At the outset of the call, Romney said he has some connections to Wisconsin. “One of most humorous I think relates to my father. You may remember my father, George Romney, was president of an automobile company called American Motors … They had a factory in Michigan, and they had a factory in Kenosha, Wisconsin, and another one in Milwaukee, Wisconsin,” said Romney. “And as the president of the company he decided to close the factory in Michigan and move all the production to Wisconsin. Now later he decided to run for governor of Michigan and so you can imagine that having closed the factory and moved all the production to Wisconsin was a very sensitive issue to him, for his campaign.

Mitt Romney’s sense of humor. The guy’s a cut-up!

Romney calls in to Wisconsin voters from Texas, embraces Walker and Ryan - JSOnline

(via felixsalmon)

Palm + face

(via motherjones)

(via motherjones)

Source: jsonline.com

occupyallstreets: New York Post Calls Trayvon Supporters ‘Race Hustlers’ On Front Page
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occupyallstreets:

New York Post Calls Trayvon Supporters ‘Race Hustlers’ On Front Page

Source: occupyallstreets

Black Atheists: America’s ‘Unseen Civil Rights Heroes’ Kimberly Winston of Religion News Service reports on a group unnoticed by most: African-American humanists and atheists. Highlighting the contribution of black skeptics and freethinkers like A. Philip Randolph, labor organizer and close aid to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., to American’s civil rights struggle, Winston asks: Why is King, a Christian, remembered by so many and Randolph, an atheist, by so few? Winston brings attention to the work of Norm R. Allen Jr., founder of African Americans for Humanism, a group working to promote the visibility of black atheists with the help of a billboard campaign throughout a handful of cities including New York and Chicago: Each one pairs a local black nontheist with a black nonbeliever from the past. “Doubts about religion?” the billboard reads. “You’re one of many.” Black atheists are a “double minority” Winston writes, and with such a high level of religiosity in the black community their point of view is often given short shrift. Religious historian Juan Floyd-Thomas likens their perspective to that of “New Atheists” like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, and is disappointed that so few in the African-American community have warmed up to their irreligious peers: One of the things that can be gained from shining a bright light on the contributions of nontheists to the broad sweep of the civil rights movement would have to be integrity. These people had a moral core and that’s something that is sorely needed, whether you are a theist or a nontheist. (Photo: “James Baldwin, poet, playwright and Civil Rights activist. Baldwin, once a Pentecostal preacher, never publicly declared his atheism, but was critical of religion.” RNS photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons.)
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Black Atheists: America’s ‘Unseen Civil Rights Heroes’

Kimberly Winston of Religion News Service reports on a group unnoticed by most: African-American humanists and atheists. Highlighting the contribution of black skeptics and freethinkers like A. Philip Randolph, labor organizer and close aid to Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., to American’s civil rights struggle, Winston asks:
Why is King, a Christian, remembered by so many and Randolph, an atheist, by so few?
Winston brings attention to the work of Norm R. Allen Jr., founder of African Americans for Humanism, a group working to promote the visibility of black atheists with the help of a billboard campaign throughout a handful of cities including New York and Chicago:
Each one pairs a local black nontheist with a black nonbeliever from the past. “Doubts about religion?” the billboard reads. “You’re one of many.”
Black atheists are a “double minority” Winston writes, and with such a high level of religiosity in the black community their point of view is often given short shrift. Religious historian Juan Floyd-Thomas likens their perspective to that of “New Atheists” like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, and is disappointed that so few in the African-American community have warmed up to their irreligious peers:
One of the things that can be gained from shining a bright light on the contributions of nontheists to the broad sweep of the civil rights movement would have to be integrity. These people had a moral core and that’s something that is sorely needed, whether you are a theist or a nontheist.
(Photo: “James Baldwin, poet, playwright and Civil Rights activist. Baldwin, once a Pentecostal preacher, never publicly declared his atheism, but was critical of religion.” RNS photo courtesy Wikimedia Commons.)

Source: topix.com

occupyallstreets: STUDY: Ron Paul Never Attacked Romney Once During 20 Debates, But Attacked Romney’s Rivals 39 Times In recent days, attention has focused on the unusual relationship between Ron Paul and Mitt Romney, who are purportedly competing against each other for the Republican presidential nomination. The New York Times reported recently that Romney has “worked to cultivate” a friendship with Paul. The candidates talk on the phone frequently. And when Paul’s “campaign jet broke down last year,” Romney “offered his jet to take them home to Texas.” Rick Santorum has directly accused Paul and Romney of working together, noting “their commercials look a lot alike, and so do their attacks.” A review by ThinkProgress of the 20 GOP debates suggests Santorum might be onto something. This is particularly striking given that Paul and Romney do not agree on virtually any policy positions. Paul has gone beyond merely refraining from attacks. He has actively defended Romney on some of his biggest vulnerabilities. For example, when Rick Perry attacked Romney for “Romneycare” during an October 18 debate, Paul interjected: First off, you know, the governor of Texas criticized the governor of Massachusetts for “Romneycare,” but he wrote a really fancy letter supporting “Hillarycare.” So we probably ought to ask him about that. Paul has also run advertisements attacking Romney’s key rivals at critical times. He ran hundreds of thousands of dollars in brutally negative ads attacking Gingrich in Iowa. Paul now is using his scarce funds on a television ad attacking Rick Santorum in Michigan, a key state where Paul is a non-factor. Paul is effectively acting as Romney’s on-stage surrogate during the debates. The key question is: what is Paul getting out of it? Source
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occupyallstreets:

STUDY: Ron Paul Never Attacked Romney Once During 20 Debates, But Attacked Romney’s Rivals 39 Times

In recent days, attention has focused on the unusual relationship between Ron Paul and Mitt Romney, who are purportedly competing against each other for the Republican presidential nomination. The New York Times reported recently that Romney has “worked to cultivate” a friendship with Paul. The candidates talk on the phone frequently. And when Paul’s “campaign jet broke down last year,” Romney “offered his jet to take them home to Texas.”

Rick Santorum has directly accused Paul and Romney of working together, noting “their commercials look a lot alike, and so do their attacks.” A review by ThinkProgress of the 20 GOP debates suggests Santorum might be onto something.

This is particularly striking given that Paul and Romney do not agree on virtually any policy positions.

Paul has gone beyond merely refraining from attacks. He has actively defended Romney on some of his biggest vulnerabilities. For example, when Rick Perry attacked Romney for “Romneycare” during an October 18 debate, Paul interjected:

First off, you know, the governor of Texas criticized the governor of Massachusetts for “Romneycare,” but he wrote a really fancy letter supporting “Hillarycare.” So we probably ought to ask him about that.

Paul has also run advertisements attacking Romney’s key rivals at critical times. He ran hundreds of thousands of dollars in brutally negative ads attacking Gingrich in Iowa. Paul now is using his scarce funds on a television ad attacking Rick Santorum in Michigan, a key state where Paul is a non-factor.

Paul is effectively acting as Romney’s on-stage surrogate during the debates. The key question is: what is Paul getting out of it?

Source

Source: occupyallstreets

Romney Crushes it in Arizona, Scrapes by in Michigan Romney is the projected landslide winner in Arizona, according to CNN, NBC, NPR, Fox News, and a slew of others. Michigan is still too close for the news channels to call, although on Twitter, commentators are calling it for Romney: If the exits are correct, they imply Romney will win MI by a few points, writes the Washington Examiner’s Philip Klein. Santorum may have benefited from the votes of Democratic Michiganders, who’ve been enticed to the GOP polls by a combination of Santorum-campaign robocalls and “Campaign Hilarity,” a movement started by liberal blog site the Daily Kos to ensure an Obama vs. Santorum line-up in the presidential election.
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Romney Crushes it in Arizona, Scrapes by in Michigan

Romney is the projected landslide winner in Arizona, according to CNN, NBC, NPR, Fox News, and a slew of others.

Michigan is still too close for the news channels to call, although on Twitter, commentators are calling it for Romney:

If the exits are correct, they imply Romney will win MI by a few points,
writes the Washington Examiner’s Philip Klein.

Santorum may have benefited from the votes of Democratic Michiganders, who’ve been enticed to the GOP polls by a combination of Santorum-campaign robocalls and “Campaign Hilarity,” a movement started by liberal blog site the Daily Kos to ensure an Obama vs. Santorum line-up in the presidential election.

Source: topix.com

Rich People Are Jerks Say Experts Ezra Klein at the Washington Post has the scoop on a new study finding rich people literally more likely to steal candy from a baby. In a series of experiments designed to test the kindness of folks with differing levels of wealth, researchers discovered that The upper class were more likely to break the law while driving, take candy from children, lie in negotiation, cheat to increase their odds of winning a prize and endorse unethical behavior at work. One experiment involved the observation of drivers in fancy cars vs. those with less expensive vehicles. Can you guess which type of driver drove more recklessly?According to the authors of the study, the results “build on previous research that has shown wealthy people are worse at recognizing how others feel and are more likely to be disengaged during social interactions than others.”Apart from the candy theft, an embarrassingly petty transgression, most of the other results seem about right for rich people, who are obviously prone to enjoying money and power. The question is, do we actually benefit by having folks like this around? Apple founder Steve Jobs was no angel, after all. Former employees of the company, according to Gawker, described the man as “rude, dismissive, hostile, spiteful.”But hey, creative geniuses are kind of supposed  to have it their way, right?
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Rich People Are Jerks Say Experts

Ezra Klein at the Washington Post has the scoop on a new study finding rich people literally more likely to steal candy from a baby. In a series of experiments designed to test the kindness of folks with differing levels of wealth, researchers discovered that
The upper class were more likely to break the law while driving, take candy from children, lie in negotiation, cheat to increase their odds of winning a prize and endorse unethical behavior at work.
One experiment involved the observation of drivers in fancy cars vs. those with less expensive vehicles. Can you guess which type of driver drove more recklessly?According to the authors of the study, the results “build on previous research that has shown wealthy people are worse at recognizing how others feel and are more likely to be disengaged during social interactions than others.”Apart from the candy theft, an embarrassingly petty transgression, most of the other results seem about right for rich people, who are obviously prone to enjoying money and power. The question is, do we actually benefit by having folks like this around? Apple founder Steve Jobs was no angel, after all. Former employees of the company, according to Gawker, described the man as “rude, dismissive, hostile, spiteful.”But hey, creative geniuses are kind of supposed
 to have it their way, right?

Source: topix.com

Ron Paul and Mitt Romney: Secret Allies?  The Daily Caller’s Alex Pappas reports on a study by ThinkProgress revealing Ron Paul’s strange lack of charges against Mitt Romney during the course of the GOP debates. Paul has gone after Santorum on over 20 occasions, but never once targeted Romney: ThinkProgress reported that Paul attacked Santorum 22 times and Gingrich 8 times in the debates. He attacked Texas Gov. Rick Perry and businessman Herman Cain four times each and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann one time while they were in the race. Is this because Paul, a staunch libertarian, finds Santorum and his well-known anti-libertarian views a more worthy opponent? Whatever the reason, theories abound as to why Paul is staying silent vis-à-vis Romney. Die-hard Paul supporters, however, deny any collusion, telling Talking Points Memo, “There’s no way Ron Paul is helping Mitt Romney in Michigan.”
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Ron Paul and Mitt Romney: Secret Allies?

 The Daily Caller’s Alex Pappas reports on a study by ThinkProgress revealing Ron Paul’s strange lack of charges against Mitt Romney during the course of the GOP debates. Paul has gone after Santorum on over 20 occasions, but never once targeted Romney:
ThinkProgress reported that Paul attacked Santorum 22 times and Gingrich 8 times in the debates. He attacked Texas Gov. Rick Perry and businessman Herman Cain four times each and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann one time while they were in the race.
Is this because Paul, a staunch libertarian, finds Santorum and his well-known anti-libertarian views a more worthy opponent? Whatever the reason, theories abound as to why Paul is staying silent vis-à-vis Romney. Die-hard Paul supporters, however, deny any collusion, telling Talking Points Memo, “There’s no way Ron Paul is helping Mitt Romney in Michigan.”

Source: topix.com

Is there a difference between Republicans’ and Democrats’ love affair with Wall Street?  According to the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent, the right-wing effort to portray Obama as a crony for big business is “sowing confusion” and rank with hypocrisy. Citing the efforts of Mitt Romney’s Super PAC and an outfit called The American Future Fund to undermine Obama’s “populist message” by painting him as one of Wall Street’s biggest allies, Sargent has this to say about both: You can see one of the key reasons these outside groups exist: They can spend huge sums of money on ads that are truly amazing in their up-is-downism — ones that are designed to do nothing more than blur lines, muddy waters, and sow confusion — even as their chief beneficiaries avoid any accountability for their absurdity. The hypocrisy charge is certainly on point, but is Obama really a thorn in the side of Wall Street? Not even close, as the Washington Examiner’s Tim Carney has long revealed. Here’s Carney’s report from an Obama fundraiser in 2011, written long after the passage of Dodd-Frank, the supposed bane of Wall Street. Note the long list of Wall Street donors and this telling quote from Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein: “We will be among the biggest beneficiaries of reform.” But maybe hypocrisy is less important than effective hypocrisy management, and anything that hurts Obama will inevitably help Republicans. If that’s where Sargent is coming from, it’s understandable that he’d want to avoid, as he puts it, “blurring the lines.”
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Is there a difference between Republicans’ and Democrats’ love affair with Wall Street?


 According to the Washington Post’s Greg Sargent, the right-wing effort to portray Obama as a crony for big business is “sowing confusion” and rank with hypocrisy. Citing the efforts of Mitt Romney’s Super PAC and an outfit called The American Future Fund to undermine Obama’s “populist message” by painting him as one of Wall Street’s biggest allies, Sargent has this to say about both:

You can see one of the key reasons these outside groups exist: They can spend huge sums of money on ads that are truly amazing in their up-is-downism — ones that are designed to do nothing more than blur lines, muddy waters, and sow confusion — even as their chief beneficiaries avoid any accountability for their absurdity.
The hypocrisy charge is certainly on point, but is Obama really a thorn in the side of Wall Street? Not even close, as the Washington Examiner’s Tim Carney has long revealed. Here’s Carney’s report from an Obama fundraiser in 2011, written long after the passage of Dodd-Frank, the supposed bane of Wall Street. Note the long list of Wall Street donors and this telling quote from Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein: “We will be among the biggest beneficiaries of reform.” But maybe hypocrisy is less important than effective hypocrisy management, and anything that hurts Obama will inevitably help Republicans. If that’s where Sargent is coming from, it’s understandable that he’d want to avoid, as he puts it, “blurring the lines.”

Source: topix.com

Is the Endless GOP Primary Making America More Conservative? The answer is yes, absolutely, says Salon’s David Sirota: I believe the longer the Republican primary battle continues, the more the GOP’s most extreme proposals are given a mainstream platform, the more their ideas are granted public credibility and the more conservative propaganda is invisibly woven into our most basic political assumptions. Sirota probably has a point. After all, the dark side of contraception wasn’t a major talking point until the Santorum et. al. pushed the issue onto the national agenda.
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Is the Endless GOP Primary Making America More Conservative?

The answer is yes, absolutely, says Salon’s David Sirota:

I believe the longer the Republican primary battle continues, the more the GOP’s most extreme proposals are given a mainstream platform, the more their ideas are granted public credibility and the more conservative propaganda is invisibly woven into our most basic political assumptions.

Sirota probably has a point. After all, the dark side of contraception wasn’t a major talking point until the Santorum et. al. pushed the issue onto the national agenda.

Source: topix.com

motherjones: Chart: Contributions from military members to presidential candidates. Not quite what you expected, eh? Full story here.
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motherjones:

Chart: Contributions from military members to presidential candidates.

Not quite what you expected, eh? Full story here.

Source: motherjones

Gay Marriage Comes to Maryland Gay rights supporters are delighted at the Maryland State Senate’s vote to legalize same-sex marriage, which passed 25-22 last night. The bill will definitely get signed into law by Gov. Martin O’Malley, since he’s a vocal supporter. Gay couples can start tying the knot in January 2013. But in the meantime, Maryland Republicans are promising a fight to overturn the bill via a state-wide referendum, along the lines of California’s Proposition 8. Maryland will be the eighth US state to legalize gay marriage, and the second to do so in 2012, following on from Washington.
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Gay Marriage Comes to Maryland

Gay rights supporters are delighted at the Maryland State Senate’s vote to legalize same-sex marriage, which passed 25-22 last night.

The bill will definitely get signed into law by Gov. Martin O’Malley, since he’s a vocal supporter. Gay couples can start tying the knot in January 2013. But in the meantime, Maryland Republicans are promising a fight to overturn the bill via a state-wide referendum, along the lines of California’s Proposition 8.

Maryland will be the eighth US state to legalize gay marriage, and the second to do so in 2012, following on from Washington.

Source: topix.com

Are GOP Candidates Against Birth Control? Last night’s GOP debate saw a surprising amount of consensus on the evils of birth control. “Which candidate believes in birth control, and if not, why?” asked host Jonathan King - a question clearly aimed at Santorum’s unfashionable approach to contraception. The audience loudly booed, and the other candidates, who’d previously been tearing each other a new one over fiscal issues, closed ranks and defended Santorum. Gingrich explained that Obama was the dangerous radical on sexual health matters, not Santorum: In the 2008 campaign, not once did anybody in the elite media ask why Barack Obama voted in favor of legalizing infanticide. OK? So let’s be clear here. If we’re going to have a debate about who the extremist is on these issues, it is President Obama. The question referred to a moment late last year, when Santorum promised to talk about what “no president has talked about before - the dangers of contraception.” Speaking at last night’s debate, Santorum elaborated on these dangers: Children being born out of wedlock in America, teens who are sexually active…children being raised by children… The family is fracturing.
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Are GOP Candidates Against Birth Control?

Last night’s GOP debate saw a surprising amount of consensus on the evils of birth control.

“Which candidate believes in birth control, and if not, why?” asked host Jonathan King - a question clearly aimed at Santorum’s unfashionable approach to contraception.

The audience loudly booed, and the other candidates, who’d previously been tearing each other a new one over fiscal issues, closed ranks and defended Santorum. Gingrich explained that Obama was the dangerous radical on sexual health matters, not Santorum:

In the 2008 campaign, not once did anybody in the elite media ask why Barack Obama voted in favor of legalizing infanticide. OK? So let’s be clear here. If we’re going to have a debate about who the extremist is on these issues, it is President Obama.

The question referred to a moment late last year, when Santorum promised to talk about what “no president has talked about before - the dangers of contraception.” Speaking at last night’s debate, Santorum elaborated on these dangers:

Children being born out of wedlock in America, teens who are sexually active…children being raised by children… The family is fracturing.

Source: topix.com

pantslessprogressive: thedailywhat: Breaking Same-Sex Marriage News of the Day: Maryland today became the eighth state to legalize same-sex marriage after the state’s marriage equality bill passed in the state Senate by a vote of 25 to 22. The state House passed the bill last week, and Gov. Martin O’Malley has already vowed to sign it. If the legislation avoids a challenge from opponents who want a referendum on same-sex marriage — a scenario which remains uncertain — same-sex couples can begin tying the knot in January.  If, however, the issue does get added to November’s ballot, the result is currently unclear. The latest polls show Maryland voters evenly split on same-sex marriage. [bmoresun / photo: flickr.]
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pantslessprogressive:

thedailywhat:

Breaking Same-Sex Marriage News of the Day: Maryland today became the eighth state to legalize same-sex marriage after the state’s marriage equality bill passed in the state Senate by a vote of 25 to 22.

The state House passed the bill last week, and Gov. Martin O’Malley has already vowed to sign it.

If the legislation avoids a challenge from opponents who want a referendum on same-sex marriage — a scenario which remains uncertain — same-sex couples can begin tying the knot in January. 

If, however, the issue does get added to November’s ballot, the result is currently unclear. The latest polls show Maryland voters evenly split on same-sex marriage.

[bmoresun / photo: flickr.]

Source: thedailywhat

Romney Accused of Adopting “Occupy Wall Street Language” Ben Shapiro at Big Government’s got a problem with Mitt Romney’s words to an Arizona audience on the issue of taxes, middle Americans and the “top 1%.” Why the quotation marks? Ask Shapiro: Conservatives like politicians who seem down-home. But they don’t like Huey Long redistribution of wealth fanatics, or even a hint of such fanaticism. Romney’s language here is devastatingly anti-conservative: the “top 1%,” “fair share,” “high income folks,” etc. He’s cribbing straight from the Obama playbook. Is even the mention of a top 1%, or of high income Americans, really “devastatingly anti-conservative”? They’re just a statistical reality of the US income distribution, after all. But for Shaprio this rhetoric is “Occupy Wall Street language.”Then again, without the Occupy movement perhaps there’d be nobody Googling “top 1%” to begin with. Is that what Shapiro is getting at?
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Romney Accused of Adopting “Occupy Wall Street Language”

Ben Shapiro at Big Government’s got a problem with Mitt Romney’s words to an Arizona audience on the issue of taxes, middle Americans and the “top 1%.” Why the quotation marks? Ask Shapiro:

Conservatives like politicians who seem down-home. But they don’t like Huey Long redistribution of wealth fanatics, or even a hint of such fanaticism. Romney’s language here is devastatingly anti-conservative: the “top 1%,” “fair share,” “high income folks,” etc. He’s cribbing straight from the Obama playbook.
Is even the mention of a top 1%, or of high income Americans, really “devastatingly anti-conservative”? They’re just a statistical reality of the US income distribution, after all. But for Shaprio this rhetoric is “Occupy Wall Street language.”Then again, without the Occupy movement perhaps there’d be nobody Googling “top 1%” to begin with. Is that what Shapiro is getting at?

Source: topix.com

Santorum Digs Himself a Hole at GOP Debate Earmarks are one thing that all voters loathe, and the GOP crowd at the Arizona debate was no exception. When Santorum got deep in the weeds defending earmarks, the audience reacted with uneasy silence, in contrast to the loud applause that followed his previous demolitions of Romney. Even Santorum looked like he was thinking, “why the hell am I saying this out loud?” and started tripping over his words. “Earmarks” are “the wacky system whereby individual congresspersons can tack on unrelated spending to bills,” writes the Guardian’s Richard Adams, leading to bloated bills involving hundreds of lines of federal spending. Romney also came out of the tangle looking the worse for wear, after Gingrich got off a zinger about his double standards. Romney essentially said, “earmarks are bad when you guys do it, except for my earmarks, which were awesome.” GINGRICH: “I just think it’s kind of silly for you to then turn around and run an ad attacking somebody else for getting what you got and then claiming what you got wasn’t what they got because what you got was right and what they got was wrong.” The skirmish turned into a circular firing squad, with candidates shouting over each other and a lot of head-shaking and derisive laughter. “You don’t know what you’re talking about!” said Santorum to Romney. “I didn’t follow all of that,” retorted Romney. Watch it here (7:40).
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Santorum Digs Himself a Hole at GOP Debate

Earmarks are one thing that all voters loathe, and the GOP crowd at the Arizona debate was no exception.

When Santorum got deep in the weeds defending earmarks, the audience reacted with uneasy silence, in contrast to the loud applause that followed his previous demolitions of Romney. Even Santorum looked like he was thinking, “why the hell am I saying this out loud?” and started tripping over his words.

“Earmarks” are “the wacky system whereby individual congresspersons can tack on unrelated spending to bills,” writes the Guardian’s Richard Adams, leading to bloated bills involving hundreds of lines of federal spending.

Romney also came out of the tangle looking the worse for wear, after Gingrich got off a zinger about his double standards. Romney essentially said, “earmarks are bad when you guys do it, except for my earmarks, which were awesome.”

GINGRICH: “I just think it’s kind of silly for you to then turn around and run an ad attacking somebody else for getting what you got and then claiming what you got wasn’t what they got because what you got was right and what they got was wrong.”

The skirmish turned into a circular firing squad, with candidates shouting over each other and a lot of head-shaking and derisive laughter. “You don’t know what you’re talking about!” said Santorum to Romney. “I didn’t follow all of that,” retorted Romney.

Watch it here (7:40).

Source: topix.com