Do you think those who made the decision to say nothing about Afghanistan among other things during the RNC are kicking themselves?

And I agree Greyson, I think this will be the most important election in my life time so far.

I thought it was a good speech. I whooped and hollered some. But I don't think he hit it out of the park.

Was that a rhetorical question? :D

The President's speech wasn't the barn-burner I thought it might be-that went to his wife, Clinton, and even Biden. But it was still a good speech, and overall this convention was better-run than the Republicans last week. Notice that no one remembers Romney's speech, but Clint Eastwood is the iconic image.

I personally think he was correct in moving the speech inside, but I admit that flap and the Jerusalem thing were ham-handed. Still, I think that will pass and overall they didn't lose any ground-and may well have gained some momentum.

Now it comes down to the debates, which I think the President still has an edge.

Restricting Access to Vote
 

Ohio is the largest swing state in terms of electorial votes up for grabs. Winning or losing this state could determine who will be the next president of the USA.



After Bucking Federal Judge On Early Voting, Ohio Secretary Of State Ordered To Appear In Court

By Aviva Shen on Sep 5, 2012 at 6:28 pm

Judge Peter Economus has set a hearing for September 13 to address Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted’s refusal to comply with the court’s ruling that the state must allow early voting on the three days leading up to the general election. Economus released a terse order Wednesday afternoon: “The Court ORDERS that Defendant Secretary of State Jon Husted personally attend the hearing.” The Obama campaign filed a motion earlier Wednesday asking the court to make Husted give way.

Husted issued a directive Tuesday stating that he would appeal the decision to restore early voting on those three days, claiming that changing the hours now would “only serve to confuse voters.” The directive “strictly prohibits county boards of elections from determining hours for the Friday, Saturday, Sunday, or Monday before the election.”

Lynn Kinkaid, Director of the Butler County Board of Elections, which originally voted to hold weekend hours before Husted’s directive restricted them, told ThinkProgress the board is powerless to act against the Secretary of State’s directive. “I can’t imagine we would disobey a court order…he must have a good reason for it,” Kinkaid said. “He’s the big boss. I’m not going to second-guess my boss.”

Husted fired two Montgomery County election board members after they defied his directive and voted to hold weekend voting hours. Two other Ohio counties have asked Husted to reevaluate the voting restrictions.

Kinkaid recalled huge turnout in Butler County, which voted for McCain in 2008, on the weekend before the election: “There was a lot of people out there. We had them lined up two people, down the hall, out the door, over into the churchyard a block or two away. People waited for three hours.” By Kinkaid’s estimate, poll workers worked 36 hours of overtime that weekend.

There are several pending lawsuits against Husted’s office, including a recent suit by his Democratic predecessor, Jennifer Brunner, over his directive to limit voting hours. On Tuesday, the two fired board of elections members called for Husted’s resignation over a redistricting ballot issue.

http://thinkprogress.org/election/issue/

I thought he totally hit it out of the park!

He is so intensely articulate that his speeches sometime fall flat due to his affect. Last night was different in my eyes. He had more passion and even a little humor.

I still want to see him go all Bobby Kennedy on a crowd! That man could inspire a mountain to get up and cheer!

Did anyone else notice when he walked up to greet Michelle he gave her bum a little pat!!! I loved it! :)

Husted appeared before the Judge and BACKED DOWN! The order is rescinded and voters rights were returned.

I love it when the judiciary does its job.

Cheers
Aj

Come on you guys, the empty chair thing was just one moment in an otherwise stellar career. Seriously, "The Bridges of Madison County" was a superlative film, by far his best work. It was well-written, made me cry at times and really left me wanting more; I've seen it a dozen times! It was so romantic, so touching and really very realistic. I even have it on DVD and it's almost worn out. Oh. Uh, wait, wait, I think I got confused. Yeah, I did. I meant to say "Dirty Harry", yeah, that's it. "Dirty Harry". I love that flick. I've worn that sucker out!

I don't know why you are comparing acting and speaking at a political party's convention. I have never been a fan of Eastwood's. That macho type completely turns me off. He definitely does need to stick to acting. I don't care what he has done in Hollywood he should have never have done what he did.

His schtick was pathetic and extremely derogatory to President Obama as well as the Office of the President. He owes a big apology to President Obama but will never give it.

Anyway, President Obama had the best reply, "this seat is taken."

Clarification
 

*sighs*

It's not surprising you would dismiss Eastwood's stupidity his disrespect to The POTUS. Here's why I said what I said:

I was a fan of Eastwood, I grew up as a kid watching his old westerns, and bawled like a baby at the end of Gran Torino. Paint me shocked and surprised when I hear that he is going to be a speaker at the RNC, I am going to risk being honest the pit of my stomach dropped and I thought oh fuck here we go, please don't let this man that you have enjoyed in cinema be that guy who is going to be just like the other guys who are gathered in the name of hate..

I don't know if you view or viewed the RNC like I do, I am going to guess you don't since I am a Latina, Woman, Feminist, and I am part of the LGBTQI umbrella. What I watched as I looked into the sea of white, is a whole lotta fucking racism, hate, zealotry and then this man, who as a kid you thought was cool, then as an adult touched you in a current film get up on a podium and then that man takes your nose and smears it in shit like you are some kind of bad dog.

That man stood up there and DISMISSED OUR POTUS in a disgusting, racist, white hate demeanor that I just was at a loss for words. I did not know if I should feel bad that this man was making an ass out of not only him, his party, his family and this country or slap him off the fucking podium and tell him to take his shit elsewhere. I watched this man become one more white face in a sea of hate, dismissively point to an empty chair while he had a *pretend conversation* with the POTUS who is a Man of Color.


I am 43 years old, I know and recognize racism at it's ugliest and what Eastwood did on behalf of his political party was just that. Racism, he is now to me a part of the problem.

He's just to *me* another white guy, who's fathered 7 children by 5 different women trying to tell me, a non white woman who's body is hers yet he and his party think differently. I am a queer woman who he dislikes because he is all worried about the sanctity of the nuclear family while he hikes his leg up and pisses kids out like they are candy in a pez dispenser and yet he has the nerve to do what he did?

Here's what happened in I forgot to seperate character from reality when dealing with idiots like him who use their careers to make hated political statements. He's not the old guy from Gran Torino, he's not the bad ass on The Good The Bad and The Ugly.

He's Clint Eastwood, old white senile man, a Republican who was used and let himself be used at the cost of his public image to spew out some hate. That right there is what over rides it for me, it's hard for me to be around, look at, hear a racist especially a romanticized racist once they show their asses. The only thing he did for me was make it clear, he's part of that sea of white that wants nothing to do with the likes of me.

All because I am a Latina, Woman, Queer, Feminist....

So yeah, seriously.....


Oh and while he is doing this on that god damn podium looking *DOWN* at an empty chair telling a Man of Color this and that. THAT right there is racism Reader, and that shit right there PISSES me off and DISGUSTS me to no end. Kinda like when someone is like really? Why you gotta be mad at the dude he's Dirty Harry.

I can't afford forgetting who he really is, I am a little embarrased that I did.

You know, it would bother me less if the GOP hadn't spent most of the last decade arguing, quite frankly, that the merest hint that one might be considering the possibility, of thinking about entertaining the idea of disagreeing with the Bush the Younger as tantamount to treason. Back in '03 or '04 if one said that Bush was wrong about any subject matter, the GOP would paint that person as being the real and true leader of Al Qaeda even if Mr. Bush said something demonstrably, factually untrue. Yet, now, that a Democrat is POTUS anything this side of some statement that would have the Secret Service at your door is patriotic dissent. When we once again have a Republican POTUS, we'll be told that just as between 2001 and 2009, merely thinking that they are wrong will be evidence that one hates mother, babies, puppies and ice cream.

If the GOP has decided that one should only respect a legitimate POTUS and legitimacy derives from being a Republican, then they should at least *say* that. I would respect the Republican party much more if they would simply have the courage of their convictions and say what everyone knows they mean which is this; the office of the President should be respected when it is occupied by a Republican but not when occupied by a Democrat.

Cheers
Aj

Quite honestly, I'm not going to let Eastwood's very strange, Grandpa Simpson ramblings get in the way of enjoying his movies. For the most part, I find the political utterances of all but a very small sliver of actors to be worthless and I wish they would shut up. That applies regardless of political leanings.

I think that there are very few playwrights of the last half-century that can best David Mamet's (Glengarry Glen Ross) dialog work and he recently (last five years or so) lost his damn mind and has become an Obama-hating right-wing populist masquerading as a conservative. I *still* watch his work because he can write dialog like no one else. I love Samuel L. Jackson but find most of his political pronouncements vapid even though he's of my political tribe, more or less so I certainly see what you're driving at.

Cheers
Aj

Romney under friendly fire for his response to embassy attack in Libya
 

The Republican presidential candidate came under fire from Republicans and Democrats on Wednesday for politicizing the outbreak of deadly violence in the Middle East, including the breaching of the American Embassy in Cairo and an attack on the American Consulate in Libya, which claimed the life of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other diplomatic workers.

The danger for Romney is that his response to the Middle East attacks feeds into a consensus among the news media that his campaign to unseat Obama is in serious trouble. For the fourth time in recent months, prominent conservatives have gone public with fretting over the direction of Romney's campaign—a panic set off most recently by conservative radio host Laura Ingraham's suggestion Monday that if Romney can't beat Obama then the Republican Party should be "shut down." On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal editorial board piled on, suggesting Romney could lose the election because he's been too vague when it comes to explaining his policies.

"Mistakes like this happen when a campaign begins to feel under pressure," Schmidt told Yahoo News. "The Democrats had a more successful convention, the president's opened up a lead in the polls, there's been a lot of criticism by conservative commentators about campaign strategy. … They acted too quickly, too rashly, too politically—looking obviously for a way to change the narrative, the dynamic in the race."

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/r...-election.html

There are no words...go ahead and watch
 

This is like pure schaudenfreude mainlined right into the body. Romney's had such a horrible week that I almost feel sorry for him. Almost.

Cheers
Aj

what if....


all the money spent on these campaigns was applied to the National Debt?

:fastdraq:

Wouldn't make a dent. Wouldn't even really show up. The national debt is at 14 trillion dollars, combined the campaigns are going to spend ~two billion all told. That's .007 (1/7000th) of the national debt. To put it in perspective, over the course of a year if you made, say, 50K last year it would amount to $7.15. Sure, on any given day 7.15 might be the difference between buying lunch out or eating something you took from home or it might be two extra gallons of gas in the car but over the course of the year, that works out to about $.60 a day. Do you notice $.60 a day? Probably not.

If we're going to actually make headway against the debt then we're going to have to do something about military spending (the 1000 pound gorilla in the budgetary room). Almost anything else we do, outside of simply eliminating Social Security and Medicare, would be like trying to scoop out the Pacific ocean with a Dixie cup.

Ironically, the investment we could make that would actually help the deficit go down eventually, is one of the things that there is very little public support for; public financing of political campaigns.

Cheers
Aj

What you didn't want to hear how if you aren't a millionaire you live only to collect your government check? I can't imagine why!

Cheers
Aj

Look on the bright side...
 

...chances are your week is going a *lot* better than the week Mittens is having! (Yes, I'm enjoying his meltdown, couldn't have happened to a more arrogant plutocrat.)

Cheers
Aj

It appears Jimmy Carter's grandson had a helping hand in bringing the Romney tape to light. Now that is sweet!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...elections-2012

Don't let Republicans steal the election for Mitt Romney
 

please sign this petition
From CREDO
http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/...787607-gJHDBrx

Damn i wish i weren't so busy,

Credo says...

Don't let Republicans steal the election for Mitt Romney

Ohio has emerged as the latest front in the Republican scheme to derail democracy by disenfranchising millions of voters. Ohio Secretary of State Jon Husted, a Republican, in a blatant partisan move to steal the election for Mitt Romney, is trying to put an end to early weekend voting before Election Day. This change in Ohio election practices specifically impacts minority and low income voters.1

It's not just Ohio. It's also Florida and Pennsylvania. Earlier this summer, CREDO Action members signed over 87,000 petitions and made over 1,600 phone calls urging Senator Patrick Leahy, the Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to hold Congressional hearings on brazen Republican efforts to steal the 2012 presidential election in other key battle ground states like Florida and Pennsylvania. With Republicans showing no sign of slowing down their tenacious efforts to steal the election, we're escalating our call for Senator Leahy to hold hearings to investigate the GOP effort to suppress the votes of millions of voters in key battleground states across the country.

Tell the Senate Judiciary Committee: Hold emergency hearings on Republicans' schemes to steal the presidential election in key battleground states.

In the novel I'm writing, one of the main characters is scion of a rich and aristocratic family. Her grandfathers (her mother's fathers), horrified at the mess their immediate offspring made of their lives, have a stipulation that at the age of 18 their progeny are cut off *completely*. They must spend the next ten years making their own way in the world without any assistance from the family. No money, no using family contacts, nothing other than what they can do for themselves. Only after that decade can they dip into the family funds. I would like to see rich families in the real world do something like that.

One of the best things my sister and I ever did, and the thing I credit most with preventing us from being really obnoxious, privileged, upper-middle class kids loosed upon an unsuspecting world, was enlist in the US Army. While my sister did, eventually, we were both in as ordinary grunts and so we were no longer hobnobbing with the hoi polloi but with working class folks. It was an education for both of us and we are only one generation removed from grinding poverty and my parents had wealth we were not in the celestial ranks occupied by the likes of Romney. Imagine if the Romney boys, at 18, found themselves completely cut off from their parent's money. I think that if they had to work their way through college or join the military as enlisted, they would have a very different perspective.

To hear Mittens talk as if he had scrabbled his way up the economic ladder turns my stomach because it is so obviously untrue.

Oh and arrgh, I hope ye be enjoying Talk Like a Pirate Day.

Cheers
Aj

I have often thought to myself that, despite the fact that Mittens is filthy rich, he sure doesn't appear to be very bright. He has absolutely NO concept of what ordinary working people go through, trying to live ordinary lives. One would think that it would take some level of "smarts" to amass the kind of wealth Mittens has, but by Jeebuz, he sure appears to be about as stupid as a box of hammers.

I guess that's how one would discern between inherited/old money and someone who used their smarts and a goodly amount of sweat from their own brow to amass such wealth. To me, it only makes Mitt look more arrogant, more spoiled, more disgusting and..."Less intelligent" (stupid).

Theo :bouquet:

This idea of only one kind of way of proving one's identity is definitely not thought out. That said, I was curious what Canada does and found this: http://www.elections.ca/content.aspx...dex&lang=e#one

What's interesting is the 2nd option if you can't meet the first. I've never had a driver's license (I've lived most of my life in cities where public transit was useful) and used the 2nd option all my life. It even includes options for the homeless identify themselves so they can vote.

Oh.. and if you ever wanted to know who to throw your hard earned $$ at when it comes to entertainment, this should help.

http://www.examiner.com/article/mitt...-to-kill-fetus

Mitt Romney's son, Tagg Romney, has been discovered to have engaged in a contract with a surrogate mother with the stipulations that if the child being carried was not up to the Romney's specifications, that the Romney family would have the final say if the child would be aborted or not.

I doubt seriously this is true........however the 'wow' factor is hard to pass up

I'm not familiar with this website. I have not fact checked this story. I so could not pass up the chance to post this story......because sometimes I am like that..............

Best way to find out how true (or somewhat true) something might be (IMO) is to do a search and see how many other places carry it: https://www.google.com/news?ncl=ddTc...=English&hl=en

Apparently TMZ broke the story: http://www.tmz.com/2012/09/20/mitt-r...t-bill-handel/

So far it's just blogs picking it up from TMZ. The most mainstream is the Daily Kos, and they've had it since the 21st. I wonder if the Press is going to give it a pass.

I hope not.

I did my quick snopes lazy ass fact check and got nothing....

thanks to those doing my research...........really..............thanks..... ....

the fact check should be interesting.............

note to Romney folks.............I want folks to speak the truth.........if you say you did or said it then fuck.......own it........you just might get a tiny bit of respect...............my vote requires respect..........

This just came up on my fb feed, hope it's not too big.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.n...23189149_n.jpg

Don't have to have facebook to register to vote with this link. But, people can register with this and share it on the facebook.

http://www.facebook.com/OurTimeOrg/app_339209582820444

http://front.moveon.org/voters-not-v...41-4rmmnHx&t=1

Some interesting articles on Romney the person
 

New Yorker article -- "The Mind of Mitt Romney

Financial Times -- "Born to Run"

This week's Time Magazine has a decent article called "The Mormon Identity," but it's not available online.

Interesting stuff. More reason for me to vote for his opponent. Worth reading though.

Some longtime Republicans torn over 'Obamacare'
 

Perhaps no other election has posed such a difficult personal decision for some conservatives: How do you vote if you're ideologically conservative, but you're benefiting, or stand to benefit, from the Affordable Care Act, often referred to as "Obamacare"?

"In 2008, health care was a very conceptual, a very theoretical issue," said Michael Traugott, a professor of political science and communication at the University of Michigan. "This year it's very concrete and real."

Some Republicans told CNN they would never vote Democrat, even though they might benefit from Obamacare, while others said they will switch their vote because of health issues.

"The real question is: Could defections in this group make a difference in states where the race is close, such as Virginia, Ohio or North Carolina?" Traugott said. "I think in those states it's so tight they could make a difference."

Several groups of people would fare very differently under Romney's health care plan than they do under Obamacare, such as those with preexisting conditions, which can range from anything from back pain to cancer. Between 20% and 50% of all Americans have a preexisting condition, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Obamacare tells insurance companies they can't say no to people with preexisting conditions, or charge them more because of their health issues. According to his website, Romney's health plan calls for "preventing discrimination" against people with preexisting conditions as long as they've maintained continuous insurance coverage in the past, but does not define what "continuous coverage" means.

Young Republicans could also fare differently under Romney's plan. According to the Department of Health and Human Services, some 3.1 million young adults now have health insurance because of Obamacare, which requires insurance companies to allow young adults to stay on their parents' policies up until the age of 26. Before Obamacare, insurance companies in many states took young people off their parents' policies at age 18 or 19.

Romney has vowed to repeal Obamacare. In the presidential debate, the former Massachusetts governor said the "private marketplace" is already taking care of young adults who want to stay on their parents' plans so the United States doesn't need a government mandate.

However, it's not clear that insurance companies will allow young adults to stay on their parents' insurance up until age 26 without a mandate. If Obamacare is reversed, insurance companies "will make their own decisions about the coverage options they provide," according to a statement from America's Health Insurance Plans.

'I feel torn'

Jon Campbell may become one of the Republican "defectors" Traugott says could make a difference in battleground states.

Campbell, 49, has voted Republican in nearly every presidential election since he cast his vote for Ronald Reagan in 1980, but this year might be different. For two years his 22-year-old stepdaughter, a self-employed dog trainer, didn't have health insurance. Then Obamacare kicked in and she was allowed onto her father's insurance.

"If something had happened to her during those two years it would have been a disaster," Campbell says.

The Olathe, Kansas, resident is leaning toward Obama, but not just because of his stepdaughter. Campbell's wife, Barbara, has diabetes and is in the final stages of breast cancer treatment. She's now on his insurance, but if he ever lost his job, his wife would be faced with trying to buy insurance on her own and would surely be rejected.

"I'm really torn," he said. "Because of Obama, I now have a wife who can get covered. But really, at heart, I'm a limited-government kind of guy."

Campbell said if the election were held today, he'd vote for Obama, but not without a lot of reservations.

"It's really an intriguing conundrum," he said.

'I'm born to be a Republican'

Like Campbell, Sara Nicastro feels conflicted about her vote. A popular diabetes blogger, Nicastro, 31, knew a woman who stopped taking her insulin regularly when she lost her insurance, and Nicastro thinks it might have contributed to her death. Nicastro said she herself would be "in a pickle" if she were ever laid off because insurance companies don't want to offer policies to diabetics.

Still, Nicastro, a lifelong Republican who lives in south Florida, will vote for Romney in November. She cares about other issues besides health -- most notably the economy -- and she's voted Republican in every election. She even remembers the excitement she felt when she shook Bob Dole's hand at a rally at her high school 16 years ago.

"The Republican party most closely matches the things I value and the beliefs I have," she said. "I'm pretty passionate about it."

Katherine Weaver, who also has diabetes, hasn't considered voting for Obama for even a minute.

"I'm born to be a Republican," she said.

Weaver, 52, knows it would be difficult if not impossible to buy insurance on her own because of her disease, but she said she's not worried because she has good insurance through her job as a public school teacher in Dallas, where she's worked for 20 years.

"It's very hard to get rid of teachers," she said. "I'm very protective of my job. I document everything I do."

Jill Thacker felt "weird" as she stood there in the 7-11 in Sanford, Florida, thinking about which cup to take.

She thought about her insurance, which covers her only if "I get hit by a bus." It's the only insurance she can afford given her preexisting condition.

She thought about how she's still paying off a $22,000 emergency room bill from last year.

She thought about her 25-year-old daughter, who's on her father's insurance only because of Obamacare.

But she also thought about how, in many fundamental ways, she just doesn't like Obama.

Then she reached for the blue cup with Obama's name on it.

"I really do feel conflicted," she said. "But for me, it's all about health care. It's my number one thing."



Read more: http://www.wcvb.com/health/Some-long...#ixzz28Zn3PCQe

I think the next debate should be done as follows:

https://i.chzbgr.com/completestore/1...-dGfGmv7Q2.png