Mitt Romney doesn't even bother to hide his anti-worker agenda:
http://www.mittromney.com/news/press/2012/02/unlike-obama-romney-will-st...
I doubt that everyone working at Wal-Mart supports Pugs!
US Presidential Race 3
Thu, 2012-02-16 21:25
#52
Fri, 2012-02-17 03:30
#53
M. Spector
relatively good economic news continues to favour incumbent:
The number of people seeking unemployment benefits fell to the lowest point in almost four years last week, the latest signal that the job market is steadily improving.
The story is that the number of [b]applications[/b] for unemployment benefits declined. But the number of unemployed continues to rise. For the week ending Jan 28, the [url=http://businesstoday.intoday.in/story/us-jobless-claims-lowest-level-in-... of people getting state or federal unemployment benefits climbed[/url] by 18,304 to 7.68 million.
But unemployment benefits don't tell the whole story. Nearly 13 million USians are unemployed (8.3%), which means there are at least 5 million unemployed who receive [b]no unemployment benefits at all[/b].
Fri, 2012-02-17 09:43
#54
knownothing
I know. As if they aren't just manipulating the numbers for the purposes of re-election. I can't believe you buy into Obama's big-top extravaganza!
Fri, 2012-02-17 09:52
#55
It's not manipulating numbers. When the unemployment rate was higher, there was no problem with the numbers. Now that there has been a modest improvement, suddenly they're manipulated. I see the same charges of manipulation from the right.
Fri, 2012-02-17 10:10
#56
The "it's Romney" crew are now confused as to "why Santorum?", not able to comprehend the degree to which Jesus has entered the "thought processes" of so many in the GOP. I can recommend America's Right Turn by Viguerie and Franke, with its foreword by "Left Behind's" Tim LaHaye.
Fri, 2012-02-17 10:31
#57
knownothing
It's not manipulating numbers. When the unemployment rate was higher, there was no problem with the numbers. Now that there has been a modest improvement, suddenly they're manipulated. I see the same charges of manipulation from the right.
Actually there has been a problem with the numbers all along. They do not take into account those who aren't looking for a job. They are still unemployed. Same here in Canada. Real number is closer to 20%.
Fri, 2012-02-17 10:48
#58
The bureau in charge of keeping unemployment stats in the U.S. keeps track of that number also. It just doesn't get the headlines. Currently at about 15%.
Fri, 2012-02-17 12:06
#59
Actually there has been a problem with the numbers all along. They do not take into account those who aren't looking for a job. ....
yes, they do: those stats are called the U4 and U5 rates, and statistics are very carefully compiled following International Labour Organization models:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unemployment_rate#Measurement
it's just that the U3, the most commonly cited in the media, reflects workers ""actively seeking"" jobs who are not finding them"
As defined by the International Labour Organization, "unemployed workers" are those who are currently not working but are willing and able to work for pay, currently available to work, and have actively searched for work
the other indexes exist but don't get the same press, and in any case they all tend to rise and fall together, as they are all falling now:
http://alternativeeconomics.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/shadowstats.gif
Fri, 2012-02-17 21:51
#60
knownothing
On your link it has SGS alternate unemployed at 22%.
Sat, 2012-02-18 08:02
#61
knownothing
Maddow again on Maine
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEJqY75m4Qc&feature=youtu.be
Obama worse than Bush on medical marijuana
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/obamas-war-on-pot-20120216?pri...
Sun, 2012-02-19 07:12
#62
Canadian-Owned Firms are Funding US Election Campaigns
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/americas/us-election/canadian-...
"Political action committees affiliated with companies owned by Canadian corporations are pouring money into this year's House and Senate races. Donations to Republicans were $89,250 (US) compared with $74,250 (US) for Democrats.."
How a Filthy Rich 196 People Will Buy Our Elections
http://www.alternet.org/economy/154172/how_a_filthy_rich_196_people_will...
"2012 is the year of the big donor, when a candidate is only as good as the amount of money in his super PAC. 'This really is the selling of America..."
Mon, 2012-02-20 05:11
#63
Ron Paul, 'The Only Candidate Speaking of Lost Civil Liberties and Pending Illegal Wars' (and vid)
http://rt.com/news/ron-paul-candidate-liberties-717/
"United States presidential contender Ron Paul has warned that his country is slipping into a twenty-first century fascist system with a broke government ruled by big business. Radio host and author Stephen Lendman also agrees that current US policies are evidence that the country has indeed developed a fascist system, going on to disagree slightly - 'The only thing I'd disagree with Ron Paul is not slipping into it - it's deep into it.'"
Wed, 2012-02-22 09:24
#64
Wed, 2012-02-22 09:35
#65
For those thinking it might be one of those hidden 3D pics, I don't think it is, just in case any were staring at the red dot between his eyes.
Wed, 2012-02-22 10:07
#66
Santorum's been on a roll the last week. He's worried about Satan attacking the U.S.:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/02/21/us-pol-republican-santorum-satan.html
Excommunicated mainline Protestants:
Appeared to call for the end of public education:
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gop-race-20120219,0,2831889.story
Made disparaging remarks about birth control and prenatal testing:
Makes you wonder whether he's running for president or Grand Inquisitor.
Wed, 2012-02-22 10:43
#67
Makes you wonder where the U.S. will, end up, with a population that vulnerable to the kind of madness that drove the inquisition.
Wed, 2012-02-22 11:11
#68
M. Spector
They can't be all that bad, if they elected your hero Barack Obama, can they?
Wed, 2012-02-22 11:16
#69
I think it was Colbert who did a recent piece on Santorum's battle against Satan, where part of the strategy might involve removing missles from their silos, and placing them back in, upside down.
Wed, 2012-02-22 12:51
#70
They can't be all that bad, if they elected your hero Barack Obama, can they?
You "unconventional electoral politicals" :) had better hope that that element can continue to fight and edge out the others...while you vacation in Neverland.
Wed, 2012-02-22 14:16
#71
Which gets me to thinking that Ron Paul style libertarianism is either a complete mutation of the concept, or perhaps it is more likely to be a rigged up platform designed as an appeal to those anti-socialists out there who are fed up with government, but who don't rightly know why exactly, having only ever been spoon-fed information on what socialism and government is all about. The free, unfettered, self correcting hand of the market is anything but. Instead, it connives, betrays, lies, steals and jimmies around with any old excuse to avoid it's responsibility toward humanity at large. It is in fact the hidden big hand thrust up inside government through perpetual interference. Seems to me that he's the ready-made answer to the white, disgruntled, tax weary demographic out there, where they've all grown weary for a change about paying for foreign wars if they don't really have to..its getting too expensive after all. The anti-big government crowd, except when it comes to social security and Medicare, needs rounding up. As many as possible that is, and led back into the fold which happens to be just one voice among many within the Washington and Republican establishments. Tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of fed up thuglican voters, neatly tucked away on a shelf in Ron Paul's office. They might as well all line up for nose rings so as to add a little convenience to being led around.
Wed, 2012-02-22 19:51
#72
knownothing
Wed, 2012-02-22 21:01
#73
Thanks for the video link, but I could stomach orly a couple of minutes. These are the folks that will make the law if the Democrats don't. Some choice.
Wed, 2012-02-22 21:12
#74
NDPPThey might as well all line up for nose rings so as to add a little convenience to being led around.
choosing your favourite nose ring is what it's all about. Here too...
Sat, 2012-02-25 23:36
#75
The Lost Party: How the 2012 Primary Has Revealed a GOP on the Verge of Collapse
The transfiguration of the GOP isn’t only about ideology, however. It is also about demography and temperament, as the party has grown whiter, less well schooled, more blue-collar, and more hair-curlingly populist. The result has been a party divided along the lines of culture and class: Establishment versus grassroots, secular versus religious, upscale versus downscale, highfalutin versus hoi polloi. And with those divisions have arisen the competing electoral coalitions—shirts versus skins, regulars versus red-hots—represented by Romney and Santorum, which are now increasingly likely to duke it out all spring.
With such precedents in mind, many Republicans are already looking past 2012. If either Romney or Santorum gains the nomination and then falls before Obama, flubbing an election that just months ago seemed eminently winnable, it will unleash a GOP apocalypse on November 7—followed by an epic struggle between the regulars and red-hots to refashion the party. And make no mistake: A loss is what the GOP’s political class now expects. “Six months before this thing got going, every Republican I know was saying, ‘We’re gonna win, we’re gonna beat Obama,’ ” says former Reagan strategist Ed Rollins. “Now even those who’ve endorsed Romney say, ‘My God, what a fucking mess.’ ”
But if Obama prevails, precisely the opposite dynamic is likely to kick in: a period of bitter recriminations followed by a reformation (or counterreformation) of the GOP. This, please recall, was what many Republicans were counting on to happen in the wake of their party’s loss of the White House and seats in the House and Senate in 2008. Instead, Republicans seized on a strategy of relentless opposition to Obama, which proved politically effective in 2010 but left the party as bereft of new ideas, a constructive agenda, or a coherent governing philosophy as before. With Obama having looked beatable months ago, a botched bid to oust him—especially if coupled with a failure to take over the Senate—would usher in a full-blown Republican conflagration, followed by an effort to rise from the ashes by doing the opposite of what caused the meltdown of 2012.
Sun, 2012-02-26 06:14
#76
as auto industry employment improves, the Midwest again becomes winnable for Obama:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/25/us/politics/uaw-tries-to-help-obama-win-working-class-voters.html
Romney continues to campaign in Michigan saying it was wrong to save that industry in 2008-09....
One of organized labor's motivating issues in the election is addressing disparities in wealth, a topic that Mr. Romney, whose worth is estimated at as much as $250 million, inadvertently drew more attention to Friday when he said in his speech that he and his wife owned four American cars, including two Cadillacs. And Mr. Romney has criticized the auto bailout as "crony capitalism" that benefited "union bosses" at the expense of taxpayers, a position that has left him battling to win working-class voters in the face of union opposition.
In an attempt to outnumber Republicans at the polls in November, union officials are getting an early start with voter registration drives in their plants. Successful efforts to curb collective bargaining rights in neighboring states like Wisconsin and Indiana are adding to a sense of urgency already heightened by the steep decline in ranks. The union has about 400,000 members - less than a third of its size 30 years ago.
Sun, 2012-02-26 15:06
#77
Maysie
Sun, 2012-02-26 18:38
#78
Maysie, that gay porn pic of Santorum is fantastic!
I love this spoof, from the same website, of Santorum's gmail inbox.
Wed, 2012-02-29 20:20
#79
Ron Paul Beats Obama in Polls
http://rt.com/usa/news/ron-paul-obama-rasmussen-555/
"Texas Congressman Ron Paul would win a presidential race against incumbent Barack Obama, according to a tracking poll released Monday by Rasmussen Reports. Paul also spent a moment during Tuesday's speech to address the results of the Rasmussen survey, joking that 'Every once in a while the include my name in polling.."
Thu, 2012-03-01 05:54
#80
Rasmussen? LOL. I guess this is one of those, my enemy of my enemy is my friend, polling things.
Thu, 2012-03-01 17:05
#81
knownothing
Cmon, cut RP a little slack. Did you see him take on Clinton and Bernanke yesterday?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gtzki2WTcss&feature=colike
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7aqsz8KQ0mE&feature=g-u&context=G2aed3c5F...
Sun, 2012-03-04 07:19
#82
a key historic Reagan publicist runs up the white flag for 2012,
sort of:
Today, conservatives dismayed about the Republican presidential spectacle may write a codicil to what is called the Buckley Rule. He said that in any election, conservatives should vote for the most electable conservative. ... Unless the nomination or election of a particular conservative would mean a net long-term subtraction from conservatism's strength.
Fri, 2012-03-09 12:30
#83
US economic numbers stilll on upswing:
This year, the economy appears to be somewhat less vulnerable to shocks. There were 1.4 million more jobs in January than there were last April, and they were spread across more industries and more cities. Consumers have paid down some of their debt and begun to make large purchases, particularly cars. And so far, gas prices have not risen enough to dampen spending.
February's growth was in manufacturing, professional sectors like law and accounting, hotels and restaurants, and mining. The construction industry was flat after two months of gains, and the retail sector actually lost jobs.
Mon, 2012-03-12 11:29
#84
Mother Jones, also my view:
http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/03/barack-obamas-had-pretty-damn-good-presidency
Mon, 2012-03-12 11:52
#85
The Democrats pummel them so hard, after four or eight rounds they start begging for the right, only to be pounded upon again, which causes them to switch back to asking for the left. Someone needs to throw a towel in on the whole bout at least until the cut men can stitch em up.
Mon, 2012-03-12 23:11
#86
Mother Jones, also my view:
http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/03/barack-obamas-had-pretty-damn-good-presidency
Not my view. Obama only looks good compared to the competition. Fortunately, that's all he needs electorally but I can't help but think that even in American liberal terms it's been a fairly mediocre administration. Health care reform was hobbled by conceding too much, too early. It has yet to make much difference to the struggle to find and keep insurance and won't until the more substantial elements of the reform come into effect in 2014. The stimulus package was too small - its effect has been nullified by state-level spending cuts. Wall Street has hardly been imposed upon by reform and arguably investigations and prosecutions based on existing law have been lacking. In lots of ways "Yes, we can!" became "No, we can't!" and while reality was always going to be more resistant to change than the slogan suggested, Democrats have to be dissappointed.
Tue, 2012-03-13 00:02
#87
With an electorate so heartily out to lunch by any standards of intelligence and openess to rational argument, so heavily committed to a Limbaugh world view, so thoroughly racist in its southern form, we should expect what, exactly?
Tue, 2012-03-13 00:05
#88
Boom Boom
I'm chatting with friends in the USA on another board, and I just wrote that if Gingrich wins the GOP nomination (very highly unlikely) Obama would not even have to bother with a campaign, and he'd still win. 
Tue, 2012-03-13 05:54
#89
Stewart and Colbert had a field day last night complete with grits and chitlins. Colbert served tea in mason jars and handed out shotguns.
Tue, 2012-03-13 19:15
#90
knownothing
Mother Jones, also my view:
http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/03/barack-obamas-had-pretty-damn-good-presidency
How can you so happily support Obama, who has simply continued the work that Bush did? Are you so partisan that you can't see they are the same thing. I was in a buffet line at an NDP event last week and this guy was defending Obama, saying he wasnt that rich. I had to say something. In 2010 Obama's net worth was 7.8 million.
How can you call yourself a social democrat while you defend millionaires who erode civil liberties and kill thousands of civilians?
Tue, 2012-03-13 20:04
#91
I was in a buffet line at an NDP event last week...How can you call yourself a social democrat while you defend millionaires who erode civil liberties and kill thousands of civilians?
You may have answered your own question.
Wed, 2012-03-14 02:46
#92
M. Spector
[url=http://blackagendareport.com/content/listen-black-agenda-radio-progressi... The Assassination President[/url]
"When the history books are written, Obama is going to be known as the assassinations president,” said Kevin Alexander Gray, the Columbia, South Carolina-based writer and political activist. “Everything that he has done in regards to the Constitution and transparency and protecting human rights and the due process rights of all people, regardless of nationality, has been a failure.” Attorney General Eric Holder’s narrow definition of “due process” of law is really “the due process of the star chamber." Traditional civil rights organizations have not moved to “check” Obama because “they are all in the tank for the administration,” said Gray.
Wed, 2012-03-14 03:26
#93
indeed he's quite a piece of work...this prez.
True or false I know not - but here's the blogging sleuth Wayne Madsen - on infowars - not a particular fave of mine -but with great dirty stories of Obama's supposed shady past. Chicago, CIA asset, consorting with commies, death of Breitbart, everything but the kitchen sink here - if nothing else what a yarn...
http://aangirfan.blogspot.com/2012/03/obama-of-cia-wayne-madsen.html
Wed, 2012-03-14 18:55
#94
The latest poll out of Mississippi says that 51 per cent of the Republican voters there still believe he's Muslim.
Only 47 per cent of that demographic in Alabama believe that.
You do realize that releasing this fact on the American p;ublic, his "consorting with commies," in the past, is liable to lead to impeachment in that nutbar nation. But as you say, "if nothing else," he is indeed "quite a piece of work," but nowhere near those who are vulnerable to such drool, eh?
Wed, 2012-03-14 19:20
#95
Boom Boom
Hillary Clinton's approval numbers right now are 60% (according to CNN), higher than Obama's. It's being speculated she will run in 2016.
Wed, 2012-03-14 19:24
#96
The latest poll out of Mississippi says that 51 per cent of the Republican voters there still believe he's Muslim.
Only 47 per cent of that demographic in Alabama believe that.
Wow. Alabama's slipping.
The results are not surprising. I'm sure at least half the Republican voters in Alabama would support the reinstitution of slavery.
Wed, 2012-03-14 19:26
#97
Hillary Clinton's approval numbers right now are 60% (according to CNN), higher than Obama's. It's being speculated she will run in 2016.
FWIW, she has said she won't run in 2016.
Wed, 2012-03-14 19:27
#98
Boom Boom
Santorum won Alabama and Mississippi. I would have thought Gingrich had those two sewn up.
Wed, 2012-03-14 19:30
#99
Santorum appealed to many of the hardcore more because he doesn't have Gingrich's personal baggage.
Wed, 2012-03-14 19:58
#100
Hillary Clinton's approval numbers right now are 60% (according to CNN), higher than Obama's. It's being speculated she will run in 2016.
FWIW, she has said she won't run in 2016.
AND, to explain the poll differences, she's not black.
Sat, 2012-03-17 23:20
#101
Netanyahu V Obama - What Next? - by Alan Hart
http://www.countercurrents.org/hart170312.htm
"...There is, Burston wrote, something new in the air, something Netanyahu does not like. What is it? 'American conservatives have begun to think out loud that Barack Obama will win in November.' Netanyahu could very well be in trouble if Obama wins a second term. Question: How might initiating a war with Iran assist Netanyahu to put Obama in real trouble?"