2012 US General Election Discussions: Start to Finish

[Cin]

Originally Posted by Kobi

Did Romney's self deportation thing apply to Americans who self deport to save their sanity? Times like this when a moon colony is looking like an attractive option.

Sooooo, which of my Canadian pals is going to sponsor me until I get settled? I know Tim Horton's and Players smokes, and Canadian Tire (is that your version of Walmart?), and eh. And, I'm relatively housebroken.

LOL. Well, let me say this about that, Canada's PM at the moment is really not a nice guy. So I don't think it's gonna be that different once you get here. That said, Canada does have a more open immigration policy. And they appreciate immigrants. Still one does have to actually meet the criteria to be able to immigrate.

[AtLast]

Originally Posted by Miss Tick

LOL. Well, let me say this about that, Canada's PM at the moment is really not a nice guy. So I don't think it's gonna be that different once you get here. That said, Canada does have a more open immigration policy. And they appreciate immigrants. Still one does have to actually meet the criteria to be able to immigrate.

Maybe you have to come from California.... really glad Maddow brought this up, I remember it well and we have to give credit where credit is due!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/0...=latino-voices


Self-deportation.
The brilliant idea was not Mitt Romney's. But ever since he introduced it as a viable solution to the country's broken immigration system, he's been getting all the credit.



Long before the Republican front-runner made it a tenet of his immigration policy, Daniel D. Portado, founder of Hispanics Against Liberal Takeover (HALTO), a "militant, self-deportation movement encouraging all minorities to leave the United States" was championing the cause in the early 1990s following the passage of anti-immigrant Prop.187 in California -- on the radio, to talking heads, even California's Governor Wilson adopted self-deportation as a solution.

Only it was a joke.



In an interview from 1996 with This American Life radio host Ira Glass, Daniel D. Portado is asked why he is still in California if his mission is to self-deport.



He replies, "Well, I am here to help everyone get out. I hope to look forward to the day where I will stand at the border and say, will the last Mexican out of California please turn out the lights? That will be me."


Political cartoonist Lalo Alcaraz, the creator of the satirical movement, talks to Rachel Maddow about the gift that keeps on giving.


I wonder if Daniel D. Portado -- aka. Mr. Alcaraz -- is receiving royalties from Mitt Romney's camp for the trademark?


He has already sent a Cease and Desist notice to Patriots for Self-Deportation for use of the word he coined. But more importantly, is he being considered for a cabinet post? Secretary D. Portado.


For more updates by the noted right-wing Hispanic Self-Deportationist: Daniel D. Portado's Twitter


------

Prop 187 was a horrible experience in our state.

[Soon]

/excerpt/

"The 45-year-old Callista has created an entirely new model for a spouse, standing mute in her primary color suits and triple-strand pearls looking at the 68-year-old Newt for the whole event, her platinum carapace inclined deferentially toward his shaggy gray mane. While a trophy wife is admired by her man, the admiring eyes of a Transformational Wife are there to propel her man to the next level. And when a woman who wants to be a Transformational Wife merges with a man who calls himself a Transformational Figure, you can expect a narcissistic blastoff."

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/op...wife.html?_r=2

[Toughy]

http://start.toshiba.com/news/read.p...popular_viewed

Romney latest pol to join wait-let-me-explain club

Mitt Romney's remark that he's not worried about the very poor, the latest gaffe in a campaign rich with blunders, joins a long list of wait-let-me-explain episodes in presidential election history. <snip>




The pic that accompanies this article of Daddy Bush looking at his watch during a debate is one of my favorites

[Toughy]

Originally Posted by HowSoonIsNow

/excerpt/

"The 45-year-old Callista has created an entirely new model for a spouse, standing mute in her primary color suits and triple-strand pearls looking at the 68-year-old Newt for the whole event, her platinum carapace inclined deferentially toward his shaggy gray mane. While a trophy wife is admired by her man, the admiring eyes of a Transformational Wife are there to propel her man to the next level. And when a woman who wants to be a Transformational Wife merges with a man who calls himself a Transformational Figure, you can expect a narcissistic blastoff."

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/op...wife.html?_r=2

I still cannot decide if she is a member of the Stepford Wives or a narcissistic blastoff. If there are folks who have not seen that movie...........RENT IT!!

[Martina]

That piece was funny as hell. i actually repped it on the NYTimes website when i read it. i had to look up "carapace." LOL. Her hair does look like a turtle shell propped up there.

Originally Posted by HowSoonIsNow

/excerpt/

"The 45-year-old Callista has created an entirely new model for a spouse, standing mute in her primary color suits and triple-strand pearls looking at the 68-year-old Newt for the whole event, her platinum carapace inclined deferentially toward his shaggy gray mane. While a trophy wife is admired by her man, the admiring eyes of a Transformational Wife are there to propel her man to the next level. And when a woman who wants to be a Transformational Wife merges with a man who calls himself a Transformational Figure, you can expect a narcissistic blastoff."

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/op...wife.html?_r=2

[AtLast]

Originally Posted by HowSoonIsNow

/excerpt/

"The 45-year-old Callista has created an entirely new model for a spouse, standing mute in her primary color suits and triple-strand pearls looking at the 68-year-old Newt for the whole event, her platinum carapace inclined deferentially toward his shaggy gray mane. While a trophy wife is admired by her man, the admiring eyes of a Transformational Wife are there to propel her man to the next level. And when a woman who wants to be a Transformational Wife merges with a man who calls himself a Transformational Figure, you can expect a narcissistic blastoff."

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/05/op...wife.html?_r=2

This ranks as one of the best!

What is interesting to me about her hair is that it covers so much of her face.

[Kobi]

I'm waiting for the candidates to pick this one up.



Last year, a federal program paid out $1.6 billion to cover free cell phones and the monthly bills of 12.5 million wireless accounts. The program, overseen by the FCC and intended to help low-income Americans, is popular for obvious reasons, with participation rising steeply since 2008, when the government paid $772 million for phones and monthly bills. But observers complain that the program suffers from poor oversight, in which phones go to people who don't qualify, and hundreds of thousands of those who do qualify have more than one phone.

Last summer, a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review story shed some light on a government program that relatively few Americans knew existed. The Lifeline program provides low-income Americans with free cell phones (basic ones such as those made by Tracfone, not smartphones) and covers up to 250 free minutes each month. As many as 5.5 million residents in Pennsylvania alone could qualify for the program, which is funded primarily by the Universal Service Fund fee added to the bills of land-line and wireless customers.

The program came to be after the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was passed, and the FCC created the Universal Service Fund to help "to promote the availability of quality services at just, reasonable, and affordable rates," among other things. All telecommunications carriers must pay into the fund, and many do so by tacking on a fee to each of their customers' bills. It's probably added into your monthly wireless bill and your landline bill, if you still have one.

The Universal Service Fund provides discounts on phone services, or in some cases, entirely free services to low-income Americans. The fund helps pay for landlines or cell phones, whichever the recipient prefers. There's also a one-time discount of up to $30 to cover an installation fee or a cell phone. Considering how cheap some cell phones are nowadays, the money more than covers the costs of a basic phone. Then, the fund covers phone bills to the tune of $10 a month, which typically translates as 250 minutes for wireless plans of the types of phones we're talking about. Americans who receive food stamps, Medicaid, or other federal aid, or who earn up to 135% of the federal poverty guidelines, qualify for the program.

Now, Bloomberg Businessweek reports, we have a pretty good idea of how much the program pays out -- and how quickly it's growing as more and more people find out about it. In 2011, Lifeline paid out $1.6 billion, more than double the amount paid in 2008 ($772 million).

What's more, an FCC audit of the program last year showed that many participants in the program were taking more than their fair share. According to Businessweek:

269,000 wireless Lifeline subscribers were receiving free phones and monthly service from two or more carriers.

Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) has been taking a closer look at the program since she personally received an invitation to apply for a free, government-subsidized cell phone in the mail. McCaskill has asked the FCC to investigate Lifeline. As a result, the FCC is building a database to see if a subscriber has more than one subsidized phone. In other words, until recently, such a database didn't exist.

The FCC, which announced the changes by using the euphemism that it is "modernizing" Lifeline, has set a goal of saving $200 million on the program in 2012. After eliminating nearly 270,000 of the duplicate subscriptions discovered in the audit last year, the FCC said it has already "saved" $33 million.

http://news.yahoo.com/washington-foo...202500656.html

[Corkey]

I was sent an ad for this program, I do not qualify. As there is a review of the application, I am not concerned about how many indeed use this program. There are many who are unemployed and differently abled who do qualify for this program who would never know but for an ad. There is a financial qualification to the program, and one must be on Medicaid.

[Cin]

Originally Posted by Kobi

I'm waiting for the candidates to pick this one up.



Last year, a federal program paid out $1.6 billion to cover free cell phones and the monthly bills of 12.5 million wireless accounts. The program, overseen by the FCC and intended to help low-income Americans, is popular for obvious reasons, with participation rising steeply since 2008, when the government paid $772 million for phones and monthly bills. But observers complain that the program suffers from poor oversight, in which phones go to people who don't qualify, and hundreds of thousands of those who do qualify have more than one phone.

Last summer, a Pittsburgh Tribune-Review story shed some light on a government program that relatively few Americans knew existed. The Lifeline program provides low-income Americans with free cell phones (basic ones such as those made by Tracfone, not smartphones) and covers up to 250 free minutes each month. As many as 5.5 million residents in Pennsylvania alone could qualify for the program, which is funded primarily by the Universal Service Fund fee added to the bills of land-line and wireless customers.

The program came to be after the Telecommunications Act of 1996 was passed, and the FCC created the Universal Service Fund to help "to promote the availability of quality services at just, reasonable, and affordable rates," among other things. All telecommunications carriers must pay into the fund, and many do so by tacking on a fee to each of their customers' bills. It's probably added into your monthly wireless bill and your landline bill, if you still have one.

The Universal Service Fund provides discounts on phone services, or in some cases, entirely free services to low-income Americans. The fund helps pay for landlines or cell phones, whichever the recipient prefers. There's also a one-time discount of up to $30 to cover an installation fee or a cell phone. Considering how cheap some cell phones are nowadays, the money more than covers the costs of a basic phone. Then, the fund covers phone bills to the tune of $10 a month, which typically translates as 250 minutes for wireless plans of the types of phones we're talking about. Americans who receive food stamps, Medicaid, or other federal aid, or who earn up to 135% of the federal poverty guidelines, qualify for the program.

Now, Bloomberg Businessweek reports, we have a pretty good idea of how much the program pays out -- and how quickly it's growing as more and more people find out about it. In 2011, Lifeline paid out $1.6 billion, more than double the amount paid in 2008 ($772 million).

What's more, an FCC audit of the program last year showed that many participants in the program were taking more than their fair share. According to Businessweek:

269,000 wireless Lifeline subscribers were receiving free phones and monthly service from two or more carriers.

Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) has been taking a closer look at the program since she personally received an invitation to apply for a free, government-subsidized cell phone in the mail. McCaskill has asked the FCC to investigate Lifeline. As a result, the FCC is building a database to see if a subscriber has more than one subsidized phone. In other words, until recently, such a database didn't exist.

The FCC, which announced the changes by using the euphemism that it is "modernizing" Lifeline, has set a goal of saving $200 million on the program in 2012. After eliminating nearly 270,000 of the duplicate subscriptions discovered in the audit last year, the FCC said it has already "saved" $33 million.

http://news.yahoo.com/washington-foo...202500656.html

Footing the bill for the poor to have a phone? These are the kinds of issues that need immediate attention. That's why we are on the brink of financial disaster. Between this and food stamps these poor people are living large. We need to take away their phones and cut food stamps at the very least. I mean there are people trying to scrape by on a mere $250,000 a year, a family of four can't be expected to survive on that! They need the government's help. They need tax breaks. We should have a fund so we can all pay in to help these guys struggling to survive on a quarter of a million dollars a year.
Oldie but a Goodie, Down and Out on 250000 a Year.

[AtLast]

It's CPAC convenstion time. A bunch of viagra filled old white Republican men meet and try to pick who among them is more Godly.....