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Had the same thing been carried out by a worker for the now-defunct ACORN, Republicans —- and even Newt Gingrich —- would have called it massive “voter fraud.” But the 1,500 acts of fraud, by Gingrich’s own admission, were carried out by a worker hired by his campaign, so it seems the media have barely noticed it.
Nonetheless, The BRAD BLOG has received confirmation from two different state agencies that the 1,500 alleged cases of ballot petition fraud said to have been carried out on behalf of the Gingrich campaign, in their unsuccessful attempt to qualify for the Republican primary ballot in Virginia, are now being carried out by the state Attorney General’s office.
In late December, after Gingrich had failed to turn in enough valid signatures to qualify for the Virginia primary ballot, he was caught on video tape telling a supporter in Iowa that the reason for the failure was due to a campaign worker who created 1,500 fraudulent signatures.
“We turned in 11,100 —- we needed 10,000 —- 1,500 of them were by one guy who, frankly, committed fraud,” Gingrich is seen and heard saying in video originally aired by CNN.
The former Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives downplayed the incident, by explaining to the woman that the entire affair was “just a mistake,” after they had “hired somebody who turned in false signatures.”
Neither he nor his campaign, however, has made the name of the alleged “one guy” public, to our knowledge, despite the extraordinary number of fraudulent signatures created and turned in by that “one guy” in what an official at the Virginia State Board of Elections (SBE) described to us as “definitely an illegal act.”
News of the embarrassing criminal investigation is confirmed today, even as voters go to the polls for Florida’s 2012 GOP Primary, where Gingrich is facing off against front-runner Mitt Romney who, ironically —- and uncomfortably enough for Republicans —- may also find himself the subject of a criminal voter fraud investigation in the not-too-distant future…
Rick Santourm leaves campaign trail to tend to sick daughter
“You think she’s fine, and then one cold and she’s this close to dying.” Days ahead of the important Florida primary, Rick Santorum found himself having to make an unexpected detour Saturday, as his 3-year-old daughter Bella, who suffers from a rare genetic condition called Trisomy 18, was admitted to the hospital. Bella has already beaten the odds in many ways — many children with the condition don’t survive their first week, let alone their first year. The presidential candidate, who is running behind Gingrich and Romney, is relying on surrogates to keep things going while he’s gone, but it’s not the first time Bella’s health has forced the cancellation of Santorum’s campaign events. A tough situation for Santorum to deal with, especially as the contests turn into real primaries with real stakes. (photo by Gage Skidmore/Flickr) source
Same guy who claimed that nobody in America could ever die from a lack of health care?
Hey, look. This is stupid.
““The Amish do not carry health insurance. The government respects their principles. Christian Scientists want to heal by prayer alone, and the new health care reform law respects that. Quakers and others object to killing even in wartime, and the government respects that principle for conscientious objectors. By its decision, the Obama administration has failed to show the same respect for the consciences of Catholics and others who object to treating pregnancy as a disease.””
—
Cardinal-Designate Timothy Dolan
Don’t they make these people go to school? I figured a Cardinal-Designate would have gone to college, taken some critical thinking courses, or logic classes. Or sixth grade public school, which is where I know for a fact that modern Texans learn about analogies.
Analogies are fun! Here’s how they work:
Amish don’t want health insurance. - The Catholics don’t want abortions. = The Amish don’t have to get health insurance. - The Catholics don’t have to get abortions.
Christian Scientists don’t want health care. - The Catholics don’t want abortions. = Christian Scientists are allowed to pray for healing instead of getting science’s medicine. - Catholics are not forced or required to get abortions.
Quakers don’t believe in killing for any reason, even in wartime. - Catholics don’t believe in killing fetuses. = Quakers are allowed to be conscientious objectors. - Catholics are not mandated to terminate their pregnancies.
Those are all GOOD analogies, as opposed to the BAD analogy up above. Let’s try another set, this time from Bizarro World! In Bizarro World, “respecting someone’s beliefs” actually means “unconditionally capitulate to the whims of politically-motivated religious extremists!” This is the Bizarro World that the Cardinal-Designate appears to want. Here we go!
Amish don’t want health insurance. - Catholics don’t want abortions. = The federal government disbands the insurance companies. - The federal government overturns Roe v. Wade.
Christian Scientists don’t want health care. - The Catholics don’t want abortions. = Every hospital gets shut down, every clinic gets bulldozed, doctors are outlawed. - Every abortion clinic is closed for business.
Quakers don’t believe in killing for any reason, even in wartime. - Catholics don’t believe in killing fetuses. = We overturn the Second Amendment, confiscate the weapons, disband the military, and disarm the police. - We let a politically-motivated band of religious extremists dictate what medical procedures a woman can have.
Man, Bizarro World sure is fun! It sounds like the Cardinal-Designate up above wants to live there! He must think that it would be swell if his religious beliefs were more important than everybody else’s religious beliefs. He seems to believe that it is possible to respect one set of religious beliefs by ignoring everyone else’s beliefs. Man, Bizarro World is wacky!
But, let’s try our hands at another set of analogies, this time from the Counter-Bizarro World, where the federal government actually tramples on beliefs the way that the Cardinal-Designate whines about! This is what would happen if the authorities actually did not respect your religious beliefs, as the Cardinal-Designate claims!
The Amish don’t want health insurance. - Catholics don’t want abortions. = Fuck the Amish, they’ll get health insurance when and where the law says. - Mothers-to-be would be compelled to get abortions in cases where it endangers the live of the mother, even if she’s Catholic.
Christian Scientists don’t want health care. - Catholics don’t want abortions. = People would be treated for injuries and illness, even if they’d rather pray to their invisible sky friend. - And, fetuses would be aborted if they were the product of incest, or if they were found to have abnormalities that would prevent them having a healthy, happy life, even if the parents cry about it.
Quakers don’t believe in killing, even during times of war. - Catholics don’t believe in killing fetuses. = Quakers can be drafted like everyone else. - Catholics would not be allowed to birth children if they have already demonstrated themselves to be unfit parents.
Now, Counter-Bizarro World is a pretty dark place, and I wouldn’t want to live there. But, I don’t want to live in Bizarro World, either. Here’s the thing, anti-choice asshole Cardina-Designate: Your beliefs get the same weight and respect as everyone else’s: No less, and usually not more. Your beliefs and feelings are not being attacked by the fact that the government will not overturn legal rulings and condemn millions of women to lifelong suffering.
Here’s a rule of thumb: Nobody who has taken a vow of chastity has a right to say shit about abortion.
Gretchen Carlsson, village idiot of Fox and Friends, attempting to explain why the poor in America should pay even more in taxes, when they can barely pay their taxes now.
Can she just get off her high horse and her head out of her butt? Not everyone in America is a millionaire. Is she that censored and oblivious from real American reality?
People are losing their homes, struggling to pay their bills, having a hard time and wondering when the next time they eat is. And Retching and her delusional Fox News cohorts think that 47% of Americans don’t pay any taxes? They want the dirt poor to pay more?
What a bunch of greedy stuck-up bastards!
How about they switch places with the poor for a change? Then maybe they would start reporting the news the way it is actually happening.
(via thepoliticalfreakshow)
I still can’t believe they’re bringing out that old chestnut of bullshit and asshattery. 47% of Americans don’t pay federal income tax… they pay federal payroll tax, on their income. Which is paid at the exact same rate, through a different channel. Also, Social Security taxes are disproportionately heavy on the 99%, since they are capped. So, when RNCResearch says that the average tax rate in America is 11%, they neglect to point out the extra 20% that I pay, and most of you pay, and that Mitt Romney only paid on $110,000 dollars, which cost him $13,652.40. In Mitt Romney terms, peanuts. Oh, and Medicare tax works the same way. So, here’s the truth to remember: Every statistic, fact, and figure that you hear from Fox News, Pew Research, or the Republican National Convention, has been doctored into a lie, spun into a lie, cherry-picked into a lie, or it started out as a completely fabricated lie.
Coolest president ever: Don’t hate the player, hate the game.
Thoughts and links
Bill O’Reilly weaponizes umbrella. Just shitheads being shitheads.
Blagojevich gets 14 years, what about these guys? Yes, there are many, many people who should be prosecuted, too, for worse crimes. But that does not give Blago a pass. If he got 14 years in prison “for doing what most politicians do”, then I assert that most politicians deserve 14 years imprisoned. Corruption, large or small, is not acceptable. Prosecute what you can, when you can, and always watch the next target.
MIAA speaks on Jerry Sandusky’s behalf. These guys’ job is to preside over coaches and teams, and they think that being raped by a pedophile is an important life lesson, and need to put that behind them and quit worrying about it.
Alabama One Step From Reinstating Slavery
This article describes quite well how Alabama is going about this. Alabama, a few months back, got real scared of all them brown illegals crawling through the tall grass stealing jobs, so Alabama outlawed ‘em and sent their cops through the land, demanding to see everyone’s proof of citizenship.
So, all of Alabama’s migrant workers ran like hell. Even the ones that were there legally. That is wrong on so many levels, but Alabama’s lawmakers only recognize one problem with this: apparently, Alabama’s entire economy depends on picking things, and all the thing-picking jobs were held by Latino migrant workers who are gone now.
So, a bunch of policymakers, bureaucrats and genial Southern land-owners got together, and now they’re trying to hash out a plan whereby Alabama’s prison population will be put to work on private farms.
Private farms, for profit. This is worlds different than roadside clean-up, or prison farms, or stamping license plates. This is not public work for the public good, this is a new animal: Alabama is about to start taking its inmates and loaning them for a fee to private companies and businessmen. “Loaning for a fee” is a lot like “leasing”.
Alabama, good old Suthin-land-o-goshin, is about to start taking its (primarily black) prison population and auctioning them off to plantation owners. Really.
The media reports that the United States Postal Service is a dying business. The media propagates that technology has replaced “snail mail” and as a result the United States Postal Service is facing a projected $14B deficit next year. This ladies and gentlemen is what I would refer to as a…
Plus, this.
(via youthiswasted)
How Republicans are being taught to talk about Occupy Wall Street
God, I’m actually posting from Yahoo News. Gag me. However, this article actually includes all eleven talking points, which few articles do.
Basically, Frank Luntz, the guy who taught Republicans to tell all the same lies, and to phrase everything in Republican ways, (he invented “job creator”, “climate change”, and “spin” to replace “the rich”, “global warming”, and “lies”, among many many other contributions) has released to the Republicans their new handbook on words to say that will soothe Americans into opposing the Occupant uprising and let themselves be lulled back into blissful consumerist daze. Quoted from article below.
1. Don’t say ‘capitalism.’
“I’m trying to get that word removed and we’re replacing it with either ‘economic freedom’ or ‘free market,’ ” Luntz said. “The public . . . still prefers capitalism to socialism, but they think capitalism is immoral. And if we’re seen as defenders of quote, Wall Street, end quote, we’ve got a problem.”
2. Don’t say that the government ‘taxes the rich.’ Instead, tell them that the government ‘takes from the rich.’
“If you talk about raising taxes on the rich,” the public responds favorably, Luntz cautioned. But ”if you talk about government taking the money from hardworking Americans, the public says no. Taxing, the public will say yes.”
3. Republicans should forget about winning the battle over the ‘middle class.’ Call them ‘hardworking taxpayers.’
“They cannot win if the fight is on hardworking taxpayers. We can say we defend the ‘middle class’ and the public will say, I’m not sure about that. But defending ‘hardworking taxpayers’ and Republicans have the advantage.”
4. Don’t talk about ‘jobs.’ Talk about ‘careers.’
“Everyone in this room talks about ‘jobs,’” Luntz said. “Watch this.”
He then asked everyone to raise their hand if they want a “job.” Few hands went up. Then he asked who wants a “career.” Almost every hand was raised.
“So why are we talking about jobs?”
5. Don’t say ‘government spending.’ Call it ‘waste.’
“It’s not about ‘government spending.’ It’s about ‘waste.’ That’s what makes people angry.”
6. Don’t ever say you’re willing to ‘compromise.’
“If you talk about ‘compromise,’ they’ll say you’re selling out. Your side doesn’t want you to ‘compromise.’ What you use in that to replace it with is ‘cooperation.’ It means the same thing. But cooperation means you stick to your principles but still get the job done. Compromise says that you’re selling out those principles.”
7. The three most important words you can say to an Occupier: ‘I get it.’
“First off, here are three words for you all: ‘I get it.’ … ‘I get that you’re angry. I get that you’ve seen inequality. I get that you want to fix the system.”
Then, he instructed, offer Republican solutions to the problem.
8. Out: ‘Entrepreneur.’ In: ‘Job creator.’
Use the phrases “small business owners” and “job creators” instead of “entrepreneurs” and “innovators.”
9. Don’t ever ask anyone to ‘sacrifice.’
“There isn’t an American today in November of 2011 who doesn’t think they’ve already sacrificed. If you tell them you want them to ‘sacrifice,’ they’re going to be be pretty angry at you. You talk about how ‘we’re all in this together.’ We either succeed together or we fail together.”
10. Always blame Washington.
Tell them, “You shouldn’t be occupying Wall Street, you should be occupying Washington. You should occupy the White House because it’s the policies over the past few years that have created this problem.”
BONUS:
Don’t say ‘bonus!’
Luntz advised that if they give their employees an income boost during the holiday season, they should never refer to it as a “bonus.”
“If you give out a bonus at a time of financial hardship, you’re going to make people angry. It’s ‘pay for performance.’”
Why the world is at it is today.
― Niccolò Machiavelli
![stfuconservatives:
steviemcfly:
Quotes from Ron Paul, pictured here with the founders of white supremacist website Stormfront:
“If you have ever been robbed by a black teen-aged male, you know how unbelievably fleet-footed they can be.”
“Given the inefficiencies of what D.C. laughingly calls the `criminal justice system,’ I think we can safely assume that 95 percent of the black males in that city are semi-criminal or entirely criminal.”
“We don’t think a child of 13 should be held responsible as a man of 23. That’s true for most people, but black males age 13 who have been raised on the streets and who have joined criminal gangs are as big, strong, tough, scary and culpable as any adult and should be treated as such.”
”I miss the closet. Homosexuals, not to speak of the rest of society, were far better off when social pressure forced them to hide their activities.”
”Order was only restored in L.A. when it came time for the blacks to pick up their welfare checks three days after rioting began. … What if the checks had never arrived? No doubt the blacks would have fully privatized the welfare state through continued looting. But they were paid off and the violence subsided.”
“Opinion polls consistently show that only about 5 percent of blacks have sensible political opinions, i.e. support the free market, individual liberty and the end of welfare and affirmative action.”
“Boy, it sure burns me to have a national holiday for that pro-communist philanderer, Martin Luther King. I voted against this outrage time and time again as a Congressmen [sic]. What an infamy that Ronald Reagan approved it! We can thank him for our annual Hate Whitey Day.”
“Our priority should be to take the anti-government, anti-tax, anti-crime, anti-welfare loafers, anti-race privilege, anti-foreign meddling message of [KKK Grand Wizard David] Duke, and enclose it in a more consistent package of freedom.”
“Duke lost the election, but he scared the blazes out of the Establishment. If the official Republican hadn’t been ordered to drop out, he might have won…Duke carried baggage from his past, but voters were willing to overlook that. And if he had been afforded the forgiveness that an ex-Communist gets, he might have won.”
On the end of apartheid: “It is the destruction of civilization.”
“The criminals who terrorize our cities — in riots and on every non-riot day — are not exclusively young black males, but they largely are. As children, they are trained to hate whites, to believe that white oppression is responsible for all black ills, to ‘fight the power,’ to steal and loot as much money from the white enemy as possible.”
“Although we are constantly told that it is evil to be afraid of black men, it is hardly irrational. Black men commit murders, rapes, robberies, muggings and burglaries all out of proportion to their numbers.”
He also mocked the idea of renaming NYC after MLK (which is a silly idea, but nonetheless), saying it should be instead renamed ”Welfaria,” “Zooville,” “Rapetown,” “Dirtburg,” or “Lazyopolis.” Of the rally on the subject, he suggests that ”[n]ext time, hold that demonstration at a food stamp bureau or a crack house.”
I already knew Ron Paul was a bigot, but where are these quotes from?! I must know!
-R](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lv54l4K87g1qad2s4o1_500.jpg)
Quotes from Ron Paul, pictured here with the founders of white supremacist website Stormfront:
- “If you have ever been robbed by a black teen-aged male, you know how unbelievably fleet-footed they can be.”
- “Given the inefficiencies of what D.C. laughingly calls the `criminal justice system,’ I think we can safely assume that 95 percent of the black males in that city are semi-criminal or entirely criminal.”
- “We don’t think a child of 13 should be held responsible as a man of 23. That’s true for most people, but black males age 13 who have been raised on the streets and who have joined criminal gangs are as big, strong, tough, scary and culpable as any adult and should be treated as such.”
- ”I miss the closet. Homosexuals, not to speak of the rest of society, were far better off when social pressure forced them to hide their activities.”
- ”Order was only restored in L.A. when it came time for the blacks to pick up their welfare checks three days after rioting began. … What if the checks had never arrived? No doubt the blacks would have fully privatized the welfare state through continued looting. But they were paid off and the violence subsided.”
- “Opinion polls consistently show that only about 5 percent of blacks have sensible political opinions, i.e. support the free market, individual liberty and the end of welfare and affirmative action.”
- “Boy, it sure burns me to have a national holiday for that pro-communist philanderer, Martin Luther King. I voted against this outrage time and time again as a Congressmen [sic]. What an infamy that Ronald Reagan approved it! We can thank him for our annual Hate Whitey Day.”
- “Our priority should be to take the anti-government, anti-tax, anti-crime, anti-welfare loafers, anti-race privilege, anti-foreign meddling message of [KKK Grand Wizard David] Duke, and enclose it in a more consistent package of freedom.”
- “Duke lost the election, but he scared the blazes out of the Establishment. If the official Republican hadn’t been ordered to drop out, he might have won…Duke carried baggage from his past, but voters were willing to overlook that. And if he had been afforded the forgiveness that an ex-Communist gets, he might have won.”
- On the end of apartheid: “It is the destruction of civilization.”
- “The criminals who terrorize our cities — in riots and on every non-riot day — are not exclusively young black males, but they largely are. As children, they are trained to hate whites, to believe that white oppression is responsible for all black ills, to ‘fight the power,’ to steal and loot as much money from the white enemy as possible.”
- “Although we are constantly told that it is evil to be afraid of black men, it is hardly irrational. Black men commit murders, rapes, robberies, muggings and burglaries all out of proportion to their numbers.”
- He also mocked the idea of renaming NYC after MLK (which is a silly idea, but nonetheless), saying it should be instead renamed ”Welfaria,” “Zooville,” “Rapetown,” “Dirtburg,” or “Lazyopolis.” Of the rally on the subject, he suggests that ”[n]ext time, hold that demonstration at a food stamp bureau or a crack house.”
I already knew Ron Paul was a bigot, but where are these quotes from?! I must know!
-R
(via stfuconservatives)
I’m working on a post about the idea of a “contraceptive mentality” that I hear from some anti-choicers. The idea comes from a mostly Catholic worldview, and is usually accompanied by the typical “women’s place is in the home” idea, among other various misogynistic stuff. While looking at essays…