[Mitt Romney is running for president, so it's important we know everything about him.
In particular, I think it's time we learned what's in his tax returns. To date he has released only one year of returns for 2010. What on earth is he trying to hide?
We already know Romney has invested untold millions in multiple tax heavens around the world, a ploy that allows the super-rich to evade US tax laws, but the staggering sums that are piling up - he has $30 million dollars in the Caymen Islands alone - are a bizarre and insulting precedent for a United States presidential candidate.
We also know that Romney appears to believe that taxes are for the little people. We know this because in 2010 and 2011 he paid $6.2 million in federal tax on $42.5 million in income. That means he paid a tax rate of about $15 percent, which is a rate that most middle class tax payers can only dream of.
So if there's nothing to hide, and we assume there isn't, why is he hiding it? Has he in fact made use of offshore havens to defer, or avoid paying, federal income taxes? Did he buy any illegal or gray area tax shelters? Has an IRS audit ever uncovered any serious problems with any of his tax returns? Has it all been on the up and up, has it all been legal?
These are pretty simple questions and they deserve an answer from anyone who outs themselves forward to be commander in chief.
We already know that at Bain Romney made use of the 'covered interest' tax loophole that allowed him to treat his fees there as if they were capital gains (15% tax) rather than wages (35% tax). That's perfectly legal, if not perfectly patriotic. But how many people are evening reporting on that yet?]
emphasis added
Read more: http://www.irishcentral.com/story/ent/manhattan_diary/why-is-mitt-romney-hiding-his-tax-returns-161578585.html#ixzz1zxItP8Tv
Saturday, July 7, 2012
Friday, July 6, 2012
Do You Have a 100 Million IRA?
Common man Willard Romney does.
[His IRA raises two key questions, both of which his campaign has consistently declined to answer: How, despite a $6000 legal limit on annual contributions to an IRA, did Romney’s IRA grow to over $100 million? And did he avoid any U.S. taxes on its enormous returns?]
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/07/romney-offshore-ira-tax-avoidance.php?ref=fpb
"What is Mitt Romney hiding?" http://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-mitt-romney-hiding-2012-7
[His IRA raises two key questions, both of which his campaign has consistently declined to answer: How, despite a $6000 legal limit on annual contributions to an IRA, did Romney’s IRA grow to over $100 million? And did he avoid any U.S. taxes on its enormous returns?]
http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2012/07/romney-offshore-ira-tax-avoidance.php?ref=fpb
"What is Mitt Romney hiding?" http://www.businessinsider.com/what-is-mitt-romney-hiding-2012-7
Born Again Brain Atrophy
Here all along I blamed the water.
[WEDNESDAY, May 25 (HealthDay News) -- Older adults who say they've had a life-changing religious experience are more likely to have a greater decrease in size of the hippocampus, the part of the brain critical to learning and memory, new research finds.
According to the study, people who said they were a "born-again" Protestant or Catholic, or conversely, those who had no religious affiliation, had more hippocampal shrinkage (or "atrophy") compared to people who identified themselves as Protestants, but not born-again.]
Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/health/132456883.html?c=r#ixzz1zso0Zbb9
Watch sports videos you won't find anywhere else
[WEDNESDAY, May 25 (HealthDay News) -- Older adults who say they've had a life-changing religious experience are more likely to have a greater decrease in size of the hippocampus, the part of the brain critical to learning and memory, new research finds.
According to the study, people who said they were a "born-again" Protestant or Catholic, or conversely, those who had no religious affiliation, had more hippocampal shrinkage (or "atrophy") compared to people who identified themselves as Protestants, but not born-again.]
Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/health/132456883.html?c=r#ixzz1zso0Zbb9
Watch sports videos you won't find anywhere else
More Evidence Ted Nugent Should Smoke Pot
Holy H. L. Mencken's ghost, Bat Person, a newspaper actually gave space to this lunatic's ravings.
By his mentioning the Tenth Amendment to the US Constitution, he means what he perceives the original intent of it, ignoring over 2 centuries of legal precedent and history, plus the tiny little trivial matter of slavery
That even a yellow press conservative rag like the Moonie Washington Times would see this as fit to print shows just how far political discourse has become debased.
At long last, Willard Romney, will you disavow the delirious diatribes of this madman?
Nugent's remark came in response to what he called "turncoat" Chief Justice John Roberts' "traitor vote" to uphold President Obama's health reform law, including the individual mandate. According to Nugent, Roberts "squandered the opportunity to restore judicial, financial and legislative sanity to a government that by any sane person's standards is insane and addicted to centralized federal control of our lives."
Nugent then stated:
"Because our legislative, judicial and executive branches of government hold the 10th Amendment in contempt, I'm beginning to wonder if it would have been best had the South won the Civil War. Our Founding Fathers' concept of limited government is dead."] emphasis added to bring extra ridicule to this fool
http://mediamatters.org/blog/2012/07/06/nras-nugent-im-beginning-to-wonder-if-it-would/186972
Omar Khayyam's Rubaiyat
For a hand like mine,
which always grips a wine glass,
it would be a shame
to put scripture or a rosary in it.
You’re a dry ascetic,
and I’m a soused rascal,
but don’t worry–
I’m too well watered
to burn in hell.
which always grips a wine glass,
it would be a shame
to put scripture or a rosary in it.
You’re a dry ascetic,
and I’m a soused rascal,
but don’t worry–
I’m too well watered
to burn in hell.
Thursday, July 5, 2012
Raygunz Rides a Velociraptor
[In this computer picture, we see that dinosaurs were indeed around in the 1980′s, and that Ronald Reagan has kicked Jesus off the velociraptor because he is now King. Ronnie is using the dinosaur to streak through America, shooting automatic weapons and RPGs at gay people, other minorities and college liberals. He has an American flag as a saddle blanket because he is King and he can. The raptor is carrying the American flag pole in his briny fingers and has no idea what is happening.
THIS is the reason other countries should fear us.]
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
What does the flag mean to you?
The American flag, although long a symbol, gains new meaning with each generation, from those who serve in the armed forces to ordinary citizens who in their ordinary lives try to make lives better for themselves and neighbors, not by cheating or stock fraud for riches but by improving the commonweal.
[I know a woman named Ms. Veronica Ortiz-Rivera, who lost her husband, Marine Staff Sergeant Javier Ortiz-Rivera, while he served with my unit in Afghanistan in 2010. Shell casings folded into a four by eight ensign represent his honorable career. For families of the fallen or passed, a folded flag symbolizes the selfless service of their loved ones. To me, the red represents the blood they were willing to shed in its defense.]
[We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.]
http://www.law.cornell.edu/constitution/preamble
http://www.marines.mil/unit/2ndmardiv/Documents/Press-Releases/2010-11-16%20-%20OEF%20-%20Staff%20Sgt.%20JAVIER%20O.ORTIZ%20RIVERA%20--%20NY.pdf
http://www.marines.mil/unit/2ndmardiv/Pages/Media/default.aspx
World Shifts on Axis: Republican congressman calls for details from Romney
One advantage of living life as Willard Romney does--an empty tailored suit with no principles, beliefs, or values that he will not repudiate at the drop of a hat or electoral race and multiple accounts in foreign tax havens --lies in never having to debate issues.
One can wrestle IN Jello but cannot hold on to it to wrestle it. So we see Mssr. Romney dancing on the head of an immigration pin, trying to placate tea party yahoos but also offering banal words to actual immigrants to cajole them into voting his way, words but no details.
Kind of like commercials Mitt runs now in FL vowing to replace Obama care on day 1 and replace with patient centered reform.
First, Mittens, actual humans out here in real America lack health insurance and funds to actually BECOME patients.
Second, the Congress passed the Affordable Care Act, and a president cannot unilaterally abolish it as though a king with royal perogative.
Shoot, actually have to praise a Republican in FL.
[A prominent Hispanic Republican and Miami power broker accused Mitt Romney of lacking leadership and compassion in his approach to immigration in an interview with BuzzFeed this week, and warned that elements of the Miami party machinery won't engage on election day without a more expansive Romney plan on immigration.
Rep. David Rivera, who represents the southwestern tip of the Sunshine State, is the only Latino Republican in the House who's not on Romney's Hispanic Steering Committee, kept at arm's length by the presidential candidate because of a set of investigations into his personal finances. He recently introduced legislation that would give amnesty to some immigrants who came to to the country as children. And he said he has yet to see a serious, satisfying proposal from Romney on the issue.
"I think Hispanic voters expect more details as to what that 'permanent solution' might be that he keeps talking about," Rivera said, referring to Romney's pledge to fix the immigration system while in office.]
One can wrestle IN Jello but cannot hold on to it to wrestle it. So we see Mssr. Romney dancing on the head of an immigration pin, trying to placate tea party yahoos but also offering banal words to actual immigrants to cajole them into voting his way, words but no details.
Kind of like commercials Mitt runs now in FL vowing to replace Obama care on day 1 and replace with patient centered reform.
First, Mittens, actual humans out here in real America lack health insurance and funds to actually BECOME patients.
Second, the Congress passed the Affordable Care Act, and a president cannot unilaterally abolish it as though a king with royal perogative.
Shoot, actually have to praise a Republican in FL.
[A prominent Hispanic Republican and Miami power broker accused Mitt Romney of lacking leadership and compassion in his approach to immigration in an interview with BuzzFeed this week, and warned that elements of the Miami party machinery won't engage on election day without a more expansive Romney plan on immigration.
Rep. David Rivera, who represents the southwestern tip of the Sunshine State, is the only Latino Republican in the House who's not on Romney's Hispanic Steering Committee, kept at arm's length by the presidential candidate because of a set of investigations into his personal finances. He recently introduced legislation that would give amnesty to some immigrants who came to to the country as children. And he said he has yet to see a serious, satisfying proposal from Romney on the issue.
"I think Hispanic voters expect more details as to what that 'permanent solution' might be that he keeps talking about," Rivera said, referring to Romney's pledge to fix the immigration system while in office.]
Tuesday, July 3, 2012
Stupid Crook News: Man attacks women with sword and peanut butter sandwich
[WINTER HAVEN, Fla. —
A Winter Haven man is accused of attacking two women with a sword and a peanut butter sandwich.
Deputies said Mark Miller, 50, told them he became angry on Friday because the women were banging on his trailer. According to the report, Miller exited his home and poked his sword at a pregnant woman's stomach, and then smeared the other woman with the sandwich.
The woman told deputies she managed to grab the blade and stop him from stabbing her.
Miller said he never left his doorway.
As the deputies drove Miller to jail, they said he ripped a piece of padding from the inside of the patrol car with his teeth.]
http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/deputies-man-attacked-women-sword-peanut-butter-sa/nPkTM/
A Winter Haven man is accused of attacking two women with a sword and a peanut butter sandwich.
Deputies said Mark Miller, 50, told them he became angry on Friday because the women were banging on his trailer. According to the report, Miller exited his home and poked his sword at a pregnant woman's stomach, and then smeared the other woman with the sandwich.
The woman told deputies she managed to grab the blade and stop him from stabbing her.
Miller said he never left his doorway.
As the deputies drove Miller to jail, they said he ripped a piece of padding from the inside of the patrol car with his teeth.]
http://www.wftv.com/news/news/local/deputies-man-attacked-women-sword-peanut-butter-sa/nPkTM/
Monday, July 2, 2012
From Sublime to Absurd: Ganja helps cure Nazi twins of racism
If we look at previous post on Fallujah the Opera as sublime instance of humanity trying to make the insanity of war sensible, then this post skews towards whatever goddess of irony exists.
[At 13 and cute as candy, twins Lynx and Lamb Gaede could have passed for any other teenagers with dreams of pop stardom.
Apart, that is, from their songs about white supremacy and smiley-faced Hitler T-shirts.
In 2005 the Mirror revealed how the blonde-haired, blue-eyed, all-American sisters formed a band called Prussian Blue – named after a by-product of the poison used to gas millions of Jews during the Holocaust.
Schooled in bile and racist lies by their warped mother and grandfather, these children of hate were cheered by right wing fanatics as they belted out tunes such as Aryan Man Awake and gave Nazi salutes on stage.
But seven years on it seems the Sieg Heil sisters have had a radical change of heart – and are now singing a different tune.
Click here for '"Hitler is our hero": Watch teen Nazis known as Sieg Heil twin sisters perform their race hate pop'
They appear to have turned from fascist, anti-immigration hate-mongers into laid-back liberals celebrating the joys of ethnic diversity and spreading a message of peace and love.
After escaping the all-controlling clutches of their mother, April, and battling serious health problems, Lynx and Lamb, now 20, say they have swapped their Hitler youth for a happy hippy lifestyle.
And, like so many other pop star transformations, the Gaede twins appear to have been helped along their journey of “enlightenment” by smoking a lot of marijuana.
“My sister and I are pretty liberal now,” Lamb revealed in a recent US TV interview.]http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/real-life-stories/nazi-twins-lynx-and-lamb-gaede-941546
[At 13 and cute as candy, twins Lynx and Lamb Gaede could have passed for any other teenagers with dreams of pop stardom.
Apart, that is, from their songs about white supremacy and smiley-faced Hitler T-shirts.
In 2005 the Mirror revealed how the blonde-haired, blue-eyed, all-American sisters formed a band called Prussian Blue – named after a by-product of the poison used to gas millions of Jews during the Holocaust.
Schooled in bile and racist lies by their warped mother and grandfather, these children of hate were cheered by right wing fanatics as they belted out tunes such as Aryan Man Awake and gave Nazi salutes on stage.
But seven years on it seems the Sieg Heil sisters have had a radical change of heart – and are now singing a different tune.
Click here for '"Hitler is our hero": Watch teen Nazis known as Sieg Heil twin sisters perform their race hate pop'
They appear to have turned from fascist, anti-immigration hate-mongers into laid-back liberals celebrating the joys of ethnic diversity and spreading a message of peace and love.
After escaping the all-controlling clutches of their mother, April, and battling serious health problems, Lynx and Lamb, now 20, say they have swapped their Hitler youth for a happy hippy lifestyle.
And, like so many other pop star transformations, the Gaede twins appear to have been helped along their journey of “enlightenment” by smoking a lot of marijuana.
“My sister and I are pretty liberal now,” Lamb revealed in a recent US TV interview.]http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/real-life-stories/nazi-twins-lynx-and-lamb-gaede-941546
Fallujah, the Opera
http://explore.org/#!/videos/player/fallujah-trailer
Perhaps some events in the human tragedy can only become sensible through the arts, like Oliver Stone's Platoon.
Whatever it takes to heal, brothers and sisters.
Whatever it takes in non violence of course and eschewing usual means of violence towards oneself like alcoholism and drug abuse.
[By JULIE WATSON
The Associated Press
After returning from the battlefields of Iraq, Christian Ellis found the only way to soothe the war wounds in his soul was by losing himself singing opera's powerful, haunting songs.
Now the 29-year-old former U.S. Marine machine gunner— who has attempted suicide four times — is putting his pain on stage in the first opera believed written about the war: "Fallujah."
The two-hour performance is an unnerving musical journey into his head.
"Fallujah" was developed in Vancouver, Canada, by City Opera Vancouver with the help of a playwright, a composer, nine actors and an 11-member orchestra in a kind of performance laboratory. It will debut July 2 on explore.org/fallujah and will be marketed to opera houses. It is an example of how battlefield trauma after a decade of war is shaping American art as countless veterans, like Ellis, find themselves fighting an even tougher battle at home against horrifying memories, survivor's guilt and sorrow.
Art in its various forms is being used as a tool for veterans to come to terms with the bloodshed and adjust to civilian life. Many are telling of their pain in films, books, plays, rap music. Veterans hope by doing so they can foster understanding in a society largely disconnected from the war.] http://www.wftv.com/news/ap/entertainment/1st-iraq-veteran-opera-puts-inner-turmoil-on-stage/nPkB6/
Perhaps some events in the human tragedy can only become sensible through the arts, like Oliver Stone's Platoon.
Whatever it takes to heal, brothers and sisters.
Whatever it takes in non violence of course and eschewing usual means of violence towards oneself like alcoholism and drug abuse.
[By JULIE WATSON
The Associated Press
After returning from the battlefields of Iraq, Christian Ellis found the only way to soothe the war wounds in his soul was by losing himself singing opera's powerful, haunting songs.
Now the 29-year-old former U.S. Marine machine gunner— who has attempted suicide four times — is putting his pain on stage in the first opera believed written about the war: "Fallujah."
The two-hour performance is an unnerving musical journey into his head.
"Fallujah" was developed in Vancouver, Canada, by City Opera Vancouver with the help of a playwright, a composer, nine actors and an 11-member orchestra in a kind of performance laboratory. It will debut July 2 on explore.org/fallujah and will be marketed to opera houses. It is an example of how battlefield trauma after a decade of war is shaping American art as countless veterans, like Ellis, find themselves fighting an even tougher battle at home against horrifying memories, survivor's guilt and sorrow.
Art in its various forms is being used as a tool for veterans to come to terms with the bloodshed and adjust to civilian life. Many are telling of their pain in films, books, plays, rap music. Veterans hope by doing so they can foster understanding in a society largely disconnected from the war.] http://www.wftv.com/news/ap/entertainment/1st-iraq-veteran-opera-puts-inner-turmoil-on-stage/nPkB6/
Mother Jones, "Most Dangerous Woman in America"
Mother Jones magazine, keeping alive the excellent tradition of progressive values embodied by namesake, Mary Harris.
[Mother Jones – once described as the most dangerous woman in America – is to be honored in her native Cork.
Born Mary Harris in Cork city, the achievements of labor activist Mother Jones are to be commemorated at a festival in her hometown.
The three day celebrations will mark the 175th anniversary of Mary Harris’ birth on Shandon Street on the north side of Cork city.
The trade union activist lived until the age of 93 and earned the ‘most dangerous woman in America’ tag thanks to her campaigning on behalf of workers.
Born in 1837, she emigrated to America after her family had survived the Great Famine.
The Irish Times reports that Mother Jones settled in Tennessee where she witnessed the horrors of the American civil war.
She then moved to Chicago and at the age of 60 became involved in the fledgling US labour movement.
Mother Jones was a co-founder of the Industrial Workers of the World movement known as the Wobblies.
She was active in organising union campaigns in Alabama, West Virginia, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New York and counted the Mexican revolutionary leader Pancho Villa among her friends.]
Read more: http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Most-dangerous-in-America-to-be-celebrated-in-her-Cork-birthplace--161055795.html#ixzz1zULgBdt9
[Mother Jones – once described as the most dangerous woman in America – is to be honored in her native Cork.
Born Mary Harris in Cork city, the achievements of labor activist Mother Jones are to be commemorated at a festival in her hometown.
The three day celebrations will mark the 175th anniversary of Mary Harris’ birth on Shandon Street on the north side of Cork city.
The trade union activist lived until the age of 93 and earned the ‘most dangerous woman in America’ tag thanks to her campaigning on behalf of workers.
Born in 1837, she emigrated to America after her family had survived the Great Famine.
The Irish Times reports that Mother Jones settled in Tennessee where she witnessed the horrors of the American civil war.
She then moved to Chicago and at the age of 60 became involved in the fledgling US labour movement.
Mother Jones was a co-founder of the Industrial Workers of the World movement known as the Wobblies.
She was active in organising union campaigns in Alabama, West Virginia, Illinois, Pennsylvania, and New York and counted the Mexican revolutionary leader Pancho Villa among her friends.]
Read more: http://www.irishcentral.com/news/Most-dangerous-in-America-to-be-celebrated-in-her-Cork-birthplace--161055795.html#ixzz1zULgBdt9
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