Mitt Romney Insult: Another "No Apology"

So, is this what Mitt Romney discusses in those quiet rooms?  Or, is this a sales pitch to rich campaign donors?   

On May 17^th fundraiser in Boca Raton, Fla., at the  home of investment banker Marc Leder - Romney tells millionaire donors at a closed-door, $50,000-a-person fundraiser what he really thinks of Obama voters.     

Romney’s campaign began letting reporters into his fundraisers in early May, but members of the press aren’t allowed to watch unless he has “prepared remarks.” Romney fundraisers normally include three parts: those who pay $2,500 are admitted to a reception that reporters are allowed to attend.  Those who give more often $25,000 are allowed to have their photo taken with Romney before the event.  At most evening fundraisers, those who donate $50,000 are allowed to attend a dinner where Romney takes questions, often held at the home of a supporter separate from the reception. Reporters are not permitted to watch that portion of fundraisers.  Based on the description of the video posted by Mother Jones, that is where Romney appears to be speaking to guests at an evening fundraiser.  Someone invited to the fundraiser provided the videos--perhaps Romney's comments were too shocking even for some Republicans donors.

What was said:  

“There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what. All right, there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it. That’s an entitlement. And the government should give it to them. And they will vote for this president no matter what…These are people who pay no income tax.  My job is not to worry about those people.  I’ll never convince them.  They should take personal responsibility and care for their lives.” ~ Mitt Romney

Finally! The first time I have heard Romney being honest!  The reason this article and these clips are news worthy is because Willard Mitt Romney actually said something he believes. In a moment he thought he was safe he decided to expound on what he really thinks. Fascinating to hear what Willard thinks when he is behind closed doors. For a man who is running to be president of the entire country, there seems to be a large portion of the country he views with disdain.  What I find interesting is not so much what he says, but the way he speaks in the videos. This is the real Mitt – crass, uncaring, borderline sociopathic, dollar driven with little compassion for anyone other than those who are just like him. The condescending tone of the speech is, while not that shocking, at the same time it is alarming.   This is the real Mitt Romney, like him or not. You can hear him speaking very candidly and very comfortable, unlike how he is on the stump or has been throughout the primaries.   Truth is we spend more on corporate welfare than we do on social welfare. If it wasn't for corporate welfare, Bain wouldn't exist.

For those shocked at the claims about the 47% uttered by Romney, this has been a battle cry for the right-wingers for several years.  Romney falsely claimed that 47 percent of all Americans are complete freeloaders is just plainwrong.   Poor families generally pay more in payroll taxes that go toward Medicare and Social Security than in income taxes.   If you're a senior citizen, he was including you. Half of the 47% who don't pay federal income taxes are on social security and don't earn enough to hit the threshold for collecting taxes.  Yes, these households owe no taxes because these households receive enough of a tax credit to wipe out their federal income tax liability.   For all the people who complain about 47% of the people not paying federal income taxes, consider this, they are filing and paying according to the tax rules. They are paying everything they are legally obligated to pay, just like Mitt Romney. It is not their fault that the tax rules are the way they are.  47 percent has become shorthand for the notion that the wealthy face a much higher tax burden than they once did while growing numbers of Americans are effectively on the dole. 

Dr Paul Krugman on Mitt Romney’s statement that 47% of Americans don’t pay taxes and only support President Obama because they want a government handout:  “Many of the people in the no-income tax category are (a) elderly (b) students or (c) having a bad year, having lost a job – that is, they’re people who have paid income taxes in the past and/or will pay income taxes in the future.  The idea that half of Americans are just grafters is grotesque.”

 
Mitt Romney:  Another “No Apology”

“I am sure I can state it more clearly and effectively than I did in a setting like that,” he told reporters assembled quickly at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts before attending a fundraiser.

Romney said the video didn’t fully capture his views or his entire comments about personal responsibility and the role of government in society.  “I am talking about a political process of drawing people in my campaign. … My campaign is about helping people take more responsibility,” Romney said.  “This is ultimately a question about the direction of the country. Do you believe in a government-centered society that provides more and more benefits? Or do you believe instead in a free-enterprise society where people are able to pursue their dreams?”

I don’t have a prancing pony to deduct from my taxes.  I don't care how much money he has, how many elevators he has for his cars, or what his tax returns says. He simply doesn't understand America enough to be President.  “It’s hard to serve as president for all Americans when you’ve disdainfully written off half the nation.” ~ Jim Messina

I found this SNL too funny.  Enjoy!

Militant Extreme Terrorist – There Is No Difference – Muslim and Christian

The history of terrorism is as old as humans.  Terrorism is best thought of as a modern phenomenon.  Its success depends on the existence of a mass media to create an aura of terror among many people.

Religiously motivated terrorism is considered the most alarming terrorist threat today. Groups that justify their violence on Islamic grounds- Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah—come to mind first. But Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and other religions have given rise to their own forms of militant extremism.

Domestic terrorism in the United States can often be explained as a violent claim over what or who is authentically American.  Although the Boston Tea Party does not necessarily come to mind as an act of terrorism, the staged rebellion by colonists was meant to threaten the British into changing its policy of taxing colonist tea importers' imports, while offering a tariff-free trade to its East India Tea Company. Putting the Boston Tea Party in the category of terrorism can be a useful exercise for comparing the goals and tactics of different national liberation groups, which is what the Americans--once upon a time--were.

The first and arguably most entrenched terrorist in the United States is based in an ideology called "white supremacy," which holds that white Protestant Christians are superior to other ethnicities and races and that public life should reflect this purported hierarchy.  In the period before the Civil War, American social organization did in fact reflect a presumed white supremacy, since slavery was legal. It was only after the Civil War, when Congress and the Union military began to enforce equality between the races that white supremacy emerged. The Ku Klux Klan grew out of this period, using a variety of means to terrorize and harm African-Americans and sympathetic whites. In 1871, they were outlawed by Congress as a terrorist group, but they have had several violent incarnations since then. 

The 1920s were also a period of upsurge in KKK violence, carried out not only against African-Americans but also against Jews, Catholics and immigrants.  The "roaring twenties," a period of tremendous wealth building by American "robber barons" provided a useful background for agitators against inequality. One of the first cases of terrorism to be investigated by the FBI was the 1920 bombing on Wall Street by suspected anarchists.  At noon on September 16, 1920, a horse drawn buggy loaded with 100 pounds of dynamite and 500 pounds of cast- iron slugs exploded across the street from the J.P. Morgan bank headquarters in downtown Manhattan, New York. The explosion blew out windows for blocks around, killed 30 immediately, injured hundreds of others and completely destroyed the interior of the Morgan building. Those responsible were never found, but evidence—in the form of a warning note received at a nearby office building—suggested anarchists.

One of the most affluent all-black communities in America, a mini Beverly Hills, was bombed from the air and burned to the ground by mobs of envious whites. The dollar circulated 36 to 100 times, sometimes taking a year for currency to leave the community.  The mainstay of the community was to educate every child.  In a period spanning fewer than 12 hours, a once thriving black business district in northern Tulsa lay smoldering.  The night’s carnage left some 3,000 African Americans dead and over 600 successful businesses lost.  The impetus behind it all was the infamous Ku Klux Klan. 

Dozens of unsolved bombings and police killings terrorized the black community since World War II. 

James Meredith tried to become the first African American to attend the University of Mississippi.  His fight marked the beginning of the fight for civil rights.

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Rosa Louise McCauley Parks called “the first lady of civil rights,” and “the mother of the freedom movement.”  On December 1, 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Parks refused to obey bus driver James F Blake’s order that she give up her seat in the colored section to a white passenger, after the white section was filled. Parks' act of defiance and the Montgomery Bus Boycott became important symbols of the modern Civil Rights Movement.

In the spring of 1963, stores in downtown Birmingham had been desegregated and schools in Birmingham had been ordered by a federal court to integrate.  Many Klansmen would not accept this decision nor would they accept the successes the civil rights cause seemed to be making.  The influence of the KKK was such that children’s books that showed black and white rabbits together were banned from sale in book shops in the city. On September 15th, 1963, a bomb exploded at the Sixteenth Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama killing 4 young girls and injuring many others. 

In the 70’s terrorism in the United States also emerged. Groups such as the Weathermen grew out of the non-violent group Students for a Democratic Society. They turned to violent tactics, from rioting to setting off bombs, to protest the Vietnam War.

In the 1980s, white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups such as Aryan Nation saw a resurgence - often among working class white males, who perceived themselves as displaced by women, African Americans, Jews, and immigrants who benefited from new civil rights legislation.  Radical groups and individuals committed to violent action to stop abortion were among the most visible. Michael Bray, head of a group called the Army of God spent four years in prison for his abortion clinic bombings in the 1980s.

Rodney Glen King was an African-American construction worker who became well known after being beaten harshly on March 3, 1991.   Four police officers from the LAPD took part in the incident.  Three of the police officers were acquitted, and the jury failed to reach a verdict regarding the fourth police officer. The acquittals are generally considered to have triggered the 1992 Los Angeles riots, in which 53 people were killed, and over two thousand were injured .

On April 19, 1993, the standoff between the FBI and the Branch Davidian cult (led by David Koresh) at the Davidian compound in Waco, Texas ended in a fiery tragedy.  When the FBI tried to end the standoff by gassing the complex, the entire compound went up in fire, claiming the lives of 75 followers, including many young children. The death toll was high and many people blamed the U.S. government for the tragedy. One such person was Timothy McVeigh.  McVeigh, angered by the Waco tragedy, decided to enact retribution to those he felt responsible -- the federal government, especially the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF). In downtown Oklahoma City, the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building held numerous federal agency offices, including those of the ATF.

In 1999, the most lethal act of domestic violence to date occurred when Timothy McVeigh bombed the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people. Those responsible for what became known as the Oklahoma City Bombing were home-grown terrorists, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols.  McVeigh's stated motivation--revenge against a federal government that he viewed as intrusive and oppressive, was an extreme version of more mainstream desire among many for a smaller government.   

Dean Harvey Hicks, a citizen angry over his taxes, for example, created the one-man terrorist group "Up the IRS, Inc." and tried to bomb IRS locations.

Tim McVeigh was a Christian.  Do we start hating all Christians?  Disgruntled people in America respond the same as those in Egypt when they “feel” violated.

References:

http://www.terryhowcott.com/closeup.asp?cid=9&pid=1106&offset=56

http://terrorism.about.com/od/originshistory/a/US_Terrorism_2.htm

http://terrorism.about.com/od/originshistory/p/WallStreetBomb.htm

http://terrorism.about.com/od/whatisterroris1/p/Terrorism.htm

http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/randall/birmingham.htm

Hillary Clinton - You Didn't Trade Tyranny of a Dictator for the Dictator of a Mob.

Leila Fadel: This was a Sophisticated Two-prong Attack

I haven’t seen the news until I’ve watched The Rachel Maddow Show.

Again, The Rachel Maddow Show didn’t disappoint me.

Her broadcast confirmed what I’d been thinking.  

“NPR’s Leila Fadel reports that Libya’s Deputy Interior Minister, Wanis al Sharef, said this was a sophisticated two-prong attack.  Sharef said it may have been an infiltrator inside the Libyan security forces that tipped the militants off to the location of the safe house.  The attacks may have been timed to mark the 9/11 anniversary and the militants used civilians protesting an anti-Islam film as a cover for their actions. ” 

The Attack On The Consulate Was A Planned Terrorist Assault Against U.S. and Libyan Interests

The experts at the Quilliam Foundation, a “counter-extremism think tank” based in London - Press Release reads as follows:

The military assault against the US Consulate in Benghazi should not be seen as part of a protest against a low budget film which was insulting Islam – there were just a few peaceful protesters present at the event. Indeed, there have been no other demonstrations regarding this film in Libya.

We at Quilliam believe the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi was a well planned terrorist attack that would have occurred regardless of the demonstration, to serve another purpose. According to information obtained by Quilliam – from foreign sources and from within Benghazi – we have reason to believe that the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi came to avenge the death of Abu Yaya al-Libi, al-Qaeda’s second in command killed a few months ago.

The reasons for this are as follows:

·         24 hours before this attack, none other than the leader of al-Qaeda, Ayman al-Zawahiri, released a video on Jihadist forums to mark the anniversary of 9/11. In this video, Zawahiri acknowledged the death of his second in command Abu Yahya and urged Libyans to avenge his killing.

·         According to our sources, the attack was the work of roughly 20 militants, prepared for a military assault – it is rare that an RPG7 is present at a peaceful protest.

·         According to our sources, the attack against the Consulate had two waves. The first attack led to US officials being evacuated from the consulate by Libyan security forces, only for the second wave to be launched against US officials after they were kept in a secure location.

The weak security environment in Libya including in Benghazi and the failure of the government to project its power outside of the capital have been used as a cover for the attack.

The failure to rebuild the defense and security sector, in an accountable, professional and responsible manner will only further the likelihood of such attacks in the future. Attacks in Benghazi are not new – the Red Cross has been attacked multiple times in previous months, as have the US consulate and also the UK Ambassador, and such security lapses encourage attacks. The International Community must take the challenge of not allowing extremist elements to hijack the Arab Uprisings very seriously, by renewing their focus on civic and governance responses to check the efforts of Islamist extremists attempting to exploit the inevitable security vacuum.

Noman Benotman, President of Quilliam says:

“These are acts committed by uncontrollable jihadist groups. We hope Libya will seize this opportunity to revive its policy of Disarmament, Demobilization and Re-integration (DDR) in order to facilitate an end to the spread of such attacks, with the help of the International Community. We hope that the International Community, including NATO member states and especially the US, will continue their excellent work in Libya which began with the overthrow of the dictator Gaddafi after 42 years in power.”

U.S. officials from the State Department, the National Security Council and law enforcement have not been able to confirm that this was a planned attack. 

Source:

 http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/09/13/161111082/was-the-american-consulate-attack-in-benghazi-planned

http://www.quilliamfoundation.org/press-releases/the-attack-on-the-us-consulate-was-a-planned-terrorist-assault-against-us-and-libyan-interests/

Four More Years

WHEREFORE ART THOU, MITT ROMNEY?

By Ralph Maxwell







WHEREFORE ART THOU, MITT ROMNEY?

By Ralph Maxwell

O, Romney-O, Romney-O, Wherefore art thou, Mitt Romney?
You flip-flop here, you flip-flop there,
You flip-flop almost ev'rywhere.
You ballyhoo what you're gonna do
And then you pull a switcheroo;
You now malign what you found fine;
Seems like you've got a jellyfish spine.
Obamacare, by you begun,
Now you'd trash it on day one.
Gun control you did extol,
But now you're preaching decontrol.

O, Romney-O, Romney-O, Wherefore art thou, Mitt Romney?
We've got no clue what you will do
Or what new view you'll pander to.
Time was you championed women's choice,
But you no longer heed their voice;
On gay rights, too, guess you withdrew
Support they once enjoyed from you.
Global warming, EPA,
Immigration, minimum pay,
Roe V. Wade, also fair trade,
All joined your flip-flop cavalcade.

O, Romney-O, Romney-O Wherefore art thou, Mitt Romney?
So many things that you were for
You've turned against and slammed the door.
Stimulus and cap and trade,
Education, foreign aid,
Campaign reform, tarp rescues, too,
All victims of your switcheroo.
You take your stand on shifting sand,
We never know where you will land;
You vacillate, and you fabricate,
A wishy-washy candidate.

O, Romney-O, Romney-O, Wherefore art thou Mitt Romney?
As gov'nor you let taxes rise,
Now ev'ry tax you demonize.
You say regardless of the facts
You'd take an axe to the millionaire's tax;
You'd feed the greed of the richest few
The poor and middle class you'd screw.
Your tax returns you hide from view
What evil lurks there we've no clue;
If they're not bad why hesitate?
Is it that they incriminate?

O, Romney-O, Romney-O, Wherefore art thou Mitt Romney?
At Bain you plundered with a flair
And walked away a zillionaire.
You shipped off-shore, good jobs galore
To China, India, Singapore;
A job creator you are not.
And to boast you are is tommyrot.
As a total fraud, Mitt's got no peer;
What we must do is crystal clear:
Let's give Obama four more years!
Yes, it's Obama – four more years!
FOUR MORE YEARS!
FOUR MORE YEARS!
FOUR MORE YEARS!

Hilarious poem about Mitt Romney by 92-Year-Old Retired ND Judge & WWII Vet needs to go viral!

Source:  http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/08/18/1121614/-Hilarious-poem-about-Mitt-Romney-by-92-Year-Old-Retired-ND-Judge-WWII-Vet-needs-to-go-viral

Mitt Romney Have You Sought Amnesty From The IRS?

"...the election four years ago wasn't about me. It was about you. My fellow citizens—you were the change."

He's right, we are the change. President Obama won in 2008 because of people like us and he absolutely cannot win again without that kind of support.

Mitt Romney Panic Syndrome 

Nearly six in 10 likely voters think President Barack Obama will win the upcoming debates against Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney, according to a CNN/ORC International poll released Tuesday.  Fifty-nine percent of likely voters said they believed Obama will win the debates, while just 34 percent said Romney would prevail. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/11/obama-romney-debates_n_1875251.html

"This Video MIGHT Stop Romney from becoming President."
http://act.colorofchange.org/go/1788?t=7&akid=2626.1513440.2FDrUo 

Mitt Romney, have you ever sought or obtained amnesty from the IRS? Switzerland’s biggest bank, agreed in 2009 to disclose data on more than 4,500 American clients suspected of tax evasion to the Internal Revenue Service.  Birkenfeld told authorities how UBS bankers came to the U.S. to woo rich Americans, managed $20 billion of their assets and helped them cheat the IRS. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy in 2008, a year after reporting the bank’s conduct to the Justice Department, U.S. Senate, IRS and Securities and Exchange Commission. Birkenfeld’s disclosures preceded UBS’s decision to pay $780 million to avoid prosecution, admit it fostered tax evasion from 2000 to 2007 and turn over data on 250 Swiss accounts. UBS later agreed to provide information on another 4,450 accounts. Since then, at least 33,000 Americans have voluntarily disclosed offshore accounts to the IRS, generating more than $5 billion.  The UBS case led to an erosion of the use of Swiss bank secrecy by wealthy Americans to cheat the IRS.

 “I delivered and documented this entire scandal, the largest in U.S. history,” Birkenfeld said. “I’m the most famous whistle-blower in the history of the world. It’s a question of doing the right thing, and that’s what I did.”  The bank admitted it helped clients circumvent U.S. securities restrictions by referring them to outside advisers who set up sham companies in tax havens such as the British Virgin Islands, Hong Kong and Panama.  He worked at Barclays Plc before joining UBS in 2001.  The IRS paid Birkenfeld $104 million dollars.

The Morality of Big Business - Plutocracy

Ultimately gross inequality can be fatal to civilization.  The wealthy can now anonymously use unlimited campaign donations to influence policy and elections.  This is leading to only wealthy individuals having meaningful participation in our government, the definition of plutocracy.  Simply put, plutocracy and democracy don’t mix.  Plutocracy too long tolerated leaves democracy on the auction block, subject to the highest bidder.

“There are two things that are important in politics.  The first is money and I can’t remember what the second one is.” ~ Hanna

Money buys power, and the increasing wealth of a tiny minority has effectively bought the allegiance of one of our two major political parties, in the process destroying any prospect for cooperation.  The average income of Americans increased just $303 dollars in 28 years.  That’s wage repression. There you see the two Americas - A buoyant Wall Street and a doleful Main Street.  

In 2011 we realized our real enemies are not robots, but multinational corporations, who have declared war on democracy.  In 1981 Ronald Reagan became President and “Reaganomics” became the dominant ideology. At the forefront of this philosophy were three malignant notions: helping the rich get richer would inevitably help everyone else, “a rising tide lifts all boats;” markets were inherently self correcting and there was no need for government regulation; and the U.S. did not need an economic strategy because of the “free” market.  Like humanoid robots, corporations have no conscience — they are programmed to achieve their objectives no matter the consequences to humans or the planet. 

Although Mayan kings on the Yucatan peninsula could see their forests vanishing and their hills eroding, they were able to insulate themselves from the rest of society. By extracting wealth from commoners, they could remain well-fed while everyone else was slowly starving. Realizing too late that they could not reverse their deteriorating environment, they became casualties of their own privilege. 

A relatively few Americans are buying our democracy as never before. And they’re doing it completely in secret.  We’re back to the late 19th century when the lackeys of robber barons literally deposited sacks of cash on the desks of friendly legislators.  

Sources:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/04/opinion/krugman-plutocracy-paralysis-perplexity.html

http://economyincrisis.org/content/2011-the-year-corporations-attacked-democracy#more-5172

http://www.salon.com/2010/10/18/the_perfect_storm/

You Can Judge the Democratic and Republican Platform

A party platform 

a list of support

 for, or opposition to,

socially relevant, urgent,

controversial, or 

complicated topics or

issues. 

The New York Times reports, when doing a side-by-side comparison of the platforms, the two visions are poles apart in their view of the nation.

The 2012 Democratic National Party Platform 

Democrat Platform amended - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032553/?autoplay#.UEe9XbKPW9s

The 2012 Republican Platform 

Don’t Let Romney Break America

Naming a child is a delicate process.  We purchase books on the subject that defines the meanings of a name.  We sometimes choose a beloved family member’s name.  But how many people name their children after a friend.  How close of a friendship does one has to be chosen as the name to be assigned to their child?  George Romney, GOP candidate Willard Mitt Romney’s father, named him after hotel magnate John Willard Marriott and his cousin Milton “Mitt” Romney, a former quarterback for the Chicago Bears. 

George Romney and John Marriott’s friendship and connections with Rollins, Gardeners and other members of the Mormon Church have formed a financial bulwark and support network for Mr. Romney at every important point in his political career.  Starting with his 1994 Senate race, moving into the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics effort that became his political springboard and continuing through his first foray into presidential politics, they have been there to open doors, provide seed money and rally support.   To take one concrete measure of their support, records show that roughly two dozen members of Mormon families provided nearly $8 million of the financing for the “SuperPac” working to elect Mr. Romney, Restore Our Future, putting them in league with its Wall Street, real estate and energy donors. Prominent Mormons including David G. Neeleman, the JetBlue founder, and Eric Varvel, the chief executive officer of the banking division at Credit Suisse, are on his finance team.  Many of Mr. Romney’s major Mormon backers are tied to businesses with robust agendas in Washington — lobbying on tax, aviation and tourism policy, according to federal filings — and have something to gain by having a friend in the White House.

In 1971, he earned a Bachelor of Arts from Brigham Young University and, in 1975, a joint Juris Doctor and Master of Business Administration from Harvard University.  Romney entered the management consulting industry, and in 1977 secured a position at Bain & Company.  In 1984, he co-founded and led the spin-off Bain Capital.  To free up money to invest in the new business, founder Bill Bain and his partners cashed out much of their stock in the consulting firm leaving it saddled with about $200 million in debt. 

Bain &Company got into deep financial trouble partly because the founding partners of Bain Capital had stripped it of cash and saddled it with debt.   “Mitt Romney’s business man reputation was on the line.  Bain sold top-dollar strategic advice to big businesses about how to protect them from going bust.  If Bain & Company went bankrupt, “anyone associated with them would have looked clownish.”  Even though Bain & Company was deep in debt the firm was actually flush with cash.  But Bain had inserted a poison pill in its loan agreement with the banks:  Instead of being required to use its cash to pay back the firm’s creditors, the money could be pocketed by Bain executives in the form of fat bonuses – starting with VPs making $200,000 and up.  The bonus loophole gave Romney a perverse form of leverage. 

Romney managed to convince Bain’s creditors to take a steep discount on Bain debt, using a threat to pay Bain executives big bonuses that would have stripped it of the cash it had left, leaving creditors with next to nothing.  One of those creditors was the FDIC, which had taken over a bank that loaned money to Bain.  The FDIC ended up collecting about $14 million of the $30 million Bain owed it.  Taxpayers didn’t foot the bill for this.  Those costs were in turn probably absorbed by bank customers in the form of higher fees.  Even as consumers took a loss, however, a small group of investors wound up getting a good deal in the bailout. Bain Capital – the very firm that had triggered the crisis in the first place – walked away with $4 million. That was the fee it charged Bain & Company for loaning the consulting firm the services of its chief executive – one Willard Mitt Romney.

While entrenched with the Bain & Company debacle, he served on the board of directors of Marriott International from 1993 to 2002 and again 2009 to 2011.  During his tenure, six years, he chaired the board’s audit committee.  While Romney was on the board, Marriott engaged in a number of corporate tax avoidance schemes. 

1.     Son of Boss tax shelter: Marriott executed a Son of Boss trade in mid-1994—a scheme that manufactures “a gigantic tax loss out of thin air” to offset actual gains “without any economic risk, cost, or loss.” Marriott later filed a return claiming an artificial loss to lower the company’s taxable income.  Marriott implemented the Son of Boss tax shelter scheme, which resulted in the company claiming $71 million in losses that federal courts later ruled never existed.   Son of Boss schemes were notorious, involving about 1,800 people and costing the IRS an estimated $6 billion, and was described as “perhaps the largest tax avoidance scheme in history.”   

2.     “Spray and pray”: Marriott purchased four synthetic fuel plants in 2001 in order to benefit from federal tax credits for synthetic fuels, a strategy which was dubbed “spray and pray”. In 2002, the company legally claimed $159 million of those credits, reducing their effective tax rate to just 6.8 percent—far below the normal corporate rate of 35%. Even Sen. John McCain criticized Marriott’s behavior:  “One of the greatest beneficiaries of this tax shelter—and that is all that it is, a tax shelter—is a very profitable hotel chain: Marriott.’’

3.     Profit-shifting to Luxembourg: In 2009, Marriott collected $229 million in revenue—primarily from royalty, licensing and franchising fees—at its Luxembourg subsidiary, Global Hospitality Licensing S.à.r.l. The subsidiary reported having only one employee. By the end of 2011, the company $451 million in offshore earnings that it left overseas to delay paying US income taxes. Under Romney’s proposed corporate tax plan, Marriott would never have to pay U.S. taxes on those earnings.

4.     Questionable deductions: The IRS challenged $1 billion in deductions Marriott took related to an employee from 2000 to 2002. The company eventually agreed to pay about $220 million of what it owed in income taxes, excise taxes, and interest to the IRS and a number of states.

Source:

http://www.npr.org/2012/04/05/150058865/for-romney-family-ties-to-marriott-heirs-pay-off

http://www.biography.com/people/j-willard-marriott-9399868

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/17/us/politics/support-for-romney-by-old-mormon-families.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all

http://www.barackobama.com/truth-team/entry/four-ways-romney-helped-marriott-avoid-paying-taxes/

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-federal-bailout-that-saved-mitt-romney-20120829

Let's Re-Elect President Obama

If – Barack Obama were somehow able to cure hunger in the world, the Republicans would blame him for overpopulation. Barack Obama could somehow bring about world peace, and they’d blame him for destroying the defense industry. Barack Obama has a BLT for lunch they will try to ban bacon. ~ Alan Grayson

Can you name a single accomplishment by a Republican President or Congressman in the last decade?  Republicans don't know how to fix the economy.  Their ideas will make matters worse. For example, George Bush’s policies deregulated Wall Street and caused a near depression. 

For the past three years, Republicans have obstructed and worked to divide our country. You put your ideology, politics, and animosity for our president above love of country and its people.  You have no answers on more important issues like the right to good affordable health care, the economy, runaway banks, jobs, income inequality and poverty.  You’re likely to offer more trickledown economics and more bigoted laws that disenfranchise gays, blacks, and immigrants. Medicare, Social Security, and Education are at risk of becoming extinct under Republican leadership.

This group of radical Republicans have waged a “War on Women” pushing for a ban on contraception and in vitro fertilization, and would literally put a woman and her doctor behind bars if they didn't comply. They would ban abortions even when a woman faces certain death without one.  Children are the aftermath of birth.  The Supreme Court has upheld Roe v Wade.  Your semen and your spouse’s eggs are not children.    Keep Abortion Safe, Legal, and Accessible!   It's not a stretch to think that desperation wouldn't push these candidates further to the right than they are now.

"He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money." ~ Ben Franklin   Romney is no business man.  He is "Gordon Gekko" - the symbol for unrestrained greed.   Romney favors income inequality but will only discuss this philosophy in a “quiet room.”    Romney has endorsed exactly the kind of upper-income tax cuts that past nominees have championed.  Romney's tax plan will add 600 billion dollars to the deficit.

Republicans are on the wrong side of history and they pandering to the lowest common denominator to get votes. 

If you really want Change, give us a Congress WITHOUT the goal of making the President fail.

Republicans want to destroy this country and I will do everything in my power to re-elect you Mr. President.  Obama 2012!  Americans of all stripes will make their voices heard at the ballot box and soundly reject Republicans for all that you've become. With President Obama leading the charge, we as a country are moving forward!

USA - A Third World Country

“I like to pay taxes. 

With them, I buy 

civilization.” ~Oliver 

Wendell Holmes

The fact is we pay for the lifestyle we expect. Without taxes, our lifestyles would be totally different and much harder. America would be a third world country. The less we pay, the less we get in return.

If you're a conservative who hates taxes, please do the following.

1. Do not use Medicare.
2. Do not use Social Security
3. Do not become a member of the US military, who are paid with tax dollars.
4. Do not ask the National Guard to help you after a disaster.
5. Do not call 911 when you get hurt.
6. Do not call the police to stop intruders in your home.
7. Do not summon the fire department to save your burning home.
8. Do not drive on any paved road, highway, and interstate or drive on any bridge.
9. Do not use public restrooms.
10. Do not send your kids to public schools.
11. Do not put your trash out for city garbage collectors.
12. Do not live in areas with clean air.
13. Do not drink clean water.
14. Do not visit National Parks.
15. Do not visit public museums, zoos, and monuments.
16. Do not eat or use FDA inspected food and medicines.
17. Do not bring your kids to public playgrounds.
18. Do not walk or run on sidewalks.
19. Do not use public recreational facilities such as basketball and tennis courts.
20. Do not seek shelter facilities or food in soup kitchens when you are homeless and hungry.
21. Do not apply for educational or job training assistance when you lose your job.
22. Do not apply for food stamps when you can’t feed your children.
23. Do not use the judiciary system for any reason.
24. Do not ask for an attorney when you are arrested and do not ask for one to be assigned to you by the court.
25. Do not apply for any Pell Grants.
26. Do not use cures that were discovered by labs using federal dollars.
27. Do not fly on federally regulated airplanes.
28. Do not use any product that can trace its development back to NASA.
29. Do not watch the weather provided by the National Weather Service.
30. Do not listen to severe weather warnings from the National Weather Service.
31. Do not listen to tsunami, hurricane, or earthquake alert systems.
32. Do not apply for federal housing.
33. Do not use the internet, which was developed by the military.
34. Do not swim in clean rivers.
35. Do not allow your child to eat school lunches or breakfasts.
36. Do not ask for FEMA assistance when everything you own gets wiped out by disaster.
37. Do not ask the military to defend your life and home in the event of a foreign invasion.
38. Do not use your cell phone or home telephone.
39. Do not buy firearms that wouldn’t have been developed without the support of the US Government and military. That includes most of them.
40. Do not eat USDA inspected produce and meat.
41. Do not apply for government grants to start your own business.
42. Do not apply to win a government contract.
43. Do not buy any vehicle that has been inspected by government safety agencies.
44. Do not buy any product that is protected from poisons, toxins, etc…by the Consumer Protection Agency.
45. Do not save your money in a bank that is FDIC insured.
46. Do not use Veterans benefits or military health care.
47. Do not use the G.I. Bill to go to college.
48. Do not apply for unemployment benefits.
49. Do not use any electricity from companies regulated by the Department of Energy.
50. Do not live in homes that are built to code.
51. Do not run for public office. Politicians are paid with taxpayer dollars.
52. Do not ask for help from the FBI, S.W.A.T, the bomb squad, Homeland Security, State troopers, etc…
53. Do not apply for any government job whatsoever as all state and federal employees are paid with tax dollars.
54. Do not use public libraries.
55. Do not use the US Postal Service.
56. Do not visit the National Archives.
57. Do not visit Presidential Libraries.
58. Do not use airports that are secured by the federal government.
59. Do not apply for loans from any bank that is FDIC insured.
60. Do not ask the government to help you clean up after a tornado.
61. Do not ask the Department of Agriculture to provide a subsidy to help you run your farm.
62. Do not take walks in National Forests.
63. Do not ask for taxpayer dollars for your oil company.
64. Do not ask the federal government to bail your company out during recessions.
65. Do not seek medical care from places that use federal dollars.
66. Do not use Medicaid.
67. Do not use WIC.
68. Do not use electricity generated by Hoover Dam.
69. Do not use electricity or any service provided by the Tennessee Valley Authority.
70. Do not ask the Army Corps of Engineers to rebuild levees when they break.
71. Do not let the Coast Guard save you from drowning when your boat capsizes at sea.
72. Do not ask the government to help evacuate you when all hell breaks loose in the country you are in.
73. Do not visit historic landmarks.
74. Do not visit fisheries.
75. Do not expect to see animals that are federally protected because of the Endangered Species List.
76. Do not expect plows to clear roads of snow and ice so your kids can go to school and so you can get to work.
77. Do not hunt or camp on federal land.
78. Do not work anywhere that has a safe workplace because of government regulations.
79. Do not use public transportation.
80. Do not drink water from public water fountains.
81. Do not whine when someone copies your work and sells it as their own. Government enforces copyright laws.
82. Do not expect to own your home, car, or boat. Government organizes and keeps all titles.
83. Do not expect convicted felons to remain off the streets.
84. Do not eat in restaurants that are regulated by food quality and safety standards.
85. Do not seek help from the US Embassy if you need assistance in a foreign nation.
86. Do not apply for a passport to travel outside of the United States.
87. Do not apply for a patent when you invent something.
88. Do not adopt a child through your local, state, or federal governments.
89. Do not use elevators that have been inspected by federal or state safety regulators.
90. Do not use any resource that was discovered by the USGS.
91. Do not ask for energy assistance from the government.
92. Do not move to any other developed nation, because the taxes are much higher.
93. Do not go to a beach that is kept clean by the state.
94. Do not use money printed by the US Treasury.
95. Do not complain when millions more illegal immigrants cross the border because there are no more border patrol agents.
96. Do not attend a state university.
97. Do not see any doctor that is licensed through the state.
98. Do not use any water from municipal water systems.
99. Do not complain when diseases and viruses that were once fought around the globe by the US government and CDC reach your house.
100. Do not work for any company that is required to pay its workers a livable wage, provide them sick days, vacation days, and benefits.
101. Do not expect to be able to vote on election days. Government provides voting booths, Election Day officials, and voting machines which are paid for with taxes.
102. Do not ride trains. The railroad was built with government financial assistance.