Woah. Lisa murkowski just made really clear to our drew griffin in alaska republicans can't count on her to be w them.
Dana Bash
DanaBashCNN
Best of luck with that write-in campaign, Sen. Mercowskee!
Barney Frank has called in the reinforcements.
What a pitiful gathering. These two appear at a 13,000 seat arena and the place is not even close to full.The arena where President Obama and Vice President Biden are making their final appeal to Democrats to get out and vote in Tuesday's midterm elections was far from capacity Sunday afternoon.America's moving forward, alright. Right into the arms of the GOP.
The crowd estimate stands at 8,000 in the arena that seats just over 13,000 and a couple thousand empty seats are visible above the stage where Obama and Biden rallied supporters on stage.
The event is the final one in a series of "Moving America Forward" rallies aimed at ginning up enthusiasm with the party's largely deflated base ahead of Tuesday.
Congressman Alan Grayson spoke out Sunday morning about YouTube video showing a campaign sign being ripped out of the hands of one of his supporters.It's come to this. Grabbing a man's sign is now the equivalent to the assassination of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy. And this tool wonders why he's going down on Tuesday.
The confrontation happened at a campaign rally for Grayson’s opponent Daniel Webster. The whole thing was caught on tape by a film crew making a documentary about the closely watched race for the congressional seat.
While talking to media, Congressman Grayson compared the attack on one of his supporters to the same kind of violence that killed President Kennedy and civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King.
The attack started when one of Grayson’s supporters, Lance Parker, went to a Daniel Webster rally in Orlando and held a Grayson campaign sign up behind the stage where Webster was speaking.
While Parker was holding the sign, Bruce O’Donoghue, a former candidate and Webster supporter, snatched the sign out of Parkers hand and tried crumple it up. In the video, O’Donoghue can be heard cursing at Parker who repeatedly asked for his sign back.
Rupert Murdoch’s Fox News and Wall Street Journal have been arduous in promoting and inflating Tea Party events and celebrities to this propagandistic end. The more the Tea Party looks as if it’s calling the shots in the G.O.P., the easier it is to distract attention from those who are actually calling them — namely, those who’ve cashed in and cashed out as ordinary Americans lost their jobs, homes and 401(k)’s. Typical of this smokescreen is a new book titled “Mad as Hell,” published this fall by a Murdoch imprint. In it, the pollsters Scott Rasmussen and Douglas Schoen make the case, as they recently put it in Politico, that the Tea Party is “the most powerful and potent force in America.”If the Tea partiers are such a tiny fraction of the public, why is Rich and his cohorts so obsessed with them? Oh, and Frank, don't forget to bring an umbrella with your Tuesday. A tsunami's coming.
They are expert at producing poll numbers to bear that out. By counting those with friends and family in the movement, Rasmussen has calculated that 29 percent of Americans are “tied to” the Tea Party. (If you factor in six degrees of Kevin Bacon, the number would surely double.) But cooler empirical data reveal the truth known by the G.O.P. establishment: An August CNN poll found that 2 percent of Americans consider themselves active members of the Tea Party.
That result was confirmed last weekend by The Washington Post, which published the fruits of its months-long effort to contact every Tea Party group in the country. To this end, it enlisted the help of Tea Party Patriots, the only Tea Party umbrella group that actually can claim to be a spontaneous, bottom-up, grass roots organization rather than a front for the same old fat cats of the Republican right, from the Koch brothers to Dick Armey’s FreedomWorks. Tea Party Patriots has claimed anywhere from 2,300 to nearly 3,000 local affiliates, but even with its assistance, The Post could verify a total of only 647 Tea Party groups nationwide. Most had fewer than 50 members. The median amount of money each group had raised in 2010 was $800, nowhere near the entry fee for the country club.
But those Americans, like all the others on the short end of the 2008 crash, have reason to be mad as hell. And their numbers will surely grow once the Republican establishment’s panacea of tax cuts proves as ineffectual at creating jobs, saving homes and cutting deficits as the half-measures of the Obama White House and the Democratic Congress. The tempest, however, will not be contained within the tiny Tea Party but will instead overrun the Republican Party itself, where Palin, with Murdoch and Beck at her back, waits in the wings to “take back America” not just from Obama but from the G.O.P. country club elites now mocking her. By then — after another two years of political gridlock and economic sclerosis — the equally disillusioned right and left may have a showdown that makes this election year look as benign as Woodstock.
He's still a Tricky Dick.
After a supporter told Connecticut Democrat Richard Blumenthal that he was upset that the candidate lied about serving in Vietnam, Blumenthal recast the conversation later to a reporter.
The revisited war fib -- one that nearly derailed the Democrat's Senate campaign -- came up as Blumenthal was shaking hands with the breakfast crowd at a local diner.
"It was not so much about Vietnam, but the negativity of the ads," the candidate later insisted.
That assertion stunned the supporter, Stuart Pattison, who said, no, it really was about Blumenthal's "misstatements" that he was a war veteran.
"You really popped my bubble," Pattison, 50, told The Post, referring to the war-fib story.
Faced with a polarized race for Senate, Pattison nonetheless said, "But I'm going to vote for him anyway."
As to the lie the will be "record cuts to education," where is there any evidence of that?
Photo via Kathleen McKinley on Twitter
Most of those pouring into the Mall Saturday appeared to be younger than 35, and the signs they carried showed a decidedly left-wing bent: "I hope this isn't a trap," "I masturbate to Christine O'Donnell," "Communism was a red herring."Even terror supporters were there.
Most signs fit with the happy-go-lucky ethos of the rally, but others were crude. One sign had Hitler mustaches on pictures of Sarah Palin, Eric Cantor, Glenn Beck and John Boehner. The message said, “Afraid yet?” This is particularly insulting to Cantor, who is Jewish and in line to become House Majority Leader if Republicans win next week.
When surprise guest Yusuf Islam, the British singer formerly known as Cat Stevens, arrived onstage and began singing his hit "Peace Train," Colbert loudly interrupted him and introduced Ozzy Osbourne, who sang his hit, "Crazy Train" before Stewart interrupted him in turn. The two singers then engaged in a musical duel, guided by the two comedians.And what would a liberal rally be without their favorite activity?
The wind carried the scent of burning marijuana through the crowd.And what would a liberal rally be without the ubiquitous 9/11 Troofers?
Second and third photos from here.
Biden warned the crowd at an Iowa rally of a pending Republican takeover.Hmmm. That sounds...appealing, actually. I'll gladly take a fighting chance in a 'Tong War' against the Obama agenda over continued one-party rule by arrogant, iron-fisted Democrats who brag of making up the rules as they go along.
"If these guys take over the House and the Senate this next time out… it will be a Tong War for the next two years," Biden said.
The Tong Wars were feuds among rival Asian gangs in U.S. cities over the opium trade in the mid-1800s and early 1900s.
After five straight years of funding hikes and public-health victories — in 2008, Congress reauthorized PEPfAR with a new commitment of $48 billion over five years, with Senators Obama, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden all voting in favor of the move — the slowdown has AIDS advocates scratching their heads: Why would the Obama Administration back off from the one universally popular program inherited from Bush?But hey, why let facts get in the way. You can see the anger when someone dares to interrupt his TelePrompter.
Gee, never saw this coming, did you?Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert may not want an overtly political rally on Saturday, but the Democratic National Committee is doing everything it can to capitalize on the event.Obama's own website is promoting this "non-political" event. How cute.
Volunteers and staff members from the headquarters are greeting people as they get off of the buses or arrive in Washington on trains, armed with sign-up sheets for canvassing efforts in districts across the country.
And for those rally attendees who have not gotten enough of politics by the end of the rally, they can head over to the the committee’s headquarters a few blocks away, where there will be a phone bank. Committee officials said they expected to get at least 100 people there.
The rally had been a subject of concern for some Democrats, who said it would siphon the most active Democrats from around the country away from the get-out-the-vote efforts in their home states and districts.
But a spokeswoman for the Democratic committee’s Organizing for America said Saturday that the party is supportive of the Comedy Central hosts’ event.
Thousands of Americans descended on the nation's capital today for Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's Rally for Sanity and/or Fear on the National Mall. They carried signs and sported T-shirts bearing proud messages like "Moderate as hell!" and "Don't believe rally signs." OFA volunteers took the opportunity to channel all that energy into action, and sign rally-goers up to help get out the vote in their communities.If Colbert and Stewart were since about about their claims they'd denounce this, but they're complete frauds so they won't say a word.
"How can I help?" asked a woman from New Jersey, who was told that all she needed to do was text SANE to 62262 to find an event near her. OFA volunteers signed folks up for a phone bank at the nearby Democratic Party headquarters after the rally, and encouraged people to get on buses to go canvass in states like Ohio and Virginia.
Yemeni authorities on Saturday arrested a woman thought to be involved in sending explosive packages headed to the United States and were searching for more suspects belived linked to al-Qaida, Yemeni security officials said.Always snared through their own stupidity.
The arrest came after authorities surrounded a house where she was hiding in the capital San'a, Reuters reported.
A security official told Reuters that authorities traced the woman through a telephone number she left with a cargo company.
Sophisticated bombs contained in packages sent from Yemen were designed to explode in the air and bring down the cargo planes carrying them, the government confirmed.
Intelligence experts believe the use of the devices, contained in printer cartridges on board two Chicago-bound cargo planes, represents a shift in terrorist tactics to commercial targets.
Both devices, one discovered in the hold of a plane that landed at East Midlands airport after flying from Cologne, the other on a plane in Dubai, were described as "extremely professional" by intelligence officials.
One of the devices was linked to a mobile phone, while the other was attached to a timer. The Observer understands that the East Midlands device was so sophisticated an examination by forensics experts initially suggested it did not contain explosives.
"Even when it was examined, the sniffer dogs couldn't detect it," a security source said. "It was only when they [forensics experts] had a second look at it they realised what it was."
It has emerged the devices were discovered only after a tip-off from Saudi intelligence. "This… started with good information from the Saudis," the US homeland security secretary, Janet Napolitano, confirmed. "We were then immediately able to work with other countries, particularly the UK and the UAE, to segregate these packages, to begin the analysis about what they were, what they could have done."
If the devices had blown up over the Atlantic, or any other large stretch of water, identifying the cause would have been difficult because there would have been little trace left of the planes.
Democratic voters are closely divided over whether President Barack Obama should be challenged within the party for a second term in 2012, an Associated Press-Knowledge Networks Poll finds.Expect that number of disenchanted to increase significantly by Wednesday morning.
That glum assessment carries over into the nation at large, which is equally divided over whether Obama should be a one-term president.
A real Democratic challenge to Obama seems unlikely at this stage and his re-election bid is a long way off. But the findings underscore how disenchanted his party has grown heading into the congressional elections Tuesday.
The AP-KN poll has tracked a group of people and their views since the beginning of the 2008 presidential campaign. Among all 2008 voters, 51 percent say he deserves to be defeated in November 2012 while 47 percent support his re-election—essentially a tie.
Among Democrats, 47 percent say Obama should be challenged for the 2012 nomination and 51 percent say he should not be opposed. Those favoring a contest include most who backed Hillary Rodham Clinton's unsuccessful faceoff against Obama for the 2008 nomination. The poll did not ask if Democrats would support particular challengers.
THE Maldives expressed "shock and disgust'' after a video surfaced of a Swiss couple being mocked and insulted by a celebrant during their marriage ceremony at a luxury hotel.Good thing Islam is so tolerant and respectful of others, otherwise people might be upset.
In the video, posted on YouTube several days ago, a couple can be seen seated opposite the celebrant as they renew their wedding vows at the Vilu Reef hotel, which charges $400 a night for the use of its honeymoon suite.
Speaking in the local Dhivehi language, the celebrant calls the couple "swine'' amid a host of other insults during a hateful profanity-laced tirade littered with often bizarre personal and religious-tinged taunts.
Muslim-majority Maldives, a nation of 1,192 tiny coral islets scattered some 550 miles (880 kilometres) across the equator, is one of South Asia's most expensive holiday destinations and is popular among Western honeymooners.
Foreign Minister Ahmed Shaheed said he was "horrified'' to see the video.
"I was shocked and horrified,'' Shaheed said when contacted in the capital of the atoll nation, Male.
"I could not see the entire video because my children were around and I didn't want them to hear the bad language that was used.
"This is a rip-off of the couple who in good faith went to this resort to renew their vows. This incident will damage the reputation we have built over the years for professional quality service.
"I expect the hotel to refund the money and make a full apology.''
Vilu Reef general manager Mohamed Rasheed said the hotel had apologised to the couple who had the ceremony on October 11 and had taken disciplinary action against those involved.
The disgraced celebrant has been suspended and the hotel company, Sun Hotels and Resorts, said in a brief statement it had asked the police to investigate.
"We have apologised to the couple as well as to the general public,'' Rasheed said.
"The man had used filthy language. Otherwise the ceremony was OK.''
President Obama urged Republicans and Democrats to work together to solve the nation's economic issues regardless of the outcome of Tuesday's midterm elections.For 21 months Obama and the Democrats have rejected any opportunity to work with Republicans. Now all of a sudden he's finding some deep philosophical stance and pretending his words and actions never happened.
In his weekly address Saturday, Obama called recent comments made by two Republican leaders “troubling.”
He pointed out comments made by House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio), who said this week that “this is not the time for compromise.”
He also mentioned a statement made by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) that "his main goal after this election is simply to win the next one."
Obama chalked up the comments to heated rhetoric in the final days of a campaign that could see the leadership change in one chamber of Congress.
"Whatever the outcome on Tuesday, we need to come together to help put people who are still looking for jobs back to work," Obama said.
"On these issues I believe it’s the fundamental responsibility of all who hold elective office to seek out common ground," he said. "It may not always be easy to find agreement; at times we’ll have legitimate philosophical differences. And it may not always be the best politics. But it is the right thing to do for our country."He may have a future in stand up comedy.
So says Arianna Huffington, seen here at an event Thursday with a disheveled Sean Penn, a guy who's never demonized anyone. He just wants them imprisoned if he disagrees with them. Anyway, the Huffster, who enjoys speaking out of all three sides of her mouth, uttered the fantastically laughable line while discussing her bus caravan to the "non-political" Smugapalooza in DC today.Millionaire blogger Arianna Huffington is picking up the bus fare for more than 10,000 New Yorkers headed Saturday to Comedy Central's "Rally to Restore Sanity."Well, that's nice. Maybe she should start with her own cesspool, where a front page story has the inmates up in arms this morning as they smear Andrew Breitbart as a bigot.
"It was a moment of irrational exuberance," Huffington joked in an interview with the Daily News, admitting she never expected so many people to take her up on the offer.
Now, about 250 buses later, Huffington, founder of the popular Huffington Post - the left-leaning news and opinion website - is believed to be forking over hundreds of thousands of dollars to drive New Yorkers to Washington and back home again.
She declined to say how much she's ponying up for the trip.
Dubbed by Huffington "the Sanity Bus," Citi Field in Flushing, Queens, is the staging ground for today's 6 a.m. departure.
Huffington also handed out free "flipcams" to 200 riders who wrote one-line sentences saying what they would do "to restore sanity" in America.
"Taking a stand for sanity is not a partisan position. It's neither right nor left. It's reasonable. We have to stop demonizing anyone we disagree with," Huffington said.
Each of us wants more for our children then we want for ourselves. It is up to all of us to work together to help break the cycle of fear, mistrust, misunderstanding, and violence that threatens the peace and stability of the entire world.So yes, I agree with "millionaire blogger" Arianna Huffington. Let's stop demonizing anyone we disagree with. You first, sweetie. We're just sure whenever a Republican is demonized today she'll be the first to intervene and chastise the offending party.
Leaving the world a better place than we found it by reversing this downward spiral hatred and ignorance for our children and our grandchildren is truly the "Game Changer" that we all need to strive for.
Citing cases dating back as far as 1928, a judge has ruled that a young girl accused of running down an elderly woman while racing a bicycle with training wheels on a Manhattan sidewalk two years ago can be sued for negligence.You'll be stunned to discover this nitwit was appointed by David Paterson.
Citing cases dating back as far as 1928, a judge has ruled that a young girl accused of running down an elderly woman while racing a bicycle with training wheels on a Manhattan sidewalk two years ago can be sued for negligence.
The ruling by the judge, Justice Paul Wooten of State Supreme Court in Manhattan, did not find that the girl was liable, but merely permitted a lawsuit brought against her, another boy and their parents to move forward.
The suit that Justice Wooten allowed to proceed claims that in April 2009, Juliet Breitman and Jacob Kohn, who were both 4, were racing their bicycles, under the supervision of their mothers, Dana Breitman and Rachel Kohn, on the sidewalk of a building on East 52nd Street. At some point in the race, they struck an 87-year-old woman named Claire Menagh, who was walking in front of the building and, according to the complaint, was “seriously and severely injured,” suffering a hip fracture that required surgery. She died three months later of unrelated causes.
Her estate sued the children and their mothers, claiming they had acted negligently during the accident. In a response, Juliet’s lawyer, James P. Tyrie, argued that the girl was not “engaged in an adult activity” at the time of the accident — “She was riding her bicycle with training wheels under the supervision of her mother” — and was too young to be held liable for negligence.
In legal papers, Mr. Tyrie added, “Courts have held that an infant under the age of 4 is conclusively presumed to be incapable of negligence.” (Rachel and Jacob Kohn did not seek to dismiss the case against them.)
But Justice Wooten declined to stretch that rule to children over 4. On Oct. 1, he rejected a motion to dismiss the case because of Juliet’s age, noting that she was three months shy of turning 5 when Ms. Menagh was struck, and thus old enough to be sued.
Mr. Tyrie “correctly notes that infants under the age of 4 are conclusively presumed incapable of negligence,” Justice Wooten wrote in his decision, referring to the 1928 case. “Juliet Breitman, however, was over the age of 4 at the time of the subject incident. For infants above the age of 4, there is no bright-line rule.”
Asked about the first source's allegation, a second source with knowledge of the situation said, "I wouldn't disagree with it from this standpoint: Brit was the 800-pound gorilla who could pick up the phone and say he will not do that. Bill Sammon is no 800-pound gorilla within the organization. He doesn't have that much sway."Gee, I wonder why? This pathetic obsession with Fox is eating away at their brains, not to mention their readers.
The second source also said of Sammon, "He is not going to buck the bosses in New York. The D.C. bureau chief [Brian Boughton] and managing editor in D.C. [Sammon] are not as powerful as they once were. They are not going to raise objections and fight hard. They will just pass on the message."
Fox News did not respond to requests for comment on Sammon.
I believe this 100%. However, I will agree that this is fairly thin on evidence. We can't be like t-baggers and believe everything we read that fits our beliefs. That being said MMfA is reputable and no doubt will follow up this story with more evidence when it surfaces. For now, it seems like Fox News has some turmoil but we'll have to wait and see to what depth.Speaking of pathetic obsessions, they're soiling themselves on word that Andrew Breitbart will be appearing on ABC News on election night.
Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) penned a fundraising letter for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) on Friday asking voters to consider the morning after the election.Why are Democrats stumbling out of bed on a Wednesday morning?
In one scenario, Franken wrote, it's "8 a.m. You stumble out of bed. Make some oatmeal. Turn on the TV to find out what happened in that Senate race, the one that was too close to call all night. But you gave $5 to the DSCC … And, lo and behold, your favorite Democrat ... pulled it out by a few votes. Oatmeal never tasted so sweet."
"But there’s another way it could go," he went on. "8 a.m. Oatmeal. TV. But in this example, you DIDN’T give to the DSCC. And, by a few hundred votes, some Tea Party extremist is now a U.S. Senator-elect — and Republicans have captured the majority. How’s that oatmeal taste now?"Good grief. I hope he gags on his oatmeal.
"On November 3, I don’t want my oatmeal to taste like regret. I want my oatmeal to taste like victory."
But when she showed up that afternoon, she was already dressed in her ladybug costume. I was wearing my brother’s Cub Scout uniform. There was an awkward silence. I looked her up and down. She couldn’t be more than five-and-a-half, I surmised — five-and-three-quarters at most. When I later found out that she was already six, and that I had spent the afternoon with an older girl, I just couldn’t cope with it. I thought to myself, “One day this girl is going to use her youthful looks for political gain.”I'm telling you, this O'Donnell woman is pure evil.
Then she got this sly twinkle in her eye and said, “Wanna play patty-cake? In the rumpus room?”
What choice did I have?
We went downstairs and closed the door so my Mom couldn’t hear.
Things got physical pretty fast.
She started warming up by clapping her hands together and rehearsing her lines: “Patty-cake patty-cake, baker’s man…”. Yet even before she got to practicing the “Bake me a cake as fast as you can” part, I got a gander at her fingernails. I immediately noticed that the trimming trend had completely passed her by. Gross!
Then she stopped and said, “You know — I’ve never done this before.”
I could hardly believe that was true. How could a good-to-go girl like Christine have never played patty-cake before? She must have had dozens of invitations. She then confessed that, well, back in nursery school she had played patty-cake a few times, but that she was a new girl now, “born again” as she called it. This was the first time since she had sworn off her patty-cakin’ ways.
Call a WaaahmbulanceA firm handshake is usually seen as a good thing in business and even in politics.The story doesn't mention her party affiliation, but you just know no self-respecting Republicans would whine like this.
Not so much in South Florida. A candidate for the Broward County School Board wants the cops to lock up her opponent after what she claims was akin to battery after a recent debate.
Jaemi Levine filed a complaint with the Broward Sheriff's Office claiming David Thomas squeezed her hand so hard during a post-debate handshake Tuesday that it now hurts.
Instead of getting a grip on education issues, Thomas decided to get a grip on his opponent for the Disctrict 4 seat.
Levine alleges Thomas was upset that she outclassed him during the debate in Tamarac, which led to the Kung Fu-grip handshake and a few mumbled harsh words to get his point across.
"Don't ever question my integrity again," Thomas allegedly told Levine as he delivered the crunching handshake.
Thomas, a social science teacher at J.P. Taravella High School and a retired U.S. Navy Lt. Commander, told the Sun-Sentinel the story is non-sense and he didn't purposely injure Levine.
As Nancy Pelosi goes, so might a generation of her colleagues.Apparently spending time with the grandkids takes a back seat to her unquenchable thirst for power and flights on military jets with top shelf liquor.
If Democrats lose control of the House of Representatives next week, as most political observers expect, there is a good chance that the House Speaker will opt to spend time with her eight grandchildren rather than toil in the relative obscurity of the minority.
Pelosi is more likely to leave gracefully, trading the red-eye slog for the pleasant commute between her San Francisco and Napa homes, and leaving the caucus in the hands of majority leader Steny Hoyer, who has been chafing in her shadow for decades.Of course, Hoyer is no lock to even win himself.
Other Democrats are sure to follow Pelosi out of the Capitol. After the GOP lost the House in 2006, 27 Republicans called it quits. But in the case of Pelosi's Democratic cloakroom, the exodus could be deeper: five of the 20 current committee chairmen are her allies from California. Without their champion, some veterans such as Education and Labor Committee chairman George Miller, who has been in Congress since 1975, may be inclined to leave.It would be even better to just defeat them and leave them no choice.
Others are older — Rules Committee chair Louise Slaughter and Judiciary Committee chairman John Conyers, both 81, know that life in the minority holds less appeal for octogenarians. And, in any case, it might be time for some fresh blood. The average age of Democratic House chairs is nearly 70, while top Republicans are, on average, a decade younger — thanks, in part, to the 2006 spate of retirements. Democratic chairs have spent an average of 13.5 terms, or 27 years, in office, compared to Republicans who average 9.5 terms, or 19 years, in office.I was never crazy about the self-imposed six year term limits a lot of Republicans opted for. But seriously, so many of these people have spent the bulk of their lives living on the public dime.
Two chairmen have already retired: Appropriations Committee chief David Obey of Wisconsin and Tennessee's Bart Gordon, the top Dem on the Science and Technology Committee. Both seats look likely to fall into GOP hands next week.
Another five chairmen are endangered. Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank of Massachusetts last week loaned his campaign $200,000 as his race unexpectedly tightened. A recent poll showed Budget Committee chairman John Spratt trailing by 10 points in his South Carolina district. And Armed Services Committee chairman Ike Skelton, Transportation Committee chairman Jim Oberstar and Natural Resources Committee chairman Nick Rahall are all in the toughest races of their careers.
All told, half or more of the top Democrats on the House's 20 committees might lose, quit or retire.
A late surge in out-of-state donations is fueling Republican Sean Bielat’s stiff challenge of 15-term US Representative Barney Frank.Funny, but last I checked those who listen to the radio and watch the evil Fox News are also Americans and are free to donate to whomever they please. But they way the sniveling Frank people talk it's as if these people don't have rights, they're non-citizens or something.
Seventy-six percent of Bielat donors who gave $200 or more within the last four weeks live outside Massachusetts. That’s up from about 41 percent for the prior five-week period that ended Sept. 30, a Globe review of Federal Election Commission reports shows.
The figures suggest that Bielat, who has made regular appearances on Fox News and conservative media outlets, has succeeded in his attempts to nationalize the race for the Fourth Congressional District seat.
The Brookline resident’s recent donors include country music star Hank Williams Jr. ($1,000), New York financier Carl Icahn ($2,400, the maximum for an individual), and a number of hedge fund and investment firm executives. US Representative Michele Bachmann, Republican of Minnesota and a favorite of the Tea Party movement, has donated $1,000 from both her congressional candidate committee and leadership PAC to Bielat.
In addition, Arizona Senator John McCain’s 2008 political committee donated $2,000, and McCain’s Country First leadership PAC gave Bielat the $5,000 maximum last week. Bielat has also attracted money from the conservative Citizens United and Freedom Project PACs, both of which contributed $5,000.
“He’s going on right-wing news shows and talk radio and raising a lot of money,’’ said Harry Gural, Frank’s spokesman. “It’s a huge resource when you have an audience of millions of people across the country, and parts of the Fox News audience and parts of the talk radio world, who have listened to Barney being vilified for years.’’
Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, has long relied heavily on out-of-state money, much of it from executives in the financial sector his committee oversees. He has consistently taken in nearly 60 percent of his money from non-Bay Staters during the campaign, records indicate.Gee, isn't it a conflict of interest to take money from the financial sector? Is Frank being repaid for favors he's given? It's worth noting Frank has received over $40,000 from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac executives over the years. Isn't that a conflict of interest consider he was the staunchest defender all these years?
On Saturday morning, Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) of Washington, D.C., is planning to hand out signs that promote the city's voting rights in Congress to people attending the satirical rallies being held by comedians Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert.Some folks on Twitter have come up with pleanty of creative names for this alleged "non-political" Democrat rally.
Norton and the voting rights group, D.C. Vote, said they plan to be stationed on Pennsylvania Avenue handing out signs that read, “BE SANE. Let DC Vote” to people heading to the rallies, which are slated to begin at noon on the National Mall.
Colbert and Stewart announced their events — “The March to Keep Fear Alive” and the “Rally to Restore Sanity,” respectively — after Fox News pundit Glenn Beck and other conservative figures held a large rally on the National Mall in August.
Norton urged D.C. voters earlier this month to post on her Facebook page the reasons why they think the city should gain a voting representative in Congress, using “as much wit as Colbert uses to make fun of us for not having our full rights,” she said at the time.
“The buzz surrounding the Colbert and Jon Stewart rallies coming to D.C. on October 30, is too great an opportunity to miss to pay back Colbert and to remind those who come that, unlike Colbert, D.C. has a cause worthy of a rally,” said Norton.
The Massachusetts governor’s race is now closer than it has been all year.Obama, meanwhile, is at an anemic -19 approval index.
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in the state finds incumbent Democratic Governor Deval Patrick with 46% support, while Republican challenger Charlie Baker gets 44% of the vote. Democrat-turned-Independent Tim Cahill remains a distant third with six percent (6%). Three percent (3%) prefer some other candidate, but just one percent (1%) is still undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
The race now moves from Leans Democrat to a Toss-Up in the Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 Gubernatorial Scorecard.
Less than two weeks ago, Patrick held a 47% to 42% lead over Baker. The incumbent has led the field in surveys since March, but Baker broke out of the 30s in mid-September as support for Cahill began to fade.
Following the uproar over Democrat Jack Conway’s ad criticizing his opponent’s college antics and questioning his religious faith, Republican Rand Paul has taken a 12-point lead in Kentucky’s bitter U.S. Senate race.
The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in the state, taken Wednesday night, shows Paul with 53% support to Conway’s 41%. Two percent (2%) prefer some other candidate in the race, and four percent (4%) are undecided.
The United States economy grew at an annual rate of 2 percent in the third quarter, the Commerce Department reported Friday, as it struggles to gain any momentum for a sustained recovery.Still, there is some unexpected news.
That estimate matched the consensus forecasts for the gross domestic product, and is a slight uptick from the second quarter.
An economy growing at a sluggish, 2 percent, nearly all economists agree, cannot produce nearly the demand needed to bring down the nation’s painfully high 9.6 percent unemployment rate. And the trade gap remains wide, as imports outpaced exports.
These numbers are unlikely to provide much of a morale boost for President Obama and Democrats, who are just days away from crucial midterm elections. High unemployment and soaring foreclosure numbers in the Midwest and Western states already made this a particularly tough election season for Democrats. Friday’s numbers will probably produce little relief.
“It’s the expected G.D.P. number, which is mostly bad news for the economy,” said Josh Bivens, an economist with the liberal leaning Economic Policy Institute. “The growth rate is just nowhere near enough to put downward pressure on unemployment.”
With a downward revision to consumer expectations more than offsetting an upward revision to their assessment of current conditions, Reuters and the University of Michigan released a report on Friday showing an unexpected downward revision to their consumer sentiment index for October.
The report showed that the consumer sentiment index for October was downwardly revised to a reading of 67.7 from the previous estimate of 67.9 and is down from 68.2 in September. Economists had expected the index to be upwardly revised to a reading of 68.0.
As a result of the downward revision, the consumer sentiment index is now at its lowest level since November of 2009.
Not only is he the most smug, arrogant, condescending prick in Washington, he's also won the vanity prize.Sen. John Kerry is so vain, he probably thinks this story is about him . . . and he’d be right!We're surprised he didn't name his luxury yacht after himself.
Slate.com has named the skipper of the Isabel the most vain man in that vanity pit known as the U.S. Senate based on a “scientific analysis” of all 100 senators’ “Ego Walls.”
In a posting headed “If the Walls Could Talk,” Slate writers Darren Garnick (who also writes “The Working Stiff” column for the Herald) and Ilya Mirman explored the photo displays on the waiting-room walls of each senator’s office and developed a “Senate Vanity Index.” The formula, developed by Mirman, an engineer and scientist, measures the level of egotism displayed in each senator’s lobby based on how many pictures the solon has of himself (or herself) glad-handing celebrities, world leaders and the like.
“When do a few photos or plaques transmogrify into a self-aggrandizing shrine?” ask the writers. “Where is the line between modest pride and out-of-control egomania?”
Well, wherever it is, apparently Kerry crossed it! His ego wall — featuring pics of the senior senator with, among others, President Obama, the Dalai Lama, Bono, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Norman Schwarzkopf, Kofi Annan, Mikhail Gorbachev, John Glenn, Nicolas Sarkozy, Tip O’Neill, Colin Powell, Ted Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush and more — is “the most enormous in Washington,” says the site.
“Kerry’s office is one of the last ones we found,” Mirman told the Track. “When we walked in, we kind of looked at each other and said, ‘Jackpot!’ As Garnick said, it looked like he pre-built his presidential library. He had more than 100 photos of himself with various celebrities.”
Garnick later visited Kerry’s office in Boston and surprise, surprise, found another 31 pics of Mr. Teresa Heinz gracing the waiting-room walls.
Mirman said he wasn’t exactly surprised to find the most egotistical guy in the Senate is from Massachusetts but he was surprised that Kerry didn’t appear to get it.
“These guys work so hard to craft their images and Kerry always gets this rap as an elitist, but you know, you can control what’s in your own lobby!”
With many political analysts predicting a Republican takeover of the House, Hoyer is poised to take the reins of the Democratic caucus if, as expected, Pelosi steps down in the aftermath of a GOP win.The better choice would be to simultaneously retire both Pelosi and Hoyer. Charles Lollar is a much superior choice. If you're in the Fifth District of Maryland, they'll be appearing at an open forum tonight.
And even if Democrats retain the House, a narrow path to the Speaker’s office could be opening for Hoyer. A handful of vulnerable Democrats have said they would not vote for Pelosi again, raising the possibility that she would not be elected to another term if the party’s margin is only a few seats.
True to form, Hoyer refuses to entertain any post-election scenarios, leaving no daylight between himself and the Speaker.
“What I’m thinking about is winning this election,” he said. “I believe we’re going to have the majority. I think Nancy Pelosi’s going to be Speaker.”
Asked about reported challenges to his own leadership post, Hoyer laughed and replied: “Let me repeat what I’m saying. I’m focusing on winning the majority.”
The occupiers of the White House call their political opponents enemies. Yet here these blithering idiots at the State Department are sending birthday greetings to one of the most evil men on the planet. Change can't come soon enough, folks.There was no immediate response from the Iranian president.He was too busy laughing his ass off.
The gruesome case of a man who was stabbed and beheaded in a suburban Phoenix apartment has police investigating whether the killing is potentially the most extreme example of Mexican drug cartel violence spilling over the border.A shame our Justice Department has turned into an arm of the Democratic Party.
Martin Alejandro Cota-Monroy's body was found Oct. 10 in a Chandler apartment -- his severed head a couple feet away. One man suspected in the killing has been arrested, and a manhunt is under way for three others.
Detectives are focused on whether the men belong to a Mexican drug cartel, and they suspect that Cota-Monroy's killing was punishment for stealing drugs. The brutal nature of the killing could be designed to send a message to others within the cartel.
"If it does turn out to be a drug cartel out of Mexico, typically that's a message being sent," said Chandler police Detective David Ramer. "This person was chosen to be executed. It sends a message to other people: If you cross us, this is what happens."
Decapitations are a regular part of the drug war in Mexico as cartels fight over territory. Headless bodies have been hanged from bridges by their feet, severed heads have been sent to victims' family members and government officials, and bags of up to 12 heads have been dropped off in high-profile locations.
More than 28,000 people have been killed in Mexico in drug-related violence since December 2006, when President Felipe Calderon deployed soldiers to battle the cartels in their strongholds.
If the suspects in the Arizona case belong to a cartel, the crime could be the only known beheading in the U.S. carried out by a drug cartel, said Tony Payan, a political science professor at the University of Texas at El Paso who has done extensive research about border violence.
The killing could also affect the immigration debate in Arizona. Supporters of the state's controversial immigration law frequently cite this type of violence as reason to crack down on illegal immigrants. The decapitation victim and the suspects were all illegal immigrants.
Republican Gov. Jan Brewer drew criticism this year for claiming that headless bodies were being found in the Arizona desert as she sought to bolster her argument for immigration reform. She later backtracked on those claims, but said such violence in the broader border region is cause enough for alarm.
The killing has unnerved residents in the neighborhood and apartment complex where Cota-Monroy was killed.
The tiny, run-down complex sits along a side street across from ramshackle trailer homes in a neighborhood not far from brand-new strip malls with big-box stores in the suburb of Chandler.
No one is living inside the apartment that is the scene of the crime. There's beat-up leather furniture, a bouquet of flowers and a candle on a dining-room table, and the kitchen cabinets are ajar, as if someone left in a hurry.
"I'm terrified," said Norma Alvarado, a 47-year-old housekeeper who lives two doors down from the apartment. "I've lived here for 20 years and I've never heard of that (decapitation) happening, and it was so close to us ... Maybe they're copying what's happening in Mexico."
The president himself could not make the ceremony. He was doing what this president chooses to do five days before midterm elections -- go on Comedy Central, since all the nation's other problems are so well under control.
Don't hold liberals responsible for their opinion -- they can't help themselves.That obviously explains the Olbermanns of the world.
A new study has concluded that ideology is not just a social thing; it's built into the DNA, borne along by a gene called DRD4. Tagged "the liberal gene," DRD4 is the first specific bit of human DNA that predisposes people to certain political views, the study's authors claim.
And the key to it all: Liberals are more open, said lead researcher James H. Fowler, a professor of both medical genetics and political science at the University of California, San Diego.
"The way openness is measured, it's really about receptivity to different lifestyles, for example, or different norms or customs," he told FoxNews.com. "We hypothesize that individuals with a genetic predisposition toward seeking out new experiences [a measure of openness] will tend to be more liberal" -- but only if they had a number of friends when growing up, Fowler cautioned.
He supports the troops. The German troops from World War II, that is. Let's face it: Nobody ever accused these Democrats of being too bright.A Democratic politician's attempt to show his support for U.S. troops backfired after his campaign flier mistakenly featured a photo portraying advancing German WWII soldiers.
North Carolina state legislator Tim Spear, 58, apologized Wednesday after his direct mail campaign distributed fliers showing four re-enactors advancing in combat uniforms at a show in England in 2008.
The accompanying text read, “In combat, you always want another soldier covering your back.”
“It was not only an insult to our military men and women and our veterans, but it was a personal insult to me,” Spear said in a letter to local newspapers. “Even though I did not prepare it, it was sent in my name. And I apologized to the constituents.”
Mike Brown, an account executive at the Washington-based consulting firm that produced the flier, MSHC Partners, said no one in the firm’s art department noticed it showed the wrong troops. “This is a mistake we definitely should not have made,” Brown said. “A picture’s worth a thousand words, and with this, the picture conveyed the wrong words.”
Despite Jon Stewart's apparent disappointment with President Obama's "timid" first two years in office, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Thursday that he thinks Obama's appearance on "The Daily Show" was a "success."I can't wait until Stewart and his Comedy Central co-clown Colbert show up for their "rally for whatever" in DC this weekend. Actually, I can wait. I have a life, unlike the great unwashed who'll be wasting their time listening to two dispirited douchebags desperately trying to rally depressed Obamatons. Deep down they know it's over and probably wish they hadn't committed themselves to what's sure to be a colossal embarrassment. Well, unless you'll be watching CNN or MSNBC, where they'll surely be trying to prop up the hapless Obama.
But Stewart gave voice to disgruntled Democrats who question whether Obama has fought hard enough for their issues on matters like "Don't ask, don't tell" and the public health insurance option.
That voice led many to wonder on Thursday, one day after the show aired, if the White House might have made a mistake in sending Obama onto the show with just days to go until the election.
Gibbs said that he does not "have any regret" about Obama doing the show.
"Our viewpoint is that when the president gets to talk about what he's done and sit through what people may or may not have heard, it's a positive benefit," Gibbs said. "So I would think of it as a success."
Ah, taste the bitter fruit of impending defeat, courtesy of the man living off his second wife's first husband's trust fund. And what better time to bust out this photo than Halloween. It might be six years old, but it never gets old. A great way to rally the troops five days out of the impending tsunami--by insulting your own constituents.Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry unleashed a broadside Thursday against Republican "obstructionism," saying the GOP and its talk-show allies have created a "period of know-nothingism" in the country.I trust Limbaugh and Beck will respond in kind to their massive national audiences.
With his party braced for defeats in the midterm elections, the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee told the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce that a Republican machine -- fueled by talk show hosts such as Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck -- has undermined progress and misled the public into believing Democrats created the country's current economic problems.
Kerry singled out attacks on an energy deal he was negotiating with Republicans, which fell apart amid criticism of an emissions-trading program. Some 20 Senate candidates are now opposing the proposed deal in their campaigns.
"It's absurd. We've lost our minds," said a clearly exasperated Kerry. "We're in a period of know-nothingism in the country, where truth and science and facts don't weigh in. It's all short-order, lowest common denominator, cheap-seat politics."
To underscore his claim, he said statistics show Republicans had blocked Senate business with filibuster tactics more during the past 18 months than the period between the end of World War I and the Apollo moon landing in 1969.
"The obstructionism is stunning," Kerry said, noting the country still lacks an assistant treasury secretary. "I think America really needs to know more of this kind of tactic and how it's shortchanging us."
Limbaugh and Beck did not immediately respond to e-mails sent to the public addresses on their websites. The Republican National Committee also did not immediately respond to an e-mail or phone message left at its national media office.
Party Chairwoman Jennifer Nassour added in a statement: "Instead of listening to the concerns of voters upset about the reckless spending that has pushed our national debt to an all-time high; the failed stimulus that has not created jobs and the unpopular government takeover of our health care system that hurts our seniors, Senator Kerry chooses to insult the intelligence of Americans who believe that our country is headed down the wrong path."Methinks Lerch ought to take a nice long cruise on his $7 million yacht (check that--his wife's $7 million yacht) post-election. Let's just hope he's paid his state taxes on it by now.
During his 45-minute speech, Kerry urged business leaders to support thoughtful candidates. And he urged voters to reject the ones who ignore facts.
Conservative Democratic Rep. Heath Shuler (N.C.) said Wednesday he might run for Speaker if a "viable alternative" to Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) does not emerge.
"If there is no viable alternative [to Pelosi], I will be running for Speaker of the House," Shuler said during a debate with his Republican foe Jeff Miller on WWNC Radio, the Ashville Citizen-Times reported.
The statement from the second-term congressman, a former college football star who played as a pro with the NFL's Washington Redskins, is another sign of Pelosi's unpopularity among centrist and conservative Democrats, many of whom are facing tough reelection contests.
With his statement, Shuler became the sixth incumbent Democrat to indicate they will not vote for Pelosi for another term as Speaker. The other five are Reps. Bobby Bright (Ala.), Jim Marshall (Ga.), Gene Taylor (Miss.), Mike McIntyre (N.C.) and Jason Altmire (Pa.)
Eight Democratic candidates have also said they won't support Pelosi if they are elected to Congress.
Throughout the campaign, Miller has attempted to tie Shuler to Pelosi, saying he votes with her a vast majority of the time.
Shuler's comment sparked a testy exchange between the candidates.
"You're saying you would not vote for Nancy Pelosi for speaker?” Miller said.
“If that's the alternative, I will be voting for myself,” Shuler replied.
Al Gore -- He did it again.
Recently, Nobel Peace Prize winner Al Gore toured again. Or maybe he does that all the time. This time, he turned up in Gothenburg (Sweden) for the usual alarmist talk. In advance, all distinguished guests were politely advised to – if possible – use any form of public transportation to go to the event, in order to minimize CO2 emissions.
Intriguingly, the Master of World Climate himself arrived in a rental car (with or without driver is unclear), from the airport, and subsequently left the engine running for the entire lecture. That is to say, about one hour. Incidentally, local legislation prohibits – for very good environmental reasons, i.e. pollution – any car engine running on empty for more than 60 seconds. Fines are severe. As far as I know, he was not fined.
It starts to form a pattern.
After the ceremony in the Norwegian capital Oslo, it is customary that the laureate is invited to the Swedish capital Stockholm, for a cordial visit. The train ride, supposedly the environmental choice according to Mr. Gore, is approximately four hours. However, he opted for the cosier ride with one of the Swedish government aircrafts. As these can, according to the rules, only be used when a cabinet member is on board – and as the Swedish government after a short ceremonial visit – offered to fly him to Frankfurt (Germany) for his flight to the US, you can calculate both the manpower and the fuel used for this grand tour against man's destruction of the planet.
