare Killers | Common Dreams
"But Mr. Ryan’s big lie — and, yes, it deserves that designation — was his claim that “a Romney-Ryan administration will protect and strengthen Medicare.” Actually, it would kill the program."

Koch Party Time: Billionaire Brothers Show Off the Republican Politicians They Bought | Alternet

Koch Party Time: Billionaire Brothers Show Off the Republican Politicians They Bought | Alternet
"Since 2010, when Tea Partiers swept the House of Representatives and state houses across the nation, Koch has been on a roll, moving the G.O.P. in line with his hard-core anti-regulatory, anti-labor, anti-health-care reform, anti-safety net, anti-environmental agenda -- thanks to a relentless effort to build a get-out-the-vote infrastructure and a torrent of backlash against the nation's first African American president."

Thursday, August 30, 2012

7 Facts About Mitt Romney’s Economic Plan He Doesn’t Want You To Know

7 Facts About Mitt Romney’s Economic Plan He Doesn’t Want You To Know2) It raises taxes on the middle class. A Tax Policy Center analysis found that Romney’s plan would raise taxes on middle class families byup to $2,000 if he were to keep his promise to maintain the current level of revenue. A later analysis that added in the cost of Romney’s corporate tax cuts nearly doubled the size of the tax hike on the middle class to as much as $4,000 for a family of four.

Are you a journalist? Politico leads the crop of post-Ryan reporting failures

Are you a journalist? Politico leads the crop of post-Ryan reporting failures
"At this point, thanks to various individuals who have had the meager audacity to know what Paul Ryan was going on about at the time he was going on about it, we have a fairly good list of the biggest lies uttered in Paul Ryan's speech. Among the biggest is Ryan's attack on $700 billion in Medicare savings under Obama, an attack rather effectively neutered once anyone with half a brain in their heads remembers that Paul Ryan quite specifically has always supported and included those same cuts in his own budget proposals, and so Paul Ryan talking about "saving" Medicare from the very cuts he himself has been endorsing is a Damn Curious Thing at best. Bigger still is Ryan's casual assertion that Obama damaged the credit rating of the United States, which is also a Damn Curious Thing when you consider the rating agency involved specifically called out Paul Ryan's personal band of Congressional anarchists and privateers as the seminal reason for downgrading that credit. Then there is the GM plant that announced its closing during the summer of 2008, before Obama had even gained the small pleasure of trouncing the now perpetually crabby John McCain in state after state after state, much less before he was in any position to do anything about a plant closing in Paul Ryan's neck of the woods."

6 Worst Lies In Paul Ryan’s Speech

6 Worst Lies In Paul Ryan’s SpeechHis speech was riddled with false claims, so much so that even Fox News wrote, “To anyone paying the slightest bit of attention to facts, Ryan’s speech was an apparent attempt to set the world record for the greatest number of blatant lies and misrepresentations slipped into a single political speech.”

They Love the Lies Paul Ryan Tells | Common Dreams

They Love the Lies Paul Ryan Tells | Common Dreams
"But the “deficit hawk” congressman who voted for two unfunded wars, a budget-busting prescription drug plan that steered billions into the accounts of Big Pharma, and the bank bailout of 2008 made his choice long ago. He’s not going to level with the American people. He’s going to try to make them believe things that are not true.

The biggest Ryan fantasy is the austerity lie: the one that says the wealthiest country in the world is going broke because some children are educated, some sick people are cared for and most old people are afforded a measure of retirement security. As lies go, it’s an effective one. Most of the delegates to this year’s Republican National Convention certainly seem to believe it.
But the reality that Paul Ryan would do anything to avoid is this. If the Wall Street speculators, bankers and CEOs who have contributed millions to Paul Ryan’s congressional campaigns would simply pay their fair share of taxes, if American assets were not off-shored to tax havens, if American jobs were not sacrificed in a free-trade driven race to the bottom, the country’s fiscal fortunes would be entirely different.
The man who claims to offer “good-faith reforms and solutions equal to the problems” is just another fiscal fabulist.
That’s exactly what the delegates to this year’s Republican National Convention wanted. And that’s why Paul Ryan’s speech was such a hit.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t true."

Paul Ryan Obscures His Koch-Backed Agenda With a Pack of Lies in Convention Speech | Alternet

Paul Ryan Obscures His Koch-Backed Agenda With a Pack of Lies in Convention Speech | Alternet
"Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan may carry himself with an air of earnestness, but at his heart, he's a liar. What other determination could one make after Ryan's compendium of distortions and outright untruths, delivered Wednesday night to the Republican National Convention?"

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Reintroducing the real Paul Ryan

Reintroducing the real Paul Ryan
"On Medicare: We already know that his plan would effectively end Medicare, turning it into a privatized voucher system. The vouchers given to seniors to purchase health insurance would decrease in value relative to the cost increase of health care, sicker and older people would stay in traditional Medicare, costing it more and more, and retirees would be forced to spend much more out of pocket to get less care. And yes, the cuts proposed by Ryan and Mitt Romney will hit current seniors, not just the under 55 crowd.

  • On Social Security: Ryan calls Social Security a Ponzi scheme, and he's not just a Social Security privatizer, he had a plan that was so extreme, George W. Bush, the only president who's ever tried to privatize Social Security, rejected it.
  • On the War on Women: Ryan's a true warrior, as anti-choice as Todd Akin. He says that the talk of "forcible" rape didn't mean anything, it was just "stock language" and that rapeis basically just a "method of conception."

FACT CHECK: Yes, Romney’s Tax Plan Requires A Middle-Class Tax Increase

FACT CHECK: Yes, Romney’s Tax Plan Requires A Middle-Class Tax Increase:  A recent study by the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center found that Mitt Romney’s tax plan, which purports to be “revenue neutral,” would require households with incomes under $200,000 to pay higher taxes, on average, in order to [...]/p

Second GOP Governor Doubts Validity Of Romney’s Welfare Attacks

Second GOP Governor Doubts Validity Of Romney’s Welfare Attacks: Several weeks ago, the Romney campaign launched dishonest series of attacks claiming that the Obama administration has “gutted” welfare reform by removing welfare’s work requirements. Early on Wednesday, Gov. Sam Brownback (R-KS) admitted that the attacks have no basis in reality, a fact already well explained by major media outlets. “You agree that these claims [...]/p

GOP Platform Suggests Billionaires Should Be Able To Give Unlimited Donations To Mitt Romney

GOP Platform Suggests Billionaires Should Be Able To Give Unlimited Donations To Mitt Romney: The Republican National Convention Tuesday adopted a party platform that embraces the highly unpopular Citizens United ruling, opposes meaningful campaign finance disclosure, and actually calls for allowing donors to give more money to politicians. In a section entitled “The First Amendment: Speech that is Protected” the platform states: The rights of citizenship do not stop [...]/p

Voter caging...should Rep. Tim Griffin be in jail?

One of the speakers who took to the stage earlier today at the RNC was Congressman Tim Griffin - who really should be sitting in a jail cell right now. Why's that?

Republicans Debate How Much To Cut Education While China And India Invest More

Republicans Debate How Much To Cut Education While China And India Invest More: Republicans have been internally debating just how much to cut federal spending on education, but their platform unveiled this week at their convention in Tampa Bay does little to clarify their vision beyond referencing that no new [...]/p

The 8 Worst Examples of Fox News Election Journalism Malpractice (In Just 8 Weeks) | Alternet

The 8 Worst Examples of Fox News Election Journalism Malpractice (In Just 8 Weeks) | Alternet
"Mitt Romney, the Original Bankster , continues to be evasive about his international business affairs, and he refuses to release more than a single year of tax returns in order to quell speculation. His electoral prospects have not been noticeably enhanced with the addition of Wisconsin congressman and right-wing extremist Paul Ryan to the ticket. So, the GOP PR machine (aka Fox News) has swung into action"

Deficit Hawk Hypocrites | Common Dreams

Deficit Hawk Hypocrites | Common Dreams
"Let us never forget that when Bill Clinton left office in 2001, this country enjoyed a healthy $236 billion SURPLUS.

Under George W. Bush and his fellow "deficit hawks," we went to war in Afghanistan and Iraq. Bush and Congress "forgot" to pay for those wars that will end up adding some $3 trillion to our national debt. Where were Paul Ryan and the other "deficit hawks" when we spent trillions on wars and added to the deficit? They voted for those policies.
Under George W. Bush and his fellow "deficit hawks," we gave huge tax breaks to the wealthiest people in this country, which cost $1 trillion over a decade. Where were Paul Ryan and the other "deficit hawks" when Bush and Congress spent a trillion dollars on tax breaks for the very rich and added to our national debt? They voted for those policies.
Under George W. Bush and his fellow deficit hawks, Congress passed an overly expensive Medicare prescription drug program written by the insurance companies and drug industry. The government was barred from negotiating lower drug prices with the pharmaceutical industry under the program, which will end up adding $400 billion to our national debt over a 10-year period. Where were Paul Ryan and the other "deficit hawks" when Bush and Congress spent $400 billion for a much too expensive prescription drug program? They voted for those policies.
Now, having run up huge deficits, our born-again "deficit hawks" want to cut every program in sight to save money. In order to cover the costs they incurred in Iraq and Afghanistan, they want to cut Social Security. In order to cover the costs of the tax breaks for the rich, they want to cut Medicare and Medicaid. In order to cover the insurance-company-written Medicare prescription drug program, they want to cut education and food stamps.
This approach - balancing the budget on the backs of the elderly, the sick, the children and the poor - is not only immoral, it is bad economic policy. It is something that must be vigorously opposed."

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Fox News' Megyn Kelly Spreads Propaganda That Mitt Romney Is 'Self Made'

Fox News' Megyn Kelly Spreads Propaganda That Mitt Romney Is 'Self Made'
"My God, George Romney was worth a huge fortune and was Michigan royalty as their long-serving governor. If Romney fell into the kind of real hard times that average Americans do every day with no way out, George would have bailed him out as many times as was required. As it was, Romney got the privileged leg up of an expensive prep boarding school and Harvard education, courtesy of Dad's name and wealth. Many wealthy kids try to make it on their own and it's one thing for a person who has no safety net to venture out into the world, but another when you have a gold-plated safety net in the form of a rich and connected dad waiting their to catch you.
Megyn breathlessly gushes over Mitt like a love-struck puppy."

10 Things the GOP Platform Hates About You | Alternet

10 Things the GOP Platform Hates About You | Alternet
"The GOP of 2012 is a big tent. Especially if you're a white, wealthy, currently elderly, heterosexual, Christian, non-DC resident who plans on living forever."

Michigan’s Republican Governor On Obama’s Welfare Policy: ‘More Flexibility To Governors Is A Good Thing’

Michigan’s Republican Governor On Obama’s Welfare Policy: ‘More Flexibility To Governors Is A Good Thing’: The Romney campaign has aggressively campaigned against President Obama’s recent changes to the welfare program, alleging that he “gutted” welfare, eliminating the work requirement so that “they just send you your check.” In fact, the administration’s welfare waiver initiative would strengthen work requirements by simply empowering states to innovate on new strategies. And it turns [...]/p

Paul Ryan Didn't Work All That Hard To Help His Own Hometown

Paul Ryan Didn't Work All That Hard To Help His Own Hometown
"Considering how little concern Paul "Atlas Shrugged" Ryan has for his hometown constituents, is it any wonder that supporters had to rehearse when to cheer for him pre-rally?"

Did David Koch buy Paul Ryan’s VP nomination?

EXCLUSIVE: As Hurricane Isaac Targets New Orleans, GOP Rep. Calls For Making Disaster Relief Contingent On Budget Cuts

EXCLUSIVE: As Hurricane Isaac Targets New Orleans, GOP Rep. Calls For Making Disaster Relief Contingent On Budget Cuts: TAMPA, Florida — Though many Republicans are fretting about the optics of holding their party’s convention as Hurricane Isaac slams into New Orleans, a leading Tea Party congressman is vowing to use the opportunity to extract budget cuts if Congress wants to dole out disaster funding to help victims. Rep. Raul Labrador (R-ID) told ThinkProgress [...]/p

She's Just an Easy-Bake Oven: How the GOP and the Anti-Choice Movement See Women | Common Dreams

She's Just an Easy-Bake Oven: How the GOP and the Anti-Choice Movement See Women | Common Dreams
"The good news about the Rep. Todd Akin situation is that it genuinely seems to have raised the public’s awareness of how much the anti-choice movement is rooted not in some love of fetal life, but in a profound misogyny that focuses heavily on fear of female sexuality."

Republicans: Our welfare ad is a lie. And it works. So we're sticking with it

Republicans: Our welfare ad is a lie. And it works. So we're sticking with it
"The Republicans claim Obama is gutting that reform. Fact-checkers have found Team Romney's claims to be, putting it charitably, baloney."

RNC Official: New Mexico Is ‘Going to Hell’ For Hosting Meeting With American Indians About Economic Development

RNC Official: New Mexico Is ‘Going to Hell’ For Hosting Meeting With American Indians About Economic Development:  An executive member of the Republican National Committee said that his home state of New Mexico is “going to hell” because an annual meeting between the governor and the state’s 22 American Indian tribes [...]/p

Unpopular with minorities, Romney targets 'white vote'

Mitt Romney continues to lie and use the racial "dog whistle" to target the white vote.

Tea Party Group Builds ‘Poll Watcher’ Network To Discourage Voting, Create False Record Of Voter Fraud

Tea Party Group Builds ‘Poll Watcher’ Network To Discourage Voting, Create False Record Of Voter Fraud: Since 2009, a Tea Party organization called True the Vote has been stoking the recently ignited fervor for voter purges and voter ID requirements currently winding their way through state courts. The Houston-based group has involved itself in every major election in the past three years, purporting to defend election integrity from widespread voter fraud. [...]/p

Monday, August 27, 2012

Michigan GOP Governor Dismisses Romney’s Auto Rescue Opposition: ‘It’s History’

Michigan GOP Governor Dismisses Romney’s Auto Rescue Opposition: ‘It’s History’: Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder (R) and Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney haven’t always seen eye to eye on the rescue of the auto industry that saved hundreds of thousands of American jobs. Romney has held several positions on the topic: he wrote an editorial calling on the government to “Let Detroit Go Bankrupt” before the [...]/p

An open letter to the people who hate Obama more than they love America

An open letter to the people who hate Obama more than they love America
"Now that you have thrown everything and the kitchen sink at President Obama and it still hasn't worked you are panicking. Obama's approval ratings are still near 50% despite your best efforts to undermine the economy and America's recovery at every step you can. You tried to hold the American economy hostage to force America into default on its' debts, debts that YOU rang up under Bush, so you could blame it on Obama and it failed. You've used the filibuster more than any other Congress ever, going so far as to vote against providing health care access to 9/11 first responders. You remember 9/11, don't you, it's that thing you used to lie us into a war in Iraq, and then when Obama killed Bin Laden and ended the war in Iraq you told people that he hates America and wants the troops to fail. You monsters. You hate Obama with a passion, despite the fact that he is a tax cutting, deficit reducing war President who undermines civil rights and delivers corporate friendly watered down reforms that benefit special interests just like a Republican. You call him a Kenyan. You call him a socialist. You dance with your hatred singing it proudly in the rain like it was a 1950's musical.

Frankly, you disgust me. Your hatred nauseates me. Your bigotry offends me. Your racism revolts me.
Dear haters, I am openly questioning your patriotism.
I think you hate gays, Obama, black people, poor people, all of us, women, atheists and agnostics, Latinos, Muslims, Liberals, all of us, I think you hate every one who isn't exactly like you, and I think you hate us more than you love your country.
I think you hate gay soldiers more than you want America to win its wars.
I don't even think you want America to win wars, you just want America to have wars, never ending wars and the war profiteering it generates. You love that kind of spending, you love spending on faith based initiatives and abstinence based sex education (George Carlin would have loved that one), you love spending on subsidies for profitable oil corporations, you spend like drunken sailors when you are in the White House, but if it is a Democrat then suddenly you cheer when America doesn't get the Olympics because it might make the black President look bad. But oooh you love your country, you say, and you want it back. Well listen here skippy, it isn't your country, you don't own it, it is our country, and America is NOT the religiously extremist Foxbots who hate science, elitist professors and having a vibrant and meaningful sex life with someone we love if Rick Santorum doesn't approve of it. Rick Santorum isn't running for America's fucking high school dance chaperone, he should probably just shut the hell up about sex, but he can't because he has nothing else to run on.
Republicans can NOT win on the issues. They've got NOTHING. All they have is a divide and conquer class war that pits ignorant racist and bigoted people against the rest of us in a meaningless battle of wedge issues and the already proven to fail George W. Bush agenda again of tax cuts for the rich, deregulation, privatization and war profiteering and nothing else, so all they can do is blame black people, gays the government, anybody and everyone else for their own failings. The party of personal responsibility, my ass." Read More

Chris Matthews Confronts RNC Chairman: ‘Obama Being A Foreigner Is The Thing Your Party Has Been Pushing’

Chris Matthews Confronts RNC Chairman: ‘Obama Being A Foreigner Is The Thing Your Party Has Been Pushing’: Chris Matthews tore into RNC Chairman Reince Priebus during an appearance on Morning Joe on Monday, accusing the Romney campaign of “playing that little ethnic card” in its false attacks against welfare reform and jokes about birtherism. “You can play your games and giggle about it….[but] Obama being a foreigner is the thing your party [...]/p

The Republican "Small Goverment" Fraud | Common Dreams

The Republican "Small Goverment" Fraud | Common Dreams
"For those people who can see beyond the deluge of slick campaign advertisements, it should be clear enough that the Republican Party’s claim to support “small government” is a fraud. That claim is only an attractive mask, designed to disguise a party of privilege."

Four Ways the Ohio GOP is Already Stealing the 2012 Election | Common Dreams

Four Ways the Ohio GOP is Already Stealing the 2012 Election | Common Dreams
"Clearly the Ohio GOP is once again geared up to deny the vote---and vote count---to as many Democrats as it can.  If it succeeds, as it did in 2004, Barack Obama stands little chance of being re-elected."

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Uri Avnery:    Paul Ryan And The Fountainhead    :    Information Clearing House: ICH

Uri Avnery:    Paul Ryan And The Fountainhead    :    Information Clearing House: ICH
"Ayn Rand, it was said, was one of the main inspirations for his particular philosophy. Since Ryan is being represented not as an ordinary, run-of-the-mill politician, like Mitt Romney, but as a profound political and economic thinker, the inspiration deserves some scrutiny."

Teaching People to Hate Their Own Govt. Is at the Core of the Project to Destroy the Middle Class | Alternet

Teaching People to Hate Their Own Govt. Is at the Core of the Project to Destroy the Middle Class | Alternet
"Your goal for this step is to figure out how to teach the middle class to hate their own government using a strategy that takes into consideration the political climate of the United States of thirty years ago.
Teaching the middle class to hate their government was an essential part of the plan to implement Corporate Feudalism. A middle class cannot exist without a strong government. This is because only a government has the power to stand up to the giant corporations of today’s world, or the powerful individuals and private armies of earlier times. It is the government that enforces the laws to protect the middle class from those who would like to become their economic rulers. That is why prior to the Industrial Revolution and the creation of the middle class all economies were run according to some version of the feudal system. If you want to put an end to the middle class and replace it with a feudal republic, you would need to change people’s perception of their government."

Paul Ryan Struggles With the Inconvenient Demands of Democracy | Common Dreams

Paul Ryan Struggles With the Inconvenient Demands of Democracy | Common Dreams
"Ryan and Zerban have fundamentally different positions on the issues. Ryan wants to undermine Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid with what former House Speaker Newt Gingrich refers to as “right-wing social experimentation,” while Zerban would preserve these programs. Ryan opposes meaningful healthcare reforms that would expand access to care while cutting costs, while Zerban supports the real reform of a “Medicare for All” program. Ryan supports free-trade deals and manufacturing policies that have led to the shuttering of major industrial facilities in Janesville (a General Motors plant), Kenosha (a Chrysler plant) and Oak Creek (a Delphi plant) during the course of his Congressional tenure, while Zerban favors fair trade policies designed to protect jobs, communities and the environment. Ryan advocates for narrowing the definition of rape as part of an aggressive push to limit reproduction rights, while Zerban supports a woman’s right to choose."

Romney's Racism: In the Gutter with Gingrich | Common Dreams

Romney's Racism: In the Gutter with Gingrich | Common Dreams
"Although every fact-check has shown he’s wrong, Romney and the Romney-phile propaganda groups keep pounding away at their message with ads like this one"

Paul Ryan hates babies

Paul Ryan hates babies
"The future of our nation is on the table in the next election. I'm voting to put food on that table."

Saturday, August 25, 2012

U.S.-Funded War in El Salvador Casts Shadow over Romney/Ryan Campaign

U.S.-Funded War in El Salvador Casts Shadow over Romney/Ryan Campaign
"Even if Romney can distance himself from the death squad-linked Salvadoran investors that provided the seed money for his vast wealth, Ryan's political upbringing and his being mentored by a man of Abrams' pedigree makes it clear that the tragedies of El Salvador's civil war and this dark chapter in U.S. history will continue to cast a shadow over the Romney - Ryan campaign."

Romney’s Blood Money » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names

Romney’s Blood Money » Counterpunch: Tells the Facts, Names the Names
"Recent revelations about Mitt Romney’s highly profitable company Bain Capital help connect the dots between offshore tax shelters, shady investors; and the role that ill-gotten gains plays in today’s casino-like finance capital.
Both the Los Angeles Times and Huffington Post published investigations in the last month showing that over a third of the $37 million raised by Romney to launch Bain Capital in the mid-1980s came from rich Latin Americans, the bulk of it from Salvadoran families linked to death squads."

New Mexico RNC Committeeman Is Custer's Last Fan

New Mexico RNC Committeeman Is Custer's Last Fan
"A RNC National Committeeman told Governor Susana Martinez's staff that her agreeing to meet with Native Americans is disrespectful to the memory of Col. George Armstrong Custer, the infamous cavalry officer who killed thousands of Native Americans in the 1800s, according to emails obtained by ProgressNow New Mexico."

Conservatives' New Plan to Radicalize America Even Further Right

Conservatives' New Plan to Radicalize America Even Further Right
"I gave you a few good examples of how conservative crackpots planned to turn the US into their libertarian/evangelical utopian dream and lo and behold, after decades of futility, they finally have the GOP, hook line and sinker. They understand that by repeating the same lies and propaganda over and over again, eventually (even if it takes thirty more years) fiction will be turned into fact in the echo chamber of the navel-gazing commentariat. With no real fourth branch of government left to be actual watchdogs of democracy and a working class struggling to pay their bills, they feel nobody can stop them.
Whenever I hear politicos say the tea party, birthers or the newly-created legitimate rape believers will now destroy the GOP forevah because of their lunacy, I laugh out loud. We've had sixty years of history to disprove that opinion. Are you really surprised the GOP national party platform reads like a who's who list from the John Bircher Society?"

GOP: A Party That Hates Women | Alternet

GOP: A Party That Hates Women | Alternet
"Missouri GOP senatorial candidate Todd Akin's absurd comment that women's bodies can prevent pregnancies in cases of "legitimate rape" is disgusting. It also points to a deeper problem within the GOP.
Plainly, this is a party that hates women."

Fox News' Selfish Partisan Evil Endangers Navy SEAL

Fox News' Selfish Partisan Evil Endangers Navy SEAL
"On Thursday, Fox News outed the identity of a Navy SEAL who co-wrote a book on the Osama bin Laden raid. I won't link you to the article nor will I tell you the name they published, but their abject evil in promoting the OpSec group as endangering national security while outing the name of one of the people actually involved in the mission should be obvious."

Friday, August 24, 2012

Romney goes birther

RNC speaker's business experience blows holes in party's 'We built it' theme

RNC speaker's business experience blows holes in party's 'We built it' theme
"Since it began operations, FSM has received $15 million in federal contracts two-thirds of which were obtained non-competitively. In fiscal 2012 alone, the company has received more than half a million dollars in government contracts with the Air Force and defense contractors such as Lockheed Martin. Valenzuela's business thrives on government help. Couldn't live without it. She also obviously believes that it's not just the federal government that helps business, but local as well since she is chairwoman of the Economic Development Advisory Panel for the City of Milford."

Tax experts find shady, possibly illegal, dealings in documents related to Romney's Bain investments

Tax experts find shady, possibly illegal, dealings in documents related to Romney's Bain investments
"As if there weren't enough reason to demand that Romney show us his tax returns, the Bain documents show the kinds of things that such disclosure might shed some light on. And these are, of course, just what one website has been able to get its hands on."

Ryan Abortion Extremism Missing In WI's Biggest Newspaper

Ryan Abortion Extremism Missing In WI's Biggest Newspaper
"We are inclined to blame their editors, who must not be encouraging --if not actively discouraging -- their people from doing the real reporting they are capable of. That's a shame, asWisconsin, a battleground state, gets a sanitized version of the news from its biggest circulation newspaper."

GOP convention planners may bump Rubio to give Ann Romney TV time

GOP convention planners may bump Rubio to give Ann Romney TV time
" guess the GOP has officially decided that their situation with women is now worse than their situation with Latino voters. And considering how badly they're doing with Latino voters, that issaying something."

7 Birthers Speaking At The Republican Convention

7 Birthers Speaking At The Republican Convention: Mitt Romney’s invocation of birtherism on Friday took his campaign to a new level of involvement with the bogus idea that President Obama is actually Kenyan-born and therefore ineligible to serve as Commander-in-Chief. But that dog-whistle theory has already been embraced by many major Republicans with whom Romney has long been happy to consort. Indeed, [...]/p

Romney: ‘No One’s Ever Asked To See My Birth Certificate’

Romney: ‘No One’s Ever Asked To See My Birth Certificate’: Mitt Romney joked about the right-wing conspiracy theory claiming that President Obama was born in Kenya, during a rally in Commerce, Michigan on Thursday afternoon. “No one’s ever asked to see my birth certificate. They know that this is the place that we were born and raised,” Romney declared to loud cheers. Watch it: Both [...]/p

The Big, Racist Lie at the Center of the Romney-Ryan Campaign | Alternet

The Big, Racist Lie at the Center of the Romney-Ryan Campaign | Alternet
"The Romney team appears to have adopted a strategy of throwing so much dishonest spin around that the fact-checkers just throw their hands up in frustration. Along with his bald-faced lie that Obama “raided” Medicare , this week the campaign tripled-down on its universally debunked claim that the Obama administration had killed the welfare “reforms” passed by Bill Clinton. In fact, they defended that ad by citing a fact-free column by Mickey Kaus published on Tucker Carlson's always-wrong right-wing blog, the Daily Caller .
They hope to make inroads attacking welfare because, like the infamous "Southern strategy," it stokes racial animus. Political scientist Michael Teslerstudied voters' reactions to seeing Romney's first welfare ad, and found that, “among those who saw it, racial resentment affected whether people thought Romney will help the poor, the middle-class, and African-Americans"."

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Corporate Profits Rebound But Household Income Falls In Wake Of Great Recession

Corporate Profits Rebound But Household Income Falls In Wake Of Great Recession: Household incomes have fallen faster since the end of the Great Recession than they did during it, even as corporations have returned to greater profitability than they reached before the Great Recession. Corporate profits passed their pre-recession levels earlier this year, but according to a new study from Sentier Research, household incomes have fallen behind, [...]/p

Federal Reserve Sells Last Of Its Stake In AIG, Turns $18 Billion Profit

Federal Reserve Sells Last Of Its Stake In AIG, Turns $18 Billion Profit: The Federal Reserve of New York sold the last of its stake in American International Group (AIG), the insurance giant bailed out by the federal government in 2008. In selling the last of its assets related to the AIG bailout, the Fed earned an $6.6 billion profit for taxpayers, bringing its total profits from the [...]/p

Before Granting Interviews, Romney Demands Reporters Agree Not To Ask ‘About Abortion Or Todd Akin’

Before Granting Interviews, Romney Demands Reporters Agree Not To Ask ‘About Abortion Or Todd Akin’: On the campaign trail today, Mitt Romney refused to grant interviews to any reporters who wanted to know about his position on abortion, or about Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO), the Senate candidate whose “legitimate rape” comments sparked outrage over the weekend from Democrats and Republicans alike. One CBS correspondent, Shaun Boyd, explained that only four [...]/p

Romney: I'm not just entitled to my own opinions, I'm entitled to my own facts

Romney: I'm not just entitled to my own opinions, I'm entitled to my own facts
"Here's the key point about this waiver: Massachusetts wasn't using it to "gut" welfare reform. The waiver was put in place because Massachusetts had its own welfare reform policies that were more aggressive than federal law. In other words, Mitt Romney knows, from personal experience, that getting a section 407 waiver isn't the same thing as gutting welfare reform. In fact, waivers can help reform be even more effective. There's no question but that Mitt Romney is aware of this, yet he nonetheless continues smearing President Obama with false attacks on welfare, because he not only feels entitled to own opinions, he feels entitled to his own facts—as long as they suit his personal ambition."

Mitt Romney Attacks The Line Separating Church And State

Mitt Romney Attacks The Line Separating Church And State
"Mitt Romney is the highest-profile Mormon politician in the history of the Latter-Day Saints Church. Since I've been exploring and writing about the subject of Romney's beliefs and how they will shape him as a president, it's not at all surprising to me that he's speaking out against separation between church and state."

The Republican Rape Defenders

Huckabee Breaks With GOP, Throws Support Behind Akin

Huckabee Breaks With GOP, Throws Support Behind Akin: As Republicans continue to pile on Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) for saying victims of “legitimate rape” can’t get pregnant, Mike Huckabee has strengthened his support for the embattled Senate candidate. Huckabee first gave Akin the opportunity to defend the remark on his radio show, which he did by explaining that women often lie about being [...]/p

"Pants-on-Fire" Paul Ryan

Recalling all of Paul RYAN's LIES & dissembling on Contraception & Abortion.

Romney Plan Would Raise Taxes On Middle Class To Finance Massive Corporate Tax Cut

Romney Plan Would Raise Taxes On Middle Class To Finance Massive Corporate Tax Cut: A recent analysis based on the loose outlines of Mitt Romney’s proposed tax plan — which would disproportionately benefit the wealthy and corporations — found that to remain revenue neutral, as Romney insists it will, it would have to raise taxes on middle- and lower-class families. The result, the Tax Policy Center concluded, is that [...]/p

Michigan GOP House Nominee Quit Teaching Job After Reprimands For Abusing Students

Michigan GOP House Nominee Quit Teaching Job After Reprimands For Abusing Students: Tea Party activist Kerry Bentivolio, the Republican nominee to replace Rep. Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI), is known for being a Santa Claus impersonator. But a Detroit Free Press examination of Michigan public records shows that during his career as an educator paints an image of an/p

In Order To Form a Less Perfect Union: The Politics Of Fear, Outrage and Distraction | Common Dreams

In Order To Form a Less Perfect Union: The Politics Of Fear, Outrage and Distraction | Common Dreams
"Once again, the Republicans are managing to distract the country from their extremely unpopular economic positions – positions that help the uber rich and corporations at the expense of low and middle income wage earners."

Why Missouri’s Students Might Believe Todd Akin’s Junk Science

Why Missouri’s Students Might Believe Todd Akin’s Junk Science: Addressing the controversy surrounding Rep. Todd Akin’s (R-MO) offensive comments that “legitimate rape” doesn’t lead to pregnancy, President Obama joked last night at a fundraiser that the Missouri Senate candidate must have “somehow missed science class.” Obama’s point that Akin must not be aware of the actual science behind female sexuality, conception, and sexual assault [...]/p

Women’s rights at stake - BostonHerald.com

Women’s rights at stake - BostonHerald.com
"Maybe the GOP missed the Centers for Disease Control’s 2011 report that an astounding 18.3 percent of American women have been raped in their lifetimes. That’s a lot of women now wondering whether their particular nightmare would qualify as “legitimate” or “forcible” enough for Akin and Ryan, the self-appointed arbiters of rape."

Republicans try new twist on old Medicare lie

Rep. Paul Ryan told voters today he didn't want to bore them with the details of his and Romney's plan for Medicare. But we promise not to be bored if he tells us the truth about the plan and what it will really cost seniors. Ed Schultz explains the facts and talks to MSNBC Political Analyst and columnist for Bloomberg View about whether the Republicans will fool voters in the debate over healthcare.

Paul Ryan's Top 10 Falsehoods and Outrages... from Just His First Week on the Campaign Trail | Alternet

Paul Ryan's Top 10 Falsehoods and Outrages... from Just His First Week on the Campaign Trail | Alternet
"Paul Ryan charges that Barack Obama has ‘stolen’ $700 billion from medicare for his Obamacare. In fact, these expense reductions do not cut Medicare benefits,  and, moreover, Romney and Ryan supported these reductions!  The difference is that they would give the savings to the affluent, whereas Obama uses them to cover the presently uninsured."

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Steve King: Multicultural Groups Are ‘People That Feel Sorry For Themselves’

Steve King: Multicultural Groups Are ‘People That Feel Sorry For Themselves’: At a recent town hall, Rep. Steve King (R-IA) explained his concern over discovering that Iowa State University has multicultural groups. King characterized minority students as people “who feel sorry for themselves,” and worried about impressionable students being “brought into a group that have a grievance against society.” King said: I went to the Iowa [...]/p

Texas Judge Suggests He Will Join ‘Civil Unrest, Civil Disobedience, Civil War Maybe’ If Obama Is Reelected

Texas Judge Suggests He Will Join ‘Civil Unrest, Civil Disobedience, Civil War Maybe’ If Obama Is Reelected: Judge Tom Head, a county judge in Lubbock, Texas, announced on a local television station that he would personally join the resistance against a United Nations’ takeover of American sovereignty, which he says will occur if Obama is reelected: [Obama] is going to try to hand over the sovereignty of the United States to the [...]/p

GOP Approves ‘Most Conservative Platform In Modern History’

GOP Approves ‘Most Conservative Platform In Modern History’: A week from the 2012 Republican National Convention, Republican committee members spent Tuesday articulating and affirming the principles they stand for in a draft of the official party platform. Led by Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-VA) and featuring other Tea Party stars like Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach and Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN), the committee [...]/p

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Scott Brown's radical Senate candidates stand with Akin to redefine rape

Scott Brown's radical Senate candidates stand with Akin to redefine rape
"You probably also won't be surprised to find out all of these representatives were cosponsors of the infamous HR 3, the "No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act." You know that one, the one that says there's only really one kind of rape, "forcible" rape, and you can't get an abortion unless you can prove that you were the victim of rape-rape, not one of those other kinds of rape that you might have really enjoyed. With the added bonus that the IRS would actually have to audit your abortion to determine whether your abortion was because of rape or incest.

That's where Scott Brown's loyalties lie, and that's who Scott Brown wants with him in the Senate. In a word, his fellow Republicans."

Tea Partyer Calls For Obama To Get Out of 'Our Country'

Tea Partyer Calls For Obama To Get Out of 'Our Country'
"I've written about this lunatic before. Marcia Wood is the same person who called for businesses not to hire anyone until Barack Obama was out of office and fantasized about muzzling Michelle Obama, but as time has gone on and the Republican party implodes more and more, her harsh rhetoric has crossed the line into territory that is at the least, borderline seditious."

Rep. Steve King backs Akin: Says he's never 'heard of' child pregnancies from rape, incest

Rep. Steve King backs Akin: Says he's never 'heard of' child pregnancies from rape, incest
"Really? A sitting congressman—and one who's always been quite eager to pass legislation regarding what women can or cannot do with their very naughty babymaking parts, no less—has never once heard of child pregnancies from rape or incest? And even goes farther than Akin himself did, by claiming that he's never heard of such a thing happening from statutory rape, suggesting that it is the law itself that prevents such a thing from happening? It's not often I'm impressed by congressional ignorance at this point, but I think all of America has to tip their hats to Mr. King on this one. This one is impressively stupid."

Todd Akin Isn’t The Only Tea Party Senate Candidate Who Thinks Medicare Is Unconstitutional

Todd Akin Isn’t The Only Tea Party Senate Candidate Who Thinks Medicare Is Unconstitutional: Rep. Todd “Legitimate Rape” Akin (R-MO) does not just have an unusually weak understanding of human biology, he also has a similar inability to understand the Constitution. Akin doubts the constitutionality of Medicare and other federal health care programs, in addition to believing that national school lunch programs violate the Constitution. Akin is not alone. [...]/p

6 Worst Things Republicans Have Said About Rape, Sex and Women's Bodies | Alternet

6 Worst Things Republicans Have Said About Rape, Sex and Women's Bodies | Alternet
"By now you’ve likely heard -- and perhaps felt your jaw drop open over -- Todd Akin’s  recent interview, in which the Republican Senate candidate from Missouri admitted that he believes abortion should be illegal even in cases of rape, because “if it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” If you follow that logic to its end, Akin means: Ladies, if you say you got pregnant after being raped, you’re probably lying about the rape part.
Of course the scientific facts are far from on Akin’s side, which should be embarrassing for a member of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology. While it may be true that  female ducks have evolved in such a way that they now have a biological anti-pregnancy response to forced sex, human beings most definitely have not."

Monday, August 20, 2012

Influential Conservatives Defending Akin

Influential Conservatives Defending Akin: Rep. Todd Akin (R-MO) has apologized for his suggestion that women who have suffered a “legitimate rape” cannot be impregnated, admitting his serious error in biology. Much of the pressure for this move has come from Republican figures who have called on him to resign, including Senator Ron Johnson, S.E. Cupp, former Rep. Heather Burns, [...]/p

Akin’s Spiritual Mentor: Women Occasionally Invite Rape, Victims Are ‘Hysterical’

Akin’s Spiritual Mentor: Women Occasionally Invite Rape, Victims Are ‘Hysterical’: Rep. Todd Akin’s (R-MO) spiritual mentor Reverend D. James Kennedy harbored extreme and sometimes flatly misogynistic views about rape and abortion, according to a ThinkProgress review of Kennedy’s sermons on the topic. The Senate candidate, who set off a massive controversy by claiming this weekend that victims of “legitimate rape” don’t get pregnant, has deep [...]/p

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Revealed: How Conservative Radio Creates an Echo Chamber of Hate | Alternet

Revealed: How Conservative Radio Creates an Echo Chamber of Hate | Alternet
"The study, released last month by the UCLA Chicano Studies Research Center, used Hannity's radio show and four programs – the "Rush Limbaugh Show," the "Glenn Beck Program," "Savage Nation" and the "John & Ken Show" -- as the focus of an investigation of the influence and confluence of specific interests in ultra-conservative radio programming. The results, as you might imagine, were not surprising.
“The findings reveal that the hosts promoted an insular discourse that focused on, for example, anti-immigration, anti-Islam and pro-Tea Party positions,” the study concluded. “This discourse found repetition and amplification through social media"."

Romney's Campaign Strategy: Lie, Lie, and Lie Some More -- Can Democracy Survive with 0% Media Accountability? | Alternet

Romney's Campaign Strategy: Lie, Lie, and Lie Some More -- Can Democracy Survive with 0% Media Accountability? | Alternet
"The Romney campaign has turned to a strategy of swamping the public with flat-out, blatant lies, one after another, again and again, endlessly and lavishly repeated. They do this because they are making a calculation that it will work! So what is going on? And can democracy survive this assault?"

Why Romney's Panicked Campaign May Pander Even Harder to the Far Right | Alternet

Why Romney's Panicked Campaign May Pander Even Harder to the Far Right | Alternet
"Mitt Romney, a corporate takeover executive in the private sector, is now in full political makeover mode as he campaigns for president, starting with his attention-deflecting choice of radical U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan as his running mate.
Washington insiders recognize the symptoms of a panicked campaign and see that the attempted makeover is not complete—and won’t be until the Republican National Convention adjourns and the fall campaign begins. And so we are seeing seemingly bizarre musings from known GOP ideologues trying to fill in Romney’s blank pages."

Friday, August 17, 2012

GOP Senate Candidate Suggests The Voting Rights Act Of 1965 Should Be Overturned

GOP Senate Candidate Suggests The Voting Rights Act Of 1965 Should Be Overturned: Rep. Todd Akin, the GOP’s candidate for U.S. Senate in Missouri, suggested in an interview that it was time to “look at or overturn” the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Asked directly if seminal federal civil rights legislation that prohibits discriminatory voting proceedures needed to be modified or [...]/p

Paul Ryan Heckled At Town Hall: ‘Why Did You Lie About Accepting Stimulus Funds?’

Paul Ryan Heckled At Town Hall: ‘Why Did You Lie About Accepting Stimulus Funds?’: At a Virginia town hall Friday, a man interrupted vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan and asked him why he denied securing more than $20 million in stimulus funds for a local energy efficiency organization. He yelled, “Why did you lie about accepting stimulus funds.” Laughing off the question, Ryan simply moved on where he left [...]/p

Paul Ryan blames Obama for GM plant closed in 2008 under Bush

Paul Ryan blames Obama for GM plant closed in 2008 under Bush
"GM stopped production at its Janesville, Wisconsin production facility in 2008, when George W. Bush was still president, but according to Paul Ryan the person to blame is President Obama."

Analysis: Paul Ryan Voted to Add $6.8 Trillion to the Federal Debt

Analysis: Paul Ryan Voted to Add $6.8 Trillion to the Federal Debt: Vice Presidential Candidate Paul Ryan has gained an undeserved reputation as a “fiscal hawk,” touting his “Path to Prosperity” budget as a responsible plan to rein in what he describes as a “path to debt and decline.” But Ryan’s [...]/p

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Why Paul Ryan’s Constitution Has A Lot More In Common With Ayn Rand Than With The Founding Fathers

Why Paul Ryan’s Constitution Has A Lot More In Common With Ayn Rand Than With The Founding Fathers: Last September, GOP vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan spoke at the Hillsdale College’s Kirby Center, a Washington, D.C. arm of the conservative institution that was founded under the leadership of Supreme Court spouse Virginia Thomas. The speech was delivered in commemoration of Constitution Day, and it provides a fairly substantial window into how he understands [...]/p

Paul Ryan: Bankrolled by the Banksters, the Privatizers, and the Kochs

Paul Ryan: Bankrolled by the Banksters, the Privatizers, and the Kochs
"While most developed nations have found a way to pay for health care for all their citizens, the United States is only able to provide low-cost, comprehensive health care coverage for seniors. With a new study out showing that half of Americans die with no financial assets, Medicare is literally a life saver for millions of seniors and their children who often cannot afford to take care of their elderly parents without the government's help.
Ryan's proposed 2013 budget would replace this system with one that provides a government voucher to force families to purchase insurance on the private market. If the insurance company decides it can't or won't cover all your needs, tough luck."