

Friday, July 27, 2012

Romney Establishes his International Credentials


  1. The only thing that will save Romney is laryngitis.

  2. He will be a refreshing change to the lab rat presently occupying the WH.

  3. You are right there and there are not many limeys that get to vote.

  4. Absolutely, we have to make the world safe for Billionaires, and their Swiss Overseas Tax Dodges.

  5. Median Family Income Declined under Bush I, and Bush II. We just gotta have us some o' dat Bush III.

    Glen Hubbard (remember him?) said so.

    Median Family Income

  6. Increasing GDP, and Declining Median Family Income - Don't you just love it when a "Plan" comes together?

    1. Hmm, lessee, if GDP is increasing, and Median Family Income is Decreasing, where did de money go . . . . . . ?

      Wait, don' tell me;

      I'll figure it out;

      jes gimmee a minute.

    2. Dem 'publicans got the answer; dey gonna trickle down on our heads -

      All de way from Bermuda.

      Dem 'publicans is tricklin' experts.

  7. BUT now, overweight, tobacco using, drug abusing, processed food eaters can get free healthcare that will cost everyone else billions. Kum ba ya. Let's all hold hands and sing together.

    Welfare, food stamps, and section 8 housing. Now free healthcare. Don't need no job. The experiment didnt work. Time to drain the swamp. Time to fumigate the WH. Kum ba ya.

  8. Ya, rather than have that dirty ol' food stamp/healthcare money circulating aroun' America, clogging up the pipes, and such, lets git it back to the Caymans where it belongs.

  9. Whatever we do, lets don't go back to the Clinton Tax Rates, and Increasing Median Family Income (the Only period of Rising Family Incomes in the last 24 years.)

  10. Did you pay more taxes than what was required? no, I didnt think so. Kum ba ya.

    1. No, an' I never got me none o' dat 15% tax rate, either. Kumbaya yo dam' self. :)

    2. The fact o' da matter is, I don't think we should tax Romney at all.

      I mean if 15% is good, Zero would be Great, Right?

  11. A bunch of whiny ass liberal tightwads.

    1. Lookin' at a Trillion Dollar Deficit.

  12. His name was Bubba, he was from Georgia ... And he needed a loan, So... He walked into a bank in New York City and asked for the loan Officer. He told the loan officer that he was going to Paris for an International redneck festival for two weeks and needed to borrow $5,000and that he was not a depositor of the bank. The bank officer told him that the bank would need some form of security for the loan, so the Redneck handed over the keys to a new Ferrari. The car was parked on the street in front of the bank.




    The good 'ole boy replied, "Wheah else in New York City can I park my car for two weeks for only $23.07 and expect it to be there when I return?"


    A redneck was stopped by a game warden in Central Mississippi recently with two ice chests full of fish. He was leaving a cove well-known for its fishing.


    "Naw, Sir," replied the redneck. "I ain't got none of them there licenses. You must understand, these here are my pet fish."

    "Pet fish?"


    ice chests and I take 'em home."

    The warden said, "That's a bunch of hooey! Fish can't do that."

    The redneck looked at the warden for a moment and then said, "It's the truth Mr. Government Man. I'll show ya. It really works."

    "O. K.," said the warden. "I've got to see this!"


    After several minutes, the warden said, "Well?"

    "Well, what?," said the redneck.

    The warden replied, "When are you going to call them back?"

    "Call who back?"

    "The FISH," replied the warden.

    "What fish?," replied the redneck.

  14. George W Bush and Barack Obama somehow ended up at the same barber shop.


    Obama was quick to stop him saying, 'No thanks, my wife Michelle will smell that and think I've been in a whorehouse.'

    The second barber turned to Bush and said, 'How about you sir?' Bush replied, 'Go ahead; my wife doesn't know what the inside of a whorehouse smells like.'

  15. Romney is a real horses’s ass showing up in London at the opening of the games after the Brits spent 14 billion quid on their Olympics and he offers his concerns. It will blow over but doesn’t bode well.

    1. As the krautscammer said, "I just don't get it."

  16. Romney said NOTHING wrong. He answered the question asked. Howard Dean (D) suggested that he was not "into" politics since he answered the question asked instead of answering what he wanted to say regardless of the question.

    The fact is the Olympics are troubled by several issues.

    1. Security company was vastly understaffed
    2. Thousands of troops had to be called in to help
    3. Governmental workers strike at this time very unhelpful
    4. London is the western capital of islamic terrir.

    1. It's a slow news day and a lot of sound and fury over nothing.

      Won't be remembered by anyone next week.

    2. Unless of course there is a terror attack and then he will look prescient.


    Friday, July 27, 2012

    The Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll for Friday shows Mitt Romney attracting 49% of the vote, while President Obama earns support from 44%. Three percent (3%) prefer some other candidate, and four percent (4%) are undecided.

    Nice way to end the week.

    Blow out a comin' in November.

  18. .

    I didn't make the cut for being part of the 1%; but at least, I am comfortably ensconced within the 3%.


  19. Electoral College count tabulated by RealClearPolitics, as of today puts Obama ahead, by more than 4%.
    It's over a 20% lead, in the vote that counts.
    Ask Al Gore how little it means to win the popular vote.

    Obama 231
    Toss Ups 126
    Romney 181
    Toss up States

    Colorado (9)
    Florida (29)
    Iowa (6)
    Michigan (16)
    Missouri (10)
    Nevada (6)
    New Hampshire (4)
    North Carolina (15)
    Ohio (18)
    Virginia (13)

    OBAMA (142)
    California (55)
    Delaware (3)
    District of Columbia (3)
    Hawaii (4)
    Illinois (20)
    Maryland (10)
    Massachusetts (11)
    New York (29)
    Rhode Island (4)
    Vermont (3)

    Leans Obama (52)
    Minnesota (10)
    New Mexico (5)
    Oregon (7)
    Pennsylvania (20)
    Wisconsin (10)

    ROMNEY (76)
    Alabama (9)
    Alaska (3)
    Arkansas (6)
    Idaho (4)
    Kansas (6)
    Kentucky (8)
    Louisiana (8)
    Mississippi (6)
    Nebraska (5)
    Oklahoma (7)
    Utah (6)
    West Virginia (5)
    Wyoming (3)

    Leans Romney (50)
    Arizona (11)
    Georgia (16)
    Indiana (11)
    Montana (3)
    South Carolina (9)

    Romney better release those 2009 tax returns and get "it" behind him.
    I mean, really, 40% of US didn't pay income tax, that year.
    Though most DID pay payroll taxes.

  20. With no Toss up States, he who polls best, today, is given the State

    332 Obama
    206 Romney


  21. Mr Romney is out of the country, establishing his foreign policy bona fines.

    While Mitt claims Mr Obama went on an
    Apology Tour,
    he himself is on the
    Insult the Allies Tour

    Mitt proving himself "Not Ready for Prime Time",
    if those tax returns are as poisonous as they certainly seem to be.




  23. USDA Office of Communications.

    Release No. 0254.12
    Weldon Freeman (202) 690-1384


    Part of the Administration's 'All of the Above' Energy Strategy

    WASHINGTON, July 27, 2012 — Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack today announced payments for 125 advanced Biofuel producers across the country to support the production and expansion of advanced biofuels from a wide variety of non-food sources, including waste products.

    "Advanced biofuels are a key component of President Obama's 'all-of-the-above' energy strategy to reduce the Nation's reliance on foreign oil and take control of America's energy future," said Vilsack. "These payments represent help spur an alternative fuels industry using renewable feedstocks grown in America, broadening the range of feedstock options available to biofuels producers, helping to create an economy built to last."

    The funding is being provided through USDA's Bioenergy Program for Advanced Biofuels, which was established in the 2008 Farm Bill. Under this program, payments are made to eligible producers based on the amount of biofuels a recipient produces from renewable biomass, other than corn kernel starch. Examples of eligible feedstocks include but are not limited to: crop residue; animal, food and yard waste material; vegetable oil; and animal fat. Through this and other programs, USDA is working to support the research, investment and infrastructure necessary to build a biofuels industry that creates jobs and broadens the range of feedstocks used to produce renewable fuel.

    For example, in Somerset, Ky., Somerset Hardwood Flooring will receive a $7,040 payment for producing wood pellets from residual sawdust from its hardwood flooring manufacturing process. The company produces about 40 tons of wood pellets annually. FPE Renewables, LLC, based in Lyden, Wash., generates nearly two million kilowatt hours of electricity annually. The firm will receive a payment of $9,612 for producing biogas primarily from dairy waste, which is converted to electricity. In West Point, Va., Virginia Biodiesel Refinery, LLC, will receive a payment of $7,900 for making biodiesel from recycled cooking oil and soybean oil.

    Increased biofuel production plays a relatively minor role in retail food price changes because the growing diversity of feedstock used to produce biodiesel allows for flexibility and helps relieve market pressures. Biodiesel is made from an increasingly diverse mix of non-food feedstocks, including recycled cooking oil, agricultural oils and animal fats, allowing most biodiesel producers to select from a choice of feedstocks if prices rise or supplies are limited. Therefore, the industry's impact in commodity markets is significantly reduced. As the market expands for home-grown renewable energy, American farmers and producers will create even more good-paying jobs that can't be exported. The biofuels industry in the U.S. currently employs about 400,000 people and is expected to employ around a million people in the U.S. by 2022.

    USDA today is announcing $19.4 million in payments to 125 local producers and business-owners. Below is a complete list of the 111 producers (by state) receiving payments of more than $500 for production of advanced biofuels. (Producers receiving payments in the amount of $500 or less are not included in the list.)

  24. WeAskAmerica has Obama +8 in Ohio.

    Rasmussen has Romney +5 Nationally

    One of these guys (or, possibly both) has to be off by quite a bit; there's no way Ohio is 13 points out of step with the rest of the country.

    1. Last I looked Rasmussen had Obama up 2 in Ohio. Quinnipiac has Obama up 9. I'm sticking with Rasmussen. PPP has Obama up by 3 and PPP is usually notorious in its samplings.

    2. RCP average puts Obama up 5 in Ohio.
      As stated upstream Rasmussen has Obama up by two at 47, We Ask has him at 48.
      The difference is in Romney's standing, Ras has Mitt at 45, We Ask has him at 40.

      WeAsk used a larger sample, 1115 likely voters compared to Ras, who used 500 of them.

    3. It's all in the "secret sauce." The weighting. Nobody really knows what percentage of Dems/Pubs are going to turn out - until they "turn out."

    4. .

      it would be nice to think all of these polls do it in the same way but everyone of them handles things different. The party mix, eligible vs likely, the way they word the questions, and unfortunately the political orientation of the pollsters or who they are being paid buy.

      When you have a 10 point various between polls, you know something is goofy with the system. Right now, the polls are pretty much merely talking points for stirring up the troops.


  25. Rasmussen always seems to lean 3 or 4 points to the right until the last month or so. That said, it looks like Romney has taken a one, or two, point lead in the National rating. Whether that will be enough to win the Electoral College, though, might be problematic.

    1. The National RCP average has Obama up, by 1.1%.

      It is a State by State race.

      Eight States are still in the hunt.
      Florida, Ohio, Michigan, North Carolina, Virginia, Colorado and Missouri.

      The National number is meaningless.

  26. I tried to watch the opening of the Olympics. Personally I found it boring, unattractive and then I fell asleep.

    1. I'm watching it, now. For some reason I enjoy it.

    2. .

      Didn't quite get the theme. Seemed a bit odd.

      That being said, it was worth the time just for the production value. Pretty impressive. You can do a lot given enough money.


    3. I didn't watch all the early stuff - just the promenade of all the cute little girls in their cowboy hats, and native costumes. I think I'm starting to understand why not too many world records get set in the Olympics. Everyone's too tired to "run and jump" the next day.

    4. .

      I don't have a lot of interest yet.

      Some I want to see are:

      Tennis (Serena is my girl.)

      Boxing (All of them)

      Swimming (To see if Phelps gets 3 medals.)

      Track and Field (Bolt and the sprinters)


    5. .

      And, of course, that Aussie girl who does the little dance warming up for the hurdles competition.



  27. Missouri and North Carolina are not in the hunt.

  28. Nah, Missouri even went for McCain. It's solid red. I imagine you can put NC in there, also.

    But after that, it turns into a horse race; although, in all honesty, if Romney starts winning states like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota it's a Tidal Wave.

    They could save us all a lot of trouble and just have an election in Ohio, and get it all over with.

    1. .

      Latest polls I've seen in Mi give Romney a slight edge.

      Shows the nature of the race since most people other than the west side of the state and the Grand Rapids area can't stand the guy. But other than Detroit and Flint, most don't like Obama either.


    2. Romney can win without Ohio.

      Heh, it might even end in a tie, 269 - 269.

      Then we might have Romney as Pres. and Biden as Vice - Pres.

      It would be entertaining to see if Biden would serve.

      Then the rapid oxidation of materials in the exothermic chemical process of combustion in some cities would be a watch too.

    3. Either side could win without the Buckeye State, but I'd hate to be the campaign manager that had to explain how I wuz gonna do it.

      I figure that if Romney wis Ohio, he's already won Fl, and Va. And is knocking on the door (or, is already halfway through it) in Ia, Co, and Nv. - and even threatening Minnesota, and, heaven forbid Wi.

      On the other hand, if Obama wins Ohio the situation is pretty well reversed.

      Ah, we're too far out to do all this bloviating. Three months in a close election? Absolutely Anything could happen.

  29. Sarah wearing boots made for walkin' over Rinos.


    It may be too much for some of you, so your "faint dead away" antidote machine should be turned on.

  30. Heard on NPR - the hunter/gatherer bands stretching across Europe and Asia, who had been wandering around there for time out of mind, and had a more cohesive 'society' than might have been previously thought, based on tool studies and DNA studies, and spent their time fighting the cold and killing the animals, were pushed back by the farmers coming up from the south, but their women saved the day of their DNA by sexing with the male farmers, and we know this through mitochondrial DNA studies, mitochondrial DNA being passed through the females only.

  31. .

    And thus, the beginning of the dumbing down of Europe and Asia.

    (I heard farm subsidies started shortly thereafter.)


    1. Agreed. And food stamps soon after.

      Campbell noted too that we have dumbed down, pointing out that Cro-Magnon had the bigger brain.

      Cro-Magnons were robustly built and powerful. The body was generally heavy and solid with a strong musculature. The forehead was straight, with slight browridges and a tall forehead.[2] Cro-Magnons were the first humans (genus Homo) to have a prominent chin. The brain capacity was about 1,600 cubic centimetres (98 cu in), larger than the average for modern humans.[3] wiki

      The disaster really hit when the first cities were created, and aid to women with dependent children kicked in.

      Think about modern Detroit for instance, and the all pervasive idiocy prevalent there, and a man can make a living selling horoscopes, where the cranial capacity is now estimated at no more than about 500cc, about the size of a Suzuki trail bike engine.

    2. .

      A Suzuki is much more fun than a John Deere, faster, sportier, and with a much more efficient engine.

      As for aid to dependent children (as well as white flight) that started way back in the beginning when Detroit was small and made up mainly of farmers. Everytime someone got pregnant, some farmer left town.


    3. Them farmers haven't changed much, always sexing around with the local hunter/gatherers, then moving on to 'plow new fields'.

  32. From the "no good deed goes unpunished" dept -

    The Pubs say they want to cut back govt. spending, but when the govt cuts back spending, and suffers a lowering of GDP, the Pubs campaign on the "weak economy" that is a direct result of those cuts.

    For instance, once you allow for the present pull-back in Defense Spending on Iraq, and Afghanistan, and for the decline in State and Local spending, the Economy Grew at 3.3% in the last year, and 2.2% in the last quarter.

    Private Economy doing okay

    1. .

      For instance, once you allow...

      And if my dad had tits, he'd be my mom.



    2. .

      GDP is what it is.

      You can pick and choose some variable and argue that it is the 'cause' for change in some complicated system while ignoring other factors.

      And while I disagree with the GOP on most economic issues, to argue that they are the ones pushing for or responsible for defense spending is...well...it just doesn't make sense.


    3. .

      ...defense spending cuts...


    4. Blame your coming higher food prices on ethanol -


    5. No, blame it on the drought. If it wasn't for ethanol a lot less corn would have been planted.

    6. It's Not "complicated" Quirk. GDP is Private Spending, plus Government Spending. You cut Government Spending, and GDP falls. It's as simple as that.

    7. .

      I'm not arguing the formula for GDP or the fact that government spending contributes to GDP. What I am taking offense at is that you are singling out the GOP for criticism while ignoring the Dems. Unless I misread you, you are pointing out the irony that the GOP asks for budget cuts but when the budget cuts occur and cause GDP to fall they complain about a poor economy. To me, the entire premise is silly. First, in totality there are no budget cuts, merely some shifting around. Second, for any of the budget cuts you mention, the GOP, should, at most, be blamed in equal proportion with the Dems. As for the GOP complaints that we have a weak economy, while those claims are a little disingenuous given that the GOP has done jackshit to try to improve the economy, it’s still obvious to anyone that the claims are true.

      First, total government spending hasn't gone down. In fact, it has gone up, $200 billion at the federal level from the 2011 budget to the 2012. I went to a site called usgovernmentspending.com to get total government spending (federal, transfer payments, state and local) and they also project increased spending into the future.

      Where we are right now is a bipartisan clusterfuck. Current spending is dictated by the failure of the Supercommittee (a bipartisan facade created by Congress to mask the fact that neither party has the balls or integrity to do their job) to reach a budget compromise. Now, if some kind of agreement isn't reached by the end of the year, there will be significant cuts but that has little to do with today's spending.

      Likewise the two areas you chose, state and local spending and the military. In the first case, while the federal government does provide transfer payments to the states, all the payments help do is alleviate state and local fiscal problems. Of course, some states are cutting back on spending. They have to. They don't share the fed advantage of being able to print money yet they still need to balance their budgets. How you blame the GOP for that I'm not sure.

      As far as military spending, if it were up to the GOP we would be increasing the military budget. You seem to be blaming the GOP for something they didn't do when you accuse them of wanting it both ways.

      The GOP deserves all the blame in the world for sitting on their hands over the past four years and offering up zip in the form of reasonable suggestions to improve the economy. However, if you are trying to say our current "weak economy" should be blamed on the GOP not wanting additional spending, I would be glad to debate that with you all day long.


    8. .

      I would also like to know where you got the figures you quoted on GDP and exactly what they mean. For instance, are you saying that minus the 'cuts' you mentioned 2nd Quarter GDP would have been 0.2% higher, a number that if annualized would have added almost 1% to full year 2012 GDP?


  33. Missouri not in the hunt --

    Poll finds McCaskill, Obama both down in swing-state Missouri
    By Russell Berman - 07/28/12 12:35 PM ET

    A new poll shows trouble for Democrats in the key battleground state of Missouri, with President Obama down 9 points to GOP candidate Mitt Romney and Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) trailing all three of her possible Republican opponents.

    A new Mason-Dixon survey, conducted for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and News 4, finds presumptive GOP nominee Mitt Romney leading President Obama 51-42 percent among registered voters.

    Obama holds a 51 percent unfavorable rating in the state with 34 favorable, challenging numbers three months from election day. Romney holds a 39 percent favorable rating to 27 unfavorable.

    In the Senate race, the poll finds incumbent McCaskill trailing all three GOP primary contenders. McCaskill would lose a head-to-head matchup by nine points to businessman John Brunner (R), 52-41 percent, by eight points to former state Treasurer Sarah Steelman (R), 49-41 percent, and by five points to Rep. Todd Akin (R), 49-44 percent.

  34. Read below anything you want to know about the drought from the USDA -


  35. Obama to USA Olympic Gold Medal winners:

    "You didn't win that Gold.....somebody else won it for you"