News and Current Events - 2012

[fritzkep]

I'm sure Houston and Dallas will dwarf the President's fundraising, though.

Though they will no doubt go for the loyal opposition.

Pity that British expression doesn't transfer to this side of the Atlantic.

[Marge_Innavera]

A Republican state Senate candidate in Iowa has decided to bow out of the race and become a U.S. senator of an alternative form of government. In a letter released Friday, Randi Shannon informs supporters of her new position as “U.S. Senator in the Republic of the United States of America.” You see, according to Shannon, the U.S. government has been acting unlawfully as the “‘official government,’ which clearly it is not!” The libertarian-leaning group she joined claims it “re-inhabited” the government on March 30, 2010. The group claims the “United States Corporation” unlawfully formed in 1871 without the American people’s consent. “Since 1871, the abuses of this corporation upon both the international community as well as the American people are inestimable and unconscionable,” the group’s website claims.
http://2012.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/07/republic-of-the-united-states-of-america-united-states-

[oilgun]

Are ALL Republicans bat-shit crazy?  I'm watching Anderson Cooper with the story about Michelle Bachmann's and five other Repubs' claim that  Muslim extremists have "deeply penetrated" ( Ooh, I just felt some movement...) the highest offices of the government.  Yet, the McCarthyists (?)  provide no credible evidence.  It's just pure fear-mongering.  Seriously, please explain to me how any thinking person can support the Republican party?!  To be fair, we have our own version of the Republican party here in Canuckistan, but how anyone can support the Harper government I also find mystifying.  I guess the answer is selfishness and greed.  How else to explain people putting up with all the crazy shit?!

[killersmom]

WOW! Even Rick Perry and some other high Republicans are calling for Mitt Romney to release more than 2 years of tax returns. As it stands Romney has only released one year, since his 2011 returns have not yet been filed. Romney has said that he has no plans to release more than 2 years.
Of course, Senator McCain supports Romney only releasing the 2 years as that is all he McCain released.

[oilgun]

WOW! Even Rick Perry and some other high Republicans are calling for Mitt Romney to release more than 2 years of tax returns. As it stands Romney has only released one year, since his 2011 returns have not yet been filed. Romney has said that he has no plans to release more than 2 years.
Of course, Senator McCain supports Romney only releasing the 2 years as that is all he McCain released.

Obama had to release everything down to his grade school report cards.

[killersmom]

Obama had to release everything down to his grade school report cards.

Yes he did. Obama has released 6 years of tax returns.
My belief is that if you don't have anything to hide, then what's the problem?

[doodler]

Didn't we have this discussion a few pages back only re showing id to the cops when asked?

[janjo]

I'm sure Houston and Dallas will dwarf the President's fundraising, though.

Though they will no doubt go for the loyal opposition.

Pity that British expression doesn't transfer to this side of the Atlantic.

Her Majesty's loyal opposition.........................hhhhmmmmmmm.

I'm not sure how loyal the opposition is...........................with a Conservative / Liberal Democrat government, there seems to be a considerable amount of disloyalty in the right wing of the Tory party!

[doodler]

Who says our borders are not secure?

2 Seattle men stopped at border for illegal candy
Associated Press – 7 hrs ago


SEATTLE (AP) — Two Seattle men say they spent more than two hours in a detention center at the Canadian border after U.S. border agents discovered illegal chocolate eggs in their car.

Brandon Loo and Christopher Sweeney told KOMO-TV (http://is.gd/usuy85 ) they decided to bring home some treats for friends and family during a recent trip to Vancouver, British Columbia. They bought Kinder Eggs — chocolate eggs with a toy inside.

The two men say border guards searched their car and said the eggs are illegal in the United States because young children could choke on the small plastic toys. Importing them can lead to a potentially hefty fine.

Sweeney says the bust was a waste of his time and the agents' time. The men eventually got off with a warning.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman declined to comment about the case Tuesday night.

The agency warned on its website around Easter that the treats can't be imported legally.

The agency says it seized more than 60,000 Kinder Eggs from travelers' baggage and international mail shipments in fiscal 2011.


yahoo story

[fritzkep]

Didn't we have this discussion a few pages back only re showing id to the cops when asked?

The Republicans at least in Pennsylvania are apparently taking delight in keeping people away from the polls.

I've voted my entire life, from the time I was old enough to vote," says Bea Bookler, 94, of Devon, Pa.

She cast her first ballot for Franklin Roosevelt. But now, unless she can get to the motor vehicle office 10 miles from her home, she won't be able to vote in November.

"How would I get there and how would I manage to stand in a line?" says Bookler, who uses a walker. She says she can barely make it to the polling place next door to her retirement community. She also doesn't understand why she has to go to all this trouble in the first place. She already has a voter registration card.

"I have an ID which says I am registered to vote in Chester County. There is no reason why I should need anything else. It's an outrage," she says.

http://www.npr.org/2012/07/18/156935624/study-many-could-face-obstacles-in-voter-id-laws

Some of the enforcement strikes me as just mean-spirited.

[AZ.bbm]

Didn't we have this discussion a few pages back only re showing id to the cops when asked?

 

Apparently, when you're running for public office in the U.S., you forfeit all rights to privacy...

( I suppose this might be a big reason that Ms. Rice is refusing the offer to be Willard's running mate, she'd like to preserve her privacy regarding her extravagant connections to San Francisco politics, and to Big Oil...?   -What in heaven's name do you have to do (for Exxon) and to whom in order to have an oil tanker named after you??!)
--

+  Speaking of being stopped by cops while driving, a CA friend sent me this video link:

Check out this guy's experience with police checkpoints in California. Remind me not to drive there anymore.

-Pretty ballsy, eh?!

[Lyle (Mooska)]

unless she can get to the motor vehicle office 10 miles from her home, she won't be able to vote in November.

I haven't found any information out about how one votes absentee in the "show your ID" laws.  You used
to just request an absentee ballot and if your name is on the registration list you get sent one.  How does it
work with voter ID laws?  Do you have to go in and get one or some nonsense like that?

***Well, here's a link I just found.  Voter ID laws passed since 2011 by state
and their requirements for each state.

http://www.brennancenter.org/content/resource/voter_id_laws/

Regarding the above lady:

Absentee Voting ID Requirements

An absentee voter who has been issued a current and valid driver’s license must provide his or her license number. An absentee voter who has not been issued a current and valid driver’s license can provide the last four digits of his or her social security number.

It's a pain in the ass, but Republicans wouldn't have it any other way because they are all for less and smaller government intrusion into people's lives.  Even 94 year old Bea Buckler's.

( I suppose this might be a big reason that Ms. Rice is refusing the offer to be Willard's running mate, she'd like to preserve her privacy regarding her extravagant connections to San Francisco politics, and to Big Oil...?

Plus the scuttlebutt is that she's a lesbian.

[AZ.bbm]

^^
I hadn't heard that... Most everything about Dr. Rice's life & career is fascinating.

While I don't particularly care for her politics, what the hey, she is doing just fine, sans my approval.



(Interesting that Rice was originally a Democrat, and Hillary was originally a Republican!)

[oilgun]

Apparently, when you're running for public office in the U.S., you forfeit all rights to privacy...

( I suppose this might be a big reason that Ms. Rice is refusing the offer to be Willard's running mate, she'd like to preserve her privacy regarding her extravagant connections to San Francisco politics, and to Big Oil...?   -What in heaven's name do you have to do (for Exxon) and to whom in order to have an oil tanker named after you??!)
--

+  Speaking of being stopped by cops while driving, a CA friend sent me this video link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDCXzqgD99o

-Pretty ballsy, eh?!

Needless to say that the outcome would have been vastly different had the ballsy driver been brown of african-american. 

[kathy]

Are ALL Republicans bat-shit crazy?  I'm watching Anderson Cooper with the story about Michelle Bachmann's and five other Repubs' claim that  Muslim extremists have "deeply penetrated" ( Ooh, I just felt some movement...) the highest offices of the government.  Yet, the McCarthyists (?)  provide no credible evidence.  It's just pure fear-mongering.  Seriously, please explain to me how any thinking person can support the Republican party?!  To be fair, we have our own version of the Republican party here in Canuckistan, but how anyone can support the Harper government I also find mystifying.  I guess the answer is selfishness and greed.  How else to explain people putting up with all the crazy shit?!

Is this jerk still around?  Why doesn't she shut her lousy stupid mouth?  It surely has been proven many times how ridiculous  she and her mouth are.  Anyway, it seems as if they all are a bunch of warmongers.  

It sounds just like the cheney/bush et al lying statements.

kathy    
p.s.  Just a thought re C. Rice: another of the cheney/bush crowd - all of them - and their lying statements.