Morning Must Reads: “Hero”

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–A security guard takes a bullet while disarming a gunman at the D.C. headquarters of the Family Research Council, a conservative policy organization that advocates against gay marriage. Anonymous officials suggest the shooter, an LGBT volunteer, expressed political motives. The security guard, identified as Leo Johnson, is said to be OK.

–Could new voter-ID laws tip the presidential race?

–The challenge of managing the irrepressible Joe Biden.

Larry Sabato and Kyle Kondik ask whether Romney, in his desire to change the subject, might be “taking his eye off the ball.”

–Solyndra claims its first political victim: a Republican Congressman.

–And the New York Times Magazine goes long on Obama and poverty, through the prism of the South Side neighborhood where he spent time as a community organizer.

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I am starting to rethink the shunning.

I'll be on vacation tomorrow and over the weekend, so, I will not be able to post even if I weren't shunning, but, Rustburket has gotten so frustrated that he calls any changes in how his handle is referred to as an "insult" and considers Kenneth Starr a part of a left wing conspiracy to protect Bill Clinton.

If you guys keep up or go back to the shunning while I am out of town and I play along on Monday Rusty will be howling at the moon talking to his walls about the dangers of liberalism. 


A picture of what our society, led by sanctimonious Christianists, does to free will.  How is their so little compassion?


Tony Nicklinson reacts as a statement is read regarding the decision made by High Court judges not to allow him to ask a doctor to end his life on August 16, 2012 in Melksham, England. Nicklinson, who suffers from locked-in syndrome as the result of a stroke, has lost his High Court battle for the legal right to end his life when he chooses.



awake but cannot move or communicate verbally due to complete paralysis






First, glad to see your are posting again, too.  My leave of absence just crept up on me until I decided to come back online the other day - no specific reason, just spent too much time online and too little doing everything else, for awhile, everything else won.


Second, people have told me before that on social issues, especially for an atheist, I am not unusually liberal.


From the description above, although incredibly awful, it does not appear to be dramatically worse than the level of disability than amyotrophic lateral sclerosis has caused Stephen Hawking handicap.


I can't imagine ending life even five minutes earlier than the absolute latest.


Although this is nowhere near as bad, weeks before he died three and a half years ago my father was so severely handicapped from Arthritis it was clear that he would live the rest of his life in a nursing home.  (He could talk, hear, see and use his arms fine).


Had he lived, it would have been a depressing life, but, he had no intention of dying and, overall, even though there were times we didn't get along, I would have rather had him alive longer if possible. 


I can't imagine a scenario where I would want to leave this world for the nothingness beyond.


I don't mind being told that I am slightly conservative on some social issues. It's true that I am.


Patrick:  Glad to see you back. 

My point is that the choice of end of life should be the decision of the sufferer.  I have seen someone slowly die from ALS.  It was over 2 years of hideous decline.  I saw my father suffer the indignity of Parkinson's disease.   Steven Hawkings has the financial ability to continue to have 24 hour care.  He has the ability to use his mind in a remarkable way.

However, if he chose to end his life, I would understand.

All this man was asking for was the choice.  The last means of controlling his destiny.


Newsflash!  Mr. Wonky Mittens say he pays taxes so all the "little people" need to shut up.  Mr. Whiny Grump is a better name for him. 



He paid between 2.5 and 3.0 million dollars a year in taxes and donated approx another 5.0 million to charities. Wow what a terrible person.



What does charitable contributions have to do with taxes?



Ignorance is bliss.



What does it have to do with taxes other then another great way to screw overall tax payers?


You get to deduct them from your Government taxes.  

This has been another answer provided free of charge from "Simple answers to stupid"




Donating to charity is a good thing.


However, government programs were created due to failures in the charitable system.


Also, how much of that charity is to pay for people to knock at your door and to ask you to join their religion?




So, it may be okay with you that he pays lower taxes and uses more to promote his religion and less efficient ways of taking care of the poor leaving the burden on us, but, not too many agree with you.


Endthread #79" Big troll full of Chic-fil-a and conservative poo about to explode.  Stay away or get splattered. 

Richard Giles
Richard Giles

There really is only one contention in this election.  Jobs, economy, deficit, immigration, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, education and so on are all challenges for both sides and the only question is will they be resolved to satisfy "the money" or to satisfy "the people"?   "The money" or "the people" is the one real issue.  The Republican / Tea Party is owned and controlled by "the money" and over the last twelve years it has been obvious they totally concentrate on serving only "the money", without conscience for "the people".  The Democrats are really dependent on "the people" for their support and power and are committed to working to serve those interests.  In everything, without exception, with the deceptive rhetoric put aside this one issue is at the base of all their actions and is evident in everything they do.  The ironic thing is that both need to sway “the people”, the voters, in order to have their way.  The Republicans act cocky confident that with the money, power and influence of "the money" they will be able to con "the people" and manipulate public opinion, to literally use the voters as "pawns".  The Democrats are fighting to keep up with the mega-millions being spent and to get their messages clearly across to "the people".  In the end it is up to "the people"; will they vote for their own interests or be duped into voting for "the moneys" interests?

Whether the politicians will serve the interests of "the money" or of "the people" is the only real question to be resolved and a real example of the subterfuge being aggressively used to disguise that issue is seen in the excitement being purposely created over government spending and the deficit.  The Republicans are faulting and blocking all efforts to effectively spend, even when to create jobs, rejecting the fact that responsible spending can actually stimulate the recovery, with their instead favoring further reducing taxes for "the money" (even after Bush-Cheney proved beyond any doubt that the "trickle down" theory is a total fraud only making the wealthy wealthier and soliciting political support).  Now controlling government spending and reducing the deficit are responsible and important goals but they are neither what caused our problems nor should they be the main priority only to satisfy "the money".  

Saying "big government' is at fault and it is the cause of our problems is actually deceptive and an intentional distraction.  Reducing government spending and the deficit are important goals but that isn't what caused our problems and focusing only there won't solve our problems.  What really caused our problems is permissive, co-responsible politicians catering to "the money", their strong supporters, who exploited their advantages and who with run-away greed, gross dishonesty and self-indulgence caused repeated crises in savings and loans, banks, dot.coms, manufacturing, the mortgage, investment and financial industries, as well as corporate corruption (like Enron) and then with industrywide failures, always with "the few" taking enormous gains and leaving the costs and lost jobs to the majority.  Any objective viewing of reality totally substantiates that and recognizes it as what brought us to crisis point.  The simple truth is that Romney, Ryan, Boehner and the rest of the Republican / Tea Party are owned and controlled by "the money" and their focus is totally on serving the 1%, which just can't ever help the 99%.


 Mitt Romney said earlier Thursday that he’s “never paid less than 13 percent” in taxes.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) still wants him to prove it.

"We'll believe it when we see it,” Reid’s spokesman, Adam Jentleson,

said Thursday. “Until Mitt Romney releases his tax returns, Americans


by a different set of rules than every other presidential candidate for


transparency set by Mitt Romney's father and released their tax


It was Reid’s remarks that fueled the most recent Democratic attacks

against Romney and his tax returns. The Senate majority leader told the Huffington Post in

an interview published July 31 that a Bain investor told him Romney

didn’t pay any taxes for a decade and repeatedly refused to back down

from that claim – infuriating Republicans in the process.


Outsider, Digby had an interesting post yesterday about Ann Romney saying that no more taxes would be released. Glad Ann and Mitt are keeping this issue prominent.



How did Harry Reid become a multi-millionaire on a public servant's salary? Where are his tax returns?


Harry Reid - $100,000,000 and counting.  All on a civil servant salary.  Amazing.


 There is the idea of having Paul Ryan on the Republican ticket, and then there is the reality.

If conservative ideologues are over the moon at having their

favorite conviction politician as Mitt Romney’s vice presidential

running mate, many Republican professionals — particularly those running

this fall — are petrified. They freely express private fears that Democrats will succeed in Ryanizing the entire GOP.


striking is not just that down-ballot Republican candidates are

distancing themselves from Ryan’s proposals, particularly on Medicare,

but that Romney won’t take ownership of them either, except in vague

terms. Worse, the Romney apparatus is forcing Ryan to distance himself from his own budget. It was sad to watch Ryan dancing around these issues on Fox News Tuesday night and having to say that Romney is the boss. How long before conservatives start producing “Let Ryan Be Ryan” bumper stickers?


yes, and Ryan could not explain when his fiscal plan would balance the

books (presumably because the right answer is somewhere past 2030). “I

don’t know exactly when it balances,” Ryan told Brit Hume. So much for


To understand the elation Democrats feel about the

Ryan choice, it’s useful to canvass their reactions in what will be one

of the hardest battleground states for President Obama to hang onto. In

2008, Obama became the first Democratic presidential candidate in 32 years

to carry North Carolina. Now it is, with Indiana, one of the states

most likely to move back to the GOP. “We’re at the pink end of the

spectrum,” Rep. David Price, a Democrat who represents the Research

Triangle area, said in a phone interview.

To Price, Ryan offers a

double opportunity for the Democrats. The swing voters in his own

district, he says, “are pretty practical and not enamored of the

doctrinaire, ideological approach that Ryan exemplifies.” The very

reasons that ideologues admire Ryan are the reasons that independents

and moderates may be put off by him.

On top of that, Price said,

“the issues of Medicare and Social Security are toxic for Ryan.” White




threatens to push away core Republican voters.

That’s why Romney

went up so quickly with advertisements attacking Obama for reducing

spending on Medicare. One longtime Democratic organizer of senior

citizens I spoke with here — his organization doesn’t let field staff

speak for the record — noted that John McCain defeated Obama by eight points

among voters over 65. “If Obama can cut that margin from eight to five,

he wins,” the organizer said. “He doesn’t have to win that demographic.

Closing the gap is a win.” His analysis is especially apt in North

Carolina, where McCain beat Obama by 13 points among seniors.


the North Carolina Democratic Party is out with lots of numbers — in

other circumstances, Ryan might appreciate its wonkery — showing how the Ryan budget would hurt certain voter groups

in the state. The party says that “1,368,646 North Carolinian seniors

would be forced onto vouchers when they retire,” referring to the number

of near-elderly citizens who would be affected a decade from now by

Ryan’s idea of changing Medicare into a premium-support program. Repeal

of the Obama health-care law, the party says, would move “154,884 North

Carolina seniors back into the prescription drug ‘donut hole.’ ”


Robinson, the Democrats’ state communications director, has his eye on a

very specific demographic group that Ryan might move: older white rural

women without college educations. Obama remains competitive in this

state because of a large lead among female voters. Shifting this “one

holdout group” Obama’s way, Robinson says, “could drive that gender gap

even further apart.”

State Sen. Linda Garrou, a pro-business

Democrat who has represented Winston-Salem for 14 years, is retiring

after a Republican reapportionment broke up her district. She agrees

that Ryan will help Democrats among older voters but is especially

worried about Republican education cuts at all levels of government. She

casts the choice as fundamental.

“The Romney/Ryan plan,” she said, “seems to say, ‘I’ve got mine, you get yours the best you can, the heck with you.’”


often oppose government in the abstract but actually want it to do

quite a lot. Thanks to Paul Ryan, this year’s debate will be anything

but abstract.


David Axelrod deserves an Academy Award for being able to utter this bilge with a straight face.

“Listen, I have a great affection and respect for Joe Biden,” Axelrod said, according to a rush transcript. “I think he’s been a great vice president. He’s taken on a lot of tough assignments for our administration. … from administering the recovery act — and he did it very, very well — through being the point person on the Iraq war and getting our troops home and doing that — the politics of that over there. he’s done a great job for us.”


Just - wow:



program that requires high school students preparing for college to have

an understanding of biological evolution.

When the Republican state legislature voted in 2009 to link

Kentucky's testing system to national education standards, it opened the

door for biology exams that would test students' proficiency in the



Kentucky's testing program, developed the material by surveying biology

teachers across the country on which studies they believed should be

included. They responded, rather unsurprisingly, that biological

evolution was an important concept for incoming college students to


But state Republicans are now recoiling at their decision. They claim

it doesn't give the theory of creationism a fair shake and places undue

emphasis on the teaching of evolution, which they maintain exists only

as a "theory."

"I would hope that creationism is presented as a theory in the

classroom, in a science classroom, alongside evolution," state Sen.

David Givens (R) said in an interview with the Herald-Leader.

"We're simply saying to the ACT people we don't want what is a theory to

be taught as a fact in such a way it may damage students' ability to do

critical thinking."

Other Republicans voiced their concerns more colorfully.


evolution is not science -- Darwin made it up," state Sen. Ben Waide (R)

said. "My objection is they should ensure whatever scientific material

is being put forth as a standard should at least stand up to scientific

method. Under the most rudimentary, basic scientific examination, the

theory of evolution has never stood up to scientific scrutiny."

State Sen. Mike Wilson (R) said he thinks the system could allow students to be "indoctrinated" by the study of evolution.


Education Commissioner Terry Holliday responded to the lawmakers'

inquiry, telling them that the test is “based on evolution as a theory,

not as fact.” Asked by the Republicans why teachers couldn't simply

include creationism as a counterpoint to lessons on evolution, Holliday

reportedly reminded them that creationism is a religious belief and

doesn't have a place in a science classroom.

The National Center for Science Education took note of the report, reminding that Kentucky has a history of combativeness toward the teaching of evolution:

Previous legislative activity aimed at undermining the

teaching of evolution in Kentucky's public schools includes House Bill

169 in 2011 and House Bill 397 in 2010, both based on the so-called

Louisiana Science Education Act; both bills died in committee. Kentucky




Bible as are deemed necessary for instruction on the theory of

creation." Yet the Louisville Courier-Journal (January 11, 2006)

reported that in a November 2005 survey of the state's 176 school

districts, none was teaching or discussing "intelligent design."

While the debate has been rehashed countless times, Vincent Cassone,

chairman of the University of Kentucky biology department and a member

of the committee that helped developed ACT's testing curriculum, told

the Herald-Leader that the Republicans' rejection of evolution was incomprehensible.

"The theory of evolution is the fundamental backbone of all

biological research," he said. "There is more evidence for evolution

than there is for the theory of gravity, than the idea that things are

made up of atoms, or Einstein's theory of relativity. It is the finest

scientific theory ever devised."


Since people in the swamp like games, I am starting a new one.  "Where's bobell"?

Ever since the "shunning" started the other day, we've seen less and less of bobell.  We'll play it like a where's Waldo game.  


 " a where's Waldo game."


You and Paulie really like playing "where's my Waldo" together at night, don't you?


Psst Patty.  You are supposed to be "shunning me", get with the program buttwipe.



Wish they would go back to shunning. Their failed effort seems to have cost them IQ points which were already in short supply at the hive.


It was the happiest day of my swampland life when I was included in on the shunning.  But sadly as I predicted, it wouldn't even last 24 hours.  


Jay Carney is a desperate attempt to defend the indefensible insults respected black Democrat former governor.

"Carney On Black Fmr. Dem Gov: "He Doesn't Have A Point" On Biden"



"White House says Obama will stick with Biden as running mate" 

Barry doubles down on his racial arsonist VP, "Crazy" Joe Biden. Hillary gets short shrift once more.


Did you hear that collective sigh coming from the hive paulejb?  When the announcement came in that Crazy Joe would remain on the ticket I sensed a real disturbance coming from the hive force.  

It's like when you see road kill along the road, all bloated up, and then this putrid sigh of rushing toxic air comes rushing out.  



"Crazy" Joe Biden knows where the bodies are buried. It won't be easy for Barry to get rid of him.


It’s been a full year since Treasury Secretary and admitted tax cheat

Timothy F. Geithner announced, “Welcome to the recovery.” Recovery? The

gross-domestic-product growth rate slowed to 1.5 percent. The

unemployment rate ticked up to 8.3 percent. Twenty-three million

Americans are unemployed. A nearly 16 trillion debt looms large. A

record 45 million Americans are on food stamps. More than 100 million

are on some form of welfare. America’s credit rating has been

downgraded.The president’s response? “We tried our plan — and it worked.” This was his plan?.....This is hope and change?......  Thanks, but NO thanks....a vote for Obama is a vote to bankrupt our nation.



 Georgia The Maid,


A light switch is not a good analogy for an economic recovery.


A ballast tank in a submarine is a better analogy. 


Our economy was deeper underwater than Obama had first come to terms with.


So, we are closer the surface than we were before, but, not there yet.




I am posting on

I am having trouble and threats from KevinGroenhagen...

someone said that you have dealt with him before..can you check in on the Letters section of that site..yesterday's column..and see if this is the same guy..

he's really beginning to piss me off..thanks for any help.


I will delete this almost immediately..thanks


PS, Dream on


 " Dream on"


You're accusing me of dreaming of Naval Architecture and Marine Engineering? 


I don't, but, since it was my late father's career he would have been proud to think that.


I was showing a wingnut a simple analogy to modern Macroeconomics which is like trying to teach multivariate calculus to a German Sheppard. 


Obviously, with your lemonade stand sized business of 65 employees, you wouldn't know anything about economics, either. 


Was Hillary dissed or did she know going on the ticket with Barry would have been political suicide?  

All the hype earlier today was that Obama was meeting with Hillary in the White House and behind the scene talk was that he was going to ask her to be his new running mate / VP.  

I am inclined to think that Hillary decided that this would be political suicide for her if she wanted to run in 2016.  

So we are stuck with crazy Uncle Joe.  But with all his gaffes lately, people will start to think "he's just one heartbeat away from the Presidency, can we take that risk for 4 more years?"



Hillary is too smart to tie herself to a loser like Barack.



"As well as making sweetheart deals with Big Pharma to get ObamaCare passed.


Just more proof that big government types and corporate types are in collusion.


If you vote republican, you're promoting this:

When George W. Bush’s narrowly won reelection in 2004, not a single

American state had a law requiring voters to present photographic

identification at the polls. Today about 10 states, with 134 electoral

votes among them, have enacted such laws — all at the prompting of

Republicans.Republicans are not responding to a

newly discovered crisis in voter impersonation at the polls, but to a

partisan crisis brought on by their party’s declining base of white

Protestant voters. If the GOP can’t grow its own voter base, it can at

least hope to shrink the Democrats’ base.

Photo - identification

laws are targeted heavily at Democratic minority voters, who are

significantly less likely than whites to possess the required

identifications. A reduction in the votes of racial minorities relative

to the votes of reliably Republican white Protestants benefits the GOP.

In an unguarded moment, Pennsylvania’s state House majority leader,

Republican Mike Turzai, said that his state’s newly enacted

photo-identification law “is gonna allow Governor Romney to win the

state of Pennsylvania.” In a response to a lawsuit challenging the law,

the state’s attorneys admitted that they were “not aware of any

incidents of in-person voter fraud.” Impartial studies have reached

similar conclusions about voter impersonation across the nation.

In contrast to voter fraud,

the decline of the Republican’s base vote is real and pervasive.

America is no longer a white Protestant nation. Until the late - 20th

century, white Protestants had composed the majority of Americans and

the overwhelmingly majority of voters. That white Protestant majority

has since disappeared. Fewer than 40 percent of all Americans today are

white and Protestant, though the group, which tends to be older and more

likely to vote, is usually overrepresented at the polls.


percentage of white Protestants among voters will continue to slide as

America becomes increasingly non - white. The big states of Texas and

California are already majority non-white and all of America is likely

to follow suit before mid-century according to US Census projections.

Hispanics, the nation’s largest minority group, are increasingly gaining

citizenship and voting. African American voter turnout now closely

approximates that of whites.


presidential tickets of both parties are added testament to the

declining political power of white Protestants in the United States. The

political elite have now caught up with trends among rank-and-file

voters. For the first time since its founding in the 1850s, the

Republican Party will nominate for president a candidate other than a

white Protestant: the Mormon Mitt Romney. For the first time in the

history of the American Republic neither major party ticket includes a

white Protestant nominee.

The dependence of the Republican

Party on white Protestant voters is deeply rooted in the party’s

history. The modern Republican Party took shape in the 1920s out of a

widespread concern that secular, pluralistic, and cosmopolitan forces

threatened America’s national identity as a white Protestant nation. At

the core of conservative politics both in the 1920s and today is the

ideal of America as a unified nation that upholds traditional white

Protestant values.


Protestant voters overwhelmingly backed Republican candidates in the

early 20th century, with the exception of the South, which was solidly

opposed to the party of Lincoln until later in the 20th century. Racial

and religious divisions in voting remain pervasive today, far

overshadowing divisions of gender or class. And white Protestants are

still overwhelmingly Republican. In 2004, according to exit polls,

George W. Bush won two thirds of the white Protestant vote, but only

about 11 percent of the African - American vote, 44 percent of the

Hispanic vote, and 25 percent of the Jewish vote. In 2008, John McCain

won 65 percent of the white Protestant vote, but only about 5 percent of

the African-American vote, 31 percent of the Hispanic vote, and 21

percent of the Jewish vote. Republican support among evangelical, white

Protestants has been especially impressive, with Bush winning 79 percent

and McCain 73 percent.


Republican majorities among white Protestants count for much less in

recent years than in earlier times. To fill the gap left by white

Protestants’ diminished share of the national vote, Republicans have

sought an alliance with traditionally Democratic white (non-Hispanic)

Catholics, which is reflected in the selection of Ryan as Romney’s

running mate. Republicans have wooed Catholic voters by appealing to

their church’s conservative positions on moral issues also championed by

evangelical Protestants such as abortion, po rnogra phy, and gay rights.

However, Catholic teachings clashed with Republican positions on other

issues including social welfare, labor rights, and capital punishment.


result was to turn white Catholic voters into the only major ethnic or

religious swing vote in the United States. In 2004, Bush won the

presidency because he prevailed among white Catholics by a margin of 13

points. In 2008, McCain’s white Catholic majority had shrunk to five

points. Like Bush, Romney must win a hefty majority of white Catholics

if he hopes to win this year.


vice-presidential candidates Ryan and Biden mirror the divided souls of

American Catholics. Ryan, who would ban abortions, even in cases of

rape and incest, closely follows the church line on moral issues, but

has been rebuked by some Catholic bishops for budget proposals that harm

the poor and the elderly. Biden follows the church line on social

justice for the less fortunate, but has been criticized by some bishops

for his pro-choice stance on abortion. Already Republican and Democratic

partisans are debating whether Ryan or Biden is more faithful to Church



Catholics divided and white Protestants as their only reliable voter

bloc, the Republican Party is rowing against the tide of demographic

change in the United States. Regardless of the outcome of this year’s

election or the fate of voter-identification laws, if Republicans fail

to expand their demographic base they will disappear as surely as the

Whigs that they replaced in the 1850s.


Yes, now I don't have to wait hours on end for a polling booth that is being taken up by an illegal who shouldn't have been voting in the first place.  It's GREAT!!







Although Republican activists have repeatedly said fraud is so

widespread that it has corrupted the political process and, possibly,

cost the party election victories, about 120 people have been charged

and 86 convicted as of last year.



Illegal immigrant votes?


Give it up!


You forgot all the felons in Minnesota who stole the election for your man Stuart Smalley.  That vote was won by obtaining 306 felon votes that should not have voted in the first place.  

Plus the reason we are not seeing convictions on voter fraud is because Eric "Fast and Furious" Holder refuses to try the cases or bring them to court.  



"York: When 1,099 felons vote in race won by 312 ballots" 

Republicans know that they must get out enough legitimate votes to overcome the Democrat margin of fraud.


"It is great to be here in North Canton, or as Joe Biden might say, it's great to be here in Nevada," Ryan said as he opened an address at Walsh University in North Cantor, Ohio. Biden on Tuesday mistakenly told a crowd in Danville, Va., that they could help President Obama win North Carolina in November."We can win North Carolina again," Biden said.

And Joe Biden is just one heartbeat away from the Presidency.  Come on America, wake up.