PLANNED PARENTOOD DNC 2012

MICHELE'S TERRIFIC ADDRESS TO DNC2012

JULIAN CASTRO KEYNOTE DNC

HUMOROUS NYT COLUMN

The Real Romney 

By DAVID BROOKS                          

Published: August 27, 2012 

The purpose of the Republican convention is to introduce America to the real Mitt Romney. Fortunately, I have spent hours researching this subject. I can provide you with the definitive biography and a unique look into the Byronic soul of the Republican nominee:

Mitt Romney was born on March 12, 1947, in Ohio, Florida, Michigan, Virginia and several other swing states. He emerged, hair first, believing in America, and especially its national parks. He was given the name Mitt, after the Roman god of mutual funds, and launched into the world with the lofty expectation that he would someday become the Arrow shirt man. 

Romney was a precocious and gifted child. He uttered his first words (“I like to fire people”) at age 14 months, made his first gaffe at 15 months and purchased his first nursery school at 24 months. The school, highly leveraged, went under, but Romney made 24 million Jujubes on the deal. 

Mitt grew up in a modest family. His father had an auto body shop called the American Motors Corporation, and his mother owned a small piece of land, Brazil. He had several boyhood friends, many of whom owned Nascar franchises, and excelled at school, where his fourth-grade project, “Inspiring Actuaries I Have Known,” was widely admired. 

The Romneys had a special family tradition. The most cherished member got to spend road trips on the roof of the car. Mitt spent many happy hours up there, applying face lotion to combat windburn. 

The teenage years were more turbulent. He was sent to a private school, where he was saddened to find there are people in America who summer where they winter. He developed a lifelong concern for the second homeless, and organized bake sales with proceeds going to the moderately rich. 

Some people say he retreated into himself during these years. He had a pet rock, which ran away from home because it was starved of affection. He bought a mood ring, but it remained permanently transparent. His ability to turn wine into water detracted from his popularity at parties.

There was, frankly, a period of wandering. After hearing Lou Reed’s “Walk on the Wild Side,” Romney decided to leave Mormonism and become Amish. He left the Amish faith because of its ban on hair product, and bounced around before settling back in college. There, he majored in music, rendering Mozart’s entire oeuvre in PowerPoint. 

His love affair with Ann Davies, the most impressive part of his life, restored his equilibrium. Always respectful, Mitt and Ann decided to elope with their parents. They went on a trip to Israel, where they tried and failed to introduce the concept of reticence. Romney also went on a mission to France. He spent two years knocking on doors, failing to win a single convert. This was a feat he would replicate during his 2008 presidential bid.

After his mission, he attended Harvard, studying business, law, classics and philosophy, though intellectually his first love was always tax avoidance. After Harvard, he took his jawline to Bain Consulting, a firm with very smart people with excessive personal hygiene. While at Bain, he helped rescue many outstanding companies, like Pan Am, Eastern Airlines, Atari and DeLorean.

Romney was extremely detail oriented in his business life. He once canceled a corporate retreat at which Abba had been hired to play, saying he found the band’s music “too angry.” 

Romney is also a passionately devoted family man. After streamlining his wife’s pregnancies down to six months each, Mitt helped Ann raise five perfect sons — Bip, Chip, Rip, Skip and Dip — who married identically tanned wives. Some have said that Romney’s lifestyle is overly privileged, pointing to the fact that he has an elevator for his cars in the garage of his San Diego home. This is not entirely fair. Romney owns many homes without garage elevators and the cars have to take the stairs. 

After a successful stint at Bain, Romney was lured away to run the Winter Olympics, the second most Caucasian institution on earth, after the G.O.P. He then decided to run for governor of Massachusetts. His campaign slogan, “Vote Romney: More Impressive Than You’ll Ever Be,” was not a hit, but Romney won the race anyway on an environmental platform, promising to make the state safe for steeplechase. 

After his governorship, Romney suffered through a midlife crisis, during which he became a social conservative. This prepared the way for his presidential run. He barely won the 2012 Republican primaries after a grueling nine-month campaign, running unopposed. At the convention, where his Secret Service nickname is Mannequin, Romney will talk about his real-life record: successful business leader, superb family man, effective governor, devoted community leader and prudent decision-maker. If elected, he promises to bring all Americans together and make them feel inferior.

YOURE RYAN LIKE A RUG

So, I watched the Paul Ryan speech as he accepted the Nomination for Vice President. As the event started, I knew pretty much what he was going to say, but like everyone else, wanted to see how he would say it and how everyone reacted.
  
It's his standard points, true or false, that he has hitting since his VP announcement. In this setting, the crowd ate up those talking points like the last supper. For the rest of the TV audience, not so much.
  
The fact checkers have been working overtime this morning and if facts are something you find necessary in a campaign, you're going to listen to the reports. Or not.
  
Ryan told his misleading stories about Medicare, the stimulus, the unfortunate demise of his local auto plant, the US credit rating, Simpson-Bowles report and actually suggested they were looking to protect our most vulnerable. How many people in that stadium are either sceptical enough to research his rhetoric or perfectly willing to say whatever they want in order to take the White House?
 

What has been a running comment for two days is ow all of the main speakers at the convention have spent most of their time touting their own virtues rather than promote Bishop Willard Romney.
 
Let's see what the grand finally brings us.

BY THE ROOTS

It's compulsive. I can't help it. I see it lookin rough long enough, I'm going to end up cleaning it. So long as it's legal, I'd like to catch more Kingstonians weeding and cleaning our city owned medians and gardens.
 
Maybe we should form a citizens beautification task force. Hmmm

MOVIE PREVIEW: THE DO-OVER

CHARLIE CRIST OBAMA ENDORSEMENT

I’ve studied, admired and gotten to know a lot of leaders in my life. Across Florida, in Washington and around the country, I've watched the failure of those who favor extreme rhetoric over sensible compromise, and I've seen how those who never lose sight of solutions sow the greatest successes. 

As America prepares to pick our president for the next four years — and as Florida prepares once again to play a decisive role — I'm confident that President Barack Obama is the right leader for our state and the nation. I applaud and share his vision of a future built by a strong and confident middle class in an economy that gives us the opportunity to reap prosperity through hard work and personal responsibility. It is a vision of the future proven right by our history.
We often remind ourselves to learn the lessons of the past, lest we risk repeating its mistakes. Yet nearly as often, our short-term memory fails us. Many have already forgotten how deep and daunting our shared crisis was in the winter of 2009, as President Obama was inaugurated. It was no ordinary challenge, and the president served as the nation's calm through a historically turbulent storm. 

The president's response was swift, smart and farsighted. He kept his compass pointed due north and relentlessly focused on saving jobs, creating more and helping the many who felt trapped beneath the house of cards that had collapsed upon them. 

He knew we had to get people back to work as quickly as possible — but he also knew that the value of a recovery lies in its durability. Short-term healing had to be paired with an economy that would stay healthy over the long run. And he knew that happens best by investing in the right places. 

President Obama invested in our children's schools because he believes a good education is a necessity, not a luxury, if we're going to create an economy built to last. He supported more than 400,000 K-12 teachers' jobs, and he is making college more affordable and making student loans, like the ones he took out, easier to pay back.
He invested in our runways, railways and roads. President Obama knows a reliable infrastructure that helps move people to work and helps businesses move goods to market is a foundation of growth.

And the president invested in our retirement security by strengthening Medicare. The $716 billion in savings his opponents decry today extended the life of the program by nearly a decade and are making sure taxpayer dollars aren't wasted in excessive payments to insurance companies or fraud and abuse. His opponents would end the Medicare guarantee by creating a voucher that would raise seniors' costs by thousands of dollars and bankrupt the program.
We have more work to do, more investments to make and more waste to cut. But only one candidate in this race has proven a willingness to navigate a realistic path to prosperity. 

As Republicans gather in Tampa to nominate Mitt Romney, Americans can expect to hear tales of how President Obama has failed to work with their party or turn the economy around.
But an element of their party has pitched so far to the extreme right on issues important to women, immigrants, seniors and students that they've proven incapable of governing for the people. Look no further than the inclusion of the Akin amendment in the Republican Party platform, which bans abortion, even for rape victims.
The truth is that the party has failed to demonstrate the kind of leadership or seriousness voters deserve.
Pundits looking to reduce something as big as a statewide election to a single photograph have blamed the result of my 2010 campaign for U.S. Senate on my greeting of President Obama. I didn't stand with our president because of what it could mean politically; I did it because uniting to recover from the worst financial crisis of our lifetimes was more important than party affiliation. I stood with our nation's leader because it was right for my state. 

President Obama has a strong record of doing what is best for America and Florida, and he built it by spending more time worrying about what his decisions would mean for the people than for his political fortunes. That's what makes him the right leader for our times, and that's why I'm proud to stand with him today.

MAX KEISER AND THE FRANKENMARKET

GUILTY AS STIM

JOB CREATION

OHIO AND THE EARLY VOTE

So, there's a vast number of people in OHIO who have been restricted from voting early. Well, the weekend before the general election in November anyway.
The Republican leadership has decided that, since the record indicates most of the early voting occurs in the more dense, urban areas of the state, that the majority of those who participate in this civic exercise are obviously Democratic in their political leanings. 

Problem is, for some reason, the GOP has left the early voting option to military registrants only. Hmmm; what do you think they are assuming?

The Obama campaign's law suit levied against the Ohio admin regarding the imposed restriction intends to once again allow everyone registered to vote early just as it had been previously. Problem is, the Romney camp fully expects to drown in the heavy participation during the early voting. If their DATA says such a turnout, it would seem natural for the Republican governor and Romney's minions to enact such a restriction.

When you see opposition camp and the turds on FoxNews spewing these twisted fairytales to their micro-cephalic viewers, keep in mind; these folks actually cant help it. Remember the edict of Hate the sin, Love the sinner. Lets stick to that.
  
Eventually the electorate in Ohio will understand just how badly they've been hoodwinked, but until then, be gentle my friends...for they do not know the path they lead.

WILLARD'S SUPPORT BASE

Gregory Nathan Peterson, seen here with Willard Romney, is the "Go To Guy" in Utah when it comes to Tea Party issues. At least it was.
This was the scene at a fundraiser a few years ago standing proudly with his candidate for President.

Who knew in just a few short years he'd end up the pariah of the Republican Party with 23 felony and two misdemeanor charges in connection with the alleged rapes of four women. 

According to the Salt Lake City Tribune, Peterson is still sitting in jail with a $750K bail set for his release. Suddenly the guy everyone wanted to be seen with is the embarrassment they wish they never knew.

Dont worry. Alleged serial rapist and Tea Party henchman, Peterson isn't going anywhere soon. It's not like people are clammoring to get him out on the streets. Other than maybe the Koch Brothers.

Hard to believe this picture is only a few years old. 
Peterson claims he's good friends with the Romney family, but in all fairness, the Romneys haven't had contact with this screwball. 
Tough to have such fans though.

WISH HE'D MAKE UP HIS MIND

VISIT UPTOWN KINGSTON

ROMNEY AND STERICYCLE

So, we're in the summer season of the Presidential Election cycle. The Romney camp is throwing whatever it can at the incumbent President Obama in hopes of replacing him. The Obama camp is doing what it can to show Romney in his true form. No news there. 
What is news is this revelation that while leading Bain Capital, the firm had actually invested $75 Million in Stericycle, the Medical waste disposal company that built its reputation on efficient collection from Abortion clinics.

Try to imagine the Primary season had the opponents known this little factoid. It would have been the death knell of Romney's assention to the GOP nomination. 

Now, I am a pro-choice advocate. Abortion is what I feel to be a least desired, but important legal option for women who face hard facts about theirs and the child's future and be responsible for the functions of their own reproductive organs.

What strikes me is, Romney is touting his anti-choice credentials during the campaign while shrouding his past financial gains from providing fetus disposal. Would someone explain how his fundamentalist supporters are rationalizing this revelation?
 
Would Rick Santorum let this go? Where are all the fire & brimstone preachers screaming from the pulpits that such deals with the devil constitute a breech of trust with Religious Conservatives? 
Other than some online news sites like Mother Jones, I havent heard much. 
My thought? Maybe the hypocrisy has reached a point that no-one is shocked anymore and the effort to care has waned to the point that even the Press Core is too frackin lazy to pursue it. 

THERES NO PLACE LIKE HOME

The newest summer sensation in Kingston: Movies Under the Stars, has a second success to reflect on. The volunteer staff, the food and water donations, inflation and break down of the screen and the clean up all made for a seamless and joyous event for all the families who watched the second movie in the series, The Wizard of Oz.
 
Below are some pictures of the installation. 

The crowd scene was taken around 7pm, long before dark. Once the movie got started, I looked around again and was shocked at the number of people who attended. 
From Jen, to the Board to the volunteers, everyone deserves accolades for such a smooth and professional event.

Next Saturday evening, you will find everyone at the Kingston Point Beach. The movie will be E.T. so, gather your beach blanket, lawn chairs and soda coolers to make the best of another warm afternoon for the whole family.

GRACE JONES - SLAVE TO THE RHYTHM

OUR DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE

The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies
In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776 

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. 
Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. —Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. 
The history of the present King of Great Britain [George III] is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world. 

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. 

He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.

He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.

He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.

He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.

He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.

He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.

He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.

He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:

For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:

For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:

For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:

For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:

For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.

He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.

He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.

He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.

He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

UNION THUG